POST. 
passed an act wliich empowered the King 
to -establish a post-office, and to appoint a 
Post-master General ; from tliat time to the 
present, numerous other acts of the legisla- 
ture hare been made, to improve and 
amend the system, which, during the time 
of peace, is carried on by an incredible 
number of clerks, and officers, and re- 
ceivers, and letter-carriers, whose regu- 
larity and punctuality are not to be exceed- 
ed in any dej-arlinent of the government. In 
the time of Queen Anne, Sir Thomas Frank- 
land, and John Evelyn, Esquire, held the 
office of Post-master General jointly, and 
received a salary of 20001. per annum, 
about which time the following notice ap- 
peared in the London Gazette. “ These 
are to give notice, that hy the act of Par- 
liament for establishing a general post-of- 
fice, all letters and packets directed to, and 
sent from places distant ten miles or above, 
from the said office in London, which, be- 
fore tlie second of this instant, June, were 
received and delivered by the officers of 
the penny-post, are now subjected to the 
same rates of postage as general post let- 
ters; and that for the accommodation of 
the inhabitants of such places, their letters 
will be conveyed with the same regularity 
and dispatch as formerly, being first taxed 
with the rates, and stamped with the mark 
of the general post-office ; and that all par- 
cels will likewise be taxed at the rate of 
two shillings per ounce, as the said act di- 
rects.” 
Although the value of money has infi- 
nitely decreased since the above period, such 
■has been the increase in commerce, and 
trade, and population, that the charges for tjie 
conveyance of letters is still comparatively 
moderate, as a single letter is sent one hun- 
dred and fifty miles for eight-pence. This may 
be attributed, in a great measure, besides, to 
the modern invention of mail coaches, for 
which the public are indebted to Mr. Pal- 
mer, who has not, however, reaped that ad- 
vantage from it originally intended. Those 
that have travelled in these vehieles need 
not be informed of their rapid motions, nor 
of the constant uninterrupted assiduity of 
the coachmen, the guards, the officers of 
the different post-towns, and even of the 
hostlers, to expedite their progress, and to 
those who have not, and foreigners, the re- 
gulations under which they are placed, must 
give an exalted idea of the commercial cha- 
racter of the British nation. 
At eight o'clock in the evening of every 
day, the mail coaches depart from London, 
freighted with such letters and packets as 
have been conveyed during the day, either 
to the office in Lombard-street, or to that 
place from the various receiving-offices 
scattered in every direction, by the letter- 
carriers, who walk through their districts 
ringing a bell from five o’clock to six, to 
collect those letters which have been delay- 
ed to that late hour. The coaches, which 
proceed to London from all parts of the 
kingdom, regulate their movements so as to 
arrive by six o’clock each morning, and 
from that time the sorters at Lombard- 
street are employed in preparing the letters 
for the different carriers waiting to receive 
them, who generally complete their deli- 
very by twelve at noon. 
Newspapers are conveyed gratis to all 
parts of the country, and if frivolous, vexa- 
tious, or malicious letters are sent through 
the medium of the post-office, upon a pro- 
per representation the money is returned ; 
persons are also appointed to open such let- 
ters as may be directed to individuals im- 
properly, or who carmot be found, when 
they are carefully inclosed in an envelope, 
explaining why the seat has been violated, 
and returned to the writer. I.etters di- 
rected to any part of England, may be sent 
without paying ; or the receiver will take 
the postage, and the receipt, or non- 
payment, is explained to the carriers by 
marks stamped on the letter ; but all letters 
sent out of England must be payed for 
on putting them into the office. Other 
marks, pointing out the day and hour of 
putting the letter into the receiver’s hands, 
prevent the possibility of neglect without 
discovery, and so great is the vigilance of 
the officers, that though millions of money 
pass through the post-office, it is a very 
rare circumstance that dishonesty is disco- 
vered in the sorters or carriers : when an 
individual commits a theft of this descrip- 
tion, he is pursued with unrelenting seve- 
rity to punishment, and the office makes 
good the loss. 
The general post-office was originally si- 
tuated in Cloak-lane, near Dowgate, 
whence it was afterwards removed to the ■ 
Black Swan, in Bishopsgate-street, and fi- 
nally to the mansion of Sir Robert Vyner, 
in Lombard-street; and although it has 
been repeatedly enlarged and improved, 
and may answer for the purposes required, 
yet it must be admitted, that such an es- 
tablishment requires an uniform and superb 
building. 
The penny-post, as it was termed for 
