POSTS. 



663 



posts in France have been much more regular and 

 expeditious. The postage has also, in the course 

 of time, undergone important changes. Under Louis 

 XIV., the farmers of the post regulated it at will; 

 but as soon as the post system was taken under the 

 royal management, an end was put to the system of 

 extortion, as is apparent from the earliest postage 

 rates, namely, those of the years 1701 and 1703. 

 The present rates were established by the decree of 

 1806. In proportion to the postage of 1759, there 

 is a considerable increase in particular charges, 

 amounting to a third in the case of single letters, 

 but the excuse for this is found in the more than 

 trebly increased expenditure. Yet the French post- 

 age upon a single letter is more reasonable than 

 that of any other country; for the highest price of 

 such a letter to any part of the kingdom amounts 

 but to one franc (10 pence). The increase, how- 

 ever, in the price of letters with their increasing 

 weight is not so reasonable ; for the ratio in the 

 French system is the highest of all, higher in pro- 

 portion than the English, and " recommended" let- 

 ters must even pay double. On the contrary, 

 France offers an example worthy of imitation in the 

 rates of conveyance for printed matter. Newspapers 

 sent into the interior pay but four centimes a sheet; 

 those sent out of the kingdom eight. Other printed 

 matter pays five centimes in the first case, and ten 

 in the second. These charges on printed matter 

 must be paid upon delivery. Patterns of goods pay 

 one-third postage. Quite contrary to this is the 

 Prussian post system of 1824, which prohibited the 

 carrying of printed matter in the letter mails, and 

 transferred it to the government baggage waggons. 

 It imposes, moreover, a charge of triple letter post- 

 age on packages of two ounces weight, and of seven 

 times letter postage on packages of two pounds 

 weight. Postage upon money, since 1703, has 

 been fixed at five per cent., without regard to dis- 

 tance. Since 1759, a small post has been established 

 in the city of Paris, under royal regulation, to the 

 great advantage of the Parisian public. From eight 

 offices, in different parts of the city, the letters, as 

 well of the great as the lesser post, are distributed 

 by the letter-carriers, five times each day during 

 the six cold months, and six times a day during the 

 others. As to the inviolability of letters, it is known 

 that every postmaster must take an oath to observe 

 it; but letters are, in fact, often opened by the secret 

 police. In 1825, the letters sent by commercial 

 couriers from Paris to London were broken open. 

 The answer returned to the complaints made was, 

 that the right to send couriers was a simple permis- 

 sion, in consideration of which the government must 

 have liberty to examine the contents of their letters. 

 In the time of the French republic and consular 

 government, the secrecy of letters was much more 

 regarded. After the fall of the Villele ministry 

 (Jan. 1828), the government abolished the depart- 

 ment intrusted with the unsealing of letters, and 

 declared them inviolable. The coaches, or dili- 

 gences, for the transportation of passengers and bag- 

 gage, have always been private establishments, 

 licensed, indeed, by the government, and paying a 

 fixed tax to the state. Competition, therefore, has 

 contributed much to their improvement. The most 

 important undertaking of this kind is at Paris, en- 

 treprise genfrale des messageries. Besides dili- 

 gences, there are pataches, a kind of travelling mes- 

 sengers, who receive travellers, and make short 

 journeys, without changing horses, but likewise 

 have licenses from government, and are obliged to 

 pay a certain tax. In 1766, there went daily from 

 Paris twenty-seven coaches, with 270 travellers, 

 into the different provinces. Now there are 300 



coaches, which carry more than 3000 passengers. 

 Just before 1792, the last lease of the public coaches 

 produced but 600,000 francs. Now the taxes on 

 them alone amount to nearly 4,000,000 francs. In 

 the above-mentioned year, fifty francs were paid for 

 a seat in a carriage from Paris to Lyons, and the 

 journey occupied ten days. Now the time does not 

 exceed three days, and the price is seventy-two 

 francs. The extra posts in France are particularly 

 distinguished for their swiftness. This is owing, 

 not to the goodness of the horses, but to the activity 

 of the postmasters, the postilions, and the drivers. 

 The postilion never thinks of sleep or rest. As 

 soon as he gets in sight of his stopping place, lie 

 gives a signal by cracking his whip, at which every 

 thing is immediately got in readiness, so that he 

 starts again in a few minutes. In France, the offi- 

 cial regulations for extra posts are printed yearly, 

 together with all the routes, and what is to be paid 

 and to be observed at each stage; also the post 

 charts, and all new changes. 



The beginning of the English post system is first 

 observed in the statutes of Edward III.j yet the 

 supposition is not well founded that from that time 

 the post was established as a public institution. 

 Edward IV. placed post-houses at intervals of 

 twenty miles; and, in the north, a military post was 

 established to communicate as quickly as possible 

 with the army during the Scottish war. This insti- 

 tution was indeed authorized by the reigning king, 

 but it was probably owing to the king's brother 

 Richard, who commanded the army. At what time, 

 and under what conditions, the public were able to 

 avail themselves of it, we have no certain know- 

 ledge. That this post, nevertheless, was, for a long 

 time, very limited, and but partially used, is obvi- 

 ous from the fact that, not long before the reign of 

 Charles 1., merchants, tradesmen, and professional 

 men, in the whole kingdom, resorted to less secure 

 means of conveyance, or employed express messen- 



fers, at great expense, to carry their correspon- 

 ence. The universities and principal cities had 

 their own posts, messengers who performed long 

 journeys, riding or walking, and returned with the 

 answers to the letters. In this manner the post 

 was conducted, in Scotland, till a much later 

 period. In 1543, a post existed by which letters 

 were carried from London to Edinburgh within four 

 days; but this rate of transportation, extraordinarily 

 rapid for that period, lasted but a short time. After 

 Camden, who was much employed by Elizabeth in 

 her Scottish affairs, Thomas Randolph (in 1581) 

 held the place of postmaster-general of England. 

 James I. set on foot, under the superintendence of 

 Matthew de Quester, a system for forwarding let- 

 ters intended for foreign lands. Hitherto, this had 

 been done by private persons. The foreign mer- 

 chants settled in London preserved long after the 

 privileges belonging to the place of postmaster for 

 foreign letters. In 1632, Charles I., by a procla- 

 mation, forbade letters to be sent out of the king- 

 dom, except through the post-office. In 1635, he 

 established a system of posts for England and Scot- 

 land, which was conducted according to new and 

 judicious regulations. All private and local posts 

 were abolished, and the income of the post-offices 

 was claimed by the king. This institution was 

 under the direction. of Thomas Witherings, who was 

 removed in 1640, on account of notorious abuses. 

 To him succeeded Philip Burlamachy, who was 

 under the immediate control of the secretary of state. 

 In 1630, Charles in connexion with Louis XIII. of 

 France, established a post between London and 

 Paris, from Dover to Calais, and from thence, 

 through Boulogne, Abbeville, and Amiens to Paris 



