FURTHER POSTAL ORGANISATION. 221 



Of late years a railway-train, which travels at a high 

 rate of speed, has been called an express ; but it 

 evidently originated in the early days of posting, and 

 in America and other parts of the world where public 

 vehicles act as regular stage-coaches on common roads, 

 or where horsemen are employed to transmit the 

 mails, the word express is frequently used. In the 

 l^rincipal cities and universities there were messengers 

 who performed long journeys on horseback or on foot, 

 and returned with answers to letters. 



With the assistance of Matthew Le Ouester, 

 James I. established a system of forwarding letters to 

 foreign countries ; before that time this had been done 

 by private enterprise. In 1632 Charles I. by a 

 proclamation forbade letters being sent out of the 

 kingdom except through the post-office, and three 

 years afterwards he established a system of post for 

 England and Scotland, which was carefully and judi- 

 ciously regulated. This was followed by the abolition 

 of all local and private posts, and the income of the 

 post-offices was claimed by the King, The newly- 

 established post was placed under the control of 

 Thomas Witherings. About the same time Charles, 

 in connection with Louis XIII. of France, estab- 

 lished an international post between London and Paris, 

 while the private post, which had hitherto existed 

 between Rye and Dieppe, was abolished. During the 

 period of the civil wars these institutions suffered 

 severely, but they recovered when peace and tran- 

 quillity was restored. A member of the House of 

 Commons, named Edmund Prideaux, suggested altera- 

 tions in the postal system, one of which was a weekly 

 conveyance of letters to all parts of the kingdom, 

 whereby the public were saved ^7000 per annum. 

 The greatest advance, however, was made in the postal 



