Chapter XXIV: Appendix: C (2)

[52] "To give a slight idea of the nature of this conveyance: _The Bye and Way Letters_ were thrown promiscuously together into one large Bag, which was to be opened at every Stage by the Deputy, or any inferior Servant of the House, to pick out of the whole heap what might belong to his own delivery, and the rest put back again into this large Bag, with such Bye Letters as he should have to send to distant places from his own Stage. But what was still worse than all this, it was then the constant practice to demand and receive the postage on all such Letters before they were put into any of the Country Post Offices. Hence (from the general temptation of destroying these Letters for the sake of the Postage) the joynt mischief of embezling the Revenue and interrupting and obstructing the commerce, fell naturally in, to support and inflame one another. Indeed, they were then risen to such a height, and consequently the discredit and disrepute of this conveyance grown so notorious, that many Traders and others in divers parts of the Kingdom had recourse to various contrivances of private and clandestine conveyance for their speedier and safer correspondence; whereby it became unavoidable but that other branches of the Post Office revenue should be greatly impair'd, as well as this ...

"Now whilst the _Bye and Way Letters_ continued to be conveyed in so precarious and unsafe a way, as is shewn above, it was thought hard to punish such as undertook to convey them in a speedier and safer manner. But from a Time that this Branch of the Revenue was put under a just regulation, in consequence of the contract with Mr. Allen, all such Persons who were any way concerned in this illegal collection and conveyance of Letters, were by proper Officers employed by him, strictly enquired after, and when detected, the most notorious of them punished as a terror to the rest."--Ralph Allen's Narrative, 2nd December 1761 (Ralph Allen's _Bye, Way and Cross Road Posts_, London, 1897, pp. 6 and 18).

[53] "Upon the next renewal of his Contract, which was in the Year 1741, the Postmasters-General, after largely expressing, as usual, their sense of the integrity of his conduct, and the services he had done to the Public, told him they judged it but reasonable to expect some addition to his rent of [L]6,000 a Year for the _Bye, Way and Cross Road Letters_, altho' he should still continue to support and increase the produce of the Country Letters for the Benefit of the King. To which, Mr. Allen answered, that their expectations of additional rent appeared very reasonable to him, and which he should have made in his own way (a way he was going to open to them) had they not themselves proposed it. That there are two ways of giving this additional Rent: the one was by paying a further some of money yearly, such as he could afford to his Majesty's use without any advance to public commerce, the other was by paying his Majesty, and immediately too, a much larger sum than he could in the first way pretend to advance, in causing a considerable increase of the produce of the _London and Country Letters_ by means of extending and quickening the correspondence of London and several of the most considerable Trading Towns and Cities thro'out the Kingdom; a project that would be of infinite advantage to commerce. Which of these two ways the Postmasters-General would think fit to prefer, he left to themselves to consider; who on duly weighing all circumstances, did not in the least hesitate to prefer the latter method.

"Upon which Mr. Allen agreed to erect, at his own Expence, one every day cost from London to Bath, Bristol, and Glocester towards the _West_; and from London to Cambridge, Lynn, Norwich, and Yarmouth towards the _East_; and to all intermediate places in both quarters: and--that all the increase of the postage of Letters thus conveyed between London and the several places, East, and West of it above-mentioned, should, without any charge or deduction, be paid in directly for his Majesty's use, as well as all the increase of the _Country Letters_ within that District, that is, such Letters as pass between one Country Town and another thro' London.

"All this was accordingly done and executed conformable to the terms of the contract."--Ibid., pp. 25-6.

Similar extensions were made at the renewals of the lease in 1748 and 1755.

[54] 5 Geo. III, cap. 25, [S] 5.

[55] "It is certain that the alteration of the rates of Postage in the year 1765 has not been attended with every good consequence then expected from it and has been some loss to the Revenue."--Mr. Draper, District Surveyor, _British Official Records_, 1783.

[56] "At a time when the mail leaving London on Monday night did not arrive at Bath until Wednesday afternoon, he (Palmer) had been in the habit of accomplishing the distance between the two cities in a single day. He had made journeys equally long and equally rapid in other directions; and, as the result of observation, he had come to the conclusion that of the horses kept at the post houses it was always the worst that were set aside to carry the mail, and that the post was the slowest mode of conveyance in the kingdom. He had also observed that, where security or despatch was required, his neighbours at Bath who might desire to correspond with London would make a letter up into a parcel and send it by stage-coach, although the cost by stage-coach was, porterage included, 2s. and by post 4d."--H. Joyce, _History of the Post Office_, pp. 208-9. Cf. D. Macpherson, op. cit., vol. iv. p. 54.

[57] "If the present hours fixed at all the offices of the Kingdom with the greatest care and attention to that regular plan of correspondence which has been established after long experience were to be altered it would throw into the greatest confusion for the present and would be many years before it could be restored to the degree of perfection it now has."--Observations on Mr. Palmer's Plan by Mr. Draper, District Surveyor (_British Official Records_, 1783).

"Indeed, it is a pity that the Author of the Plan should not first have been informed of the nature of the Business in question, to make him understand how very differently the Posts and Post Offices are conducted to what he apprehends, and that the constant Eye that has been long kept towards their improvement in all Situations and under all Circumstances has made them now almost as perfect as can be without exhausting the Revenue arising therefrom."--Observations on Mr. Palmer's Plan by Mr. Hodgson, District Surveyor. Ibid.

"Upon the whole it appears impracticable upon a general System to convey the Mails by Machine."--Observations on Mr. Palmer's Plan by Mr. Allen, District Surveyor. Ibid.

[58] "In 1797 there were forty-two mail-coach routes established, connecting sixty of the most important towns in the kingdom, as well as intermediate places. These coaches cost the Government [L]12,416 a year, only half the sum paid for post-horses and riders under the old system. The coaches made daily journeys over nearly two-thirds of the total distance traversed and tri-weekly journeys over something less than one-third the total distance. The remainder travelled one, two, four, and six times a week."--J. C. Hemmeon, _History of the British Post Office_, Cambridge, Mass., 1912, p. 40.

[59] 24 Geo. III, sess. 2, cap. 37.

[60] H. Joyce, _History of the Post Office_, p. 215.

[61] H. Joyce, _History of the Post Office_, pp. 317-18.

[62] 41 Geo. III, cap. 7.

[63] 45 Geo. III, cap. 11.

[64] 52 Geo. III, cap. 88. For details of the changes in the rates during this period see Appendix, pp. 338-9.

[65] "Von epochemachender Bedeutung war die ber[:u]hmte von _Rowland Hill_ angeregte Portoreform bei Briefen (sogenanntes Pennyporto) in GROSSBRITANNIEN 1839."--A. Wagner, _Finanzwissenschaft_, Leipzig, 1890, vol. ii. p. 152.

[66] Sir Rowland Hill and G. Birkbeck Hill, _Life of Sir Rowland Hill and History of Penny Postage_, London, 1880.

[67] "They were all full of high aims--all bent on 'the accomplishment of things permanently great and good.' There was no room in their minds for the petty thoughts of jealous spirits. Each had that breadth of view which enables a man to rise above all selfish considerations. Each had been brought up to consider the good of his family rather than his own peculiar good, and to look upon the good of mankind as still higher than the good of his family. Each was deeply convinced of the great truth which Priestly had discovered, and Bentham had advocated--that the object of all government, and of all social institutions, should be the greatest happiness of the greatest number for the greatest length of time. In their youth their aims were often visionary; but they were always high and noble."--Ibid., vol. i. p. 193.

[68] "Early in the 'thirties there had been some reduction in certain departments of taxation. It occurred to me that probably some ease might be given to the people by lowering the postal rate.... Although occupied with other affairs, the reduction in the postal rate was not dismissed from my thoughts. The interest it had excited induced me to read Reports, etc., on postal administration."--Ibid., vol. i. p. 242.

[69] "The best test to apply to the several existing taxes for the discovery of the one which may be reduced most extensively, with the least proportionate loss to the revenue, is probably this: excluding from the examination those taxes, the produce of which is greatly affected by changes in the habits of the people, as the taxes on spirits, tobacco, hair-powder, let each be examined as to whether its productiveness has kept pace with the increasing numbers and prosperity of the nation. And that tax which proves most defective under this test is, in all probability, the one we are in quest of."--Rowland Hill, _Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability_, London, 1837, p. 2.

[70] "The revenue of the Post Office has been stationary at about [L]1,400,000 a year since 1818. This can be accounted for only by the great duty charged on letters; for with a lower duty the correspondence of the country through the Post Office would have increased in proportion to the increase of population and national wealth."--Sir Henry Parnell, _On Financial Reform_, London, 1832, p. 41.

[71] "While thus confirmed in my belief that, even from a financial point of view, the postal rates were injuriously high, I also became more and more convinced, the more I considered the question, that the fiscal loss was not the most serious injury thus inflicted on the public; that yet more serious evil resulted from the obstruction thus raised to the moral and intellectual progress of the people; and that the Post Office, if put on a sound footing, would assume the new and important character of a powerful engine of civilization; that though now rendered feeble and inefficient by erroneous financial arrangements, it was capable of performing a distinguished part in the great work of national education."--Sir Rowland Hill in _Life of Sir Rowland Hill and History of Penny Postage_, London, 1880, vol. i. p. 245.

[72] _Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability_, by Rowland Hill, London, 1837.

[73] "In order to ascertain, with as much accuracy as the circumstances of the case admit, the extent to which the rates of postage may be reduced, under the condition of a given reduction in the revenue, the best course appears to be, first to determine as nearly as possible the natural cost of conveying a letter under the varying circumstances of distance, etc., that is to say, the cost which would be incurred if the Post Office were conducted on the ordinary commercial principles, and postage relieved entirely from taxation; and then to add to the natural cost such amount of duty as may be necessary for producing the required revenue."--Ibid. p. 10.

[74] "I found, first, that the cost of conveying a letter between post town and post town was exceedingly small; secondly, that it had but little relation to distance; and thirdly, that it depended much upon the number of letters conveyed by the particular mail; and as the cost per letter would diminish with every increase in such number, and as such increase would certainly follow reduction of postage, it followed that, if a great reduction could be effected, the cost of conveyance per letter, already so small, might be deemed absolutely insignificant.

"Hence, then, I came to the important conclusion that the existing practice of regulating the amount of postage by the distance over which an inland letter was conveyed, however plausible in appearance, had no foundation in principle, and that consequently the rates of postage should be irrespective of distance."--Sir Rowland Hill, _Life of Sir Rowland Hill and History of Penny Postage_, London, 1880, vol. i. p. 250.

[75] "It appears, then, that the cost of mere transit incurred upon a letter sent from London to Edinburgh, a distance of 400 miles, is not more than _one thirty-sixth part of a penny_. If therefore the proper charge (exclusive of tax) upon a letter received and delivered in London itself were twopence, then the proper charge (exclusive of tax) upon a letter received in London, but delivered in Edinburgh, would be twopence _plus_ one-thirty-sixth part of a penny. Now, as the letters taken from London to Edinburgh are undoubtedly carried much more than an average distance, it follows, that when the charge for the receipt and delivery of the letter is determined, an additional charge of one-thirty-sixth part of a penny would amply repay the expense of transit. _If, therefore, the charge for postage be made proportionate to the whole expense incurred in the receipt, transit, and delivery of the letter, and in the collection of its postage, it must be made uniformly the same from every post town to every other post town in the United Kingdom_, unless it can be shown how we are to collect so small a sum as the thirty-sixth part of a penny."--Rowland Hill, _Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability_, London, 1837, pp. 18-19.

[76] Ibid., p. 45.

[77] A "frank" was a letter or packet bearing on the outside the signature of a person entitled to send letters free of postage.

[78] These proposals are not, however, necessarily related to the principle of uniformity, and, although interesting and important at the time, are now only of historical interest. They relate more particularly to the practicability of applying low and uniform rates to the postal service in the United Kingdom, having regard to the circumstances then obtaining and to the necessity for maintaining a large net revenue. Given that uniformity of rate was scientifically sound, it did not follow that it should be immediately adopted, and the financial effect was, to say the least, speculative. But since it was unlikely that the plan would be adopted if any large decrease in revenue were likely to result, Sir Rowland Hill was at great pains to explain methods by which his plan could be adopted without serious reduction of net revenue, and it was in this connection that the question of the increase in traffic which might be anticipated assumed such importance.

[79] See, e.g., H. von Stephan, _Geschichte der preussischen Post_, Berlin, 1859, p. 615.

[80] _Ninth Report of Commissioners for Inquiring into the Mode of Conducting the Business of the Post Office Department_, 1837, Appendix, pp. 26-40.

[81] "Of all the wild and visionary schemes he had ever heard or read of, it was the most extraordinary."--Lord Lichfleld, Postmaster-General, 15 June 1837, _Parl. Debates_ (_Lords_), vol. xxxviii, col. 1464.

"He considers the whole scheme of Mr. Hill as utterly fallacious; he thought so from the first moment he read the pamphlet of Mr. Hill; and his opinion of the plan was formed long before the evidence was given before the Committee. The plan appears to him a most preposterous one, utterly unsupported by facts, and resting entirely on assumption. Every experiment in the way of reduction which has been made by the Post Office has shown its fallacy; for every reduction whatever leads to a loss of revenue, in the first instance: if the reduction be small, the revenue recovers itself; but if the rates were to be reduced to a penny, revenue would not recover itself for forty or fifty years."--Abstract of Evidence of Colonel Maberly, Secretary to the Post Office, _Third Report from the Select Committee on Postage_, 1838, p. 18.

[82] _Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability_, by Rowland Hill, second edition, London, 1837.

[83] See _Life of Sir Rowland Hill and History of Penny Postage_, London, 1880; Sir Henry Cole, _Fifty Years of Public Work_, London, 1884.

[84] _Third Report of the Select Committee On Postage_, 13th August 1838, [S] 10.

[85] In 1837-8 the deficiency was [L]1,428,000; in 1838-9, [L]430,000; in 1839-40, [L]1,457,000; in 1840-1, [L]1,851,000; and for 1841-2 it was estimated at [L]2,421,000.

[86] "Was the Committee ignorant--we think not--that the radicals in politics and the sectarians in religion, have been the warmest advocates--and indeed (except the mercantile body we have alluded to) the only very zealous advocates for this penny post?"--_Quarterly Review_, October 1839, p. 531. Cf. _Edinburgh Review_, January 1840; J. Morley, _Life of Cobden_, London, 1881, p. 411.

[87] "On the 9th April 1839, Lord Melbourne's Government brought in what is generally known as the Jamaica Bill--a Bill for suspending for five years the constitution of that colony. This measure was strongly opposed by the Conservative party (led by Sir Robert Peel), and by many of the Radicals. On the second reading of the Bill, the Government only escaped defeat by the narrow majority of five votes. The Ministry thereupon resigned; Sir Robert Peel was sent for by her Majesty, but owing to the 'Bedchamber Difficulty' failed to form a Government. Lord Melbourne was recalled, and in the negotiations with the Radical members for future support to his Government, the bargain was struck that that support should be given, provided Penny Postage was conceded.

"Thus one of the greatest social reforms ever introduced was, to speak plainly, given as a bribe by a tottering Government to secure political support."--_The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago_, London, 1890, p. 24. Cf. _Parl. Debates_, 26th March 1855, vol. cxxxvii, col. 1136; Sir Stafford H. Northcote, _Twenty Years of Financial Policy_, London, 1862, pp. 8-9.

[88] As a temporary measure, with the view of minimizing the practical difficulties of the Post Office, a uniform rate of 4d. a letter (1d. a letter for London local letters) was introduced on the 5th December 1839.

[89] Estimate of number of chargeable letters delivered in the United Kingdom (in round numbers):--

1839 Letters 76.0 millions
Franks 6.6 "
1840 Letters 169.0 "
1841 " 197.0 "
1842 " 208.0 "
1843 " 220.0 "
1844 " 242.0 "
1845 " 271.0 "
1846 " 300.0 "
1847 " 322.0 "
1848 " 329.0 "
1849 " 337.0 "
1860 " 564.0 "
1900-1 " 2,323.6 "
1913-14 " 3,477.8 "

The total number of packets of all descriptions delivered in the United Kingdom in the year 1913-14 was about 6,000 millions.--_Annual Reports of the Postmaster-General._

[90] See J. R. McCulloch, _Taxation and the Funding System_, Edinburgh, 1863, p. 331.

[91] The number of letters per head of population shows a continuous increase, as follows:--

-----------+----------+-----------+----------+---------
Year. | England. | Scotland. | Ireland. | United
| | | | Kingdom.
-----------+----------+-----------+----------+---------
1880-1 | 38 | 29 | 15 | 34
1890-1 | 50 | 36 | 21 | 45
1900-1 | 61 | 47 | 32 | 57
1905-6 | 68 | 51 | 36 | 62
1910-11 | 73 | 56 | 40 | 68
1913-14 | 81 | 63 | 45 | 75
-----------+----------+-----------+----------+---------

[92] As in other countries. It is contrary to the general principles upon which the post is conducted in the leading countries of Europe to throw a quantity of heavy matter upon the letter post, which exists primarily for the carriage of light letters, and would be seriously hampered by the transmission of large numbers of heavy packages."

[93] Of these, 123,640 were established and 125,813 unestablished officers.

[94] The following table shows the date and annual cost of the various revisions:--

1881-2. Fawcett Revision [L]320,000
1888-91. Raikes Revision 406,600
1897-8. Tweedmouth Revision (including
Norfolk-Hanbury concessions) 388,000
1905. Stanley Revision 372,300
1908. Hobhouse Committee Revision 707,900
1914. Holt Committee Revision 1,335,750
1894-1912. Other improvements 144,400
----------
Total [L]3,674,950

In addition, the annual cost of the War Bonus granted in 1915 is estimated at [L]1,080,000.

[95]

----------+-------------------------
| Percentage of Salaries,
Year. | Wages, etc., to Total
| Revenue.
----------+-------------------------
1880-1 | 28.39
1890-1 | 35.78
1900-1 | 45.30
1905-6 | 45.34
1909-10 | 49.09
1910-11 | 47.61
1911-12 | 49.20
1912-13 | 47.88
1913-14 | 47.04
----------+-------------------------

[96] The increase is partly accounted for by the fact that parcels are included in the later figures. Deducting the estimated cost of the parcel post (see _infra_, Chapter VII), the cost for staff for packets other than parcels was, in 1913-14, some .340d. per packet.

[97] Omitting the cost of conveyance of mails by sea, and omitting the cost of conveyance of parcels by railway, which is fixed by the Parcel Post Act of 1882. The following table shows the movement of the general cost of conveyance of mails:--

------------+-------------+------------------------------------
| | Percentage of Cost of Conveyance
Year. | Cost of | of Mails by Road and Rail to Total
| Conveyance. | Revenue (excluding Cost of
| | Conveyance of Parcels by Railway).
------------+-------------+------------------------------------
1880-1 |[L]921,093 | 16.17
1890-1 | 1,273,894 | 12.62
1900-1 | 1,519,219 | 11.26
1905-6 | 1,710,891 | 10.68
1910-11 | 1,812,505 | 9.18
1913-14 | 1,940,735 | 8.85

[98] Assuming there is no loss on the Parcel Post. If there is such loss, the cost per packet other than a parcel would be reduced (see _infra_, Chapter VII).

[99] The general increase of wages partly accounts for this (see p. 34, opposite). The cost of working is, however, higher in the larger offices (where the bulk of postal work is done) than in the smaller offices, and tends to be highest in the largest offices. The matter is complicated by the fact that higher scales of pay are in force in the larger towns.

[100]

---------------+------------------------------------
| Percentage of Total Expenditure to
| Total Revenue.
Year. +------------------------------------
| Postal Services. | All Services.
---------------+------------------+-----------------
1839-40 A B | 31.66 | --
1840-41 B | 63.16 | --
1880-1 | 61.84 | 68.97
1890-1 | 65.79 | 74.33
1900-1 | 71.75 | 80.99
1905-6 | 69.44 | 80.19
1909-10 | 73.75 | 84.00
1910-11 | 72.28 | 82.94
1911-12 | 72.36 | 82.89
1912-13 | 71.25 | 82.05
1913-14 C | 69.71 | 80.02

A: Penny Postage introduced, 10th January 1840.

B: Revenue does not include proceeds of Impressed Stamp on Newspapers.

C: Estimated.

--_Report of Postmaster-General_, 1913-14, pp. 122-3.

[101] "The inhabitants live so scattered and remote from each other in that vast country, that posts cannot be supported among them."--Benjamin Franklin, evidence before House of Commons, 28th January, 1766 (_Parl. History_, vol. xvi. col. 138).

[102] The usual rate of remuneration for deputy postmasters in North America. Cf. _infra_, pp. 49 and 66.

[103] "On account of the scarcity of money, people will forbear to correspond until they find occasions by friends, travellers, and the like, to send their letters, which makes it to be wished that the Legislature might enact that the rate of postage for the greatest distances on the Continent of America may not exceed 1s. 6d. for a single letter and so in proportion."--_British Official Records_, 1764.

[104] Preamble of 5 Geo. III, cap. 25.

[105] "The present rates may in some parts be reduced, and the Revenue nevertheless may hereafter be improved, by means of a more extensive circulation."--5 Geo. III, cap. 25, [S] 1.

[106] _British Official Records_, 8th February 1774.

[107] _British Official Records_, 23rd September 1790.

[108] J. G. Hendy, _Empire Review_, London, 1902, vol. iv., p. 180.

[109] "There is no doubt that the revenues of the provinces showed a nominal surplus, but it is not so clear that this surplus, which amounted to [L]884 in 1801, and to [L]2,514 in 1811, was a surplus on the provincial services. Many years later, when the administration of the Post Office in the colonies and the question of the disposal of the surplus revenue had become part of a political matter of the first magnitude, the provincial Legislatures alleged that the surplus amounted to a very considerable sum each year, and that the circumstances constituted a taxation of the colonies by the Mother Country; but the Deputy Postmaster-General asserted that this surplus was in fact composed of revenues to which the colonies had no claim, viz. the charges for British packet postage, that is, for transmission of letters across the ocean, and payments in respect of military postage, and that in point of fact the local service had never yielded a surplus--that, indeed, there was probably a deficit.

"This I feel myself bound to state as my firm conviction, that neither for the last ten years, nor for any previous period, has the postage of Lower Canada afforded one farthing of Net Revenue."--Mr. T. A. Stayner, Deputy Postmaster-General (_Report of Special Committee of the House of Assembly on the Post Office Department in the Province of Lower Canada_, 11th February 1832, p. 12).

[110] See, e.g., _Report of Special Committee, House of Assembly, Lower Canada_, 8th March 1836.

[111] In 1790 Governor Carleton of New Brunswick manned the posts at St. John, Cumberland, Preguile, and Fredericton with a troop of soldiers, by which means "the route was kept in good order"; and in 1794 the Duke of Kent, then Commander-in-Chief of the forces in Nova Scotia, constructed a military post road from Halifax to Annapolis, and also other roads in the vicinity of Halifax.--_British America_ (British Empire Series, vol. iii., London, 1900), p. 121.

[112] _Vide_ p. 41, note, _supra._

[113] 31 Geo. III, cap. 31.

[114] 18 Geo. III, cap. 12.

[115] Will. IV, cap. 7.

[116] _Report of Special Committee, House of Assembly, Lower Canada_, 8th March 1836.

[117] Ibid., _Legislative Council, Lower Canada_, 15th March 1836. Cf. _Report of Select Committee, Legislative Council, Upper Canada_, 17th February 1837.

[118] "We have failed to discover reasonable grounds for hoping that the several Colonial Legislatures will soon (if indeed they ever will) arrive at such uniformity in their enactments for the management of the Post Office within their respective localities as would ensure the establishment of a practicable system, more especially since it is admitted that the Bill of one Legislature, in order to become effective, must correspond in all its material provisions with the Bills of all the other Legislatures, and that after these Bills have been found to correspond with one another, and had in consequence thereof become Laws, no alterations in them, however expedient it might be deemed by one Legislature for the improvement of the system, could be carried into effect, until agreed to by each separate Legislature."--_Joint Address, Legislature of Upper Canada_, March 1837, p. 11.

An example of the difficulties likely to be encountered, and some justification for the reluctance of the Imperial authorities to yield control of the service, is afforded by a dispute which occurred at about this time between Canada and Nova Scotia concerning the arrangements for the transmission of the British mails between Quebec and Halifax. Nova Scotia refused for the first time to make good the deficiency in the Post Office revenue. The authorities in London thereupon ordered the Deputy in the province to discontinue all unremunerative services, a course of action which proved effective.

[119] _Report of the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the affairs of the Post Office in British North America_, 31st December 1841.

[120] _British Official Records_, 1842-3.

[121] W. J. Page, Report of 1st October 1842 (_British Official Records_).

[122] Despatch of 28th August 1847.

[123] _Report of a Committee of the Executive Council of Canada on the Post Office_, 10th June 1848.

[124] 12 & 13 Vict., cap. 66.

[125] _Correspondence on the Subject of the Establishment of a General Post Office System in British North America_, Montreal, 27th February 1849.

[126] In 1851, $362,065; in 1852, $230,629; in 1855, $368,166.

[127] "He would, were it necessary for the revenue, prefer to retain the existing letter rate than to extend through the Dominion this newspaper impost, unknown in the Maritime Provinces before."--Hon. Dr. Tupper, _Parl. Debates_ (_Canada_), _House of Commons_, 20th December 1867.

[128] Hon. Mr. Campbell, Ibid., _Senate_, 3rd December 1867.

[129] "The Postal service should be expected to yield a revenue; but the service should be performed as low as possible, and if it paid its way that was all that need be desired."--Hon. Mr. Campbell, Ibid.

[130] The revenue in 1868 was $1,024,702, and in 1871, $1,079,768. In 1889 the rate was made 3 cents per ounce.

[131] See _infra_, p. 143.

[132] Sir W. Mulock, _Parl. Debates_ (_Canada_), _House of Commons_, 1st April 1898 (_Official Reports_, vol. xlvi.).

[133] Sir Charles Tupper, Ibid., 13th May 1898.

[134] In 1898, $3,527,810: in 1902, $3,888,126.

[135] "It is ordered that notice be given that Richard Fairbanks his house in Boston is the place appointed for all letters which are brought from beyond the seas or are to be sent thither to be left with him, and he is to take care that they are to be delivered or sent according to the directions; and he is allowed for every letter a penny, and must answer all miscarriages through his own negligence in this kind."

[136] Stanley I. Slack, _A Brief History of the Postal Service_, Omaha.

[137] M. E. Woolley, _Early History of the Colonial Post Office_, Providence, R.I., 1894, p. 6.

[138] New York, in 1692, enacted that any persons or body politic or corporate other than the Postmaster-General presuming to "carry, re-carry, or deliver letters for hire, or to set up or imploy any foot-post, horse-post, or pacquet-boat whatsoever" for the carrying of letters or packets should forfeit [L]100; and the Act of New Hampshire, passed in 1693, provided that no person or persons whatsoever should carry letters for hire, "except letters sent by private friend or by any messenger for or concerning the private affaires of any person."

[139] Preamble of Act (1st April 1693).

[140] "The mail carriers rode through the wilderness in this year of the beginning."--Stanley I. Slack, _A Brief History of the Postal Service_, Omaha, p. 11.

[141] See _infra_, Appendix B, pp. 391 ff.

[142] "An Act for establishing a General Post Office for all her Majesty's Dominions" (9 Anne, cap. 10).

[143] 5 Geo. III, cap. 25. See _supra_, pp. 38-9.

[144] Cf. _supra_, p. 38.

[145] Evidence of Benjamin Franklin before House of Commons Committee, 28th January 1766. The Committee were, of course, most anxious on points having relation to the taxation of the colonies by the English Parliament, and Dr. Franklin was asked questions directed to discovering whether the colonists regarded postage, which was fixed by Act of the British Parliament, and had been newly fixed by such Act in the previous year (5 Geo. III, cap. 25), as a tax. On this point Dr. Franklin emphatically held that the postage paid on a letter was not of the nature of a tax, but that it was simply payment for service performed; and, moreover, the payment of postage was not compulsory, since a man might still, as before the passing of the Act, send his letter by a servant, a special messenger, or a friend, if he thought it cheaper or safer. Dr. Franklin said that every Assembly encouraged the Post Office in its infancy by grants of money; that they would not have done this if they had thought the postage charge a tax, and as a matter of fact the system was always regarded as supplying a great convenience (W. Cobbett, _Parliamentary History of England_, vol. xvi. cols. 137-160).

[146] _Manifesto to the American People_, issued by Goddard, 2nd July 1774. Earlier in the manifesto it was remarked that "newspapers, those necessary and important alarms in time of public danger, may be rendered of little consequence for want of circulation."

[147] "It is not to be doubted but that the institution will be properly regulated by the Continental Congress."--_Manifesto to the American People_, 8th May 1774.

[148] _Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789_, pub. Washington, 1904, vol. ii. p. 208.

[149] Resolution of 30th September 1775. Ibid., vol. iii. p. 267.

[150] _British Official Records_, 6th December 1780.

[151] "The officers of the American Army beg leave to inform their friends and correspondents that the postage of all letters to and from the Army is doubled: but as their pay is fully adequate to every expense, they therefore request them to send all letters by the public post, and not _through any [oe]conomical view_ by a private conveyance.

'Tis a pity that the Honourable Congress did not treble the postage for Officers' letters, as a large annual sum by this means would be put into the public Treasury.

The several printers of newspapers on the Continent are requested to insert the above."--_Pennsylvania Packet_, 22nd June 1779.

[152] In all, no less a sum than $111,967 was advanced to the Post Office during the year 1779.--_Journals of the Continental Congress_, 1774-1789, pub. Washington, 1904, vol. xv. pp. 1412 and 1436.

[153] Ibid., vol. xviii. p. 1142.

[154] The rates were given in pennyweights and grains of silver, each pennyweight being estimated as equivalent to five-ninetieths of a dollar.

[155] _Journals of Congress_, Philadelphia, 1781-2, vol. vii. p. 509.

[156] See pp. 12-14, _supra._

[157] Ibid., vol. xii. p. 11.

[158] Message to Congress, 25th October 1791.

[159] See _Debates and Proceedings in Congress_, 20th December 1791. (Washington, 1849.)

[160] Ibid., 6th December 1791.

[161] See _Congressional Record_ (_House of Representatives_), 21st February 1863.

[162] Questions of the establishment and maintenance of the post roads were dealt with by Congress separately from questions of mail service.

[163] _Reports of Senate Committee_, 27th January 1835, p. 115.

[164] Letter to Hon. Mr. Kennedy, _Life of Sir Rowland Hill and History of Penny Postage_, pp. 336-7.

[165] See D. D. T. Leech, _The Post Office Department of the United States of America; its History, Organization, and Working_, Washington, D.C., 1879.

[166] Message to Congress, 3rd December 1844.

[167] Some notion of the spirit in which the question was approached may be gathered from the following extracts:--

"To content the man dwelling more remote from town with his homely lot, by giving him regular and frequent means of intercommunication: to assure to the emigrant, who plants his new home on the skirts of the distant wilderness or prairie, that he is not forever severed from the kindred and society that still share his interest and love: to prevent those whom the swelling tide of population is constantly pressing to the outer verge of civilization from being surrendered to surrounding influences and sinking into the hunter or savage state: to render the citizen, how far soever from the seat of his Government, worthy, by proper knowledge and intelligence, of his important privileges as a sovereign constituent of the Government: to diffuse, throughout all parts of the land, enlightenment, social improvement, and national affinities, elevating our people in the scale of civilization, and binding them together in patriotic affection."--_Report of House Committee_, 15th May 1844.

"It [the Post Office] was a most important element in the hand of civilization, especially of a republican people. There would be room to dilate in reference to the utility of the diffusion of sciences, the promotion of morals, and all these great benefits resulting from the intercourse of mind and mind.... Because it was so well understood by those who framed the Constitution, we find in that sacred instrument that the power of this department of the public service is exclusively vested in Congress.... Every nook and corner of this country should be visited by its operations, that it should shed light and information to the remote frontier settler as well as to the inhabitant of the populous city or densely populated districts."--Mr. Merrick in the Senate when introducing the Bill, 27th January 1845 (_Congressional Globe_).

"And what element but universal enlightenment of the people forms the chief corner-stone in the temple of our political hopes? and what instrument so calculated to awaken the ambition of the people to become educated as the cultivation of the taste for epistolatory correspondence, calling into action those energies of the mind so necessary to the intelligent discharge of the high and responsible duties of freemen, in a country where every man is equal, and the builder and maker of his Government."--Mr. Paterson in the House of Representatives, 1st March 1845 (_Congressional Globe_).

[168] "The extension of the mail service and the additional facilities which will be demanded by the rapid extension and increase of population on our western frontier will not admit of such curtailment as will materially reduce the present expenditure."--Message to Congress, 2nd December 1845.

[169] "The honour and interest of the nation required that as soon as the title to the country was settled, our citizens who were resident there, and those who shall go to settle there, should enjoy the benefits of the mail. And as it was the nation's business to establish the mail, it was equally the nation's business to pay the expense. No man can show how it is just and reasonable that the letters passing between Boston and New York should be taxed 150 per cent. to pay the expenses of a mail to Oregon on the pretext that the Post Office must support itself."--J. Leavitt, _Cheap Postage_, Boston, Mass., 1848, p. 27.

[170] Mr. Root (_Congressional Globe, House of Representatives_, 18th December 1850).

[171] "Sir, I am acquainted with the privations and hardships incident to the settlement of a new country: and I do not intend that my friends who are now combating the trials and hardships of California and Oregon shall be visited by their Government with such injustice. The men who are settling those countries are sacrificing their lives for a coming generation. I will not add to their hardships by taxing them four times as much as a citizen of the old States of the Union for a letter which shall give them intelligence of their friends left behind them, and shall chill that gush of feeling which will swell their bosoms, as they take possession of a letter that comes from their far-distant native land."--Mr. Sweetser (Ibid., 4th January 1851).

[172] _Congressional Record, Senate_, 17th January 1883.

[173] The cost of the provision and maintenance (lighting, heating, etc.) of Post Office buildings is charged directly on the Federal Treasury, and does not in any way figure in the Post Office deficit.

[174] "If the postal revenue arising from letter postage could be set aside for its proper uses, the millions of letter-writers of this country might quickly be permitted to enjoy a reduced taxation on letter-writing. In point of fact, there is a dear gain of nearly $30,000,000 from letter postages."--_Annual Report of the Postmaster-General_, 1890, p. 53.

[175] Ibid., 1891, p. 102.

[176] "There is now, and has been for many years, an insistent demand for the reduction of letter postage. The advocates of that reduction argue that the volume of business naturally resulting therefrom would offset the temporary loss in revenue. They insist that the charge for first-class matter is out of all proportion to the cost of its handling and transportation."--_Annual Report of the Postmaster-General_, 1906, p. xlvi.

[177] "As the profit on first-class matter is almost equal to the loss on second-class matter, it will readily be seen that an equalization of rates on the basis of the cost of service would permit a reduction in letter postage from 2 cents to 1 cent an ounce."--Mr. Hitchcock, Postmaster-General, evidence before Commission of 1911.

[178] P. Jaccottey, _Trait['e] de L['e]gislation et d'Exploitation Postales_, Paris, 1891, p. 5. E. Gallois, _La Poste_, etc., Paris, 1894, pp. 41 and 44.

[179] A. de Rothschild, _Histoire de la Poste aux Lettres_, Paris, 1879, p. 60.

[180] P. Jaccottey, op. cit., p. 6.

[181] Edict of 19th June 1464.

[182] Edict of 8th May 1597: "['E]dit du Roy pour l'['e]tablissement des relais de chevaux de louage, de traite en traite, sur les grands chemins, traverses et le long des rivi[e']res, pour servir [a'] vo[:i]ager, porter malles et toutes sortes de bagages."

[183] "Louis XI ne se pr['e]occupait nullement de la correspondance des particuliers, ni du d['e]veloppement des relations commerciales et sociales: il poursuivait un but exclusivement politique.

"Engag['e] dans sa grande lutte contre la f['e]odalit['e], il cherchait le moyen de transmettre avec c['e]l['e]rit['e] ses ordres dans les provinces et d'[^e]tre rapidement inform['e] des man[oe]uvres de ses ennemis.... L'institution cr['e]['e]e par Louis XI pour son usage exclusif ['e]tait donc identique dans son but, sinon dans ses moyens, [a'] la course publique des Romains."--P. Jaccottey, op. cit., p. 7. See also D. Macpherson, op. cit., vol. i. p. 695.

[184] A. Belloc, _Les Postes francaises_, Paris, 1886, pp. 43 and 46.

[185] Regulation of 26th October 1627.

[186] See Charles Bernede, _Des Postes en G['e]n['e]ral, et particuli[e']rement en France_, Nantes, 1826.

[187] L['e]on Cazes, _Le Monopole Postale_, Paris, 1900.

[188] Edict of 8th December 1703.

[189] Decrees of 26th-29th August 1790.

[190] P. Jaccottey, op. cit., p. 287. Cf. _Le Moniteur Universel_, 18 ao[^u]t 1791, p. 954.

[191] Law of 27th December 1795.

[192] P. Leroy-Beaulieu, _Trait['e] de la Science des Finances_, Paris, 1899, vol. i. p. 612.

[193] Law of 15th March 1827.

[194] Law of 3rd June 1829.

[195] "Citoyens repr['e]sentants, puisque l'honorable d['e]fenseur de l'inter[^e]t du tr['e]sor a port['e] [a'] cette tribune un mot, je ne le nie pas; il est vrai qu'au comit['e] des finances j'ai dit que cette loi ['e]tait une loi d'amour; je le r['e]p[e']te, et j'adresse de sinc[e']re remerciements [a'] la monarchie, pour avoir laiss['e] [a'] la R['e]publique le soin de donner cette loi au pays."--Le Citoyen Goudchaux, Ministre des Finances, Assembl['e]e Nationale, 24 ao[^u]t 1848 (_Le Moniteur Universel, Journal Officiel de la R['e]publique Francaise_).

[196] "La question que j'appelerai sociale est la premi[e']re qui se presente [a'] mon esprit ... Je dis done, que, au point de vue sociale, la diminution de la taxe des lettres, loin d'[^e]tre favorable uniquement aux n['e]gociants, aux gros banquiers, comme on l'a suppos['e] toute [a'] l'heure, sera favorable aussi au plus grand nombre des citoyens ...

"Quant [a'] l'avantage moral qui r['e]sulterait de l'accroissement de ces correspondances, je crois inutile de m'appesantir sur ce c[^o]t['e] de la question. Est-il douteux, en effet, que les enfants auront toujours [a'] profiter des conseils d'un p[e']re, d'une m[e']re? Est-il douteux que les liens de famille so resserreront davantage, lorsque les r['e]lations seront plus fr['e]quentes?"--Le Citoyen Goudchaux, Assembl['e]e Nationale, 24 ao[^u]t 1848 (ibid.).

[197] The total is made up thus:--

Local letters in towns of the departments 14-1/2 millions
Local letters in Paris 10 "
Foreign letters 7-1/2 "
Letters passing between different towns 23 "
------
55 "

[198] See _Le Moniteur Universel, Journal Officiel de la R['e]publique Francaise_, ao[^u]t 1848.

[199] "Je concevrais quo le Gouvernement ['e]tabl[^i]t un imp[^o]t sur tout autre chose pour favoriser celle-l[a'], mais qu'il ['e]tablisse un imp[^o]t, sur celle-l[a'], cela me parait contradictoire. Tous les jours nous votons des taxes pour faciliter la locomotion des hommes et des choses, nous construisons des routes, des canaux, des chemins de fer dont nous livrons gratuitement l'usage au public, et ensuite nous entravons par des taxes la transmission des id['e]es! Je dis quo le Gouvernement ne doit pas faire des profits sur ce service. C'est l[a'] un principe qui s'est ['e]tendu sur presque toute l'Europe. En Angleterre on est compl[e']tement entr['e] dans cette voie. Aux Etats-Unis le Gouvernement fait des frais et des frais ['e]normes pour en ['e]pargner [a'] ceux qui veulent correspondre."--Le Citoyen Fr['e]d['e]ric Bastiat, Assembl['e]e Nationale, 24 ao[^u]t 1848, ibid.

[200] "Les frais de la poste sont [a'] peu pr[e']s de 30 millions. Qu'est-ce que la poste nous porte? Qu'est-ce qu'elle distribue? Elle distribue trois natures d'objets; d'abord une multitude de journaux, et remarquez-le bien, ces journaux sont soumis [a'] la m[^e]me l['e]gislation que je propose aujourd'hui pour les lettres; car, telle est la puissance de l'habitude, ce qui vous a paru fort extraordinaire se pratique sous nos yeux, tous les jours pour les journaux; et cependant aujourd'hui vous trouvez singulier qu'on le propose pour les lettres. La poste transporte done des journaux dont le poids, si je ne me trompe, est de 900 kilogrammes.

"Elle transporte ensuite toutes les d['e]p[^e]ches administratives dont le poids d['e]passe 1,000 [a'] 1,100 kilogrammes.

"Enfin elle transporte les lettres dont le poids n'est pas ['e]gal ni [a'] celui des journaux, ni [a'] celui des d['e]p[^e]ches administratives.

"En cons['e]quence, si vous r['e]partissez les 30 millions ou 35 millions, si vous voulez, sur les trois services, vous verrez qu'il ne faut pas mettre au compte des lettres plus d'une douzaine de millions de francs.

"Eh bien, si toutes les lettres ['e]taient tax['e]es [a'] 5 centimes, il n'y a pas de doute que les 12 ou 15 millions de frais seraient parfaitement couverts."--Le Citoyen Fr['e]d['e]ric Bastiat, ibid.

[201] Edgar Bonnet, _Importance, des Postes et T['e]l['e]graphes au point de vue social et ['e]conomique_, Paris, 1891.

[202] M. Caillaux, Assembl['e]e Nationale, 23 ao[^u]t 1871 (_Journal Officiel de la R['e]publique Francaise_).

[203] P. Jaccottey, op. cit., p. 298.

[204] See _Rapport sur l'Administration des Postes_, pr['e]sent['e] au Ministre des Finances par M. L['e]on Riant, Directeur-G['e]n['e]ral, octobre 1877.

[205] "Toute commune doit [^e]tre desservie une fois par jour, au moins (_loi du 21 avril, 1832, art. 47_) sauf exception temporaire en cas de force majeure, et dont il est rendu compte au directeur du d['e]partement."--_Instruction g['e]n['e]rale sur le service des Postes et des T['e]l['e]graphes_, Paris, 1905, vol. iv. p. 453, Instr. 5316.

[206] It must further be borne in mind that France was less developed industrially.

[207] "Nous avons jug['e] cette r['e]forme insuffisante; elle ne serait pas de nature [a'] donner une satisfaction r['e]elle [a'] notre industrie et [a'] acc['e]l['e]rer suffisamment le mouvement de la correspondance. On pouvait discuter peut-[^e]tre l'opportunit['e] de la mesure; mais d[e']s que cette mesure est reconnue n['e]cessaire, elle doit [^e]tre compl[e']te, de mani[e']re [a'] produire tous ses effets....

"La r['e]forme [a'] 20 centimes entra[^i]nerait done un d['e]ficit total de 12 millions; et celle [a'] 15 centimes, de 27 millions; le rapprochement de ces deux chiffres suffit [a'] d['e]montrer que le sacrifice n'est pas assez consid['e]rable pour h['e]siter [a'] faire une r['e]forme compl[e']te en r['e]duisant imm['e]diatement la taxe [a'] 15 centimes."--_Rapport portant fixation du Budget g['e]n['e]rale_, d['e]pos['e] le 31 juillet 1877.

[208] _Rapport portant fixation du Budget g['e]n['e]rale_, Chambre des D['e]put['e]s, 1898, No. 498.

[209] Their remarks are characteristic of the attitude adopted towards the reform. They said:--

"L'adoption de cette proposition de M. Chassaing aurait pour effet de cr['e]er dans le Budget de 1898 un d['e]ficit qu'il ne parait gu[e']re possible d'['e]valuer [a'] moins de 38 millions. Quel qu'il puisse [^e]tre, dans la situation actuelle, il serait indispensable de le combler et l'on ne pourrait pour cela recourir qu'[a'] des ressources nouvelles. L'auteur de la proposition n'en indique pas. II se borne [a'] demander l'abandon d'une recette sans dire par quoi cet abandon serait compens['e]. Sera-ce [a'] l'imp[^o]t qu'il faudra s'adresser? Mais ce n'est pas seulement d'une diminution de recette qu'il s'agira. On a vu qu'une augmentation de d['e]pense ['e]tait le corollaire imm['e]diat de la proposition, car plus prompt et plus sensible sera l'effet de la r['e]duction de tarif, plus pressante sera la n['e]cessit['e] d'ouvrir de nouveaux bureaux, de cr['e]er de nouveaux courriers, de renforcer le personnel charg['e] de la manipulation et de la distribution, plus t[^o]t s'imposera l'obligation de r['e]organiser le service de Paris.

"C'est l[a'] une [oe]uvre ou l'initiative et l'intervention du Gouvemement sont n['e]cessaires.

"Mais, en tout cas, et pour ce qui concerne la Commission du Budget de 1898, un abandon de recettes de 21 millions ayant lui-m[^e]me pour consequence une augmentation de d['e]pense de 17 millions ne lui ont pas paru admissibles."--_Rapport portant fixation du Budget g['e]n['e]rale_, Chambre des D['e]put['e]s, 1897, No. 2701, p. 49.

[210] _Rapport sur les conditions du Fonctionnement de l'Administration des Postes et des T['e]l['e]graphes_, par A. Millerand, le Ministre du Commerce, de l'Industrie, des Postes, et des T['e]l['e]graphes, 12 May 1900.

[211] "En tout cas les r['e]sultats de l'exp['e]rience faite [a'] l'['e]tranger prouvent que l'on peut abaisser la taxe des cartes postales jusqu'[a'] la moiti['e] de celle des lettres simple sans craindre que les cartes fassent concurrence aux lettres et que la g['e]n['e]ralisation de ce mode de correspondance [a'] prix r['e]duit am[e']ne une diminution des revenus de la poste."--M. Millerand, op. cit.

[212] Ibid.

[213] On such packets the rate was 1 centime for each 5 grammes. M. Millerand was of opinion that any rate less than 5 centimes involved a loss to the net revenue. In 1877 it had been estimated that the average cost of dealing with a postal packet (taking all classes into consideration) was 8 centimes: in 1889 it had been estimated at 5.5 centimes. The Budget Commission of 1901 estimated the cost at 4 centimes.--See _Rapport portant fixation du Budget g['e]n['e]rale_, Chambre des D['e]put['e]s, 1901, No. 1866.

[214] "C'est tomber dans la banalit['e] de dire que la France n'occupe pas dans le monde, au point de vue du trafic postal, un rang correspondant [a'] l'importance de sa population, de son commerce, de son Industrie, et de sa haute civilisation."--Ibid.

[215] "Depuis de longues ann['e]es, les chambres de commerce et la Presse toute enti[e']re r['e]claimaient une r['e]forme depuis quelque temps r['e]alis['e]e dans la plupart des pays ['e]trangers. Mais le souci de l'['e]quilibre budg['e]taire avait toujours fait ajourner la r['e]duction [a'] 10 centimes de la taxe des lettres."--Ibid., S['e]nat, 1906, No. 477.

[216] On the proposal at the Universal Postal Congress of 1907 to increase the weight unit for international letters, the Budget Report (Chambre des D['e]put['e]s, Session 1909, No. 2767) contained the following:--

"Alors que tous nos voisins ou presque tous s'['e]taient conform['e]s [a'] partir du 1^er octobre 1907, aux indications du Congr[e']s de l'Union postale universelle, il ['e]tait humiliant pour la France de montrer que des pr['e]occupations purement fiscales l'emp[^e]chaient d'adopter, avec le m[^e]me empressement que l'Allemagne, la Belgique, l'Angleterre ou la Suisse, la r['e]forme."

[217] _Rapport portant fixation du Budget g['e]n['e]rale_, S['e]nat, 1908, No. 340. Ibid., Chambre des D['e]put['e]s, 1908, No. 2032.

[218] "Il n'en coute pas plus pour timbrer, trier, transporter et distribuer un objet pesant qu'un objet l['e]ger. Tout au plus doit ou tenir compte de l'encombrement produit par les objets volumineux et du surcro[^i]t de travail qu'occasionne le contr[^o]le obligatoire du poids des objets pesantes, en graduant les tarifs suivant une progression nettement d['e]croissante par rapport au poids."--Ibid.

[219] See table of financial effect, _Rapport portant fixation du Budget g['e]n['e]rale_, S['e]nat, 1910, No. 115.

[220] Prior to the date of the establishment of the Imperial German Post Office, the text deals more particularly with the rate in Prussia. For a sketch of the Thurn and Taxis posts in Germany see _infra_, Appendix A, pp. 349 ff.

[221] H. von Stephan, _Geschichte der preussischen Post_, Berlin, 1859, p. 12.

[222] F. Haass, _Die Post und der Charakter ihrer Eink[:u]nfte_, Stuttgart, 1890, p. 92.

[223] F. Haass, op. cit., p. 94.

[224] H. von Stephan, op. cit., p. 15.

[225] Ibid., p. 17.

[226] 1 German mile=7.5 kilometres. Distances are given throughout in German miles.

[227] H. von Stephan, op. cit., p. 62.

[228] Ibid., p. 18.

[229] "Dass unter solchen Umst[:a]nden bei Ankunft der Posten namentlich an bedeutenderen Orten ein grosser Zusammenlauf von Menschen stattfand, ist begreiflich. Auch finden wir mehrere Rescripte wider das tumultuarische Treiben des Publicums vor den Posth[:a]usern."--Ibid., p. 61.

[230] In 1662 the posts yielded 7,000 thalers surplus (revenue 17,000 thalers, expenditure 10,000 thalers); in 1672, 10,433 thalers (revenue 24,539 thalers, expenditure 14,106 thalers); in 1682, 29,058 thalers (revenue 51,959 thalers, expenditure 22,901 thalers); and in 1688, 39,213 thalers (revenue 79,971 thalers, expenditure 40,758 thalers). The net revenue of the posts was generally devoted to the payment of State officials, to the improvement of means of communication (building of canals, etc.), and to beneficence. For example, the Elector, during the severe illness of his first wife, made a vow to found an almshouse and ordered 6,000 thalers yearly to be assigned for its support. Of this sum 2,000 thalers were laid on the post revenues.--Ibid., p. 60.

[231] A groschen was roughly the equivalent of a penny. The value of money was then about four times its present value.

[232] The price of a bushel of rye in Berlin, which from 1740 to 1756 had varied from 23 groschen to a thaler, rose to 4 thalers.

[233] The edict of the 27th January proclaiming the higher rates remarked that the raising of the letter rate would be detrimental to the public and prejudicial to the credit of the service, and that "in spite of the high price of corn and the depreciation of money, raising of the letter rate could not be thought of, and that in the neighbouring States this measure, however soon it might be set aside, had worked to their disadvantage."--H. von Stephan, op. cit., p. 292.