Chapter IV

Witherings had not long put the posts into some kind of order, as regards expedition and regularity, with the result no doubt of increased business and growing profit to himself, when his possession of the office of Postmaster for Foreign Parts excited the covetous heart of Windebank--one of the two Principal Secretaries of State and joint Comptroller with Coke of the inland posts, and a friend or creature of Laud.

Pigeon-holes in public offices, as elsewhere, have long memories; and a paper referring (as is supposed) to the year 1637 has been preserved, containing "Observations of Secretary Windebank for recalling the patent formerly granted to Mr. Witherings to be Postmaster for Foreign Parts." The principal grounds suggested for getting rid of Witherings are the following:--"The inconvenience of suffering such an office to remain in the hands of a person who is no sworn officer. Suspicion that his patent was surreptitiously obtained--no signed bill was found. Persons who hold the office of Postmaster abroad are of so great quality that they disdain to correspond with a man of his mean condition. Some satisfaction may be given him, but he has very much enriched himself upon the place. He is said to be worth £800 a year in land. The office of Postmaster-General being now vested in the Secretaries, the carrying of letters is a business of State. If Witherings shall insist upon his patent, His Majesty may sequester the place into the hands of the Secretaries." We cannot say whether Witherings was aware of what was hatching in the mind of Windebank, but we know that he was not then driven from his office.

Troubles now arose out of the exclusive privilege of carrying letters as set forth and described in the king's proclamation of the 31st July 1635. It appears, by an Order of Council of the 15th December 1637, that one "Jason Grover, carrier of Ipswich and Yarmouth, was taken in custody by a messenger, upon complaint that he had transgressed the proclamation and patent granted to Mr. Witherings." The Lords could not then settle the matter, and Jason was discharged upon a bond of £200, to appear at Hilary term next, to answer what was alleged against him. In a petition to the Council in January 1638, Grover gives his version of the affair as follows:--"Petitioner, about two months ago, riding on one of his pack-horses with his pack, was arrested by the procurement of Mr. Witherings, Postmaster of England for Foreign Parts. Petitioner remained in the messenger's custody 16 days before he came to this Board, when it was ordered that he should attend to be heard the first week in Hilary term, and in the meantime petitioner was permitted to follow his vocation. But on the 11th instant there came a messenger, and summoned petitioner to attend on Wednesday then next, all which he has punctually observed, yet Mr. Witherings threatens that he will not leave petitioner worth a groat."

Witherings gives his view of the matter in petition to the Council about the same time. "About three weeks since," says he, "the _posts_ of Norwich and Yarmouth petitioned to be released, which was granted, with the proviso that they should attend after the holidays, and in the meantime be comformable to the grant of the letter office by bond, which bond Grover of Ipswich has already forfeited. On the hearing, Mr. Hieron, counsel for the _posts_, cast an aspersion on the petitioner that he should say they ought not to be heard by your Lordships, which petitioner denies, and doubts not to clear himself of everything else that shall be objected to him. As the _posts_ continue to carry letters contrary to petitioner's grant, he prays the Lords to consider the great charge he has been at in settling the conveyance of letters throughout England, Scotland, Ireland, and other parts beyond the seas, and not to suffer the _posts_ to continue carrying letters."

It should be noted that the word "posts," as used in this memorial of Witherings, applies to the common carriers or packmen.

Grover was not left to fight the battle of the carriage of letters alone. He was supported by the merchants of Norwich, and others trading in Norwich stuffs, in a petition addressed to the Council as follows:--"There has long been a constant trade betwixt London and Norwich in sundry sorts of stuffs and stockings made in Norwich and Norfolk, which trade has always been maintained by the merchants of Norwich employing their stocks in buying the wares of the makers, and sending them up weekly in carts by common carriers to London, whence they are dispersed into all parts of this kingdom, and also exported to foreign parts, in which intercourse of trade we always had our letters safely and speedily carried by our common carrier, by a horseman, not in manner of postage by change of horses, but as is usual by common carriers, and for little or no charge to us. Of late Mr. Witherings has intercepted our letters and molested our carriers, forbidding them to carry any of our letters otherwise than to go along with their carts, and no faster." Petitioners then explain why the new system of conveying letters will prove detrimental to their trade, and pray that "they may enjoy their ancient course of conveying letters by their common carriers." A separate memorial to a similar effect was sent up by Robert Sumpter, Mayor, and seventeen others of the town of Norwich.

After hearing Thomas Witherings and Jason Grover, and their counsel, upon this dispute, an Order in Council was drafted, on the 19th January, to the following effect:--

"It was ordered that Grover and all carriers shall henceforth conform to the letters patent granted to Witherings of the letter office, and the proclamation in that behalf. _But their Lordships declared that it would be lawful for any carrier that should receive the letters of merchants or others, to be carried from town to town within the kingdom, to use what diligence he may, and to ride what pace he will, so as he do it without shifting or change of horses._ It was objected that Witherings took more for the carriage of letters within the kingdom than was usual; the Lords referred the consideration of all complaints of that nature to the Secretaries of State, praying them to take courses for redress of such abuse." This draft, on being submitted to the king, did not wholly satisfy him; and he struck out the clause in italics, writing in the margin the words, "This clause to be left out."

On the 21st January another Order in Council was drafted on this vexed question: "It was ordered that the carriers of Norwich, as was ordered on the 19th instant for the carrier of letters of Yarmouth and Ipswich, should conform to the letters patent granted to Witherings of the letter office, and to the proclamation on that behalf, and not presume to do or attempt anything contrary to the same." Three days later, namely, on the 24th January, yet another Order in Council was issued from the Inner Star Chamber, making a concession to the carriers: "It was now ordered that for the better accommodation of the said merchants, it should be permitted to the common and known carriers of letters belonging to Norwich, or any other town, to carry the letters of merchants and others, travelling with the same letters the ordinary journeys that common carriers travel, and coming to London, Norwich, or any other town, not above eight hours before the carts, waggons, or pack-horses, whereunto Witherings and others are to conform themselves." This concession would appear to refer to the practice of the masters of the heavy waggons performing the common carrying business of the country, riding on a horse alongside the waggons, and who, leaving the waggons in charge of their men when nearing their destination, might make a dash forward to arrange the loading for the return journey. The masters of a string of pack-horses would probably adopt the same practice.

Jason, who had been fighting for the continuance of the old state of things, seems not to have become aware at once of the limited concession made to the carriers, and the result is described in the following _de profundis_ addressed to the Earl of Dorset, Lord Chamberlain to the Queen, and one of the Lords of the Council, from the uncongenial precincts of the Fleet Prison:--

"Petitioner and the carriers of Norwich were lately questioned by Mr. Witherings touching the carriage of letters; and the Lords ordered a settled course, not only for the carriers of Norwich, but for all other carriers, by Order of the 24th January last, to which Order petitioner is willing to conform himself, but had no knowledge that the same was drawn up till the 10th February instant. And although petitioner has not broken the said Order since the drawing up thereof, yet he, with his two men, were by Witherings' procurement for 17 days committed to a messenger, and now to the Fleet, and cannot be discharged except petitioner will enter into bond to perform such order as Witherings has prescribed, which is contrary to the Order of the Board. Prays that he may enjoy the benefit of the said Order, and not be punished before he has broken the same, nor compelled by Witherings to enter into bond, the Order being a sufficient tie."

Jason Grover must have found himself in very respectable company in the Fleet Prison, for, at the very time of his confinement, two well-known historical characters, John Lilburne and John Warton, were, under the proceedings of the notorious Star Chamber, thrown into this place of evil note. "Upon the 9th February 1638, the Star Chamber ordered that, as the two delinquents had contemptuously refused to take the oaths tendered to them, they should be remanded to the Fleet Prison, there to remain close prisoners, and to be examined," etc. It is a curious coincidence that the charge against these men was for the "unlawful printing and publishing of libellous and seditious books, entitled _News from Ipswich_," etc., and that Grover's incarceration was for the carriage of letters from the same district of country.

In order to put matters beyond all doubt, as between Witherings on the one hand and the common carriers and the public on the other, and to lay down clearly the mode of working, with the claims of the whole postal service committed to the hands of Witherings, a fresh royal proclamation was issued on the 11th February 1638. Of the original issue of this document it is understood that copies are extremely rare. The main provisions of the proclamation are the following:--That as the secrets of the realm might be disclosed to foreign nations were promiscuous carriers of letters allowed to the Continent, none other were to be suffered than those employed by Witherings; that Witherings' carriers to the Continent should travel by the sole route of Dover, Calais, Boulogne, Abbeville, and Amiens, and thence to Paris. Noticing that "sundry abuses and miscarriages" are daily being committed in respect of the inland posts to the prejudice of Witherings, the proclamation sets forth that, where Witherings' posts are laid down, "no post or carrier whatsoever within His Majesty's dominions" ... "shall presume to take up, carry, receive and deliver any letter or letters," etc., "except a particular messenger sent on purpose with letters by any man for his own occasions, or letters by a friend, or by common known carriers, who are hereby permitted to carry any letters along with their carts, waggons, and pack-horses, travelling with the same the ordinary known journeys that common carriers use to travel. Provided always that they, nor any of their servants, at no time stay at any place from whence they carry any letters above eight hours after their carts, waggons, or pack-horses are departed, nor bring any letters to London, or elsewhere, above eight hours before the said carts, waggons, or pack-horses shall come there." The postage exigible by Witherings for inland letters was to be as follows:--

Single Double Heavy
Miles. Letter. Letter. Letter.

Under 80 2d. 4d. 6d. per oz. From 80 to 140 4d. 8d. 9d. " Over 140 6d. 1s. 0d. 1s. 0d. " To Ireland 9d. -- 2s. 6d. "

Provision is made for the punishment of any post-boy or other servant charging any sum in excess of these rates.

The Council, in managing the affairs of the country generally, must have had their hands very full, for the amount of business brought to their consideration in connection with the posts alone, judging by the records left, was by no means small. The postmasters were constant complainers of their treatment by the State, and the public equally constant complainers against the postmasters. In November 1637, Robert Challenor, His Majesty's post of Stone, County Stafford, memorialises Secretaries Coke and Windebank as follows:--"Petitioner for 40 years has been postmaster in the said place, which office he has always faithfully executed in his own person, until visited with a long sickness, as by an annexed certificate appears. Mr Witherings endeavours to put another in petitioner's place, upon pretence that petitioner had put in a deputy, being his son, who about a year and a half since, in the time of petitioner's sickness, gave his assistance for performance of His Majesty's service; and on the 17th March 1637 petitioner, during his illness, disposed of his estate by will, and then assigned his arrears due to him for his post-wages to his son, towards discharging petitioner's debts, and benefit of his wife and children. Mr Witherings, in regard petitioner would not give him £100 for petitioner's place (over and above the carriage of the merchants' letters twice every week), has for £40 given orders for the said place to another, whose parents have been great recusants. Petitioner being still able and willing, and his arrears £368 (that stage being the longest between London and Chester, and yet is allowed only 20d. per diem), prays order that he may be continued in his place, and may receive the said £368." This petition was backed up by a certificate of the Justices of the Peace of the county, setting forth the petitioner's fitness for the office.

Another postmaster, Thomas Parks, on the stage from London to Barnet, petitions Secretary Windebank to the following effect:--"Has executed that office about six years, which has stood him in £180, without any neglect, as Mr. Railton can inform you, and has received but two years' pay at the rate of 20d. per diem. Notwithstanding his diligence, Mr Witherings endeavours to bring in another, and has already taken from petitioner the through posts place of Charing Cross, which cost petitioner £63, 6s. Prays order to Witherings to deliver petitioner his orders and confirm him in his place."

David Francis, late post of Northop, petitions thus:--"There is £90 in arrear to petitioner for execution of the said place, as appears by the last account of Lord Stanhope to the Auditors. Has been three months in town soliciting payment, and received fair promises from Mr. Witherings; but now he absolutely says petitioner shall have none, so that he is like to be imprisoned. Has spent near his whole estate in coming to town to solicit for his father's arrears, who was post of Chester 60 years. Prays order to receive part with the rest who are in the privy seal, otherwise he is like to perish by the prosecution of his greedy creditors."

Richard Scott, innkeeper of Stilton, Huntingdonshire, petitions Coke and Windebank for the place of a postmaster who discharges his office by deputy. "For some years past," says he, "the place of post of Stilton, being in the high North road, has been executed by a deputy, who keeps an alehouse there, the postmaster living twelve miles distant, and his deputy no ways able to receive gentlemen and travellers, much less noblemen, whereby the posts are forced to travel at unseasonable times and are not fitted with able horses. Petitioner being an innkeeper in the town, both able and willing to give noblemen and gentlemen entertainment, prays that he may serve His Majesty in that place."

Royston, a market-town in Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, was an important place in relation to the posts for two reasons: it was a stage not far distant from London, on the great North road, and a place of residence for the king when he retired to hunt in the neighbourhood. Now, on these two accounts there must have been frequent demands made upon the postmaster to provide horses, and, on occasions, considerable numbers of horses. We are little familiar with the demands then made for horses when the sovereign was pleased to go on progress. In _Nichols' Progress of James I._, it is stated that the number of carts employed when the sovereign went on progress was, about the year 1604, reduced from 600 to 220! And even when the king moved about, not in a formal progress, it is probable that large orders were given for horses. In an account of the number of post horses taken up at Royston by four o'clock in the morning of one day in February 1638, it is recorded that, from nineteen parishes, 200 horses were so taken up, each parish contributing from six to fourteen horses. That the duties of the postmaster were more than usually onerous, is recognised in the fact that he and the postmaster of Newmarket, where there was another royal hunting seat, were paid (or were supposed to be paid) on the highest scale allowed to postmasters, namely, 4s. 4d. a day, as will be seen by the list of wages previously given.

But all this levying of horses was extremely burdensome and irritating to the people, who, however, do not appear to have submitted quietly to the infliction. The following petition of eighteen inhabitants of Royston, to the Justices of Peace for the county of Hertford, shows how matters stood, and the estimation in which they held their postmaster; it refers to April 1638:--"Thomas Haggar, of their town, innholder, bearing himself so irregularly by authority of his office (as postmaster), abuses his protection, to the great grievance of the town and country: breaking open some of their doors in the night without constable; taking away their horses without their privity; extorting, bribing, beating, commanding, threatening countrymen that will not fee him, or do him service with their carts, or spend their money in tippling in his house; hindering poor men from coming to the market to sell their corn, by taking their horses post when there is no cause; causing the horses to be double posted, keeping them longer than the service requires; and misusing young colts and horses not fit for that service, whereby they are oftentimes spoiled; as also taking more horses than need requires. They state the consequences to their market, and pray relief."

With this petition the following specific cases of abuse were set forth, some of them sworn under affidavit. One John Rutter, a husbandman of Harleton, Co. Cambridge, having his horse, along with others, taken up to go post to Ware, and seeing one of the others released, "said he feared there was underhand dealing; whereupon the postmaster's wife, and afterwards the postmaster himself, violently assaulted him, so that he was forced to lie at Royston all night for his hurts to be dressed, and was compelled to go to Ware after his horse, and had to pay charges for him, being paid only for one stage, although his horse had gone two; and was much wronged thereby." The statement adds that the postmaster, and also his wife and servants, "usually take money to free horses from going post, and then take other horses to do the service." A yeoman of Croydon, Co. Cambridge, named Amps, complained of Haggar taking a horse to go post one stage from Royston, but discovered that it had been ridden to Newmarket. When the horse was returned, the postmaster refused payment; and because Amps made complaint, he found that whenever he came to Royston the postmaster was "ready to take his horse and put an unreasonable load upon him." One of the chief constables of the Hundred of Odsey, Co. Hertford, stated that, having to serve a warrant on Haggar for an assault, he compelled him to send on the packet, which means that his horse was taken to ride the post stage. The complainer adds, that "by taking money to excuse post horses, the market of Royston is much wronged." Another case of assault by Haggar and his wife upon a countryman is alleged; the grounds being that he had imputed bribery on seeing another man's horse released while his own was seized for service. Sundry other instances of misconduct and oppression are charged against the postmaster, one of which is: that four men were sent out with warrants to warn country towns to bring in horses; that in two days about 200 were summoned, but that most of them were believed to have been compounded for by the constables.

In reading this story of the proceedings of the postmaster and his wife, the comment suggests itself, that "the grey mare must have been the better horse."

On the 7th May 1638, a Mr. John Nicholas writes to his son, Mr. Edward Nicholas, to the following effect, complaining of his local postmaster:--"Edward Nicholas may do his country good, and especially that neighbourhood, who are much oppressed by the postmaster of Sarum, Roger Bedbury, the innkeeper of the Three Swans, in Sarum. Sends copy of a warrant Bedbury has procured from the Secretaries of State. By virtue thereof he sends his warrants to the constables to bring in horses furnished, and to pay for their keep, and employs them, not in His Majesty's service, but to his own benefit. Leonard Bowles, one of the constables of the Hundred of Alderbury, being required, brought in horses; and in his presence a minister, coming to the postmaster to hire horses, he delivered to the minister one of them. The constable asked the postmaster wherefore the minister rode post, imagining he was not employed in His Majesty's service, to which the postmaster answered, he rode for a benefice, as he thought. If Edward Nicholas may prevent the postmaster's knavery, prays him to do so." From an enclosure with this letter, it appears that, in issuing his warrant to the constables to send in on the 9th May "six able horses, with furniture, for His Majesty's service for two days and two nights, at the charge of the owners," the postmaster relied upon and recited a warrant from Secretaries Coke and Windebank, dated 13th February, "for sending to the postmaster ten or twelve horses from New Sarum, a six-miles' compass."

A week later, Mr. John Nicholas, finding that the prosecution of the complaint was likely to prove troublesome, declares that he will have nothing more to do with it. "Touching the postmaster," he writes, "I will meddle no further, if there be such a business in it; but let the constable, or who else finds himself wronged, follow it and inform against him. It will be good service in any that shall do it, and good for your own understanding to know the ground of the warrant, and whether the postmaster may require the owner of the horse to pay for his meat two days and two nights. It may be my own case, for the constable has been to me for a horse. I put him off with good words; but how I shall do it again, I know not; yet if it be too troublesome to you, I pray you meddle no further." Mr. John Nicholas was one of a very common type of men, who are ever ready to make a fuss over a grievance in the first instance, but who are at all times forward to draw someone else in to fight their battles for them.

There are grounds for supposing that at this time some order had been issued, empowering the postmasters to keep in their stables supplies of horses, taken up in the neighbourhood, and, while standing in the stables, to be fed at the owners' expense. This seems the meaning of a presentment made at the Grand Inquest at the Assizes holden at Bath on the 2nd July 1638. The statement made is: "That of late there are come commissions into the country, under the hand of the two Secretaries of State, to all postmasters, for taking up such numbers of horses as the postmasters shall think fit; and the postmasters take into their stables ten or twelve horses at one time, and keep them two nights, and then take in so many more; and if they have employment for any of them, they pay the post price, otherwise they make the owners pay for their meat and dressing what rate they please; but some, upon composition, they release, which makes the burthen the heavier upon the rest. We beseech you to present this grievance to His Majesty."

The way in which traffic was carried on in the places of country postmasterships, and the duties delegated to deputies, is set forth in a petition to the king, of February 1638, from Randolph Church, one of His Majesty's gentlemen pensioners. Petitioner "has for sixteen years served as serjeant-at-arms, and, since he left that place, in the place wherein he now serves; during which time he never received benefit by any suit; but he purchased some post places under Lord Stanhope, which he has executed by deputies for many years. But now Lord Stanhope, having surrendered his patent, petitioner's post places, to the value of £200 per annum, are taken away, there being £650 due to him for wages upon the said places; and now petitioner, being employed in the prosecution of delinquents for converting timber to coal for making iron, and having expended much money therein, and being likely to bring great sums into the Exchequer, the means by which he should subsist are taken away. Beseeches some such satisfaction out of moneys brought into the Exchequer by his present service as may equal his places and arrears."

There seems almost no end of the petitions which came up from the postmasters upon all phases of their duties and pay. Thomas Carr, postmaster of Berwick, thus complains: "Thomas Witherings, in consideration of his grant of the letter office of England and foreign parts, is to pay the posts their wages. Witherings has reduced the wages of Thomas Carr from 2s. 4d. to 1s. per diem, all the rest being cut off only but the third part of their pay, which will not be sufficient to find horse and man to perform the service; moreover, they are enjoined to more service than formerly, viz. to carry his mail of letters forward and backward once a week gratis. Witherings employs one at Berwick to carry his letters from thence to Edinburgh for 20s. a week. Carr has offered to perform it for a great deal less; but Witherings not only denies the same, but threatens to put Carr out of his place if he go not speedily down, he waiting only for the arrears of his post wages, without which he is not able to subsist. Requests that his pay may be made 1s. 8d. per diem, that he may carry the letters from Berwick to Edinburgh, and also that he may be sworn His Majesty's servant, as the other posts are."

In a position such as Witherings held, and in a period when the public mind was greatly disturbed, it must have been a hard task for any man to keep free from entanglements and quarrels with the public. We have several notices of differences, more or less serious, in which Witherings was concerned. In May 1633, he is reported to have "misbehaved himself toward my Lord Marshal and his son Lord Maltravers," but in what respect is not stated. Again, in May 1636, Captain Carterett writes (to Sir John Coke, apparently), from on board his ship in the Downs, complaining of Witherings, as follows:--"Being in Dover Road, there came unto me one Mr. Thomas Witherings (who is also called Postmaster-General) for to have Captain Dunning's vessel to carry him over for Calais, having a packet (as he said) from your honour to my Lord Ambassador at Paris. I told him he should have the _Roebuck_, or I would go over with him myself. I desired him to show me the packet, but he told me he would neither show me order nor packet; he began to use me in very rough and coarse language, notwithstanding that I did use him with all the civility I could. I have heard that he had never a packet, but only went over to Calais about his own businesses. He gave out that he doth belong to your honour." There are always two sides to a story; and when Witherings' version had been heard, the tables were turned upon the captain. This appears by a letter, written by Secretary Coke to (probably) the Governor of Dover about the same period. "Finding our foreign letters," says Coke, "come with less expedition than they were used to do, and requiring account thereof from the Postmaster of Foreign Parts, he excused himself by a certificate that Captain Carteret, who is trusted with that business, refuses to put to sea with merchants' letters only. He formerly charged Mr. Witherings with uncivil usage, which I discovered to have no ground. His Majesty requires your lordship to rectify this disorder; and to charge Captain Carteret, to whom you give this trust, to be careful to convey the merchants' packets as his own. And if he be not conformable, that you appoint some other more proper for that duty; which Captain Drury before him performed with good content, and may haply be still ready to undertake." But two years later Witherings had a difference with a man of much higher standing, namely, the Earl of Northumberland, then Lord General of the Forces at Sea, arising out of some failure in the conveyance of a packet. The precise facts are not clear; but the immediate action taken by the earl is described in a letter from Witherings (to Secretary Coke, no doubt) dated 29th September 1638:--"It was my unhappy fortune," says Witherings, "to meet with Mr. Smyth, secretary to the Earl of Northumberland, who told me that his lordship had sent a warrant directed to a messenger for me. I went to his lordship's house--was there by six of the clock in the morning, where, after two hours' stay, I spoke with his honour; and the weather being extreme cold, I got an ague, and am now forced to keep my bed. The stage at Farnham, he told me, was a stage in pay; and I promised (if it were so) I would move your honour to compel him (the postmaster) to carry his lordship's packets. He also told me I had abused his lordship in not sending forward the packets which were brought to my house; to which I answered: that belonged not to me, but to the ordinary posts of the road" (probably the ordinary carriers are meant). "I also told his honour that I had sent for the packet books of all the posts betwixt London and Dover, to the intent if any abuse were committed it might be punished. Notwithstanding his honour was very well satisfied with my answers to him, his servant Smyth delivered the warrant to the messenger; and though I was in bed, yet he came up to my chamber, and, in a very violent way, asked me if I would obey the warrant or not; to whom I answered, that in regard of my sickness I could not at this time do it. Your honour may be pleased to satisfy his lordship in this business." In perusing this letter, we are struck with two things--the peremptoriness of the proceedings taken against a man in Witherings' position, and with his treatment at the earl's house. The latter is reminiscent of Dr. Johnson in the ante-room of the Earl of Chesterfield.