RATES AND FINANCE
After de Quester had been appointed Foreign Postmaster-General, he published, in 1626, an incomplete set of rates from and to various places on the continent. His charges for "packets," and by packets he meant letters or parcels carried by a special messenger, were as follows:—
To the Hague £7.To Brussels or Paris £10.To Vienna £60.
The ordinary rates were:—
To or from any of the above places 30s.To or from any part of Germany 6s.From Venice for a single letter 9d.[562]From Venice for any letter over a single letter 2s.8d.From Leghorn and Florence for a single letter 1s.From Leghorn and Florence over a single letter 3s.an ounce.[563]
This system of rates, although crude, marks a distinct era in postal progress. It forms the foundation of the plan which was perfected a few years later by Witherings. De Quester also published a statement of the days of departure of the regular posts with foreign letters.[564]In the trial between Stanhope and de Quester over the question of who should be Foreign Postmaster-General, it came out in the evidence that Stanhope had been accustomed to receive 8d.for every letter to Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Antwerp.[565]This charge was rather in the nature of a perquisite than a legal rate and serves partly to explain why Stanhope was so anxious to retain the monopoly of the foreign post.
Witherings' rates for domestic postage, as fixed by Royal Proclamation in 1635, were as follows for a single letter:—
If there were more than one sheet of paper, postage must be paid according to the above rate for every separate sheet or enclosure. For instance, a letter or packet composed of two sheets was called a double letter and paid 4d.for any distance under 80 miles. A letter of three sheets was called a triple letter and paid 6d.if conveyed under 80 miles, and so in proportion.[566]In 1638, the rules concerning the imposition of rates were changed slightly. The rates themselves remained the same for single and double letters. Letters above double letters were to be charged according to weight as follows:—
This expedient must have been adopted from the difficulty in discovering the number of enclosures when there were more than two. It is impossible to say how long these rates continued, probably not later than Witherings' régime. During Prideaux' management the maximum postage on a single letter was 6d., reduced later to 3d.[568]
The Council of State gave orders in 1652 for the imposition of the following rates for a single letter:—
Whether these rates were actually collected is questionable. The postage which the farmers of the Posts were allowed to collect in the following year was fixed by the Council of State for single letters as follows:—
These rates are in effect lower than those of Witherings, for he had inserted a 3d.rate for letters delivered between 80 and 140 miles from London, had charged 4d.for all letters going farther than 140 miles, and had charged 8d.and 9d.for letters to Scotland and Ireland respectively. They were a little higher than those of 1652, for by them 2d.had carried a letter 100 miles.[570]
In 1657, the first act of Parliament was passed, fixing rates for letters and establishing the system for England, Ireland, and Scotland. The domestic rates were:—
For a single letterDouble letterPer ounceIn England{ Within 80 miles{ from London2d.4d.8d.{ Above 80 miles{ from London3612To or from Scotland4818To or from Ireland61224In Ireland{ Within 40 miles{ from Dublin248{ Above 40 miles{ from Dublin4812
The foreign rates were:—[571]
For a single letterDouble letterPer ounceTo Leghorn, Genoa, Florence, Lyons,Marseilles,Aleppo, Constantinople12d.24d.45d.To St. Malo, Morlaix, Nieuhaven61218To Bordeaux, Rochelle, Nantes, Bayonne,Cadiz, Madrid91824To Hamburg, Frankfort, and Cologne81624To Dantzic, Leipsic, Lubeck, Stockholm,Copenhagen, Elsinore, Konigsburg122448
These rates are considerably lower than those of Witherings and are essentially the same as those of 1653, except that the postage is fixed for letters to and from the continent. No provision is made for letters to and from any other part of the world but Europe. Since the government had not established any postal communication with Asia, Africa, or the Americas, it would have been unfair to demand postage on letters conveyed by merchant vessels to and from those places.[572]
The act of 1660 is generally referred to as bringing the Post Office under Parliamentary control and as the basis of the modern system. This is probably due to the fact that the act of 1657 was passed by a Commonwealth Parliament and signed by Cromwell. Whether its authors lacked the power to give it validity, they did not lack the brains to pass an excellent act, and although the Royalists saw fit, after the Restoration, to dub it the pretended act of 1657, they could not improve it and had the sense to leave it largely untouched. The first act had imposed rates from or to any place to or from London as a centre. It had been taken for granted that all letters passed to, from, or through the capital, and to all intents and purposes this was so. It was possible, however, for letters, technically called bye-letters, to stop short of London, and it was to provide for these that postage was to be reckoned from any place where a letter might be posted.
Scotland was no longer a part of England after the Restoration, so that by the act of 1660 rates were given to and from Berwick and for single letters were a penny less than they had been to Scotland under the earlier act. From Berwick the rate, within a radius of forty miles, was 2d.for a single letter, and over forty miles, 4d.As far as foreign postage was concerned, letters to the northern coast towns of Italy paid 3d.less than the old rate for a single letter. Other rates remained the same. Alternative routes were sometimes offered. For instance, letters might be sent directly to northern Italy or they might go via Lyons, but in the latter case they cost 3d.more. Again, there were many more continental towns to which letters might be sent and from which they might be received. Letters for Germany via Hamburg had to be postpaidas far as that city. The same was true of letters to southern France via Paris and of letters to northern Italy via Lyons. The highest rate paid for a single letter was 1s.to northern Italy, Turkey, and central and northern Germany. Merchants' accounts not exceeding one sheet of paper, bills of exchange, invoices and bills of lading, were to pay nothing over the charge of the letter in which they might be enclosed. The same rule was to hold for the covers of letters sent to Turkey via Marseilles. All inland letters were to be paid for at the place where they were delivered unless the sender wished to pay in advance.[573]
When the Scotch was separated from the English Post Office in 1695, rates were imposed by the Parliament of Scotland as follows:
Packages of papers were to pass as triple letters.[575]In 1701, when the Scotch Post was let out to farm, the English Postmasters-General advised that the farmers should be obliged to pay at Berwick the postage on English and foreign letters for Scotland, and an order in accordance with this advice was signed by the King. It was the custom to change the farmers every three years, which may have produced a larger revenue but was certainly not calculated to increase the efficiency of the office. The English Postmasters-General had great difficulty in collecting at Berwick the postage due them, and it is doubtful whether a large part was ever paid. The frequent changes in the farmers must have been an excellent means of allowing them to escape their debts to the English.[576]
It has been customary to point to the postage rates of 1660 as lower than any before the nineteenth century. This is true in a general way, but one limitation to the statement is generally overlooked. Before 1696 all posts ran to or from London, and it was not until well on in the eighteenth century that the system of crossposts was introduced. Bristol and Exeter are less than eighty miles apart, but a letter from Bristol to Exeter went to London first and from there to Exeter, travelling about 300 miles to reach a town eighty miles distant. Now by the act of 1660, the rate for distances above 80 miles was 3d.Thus the letter paid 3d.from Bristol to London and 3d.more from London to Exeter, 6d.in all. If there had been a direct post from Bristol to Exeter, and there was not until 1698, the postage would have been 2d.only. The possibility of such an anomaly as this must be kept in mind in considering the low rates of the seventeenth century.
In James the Second's reign, a Post Office had been established in Jamaica, and rates of postage had been settled not only in the island itself but between it and the mother country. This was a new departure, since at that time there were no packet boats to the West Indies. The rate between England and Jamaica was 6d.for a single letter, 1s.for a double letter, and 2s.an ounce. As the Crown was not at the expense of maintaining means of transport, this was a pure tax.[577]In 1704, the postage on a single letter from the West Indies was raised to 7½d., for a double letter 15d., but Dummer's packets were then in operation.[578]
In 1698, a system of posts had been established in the American colonies between the largest towns on the Atlantic coast. All that is known about the rates is that the charge for the conveyance of a letter between Boston and New York was 1s.and the post went weekly between those places.[579]Hamilton, the deputy manager, proposed that letters from England should be sent in sealed bags entrusted to the masters of ships. The bags were to be handed over to the postmaster of the port where the ship first touched and the captain was to receive a penny for each letter. He advised that the following rates should be adopted:—
These rates were said to be too high and were not adopted, "it being found that cheap postage greatly encourages letter writing, as is shown by the reduction in England from 6d.to 3d."[580]
The preamble to the act of 1711 offered as an explanation of an increase in rates the necessity for money for the war and the prevention of private competition in carrying letters. It is plain that higher rates will, up to a certain point, increase proceeds, though not proportionately, but how increased rates can decrease competition is more difficult to explain. Witherings had found that the cheaper he made postage, the less fear was there from interlopers. It is possible that the framers of the bill had intended to use part of the increase in revenue for the support of searchers, but no such provision is contained in the act itself.[581]On the ground that a large revenue was necessary, no fault can be found with the increase. It is probably true that in course of time lower rates would have increased the product more than higher, but war and its demands wait for no man. The people who could write and who needed to write were in a small minority then, and their number could not for a long time be influenced by lower rates. What was needed at once was money and the only way to raise it by means of the Post Office was the one adopted.
The rates for single letters within England and between England and Edinburgh were increased by a penny for a single letter; for double letters and parcels in proportion. To Dublin the charge remained the same, and the rates within Ireland were not changed. In the act of 1660, the postage on letters delivered in Scotland hadbeen reckoned from Berwick. Edinburgh was now made the centre and the rates were as follows:—
For a singleletterPerounceFrom Edinburgh within Scotlandd.d.Not exceeding 50 miles28Above 50 and not exceeding 80 miles312Above 80 miles416[582]
The rates within Scotland were lower than those within England and Ireland. Scotland had a 2d.rate for distances not exceeding fifty miles. England had no rate under 3d., except for the Penny Post. Ireland, too, had a 2d.rate for distances not exceeding forty miles, but for distances from forty to eighty miles and over, the rate for Irish letters was 4d., while in England the rate was only 3d.for distances not exceeding eighty miles. The distances which letters travelled within Scotland were shorter than in England and Ireland. As a rule the different rates for the three countries varied with their wealth and consequent ability to pay, the least being required from poverty-stricken Scotland. The new rates as compared with the old were for a single letter:[583]—
For England
16601711Not exceeding 80 miles2d.3d.Above 80 miles34Between London and Edinburgh56Between London and Dublin66
Within Ireland
Not exceeding 40 miles from Dublin2d.2d.Above 40 miles from Dublin44
Within Scotland (Scotch Act, 1695)
Not exceeding 50 miles from Edinburgh2d.2d.From 50 to 80 miles from Edinburgh3From 50 to 100 miles from Edinburgh3Above 80 miles from Edinburgh4Above100 miles from Edinburgh4
The act of 1660 imposed rates on letters in Scotland from Berwick as a centre. By that act rates had been fixed for distances not exceeding 40 miles and for distances over forty miles from Berwick, being 2d.and 4d.for single letters for the respective distances, so that by the act of 1711, the Scotch rates were lower than they had been in 1660 and slightly higher than those of 1695. When forty miles was made the lowest distance according to which rates were levied, it was thought and intended that 2d., the rate for that distance, would pay for a single letter from Berwick to Edinburgh. As a matter of fact, the distance between the two places was fifty miles, so that the Scotch Act had estimated it better.
In the rates as given above, an exception is made in the case of letters directed on board ship or brought by it. For such letters one penny was charged in addition to the rates already given. This extra penny was charged because the postmaster in the place where the ship first touched was required to pay the master of the vessel one penny for every letter received. Foreign letters collected or delivered at any place between London and the port of departure or arrival of the ship for which they were destined or by which they had come, must pay the same rate as if they had left or arrived in London.
As far as foreign post rates were concerned they were all from 1d.to 3d.higher than they had been by the act of 1660. The lowest foreign rate for a single letter, 10d., was paid between London and France, and London and the Spanish Netherlands. To Germany and Northwestern Europe, through the Spanish Netherlands, the rate was 12d., to Italy or Sicily the same way 12d., postpaid to Antwerp, or 15d.via Lyons. The same rates held for letters passing through the United Provinces. To Spain or Portugal via the Spanish Netherlands or the United Provinces or France, postpaid to Bayonne, the rate was 18d.for a single letter, and the same price held when letters were conveyed directly by sailing packets.
By the same act of 1711 rates were for the first time established between England and her colonies and within the colonies themselves. The postage for a single letter from London to any of the West India Islands was 18d., to New York 12d., and the same from those places to London. Between the West Indies and New Yorkthe rate was 4d.In the colonies on the mainland, the chief letter offices were at New York, Perth Amboy, New London, Philadelphia, Bridlington, Newport, Portsmouth, Boston, Annapolis, Salem, Ipswich, Piscataway, Williamstown, and Charleston. The postage was 4d.to and from any of these places to a distance not exceeding sixty miles and 6d.for any distance between sixty and 100 miles. Between New York, Perth Amboy, and Bridlington, the rate was 6d.; between New York, New London, and Philadelphia 9d.; between New York, Newport, Portsmouth, and Boston 12d.; between New York, Salem, Ipswich, Piscataway, and Williamstown 15d.; between New York and Charleston 18d.; the Post Office was to pay nothing for crossing ferries.
There had always been trouble in collecting the rates on bye and cross post letters. These letters did not pass through London and hence the officials at the General Post Office had no check on the money due. By a clause in the act, the postmasters were ordered under a penalty to account for the receipts from all these letters. The postage on letters which did not pass to, through, or from London was fixed according to the inland charges, varying with the distances travelled. Finally, the postage on all inland letters was to be paid on delivery unless the sender wished to pay in advance, or in the case of the Penny Post, or unless such letters should be directed on board any ship or vessel or to any person in the army.
From the receipts from postage, £700 a week was to be paid into the Exchequer for the purpose of carrying on the war. The Accountant-General was to keep account of all money raised, the receipts themselves going directly to the Receiver-General and being paid into the Exchequer by him. One third of the surplus over and above the weekly payment of £700 and £111,461 (the amount of the gross receipts of the duties arising by virtue of the act of 1660) were to be disposed of by Parliament. In making this provision, Joyce thinks that the Chancellor of the Exchequer confused gross and net product.[584]As a matter of fact there was no such surplus as was anticipated by the Chancellor, but it does not follow that he made the mistake of which he was accused by Cornwallisand Craggs, an accusation in which Joyce evidently concurs. He erred simply in supposing that expenses would remain the same.[585]
The act of 1711 in prescribing the rate of postage for the carriage of "every single letter or piece of paper" enacted that a "double letter should pay twice that rate." The merchants contended that a double letter was composed of two sheets of paper if they weighed less than an ounce and their reasoning was logical. They argued from this that a letter enclosing a pattern or patterns, if it weighed less than one ounce, should pay only as a single letter. Actions were brought against the postmasters by the merchants for charging more than they considered was warranted and the merchants won every case. The lawyers also threatened legal proceedings for the charge of writs when enclosed in letters. The Postmasters-General hastened to Parliament for relief. The merchants heard of this, and petitions were sent to the House of Commons from "clothiers, dealers in cloth, silk, and other manufactured goods," asking that when samples were enclosed in a single letter the rate should remain the same provided that such letter and sample did not exceed half an ounce in weight.[586]Their efforts were fruitless. The following provisions were inserted in a tobacco bill then before Parliament and passed in 1753: "that every writ etc. enclosed in a letter was to pay as a distinct letter and that a letter with one or more patterns enclosed and not exceeding one ounce in weight was to pay as a double letter."[587]As a matter of fact all the rates collected after 1743 by virtue of the act of 1711 were illegal, for the act itself had died a natural death in the former year by that clause which provided for the revival of the rates of 1660 at the end of thirty-two years.
A postal act was passed in 1765, slightly changing the home, colonial, and foreign rates. The cession of territory in North America had made necessary a more comprehensive scheme of postage rates there. The conclusion of the Seven Years' War had made it possible to offer a slight reduction in postage. In Great Britain the following rates were published for short distances for a single letter:—
The rates for all other distances remained unchanged. A stage, as a rule, varied from ten to twelve miles in length, so that every post town in England could now boast a modified form of penny postage, with the exception in most cases of delivery facilities.
The changes in colonial rates were generally in the shape of substituting general for special rules. The rate from any part of the British American Dominions to any other part was fixed at 4d.for a single letter when conveyed by sea. The act of 1711 had given the postage from and to specially named places. This method had become inapplicable with the growth in population among the old and the increase in new possessions. The rate for a single letter from any chief post office in the British American Dominions to a distance not exceeding sixty miles, or for any distance not exceeding sixty miles from any post office from which letters did not pass through a chief post office, was placed at 4d., from sixty to 100 miles 6d., from 100 to 200 miles 8d., for each additional hundred miles 2d.The effect of this act was to continue the same rates for inland postage in British America, while rates were provided for distances over 100 miles. The postage between England and the American colonies remained at 12d.for a single letter. In the case of the West Indies, there was a decrease of 6d.A clause of the act provided that the postage on letters sent out of England might be demanded in advance.[588]
Postage rates were increased steadily from 1784 for twenty-eight years, culminating in the year 1812 with the highest rates that England has ever seen. Every available means to raise the revenue necessary to maintain her supremacy was resorted to, and the Post Office was compelled to bear its share of the burden. In 1784 another penny was added to the rates for single letters and additional rates for double and triple letters in proportion.[589]Threeyears later an act was passed, fixing the postage for the conveyance of a single letter by sailing packet from Milford Haven to Waterford at 6d.over and above all other rates. It was provided by the same act that the rates between London and Ireland via Milford should not exceed the rates via Holyhead.[590]
In 1796 the rates for letters conveyed within England and Wales, Berwick, to and from Portugal, and to and from the British possessions in America, as established by the acts of 1711, 1765, and 1784, were repealed and the following substituted for a single letter:—
Within England, Wales and Berwick.
The old system of reckoning by stages was thus abolished, probably on account of the uncertainty as to the length of any particular stage and the variations and changes which were being constantly made. This change was made for England and Wales only, and the old system of reckoning by stages was still retained in Scotland. Letters from and to the colonies had formerly paid no postage over the regular shilling rate for a single letter and proportionately for other letters. Now they were to pay the full inland rate in addition. A single letter from the West Indies would now pay the shilling packet rate plus the rate from Falmouth to London, 1s.8d.in all. The same rates and the same rule held for letters to and from Portugal. A single letter from Lisbon had formerly paid 1s.6d.on delivery in London. It would now pay 1s.8d.
This act was not to affect letters to and from non-commissioned officers, privates, and seamen while in active service, who were allowedto send and receive letters for one penny each, payable in advance. The revenue arising from the new and the unrepealed rates was to be paid to the Receiver-General and be by him carried to the Consolidated Fund. The increase from the additional postage was estimated at £40,000 a year and was to be used to pay the interest on loans contracted the preceding year.[591]
When sailing packets were established between Weymouth and the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, the packet rates and the rates between the islands themselves were fixed at 2d.for a single letter. Permission was also given to establish postal routes in the islands, and to charge the same postage for the conveyance of letters as in England. The surplus was to go to the General Office and all postal laws then in force in England were to be deemed applicable to the two islands.[592]
By the same act which gave the Postmasters-General authority to forward letters by vessels other than the regular sailing packets, rates were fixed for the carriage of such letters. For every single letter brought into the kingdom by these vessels, 4d.was to be charged. The Postmasters-General might order such rates to be payable in advance or on delivery. This was in addition to the inland postage, and for every letter handed over to the Post Office, the captain was to receive 2d.The revenue arising from this act was payable to the Exchequer.[593]
In 1801 the Post Office was called upon again to make a further contribution to the Exchequer to help meet the interest on new loans. The following were the new rates for a single letter:—
Within Great Britain by the General Post
By the act of 1796 a uniform rate of 8d.for a single letter had been paid for distances over 150 miles. The new act not only imposed extra rates for all distances over 150 miles but it decreased the distances above 30 miles for which the old postage would have paid. For instance, a 6d.rate had carried a single letter 100 miles, a 7d.rate 150 miles. They now carried only 80 and 120 miles respectively.
On letters to and from places abroad, "not being within His Majesty's Dominions," an additional rate of 4d.for a single letter was imposed.[594]In London, where a penny had been charged for the conveyance of letters by the Penny Post, 2d.was now charged. An additional rate of 2d.for a single letter was imposed upon letters passing between Great Britain and Ireland via Holyhead or Milford. The Postmasters-General were given authority to convey letters to and from places which were not post towns for such sums for extra service as might be agreed upon. Merchants' accounts and bills of exchange which, when sent out of the kingdom or conveyed into it, had not formerly been charged postage over the letters in which they were enclosed, were now to be rated as letters.[595]
In 1803, the following rates were imposed within Ireland for a single letter:—
The postage on letters arriving in Ireland for the distance travelled outside Ireland was ordered to be collected by the Irish Postmaster-General and forwarded to London. An additional penny was imposed upon Dublin Penny Post letters crossing the circular road around Dublin.[597]
In 1805, for the third time within ten years, the Exchequer fell back upon the Post Office for an increase of revenue estimated at £230,000.[598]There were added to the rates as already prescribed—1d.for a single letter, 2d.for a double letter, 3d.for a triple letter, and 4d.for a letter weighing as much as one ounce, for all letters conveyed by the Post in Great Britain or between Great Britain and Ireland. The postage on a single letter from London to Brighton was thus raised from 6d.to 7d., from London to Liverpool from 9d.to 10d., and from London to Edinburgh from 12d.to 13d.Twopenny Post letters paid 3d.if sent beyond the General Post Delivery limits, while newspapers paid 1d.On every letter passing between Great Britain and a foreign country 2d.more was to be paid. An additional penny was charged for every single letter between Great Britain and the British American Dominions via Portugal, and between Great Britain, the Isle of Man and Jersey and Guernsey.[599]In the same year the Irish rates were also increased by the imposition of an additional penny upon each single letter with corresponding changes in the postage on double and triple letters. The Dublin Penny Post was left untouched, its boundaries being defined as contained within a circle of four miles radius, with the General Post Office building as the centre. Every letter from any ship within Irish waters was charged a penny in addition to the increased rates.[600]
Still the demand was for more money to help replenish an exhausted treasury. An additional penny was added for the conveyance of a single letter more than twenty miles beyond the place where the letter was posted within Great Britain and between Great Britain and Ireland. For the conveyance of a single letter between Great Britain and any of the colonies or to any foreign country anadditional 2d.was required. These additional rates did not apply to letters to and from Jersey or Guernsey, or to and from any non-commissioned officer, soldier, or sailor.[601]Samples weighing no more than one ounce were to pay 2d.if enclosed in a letter, if not enclosed, 1d.As this is the highest point to which postage rates in England have ever attained, it may be interesting to give the rates resulting from this act in tabular form as far as the postage for inland single letters was concerned.[602]
In 1810, an additional penny (Irish) was added to the rates then in force in Ireland, with the exception of the penny rate on the Dublin Penny Post Letters.[603]Three years later the rates and distances for Ireland were changed again. As compared with the old rates they were as follows, both tables being in Irish miles and Irish currency and for single letters only:—
The rates of 1813 were lower for distances not exceeding forty miles, higher for distances over eighty miles. On the whole there was little change, but the later rates were probably more easily borne as they were lower for short distances.[604]The next year the rates and distances for Ireland were changed again, the result being an increase both for short and for long distances. The results are shown in the following table in Irish miles and Irish currency and for a single letter:[605]—
In 1813 an additional half-penny was demanded on all Scotch letters "because the mail coaches now paid toll in that country." So at least a correspondent to theTimessays (LondonTimes, 1813, June 21, p. 3).
In 1814 the postage on a single letter brought into the kingdomby ships other than the regular packets was raised from 4d.to 6d.in addition to the regular inland rates. The rate for letters sent out of the kingdom by these vessels was fixed at one third the regular packet rates.[606]An exception was made in the case of letters carried by war vessels or by vessels of the East India Company to and from the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, and that part of the East Indies embraced in the charter of the company. The rates by these vessels were to be the same as the regular packet rates, 42d.for a single letter between those places and England, and 21d.for a single letter between the places themselves. Newspapers were charged 3d.an ounce between England, the Cape, Mauritius, and the East Indies. The rate for a single letter conveyed in private vessels not employed by the Post Office to carry mails was 14d.from England to the Cape or the East Indies, and 8d.from the Cape or the East Indies to England. The company was allowed to collect rates on letters within its own territory in India, but the Postmasters-General of England might at any time establish post offices in any such territory. The company was to be paid for the use of its ships in conveying letters.[607]
By the Ship Letter Act of 1814, no letters were to be sent by private ships except such as had been brought to the Post Office to be charged. The directors of the East India Company had protested against this section of the act. It is true that they were allowed to send and receive letters by the ships of their own company, but in India there was a small army of officials in their service whose letters had hitherto gone free. For that matter it had been the custom for the company to carry for nothing all letters and papers which were placed in the letter box at the East India House.[608]Petitions were presented against an attempt on the part of the Post Office to charge postage on letters to and from India when conveyed by private vessels.[609]The company refused to allow its vessels to beused as packet boats or even to carry letters at all. It was in consequence of all this opposition that the act of 1815 was passed, giving more favourable treatment to letters to and from India. By this act no person sending a letter to India was compelled to have it charged at the Post Office and the masters were compelled to carry letters if the Postmasters-General ordered them. The company now withdrew all opposition and even refused to accept any payment for the use of their vessels in conveying letters.[610]Notwithstanding the favourable exception made in the case of letters to and from the East Indies, there was still discontent over the high rates charged by the Post Office for the conveyance of letters by the regular packet boats and by private vessels, when carrying letters entrusted to the Post Office.[611]In 1819 the sea postage on any letter or package not exceeding three ounces in weight from Ceylon, Mauritius, the Cape, and the East Indies was placed at 4d.If it exceeded three ounces in weight, it was charged 12d.an ounce. The sea postage on letters and packages to Ceylon, etc., not exceeding three ounces in weight, was placed at 2d.If the weight was more than three ounces, the charge was 12d.an ounce. The postage on letters and packages from England was payable in advance. Newspapers were charged a penny an ounce.[612]
By an act passed in 1827 it was provided that henceforth all rates for letters conveyed within Ireland should be collected in British currency. The rates themselves and the distances remained the same as had been provided by the act of 1814. The postage collected on letters between the two kingdoms was henceforth to be retained in the country where it was collected. The rates for letters passing between the two kingdoms were assimilated with the rates prescribed for Great Britain by the act of 1812. In addition to the land rates, 2d. was required for the sea passage to and from Holyhead and Milford and to this 2d.more was added for the use of theConway and Menai Bridges.[613]Between Portpatrick and Donaghadee the postage was 4d.for a single letter, between Liverpool and any Irish port 8d., but no letter sent via Liverpool paid a higher rate than if sent via Holyhead.[614]An additional halfpenny was also demanded on every single letter passing between Milford Haven and Waterford, to pay for improvements.[615]
In 1836, England and France signed a postal treaty by which the rates on letters between the United Kingdom and France or between any other country and the United Kingdom through France were materially reduced.[616]On such letters the method ofreckoning postage differed from the English rule and was as follows: One sheet of paper not exceeding an ounce in weight and every letter not exceeding one quarter of an ounce were single letters. Every letter with one enclosure only and not exceeding an ounce in weight was a double letter. Every letter containing more than one enclosure and not exceeding half an ounce was a double letter. If it exceeded half an ounce but not an ounce in weight, it was a triple letter. If it exceeded an ounce, it paid as four single letters and for every quarter of an ounce above one ounce it paid an additional single letter rate.[617]The sender of a letter from Great Britain to France had the option of prepaying the whole postage, British and foreign, or the British alone, or neither.[618]
In 1837, an act of Parliament was passed, consolidating previous acts for the regulation of postage rates within Great Britain and Ireland, between Great Britain and Ireland, and between the United Kingdom and the colonies and foreign countries. The rates within Great Britain remained the same as those established by the act of 1812, including the additional half penny on letters conveyed by mail coaches in Scotland. In Ireland the rates existing since 1814 still held and between Great Britain and Ireland the rates established by 7 and 8 Geo. IV, c. 21.
The rates for letters between the United Kingdom and foreign countries through France and those conveyed directly between the United Kingdom and France remained the same as had been agreed upon by the Treaty of 1836. Some of the more important of the other rates were as follows:—
To Italy, Sicily, Venetian Lombardy, Malta, the Ionian Islands, Greece, Turkey, the Levant, the Archipelago, Syria, and Egypt through Belgium, Holland, or Germany, 20d.for a single letter. Between the United Kingdom and Portugal, 19d.for a single letter.
Letters between the United Kingdom and Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, and Norway were charged in addition the same postage as if they had been sent from or to London. Letters from and to France paid no additional postage. All letters to and from non-commissioned officers, privates and seamen while in actual service were still carried for one penny each, payable in advance, but letters sent by them from Ceylon, the East Indies, Mauritius, and the Cape were charged an additional 2d.payable by the receiver.[620]
After the transference of the packet boats to the Admiralty in 1837, the Postmaster-General was authorized to charge regular packet rates for the conveyance of letters by such ships as he had contracted with for such conveyance. He might also forward letters by any ships and collect the following rates for each single letter:—
The end of high postage rates was now at hand. In 1839, the Treasury was empowered to change the rating according to the weight of the letter or package,[622]and they proceeded to do so in the case of letters from one country to another passing through the United Kingdom, between any two colonies, between any South American ports, and between such ports and Madeira and the Canaries.[623]Parliament followed up the good work in 1840 by enacting that in future all letters, packages, etc. should be charged by weight alone, according to the following scheme:—
On every letter or package, etc.—Not exceeding ½ ounce in weight, one rate of postage.
For every ounce above four ounces, two additional rates of postage, and for every fraction of an ounce above four ounces as for one additional ounce. No letter or package exceeding one pound in weight was to be sent through the Post Office except petitions and addresses to the Queen, or to either House of Parliament, or in such cases as the Treasury Lords might order by warrant.[624]
On all letters not exceeding a half-ounce in weight transmitted by the Post between places in the United Kingdom (not being letters sent to or from places beyond the seas, or posted in any post town to be delivered within that town) there was charged a uniform rate of one penny. For all letters exceeding a half-ounce in weight, additional rates were charged according to the foregoing scheme, each additional rate for letters exceeding one ounce in weight being fixed at 2d.[625]
The rates for colonial letters were also adjusted according to weight as follows: Between any place in the United Kingdom and any port in the colonies and India (except when passing through France) for a letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight, 1s.Between any of the colonies through the United Kingdom, 2s.If such letters exceeded half an ounce in weight, they were charged additional rates according to the table already given, the rate for a letter not exceeding half an ounce being taken as the basis.
The rates for letters to and from foreign countries were much the same as they had been before the passage of this act, except that instead of the initial charge being made for a single letter, it was now reckoned for a letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight. The rates for letters to and from France were graded according to the distance they were carried in England, the lowest rate for a letter not more than half an ounce in weight being 3d.to Dover or the port of arrival, the highest rate being 10d.to any place distant more than fifty miles from Dover.[626]
The franking privilege may reasonably be considered in connection with the history of postal rates, nor should its effect in reducing the revenue of the Post Office be neglected. The Council of State gave orders in 1652 that all public packets, letters of members of Parliament, of the Council, of officers in the public service, and of any persons acting in a public capacity should be carried free. This is the first record that we have concerning the free carriage of members' letters, a privilege which later gave so much trouble and was so much abused.[627]The next year the Post Office farmers agreed to carry free all letters to and from members of Parliament providedthat letters written by such members as were not known by their seals should be endorsed, "These are for the service of the Commonwealth," and signed by the members themselves or their clerks.[628]Nothing was said in the act of 1660 about the conveyance of the letters of members of Parliament and they were carried free only by act of grace. The House of Commons had passed a clause of the bill providing for the free conveyance of the letters of members of their own House. This had exasperated the Lords, who, since they could not amend the clause so as to extend the privilege to themselves, had dropped it.[629]In 1693, the attention of Cotton and Frankland was called to the manner in which franking was being abused. Men claimed the right to frank letters to whom the Postmasters-General denied it, and members of Parliament were accused of bad faith in the exercise of their privilege. The custom had arisen of enclosing private letters in the packet of official letters. A warrant was issued in 1693 to the effect that in future no letters were to go free except those on the King's affairs, and the only persons to send or receive them free were the two principal Secretaries of State, the Secretary for Scotland, the Secretary in Holland, the Earl of Portland, and members of Parliament, the latter only during the session, and for forty days before and after, and for inland letters alone. Each member was to write his name in a book with his seal so that no one might be able to counterfeit his signature.[630]