Chapter V

In August 1638, Witherings was returning from a journey he had made into the north, when he was laid-up ill at Ware. On the 8th of that month, his servant Waad writes to Secretary Coke, that "yesterday I found my master ill at Ware, intending this day to set forward to Walthamstow." It immediately became rumoured in London that Witherings was dead. "The wish" may, in some minds, "have been father to the thought"; for Windebank had been looking into the possible removal of Postmaster Witherings, and Burlamachi, merchant and financier, lost no time in taking steps with a view to securing the office to himself. The very next day after the rumour was set about, a letter was written by Burlamachi to Sir John Coke, bespeaking the succession to the supposed vacant place. "Since Witherings is dead," says Burlamachi, "I write to offer my services to your honour; assuring you that you may dispose of me; and I hope I shall be not less capable of advancing the interests of His Majesty than Witherings has been." But Witherings, although he had had a sharp attack of illness, was not dead. A week later, he was no farther on his way towards London than Walthamstow, whence he writes a doleful letter to Sir John Coke, dated the 14th August 1638. The letter is as follows:--"It pleased the Lord, in this last northern journey (wherein I was sent by Mr. Secretary Windebank), to inflict upon me two great fevers, which have been so heavy, that indeed, had not the Lord been more merciful, gracious, and favourable towards me, I should no ways have been able to endure them for one hour of the time. I am a weak and miserable man; yet no doubt of life nor fear of health, if God (for my manifold sins) do not again lay His heavy hand upon me. To-morrow (God willing) I shall be at London," etc.

The period at which we have now arrived, 1638-39, was one of widespread distraction and trouble throughout the whole kingdom, the people being divided into two very marked parties,--the Covenanters in Scotland and Presbyterians in England being on the one side, and the King's Council, with the bishops and the Church party, on the other. In circumstances such as these, it must have been very difficult for a man at the head of the Post Office to steer a middle course, as in all cases of interception or delay of letters suspicion was likely to fall upon the postmasters. Advice was given by one of the King's party, that "because there be divers Scots Covenanters about Court, who give intelligence (both by the ordinary and posters"--that is, by men riding post--"and journiers into Scotland), a course should be taken that the letters may be opened; and that the Governor of Berwick may give order for some strict searching and examining the Scots travellers." And as a matter of fact, the posts were waylaid and the letters carried to Secretary Coke. In a letter written from Berwick to Secretary Windebank, on the 26th September 1638, Sir James Douglas complains that "he who carries the running-post letters betwixt Berwick and Edinburgh plays the rogue with all the letters that come from Edinburgh to me, so I have prohibited any to write to me that way." It is not clear whether Witherings lent himself to this espionage of the letters, or whether he tried to keep clear of it; but subsequent events might almost seem to suggest that Witherings inclined to the Presbyterian or popular party, and that he was distrusted by the Court. Reference has been made to Burlamachi, who lately applied for the place of Chief Postmaster. This man, as has already been mentioned, was a native of Sedan in France, but naturalised in England. He was largely employed by the King and Council in financial matters of State, and had a hand in negotiating a loan of money upon the Crown jewels taken over to Holland early in Charles' reign. These jewels remained in Holland until November 1636; and while there, Burlamachi seems to have had power to pawn and repawn them at pleasure, to the tune and measure of Court necessities. At one time Burlamachi was a broken man; he was granted a protection from the diligence of his creditors in 1633-34 and 35; yet he still enjoyed the confidence of Charles. This is not, however, surprising; for, in a petition from Burlamachi's daughters, at the time of the Restoration, it is stated "that their father was ruined by his advances to the king." Under these circumstances there would be a potent tie between these men, for Burlamachi could only hope for the recovery of his money through the good fortune and favour of the king. It is well that all this should be borne in mind, for Burlamachi's name will come up hereafter.

The public do not realise how effective, as a trap, the Post Office is, until they find themselves in the position of having written and posted a letter which, upon cooler reflection, they would fain withhold from the eyes of the person addressed. Cases of this kind occasionally happen in our own day, when proof is given of the irrevocability of the act of dropping a letter into the letter-box. Writers in such cases can then do nothing,--they are left to settle the business with their correspondents as best they may,--and no difficulty or trouble, as a rule, results to the officers of the Post Office. In the earliest days of the post the trap existed, as is shown by the following account of an attempt to recover a letter, after it had been committed to the care of Witherings' officers, in the year 1639. The incident shows that in these days, as well as in ours, men could write letters in haste and repent at leisure. The account comes to us in a declaration by Laurence Kirkham, an assistant in one of the offices appointed in London for the taking in letters for the post. It states that "upon Tuesday the 4th June came William Davies to my master's shop, my mistress and I being there present, to take in letters for Mr. Witherings, His Majesty's Postmaster both for the Northern road and West, etc., for conveyance of letters both by sea and land. Davies, coming as above, demanded a letter again which he said was his own, and that he delivered it to me that same day to go by post. I, not remembering any such thing, and he being a stranger to me, I told him that it was more than I could answer or dared do, to deliver any man's letter again, being once in my hands, especially not knowing it to be his letter; but, for quietness' sake, he being so outrageous for his letter, I told him that if he would stay until the box were opened wherein his letter was, if I found any such letter with such a superscription as he expressed his to have, I would deliver it to him, provided that he carried it not away nor break it open; but he might add something outside, or stick a note in it, if I saw it were no hurt; or rather, if he would write another letter after it, I would give him the portage of it. But this would not satisfy him; he swore I should not keep his letter from him, but he would have it; and thrust his hand into a heap of letters which lay before him in the shop, he well knowing that his letter was not there, and took what he could get of letters and packets, and put in his pocket--some scattering in the street and some in the shop, a multitude of people being gathered together. What he took and what he lost is uncertain, as also what damage my master and others may receive thereby, there being letters to the nobility and many others to the army in the North, and divers to other countries. My mistress, striving with him, was hurt, and her hand bruised; and I, holding him in the street for the letters, he fell upon me, beat and pulled me by the hair, kicked me, and tore my apparel, by which abuse I received damage." This must have been a very pretty little scene, and it would have been interesting to know how the law took notice of Mr. Davies' obstreperous conduct.

The proceedings of these times have a smack of dramatic interest, surrounded as they are by conditions which do not obtain in the present day. In May 1639, a scene was enacted in the market-place of Ware, of which a description is given in a letter from Edmund Rossingham, dated the 8th of May. The reader can perhaps imagine the open space of this town where the market is held, thronged with country folks with their produce for sale, stalls of vendors, horses and carts of the farmers, and idlers hanging about to see what might turn up to their advantage. A clatter of horses' feet is heard, and into the market-place dash three men on horseback, who draw rein at the post house of Ware. With the preliminary statement that the king was at this time lying with his army at Berwick, the letter must itself describe what took place. The letter, which is addressed to Viscount Conway, proceeds: "Lord Carr (Ker), the Earl of Roxburgh's son, riding post the other day into the North, having letters from the queen, came to Ware, and the postmaster went out to take up three horses for his use; but out of malice would have taken a great carthorse which carried corn to the market, only the owner, a poor countryman, would not part with it, saying his horse was not to ride post. The postmaster and he being in strife together in the market, three Deputy Lieutenants, Justices of the Peace, namely, Sir Richard Lucy, Sir John Butler, and Sir John Watts, convening there about county business, saw this contention out of a window of the inn, and they relieved the countryman, bidding the postmaster seek out other horses more fit for the service; whereupon the postmaster, in a great chafe, goes back to Lord Ker and tells him the Deputy Lieutenants had taken one of those horses he had taken up by his warrant. Lord Ker frets at this, and learns of the postmaster where the Deputy Lieutenants' horses stand, and commands three of these horses to be saddled to ride post with. The Deputy Lieutenants have notice of this, and will not let their horses be saddled, whereupon a great contention ensued between the lord and these Deputy Lieutenants; so hot grew Lord Ker, who had a case of pistols by his side, that he and his two men challenged the three Justices into the field to end the difference. Sir John Butler and Sir John Watts had good stomachs to go out with them; but Sir Richard Lucy, a more temperate man, would rather use his authority than his courage that way, as being much the more justifiable course; and so sent out to provide post horses for them, which were brought to the gate. Sir Richard then tells Lord Ker there are post horses for him, and, if he will not take them, himself will make his lordship fast and take from him the queen's letters, send them to His Majesty, and do his errand, which would be little to his lordship's advantage; whereupon the Lord Ker cools a little, and, grumbling at being thus thwarted, takes the horses provided for him, and away he posts."

The Justices were well aware of the advantage of being early in the field with their account of this business; and accordingly they forthwith wrote a statement of the whole matter to their Lord-Lieutenant, Lord Salisbury, who was then with the king in the North, and which "they sent post after the lord, to be at Court so soon as he should be."

The better to keep up communications between the king, then in the North, and the governing powers in Ireland, a packet was at this time employed between Whitehaven and Dublin. The agreement with the master, Nicholas Herbert, was that his barque should be provided "with one sufficient master and other meet and able sailors" ... "to carry the letters of His Majesty or the Council to the Lord Deputy at Dublin, and shall receive £10 per lunar month."

As has already been remarked, there is reason to suppose that Witherings had come to have leanings towards the Parliamentarians, a posture which would alienate him from the Court party. At anyrate, on the 29th July 1640, the office held by Witherings was sequestered by the king's privy seal into the hands of Philip Burlamachi, "who was directed by proclamation to execute the office." The proclamation here referred to is probably that dated the 6th August 1640. The first clause sets forth the reason for the proceeding as follows:--"Whereas we have received information of divers abuses and misdemeanours committed by Thomas Witherings in the execution as well of the office of Postmaster of Foreign Parts as also of the Letter Office within our own dominions, and thereupon have been pleased to sequester the said office into the hands of P. Burlamachi of London, merchant, who is to execute the same, under the care and oversight of our Principal Secretary of State, till we shall signify our pleasure to the contrary; and have accordingly declared the same under our royal hand and signet, and commanded our said Secretary to see the sequestration put into speedy execution, and to take such course that neither our service nor the business of the merchants nor our other subjects might thereby receive any prejudice or interruption." In pursuance of this ordinance the business of the post was removed from Witherings' offices to other premises.

When a man is down there are always a lot of unthinking or interested persons ready to give the unfortunate individual another kick, and the king's followers were not slow to avail themselves of the chance presented by Witherings' sequestration. Sir Francis Windebank writes from Paris in April 1641, whither he had found it convenient to remove, as follows:--"I wrote lately to Mr. Treasurer (Vane) by Mr. Frizell, who touched here in his passage out of Italy toward England. He was Postmaster before Witherings, and drew him in to be his partner; but Witherings, in token of his thankfulness, joined with Sir John Coke and thrust the poor man utterly out. He is able, and not unwilling, if he be dexterously managed, to discover much of Witherings' miscarriage in that place, which I have desired Mr. Treasurer to make use of, and you will do well to put him in remembrance of it from me." In another letter about the same date Windebank complains of the miscarriage of his letters, and remarks: "How they are come to miscarry now I do not understand, presuming that Witherings, though he want no malice to betray anything that may fall into his hands concerning me, yet dares not intercept any packet addressed to Mr. Treasurer, as this was." About the same time a letter from Robert Reade, residing at Paris, makes mention of the failure of letters, and proceeds: "But the world grows every day worse and worse, and is so full of deceit and malice that I think there will be no living shortly for an honest man in it. Perhaps Witherings has met with it again; if he have, my comfort is that no better fortune will befall him in that than usually does to harkeners, who never hear good of themselves; yet, methinks, since the House of Parliament were more noble than to countenance him in his last unworthiness of that kind, he should not have much courage to do it again." In another letter the same writer says: "I think your honour will have very uncertain dealing from Mr. Witherings, for in all his affairs he appears so." There is a marked indefiniteness in the references made by private persons who at this period were ready to speak ill of Witherings--a want of specific charges against him. But in a report appended to certain resolutions of the House of Lords, dated 8th September 1642, information is supplied showing how Witherings had been badgered, and what the various complaints were. The allegations set forth are: "Misdemeanours in opening letters, not giving advices in due time, taking greater rates than usual, transporting prohibited commodities, not suffering the passage boat to be searched, not able to hold correspondence for want of language, breach of correspondence for want of paying foreign posts." Happily for Witherings none of these charges were found proved.

Witherings seems to have believed that Burlamachi had had a principal hand in bringing about the sequestration of his office, for we find him writing to Sir John Coke, on the 8th November 1640, as follows:--"Burlamachi stands upon his justification, which is, that these offices were forced upon him. My humble suit unto your honour is, that you will be pleased to deliver to ----, your son, upon his coming up, such letters as your honour received from him years past, whereby he was a practiser from time to time to take from me my office, contrary to his own declaration. Your honour may be pleased to certify something therein to your son, who may declare it to the House of Parliament." Burlamachi was not, however, Witherings' only enemy in this matter; for, in a letter from Thomas Coke to Sir John Coke, of 12th May 1640, two months before the sequestration, it is stated that "the two Secretaries do now, since the Parliament, prosecute him again for the right of his place; but they cannot yet fasten anything upon him, neither can Mr. Attorney find any imperfection in his patent; so that he hath now great hopes again that the question will be to save him a thousand pounds a year in his purse." At the time of the sequestration Witherings was put in prison, but probably his detention was of short duration. Witherings found himself hard pressed by his enemies, and, feeling himself not very able perhaps to contend against large odds, he assigned an interest in his office to the Earl of Warwick. This is mentioned in a letter to Sir John Coke from his son, the 15th of March 1641: "He hath now, without the advice of his friends, put himself under the protection of the Earl of Warwick, by passing some interest in his places to him. This the violent prosecution of his adversaries hath driven him unto, out of fear to be oppressed. I wish by this means he do not lose all in the end." In April 1641, the Earl of Warwick was sworn a Privy Councillor, and thus, in point of interest, Witherings had secured an important ally. While his friends may have thought the step taken by Witherings of uncertain advantage, Witherings no doubt considered that "half a loaf would be better than no bread."

It is a troublesome business to unravel all the records of the proceedings in the Parliament and Council of this affair of the possession of the posts. There were two offices held by Witherings, as the reader will remember,--the Postmastership of the Foreign Posts (held by patent) and the Postmastership (by delegation from the Principal Secretaries of State) of the Inland Posts. In the records we have of Witherings' present troubles, these two offices are not always clearly defined, and it is somewhat difficult to understand the references. But this much is quite clear, that, on the 10th February 1640, a committee of the House of Commons was appointed "to consider of the complaints of the Inland Posts, foreign courriers and carriers, and foot posts, and the several abuses of Mr. Witherings and the rest of the postmasters." The proceedings of this inquiry dragged on for a period of over two years. At length, on the 28th March 1642, the House of Commons gave a deliverance, by resolution, in favour of Witherings, respecting the Foreign Posts as follows, namely, "that this sequestration of the office of Foreign Postmaster from the possession of Witherings is a grievance and illegal, and ought to be taken off and repealed" ... "that the proclamation for the putting Mr. Witherings out of possession of the exercise of his place of Postmaster for Foreign Parts is a grievance and illegal, and ought not to be put in execution" ... "resolved that Mr. Witherings ought to be restored unto the possession of his place as Postmaster for Foreign Parts, and to the mean profits received since he was out of possession, deducting the reasonable and usual charges of execution" ... "that for the legality of his patent, it shall be referred to a trial at law." Then, on the 16th August 1642, the following resolutions were passed by the House of Commons respecting the Inland Posts:--"That the sequestration of the Inland Letter Office to Philip Burlamachi is illegal and void, and ought to be taken off" ... "that Philip Burlamachi and his deputies shall forthwith bring in an account of the profits of the office received by him or his deputies since his illegal sequestration to the Committee for the Accounts where Mr. Trenchard has the chair" ... "that the proclamation in pursuance of the sequestration is illegal and void." It will be observed that nothing is said in these latter resolutions indicating that Witherings should again take charge of the Inland Posts, by delegation or otherwise. But a deliverance was also given at this time on the subject of Witherings' interference with the public carriers in conveying letters for the public, which events occurred in 1637-38, and have already been mentioned. The House resolved "that the taking of the several letters in this case from the several carriers, and the several restraints and imprisonment of Grover, Chapman, Cotton, and Mackerill, is against the law and liberty and freedom of the subject" ... "that these several persons ought to have reparations and damages from Sir John Coke and Sir F. Windebank, then Secretaries of State, and Mr. Witherings respectively" ... "that Sir J. Coke, Sir F. Windebank, and Mr. Witherings are delinquents."

Now, although Witherings' office had been in sequestration from 1640 till 1642, it would almost seem that he was not entirely suspended from all share in the management of the place during that period, for in writings of 1641 reference is made to services performed by Witherings in the transmission of foreign correspondence. In a letter, dated from Edinburgh 2nd November 1641, from Secretary Vane to Edward Nicholas, the latter is requested to instruct Mr. Witherings as to the forwarding of two packets, "much concerning His Majesty's service," one of which was for Hamburgh; and this Witherings was to forward by an express, which by his office he was bound to provide for and pay. In a letter from Witherings, dated at Walthamstow 7th November 1641, to Edward Nicholas, respecting these instructions, Witherings writes: "I have sent the one express for Hamburgh with my own packet-boat, which not only carries the king's colours, but is of defence and well known on the seas. Be confident there shall be no neglect, neither of the one nor the other in me."

During the proceedings against Witherings, he was unquestionably handled in a very rough manner; for a warrant was issued in 1641 (as is supposed) by the Secretary of State to a messenger of the Chamber in the following terms:--"These are by His Majesty's command, to require and authorise you to repair to the office and house of Thomas Witherings, Postmaster for Foreign Service, and there to search for and take into custody all papers, pamphlets, and letters."

On the 5th October 1642, Robert Earl of Warwick petitioned that, in virtue of the assignment of the Inland Letter Office to him by Witherings, and in view of the fact that Burlamachi had failed to obey the ordinance delivered by Parliament, by continuing to hold and administer that office, Burlamachi should be ejected from the place and punished for his disobedience.