As the correspondence of the kingdom was charged with pensions, so also was it called to bear the burden of war. The statute of 9 Anne, c. 10, tells the story in its title: “An Act for establishing a General Post-Office for all her Majesty’s dominions, and for settling _a weekly sum out of the revenues thereof for the service of the war_ and other her Majesty’s occasions.” This statute was not short-lived, and its success as “war measure” encouraged the imposition of other burdens, so that the great English commentator, Sir William Blackstone, selected the Post-Office as a favorite pack-horse. “There cannot be devised,” says he, “a more eligible method than this of raising money upon the subject; for therein both the Government and the people find a mutual benefit. The Government acquires a large revenue; and the people do their business with greater ease, expedition, and cheapness than they would be able to do, if no such tax (and of course no such office) existed.”[34] Here is the rule authoritatively declared which so long prevailed with regard to the Post-Office. ORIGIN OF FRANKING PRIVILEGE IN ENGLAND. The English franking privilege was the natural parasite of such a system, where the true idea of a post-office was entirely forgotten. Its origin belongs to this argument. It was in 1657, beneath the sway of the great Protector, while the Postage Act was before the House, that Sir Christopher Pack is reported as saying, “The design of the bill is very good for trading and commerce; … as to that of letters passing free for members, it is not worth putting in an Act”;[35] and this is the earliest allusion to “letters passing free for members.” The idea showed itself again just after the Restoration, while the Act of 12 Charles II., c. 35, was under discussion. The proposition to frank all letters to or from members of Parliament during the session was carried on a division and after considerable debate, in the course of which Sir Heneage Finch, so eminent as lawyer and judge, characterized it as “a poor mendicant proviso, and below the honor of the House.” Among its partisans was Sir George Downing, a graduate in the first class of Harvard College. The Speaker, Sir Harbottle Grimston, was unwilling to put the question, saying, “I am ashamed of it.”[36] The Lords struck it out of the bill, ostensibly for the reasons which had actuated the Opposition in the Commons, but really because there was no provision that their own letters should pass free. Although the proposition failed at that time to obtain legislative sanction, yet the object was accomplished indirectly. In the indenture with the contractor to whom the Post-Office was farmed occurred a proviso for the free carriage of all letters to or from the King, the great officers of State, “and also the single inland letters only of the members of the present Parliament during the continuance of this session of this Parliament.”[37] And thus began the “franking privilege” in England.