34 THE COACHING ERA 



a carefully thought-out scheme entitled, "A Plan for the 

 Reform and Improvement of the General Post Office," 

 which he presented to Pitt, then Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer. 



Pitt saw at once the prafticability of the idea and, 

 charmed with the prospedl of considerable increased 

 revenue it held out, did all he could to further its 

 adoption. Like most sweeping reforms which embody 

 the substitution of new for old, the scheme for the 

 mails caused men to hold up their hands in horror and 

 dismay. They declared if desperate men had set their 

 hearts on having the mail-bag have it they would and, 

 seeing that they were thoroughly determined on the 

 matter, resistance was useless, and it was much better to 

 give in without unnecessary fuss, as witness the post- 

 boys. Whereas if the guard was armed, "resistance would 

 lead to murder," at the very mention of which the 

 sensitive Post Office shuddered. Mr. Palmer's observa- 

 tions as to the time in which the stage-coaches would 

 convey the mails were regarded as fantastic and wild, 

 it being impossible "that the Bath Mail could be brought 

 to London in sixteen or eighteen hours." 



It was indeed fortunate for John Palmer that he had 

 such a strong partisan in Pitt, who determined that at 

 all events the plan should have a fair trial. In 1784 the 

 Post Office very sorely against its will, issued this notice: 



"His Majesty's post masters general, being inclined 

 to make an experiment for the more expeditious convey- 

 ance of mails of letters by stage-coaches, machines etc. 

 have been pleased to order that a trial should be made 



