Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Martin Pettit, The Philatelic Digital Library Project at http://www.tpdlp.net and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net A Hundred Years by Post A JUBILEE RETROSPECT BY J. WILSON HYDE AUTHOR OF 'THE ROYAL MAIL: ITS CURIOSITIES AND ROMANCE' [Illustration] LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND CO., LIM. St. Dunstan's House FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C. 1891 [_All rights reserved_] Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty, at the Edinburgh University Press. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY CECIL RAIKES, M.P. HER MAJESTY'S POSTMASTER-GENERAL, THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE, BY PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. PREFACE. The following pages give some particulars of the changes that have taken place in the Post Office service during the past hundred years; and the matter may prove interesting, not only on account of the changes themselves, but in respect of the influence which the growing usefulness of the Postal Service must necessarily have upon almost every relation of political, educational, social, and commercial life. More especially may the subject be found attractive at the close of the present year, when the country has been celebrating the Jubilee of the Penny Post. EDINBURGH, _December 1890._ CONTENTS. PAGE _Frontispiece_--MAIL-COACH IN THUNDERSTORM. PAST AND PRESENT CONTRASTED, 1 LIBERTY OF SUBJECT AND PUBLIC OPINION, 5 ABUSES OF POWER, 7 SLOW DIFFUSION OF NEWS, 17 _Illustration_--ANALYSIS OF LONDON TO EDINBURGH MAIL OF 2D MARCH 1838, _facing_ 22 STATE OF ROADS AND INSECURITY OF TRAVELLING, 27 FOOT AND HORSE POSTS, 33 _Illustration_--THE MAIL, 1803, _facing_ 40 THE MAIL-COACH ERA, 40 _Illustration_--THE MAIL, 1824, _facing_ 46 _Illustration_--MODERN MAIL "APPARATUS" FOR EXCHANGE OF MAILS, _facing_ 58 _Illustration_--THE MAIL-COACH GUARD, _facing_ 74 DEAR POSTAGE, 80 _Diagrams_--ROUNDABOUT COMMUNICATIONS, 84, 85 STREETS FIRST NUMBERED, 88 POSTMASTERS AS NEWS COLLECTORS, 91 _Illustration_--THE BELLMAN, _facing_ 92 MAIL-PACKET SERVICE, 96 _Illustration_--HOLYHEAD AND KINGSTOWN PACKET "PRINCE ARTHUR," _facing_ 102 PENNY POSTAGE, 111 _Illustration_--HANDBILL USED IN PENNY POSTAGE AGITATION, _facing_ 112 VARIOUS BUSINESS OF THE POST OFFICE, 119 STAFF OF THE POST OFFICE, 123