[Gutenberg 42983] • The History of the British Post Office

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER Vm RATES AND FINANCE After de Quester had been appointed Foreign PostmasterGeneral, 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 gd.1 From Venice for any letter over a single letter 2s. Sd. From Leghorn and Florence for a single letter 1s. From Leghorn and Florence over a single letter 3s. an ounce.5 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.3 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 &d. for every letter to Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Antwerp.4 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. 1 The rate from Venice had been 16d. By a single letter is meant one piece of paper. Cal. S. P. D., 1625-26, p. 513. - Ibid., 1628-29, p. 538. 4 Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 48 (25). Witherings' rates for domestic postage, as fixed by Royal Proclamation in 1635, were as follows for a single letter: --d. Under 80 miles 2 Between 80 and 140 miles 4 Over 140 miles 6 On the Borders and in Scotland 8 In Irel...