INDEX

Abdy, Sir Robert, 38 Abercorn, James, Earl of, his unreasonable complaint, 153 Absenteeism, in England, 231; in Ireland, 371 Alien Office, assists the Post Office in procuring foreign newspapers, 347 Allen, Ralph, postmaster of Bath, takes in farm the bye and cross-post letters, 147; conditions of his contract, 147; success of his enterprise, 148; is thwarted by the postmasters, 149; his contract renewed, 150; nature of his plan and his special qualifications for carrying it into effect, 155; his local knowledge, 157; his difficulties with the postmasters, 157 seq.; as a means of check lays down certain propositions, 161; instances of imposition practised by postmasters, 163; by post-boys, 164; by carriers and others concerned in the illegal conveyance of letters, 165; the liberality of his arrangements, 166; his course of procedure contrasted with that of the postmasters-general, 168; pays higher rent and increases the frequency of the post every seven years when his contract is renewed, 169; his injunction about the use of expresses, 182; his death, 185; his character, 186; is an object of jealousy to Palmer, 230 Alphabet, 374; ingenious one in use at Belfast, 375 Althorp, John Charles, Viscount, urges on Post Office improvements, 415; fixes the limits of the general post delivery, 416; throws the packet service open to public competition, 417; abolishes the newspaper privilege enjoyed by the clerks of the roads, 418; contemplates apparently a reduction of postage, 419 America, posts set up in, 110; first postmaster of New York, 111; and of Virginia and Maryland, 111; establishment of what was virtually a penny post between England and America, 113; American posts become self-supporting, 116; postmasters ejected from their offices, 207 Amsterdam, practice at, on arrival of the mails, 174 Anne, Queen, treatment of letters for, when in residence at Newmarket, 98 Antelope packet, Captain Curtis, gallant action with privateer, 321 Apertures, introduction of, on the outside of post offices, 180 Argyll, John, Duke of, 64 Arlington, Henry Bennet, Earl of, appointed postmaster-general, 34 Armit, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, displaced by Lees, 221 Ashburnham manuscripts, 20 Ashurst, Mr. Justice, his judgment touching the free delivery of letters, 200 Aston, Mr. Justice, his judgment touching the free delivery of letters, 200 Attorneys, their provisional resolution to withhold postage on writs, 178; hold appointments in the Dublin Post Office, 371 Auckland, William Lord, postmaster-general, his pleasantries, 333 Auditors of the imprests, 256 note Austria, liberties taken with post-horses by travellers in, 5 note Aylsham, Norfolk, post established to in 1733, 167 Baker, Sir George, physician to George the Third, 252 Bank of England notes, robbery of, from mail evokes important legal decision, 183; origin of cutting bank notes when sent by post, 206; contemplated reduction of postage on letters containing second halves of bank notes, 298 Bankers' franks, meaning of term, 315 note Barbutt, John David, secretary to the Post Office, 185 Barclay, Captain, of Ury, high speed of his coach, 426 Barclay's plot, expresses sent on discovery of, 63 Barham, Edmund, packet agent at Dover, terms of his agreement with Walcot, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, 222 Barlow, clerk in the secretary's office, modifies the practice of the Dead Letter Office, 308 Barnstaple, private post set up to Exeter in 1633, 17 Bath asserts its right to a free delivery, 198; right admitted and letter-carrier appointed, 202; slowness of post between Bath and London, 208; amount of toll between the same towns, 210; Post Office Establishment at Bath and amount of the postmaster's salary in 1792, 292 Beccaria, Bonesana, his essay on Crimes and Punishments, 245 Belfast, ingenious "alphabet" in use at, 375; peculiar usage of delivery, 375 Belgrave Square, included in the limits of the general post delivery, 416 Bell, Colonel, comptroller of the Inland Office, particulars of charge against, 185 note Bells, letters collected by ringing of, introduction of system, 121; and its termination, 123 note; bellmen in England and in Ireland paid on different principle, 367 (196, 221, 257) Bernard, Sir Robert, 192 Besant's patent coaches, 282 Bethnal Green, a second penny on penny post letters improperly charged at, 203 Bianconi, Charles, his enterprise, 376 Bigg, Stephen, his enterprise as a farmer of the posts, 60 Billingsley, Henry, a broker, carries letters of foreign merchants, 13; and is consigned to prison, 14 Bills of exchange and of lading to and from foreign parts exempt from postage until 1801, exemption then withdrawn, 331 Birmingham, one of many towns in which a free delivery of letters had ceased, 197; free delivery restored and letter-carrier appointed, 202; salary of postmaster in 1792, 293; penny post opened at, 300 Bishopp, Henry, farmer of the posts, 33, 34 "Black-box"; the box in which the correspondence of the Secretary of State for Scotland was carried, 53 Blaithwaite, William, Secretary of War, remonstrated with on his abuse of the franking privilege, 132 Blome's Britannia, 35 Bonnor, Charles, deputy comptroller-general of the Post Office, his conduct in the matter of the king's coach, 252; delays replies to the postmaster-general's inquiries, 264; practises deception, 264; his base ingratitude, 274; is suspended by Palmer, 275; suspension removed by the postmasters-general, 276; his treachery, 278, 279; receives the reward of infamy, 280 Boulton and Watt build the first steamboats used by the Post Office, 384 Bourne, Frederick, clerk in the foreign department of the Post Office; suggests the establishment of a Ship Letter Office, 328 Bournemouth, mode of receiving its letters in 1854, 293 note Bowen, passenger by packet; brings news of the victory at Oudenarde, 105 Boyle, Henry, Secretary of State, charges the packet agent at Harwich with receiving a bribe, 89 Bracken, Henry, author of The Gentleman's Pocket Farrier, his device to obtain exemption from postage, 161 Braithwaite, Daniel, clerk to the postmasters-general, his honesty of purpose, 244 Brighton, salary of the postmaster of, in 1792, 293 Brill, The, 73, 83, 88 Bristol, course of post between Bristol and Exeter in 1660, 29; and in 1696, 57; salary of the postmaster of, in 1690, 50; and in 1792, 293; first mail-coach starts from Bristol, 213; penny post opened there, 300; revision of postmaster's salary in 1686, Appendix, note Brown, sub-agent of packets at Ostend, his clandestine letter, 106 Brunel, Sir Marc Isambard, offers to construct a steam engine for the Post Office packets, 408 Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, letter endorsed by, in 1627, 20 Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, son of the preceding, tedious course of letter addressed to, in 1666, 34. Buckingham, George Grenville Nugent Temple, Marquis of, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, deprecates reduction of packet establishment at Holyhead, 248 Burlamachi, Philip, is appointed Master of the Posts, 21; his title contested, 21; is consigned to prison, 22 Bye-letters, probable meaning of the term in Queen Elizabeth's reign, 4; its certain meaning in 1690 and after, 52, 147; postage upon bye-letters intercepted, 52, 53, 134 note; Bye-Letter Office, 308 Bye-nights, 46 Byng, Sir George, 102, 104 Cadogan, Brigadier-General, packet detained for, 87 Camden, John Jeffreys, Earl, promotes Palmer's plan, 212; gives to Pitt Palmer's version of his differences with the postmasters-general, 274 Candles, inordinate supply of, to Post Office servants, 231 Canning, George, charges the Post Office with forestalling his intelligence, 347 Carlisle, salary of postmaster of, in 1792, 293 Carriers allowed to carry letters under restrictions, 19; restrictions more clearly defined, 129 Carteret, Edward, postmaster-general from 1721 to 1739. See Postmasters-General, Part IV. Carteret, Henry Frederick, Lord, postmaster-general from January 1771 to September 1789. See Postmasters-General, Parts V. and VI. Carts, first employment of, in London for bringing letters to the General Post Office, 316 Castello, a prisoner on board packet, 88 Chalmers, George, his suggestions, 256; excites Palmer's jealousy, 259 Channel Islands without an official post in 1792, 294; official post provided, 312; rates of postage, 314 Charing Cross, opening of branch office at, 411 Charlemont, Lord, his misunderstanding as to packet charges, 86 Charles, Archduke, 78, 86 Chelsea pensioners, their privilege of sending and receiving letters at low rates of postage withdrawn, 404 Chenal, captain of packet, rebuked by the postmasters-general, 94 note Chepstow, the inhabitants of, though under no obligation, continue to pay pence on the delivery of their letters, 293 Chester, in 1720 the only town outside London with two Post Offices, 151; salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 Chesterfield, Philip, Earl of, postmaster-general from March 1790 to March 1798. See Postmasters-General, Part VII. Chichester, Thomas, Earl of, postmaster-general from May 1807 to July 1826. See Postmasters-General, Part VIII. Christmas boxes, intercepted, 232 Clancarty, Richard, Earl of, postmaster-general of Ireland from 1807 to 1809; and of England from September 1814 to April 1816. [This latter appointment he did not take up.] His decision of character, instance of, 368; advocates facilities of communication between England and Ireland, 389 Clarendon, Thomas, Earl of, postmaster-general from September to December 1786, 229, 242 Clerks of the roads, their duties, 47; their salaries, 49; are allowed to frank newspapers, 49; their franking privilege invaded, 191; mischief resulting from a reduction of their emoluments, 193; their financial troubles, 206, 250; extent of their newspaper business after newspapers become exempt from postage, 407 Clermont, William Henry, Earl of, deputy postmaster-general of Ireland, 194 Clies, Francis, captain of packet, his audacious smuggling, 90; his attention to religious observances, 90; strikes his colours, 94 Coals supplied to Post Office servants in profligate profusion, 231 Cobbett, William, inveighs against the early or preferential delivery, 342; and against the treatment of foreign newspapers, 343 Coke, Sir John, his indignant protest against the claim of the foreign merchants to have a post of their own, 12 Colours, special colours assigned to the Post Office boat employed in the Pool, 74; the colours of the packets altered at the Union with Scotland, 117 Comer, postmaster of Tunbridge Wells in 1725, 153 Common Council of London, The, sets up a post of their own to Scotland, 24 Compensation for losses by the penny post, 38; when ceased to be given, 188 Conspiracies against the State, to check these the original object of the Post Office monopoly, 7; danger chiefly apprehended from the Continent, 9; Coke's opinion on the subject, 13; the same opinion expressed in the Act of 1657, 28 Constables, the duty of, in certain cases, to seize horses for the service of the posts, 3, 6 Convention posts, establishment of, 332; their failure and the reason, 350; are gradually absorbed, 352 Conway Bridge, additional rate of postage on letters passing over, 395 Conyngham, Francis Nathaniel, Marquess of, postmaster-general from July 1834 to January 1835, and again from May 8 to May 30, 1835, 427 note Cornwall, its posts improved in 1704, 62 Cornwallis, Charles, Lord, postmaster-general from 1715 to 1721. See Postmasters-General, Part III. Cotton, Sir Robert, postmaster-general from 1690 to 1708. See Postmasters-General, Part I. Counsel in Post Office cases required to give receipts for their fees, 324 Country letter, meaning of term, 147 Courier newspaper, sum paid by the, for early intelligence from the Post Office, 345 Couriers originally employed to carry letters on affairs of State, 2 Court, The, at one time the centre of all the posts, 3; a trace of the old state of things to be found in an existing statute, 99 Court letters, definition of, in 1706, 83 note; mails detained for the Court letters, 211; these letters, unlike others, delivered the moment they arrived, 347 Court-post, his duties, 99; duties performed by deputy, 231 Coventry, Sir Thomas, Attorney-General, afterwards Lord Keeper, holds De Quester's appointment to be valid, 11; cajoles Stanhope into surrendering his patent, 23 Craggs, James, postmaster-general from 1715 to 1721. See Postmasters-General, Part III. Crichton, Doctor, refuses to pay his fare by packet, 86 Cromwell, Thomas, Brian Tuke's letter to, on the paucity of the posts, 1 Crosby, Brass, 192 Cross-posts, first post of the kind set up, 57; cross-post letters, definition of the term, 147 Croydon, postmistress of, Auckland's pleasantry on her marriage for the third time, 334 Culverden, captain of packet boat, engages in smuggling, 89 Culvert, member of Parliament, expostulated with as to the irregular use of his frank, 141 note Curtis, Alderman, 274, 275 Customs, Commissioners of, lodge a complaint against the captain of the Expedition packet, 90; represent that smuggling is carried on by packet from Ostend, 103; take proceedings against some of the Harwich packets, 237; are charged by the postmasters-general with unhandsome conduct, 238; seize the Dover mail-coach, 271 Dacre, Lord, superscription on Protector Somerset's letter addressed to, 20 Dartmouth, William, Lord, his attention called to the late arrival at the Post Office of the Court letters, 211 Dashwood, Francis, postmaster-general of Jamaica, exaction from, as a condition of his appointment, 226 Davy, Mrs., her account of the condition of Penzance before 1784, 291 Day, John, sent from London in 1733 to establish a post at Aylsham in Norfolk, his instructions, 167 Dead letters, treatment of, a source of perplexity to Allen, 158; irregular payments claimed under cover of, 236; Dead Letter Office, 307; returned letters charged with postage, 360 Decypherer, the chief, 171 De Joncourt, express clerk, 373 Delivery, claim made by several towns to have their letters delivered free resisted by the Post Office and question tried at law, 197; claim allowed by the Courts, 200; decision carried out grudgingly, 203; hour of delivery of foreign letters in 1790, 267; early, that is preferential, delivery, 342; hour of delivery in St. James's Square between 1820 and 1830, 409; in the country, limits of free delivery not defined, 410; morning delivery in London accelerated, 411; limits of general post delivery fixed at three miles, 417; recommendation of Royal Commission to abolish early or preferential delivery not carried out, 423 Delivery penny, meaning of term, 69 Denmark, Frederick the Second, King of, his letter of complaint to Queen Elizabeth, 8 note De Quester, Matthew, appointed postmaster for foreign parts out of the King's dominions, 10; his appointment offends Lord Stanhope, 10; is superseded by the Privy Council, 12; is restored at the instance of Sir John Coke, 13; assigns his patent, 14 Derby, salary of the postmaster of, in 1792, 293 Dereham, Sir Thomas, Court-post, his duties, 99 Derrick, Samuel, Master of the Ceremonies at Bath, his account of Ralph Allen, 186 note Despatch of mails, hour of, in 1690, 47; and until 1784, 211; indignation caused by the change then made, 220 Devonshire, William, Duke of, course of post between Chesterfield and Manchester altered in 1736 at the instance of, 166 Directories, 195, 309 Distances, inaccuracy of, as computed by the Post Office, 175 Dockwra, William, establishes a penny post in London, 36; his right contested and case decided against him, 40; is granted a pension and, on the penny post being absorbed into the Post Office, is appointed comptroller, 41; is dismissed, 41; provision made by, for the care of general post letters, 68; contrast between Dockwra and Povey, 122 Donlevy, William, 368 Double letter, definition of, 139 Dover, a packet station, 73; packets to Flanders provided by the packet agent, 103; engage in smuggling, 103; and bring news clandestinely, 106; the Dover mail-coach seized by the Customs, 271 Drink and feast money, 50, 232 Dublin, Post Office establishment at, in 1690, 53; penny post proposed at, in 1703, 69; and opened in 1773, 196; the clerks at the castle surrender their franking privilege, 194; the roof of the Dublin Post Office falls in, 207; office in Dublin styled British Mail Office, account of, 367; abuses, 370 Dummer, Edmund, Surveyor of the Navy, builds packets for the Harwich station, 75; also for the West India service, 78; undertakes this service himself, 79; his miscalculations, 79; ill-fortune attends him, 81; his bankruptcy and death, 109 Early, i.e. preferential, delivery, 342, 423 Eastbourne, mode of receiving its letters in 1792, 293 East India Company, send to the Post Office letters received at the India House, 311; object to the provisions of the Ship Letter Act, 361; procure its alteration, 362; their generosity, 363; unhandsome return contemplated by the Post Office, 364 East Indies, rates of postage to the, in 1815, 362 Edinburgh, post to, set up by the city of London, 24; Post Office establishment at, in 1707, 117; horse-post between Edinburgh and Glasgow refused by the Treasury, 136; course of post between London and Edinburgh accelerated in 1758, 180; and increased in frequency in 1765, 195; Edinburgh Post Office falls into decay, 207; penny post established at, 300 Eldon, John, Lord, reluctantly assents to the giving of repressive powers, 335 Elections, Parliamentary, Post Office servants prohibited from intermeddling in, 128; and from voting at, 206 Ellenborough, Edward, Lord, 335 Evelyn, Sir John, postmaster-general from 1708 to 1715. See Postmasters-General, Part II. Exeter, private post set up between, and Barnstaple in 1633, 17; course of post between Exeter and Bristol in 1660, 29; in 1696, 57; salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 Expresses, 63, 83; when to be sent from Dover, 107; employment of, becomes more general about the middle of the eighteenth century, 182; is jealously restricted, 182; their number reduced on the establishment of mail-coaches, 214; fees on expresses, 233; express sent daily to and from Ireland after the Union, 387 Express clerks, 371 Express office, Haymarket, 408 Eyles, Sir John, postmaster-general from 1739 to 1744, 238 Falmouth, packet station opened at, in 1689, 75; closed and reopened, 77; packet regulations, 82; systematic smuggling, 89, 238; packet agent also victualler, 95 Fares, by packet to Holland before and after 1689, 76; by steam packet and by sailing packet, comparative statement, 385 Farmers of the Post Office, their popularity and the reason of it, 59; are ruined by increase of postage and converted into managers, 136; as managers prove useless, 138 Farra, John, is supplied with a special travelling order, 131 note Faversham, marriage of the postmistress, 334 Fees, exacted from postmasters, 232; received by the chief sorter on the occasion of royal birthdays, 233; on expresses, 233; on the registration of foreign letters, 233 Ferrers, Countess, 182 Fielding, Henry, his tribute to Ralph Allen, 186 "Fifth-clause" posts, 350-352 Firearms, worthless quality of those originally supplied to mail guards, 261 Fire of London, intelligence of, takes five days to reach Worthing, 34 Flemings, resort to London, where they introduce the manufacture of wool into cloth, 8; instance of value set upon cloth made in London, 8 note Flying coach, 63, 67 Flying packet, meaning of the term, 63 (108) Flying-post, 63 note Foreign bottoms, employment of, by the Post Office illegal, 98 Foreign merchants claim to set up a post of their own to the Continent, 9; claim conceded by the Privy Council, 12; and repudiated by Coke, 13 Foster, John, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, his efforts to improve communication with Ireland, 388 France, Post Office treaty with, imperfectly observed, 77; a new one made and its onerous conditions, 138; postage on letters from, increased, 296; improvement of communication with, deprecated by merchants of London, 298 Franking, abuses of, in 1711, and means taken to check them, 132; effect of franking upon the Post Office revenue, 142; becomes the subject of Parliamentary enactment, 189; conditions altered, 189; franking in Ireland, 190; of newspapers inland, 191; franking privilege possessed by the clerks at Dublin Castle surrendered, 194; franks to be dated and are otherwise restricted, 216; further restrictions imposed, 315; franks do not clear either the penny, the twopenny, or the convention posts, 350; franking privilege withdrawn in the case of newspapers to and from the Colonies, 402; privilege remains in the case of newspapers to and from the Continent, 403; and in the case of newspapers circulating within the United Kingdom gradually disappears, 404; franked letters charged immediately on dissolution of Parliament, 405; franking privilege withheld from Roman Catholic Peers, 408; abuse of franking in the case of the Money Order Office, 421; specimens of franks, Appendix Frankland, Sir Thomas, postmaster-general from 1690 to 1715. See Postmasters-General, Part I. Frankland, William, son of the preceding, Comptroller of the Inland Office, in attendance upon the Queen at Newmarket, 99 Franklin, Benjamin, his dismissal, 203; amicable relations with, not suspended, 204 Free delivery. See Delivery Freeling, Sir Francis, appointed surveyor, 228; appointed joint secretary with Todd, 294; devises new arrangements for the sorting of the American and West Indian mails, 310; his project for guarding the horse and cross-posts, 317, 335; becomes sole secretary, 327; his craze for high rates of postage, 330; his zeal in repressing illicit correspondence, 333; is checked by Auckland, 335; procures additional measures of repression, 335; recommends increase of postage rates, 340; his estimate of Cobbett, 342; his emoluments from franking newspapers, 344; his indignation at criticisms in the Times newspaper, 348; brings an action, 348; contemplates a high-handed proceeding towards the town of Olney in Buckinghamshire, 351; procures a charge to be made on returned letters, 360; his contention with the India House in the matter of ship letters, 361; urges a technical adherence to the provisions of the statute, 364; his elation at the increase of the Post Office revenue, 365; contrast between Freeling and Lees, 370; his difference with Lees, 381; his claim for the Post Office in the matter of steam vessels, 387; opposes improvement of communication with Ireland, 389; his interview with Sir Arthur Wellesley, 390; attempts to get terms of a hostile motion altered, 397; his dismay at the transfer of the Falmouth packets from the Post Office to the Admiralty, 399; his strictness in Post Office matters, 404; is irritated by Sir Henry Parnell's assumption of superiority, 407; the probable reason for not resigning on the opening of the new Post Office in St. Martin's-le-Grand, 411; his view that the packet service should not be thrown open to public competition opposed by Althorp, 417; defends the newspaper privilege enjoyed by the clerks of the roads, 418; his attitude towards the Royal Commission, 420; averts a breakdown with the mail-coaches, 426; becomes the object of vehement attack, 426; broods over the past, 427; his death, 428 Frizell, William, 14 Frowde, Ashburnham, comptroller of foreign office, 234 Furness, Sir Harry, 174 Gardner, penny postman, murder of, 183 note Garrow, Sir William, his frank forged, 406 Gas, introduction of, into the Post Office, 408 General Steam Navigation Company undertakes first packet contract, 418 George the Third, when at Cheltenham or at Weymouth is attended by a mail-coach, 251; his illness and distribution of a prayer for his recovery, 254; his interest in his coach, 288; objects to roof-loading, 288; attends trial trip, 288; distributes largesse among mail guards and coachmen, 289 Gerrard Street, crowded condition of Post Office in, 410 Glasgow petitions for a horse-post to Edinburgh, 136; and for a post office which shall not be kept at a shop, 408 Gloucester protests against certain houses being excluded from the free delivery, 199; salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 Godolphin, Sidney Godolphin, Earl of, his rebuke to the postmaster-general, 106; insists upon communication with the army in Flanders being improved, 107; his instruction about extraordinary payments, 137; directs that in Post Office cases Counsel shall give receipts for their fees, 324 (121, 124, 125) Grafton, Augustus Henry, Duke of, specimen of his frank, Appendix Grand mail, 83 Grand Post Nights, 46, 221 Granville, Lord, urges improvement of the Cornish posts, 62 Gratuities, on delivery of letters, 52, 61, 62, 152, 166; legality of, questioned in the case of towns, 197; question decided in favour of the public, 200; still being charged, 422 Gray, Thomas, his prediction that mail-coaches would be displaced by railways, 408 Grey, Charles, Earl, 412, 423 Grosvenor, Sir Richard, member for Chester, expostulated with as to the irregular use of his frank, 141 Groyne, The, 75, 77 Guide to accompany post-horses when two are taken, 18 Guildhall Library, letter preserved in, showing tardy course of post in 1666, 34 Halfpenny carriage set up by Povey, 121 Halloran, a clerical impostor, 406 Hamburg, practice at, on arrival of the mails, 174 Hamilton, Andrew, acts as Neale's agent for setting up posts in North America, 110; his suggestions for improving the posts, 112; acquires Neale's patent, 116; dies and the patent is surrendered to the Crown, 116 Hamilton, John, son of the preceding, appointed deputy postmaster-general of America, 116 Harley, Robert, afterwards Earl of Oxford, raises the rates of postage, 124; attempts to trace the writer of an anonymous letter, 181 Harwich, a packet station, 73; number and strength of its packets, 75; packet regulations, 82; a hot-bed of smuggling, 91, 237; its exorbitant charges, 96; is closed as a packet station, 418 Hasker, Thomas, chief superintendent of mail-coaches, his pithy instructions, 284; is complimented by the King, 288; will not suffer even the King to detain the mail-coach, 289; enters a protest against the speed of the Holyhead mail, 394 Hayman, Peter, first postmaster of Virginia and Maryland, 111 Heath, Sir Robert, Solicitor-General, 11 Hickes, Prideaux's servant, imprisonment of, 22 Highwaymen, rewards for apprehension of, 183; refrain from attacks upon mail-coaches, 290; confine their attention to horse and cross-posts, 317; instances of the recovery of mail bags stolen by, 336 Hill, Sir Rowland, 269 note, 420, 428 Hippisley, Sir John, 20 Hiver, Richard, 192 Holt, Sir John, Chief Justice, his opinion respecting compensation for losses by post, 188 note Holyhead, packet service at beginning of eighteenth century performed with regularity, 82; contemplated reduction of the packet establishment deprecated by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 248; conditions of passage between Holyhead and Dublin in 1813, 379 Hompesch, Baron, packet detained for, 87 Horn, when to be blown, 4; a man on horseback blowing a post-horn assigned as a device for Post Office colours, 75 note Horses, to be kept in readiness for affairs of State, 2; two to be kept at every post-house, 4; use of, obtained under false pretences, 5; overridden, overladen, and not always paid for, 5, 51; charge for post-horses in 1603, 6; in 1635, 18; in 1660, 30; not to be supplied except at post-houses, 6; to be attended by a guide when two are hired, 18; not to be let when the post is expected, 18; not to be taken without the consent of the owners, 30; only indirectly a source of revenue, 30; monopoly of letting horses continued to the Post Office by the Act of 1711, 130; control exercised by the Post Office over horses for travellers merely nominal, exception given, 131; charges for post-horses increased by the erection of milestones, 176; monopoly of letting post-horses withdrawn, 205 Horse and cross-posts, project for checking robberies of, 317; authority withheld, 318; eventually given, 335 Hostages taken on capture of a packet, 93; instance of inhuman treatment of, 94 Houses numbered, 195; their not being so a hindrance to the Post Office, 36, 151 Hume, David, 29 Hume, Joseph, 402 Hungerford selected to try the question of free delivery, 198; question decided in favour of the public and a letter-carrier appointed, 202, 293 Illicit conveyance of letters, between town and town and between the country and London, 54; is stimulated by increase in the rates of postage, 134, 141; becomes less after the introduction of mail-coaches, 227; prosecutions for, 333; return to the House of Commons, 422 Impressment, persons employed on the packets exempt from, 84; specimen of protection order, 84 note Instructions to the sorting office communicated by word of mouth, 324 Insurance an essential condition of Dockwra's penny post, 38; this condition abandoned, 188 Invoices to and from abroad exempt from postage until 1801, exemption then withdrawn, 331 Ipswich asserts its right to a free delivery, 198; right admitted and letter-carrier appointed, 202 Ireland, tardiness of post to, before 1635, 16; postage to, 18; method of Post Office business in 1690, 53; abuse of franking in 1773, 190; clerks at the castle surrender their franking privilege, 194; posts to and within Ireland improved, 195; Penny Post Office opened in Dublin, 196; the roof of the Dublin Post Office falls in, 207; the Irish Post Office separated from that of England, 221; effects of the separation in the case of correspondence by the Milford Haven and Waterford route, 249; between the Irish and English Post Offices differences in point of law, 366; and of practice, 367; office in Dublin styled British Mail Office, account of, 367; and improper use made of it, 371; Clancarty's energy and decision of character, 368; Lees, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, his mode of conducting business, 369; Lees contrasted with Freeling, 370; the postmasters-general absentees, 370; absence also of the subordinates and other abuses, 371; the express clerks and clerks of the roads deal in newspapers and are given undue advantages, 371; account of the alphabet, 374; ingenious one in use at Belfast, 375; arrangement in favour of soldiers' wives, 374; peculiar mode of delivery at Belfast, 375; mail-coach contracts in Ireland different from those in England, 376; Charles Bianconi, 376; arrangement between Ireland and Great Britain in the matter of the packets, 378; Lees is dissatisfied with it, 380; and sets it aside, 381; Freeling's indignation, 382; sailing packets replaced by steam packets, 383; effect upon the number of passengers carried by the Post Office, 385; Irish traffic diverted from Holyhead to Liverpool, 385; and Liverpool made a packet station, 386; except in the matter of the packets, indisposition of the British Post Office to improve communication with Ireland, 387; such improvement urged by Foster, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, 388; and resisted by Freeling, 389; Freeling forced to give way, 390; the Irish Post Office consolidated with the Post Office of Great Britain, 414; and the Dublin establishment reformed, 415; the auditing of the Irish accounts rendered futile, 415 Iron mail-cart stopped and rifled of its contents, 290 Isle of Wight, its Post Office establishment in 1792, 294 Jackson, a passenger by packet without a pass, 89 Jacob, Giles, 188 note Jamaica, Post Office establishment in, and sea rates fixed, 78; duration of voyage to and fro in 1798, 320; House of Assembly vote sum of money in recognition of the gallant defence of the Antelope packet, 323 James, Duke of York, afterwards James II., opposes introduction of the penny post, 37; wrests it out of Dockwra's hands, 40; suffers the clerks of the roads to retain their newspaper privilege, 49 Jamineau, Isaac, purveyor of newspapers to the clerks of the roads, 300 Jeffreys, Sir George, afterwards Lord, inflicts exorbitant fine upon Edmund Prideaux, son of the Master of the Posts, 27 Johnson, Edward, letter-carrier, improves the penny post, 302; is appointed deputy comptroller, 305 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 209 note Jones, distiller of Old Street, St. Luke's, his action against the Post Office, 203 Kent, post through the county of, more carefully nursed than any other, 9 Kenyon, Lloyd, Lord, when Attorney-General, gives receipts for fees in Post Office cases, 325 King's coach, deception practised on Walsingham in the matter of the, 251 King's messengers, their complaint against the Post Office on the erection of milestones, 176 Lambton, John George, moves for a return of the number of Post Office Boards, 396 Lancashire, the badness of its posts in 1699, 60 Le Despencer, Francis, Lord, postmaster-general from 1766 to 1781, 221, 226 Leeds, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 Lees, Sir John, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, his testimony to the abuse of franking, 191; having been transferred to the War Office, recapitulates conditions on which he accepts reappointment to the Post Office, 221; recapitulation gives offence to Carteret, 222; and leads to Carteret's exposure, 226 Lees, Sir Edward Smith, son of the preceding, also secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, his method of conducting business, 369; deals in newspapers, 373; his instruction respecting the alphabet, 374; his difference with Freeling, 381; becomes a director of the Dublin Steam Packet Company, 383; is transferred to Edinburgh, 415; his unauthorised surrender of the receiver-general's bond, 415 Leet, express clerk, 373 Leicester, the Corporation of, binds itself to keep post-horses for the use of the Sovereign, 2; salary of postmaster at, in 1792, 293 Leicester, George, Earl of, postmaster-general from 1794 to 1799, 326 Letter-carriers, their pay in 1690, 49; as late as 1772, none employed except in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, 197; are appointed at certain other towns, 202; in London their interests suffer from the earlier closing of the Post Office, 221; are put into uniform, 299; the sufferings of some of their number during the winter of 1794-95, 306; select their walks according to seniority, 324; deliver letters according to classes, one class for general post letters, another for penny or twopenny letters, and a third for foreign letters, 423 Letters, on affairs of State originally sent by courier, 2; particulars of, when sent by post, to be carefully recorded, 4; letters on other than the affairs of State received at the post-houses, 4; not, without the authority of the Master of the Posts, to be collected, carried, or delivered, 6; notice that none are to be sent except through the post served on the merchants of London, 9; letters detected in being illicitly conveyed to be sent to the Privy Council, and their bearers apprehended, 10; what letters excepted from monopoly, 18; are given precedence over travellers, 18; circulate mainly through London, 29; their mode of distribution, 47; clandestine conveyance of, 54; number of penny post letters for the suburbs of London at the end of the seventeenth century, 69; letters for America and Jamaica charged with postage, although there was no packet service, 78; clandestine conveyance of, stimulated by increase of postage, 134; definition of single and double letter, 139; Allen's injunction to check illegal conveyance of, 165; are examined by means of a strong light, 171, 409, 422; penalty for opening letters, 171; letters containing patterns or samples, whether to be charged as single or double letters, 177; right to make, on the delivery of letters, any charge beyond the postage contested, 197; memorials for and against the earlier delivery of foreign letters in London, 267; average number of letters for each foreign mail in 1790, 268; treatment of dead and missent letters before and after 1793, 308; return of the number of letters passing through the London Post Office submitted to the postmasters-general daily, 324; made penal not only to carry letters, but to send them otherwise than through the post, 335; on the delivery of letters, despite the decision of the Courts, a charge beyond the postage continues to be made, 422; owing to the complication of rates, not possible to express the total charge upon a letter in one taxation, 423 Lewis XIV. assembles a squadron before Dunkirk, 101; his delay in refusing to sign the preliminaries of peace, 105 Lichfield, Thomas William, Earl of, appointed postmaster-general May 1835, 427 note Lincolnshire, the paucity of its posts before 1705, 61 Liverpool, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293; penny post established at, 339; is opened as a packet station, 386 Liverpool, Robert, Earl of, mediates between Freeling and Lees, 382; transfers the Falmouth packets from the Post Office to the Admiralty, 399 Lloyds supplied by the Post Office with ship news, 218 Loppinott, Colonel, 321 Losses by post, compensation for, 38; when ceased to be given, 188 Lovell, Mary, receiver in St. James's Street, Lord Abercorn's complaint against, 153 Lovell, Thomas, Lord, afterwards Earl of Leicester, postmaster-general from 1733 to 1759, 167; receives a threatening letter, 183 note; his loose notions about smuggling, 238 Lowndes, William, Secretary to the Treasury, takes charge of the Post Office Bill of 1711, 124; overbears Swift, the solicitor to the Post Office, 126; confounds gross and net revenue, 145 (325 note) Macadam, John Loudon, introduces new method of road-making, 392 Macaulay, Lord, his account of the fine inflicted upon Edmund Prideaux, son of the Master of the Posts, 27; his statement that a part of the Post Office revenue was derived from post-horses questioned, (39) Mackerness, Thomas, postmaster of Chipping Norton, 163 Macky, John, packet agent at Dover, proceeds to Flanders, 102; receives a remarkable caution, 103; having become contractor for the Dover and Ostend packet service, his boats engage in illicit operations, 103; and bring news clandestinely, 106; is commissioned to settle posts for the army, his excellent arrangements, 107 Maddison, George, 205 Magistrates, the duty of, in certain cases, to seize horses for the service of the posts, 3, 6; are enjoined to see that horses are procured at the post-houses alone, 9 Maidstone, excellency of the delivery at, in the seventeenth century, 48; amount of the postmaster's salary, 50 Mails, hour of despatch of the, from the General Post Office in 1690, 47; after 1784, 220; cost of conveyance of, before and after the introduction of mail-coaches, 290; are exempt from toll in Great Britain but not in Ireland, 354; exemption withdrawn in Scotland, 359 Mail bags, curious instances of recovery of, 337 Mail-carts, mail-cart made of iron rifled of its contents, 290; first used in London to bring letters to the General Post Office, 316 Mail-coaches, begin to run, 213; rapid extension of the system, 214; system deprecated by some of the leading merchants, 220; their effect upon expresses, 214; upon the illicit conveyance of letters, 227; a mail-coach in attendance upon the King when at Cheltenham, 251; are put off the road by Palmer, 270; number of, in 1792, 281; model of mail-coach preserved at the Post Office, 282; mail-coaches of new pattern supplied, 283; number of passengers by, restricted, 283, 401; roof-loading, and objections to it, 287, 412; roof not always safe, 288; mileage allowance in the case of mail-coaches, 290; their freedom from attacks by highwaymen, 317; become liable to a duty of one penny a mile, 337; are diverted from the direct route for a consideration, 341; number of, in 1811, 352; their unpopularity with road trustees, 353; question considered of withdrawing their exemption from toll, 354; mail-coaches withdrawn instead, 355; in Scotland, are made liable to toll, 359; and their number is reduced, 360; speed of mail-coaches, 399, 426; the mail-coach the great disseminator of news, 401; supply of mail-coaches thrown open to public competition, immediate result, 425 Mail guards, not originally Post Office servants, 260; their little excesses, 261; their wages, 263; treatment of their wages a cause of difference between Walsingham and Palmer, 263; their position one of responsibility, 283; their fees, 284; specimens of instructions to, 285; carry parcels and game, and suffer to be carried excess-passengers, 286, 287 Main, George, deputy-postmaster of Edinburgh, 117 Maîtres de poste in Canada, 205 Managers, sometime farmers, of the Post Office, 137 Manchester, its Post Office establishment in 1792, 292; establishment increased and Penny Post Office opened, 301 Manley, Captain John, Post Office farmed by, 27 Manley, Isaac, deputy-postmaster of Dublin, 69 note Mansfield, William, Earl of, his opinion upon compensation for losses by the post, 188 note; his judgment as to the duty of the Post Office in the matter of delivering letters, 198 Marlborough, John Churchill, Duke of, interests himself in the post with Flanders, 101 (104, 107) Maryborough, William, Lord, postmaster-general from December 31, 1834 to May 8, 1835, 427 note Master of the Posts, his duties, 2; no one not authorised by, allowed to collect, carry, or deliver letters, 6; his salary and emoluments, 12 Melbourne, William, Viscount, 423 Melville, Robert, Viscount, advocates transfer of the Falmouth packets to the Admiralty, 399 Menai Straits, additional rate of postage imposed on letters crossing the, 395 Merchants' accounts to and from abroad exempt from postage until 1801, exemption then withdrawn, 331 Merchant adventurers. See Foreign Merchants Methuen, Sir Paul, ambassador to Portugal, calls attention to the irregular proceedings of the packets, 91 Mileage allowance, in case of mail-coaches, 290; higher in Ireland than in England, 376; flippant return to the House of Commons on the subject of, 424 Miles, difference between measured and computed miles, 175 Milestones, erection of, 175; their effect upon the charge for post-horses, 176 Milford Haven and Waterford, packet service between, 249 Missent letters, treatment of, before and after 1793, 309 Money Order Office, 420; the subject of a flippant return to the House of Commons, 424; facsimile of a money order issued in 1802, Appendix Monopoly of the Post Office, origin of, in the matter of letters and of post-horses, 7; confined in the first instance to the county of Kent, 9; confirmed by Act of Parliament, 27; withdrawn as regards post-horses, 205 Mountstuart, John, Viscount, 256 note Murray, Robert, reputed to have been the first to suggest the penny post, 36 Neale, Thomas, obtains grants for setting up posts in North America, 110; his pecuniary difficulties, 112; offers to surrender his patent, 115; patent passes on his death to Andrew Hamilton, 116 Newcastle, Thomas Holles Pelham, Duke of, his orders about the packets countermanded by Pelham, 173; sends to the Post Office to inquire the price of corn, 255 Newcastle, salary of the postmaster in 1792, 293 News, hunger after, 50; the postmasters-general the great purveyors of, 104; news disseminated by the mail-coaches, 401 Newspapers, franking of, by the clerks of the roads, 49; are received from abroad by Post Office servants in advance of the general public, 175; conditions of franking newspapers altered, effect of alteration, 191, 250; copies of, supplied to Post Office servants, 232; newspaper office established, 261; number and weight of newspapers passing through the Post Office in 1788, 262 note; treatment of foreign newspapers, 343; newspaper agency at the Post Office largely developed, 344; London newspapers supplied by the Post Office with early intelligence from abroad, 346; newspapers, though franked, not exempt from postage by the penny, twopenny, and convention posts, 350; postage on newspapers for the East Indies reduced below the letter rate, 363; improper dealing with newspapers in Ireland, 372; on newspapers to and from the Colonies special rates established and franking privilege withdrawn, 402; this privilege retained in the case of newspapers for the Continent, 403; newspapers circulating within the United Kingdom exempted from postage, 404; extent of newspaper business conducted by the clerks of the roads in 1829, 407; in 1830, 418; newspaper business finally withdrawn, 419 Newton, Sir Isaac, 66 New Year's gifts, extortion of, 325 Nicholas, Sir Edward, 20 Nodin, passenger on board the Antelope packet, his gallantry, 321 Normanby, Henry Constantine, Viscount, proposes abolition of the office of second postmaster-general, 397 North, Frederick, Lord, 206; receives singular reply from the Post Office, 218 Northampton, Countess of, 63 Northey, Sir Edward, 143 Northumberland, Hugh, Earl of, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 194 Nottingham, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 Ogilby, John, calls attention to the difference between measured and computed miles, 175 note Oldfield, Thomas, postmaster of York, 337 Oldmixon, 26 Old Street, St Luke's, a second penny charged on penny post letters addressed to, 203 Oliphant, Robert, deputy postmaster-general for Scotland, 271 Olney, Buckinghamshire, attempts to improve its post and the consequence, 351 O'Neile, Daniel, farmer of the posts, 33, 34 O'Neill, Charles Henry St. John, Earl, postmaster-general of Ireland from 1807 to 1831, 368 seq., 415 Onslow, Denzil, 185 Opening of letters, during the Commonwealth, 28; under James II., 44; practice systematically carried on under Walpole's administration, 170; continued, as regards foreign letters, until 1844, 269 note Ordnance, Board of, 86 Ormonde, James, Duke of, 70 Oxenbridge, Clement, reduces postage, 29; receives an appointment under the Post Office, 32 Oxford Street, branch post office opened in, 411 Packets (sailing), packet establishment in 1690, 45; are forbidden to carry merchandise in times of war, 76; regulations for control of, 82; carry their own surgeon, 84; are not, without a pass, to carry passengers, 85; or goods, 88; fares are not sufficiently made known and inconvenience arises, instances given, 86; curious assortment of goods sent free by packet, 88; packets bring both passengers and goods without passes, 89; engage in smuggling, 89; are forbidden to give chase, 93; are not entitled to the prizes they take, 93; agreement with prizes honourably observed as a rule, exceptions given, 94; are victualled at Falmouth and at Harwich on different principles, objections to both systems, 95; copy of letter-bill by the Prince packet, 97; transport recruits with disastrous results, 97; must be of English build, 98; engage with privateers, 101; are placed on a peace footing, 108; colours altered on Union with Scotland, 117; sufficiency of the burthen and crew of the Falmouth packets questioned by the merchants, 173; the packets generally meet with a series of disasters, 207; wholesale smuggling on the part of the Harwich packets, 237; inordinate growth of the packet expenditure, 238; and the reason, 239; packets established between Milford Haven and Waterford, 249; representation by the merchants as to the number of packets captured, 320; their gallant actions with privateers, 321; probable explanation of these actions occurring only when passengers were on board, 323; mode of procuring packets for the East Indies and the Cape in 1815, and their cost, 363; arrangement in the matter of packets between Great Britain and Ireland, 378; steps taken by the Dublin Post Office to set the arrangement aside, 381; sailing packets replaced by steam packets between Holyhead and Dublin, 384; between Milford Haven and Waterford, 385; between Portpatrick and Donaghadee, 385; the Falmouth packets transferred to the Admiralty, 398 Packets (steam), between Holyhe ad and Dublin, charges by, as compared with sailing packets, 385; number of passengers before the introduction of steam, 383 note; and after, 385; number of steam packets possessed by the Post Office in 1827, 399; packet service thrown open to public competition, 417; Irish steam packets, defective return to the House of Commons in the matter of, 424 Pajot, director of the French posts, his obstinacy, 77; his unreasonableness, 138 Palmer, John, his activity, 208; general sketch of his plan, 209; his plan is brought to the notice of Pitt, 212; and is tried on the Bath road, 213; extends his plan, 214; induces Pitt to raise the rates of postage, 215; alleges obstruction, 217; alters the length of the stages, 219; his plan is opposed by the merchants, 220; opposition dies away, 227; procures appointment of his nominees, 228; conditions of his own appointment, 228; his jealousy of Allen, 230; expedites the morning delivery in London, and introduces an improved method of business, 235; imposes upon Walsingham in the matter of the King's coach, 251; his treatment of official papers, 256; pays an unexpected visit to Walsingham at Old Windsor, 258; betrays his jealousy, 259; establishes, but without the necessary authority, a newspaper office, 261; and a mail guards' fund, 263; is called to account by Walsingham, 263; takes umbrage at a rebuke administered to his deputy, Bonnor, 265; disobeys orders, 266; becomes aggressive and defiant, 270; and appeals to Pitt, 272; is charged by Bonnor with promoting a public meeting antagonistic to the postmasters-general, 275; suspends Bonnor, 275; is suspended himself, 276; is dismissed, 279; receives a pension and, later on, a Parliamentary grant, 280; general result of his plan, 290 (299, 302, 353) Palmerston, Henry John, Viscount, his humorous reply to Freeling, 380 Parkin, Anthony, solicitor to the Post Office, 333 Parnell, Sir Henry, 407 Pascoe, John, boatswain of the Antelope packet, his gallant resistance to the attack of a privateer, 322 Patterns and samples, letters containing, and being less than one ounce in weight, whether to be charged single or double, 177; question tried at law, 178; settled by Act of Parliament, 179; concessions in favour of, 315 Pay. See Wages Pelham, Henry, countermands Newcastle's orders about the packets, 173 Pennant, Thomas, 261 Penny post, its introduction by Dockwra, 36; general plan of, 37; carries up to one pound in weight, 37; includes a system of insurance, 38; days on which it does not go, 39; increases number of country letters, 40; is absorbed into the General Post Office, 40; establishment of, in 1690, 45; stimulates the clandestine conveyance of letters into London, 54; on its acquisition by the State its general conditions remain unchanged, 67; number of penny post letters for the suburbs at the end of the seventeenth century, 69; its contemplated extension to Dublin in 1703, 69; affects the number of ship letters, 73; is without legal sanction, 119; legal sanction given, 128; its limits restricted to ten miles, 129; the charge of a second penny on all letters delivered outside the bills of mortality made legal, 143; weight carried by the penny post reduced from one pound to four ounces, 188; compensation for losses by the, when ceased to be given, 188 note; attempts made by the Post Office to charge a second penny within the bills of mortality, 203; principal officers of the penny post absentees, 231; stagnation of the penny post, 302; the post is improved by Johnson, a letter-carrier, 302; financial result, 305; prepayment, hitherto optional, made compulsory, 306; restriction on limits withdrawn, 307; the charge of a second penny, heretofore confined to letters delivered at places outside the bills of mortality, imposed upon letters coming therefrom, 307; the penny post converted into a twopenny post, 331; and the twopenny post into a threepenny one, 340. See twopenny and threepenny posts Penzance, its post before and after 1784, 291 Pepys, Samuel, 84 note Perceval Spencer, 354, 379 Percival, Joseph, a passenger by packet without a pass, 89 Pickwick, "Mr. Pickwick's coach," 281 Pitt, William, his attention is called to Palmer's plan, 212; sweeps away frivolous objections and desires that it may be tried, 213; raises the postage rates, 215; relaxes the restrictions upon franking, 217; dismisses Tankerville, 224; settles conditions of Palmer's appointment, 229; his knowledge of abuses at the Post Office and his unwillingness to expose them, 241; suppresses report of Royal Commission, 242; authorises increase of salary to the clerks of the roads, 251; declares Palmer's proceedings to be irregular, 263; turns a deaf ear to the postmaster-general's request for an interview, 273; interview at length granted, 277; a second interview, 279; acquiesces in Palmer's dismissal and grants him a pension, 279; makes to Post Office servants a periodical grant pending a revision of the establishment, 300; promotes plan for improving the penny post, 305; disallows practice of charging returned letters, 308; modifies arrangements for dealing with ship letters, 329; his precepts in this matter afterwards disregarded, 361 Plymouth, salary of the postmaster in 1792, 293 Political Register, its criticisms on Post Office practice, 342 Pope, Alexander, his lines on Ralph Allen, 186 Portage, 29 Portland, William Henry, Duke of, 379 Portland Packet, Captain Taylor, its gallant action with privateer, 321 Postage, introduction of, 18; settled by Act of Parliament, 27; original meaning of term, 29 note; rates of postage in 1635, 18; in 1657 and 1660, 28; in 1711, 127; in 1765, 187; in 1784, 216; in 1797, 318; in 1801, 331; in 1805, 339; in 1812, 356; device resorted to in order to evade high rates of, 142; rates lapse through effluxion of time, 180; rates of postage between London and the Channel Islands and within the islands themselves, 314; from Portugal and America, 319; financial result of increase of rates, 341; bewildering complications, 357; extraordinary toleration of the public, explanation suggested, 358; an additional rate imposed in Scotland on withdrawal of exemption from toll, 359; and on letters passing over the Menai Straits or Conway Bridge, 395; rates of postage to the East Indies in 1815, 363; instances of exorbitant rates, 409 "Poste for the Pacquet," 5 note Post-boys, 164 Post-coaches, 214 Post-haste, 20 Post-horn. See Horn Post-horses. See Horses Post-houses, to have horses in readiness, 4; horses not to be let except at, 6; pay of keepers of, in arrear, 15 Postilions, 107 Postmarks, introduction of, 38 Postmasters, their duties in 1690, 48; their salaries, 50; their grievances, 51; their contingent advantages, 52; intercept postage on bye-letters, 52, 53; their correspondence exempt from postage, 160; their moderation on the erection of milestones, 177; are enjoined to frequent the local markets and report the price of corn, 254; salaries of certain postmasters in Scotland in 1707, 118; in England in 1792, 293 Postmasters-General (I.) [Cotton and Frankland, 1690 to 1708], their simple-mindedness, 45; their accessibility, 46; their concern about the illicit correspondence, 53; their powerlessness to check it, 56; let the posts out to farm, 58; refuse to sublet the penny post, 69; their difference with Pajot, minister of the French posts, 77; remonstrate with captains of packets at Falmouth, 89; and at Harwich, 91; chuckle over the capture of a prize, 93; their rebuke to the captain of a Falmouth packet, 94 note; instance of their rough-and-ready justice, 95; take vigorous measures to protect the packets from Flemish privateers, 101; their admonition to the packet agent at Dover, 102; act as purveyors of news to the Court, instances given, 104; advocate cheap postage to America, 114; become, at the Union with Scotland, responsible for the Scotch posts, 117; their inaction, explanation suggested, 119; action forced upon them, 120; are contrasted with their successors, 185, 202 Postmasters-General (II.) [Frankland and Evelyn, 1708 to 1715], their interview with Godolphin, 106; their instruction about expresses from Dover, 107; treat personally with Povey, 123; Frankland ceases to be a member of Parliament, 128; concern themselves only slightly about travellers, 130; take measures to check the abuse of franking, 133; in vain urge the appointment of surveyors, 134; negotiate new treaty with France, 138; quit office on accession of George the First, 139 Postmasters-General (III.) [Cornwallis and Craggs, 1715 to 1721], are amazed at the absence of check in the Post Office, 140; note how little the increase in the rates of postage has added to the revenue, 141; and how largely it has stimulated the abuse of franking, 142; their dispute with the merchants, 142; convict Lowndes of a ludicrous error, 145; their harsh treatment of their secretary, 152 Postmasters-General (IV.) [Edward Carteret and Walpole, 1721 to 1725], their kindness to subordinates, 152; their interview with Abercorn, 154. [From 1725 to 1733 Carteret had for his colleague Edward Harrison, and from 1733 to 1739 Lord Lovell.] Carteret establishes a post to Aylsham, 167 Postmasters-General (V.) [Henry Frederick, Lord Carteret and, for the second time, Tankerville, 1784 to 1786], collect opinions on Palmer's plan and submit them to Pitt, 213; entertain doubts as to its feasibility, 218; their differences between themselves, 221; their open rupture, 223; Tankerville is dismissed by Pitt, 224; his ungovernable temper, 225 Postmasters-General (VI.) [Carteret and Walsingham, 1787 to 1789], Walsingham's industry and thoroughness, 243; questions Carteret's right to sign first, 243; his preponderating influence, 244; his habit of annotating and execrable handwriting, 244, 263; reduces packet establishment at Falmouth, 246; is dissuaded from carrying out a similar reduction at Holyhead, 248; is powerless to control the correspondence by the Milford packets, 249; in conjunction with Carteret procures increase of salary for the clerks of the roads, 250; is imposed upon in the matter of the King's coach, 251; calls for the surveyors' journals, 255; his correspondence with Chalmers, 256; receives an unexpected visit from Palmer, 258; detects Palmer's jealousy and endeavours to allay it, 260; calls Palmer to account for acting without authority, 263; exposes Bonnor's attempt at deception, 265; Carteret's dismissal, 266; Walsingham inquires into the solicitor's accounts, 324 Postmasters-General (VII.) [Walsingham and Chesterfield, 1790 to 1794], Chesterfield's playful allusions to Palmer, 269; Palmer sets the postmasters-general at defiance, 270; they seek in vain an interview with Pitt, 273; receive assurances from Bonnor of Palmer's disloyalty, 275; remove Bonnor's suspension and suspend Palmer, 276; Chesterfield's letter, 276; Walsingham's interview with Pitt, 277; feel confident of their own dismissal, 278; are furnished with evidence by Bonnor, 278; have a second interview with Pitt and dismiss Palmer, 279; contrast Palmer's reticence in official matters with Freeling's wealth of explanation, 295; Walsingham attempts to improve communication with France, 296; and to reduce postage on letters containing the second halves of bank notes, 298; give attention to coach-building, 393 Postmasters-General (VIII.) [Chichester and Salisbury, 1816 to 1823], are called upon for a return of the number of Post Office Boards, 396; address to the Throne praying that one of the two offices of postmaster-general be abolished, 397; Salisbury stops his own salary, and on his death Chichester becomes postmaster-general sole, 398; Salisbury's testimony to increase of stringency in Post Office matters, 405 Post Office, origin of its monopoly, 7; monopoly confined in the first instance to the county of Kent, 9; a Post Office opened in the city of London, 20; dispute for its possession, 21; becomes the subject of Parliamentary enactment, 27; its position in 1680, 39; is the only receptacle for letters in London, 40; description of it, 46; relations between the Post Office and the Treasury, 57; the Post Office becomes unpopular and the reasons, 170 seq.; its retrogression, 184; assumes a new character, 202; loses monopoly of letting post-horses, 205; Post Office buildings in Edinburgh and Dublin fall into decay, 207; indignation caused by the earlier closing of the Post Office in London, 220; this office enlarged, 295; state of the Post Office as between the years 1695 and 1813 compared, 356; the Post Office disseminates news, 401; and police notices, 402; becomes object of interest to the House of Commons, 407; is cleared of more than a century of debt, 408; a new post office opened in St. Martin's-le-Grand, 410 Post-runners, 118 Posts, paucity of, in time of Henry the Eighth, 1; their close connection with the Sovereign, 3; instructions for the regulation of, 4; designed not only to carry the letters of the Sovereign, but for the use of persons travelling on the Sovereign's concerns, 4; posts originally maintained at loss to the Crown, 7; at the beginning of the seventeenth century only four in number, 8; of these the post to Dover the most important, precautions taken lest this post should be used for designs against the State, 9; decadence of the posts, 15; improved by Witherings, 16; to be self-supporting, 17; thrown open to the public, 18; let out to farm, 25; rent paid in 1650, 25; in 1653, 27; in 1660, 33; in 1667, 34; in 1657 become the subject of Parliamentary enactment, 27; their inadequacy to meet public demands, 34; even where they existed, their existence not generally known, 35; at what intervals they left London in 1680, 36; regarded as vehicles for the propagation of treason, 43; again let out to farm, 58; resumed by the State, 137; as late as 1728, not of general concern, 152 Povey, Charles, sets up a halfpenny post, 121; contrast between him and Dockwra, 122; his insolence, 122; is proceeded against and cast in damages, 123 Prideaux, Edmund, takes part with Burlamachi against Warwick, 21; rescues the mail from Warwick's servants, 22; brings the imprisonment of his own servant before the House of Commons, 22; becomes Master of the Posts, 23; his activity, 24; suppresses unauthorised post to Scotland, 25; makes profit out of the posts and is called upon to pay rent, 25; is dismissed, 25; retains an interest in the posts, 26; Oldmixon's estimate of his character, 26; destination of a part of his wealth, 27 Prideaux, Edmund, son of the preceding, 27 Prior, Matthew, negotiates Post Office treaty with France, 138 Prior Park, 185 Prizes, practice observed on capture of, 93 Prosecutions, for the illicit conveyance of letters, 333; measures taken to secure their publicity, 359; return to the House of Commons on the subject of, 422 Protection order, specimen of, 84 note Quartering of soldiers, a grievance to postmasters, 51 Quash, Ralph Allen's predecessor as postmaster of Bath, 147 Queen's letters, meaning of term in 1706, 83 note Queen's servants not exempt from fare by packet, 86 Queensberry, James, Duke of, 64 Raikes, a diamond merchant, suggests the giving of receipts for registered letters, 409 note Railways, prediction concerning, 408; first mail sent by railway, 412 Ramsgate, cost of Post Office at, in 1792, 293 Randolph, Thomas, Master of the Posts to Queen Elizabeth, 3 Receiving offices, first opened in London, 37; generally kept at public-houses, 68; to remain open on six nights a week instead of three, 196; letter-boxes at, to be closed and fixed, 306; receiving offices for twopenny post letters separate and distinct from offices for letters by the general post, 409, 423 Recruits, exemption of, from fare by packet, 85; disputes with officers in charge of, 87; packets employed for transport of, 97 Registration, exorbitant fees for, of foreign letters, 233; amount of these fees in 1783 and 1784, 235; receipts for foreign registered letters begin to be given, 409 note Returned Letters. See Dead letters Revenue of the Post Office, surrendered by the Crown to the public, in part, in 1711, 126; and wholly, in exchange for a Civil List, in 1760, 189; amount of, from 1635 to 1694, 46; in 1710 and 1721, 144; in 1787 as compared with 1784, 227; in 1796 and 1806, 341; in 1824 and 1833, 422 Richmond, Charles, Duke of, postmaster-general from December 1830 to July 1834, declines to receive salary, 413; his industry, 413; becomes postmaster-general of Ireland as well as Great Britain, and reforms the Dublin establishment, 414; contemplates, apparently, a reduction of postage, 419 Ripon, Post Office at, refused in 1713, 151; in possession of one in 1792, 293 Roads, condition of, in 1691, 65; during the first two decades of the nineteenth century, 390; begin to be constructed on scientific principles, 392; Macadam's plan for dealing with the surface of, 392; difference between roads in the country and roads in the neighbourhood of London, 394 Rochester, Lawrence Hyde, Earl of, postmaster-general from 1685 to 1689, 43, 74 note, 110, Appendix note Rogers, captain of packet, engages in smuggling, 89 Roof-loading of mail-coaches, 287, 412 Rosencrantz, the Danish envoy, to be specially accommodated on board Harwich packet, 87 Rosse, Laurence, Earl of, postmaster-general of Ireland from 1809 to 1831, 369, 415 Rotterdam, practice at, on arrival of the mails, 174 Royal boroughs of Scotland, 208 Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Post Office in 1787, 227, 230; in 1823, 407; recommendations of this last Commission not carried into effect, 420; another Commission appointed to ascertain the reason, 423; this Commission procures the contract for mail-coaches to be thrown open to public competition, 425 Runners, 118 Rye-House Plot, the cause of a Post Office proclamation, 43 Sailors on board the packets, their conditions of service, 83; receive pensions for wounds, 85; their wages withheld, 91; their wages increased, 248 St. John, Henry, afterwards Viscount Bolingbroke, 211 St. Leonards, Shoreditch, a second penny on penny post letters improperly charged at, 203 St. Martin's-le-Grand, opening of Post Office at, 410 Salaries. See Wages Salisbury, James, Marquess of, postmaster-general from 1816 to 1823. See Postmasters-General, Part VIII. Samples. See Patterns Sampson, captain of packet, 313 Sandwich, John, Earl of, postmaster-general from 1768 to 1771, 172; specimen of his frank, Appendix Sandwich, John, Earl of, son of the preceding, postmaster-general from 1807 to 1814, 348 Sandwich, Kent, asserts its right to a free delivery, 197; right admitted and letter-carrier appointed, 202, 293 Scotland, tardiness of communication with, before 1635, 16; communication expedited by Witherings, 16; postage to Scotland, 18; post to Edinburgh set up by the City of London, 24; extent of correspondence with Scotland in 1690, 53; Scotch posts placed under the postmasters-general of England, 117; salaries of Scotch postmasters, 118; course of post between London and Edinburgh accelerated in 1758, 180, 256; in 1765 posts to and within Scotland increased in frequency, 195; Post Office in Edinburgh no longer habitable, 207; internal administration of Scotch Post Office revised by Palmer, 271; penny post established in Edinburgh, 300; postage rates within Scotland raised, 319; wholesale prosecutions for illicit correspondence, 333; exemption from toll withdrawn and an additional postage rate imposed, 359; unhandsome conduct of the road trustees, 359; roads discoached, 360 Search, powers of, refused by the House of Commons, 128 Sebright, Sir John, his letter accidentally opened, 333 Secretary of State, clerks in the office of, compensated for the loss of the newspaper privilege, 193 Secretary of the Post Office, appointment of, created in 1694, 70 Secret Office, 170, 269 Sharpus, postmaster of New York, 111 Sheffield, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 Shelburne, William, Earl of, 212 Ship letters, origin of ship letter money, 73; by means of the penny post evade full postage, 73; number of, in 1686, 74; pence paid upon, without legal sanction, 119; legal sanction given, 128; ship letter office established, 328; rates on, increased and restrictions imposed, 361; restrictions modified, 362; made compulsory upon private ships to carry mails, 362 Ship news supplied by the Post Office to Lloyds, 218 Shipwrecked seamen pass free by packet, 85 Shrewsbury, curious reply to petition from, for earlier post, 218 Single letter, definition of, 139 Smart and bounty money, 85 Smuggling, on board the packets at Falmouth, 89, 238; at Harwich, 91, 237; at Dover, 103; in the Dover mail-coach, 271 Soldiers' wives, when travelling supplied with money through the medium of the Post Office, 374 Solicitor to the Post Office, appointment of, created in 1703, 70; an absentee and his duties performed by deputy, 231; his accounts inspected by Walsingham's direction, 324 Somerset, Protector, superscription of his letter to Lord Dacre, 20 Sorters, pay of, in 1690, 49 Southampton, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 Speed of post in Queen Elizabeth's time, 4; in time of James the First, 6; at the end of the seventeenth century, 62; between London and Falmouth and London and Harwich, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, 83; under Allen's contract, 148; in 1765, 187; after 1784, 290; speed of Holyhead mail-coach before and after Telford's improvement of the road, 394; of mail-coaches generally in 1821 and 1836, 399, 426 Spencer, Lord Charles, postmaster-general from 1801 to 1806, 333 Spitalfields, a second penny improperly charged on penny post letters addressed to, 203 Sprange, James, postmaster of Tunbridge Wells, 408 Spring Rice, Thomas, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 428 Stage, inconvenience resulting from term not being defined, 219; term dropped as unit of charge, 318 Stanhope of Harrington, John, Lord, Master of the Posts, 10; resents what he conceives to be an invasion of his patent, 10; dies and is succeeded as Master of the Posts by his son, 11 Stanhope of Harrington, Charles, Lord, Master of the Posts, son of the preceding, vigorously asserts his rights, 11; vacillating decisions of the Privy Council, 12; surrenders his patent, 20; alleges cajolery, 23 Stanhope, Arthur, comptroller of the foreign department, his emoluments from franking, 344; supplies newspapers with summaries of foreign intelligence, 346 Stanhope, James, Secretary of State, 64 Stanwix, Colonel, 97 State letters, 83 note Staunton, John, postmaster of Isleworth; appointed comptroller of the bye and cross-roads, 224 Steam packets, first employment of, by the Post Office, 384 Stock Exchange, The, outwits the Post Office, 106 Stockdale, a highwayman, execution of, 183 note Stokes, William, 245 Stone, George, Receiver-General, a defaulter, 185 Stowmarket, its position and its trade unknown to Allen, 157 Strangers' post. See Foreign merchants Sudbury, duties and salary of postmaster in 1690, 50 Sunderland, Charles, Earl of, 89 Surveyors, appointment of, refused by the Treasury, 134; afterwards sanctioned, 140; their original functions, 134; their functions and emoluments after 1786, 228; their journals, 255, 259; cease to hold postmasterships in addition to their appointments as surveyors, 339 Swift, Richard, solicitor to the Post Office, prepares Post Office bill of 1711, 125; is overborne by Lowndes, secretary to the Treasury, 126 Tankerville, Charles, Earl of, postmaster-general from April 1782 to May 1783, and again from January 1784 to September 1786. See Postmasters-General, Part V. Telford, Thomas, takes in hand the road between Holyhead and Shrewsbury, 392; between Shrewsbury and London, 393; other roads, 409 Thanet, Elizabeth, Countess Dowager of, undertakes to establish a penny post in Dublin, 69 "Thorough poste," 5 note Thrale, Mrs., 209 note Threepenny post, 340, 417 Thurloe, John, secretary, assumes direction of the Post Office in 1655, 27; intercepts letters, 28 Thurlow, Edward, Attorney-General, afterwards Lord Chancellor; his opinion as to the duty of the Post Office in the matter of delivering letters, 198, 201 Thynne, Henry Frederick, afterwards Carteret. See Postmasters-General, Parts V. and VI. Timepieces, mode of regulating mail-guards', 283 Times newspaper, its priority of intelligence, 347; its criticisms on Post Office procedure, 348; proceedings against, taken by Freeling, 349 Tinware, supply of, to the postmasters-general, 232 Todd, Anthony, secretary to the Post Office; his correspondence with Benjamin Franklin, 204; his indifference, 218; comments upon Tankerville's temper, 225; his compromising position in respect to the packets, 240; his emoluments, 240; his remark upon Bonnor's dilatory replies, 264; devotes himself to social amenities, 294; unknown to the postmasters-general, retains his shares in the packets, 327; his death, 327 Toll, mail-coaches exempt from, in England and Scotland but not in Ireland, 354; exemption withdrawn in Scotland, 359 Townshend, Horatio, Lord, 64 Townshend, Charles, deprecates alarm because a letter is sent by express, 182 Travellers, obtain use of post-horses under false pretences, 5; are not to be supplied with horses except at the post-houses, 6; paucity of travellers, 15; are not to be supplied with horses when the post is expected, 18; have to pay more for horses after the erection of milestones, 176; their restriction to post-houses for a supply of horses withdrawn, 205 Treasury, its relations to the Post Office, 57, 416; refuses the appointment of surveyors, 134; refuses a horse-post between Edinburgh and Glasgow, 136; experience of its ways a bar to the suggestion of improvements, 169; extorts blackmail, 325 Treves, Peregrine, the recipient of Carteret's bounty, 226 Tring, the postmaster of, opens a letter addressed to Sir John Sebright, 333 Tuke, Sir Brian, Master of the Posts to Henry the Eighth, his letter to Thomas Cromwell, 1; his duties, 2; explanation suggested of statement in his letter, 4 Tunbridge, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293 Tunbridge Wells, old-fashioned postmaster of, in 1823, 408 Turnpikes, condition of the trusts at the beginning of the nineteenth century, 353; number of Turnpike Acts passed between 1760 and 1809, 390 Twopenny post, a second penny charged by Dockwra on delivery of letters in the outskirts of London, 38; this second penny not legally sanctioned until 1730, 143; the twopenny post thus established in one direction established also in the other, 307; the penny post converted into a twopenny post, 331; and the twopenny post into a threepenny one, 340; the revenue of the twopenny post as compared with that of the penny post, 341; the crowded condition of the twopenny Post Office in Westminster, 410 Tyrconnel, Richard Talbot, Earl of, opens the mails at Dublin Castle, 53 Uniform, letter-carriers put into, 299 Urin, captain of packet, makes wrong port, 89 Vanderpoel, packet agent at the Brill, 92 Vansittart, Nicholas, Chancellor of the Exchequer, insists upon mail-coaches being withdrawn from the roads, 355; raises the rates of postage, 356; changes the route of the Holyhead coach, 390; refuses to get the terms of a hostile motion altered, 397 Van Vrybergh, Envoy Extraordinary from the States-General, 101 Venetian Ambassador, the, protests against the opening of his letters, 28 Vidler, his contract for the supply of mail-coaches terminated, 425 Village posts. See Convention posts Viner, Sir Robert, 70 Wade, General, 146 Wages and salaries, of Post Office servants in 1690, 49; of seamen on board the packets, 83; of certain postmasters in England, 50, 293, and in Scotland, 117; of mail-guards, 263 Waghorn, Thomas, 409 Wainwright, postmistress of Ferrybridge, her original mode of supplying an omission, 159 Walcot, John, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, terms of his agreement with Barham, packet agent at Dover, 222 Walpole, Sir Robert, maintains an office for the opening of letters, 170 Walpole, Galfridus, postmaster-general from 1721 to 1725. See Postmasters-General, Part IV. Walpole, Horace, precautions taken by, to secure his correspondence against inspection, 172 Walsingham, Thomas, Lord, postmaster-general from July 1787 to July 1794. See Postmasters-General, Parts VI. and VII. Warwick, Robert, Earl of, acquires Witherings's patent and claims possession of the letter office, 21; attempts to obtain it by force, 22; continues to assert his claim, 23 Warwick, course of post to, altered in 1695, 57 Waterhouse, Benjamin, Secretary to the Post Office, 131 note Watson, Sir Charles, 296 Way letter, meaning of term, 147 Weights to be attached to sea-borne mails, 82 Wellesley, Sir Arthur, sets aside objections to improving communication with Ireland, 390 West Indies, packets to the, established, 78; amount of correspondence in 1705, 80; service discontinued in 1711, 109; resumed in 1745, 173; improved arrangements for disposing of the West Indian mails, 310 Westmorland, John, Earl of, postmaster-general from September 1789 to March 1790, 266 Weston, Henry, secretary to the Post Office, harsh treatment of, 152 Weston brothers, trial of, 290 Wetherall, Robert, master of ship Albinia, proceedings against, for refusing to take mails on board, 362 note Weymouth, constituted a packet station, 313 Whinnery, Thomas, postmaster of Belfast, his revolving "alphabet," 375; his mode of delivery, 375 Whitworth, Richard, 192 Wildman, Colonel John, postmaster-general from July 1689 to March 1690, 44 Willatt, Dame, postmistress of Manchester in 1792, 292; granted a pension, 301 Willes, Doctor, Dean of Lincoln, afterwards Bishop of St. Davids; the "chief Decypherer," 171 Willes, Mr. Justice, his judgment upon the question of free delivery, 200 William III., confers a pension upon Dockwra, 41; refuses to exempt postmasters from the quartering of soldiers, 51; is unwilling to prosecute for the illegal conveyance of letters, 54; his opinion as to the requirements of a mail packet, 75; the soundness of that opinion confirmed, 76 Williamson, Peter, sets up an office for the delivery of letters in Edinburgh, 300 Willimott, Receiver-General, 398 note Wilson, mail-coach contractor, his exorbitant bill for horsing the King's coach, 251 Witherings, Thomas, succeeds De Quester as foreign postmaster, 14; is commissioned to examine into the inland posts, 14; suggests a scheme of reorganisation, 16; introduces postage, 17; contemplates posts being self-supporting, 17; but not, apparently, a source of revenue, 19; becomes postmaster for both inland and foreign letters, 20; his appointment is sequestered, 21; assigns his patent, 21 Wolters, Dirick, a suspected person, to be searched for at Harwich, 88 Worthing, course of post from London to, in 1666, 34 Wren, Sir Christopher, surveys the Post Office premises in Lombard Street, 71 York, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293

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