The Development of Rates of Postage Part 29

[Ill.u.s.tration: UNITED KINGDOM

_NUMBER OF LETTERS DELIVERED PER HEAD OF POPULATION (1854-1914_)]

APPENDIX B

DOc.u.mENTS AND EXTRACTS ILl.u.s.tRATING ASPECTS OF POSTAL HISTORY

(i) ANCIENT POSTS.

_Persia_ (_circa_ B. C. 500).

"In Darius's idea of government was included rapidity of communication.

Regarding it as of the utmost importance that the orders of the Court should be speedily transmitted to the provincial Governors, and that their reports and those of the royal secretaries should be received without needless delay, he established along the lines of route already existing between the chief cities of the Empire, a number of post-houses, placed at regular intervals, according to the estimated capacity of a horse to gallop at his best speed without stopping. At each post-house were maintained, at the cost of the State, a number of couriers and several relays of horses. When a despatch was to be forwarded, it was taken to the first post-house along the route, where a courier received it, and immediately mounting on horseback, galloped with it to the next station. Here it was delivered to a new courier, who, mounted on a fresh horse, took it the next stage on its journey; and thus it pa.s.sed from hand to hand till it reached its destination.

According to Xenophon, the messengers travelled by night as well as by day; and the conveyance was so rapid that some even compared it to the flight of birds. Excellent inns or caravanserais were to be found at every station; bridges or ferries were established upon all the streams; guard-houses occurred here and there, and the whole route was kept secure from the brigands who infested the Empire. Ordinary travellers were glad to pursue so convenient a line of march; it does not appear, however, that they could obtain the use of post-horses, even when the Government was in no need of them.

"_Note._--It was not the distance a horse ridden gently could accomplish in the entire day, but the distance he could bear to be galloped once a day. From the account which Herodotus gives of the post-route between Sardis and Susa, we may gather that the Persians fixed this distance at about fourteen miles."--George Rawlinson, _The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World_, London, 1871, vol.

iii. pp. 426-7.

_Roman Empire._

"The advantage of receiving the earliest intelligence, and of conveying their orders with celerity, induced the Emperors to establish throughout their extensive dominions the regular inst.i.tution of posts. Houses were everywhere erected at the distance only of five or six miles; each of them was constantly provided with forty horses, and, by the help of these relays, it was easy to travel an hundred miles in a day along the Roman roads. The use of the posts was allowed to those who claimed it by an Imperial mandate; but though originally intended for the public service, it was sometimes indulged to the business or conveniency of private citizens (Pliny, though a favourite and a minister, made an apology for granting post-horses to his wife on the most urgent business)."--Edward Gibbon, _The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, London, ed. 1896, vol. i. p. 50.

_Arabia._

"The first traces of the Arabian postal arrangements date from about fifty years after the death of Mahomed. Calif Mdowija, who died in 679, is regarded as the founder of the Arabian posts. Kodama, a native of Bagdad, who died in 959, gives an account of the service in his work called _The Book of Taxes_. There were 930 postal stations on the six great highroads starting from Bagdad. At some stations there were relays of horses, but in Syria and Arabia the messengers rode on camels; and in Persia the letters were conveyed from station to station by messengers on foot. The postal service under the Califs was an independent branch of the administration, and in addition to the conveyance of despatches and travellers was added the supervision of all the authorities in outlying possessions. Of the two cla.s.ses of superior postal officers, the _nowaqquium_ was the postmaster who received the postal packets and letters and attended to their conveyance, whereas the _farwaneqqyun_ was a kind of chief postmaster at the capital of a province, who controlled the work of the postmasters and made his own report on all the civil and military authorities to the central office in Bagdad. These reports were so valuable that Calif Abu Djafar Manssur is credited with the statement: 'My throne rests on four pillars, and my power on four men--a blameless kazi (judge), an energetic chief of police, an honest minister of finance, and a faithful postmaster who gives me reliable information on everything.' It has been said that the Roman _cursus publicus_, the _frumentarii_, the _agentes in rebus_, and the _curiosi_ served a similar purpose, but the Arabian arrangement was more systematic. In the Post Office of the Califs the letters and packets posted, as well as those received from other places, were entered in special lists, where their number and address had to be stated. This practice was observed in India till a few years ago, and it will thus be seen that the letter bill of the modern posts was in use already among the Egyptians in 270 B.C., and also among the Arabs. From the information that has been preserved, it is inferred that the Arabian posts did, to a certain extent, transmit private letters, but this was not done officially, and the couriers and postmasters conveyed such correspondence, along with the official despatches, on their own account."--I. G. J. Hamilton, _Outline of Postal History_, Calcutta, 1910, p. 4.

_Mexico_.

"Communication was maintained with the remotest parts of the country by means of couriers. Post-houses were established on the great roads, about two leagues distant from each other. The courier, bearing his despatches in the form of a hieroglyphical painting, ran with them to the first station, where they were taken by another messenger and carried forward to the next; and so on till they reached the capital.

These couriers, trained from childhood, travelled with incredible swiftness--not four or five leagues an hour, as an old chronicler would make us believe, but with such speed that despatches were carried from one to two hundred miles a day. Fresh fish was frequently served at Montezuma's table in twenty-four hours from the time it had been taken in the Gulf of Mexico, two hundred miles from the capital. In this way intelligence of the movements of the royal armies was rapidly brought to Court; and the dress of the courier, denoting by its colour the nature of his tidings, spread joy or consternation in the towns through which he pa.s.sed."--W. H. Prescott, _History of the Conquest of Mexico_, London, 1903, pp. 20, 21.

A similar system existed in Peru (W. H. Prescott, _History of the Conquest of Peru_, Philadelphia, 1874, vol. i. p. 69).

_China._

"From the city of Kanbulu[758] there are many roads leading to the different provinces, and upon each of these, that is to say, upon every great highroad, at the distance of twenty-five or thirty miles, accordingly as the towns happen to be situated, there are stations, with houses of accommodation for travellers, called _yamb_ or post-houses.

These are large and handsome buildings, having several well-furnished apartments hung with silk, and provided with everything suitable to persons of rank. Even kings may be lodged at these stations in a becoming manner, as every article required may be obtained from the towns and strong places in the vicinity; and for some of them the Court makes regular provision. At each station four hundred good horses are kept in constant readiness, in order that all messengers going and coming upon the business of the grand khan, and all amba.s.sadors, may have relays, and, leaving their jaded horses, be supplied with fresh ones.... When it is necessary that messengers should proceed with extraordinary despatch, as in the cases of giving information of disturbance in any part of the country, the rebellion of a chief or other important matter, they ride two hundred, or sometimes two hundred and fifty miles in the course of a day."--_Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian_, London, 1904, pp. 190 et seq.

(ii) _NUNCII_ AND _CURSORES_.

"The Royal _Nuncii et Cursores_ const.i.tuted a very important branch of the Royal Establishment, and the payments to them form a very large and important item in the Household and Wardrobe Accounts from the earliest period when those accounts exist.

"These Messengers were employed both in England and in foreign parts, and as well on affairs of State as what may be considered as the private and confidential business of the Crown and Royal Family and the individuals attached to or composing the Royal Court. These Messengers, so attached to the Court, became the foundation of the establishment, which about the time of Henry VIII, or somewhat earlier, a.s.sumed the form of the regular establishment of the Post; and the information connected with them is important, as showing that the inst.i.tution was intimately connected with the person of the sovereign, and that, in the first instance, it was his convenience that was sought. Those servants who, by usage, were more particularly employed on State affairs, probably became those who are now specially termed the 'Queen's Messengers.'"--_Report from Secret Committee on the Post Office_ (_Commons_), 1844, Appx., p. 21.

(iii) WITHERINGS' SCHEME FOR THE REFORM OF THE POSTS, 1635.

A Proposition for setling of Staffets or pacquet posts betwixt London and all parts of his Maiesties dominions, for the carrying and recarrying of his subiects l[~r]es. The cleere proffitt whereof to goe towards the payment of the Postm^{rs} of y^{e} Roades of England, for w^{ch} his Ma^{tie} is now chardged w^{th} 3400_l._ p anm.

In the first place, a certen office or compting house to be by his Ma^{tie} appointed w^{th}in the cittie of London, of purpose for carrying out & receiving in of all L[~r]es to be conveyed from y^{e} cittie of London into all p^{ts} w^{th}in his Ma^{ts} dominions & answers thereof retorned to the said Cittie of London, according as occasion shall serve.

Inprimis, for the Northerne and Scotland roade, All l[~r]es to be put into one Portmantle that shalbe directed to Edenburgh in Scotland, and for all places of the s^{d} roade, or neere the s^{d} roade, to be accordinglie put into y^{e} s^{d} Portmantle, w^{th} [p=]ticuler baggs directed to such Postm^{rs} as live upon the Road neere unto any Cittie or Towne Corporate.

_As for Example_--

One Bagge to be directed to Cambridge w^{th} such l[~r]es therein as shalbe directed to that place or neere thereunto; to take port for them as is now p[~d] to the Carriers, w^{ch} is Two pence a single l[~r]e, and so accordinglie as they shalbe in bignes. At Cambridge a footpost to be provided, w^{th} a knowne badge of his Ma^{ts} Armes, whome upon the markett daies is to goe to all Townes w^{th}in 6: 8: or 10 miles, there to receive & deliver all such l[~r]es as shalbe directed to those places. The l[~r]es that the s^{d} footpost shall then and there receive, hee is to bring them to the s^{d} Towne of Cambridge before the retorne of the Portmantle out of Scotland, w^{ch} is to retorne at a certen daie & houre, by w^{ch} meanes they maie be upon the verie instante comeing back of the s^{d} Portmantle, as before, put into a little bagge, w^{ch} s^{d} bagg is to be put into y^{e} s^{d} Portmantle as aforesaid. It is alwaies to be understood that upon the verie instant cominge of the Portmantle to Cambridge, the bagg of l[~r]es for that place & thereaboutes ymmediatly to be tooke out of the s^{d} Portmantle; the said Portmantle being presentlie to goe forwards, night and day, w^{th}out stay, to Huntingdon, w^{th} fresh horse & man. At w^{ch} place the like rule is to be observed as before at Cambridge, & so the s^{d} Portmantle is to goe from Stage to Stage, night & day, till it shall come to Edenburgh. The bags of l[~r]es to be left at all Stages as at Cambridge and Huntingdon, as before.

Only it is to be understood, that the further the l[~r]es shall goe, the port thereof is to be advanced, as to 3^{d}, 4^{d}, & 6^{d}, & to Scotland more. By this way of carrying and recarrying of l[~r]es, his Ma^{ts} subjects shall, once in 6 daies, receive answer from Edenburgh in Scotland, and so consequently from all p^{ts} betwixt London & Scotland.

The daie and howre of the comeing and going of the s^{d} Portmantle to and from London to be alwaies certaine. By w^{ch} meanes all Stages upon the Road will knowe at what certen howre the Portmantle is to come to y^{t} place.

It is truth it maie be alledged, that some Citties & Townes of noate will lye so farre from any of the mayne Roads of England, as Hull & other Townes of noate upon the Sea coasts, as that it wilbe impossible for a footman to carry and recarry the s^{d} l[~r]es w^{th}in such time as shalbe limitted: for remedie thereof a horse is to be provided for the s^{d} footpost, for the execu[=co]n of the s^{d} service w^{th} more expedi[=co]n.

The like rule is to be observed to Westchester & so to Ireland.

The like rule is to be observed to Oxford, Bristoll, & so to Ireland.

The like rule is to be observed to Worcester, Shrewesbury, and so to y^{e} Marches of Wales.

The like rule to be observed to Exceter, & so to Plymouth.

The like rule to be observed to Canterbury, & so to Dovo^{r}.

The like rule to be observed to Chelmesford, Colchester, and so to Harw^{ch}.

The like rule to be observed to Newmarket, Bury, Norw^{ch}, and so to Yarmouth.

In the first place, it wilbe a great furtherance to the correspondency betwixt London & Scotland, & London & Ireland, and great help to Trades, & true affec[=co]n of his Ma^{ts} subiects betwixt theis kingdomes, which, for want of true correspondency of l[~r]es, is now destroyed, & a thing above all things observed by all other nations.

_As for Example_--

If anie of his M^{ats} subiects shall write to Madrill, in Spain, hee shall receive answer sooner & surer then hee shall out of Scotland or Ireland. The l[~r]es being now carried by carriers or footposts 16 or 18 miles a day, it is full two monthes before any answer can be received from Scotland or Ireland to London, w^{ch} by this Conveyance all l[~r]es shall goe 120 miles at y^{e} least in one day & night.

It will Secondlie be alledged, that it is a wrong to the Carriers that bring the said letters. To which is answered, a Carrier setts out from Westchester to London on the Mundaie, w^{ch} is 120 miles. The s^{d} Carrier is 8 daies upon the Road, and upon his cominge to London delivers his letters of advise for his relodinge to Westchester againe, and his forced to staie in London two daies at extraordinary charges before he can get his loding redy.

By this Conveyance l[~r]es wilbe fr[=o] Westchester to London in one day & night, so that the s^{d} Carriers loading wilbe made ready a weeke before the s^{d} Carriers shall come to London, and they no sooner come to London but maie be redy to depte againe.

The like will fall out in all other pts.

Besides, if at any time there should be occasion to write from anie of the coast Townes in England or Scotland to London, by this Conveyance l[~r]es wilbe brought ymmediatly: & from all such places there wilbe weekely advise to & from London.