198 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



withstanding the vast chainwork of roads, canals, 

 and railways connecting Manchester with Liverpool, 

 the men of the former town have still a hankering for 

 something more in this respect. They want to see a 

 ship actually sail up to their town. They would have 

 Manchester a port.' 



What was a dream in 1840 has since become a 

 solid reality. Ships do sail, or, at any rate, steam, 

 or are towed up to Manchester, and the Ship Canal 

 has made the inland city a real port, practicable for 

 vessels of the largest size. 



In the forties Mr. Punch bestowed considerable 

 attention on the administration of the Post-Office. 

 Management at Manchester did not escape his good- 

 tempered shafts : 



' One unhappy clerk is placed to do the work of a dozen, and 

 the exhausted official, though eager to get through the whole, 

 frequently bursts into convulsive sobs. We are given to under- 

 stand that such is the difficulty of getting money orders cashed, 

 that there is a positive depression in the value of these docu- 

 ments. An order for fifteen shillings was quoted at twelve and 

 sixpence a day or two ago.' 



Looking back sixty years, I do not know where a 

 busier mail-coach centre could be found than Man- 

 chester. Coaches were despatched in all directions — 

 to London, Liverpool, Chester, Birmingham, Sheffield, 

 Derby, Leeds, Halifax, York, Hull, Carlisle — there 

 was no limit to them, ^^grti^^^^^^ [ 



By the mail-coach road through St. Albans and 

 Derby, Manchester is a hundred and eighty-six miles 

 from the General Post-Office. An alternative route 



