1825.) Post- Office 
companying elucidation of the revenues 
and management of the establishment, 
both in Great Britain and Ireland, in 
each of the last seven years, but prove 
acceptable to your readers at large.— 
[See Statistical Tables, in the Supplement 
to our preceding volume, p. 638.) 
For the first semblance of the present 
order of conveyance of letters in Great 
Britain, the country is indebted to a 
Mr. Edmund Prideaux, who was ap- 
pointed Postmaster in 1642; when he 
established a regular conveyance, by 
horses, of letters, weekly, to all parts of 
the kingdom. The sphere of the esta- 
blishment was extended, and rendered 
somewhat more systematic, by the Pro- 
tector Cromwell and his parliament, in 
1654: subsequent to which period, va- 
rious regulatory enactments were passed, 
for the better security and facility of 
conveyance. No decided improvement, 
however, was manifest for more than a 
century; the conveyance continuing, 
either on horseback, or. by single-horse 
carts, until the year 1781; at which time, 
speed, regularity and public conveyance, 
began to be manifest, by the various 
establishments of stage-coaches to and 
from London and every town of note 
in the kingdom. ; 
_ This led to the suggestion, by Mr. 
John Palmer, of Bath, in 1782, of the 
present system of conveyance of letters 
by coaches. The suggestion, at’ first, 
met with considerable opposition, and 
was pronounced, by the guidnuncs then 
employed in the establishment, to: be; 
not only impracticable, but dangerous to 
commerce and the revenue! Mr. Palmer’s 
suggestions, however, were adopted in 
1784; since when, the arrangements 
have been progressively improved, to 
such a degree, that it may, without fear 
of contradiction, be said, that the Bri- 
tish Post-office forms the most econo- 
mical social institution which has ever 
existed in any age or country. Whether 
it be susceptible of still further im- 
provement, and greater convenience ; or 
whether its attainments, in order, inte- 
rest and utility, have reached their 
zenith,—and, like all human institutions 
which have preceded it, it is now on 
the eve of retrogression (by becoming 
an instrument of espionage and abuse), 
are subjects worthy of reflection. 
The accompanying statistical illustra- 
tion will be seen distinctly to denote 
the total receipt of postage in each of 
the three departments,— General, Two- 
penny and Foreign, in each of the seven 
years. 1817—1823. 
Establishment. ~ 123 
In consequence of an alteration in 
the form of the national accounts, sug- 
gested by a Committee of Parliament in 
the session of 1822, a more detailed 
elucidation of the economy of the esta- 
blishment appears for the two last years, 
and by which the postage of the bye 
and cross-road letters is exhibited dis- 
tinct from that of the General Office in 
London. 
It will be seen, that the postage of 
letters despatched from London, ex- 
ceeds, considerably, the postage of those 
received; whilst the reverse, on reflec- 
tion, would appear most probable.— 
Assuming an average rate of 9d. postage 
for each letter despatched from London, 
the aggregate annual number will be 
about 13,500,000, or 40,000 per day,— 
and about a ninth less received; but, 
from the varied rates of postage, and 
from some letters being double, treble 
and multiple, no just conclusion can be 
drawn of the number passing through 
the general department, but by actual 
enumeration. 
There are about 1,000 persons, Mem- 
bers of both Houses of Parliament, and 
a few others, privileged to despatch, free 
of postage, twenty letters daily, Sundays* 
included, and to receive fifteen daily, 
not exceeding an ounce in weight each ; 
equal to 280 single letters, weekly, for- 
warded, and 360, weekly, received: —so 
that the privilege of franking letters, 
alone, to a banker, or person in an ex-_ 
tensive line of business, may be esti- 
mated as equivalent to £1,200 per 
annum ; and, such is the innate disposi- 
tion of man to abuse, and selfishly to 
apply privileges, intended exclusively 
for the benefit of the public, that it is be- 
come a matter of calculation, how much 
money it is worth risking, in prostituting 
the suffrages of electors, merely and 
exclusively for the advantages and saving 
which the privilege of franking letters 
alone affords : and such is the grovelling 
spirit, and shamelessness of character, 
which pervades monied men, that, were 
it not for disparaging your pages by a 
direct personal allusion, I would name 
those, on whose very“ shop-bills” were 
engraved, “Please address all letters 
to Sir , Bart., M.P.,” and a 
banker in the city of London, whose 
confidential friend has avowed, that 
he will spend more money at the 
next general election, to obtain the 
\ suffrages 
* The letters are sent to the Post-oftice, 
but are not. forwarded from thence unti! 
Monday. : 
R 2 
