290;first used in London to bring letters to the General Post Office,316Mail-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unpopularity with road trustees,353;question considered of withdrawing their exemption from toll,354;mail-coaches withdrawn instead,355;in Scotland, are made liable to toll,359;and their number is reduced,360;speed of mail-coaches,399,426;the mail-coach the great disseminator of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,425Mail 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,286,287Main, George, deputy-postmaster of Edinburgh,117Maîtres de poste in Canada,205Managers, sometime farmers, of the Post Office,137Manchester, its Post Office establishment in 1792,292;establishment increased and Penny Post Office opened,301Manley, Captain John, Post Office farmed by,27Manley, Isaac, deputy-postmaster of Dublin,69noteMansfield, William, Earl of, his opinion upon compensation for losses by the post,188note;his judgment as to the duty of the Post Office in the matter of delivering letters,198Marlborough, 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, 1835,427noteMaster of the Posts, his duties,2;no one not authorised by, allowed to collect, carry, or deliver letters,6;his salary and emoluments,12Melbourne, William, Viscount,423Melville, Robert, Viscount, advocates transfer of the Falmouth packets to the Admiralty,399Menai Straits, additional rate of postage imposed on letters crossing the,395Merchants' accounts to and from abroad exempt from postage until 1801, exemption then withdrawn,331Merchant adventurers.SeeForeign MerchantsMethuen, Sir Paul, ambassador to Portugal, calls attention to the irregular proceedings of the packets,91Mileage 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,424Miles, difference between measured and computed miles,175Milestones, erection of,175;their effect upon the charge for post-horses,176Milford Haven and Waterford, packet service between,249Missent letters, treatment of, before and after 1793,309Money Order Office,420;the subject of a flippant return to the House of Commons,424;facsimile of a money order issued in 1802, AppendixMonopoly 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,205Mountstuart, John, Viscount,256noteMurray, Robert, reputed to have been the first to suggest the penny post,36Neale, 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,116Newcastle, 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,255Newcastle, salary of the postmaster in 1792,293News, hunger after,50;the postmasters-general the great purveyors of,104;news disseminated by the mail-coaches,401Newspapers, 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 1788,262note;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,419Newton, Sir Isaac,66New Year's gifts, extortion of,325Nicholas, Sir Edward,20Nodin, passenger on board theAntelopepacket, his gallantry,321Normanby, Henry Constantine, Viscount, proposes abolition of the office of second postmaster-general,397North, Frederick, Lord,206;receives singular reply from the Post Office,218Northampton, Countess of,63Northey, Sir Edward,143Northumberland, Hugh, Earl of, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,194Nottingham, salary of postmaster in 1792,293Ogilby, John, calls attention to the difference between measured and computed miles,175noteOldfield, Thomas, postmaster of York,337Oldmixon,26Old Street, St Luke's, a second penny charged on penny post letters addressed to,203Oliphant, Robert, deputy postmaster-general for Scotland,271Olney, Buckinghamshire, attempts to improve its post and the consequence,351O'Neile, Daniel, farmer of the posts,33,34O'Neill, Charles Henry St. John, Earl, postmaster-general of Ireland from 1807 to 1831,368seq.,415Onslow, Denzil,185Opening 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 1844,269noteOrdnance, Board of,86Ormonde, James, Duke of,70Oxenbridge, Clement, reduces postage,29;receives an appointment under the Post Office,32Oxford Street, branch post office opened in,411Packets (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 thePrincepacket,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,398Packets (steam), between Holyhe ad and Dublin, charges by, as compared with sailing packets,385;number of passengers before the introduction of steam,383note;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,424Pajot, director of the French posts, his obstinacy,77;his unreasonableness,138Palmer, 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,380Parkin, Anthony, solicitor to the Post Office,333Parnell, Sir Henry,407Pascoe, John, boatswain of theAntelopepacket, his gallant resistance to the attack of a privateer,322Patterns 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,315Pay.SeeWagesPelham, Henry, countermands Newcastle's orders about the packets,173Pennant, Thomas,261Penny 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,188note;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.Seetwopenny and threepenny postsPenzance, its post before and after 1784,291Pepys, Samuel,84notePerceval Spencer,354,379Percival, Joseph, a passenger by packet without a pass,89Pickwick, "Mr. Pickwick's coach,"281Pitt, 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,361Plymouth, salary of the postmaster in 1792,293Political Register, its criticisms on Post Office practice,342Pope, Alexander, his lines on Ralph Allen,186Portage,29Portland, William Henry, Duke of,379Portland Packet, Captain Taylor, its gallant action with privateer,321Postage, introduction of,18;settled by Act of Parliament,27;original meaning of term,29note;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," 5notePost-boys,164Post-coaches,214Post-haste,20Post-horn.SeeHornPost-horses.SeeHorsesPost-houses, to have horses in readiness,4;horses not to be let except at,6;pay of keepers of, in arrear,15Postilions,107Postmarks, introduction of,38Postmasters, 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 1792,293Postmasters-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,94note;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,185,202Postmasters-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,139Postmasters-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,152Postmasters-General (IV.) [Edward Carteret and Walpole, 1721 to 1725], their kindness to subordinates,152;