Chapter XXVII: Appendix: Succession of Postmasters-General From 1660 to 1836 (1)

From 1660 to 1667 the Post Office was in farm, the farmers being--

1660 to 1663. Henry Bishopp. Rent, L21,500. Bishopp surrendered his patent, which was for seven years, in 1663.

1663 to 1667. (Being residue of Bishopp's term.) Daniel O'Neile. Rent, L21,500.

1667 to 1685. Henry, Earl of Arlington. Rent for later part of the term, L43,000. Office managed, at first, by Sir John Bennet, Lord Arlington's brother, and afterwards by Colonel Roger Whitley.

1685 to 1689. Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Rochester. (For part of the time Lord Treasurer.)[101] Office managed by Philip Frowde, Esq., under the title of Governor.

[101] The concentration of the offices of Lord Treasurer and
Postmaster-General in one person served to facilitate the transaction of
Post Office business in a manner which those who have had experience of
the present system will not be slow to understand. Take, for instance,
the question of increasing a Post Office servant's salary. At the
present time the Postmaster-General may be thoroughly convinced himself
that an increase is called for, but--what is a very different matter--he
has also to convince the Treasury. In 1686 the Postmaster-General's own
conviction was enough. The following will serve as an illustration.
Thomas Cale, Postmaster of Bristol, applies for an increase of salary,
and Frowde, the Governor, satisfies Rochester that an increase will be
proper. Forthwith issues a document, of which the operative part is as
follows:--"You are therefore of opinion that the said salary (L50) is
very small considering the expense the petitioner is att, and his
extraordinary trouble, Bristoll being a greate Citty, but you say that
you doe not think all the things he setts downe in the aforesaid accompt
ought to be allowed him, the example being of very ill consequence, for
(as you informe me) you doe not allow either candles, packthread, wax,
ink, penns or paper to any of the Postmasters, nor office-rent, nor
returnes of mony, you are therefore of opinion that tenn pounds per
annum to his former salary of L50 will be a reasonable allowance, and
the petitioner will be therewith satisfied, these are therefore to pray
and require you" to raise his salary from L50 to L60 accordingly.
ROCHESTER.

WHITEHALL TREASURY CHAMBERS, _Dec. 13, 1686_.

July 1689 to March 1690. Colonel John Wildman.

1690 to 1708. Sir Robert Cotton, Knight, and Sir Thomas Frankland, Bart.

1708 to 1715. Sir Thomas Frankland, Bart., and Sir John Evelyn, Bart.

1715 to 1721. Charles, Lord Cornwallis, and James Craggs, Esq.

1721 to 1725. Edward Carteret, Esq., and Galfridus Walpole, Esq.

1725 to 1732. Edward Carteret, Esq., and Edward Harrison, Esq.

Christmas 1732. Edward Carteret alone to Midsummer 1733.

1733 to 1739. Edward Carteret, Esq., and Thomas, Lord Lovell, afterwards Earl of Leicester.

1739 to 1744. Thomas, Lord Lovell, and Sir John Eyles, Bart.

1744 to 1745. Thomas, Earl of Leicester (sometime Lord Lovell) alone.

1745 to 1758. Thomas, Earl of Leicester, and Sir Everard Fawkener, Knight.

1758 to 1759. Thomas, Earl of Leicester, alone.

June 2, 1759 to November 27, 1762. William, Earl of Bessborough, and Hon. Robert Hampden.

November 27, 1762 to September 23, 1763. John, Earl of Egmont, and Hon. Robert Hampden.

September 23, 1763 to July 19, 1765. Thomas, Lord Hyde, and Hon. Robert Hampden.

July 19, 1765 to December 29, 1766. William, Earl of Bessborough, and Thomas, Lord Grantham.

December 29, 1766 to April 26, 1768. Wills, Earl of Hillsborough, and Francis, Lord Le Despencer.

April 26, 1768 to January 16, 1771. John, Earl of Sandwich, and Francis, Lord Le Despencer.

January 16, 1771 to December 11, 1781. Francis, Lord Le Despencer, and Right Hon. Henry Frederick Thynne, afterwards Carteret.

December 11, 1781 to January 24, 1782. Right Hon. Henry Frederick Carteret (sometime Thynne) alone.

January 24 to April 25, 1782. William, Viscount Barrington, and Right Hon. Henry Frederick Carteret.

April 25, 1782 to May 1, 1783. Charles, Earl of Tankerville, and Right Hon. Henry Frederick Carteret.

May 1, 1783 to January 7, 1784. Thomas, Lord Foley, and Right Hon. Henry Frederick Carteret.

January 7, 1784 to September 19, 1786. Charles, Earl of Tankerville, and Right Hon. Henry Frederick Carteret. (Created Baron Carteret, January 29, 1784.)

September 19 to December 10, 1786. Thomas, Earl of Clarendon, and Henry Frederick, Lord Carteret.

December 10, 1786 to July 6, 1787. Henry Frederick, Lord Carteret, alone.

July 6, 1787 to September 19, 1789. Henry Frederick, Lord Carteret, and Thomas, Lord Walsingham.

September 19, 1789 to March 13, 1790. Thomas, Lord Walsingham, and John, Earl of Westmorland.

March 13, 1790 to July 28, 1794. Thomas, Lord Walsingham, and Philip, Earl of Chesterfield.

July 28, 1794 to March 1, 1798. Philip, Earl of Chesterfield, and George, Earl of Leicester.

March 1, 1798 to February 27, 1799. George, Earl of Leicester, and William, Lord Auckland.

February 27, 1799 to March 31, 1801. William, Lord Auckland, and George, Lord Gower.

March 31, 1801 to July 19, 1804. William, Lord Auckland, and Lord Charles Spencer.

July 19, 1804 to February 20, 1806. Lord Charles Spencer and James, Duke of Montrose.

February 20, 1806 to May 5, 1807. Robert, Earl of Buckinghamshire, and John Joshua, Earl of Carysfort.

May 5, 1807 to June 6, 1814. John, Earl of Sandwich, and Thomas, Earl of Chichester.

June 6 to September 30, 1814. Thomas, Earl of Chichester, alone.

September 30, 1814 to April 6, 1816. Thomas, Earl of Chichester, and Richard, Earl of Clancarty.

April 6, 1816 to June 13, 1823. Thomas, Earl of Chichester, and James, Marquess of Salisbury.

Since Lord Salisbury's death on the 13th of June 1823, no second Postmaster-General has been appointed.

June 13, 1823 to July 4, 1826. Thomas, Earl of Chichester.

July 4, 1826 to September 17, 1827. Lord Frederick Montague.

September 17, 1827 to December 14, 1830. William, Duke of Manchester.

December 14, 1830 to July 5, 1834. Charles, Duke of Richmond.

By his first patent, dated the 14th of December 1830, the Duke was appointed Postmaster-General of Great Britain; and by a second patent, dated the 14th of April 1831, he was appointed Postmaster-General of Great Britain and Ireland.

July 5 to December 31, 1834. Francis Nathaniel, Marquess Conyngham.

December 31, 1834 to May 8, 1835. William, Lord Maryborough.

May 8 to May 30, 1835. Francis Nathaniel, Marquess Conyngham.

May 30, 1835, to September 15, 1841. Thomas William, Earl of Lichfield.

SUCCESSION OF SECRETARIES TO THE POST OFFICE DOWN TO 1836.

The appointment of Secretary was created by Treasury Warrant dated the 20th of June 1694.

1694 to 1700. Name uncertain; but probably Willboyl.

[In 1694 the Postmasters-General urge the creation of the appointment of
Secretary; in 1697 they speak of "having sent our Secretary down to
Worcester"; and in October 1701, when reporting on a paper which had
been referred to them as far back as June 1699, they explain that "by
the death of our late Secretary y^e paper has been mislaid and but very
lately recovered." That there was a Secretary during this period is,
therefore, beyond doubt.

During the same period the Post Office letter books are written in a
handwriting as peculiar as it is good; and in the same handwriting, of
the identity of which there can be no question, there is in the
Frankland-Blaithwaite correspondence, until lately in the possession of
Sir Thomas Phillipps, a letter from the General Post Office dated the
27th of May 1697, and docketed thus, the docket having obviously been
written at the time of receipt:--"From Mr. Willboyl, Commissioner of the
Post Office." Now, Commissioner of the Post Office he certainly was not,
there being at that time no such appointment; but it is probable that he
was Secretary, and that with this official title, which had been only
recently given, Blaithwaite was not acquainted.]

1700 to 1714. Benjamin Waterhouse.

1714 to 1715. Henry Weston.

1715 to 1721. James Craggs.

1721 to (about) 1730. Joseph Godman.

(About) 1730 to 1737. W. Rouse.

1737 to 1738. Thomas Robinson.

September 1738 to July 1742. John David Barbutt.

July 1742 to December 1762. George Shelvocke.

December 1762 to July 1765. Anthony Todd.

July 1765 to January 1768. Henry Potts.

January 1768 to June 1798. Anthony Todd (again).

June 1798 to July 1836. Francis Freeling.

_Before._

The Duke of Grafton, First Lord of the Treasury from 1766 to 1770, commonly called Junius Grafton from the attacks made upon him by Junius.]

The Earl of Sandwich, nicknamed by the satirists of the period Jemmy Twitcher. "See Jemmy Twitcher shambles--stop, stop, thief"--an allusion to his shambling gait.

Lord Sandwich was postmaster-general from 1768 to 1771, and afterwards First Lord of the Admiralty.]

INDEX

Abdy, Sir Robert, 38

Abercorn, James, Earl of, his unreasonable complaint, 153

Absenteeism, in England, 231;
in Ireland, 371

Alien Office, assists the Post Office in procuring foreign newspapers,
347

Allen, Ralph, postmaster of Bath, takes in farm the bye and cross-post
letters, 147;
conditions of his contract, 147;
success of his enterprise, 148;
is thwarted by the postmasters, 149;
his contract renewed, 150;
nature of his plan and his special qualifications for carrying it into
effect, 155;
his local knowledge, 157;
his difficulties with the postmasters, 157 _seq._;
as a means of check lays down certain propositions, 161;
instances of imposition practised by postmasters, 163;
by post-boys, 164;
by carriers and others concerned in the illegal conveyance of letters,
165;
the liberality of his arrangements, 166;
his course of procedure contrasted with that of the
postmasters-general, 168;
pays higher rent and increases the frequency of the post every seven
years when his contract is renewed, 169;
his injunction about the use of expresses, 182;
his death, 185;
his character, 186;
is an object of jealousy to Palmer, 230

Alphabet, 374;
ingenious one in use at Belfast, 375

Althorp, John Charles, Viscount, urges on Post Office improvements, 415;
fixes the limits of the general post delivery, 416;
throws the packet service open to public competition, 417;
abolishes the newspaper privilege enjoyed by the clerks of the roads,
418;
contemplates apparently a reduction of postage, 419

America, posts set up in, 110;
first postmaster of New York, 111;
and of Virginia and Maryland, 111;
establishment of what was virtually a penny post between England and
America, 113;
American posts become self-supporting, 116;
postmasters ejected from their offices, 207

Amsterdam, practice at, on arrival of the mails, 174

Anne, Queen, treatment of letters for, when in residence at Newmarket, 98

_Antelope_ packet, Captain Curtis, gallant action with privateer, 321

Apertures, introduction of, on the outside of post offices, 180

Argyll, John, Duke of, 64

Arlington, Henry Bennet, Earl of, appointed postmaster-general, 34

Armit, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, displaced by Lees, 221

Ashburnham manuscripts, 20

Ashurst, Mr. Justice, his judgment touching the free delivery of
letters, 200

Aston, Mr. Justice, his judgment touching the free delivery of letters,
200

Attorneys, their provisional resolution to withhold postage on writs,
178;
hold appointments in the Dublin Post Office, 371

Auckland, William Lord, postmaster-general, his pleasantries, 333

Auditors of the imprests, 256 _note_

Austria, liberties taken with post-horses by travellers in, 5 _note_

Aylsham, Norfolk, post established to in 1733, 167

Baker, Sir George, physician to George the Third, 252

Bank of England notes, robbery of, from mail evokes important legal
decision, 183;
origin of cutting bank notes when sent by post, 206;
contemplated reduction of postage on letters containing second halves
of bank notes, 298

Bankers' franks, meaning of term, 315 _note_

Barbutt, John David, secretary to the Post Office, 185

Barclay, Captain, of Ury, high speed of his coach, 426

Barclay's plot, expresses sent on discovery of, 63

Barham, Edmund, packet agent at Dover, terms of his agreement with
Walcot, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, 222

Barlow, clerk in the secretary's office, modifies the practice of the
Dead Letter Office, 308

Barnstaple, private post set up to Exeter in 1633, 17

Bath asserts its right to a free delivery, 198;
right admitted and letter-carrier appointed, 202;
slowness of post between Bath and London, 208;
amount of toll between the same towns, 210;
Post Office Establishment at Bath and amount of the postmaster's salary
in 1792, 292

Beccaria, Bonesana, his essay on Crimes and Punishments, 245

Belfast, ingenious "alphabet" in use at, 375;
peculiar usage of delivery, 375

Belgrave Square, included in the limits of the general post delivery, 416

Bell, Colonel, comptroller of the Inland Office, particulars of charge
against, 185 _note_

Bells, letters collected by ringing of, introduction of system, 121;
and its termination, 123 _note_;
bellmen in England and in Ireland paid on different principle, 367
(196, 221, 257)

Bernard, Sir Robert, 192

Besant's patent coaches, 282

Bethnal Green, a second penny on penny post letters improperly charged
at, 203

Bianconi, Charles, his enterprise, 376

Bigg, Stephen, his enterprise as a farmer of the posts, 60

Billingsley, Henry, a broker, carries letters of foreign merchants, 13;
and is consigned to prison, 14

Bills of exchange and of lading to and from foreign parts exempt from
postage until 1801, exemption then withdrawn, 331

Birmingham, one of many towns in which a free delivery of letters had
ceased, 197;
free delivery restored and letter-carrier appointed, 202;
salary of postmaster in 1792, 293;
penny post opened at, 300

Bishopp, Henry, farmer of the posts, 33, 34

"Black-box"; the box in which the correspondence of the Secretary of
State for Scotland was carried, 53

Blaithwaite, William, Secretary of War, remonstrated with on his abuse
of the franking privilege, 132

Blome's _Britannia_, 35

Bonnor, Charles, deputy comptroller-general of the Post Office, his
conduct in the matter of the king's coach, 252;
delays replies to the postmaster-general's inquiries, 264;
practises deception, 264;
his base ingratitude, 274;
is suspended by Palmer, 275;
suspension removed by the postmasters-general, 276;
his treachery, 278, 279;
receives the reward of infamy, 280

Boulton and Watt build the first steamboats used by the Post Office, 384

Bourne, Frederick, clerk in the foreign department of the Post Office;
suggests the establishment of a Ship Letter Office, 328

Bournemouth, mode of receiving its letters in 1854, 293 _note_

Bowen, passenger by packet; brings news of the victory at Oudenarde, 105

Boyle, Henry, Secretary of State, charges the packet agent at Harwich
with receiving a bribe, 89

Bracken, Henry, author of _The Gentleman's Pocket Farrier_, his device
to obtain exemption from postage, 161

Braithwaite, Daniel, clerk to the postmasters-general, his honesty of
purpose, 244

Brighton, salary of the postmaster of, in 1792, 293

Brill, The, 73, 83, 88

Bristol, course of post between Bristol and Exeter in 1660, 29;
and in 1696, 57;
salary of the postmaster of, in 1690, 50;
and in 1792, 293;
first mail-coach starts from Bristol, 213;
penny post opened there, 300;
revision of postmaster's salary in 1686, Appendix, _note_

Brown, sub-agent of packets at Ostend, his clandestine letter, 106

Brunel, Sir Marc Isambard, offers to construct a steam engine for the
Post Office packets, 408

Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, letter endorsed by, in 1627, 20

Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, son of the preceding, tedious
course of letter addressed to, in 1666, 34.

Buckingham, George Grenville Nugent Temple, Marquis of, Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland, deprecates reduction of packet establishment at
Holyhead, 248

Burlamachi, Philip, is appointed Master of the Posts, 21;
his title contested, 21;
is consigned to prison, 22

Bye-letters, probable meaning of the term in Queen Elizabeth's
reign, 4;
its certain meaning in 1690 and after, 52, 147;
postage upon bye-letters intercepted, 52, 53, 134 _note_;
Bye-Letter Office, 308

Bye-nights, 46

Byng, Sir George, 102, 104

Cadogan, Brigadier-General, packet detained for, 87

Camden, John Jeffreys, Earl, promotes Palmer's plan, 212;
gives to Pitt Palmer's version of his differences with the
postmasters-general, 274

Candles, inordinate supply of, to Post Office servants, 231

Canning, George, charges the Post Office with forestalling his
intelligence, 347

Carlisle, salary of postmaster of, in 1792, 293

Carriers allowed to carry letters under restrictions, 19;
restrictions more clearly defined, 129

Carteret, Edward, postmaster-general from 1721 to 1739. _See_
Postmasters-General, Part IV.

Carteret, Henry Frederick, Lord, postmaster-general from January 1771
to September 1789. _See_ Postmasters-General, Parts V. and VI.

Carts, first employment of, in London for bringing letters to the
General Post Office, 316

Castello, a prisoner on board packet, 88

Chalmers, George, his suggestions, 256;
excites Palmer's jealousy, 259

Channel Islands without an official post in 1792, 294;
official post provided, 312;
rates of postage, 314

Charing Cross, opening of branch office at, 411

Charlemont, Lord, his misunderstanding as to packet charges, 86

Charles, Archduke, 78, 86

Chelsea pensioners, their privilege of sending and receiving letters at
low rates of postage withdrawn, 404

Chenal, captain of packet, rebuked by the postmasters-general, 94 _note_

Chepstow, the inhabitants of, though under no obligation, continue to pay
pence on the delivery of their letters, 293

Chester, in 1720 the only town outside London with two Post Offices, 151;
salary of postmaster in 1792, 293

Chesterfield, Philip, Earl of, postmaster-general from March 1790 to
March 1798. _See_ Postmasters-General, Part VII.

Chichester, Thomas, Earl of, postmaster-general from May 1807 to July
1826. _See_ Postmasters-General, Part VIII.

Christmas boxes, intercepted, 232

Clancarty, Richard, Earl of, postmaster-general of Ireland from 1807 to
1809; and of England from September 1814 to April 1816. [This
latter appointment he did not take up.] His decision of character,
instance of, 368;
advocates facilities of communication between England and Ireland, 389

Clarendon, Thomas, Earl of, postmaster-general from September to December
1786, 229, 242

Clerks of the roads, their duties, 47;
their salaries, 49;
are allowed to frank newspapers, 49;
their franking privilege invaded, 191;
mischief resulting from a reduction of their emoluments, 193;
their financial troubles, 206, 250;
extent of their newspaper business after newspapers become exempt from
postage, 407

Clermont, William Henry, Earl of, deputy postmaster-general of Ireland,
194

Clies, Francis, captain of packet, his audacious smuggling, 90;
his attention to religious observances, 90;
strikes his colours, 94

Coals supplied to Post Office servants in profligate profusion, 231

Cobbett, William, inveighs against the early or preferential delivery,
342;
and against the treatment of foreign newspapers, 343

Coke, Sir John, his indignant protest against the claim of the foreign
merchants to have a post of their own, 12

Colours, special colours assigned to the Post Office boat employed in
the Pool, 74;
the colours of the packets altered at the Union with Scotland, 117

Comer, postmaster of Tunbridge Wells in 1725, 153

Common Council of London, The, sets up a post of their own to Scotland,
24

Compensation for losses by the penny post, 38;
when ceased to be given, 188

Conspiracies against the State, to check these the original object of the
Post Office monopoly, 7;
danger chiefly apprehended from the Continent, 9;
Coke's opinion on the subject, 13;
the same opinion expressed in the Act of 1657, 28

Constables, the duty of, in certain cases, to seize horses for the
service of the posts, 3, 6

Convention posts, establishment of, 332;
their failure and the reason, 350;
are gradually absorbed, 352

Conway Bridge, additional rate of postage on letters passing over, 395

Conyngham, Francis Nathaniel, Marquess of, postmaster-general from July
1834 to January 1835, and again from May 8 to May 30, 1835, 427
_note_

Cornwall, its posts improved in 1704, 62

Cornwallis, Charles, Lord, postmaster-general from 1715 to 1721. _See_
Postmasters-General, Part III.

Cotton, Sir Robert, postmaster-general from 1690 to 1708. _See_
Postmasters-General, Part I.

Counsel in Post Office cases required to give receipts for their fees,
324

Country letter, meaning of term, 147

_Courier_ newspaper, sum paid by the, for early intelligence from the
Post Office, 345

Couriers originally employed to carry letters on affairs of State, 2

Court, The, at one time the centre of all the posts, 3;
a trace of the old state of things to be found in an existing statute,
99

Court letters, definition of, in 1706, 83 _note_;
mails detained for the Court letters, 211;
these letters, unlike others, delivered the moment they arrived, 347

Court-post, his duties, 99;
duties performed by deputy, 231

Coventry, Sir Thomas, Attorney-General, afterwards Lord Keeper, holds De
Quester's appointment to be valid, 11;
cajoles Stanhope into surrendering his patent, 23

Craggs, James, postmaster-general from 1715 to 1721. _See_
Postmasters-General, Part III.

Crichton, Doctor, refuses to pay his fare by packet, 86

Cromwell, Thomas, Brian Tuke's letter to, on the paucity of the posts, 1

Crosby, Brass, 192

Cross-posts, first post of the kind set up, 57;
cross-post letters, definition of the term, 147

Croydon, postmistress of, Auckland's pleasantry on her marriage for the
third time, 334

Culverden, captain of packet boat, engages in smuggling, 89

Culvert, member of Parliament, expostulated with as to the irregular use
of his frank, 141 _note_

Curtis, Alderman, 274, 275

Customs, Commissioners of, lodge a complaint against the captain of the
_Expedition_ packet, 90;
represent that smuggling is carried on by packet from Ostend, 103;
take proceedings against some of the Harwich packets, 237;
are charged by the postmasters-general with unhandsome conduct, 238;
seize the Dover mail-coach, 271

Dacre, Lord, superscription on Protector Somerset's letter addressed to,
20

Dartmouth, William, Lord, his attention called to the late arrival at the
Post Office of the Court letters, 211

Dashwood, Francis, postmaster-general of Jamaica, exaction from, as a
condition of his appointment, 226

Davy, Mrs., her account of the condition of Penzance before 1784, 291

Day, John, sent from London in 1733 to establish a post at Aylsham in
Norfolk, his instructions, 167

Dead letters, treatment of, a source of perplexity to Allen, 158;
irregular payments claimed under cover of, 236;
Dead Letter Office, 307;
returned letters charged with postage, 360

Decypherer, the chief, 171

De Joncourt, express clerk, 373

Delivery, claim made by several towns to have their letters delivered
free resisted by the Post Office and question tried at law, 197;
claim allowed by the Courts, 200;
decision carried out grudgingly, 203;
hour of delivery of foreign letters in 1790, 267;
early, that is preferential, delivery, 342;
hour of delivery in St. James's Square between 1820 and 1830, 409;
in the country, limits of free delivery not defined, 410;
morning delivery in London accelerated, 411;
limits of general post delivery fixed at three miles, 417;
recommendation of Royal Commission to abolish early or preferential
delivery not carried out, 423

Delivery penny, meaning of term, 69

Denmark, Frederick the Second, King of, his letter of complaint to Queen
Elizabeth, 8 _note_

De Quester, Matthew, appointed postmaster for foreign parts out of the
King's dominions, 10;
his appointment offends Lord Stanhope, 10;
is superseded by the Privy Council, 12;
is restored at the instance of Sir John Coke, 13;
assigns his patent, 14

Derby, salary of the postmaster of, in 1792, 293

Dereham, Sir Thomas, Court-post, his duties, 99

Derrick, Samuel, Master of the Ceremonies at Bath, his account of Ralph
Allen, 186 _note_

Despatch of mails, hour of, in 1690, 47;
and until 1784, 211;
indignation caused by the change then made, 220

Devonshire, William, Duke of, course of post between Chesterfield and
Manchester altered in 1736 at the instance of, 166

Directories, 195, 309

Distances, inaccuracy of, as computed by the Post Office, 175

Dockwra, William, establishes a penny post in London, 36;
his right contested and case decided against him, 40;
is granted a pension and, on the penny post being absorbed into the
Post Office, is appointed comptroller, 41;
is dismissed, 41;
provision made by, for the care of general post letters, 68;
contrast between Dockwra and Povey, 122

Donlevy, William, 368

Double letter, definition of, 139

Dover, a packet station, 73;
packets to Flanders provided by the packet agent, 103;
engage in smuggling, 103;
and bring news clandestinely, 106;
the Dover mail-coach seized by the Customs, 271

Drink and feast money, 50, 232

Dublin, Post Office establishment at, in 1690, 53;
penny post proposed at, in 1703, 69;
and opened in 1773, 196;
the clerks at the castle surrender their franking privilege, 194;
the roof of the Dublin Post Office falls in, 207;
office in Dublin styled British Mail Office, account of, 367;
abuses, 370

Dummer, Edmund, Surveyor of the Navy, builds packets for the Harwich
station, 75;
also for the West India service, 78;
undertakes this service himself, 79;
his miscalculations, 79;
ill-fortune attends him, 81;
his bankruptcy and death, 109

Early, _i.e._ preferential, delivery, 342, 423

Eastbourne, mode of receiving its letters in 1792, 293

East India Company, send to the Post Office letters received at the India
House, 311;
object to the provisions of the Ship Letter Act, 361;
procure its alteration, 362;
their generosity, 363;
unhandsome return contemplated by the Post Office, 364

East Indies, rates of postage to the, in 1815, 362

Edinburgh, post to, set up by the city of London, 24;
Post Office establishment at, in 1707, 117;
horse-post between Edinburgh and Glasgow refused by the Treasury, 136;
course of post between London and Edinburgh accelerated in 1758, 180;
and increased in frequency in 1765, 195;
Edinburgh Post Office falls into decay, 207;
penny post established at, 300

Eldon, John, Lord, reluctantly assents to the giving of repressive
powers, 335

Elections, Parliamentary, Post Office servants prohibited from
intermeddling in, 128;
and from voting at, 206

Ellenborough, Edward, Lord, 335

Evelyn, Sir John, postmaster-general from 1708 to 1715. _See_
Postmasters-General, Part II.

Exeter, private post set up between, and Barnstaple in 1633, 17;
course of post between Exeter and Bristol in 1660, 29;
in 1696, 57;
salary of postmaster in 1792, 293

Expresses, 63, 83;
when to be sent from Dover, 107;
employment of, becomes more general about the middle of the eighteenth
century, 182;
is jealously restricted, 182;
their number reduced on the establishment of mail-coaches, 214;
fees on expresses, 233;
express sent daily to and from Ireland after the Union, 387

Express clerks, 371

Express office, Haymarket, 408

Eyles, Sir John, postmaster-general from 1739 to 1744, 238

Falmouth, packet station opened at, in 1689, 75;
closed and reopened, 77;
packet regulations, 82;
systematic smuggling, 89, 238;
packet agent also victualler, 95

Fares, by packet to Holland before and after 1689, 76;
by steam packet and by sailing packet, comparative statement, 385

Farmers of the Post Office, their popularity and the reason of it, 59;
are ruined by increase of postage and converted into managers, 136;
as managers prove useless, 138

Farra, John, is supplied with a special travelling order, 131 _note_

Faversham, marriage of the postmistress, 334

Fees, exacted from postmasters, 232;
received by the chief sorter on the occasion of royal birthdays, 233;
on expresses, 233;
on the registration of foreign letters, 233

Ferrers, Countess, 182

Fielding, Henry, his tribute to Ralph Allen, 186

"Fifth-clause" posts, 350-352

Firearms, worthless quality of those originally supplied to mail guards,
261

Fire of London, intelligence of, takes five days to reach Worthing, 34

Flemings, resort to London, where they introduce the manufacture of wool
into cloth, 8;
instance of value set upon cloth made in London, 8 _note_

Flying coach, 63, 67

Flying packet, meaning of the term, 63 (108)

Flying-post, 63 _note_

Foreign bottoms, employment of, by the Post Office illegal, 98

Foreign merchants claim to set up a post of their own to the Continent,
9;
claim conceded by the Privy Council, 12;
and repudiated by Coke, 13

Foster, John, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, his efforts to improve
communication with Ireland, 388

France, Post Office treaty with, imperfectly observed, 77;
a new one made and its onerous conditions, 138;
postage on letters from, increased, 296;
improvement of communication with, deprecated by merchants of London,
298

Franking, abuses of, in 1711, and means taken to check them, 132;
effect of franking upon the Post Office revenue, 142;
becomes the subject of Parliamentary enactment, 189;
conditions altered, 189;
franking in Ireland, 190;
of newspapers inland, 191;
franking privilege possessed by the clerks at Dublin Castle
surrendered, 194;
franks to be dated and are otherwise restricted, 216;
further restrictions imposed, 315;
franks do not clear either the penny, the twopenny, or the convention
posts, 350;
franking privilege withdrawn in the case of newspapers to and from the
Colonies, 402;
privilege remains in the case of newspapers to and from the Continent,
403;
and in the case of newspapers circulating within the United Kingdom
gradually disappears, 404;
franked letters charged immediately on dissolution of Parliament, 405;
franking privilege withheld from Roman Catholic Peers, 408;
abuse of franking in the case of the Money Order Office, 421;
specimens of franks, Appendix

Frankland, Sir Thomas, postmaster-general from 1690 to 1715. _See_
Postmasters-General, Part I.

Frankland, William, son of the preceding, Comptroller of the Inland
Office, in attendance upon the Queen at Newmarket, 99

Franklin, Benjamin, his dismissal, 203;
amicable relations with, not suspended, 204

Free delivery. _See_ Delivery

Freeling, Sir Francis, appointed surveyor, 228;
appointed joint secretary with Todd, 294;
devises new arrangements for the sorting of the American and West
Indian mails, 310;
his project for guarding the horse and cross-posts, 317, 335;
becomes sole secretary, 327;
his craze for high rates of postage, 330;
his zeal in repressing illicit correspondence, 333;
is checked by Auckland, 335;
procures additional measures of repression, 335;
recommends increase of postage rates, 340;
his estimate of Cobbett, 342;
his emoluments from franking newspapers, 344;
his indignation at criticisms in the _Times_ newspaper, 348;
brings an action, 348;
contemplates a high-handed proceeding towards the town of Olney in
Buckinghamshire, 351;
procures a charge to be made on returned letters, 360;
his contention with the India House in the matter of ship letters, 361;
urges a technical adherence to the provisions of the statute, 364;
his elation at the increase of the Post Office revenue, 365;
contrast between Freeling and Lees, 370;
his difference with Lees, 381;
his claim for the Post Office in the matter of steam vessels, 387;
opposes improvement of communication with Ireland, 389;
his interview with Sir Arthur Wellesley, 390;
attempts to get terms of a hostile motion altered, 397;
his dismay at the transfer of the Falmouth packets from the Post Office
to the Admiralty, 399;
his strictness in Post Office matters, 404;
is irritated by Sir Henry Parnell's assumption of superiority, 407;
the probable reason for not resigning on the opening of the new Post
Office in St. Martin's-le-Grand, 411;
his view that the packet service should not be thrown open to public
competition opposed by Althorp, 417;
defends the newspaper privilege enjoyed by the clerks of the roads,
418;
his attitude towards the Royal Commission, 420;
averts a breakdown with the mail-coaches, 426;
becomes the object of vehement attack, 426;
broods over the past, 427;
his death, 428

Frizell, William, 14

Frowde, Ashburnham, comptroller of foreign office, 234

Furness, Sir Harry, 174

Gardner, penny postman, murder of, 183 _note_

Garrow, Sir William, his frank forged, 406

Gas, introduction of, into the Post Office, 408

General Steam Navigation Company undertakes first packet contract, 418

George the Third, when at Cheltenham or at Weymouth is attended by a
mail-coach, 251;
his illness and distribution of a prayer for his recovery, 254;
his interest in his coach, 288;
objects to roof-loading, 288;
attends trial trip, 288;
distributes largesse among mail guards and coachmen, 289

Gerrard Street, crowded condition of Post Office in, 410

Glasgow petitions for a horse-post to Edinburgh, 136;
and for a post office which shall not be kept at a shop, 408

Gloucester protests against certain houses being excluded from the free
delivery, 199;
salary of postmaster in 1792, 293

Godolphin, Sidney Godolphin, Earl of, his rebuke to the
postmaster-general, 106;
insists upon communication with the army in Flanders being improved,
107;
his instruction about extraordinary payments, 137;
directs that in Post Office cases Counsel shall give receipts for their
fees, 324 (121, 124, 125)

Grafton, Augustus Henry, Duke of, specimen of his frank, Appendix

Grand mail, 83

Grand Post Nights, 46, 221

Granville, Lord, urges improvement of the Cornish posts, 62

Gratuities, on delivery of letters, 52, 61, 62, 152, 166;
legality of, questioned in the case of towns, 197;
question decided in favour of the public, 200;
still being charged, 422

Gray, Thomas, his prediction that mail-coaches would be displaced by
railways, 408

Grey, Charles, Earl, 412, 423

Grosvenor, Sir Richard, member for Chester, expostulated with as to the
irregular use of his frank, 141

Groyne, The, 75, 77

Guide to accompany post-horses when two are taken, 18

Guildhall Library, letter preserved in, showing tardy course of post in
1666, 34

Halfpenny carriage set up by Povey, 121

Halloran, a clerical impostor, 406

Hamburg, practice at, on arrival of the mails, 174

Hamilton, Andrew, acts as Neale's agent for setting up posts in North
America, 110;
his suggestions for improving the posts, 112;
acquires Neale's patent, 116;
dies and the patent is surrendered to the Crown, 116

Hamilton, John, son of the preceding, appointed deputy postmaster-general
of America, 116

Harley, Robert, afterwards Earl of Oxford, raises the rates of postage,
124;
attempts to trace the writer of an anonymous letter, 181

Harwich, a packet station, 73;
number and strength of its packets, 75;
packet regulations, 82;
a hot-bed of smuggling, 91, 237;
its exorbitant charges, 96;
is closed as a packet station, 418

Hasker, Thomas, chief superintendent of mail-coaches, his pithy
instructions, 284;
is complimented by the King, 288;
will not suffer even the King to detain the mail-coach, 289;
enters a protest against the speed of the Holyhead mail, 394

Hayman, Peter, first postmaster of Virginia and Maryland, 111

Heath, Sir Robert, Solicitor-General, 11

Hickes, Prideaux's servant, imprisonment of, 22

Highwaymen, rewards for apprehension of, 183;
refrain from attacks upon mail-coaches, 290;
confine their attention to horse and cross-posts, 317;
instances of the recovery of mail bags stolen by, 336

Hill, Sir Rowland, 269 _note_, 420, 428

Hippisley, Sir John, 20

Hiver, Richard, 192

Holt, Sir John, Chief Justice, his opinion respecting compensation for
losses by post, 188 _note_

Holyhead, packet service at beginning of eighteenth century performed
with regularity, 82;
contemplated reduction of the packet establishment deprecated by the
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 248;
conditions of passage between Holyhead and Dublin in 1813, 379

Hompesch, Baron, packet detained for, 87

Horn, when to be blown, 4;
a man on horseback blowing a post-horn assigned as a device for Post
Office colours, 75 _note_

Horses, to be kept in readiness for affairs of State, 2;
two to be kept at every post-house, 4;
use of, obtained under false pretences, 5;
overridden, overladen, and not always paid for, 5, 51;
charge for post-horses in 1603, 6;
in 1635, 18;
in 1660, 30;
not to be supplied except at post-houses, 6;
to be attended by a guide when two are hired, 18;
not to be let when the post is expected, 18;
not to be taken without the consent of the owners, 30;
only indirectly a source of revenue, 30;
monopoly of letting horses continued to the Post Office by the Act of
1711, 130;
control exercised by the Post Office over horses for travellers merely
nominal, exception given, 131;
charges for post-horses increased by the erection of milestones, 176;
monopoly of letting post-horses withdrawn, 205

Horse and cross-posts, project for checking robberies of, 317;
authority withheld, 318;
eventually given, 335

Hostages taken on capture of a packet, 93;
instance of inhuman treatment of, 94

Houses numbered, 195;
their not being so a hindrance to the Post Office, 36, 151

Hume, David, 29

Hume, Joseph, 402

Hungerford selected to try the question of free delivery, 198;
question decided in favour of the public and a letter-carrier
appointed, 202, 293

Illicit conveyance of letters, between town and town and between the
country and London, 54;
is stimulated by increase in the rates of postage, 134, 141;
becomes less after the introduction of mail-coaches, 227;
prosecutions for, 333;
return to the House of Commons, 422

Impressment, persons employed on the packets exempt from, 84;
specimen of protection order, 84 _note_

Instructions to the sorting office communicated by word of mouth, 324

Insurance an essential condition of Dockwra's penny post, 38;
this condition abandoned, 188

Invoices to and from abroad exempt from postage until 1801, exemption
then withdrawn, 331

Ipswich asserts its right to a free delivery, 198;
right admitted and letter-carrier appointed, 202

Ireland, tardiness of post to, before 1635, 16;
postage to, 18;
method of Post Office business in 1690, 53;
abuse of franking in 1773, 190;
clerks at the castle surrender their franking privilege, 194;
posts to and within Ireland improved, 195;
Penny Post Office opened in Dublin, 196;
the roof of the Dublin Post Office falls in, 207;
the Irish Post Office separated from that of England, 221;
effects of the separation in the case of correspondence by the Milford
Haven and Waterford route, 249;
between the Irish and English Post Offices differences in point of law,
366;
and of practice, 367;
office in Dublin styled British Mail Office, account of, 367;
and improper use made of it, 371;
Clancarty's energy and decision of character, 368;
Lees, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, his mode of conducting
business, 369;
Lees contrasted with Freeling, 370;
the postmasters-general absentees, 370;
absence also of the subordinates and other abuses, 371;
the express clerks and clerks of the roads deal in newspapers and are
given undue advantages, 371;
account of the alphabet, 374;
ingenious one in use at Belfast, 375;
arrangement in favour of soldiers' wives, 374;
peculiar mode of delivery at Belfast, 375;
mail-coach contracts in Ireland different from those in England, 376;
Charles Bianconi, 376;
arrangement between Ireland and Great Britain in the matter of the
packets, 378;
Lees is dissatisfied with it, 380;
and sets it aside, 381;
Freeling's indignation, 382;
sailing packets replaced by steam packets, 383;
effect upon the number of passengers carried by the Post Office, 385;
Irish traffic diverted from Holyhead to Liverpool, 385;
and Liverpool made a packet station, 386;
except in the matter of the packets, indisposition of the British Post
Office to improve communication with Ireland, 387;
such improvement urged by Foster, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer,
388;
and resisted by Freeling, 389;
Freeling forced to give way, 390;
the Irish Post Office consolidated with the Post Office of Great
Britain, 414;
and the Dublin establishment reformed, 415;
the auditing of the Irish accounts rendered futile, 415

Iron mail-cart stopped and rifled of its contents, 290

Isle of Wight, its Post Office establishment in 1792, 294

Jackson, a passenger by packet without a pass, 89

Jacob, Giles, 188 _note_

Jamaica, Post Office establishment in, and sea rates fixed, 78;
duration of voyage to and fro in 1798, 320;
House of Assembly vote sum of money in recognition of the gallant
defence of the _Antelope_ packet, 323

James, Duke of York, afterwards James II., opposes introduction of the
penny post, 37;
wrests it out of Dockwra's hands, 40;
suffers the clerks of the roads to retain their newspaper privilege,
49

Jamineau, Isaac, purveyor of newspapers to the clerks of the roads, 300

Jeffreys, Sir George, afterwards Lord, inflicts exorbitant fine upon
Edmund Prideaux, son of the Master of the Posts, 27

Johnson, Edward, letter-carrier, improves the penny post, 302;
is appointed deputy comptroller, 305

Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 209 _note_

Jones, distiller of Old Street, St. Luke's, his action against the Post
Office, 203

Kent, post through the county of, more carefully nursed than any other, 9

Kenyon, Lloyd, Lord, when Attorney-General, gives receipts for fees in
Post Office cases, 325

King's coach, deception practised on Walsingham in the matter of the, 251

King's messengers, their complaint against the Post Office on the
erection of milestones, 176

Lambton, John George, moves for a return of the number of Post Office
Boards, 396

Lancashire, the badness of its posts in 1699, 60

Le Despencer, Francis, Lord, postmaster-general from 1766 to 1781, 221,
226

Leeds, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293

Lees, Sir John, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, his testimony to
the abuse of franking, 191;
having been transferred to the War Office, recapitulates conditions on
which he accepts reappointment to the Post Office, 221;
recapitulation gives offence to Carteret, 222;
and leads to Carteret's exposure, 226

Lees, Sir Edward Smith, son of the preceding, also secretary to the Post
Office in Ireland, his method of conducting business, 369;
deals in newspapers, 373;
his instruction respecting the alphabet, 374;
his difference with Freeling, 381;
becomes a director of the Dublin Steam Packet Company, 383;
is transferred to Edinburgh, 415;
his unauthorised surrender of the receiver-general's bond, 415

Leet, express clerk, 373

Leicester, the Corporation of, binds itself to keep post-horses for the
use of the Sovereign, 2;
salary of postmaster at, in 1792, 293

Leicester, George, Earl of, postmaster-general from 1794 to 1799, 326

Letter-carriers, their pay in 1690, 49;
as late as 1772, none employed except in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin,
197;
are appointed at certain other towns, 202;
in London their interests suffer from the earlier closing of the Post
Office, 221;
are put into uniform, 299;
the sufferings of some of their number during the winter of 1794-95,
306;
select their walks according to seniority, 324;
deliver letters according to classes, one class for general post
letters, another for penny or twopenny letters, and a third for
foreign letters, 423

Letters, on affairs of State originally sent by courier, 2;
particulars of, when sent by post, to be carefully recorded, 4;
letters on other than the affairs of State received at the post-houses,
4;
not, without the authority of the Master of the Posts, to be collected,
carried, or delivered, 6;
notice that none are to be sent except through the post served on the
merchants of London, 9;
letters detected in being illicitly conveyed to be sent to the Privy
Council, and their bearers apprehended, 10;
what letters excepted from monopoly, 18;
are given precedence over travellers, 18;
circulate mainly through London, 29;
their mode of distribution, 47;
clandestine conveyance of, 54;
number of penny post letters for the suburbs of London at the end of
the seventeenth century, 69;
letters for America and Jamaica charged with postage, although there
was no packet service, 78;
clandestine conveyance of, stimulated by increase of postage, 134;
definition of single and double letter, 139;
Allen's injunction to check illegal conveyance of, 165;
are examined by means of a strong light, 171, 409, 422;
penalty for opening letters, 171;
letters containing patterns or samples, whether to be charged as single
or double letters, 177;
right to make, on the delivery of letters, any charge beyond the
postage contested, 197;
memorials for and against the earlier delivery of foreign letters in
London, 267;
average number of letters for each foreign mail in 1790, 268;
treatment of dead and missent letters before and after 1793, 308;
return of the number of letters passing through the London Post Office
submitted to the postmasters-general daily, 324;
made penal not only to carry letters, but to send them otherwise than
through the post, 335;
on the delivery of letters, despite the decision of the Courts, a
charge beyond the postage continues to be made, 422;
owing to the complication of rates, not possible to express the total
charge upon a letter in one taxation, 423

Lewis XIV. assembles a squadron before Dunkirk, 101;
his delay in refusing to sign the preliminaries of peace, 105

Lichfield, Thomas William, Earl of, appointed postmaster-general May
1835, 427 _note_

Lincolnshire, the paucity of its posts before 1705, 61

Liverpool, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293;
penny post established at, 339;
is opened as a packet station, 386

Liverpool, Robert, Earl of, mediates between Freeling and Lees, 382;
transfers the Falmouth packets from the Post Office to the Admiralty,
399

Lloyds supplied by the Post Office with ship news, 218

Loppinott, Colonel, 321

Losses by post, compensation for, 38;
when ceased to be given, 188

Lovell, Mary, receiver in St. James's Street, Lord Abercorn's complaint
against, 153

Lovell, Thomas, Lord, afterwards Earl of Leicester, postmaster-general
from 1733 to 1759, 167;
receives a threatening letter, 183 _note_;
his loose notions about smuggling, 238

Lowndes, William, Secretary to the Treasury, takes charge of the Post
Office Bill of 1711, 124;
overbears Swift, the solicitor to the Post Office, 126;
confounds gross and net revenue, 145 (325 _note_)

Macadam, John Loudon, introduces new method of road-making, 392

Macaulay, Lord, his account of the fine inflicted upon Edmund Prideaux,
son of the Master of the Posts, 27;
his statement that a part of the Post Office revenue was derived from
post-horses questioned, 30 (39)

Mackerness, Thomas, postmaster of Chipping Norton, 163

Macky, John, packet agent at Dover, proceeds to Flanders, 102;
receives a remarkable caution, 103;
having become contractor for the Dover and Ostend packet service,
his boats engage in illicit operations, 103;
and bring news clandestinely, 106;
is commissioned to settle posts for the army, his excellent
arrangements, 107

Maddison, George, 205

Magistrates, the duty of, in certain cases, to seize horses for the
service of the posts, 3, 6;
are enjoined to see that horses are procured at the post-houses alone,
9

Maidstone, excellency of the delivery at, in the seventeenth century, 48;
amount of the postmaster's salary, 50

Mails, hour of despatch of the, from the General Post Office in 1690, 47;
after 1784, 220;
cost of conveyance of, before and after the introduction of
mail-coaches, 290;
are exempt from toll in Great Britain but not in Ireland, 354;
exemption withdrawn in Scotland, 359

Mail bags, curious instances of recovery of, 337

Mail-carts, mail-cart made of iron rifled of its contents, 290;
first used in London to bring letters to the General Post Office, 316

Mail-coaches, begin to run, 213;
rapid extension of the system, 214;
system deprecated by some of the leading merchants, 220;
their effect upon expresses, 214;
upon the illicit conveyance of letters, 227;
a mail-coach in attendance upon the King when at Cheltenham, 251;
are put off the road by Palmer, 270;
number of, in 1792, 281;
model of mail-coach preserved at the Post Office, 282;
mail-coaches of new pattern supplied, 283;
number of passengers by, restricted, 283, 401;
roof-loading, and objections to it, 287, 412;
roof not always safe, 288;
mileage allowance in the case of mail-coaches, 290;
their freedom from attacks by highwaymen, 317;
become liable to a duty of one penny a mile, 337;
are diverted from the direct route for a consideration, 341;
number of, in 1811, 352;
their unpopularity with road trustees, 353;
question considered of withdrawing their exemption from toll, 354;
mail-coaches withdrawn instead, 355;
in Scotland, are made liable to toll, 359;
and their number is reduced, 360;
speed of mail-coaches, 399, 426;
the mail-coach the great disseminator of news, 401;
supply of mail-coaches thrown open to public competition, immediate
result, 425

Mail guards, not originally Post Office servants, 260;
their little excesses, 261;
their wages, 263;
treatment of their wages a cause of difference between Walsingham
and Palmer, 263;
their position one of responsibility, 283;
their fees, 284;
specimens of instructions to, 285;
carry parcels and game, and suffer to be carried excess-passengers,
286, 287

Main, George, deputy-postmaster of Edinburgh, 117

Maitres de poste in Canada, 205

Managers, sometime farmers, of the Post Office, 137

Manchester, its Post Office establishment in 1792, 292;
establishment increased and Penny Post Office opened, 301

Manley, Captain John, Post Office farmed by, 27

Manley, Isaac, deputy-postmaster of Dublin, 69 _note_

Mansfield, William, Earl of, his opinion upon compensation for losses
by the post, 188 _note_;
his judgment as to the duty of the Post Office in the matter of
delivering letters, 198

Marlborough, John Churchill, Duke of, interests himself in the post with
Flanders, 101 (104, 107)

Maryborough, William, Lord, postmaster-general from December 31, 1834 to
May 8, 1835, 427 _note_

Master of the Posts, his duties, 2;
no one not authorised by, allowed to collect, carry, or deliver
letters, 6;
his salary and emoluments, 12

Melbourne, William, Viscount, 423

Melville, Robert, Viscount, advocates transfer of the Falmouth packets
to the Admiralty, 399

Menai Straits, additional rate of postage imposed on letters crossing
the, 395

Merchants' accounts to and from abroad exempt from postage until 1801,
exemption then withdrawn, 331

Merchant adventurers. _See_ Foreign Merchants

Methuen, Sir Paul, ambassador to Portugal, calls attention to the
irregular proceedings of the packets, 91

Mileage allowance, in case of mail-coaches, 290;
higher in Ireland than in England, 376;
flippant return to the House of Commons on the subject of, 424

Miles, difference between measured and computed miles, 175

Milestones, erection of, 175;
their effect upon the charge for post-horses, 176

Milford Haven and Waterford, packet service between, 249

Missent letters, treatment of, before and after 1793, 309

Money Order Office, 420;
the subject of a flippant return to the House of Commons, 424;
facsimile of a money order issued in 1802, Appendix

Monopoly of the Post Office, origin of, in the matter of letters and of
post-horses, 7;
confined in the first instance to the county of Kent, 9;
confirmed by Act of Parliament, 27;
withdrawn as regards post-horses, 205

Mountstuart, John, Viscount, 256 _note_

Murray, Robert, reputed to have been the first to suggest the penny post,
36

Neale, Thomas, obtains grants for setting up posts in North America,
110;
his pecuniary difficulties, 112;
offers to surrender his patent, 115;
patent passes on his death to Andrew Hamilton, 116

Newcastle, Thomas Holles Pelham, Duke of, his orders about the packets
countermanded by Pelham, 173;
sends to the Post Office to inquire the price of corn, 255

Newcastle, salary of the postmaster in 1792, 293

News, hunger after, 50;
the postmasters-general the great purveyors of, 104;
news disseminated by the mail-coaches, 401

Newspapers, franking of, by the clerks of the roads, 49;
are received from abroad by Post Office servants in advance of the
general public, 175;
conditions of franking newspapers altered, effect of alteration, 191,
250;
copies of, supplied to Post Office servants, 232;
newspaper office established, 261;
number and weight of newspapers passing through the Post Office in
1788, 262 _note_;
treatment of foreign newspapers, 343;
newspaper agency at the Post Office largely developed, 344;
London newspapers supplied by the Post Office with early intelligence
from abroad, 346;
newspapers, though franked, not exempt from postage by the penny,
twopenny, and convention posts, 350;
postage on newspapers for the East Indies reduced below the letter
rate, 363;
improper dealing with newspapers in Ireland, 372;
on newspapers to and from the Colonies special rates established
and franking privilege withdrawn, 402;
this privilege retained in the case of newspapers for the Continent,
403;
newspapers circulating within the United Kingdom exempted from postage,
404;
extent of newspaper business conducted by the clerks of the roads in
1829, 407;
in 1830, 418;
newspaper business finally withdrawn, 419

Newton, Sir Isaac, 66

New Year's gifts, extortion of, 325

Nicholas, Sir Edward, 20

Nodin, passenger on board the _Antelope_ packet, his gallantry, 321

Normanby, Henry Constantine, Viscount, proposes abolition of the office
of second postmaster-general, 397

North, Frederick, Lord, 206;
receives singular reply from the Post Office, 218

Northampton, Countess of, 63

Northey, Sir Edward, 143

Northumberland, Hugh, Earl of, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 194

Nottingham, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293

Ogilby, John, calls attention to the difference between measured and
computed miles, 175 _note_

Oldfield, Thomas, postmaster of York, 337

Oldmixon, 26

Old Street, St Luke's, a second penny charged on penny post letters
addressed to, 203

Oliphant, Robert, deputy postmaster-general for Scotland, 271

Olney, Buckinghamshire, attempts to improve its post and the consequence,
351

O'Neile, Daniel, farmer of the posts, 33, 34

O'Neill, Charles Henry St. John, Earl, postmaster-general of Ireland
from 1807 to 1831, 368 _seq._, 415

Onslow, Denzil, 185

Opening of letters, during the Commonwealth, 28;
under James II., 44;
practice systematically carried on under Walpole's administration, 170;
continued, as regards foreign letters, until 1844, 269 _note_

Ordnance, Board of, 86

Ormonde, James, Duke of, 70

Oxenbridge, Clement, reduces postage, 29;
receives an appointment under the Post Office, 32

Oxford Street, branch post office opened in, 411

Packets (sailing), packet establishment in 1690, 45;
are forbidden to carry merchandise in times of war, 76;
regulations for control of, 82;
carry their own surgeon, 84;
are not, without a pass, to carry passengers, 85;
or goods, 88;
fares are not sufficiently made known and inconvenience arises,
instances given, 86;
curious assortment of goods sent free by packet, 88;
packets bring both passengers and goods without passes, 89;
engage in smuggling, 89;
are forbidden to give chase, 93;
are not entitled to the prizes they take, 93;
agreement with prizes honourably observed as a rule, exceptions given,
94;
are victualled at Falmouth and at Harwich on different principles,
objections to both systems, 95;
copy of letter-bill by the _Prince_ packet, 97;
transport recruits with disastrous results, 97;
must be of English build, 98;
engage with privateers, 101;
are placed on a peace footing, 108;
colours altered on Union with Scotland, 117;
sufficiency of the burthen and crew of the Falmouth packets questioned
by the merchants, 173;
the packets generally meet with a series of disasters, 207;
wholesale smuggling on the part of the Harwich packets, 237;
inordinate growth of the packet expenditure, 238;
and the reason, 239;
packets established between Milford Haven and Waterford, 249;
representation by the merchants as to the number of packets captured,
320;
their gallant actions with privateers, 321;
probable explanation of these actions occurring only when passengers
were on board, 323;
mode of procuring packets for the East Indies and the Cape in 1815, and
their cost, 363;
arrangement in the matter of packets between Great Britain and Ireland,
378;
steps taken by the Dublin Post Office to set the arrangement aside,
381;
sailing packets replaced by steam packets between Holyhead and Dublin,
384;
between Milford Haven and Waterford, 385;
between Portpatrick and Donaghadee, 385;
the Falmouth packets transferred to the Admiralty, 398