Her Majesty's Mails: An Historical and Descriptive Account of the British Post-OfficeLewins, William
History
Her Majesty's Mails: An Historical and Descriptive Account of the British Post-Office
Lewins, William
Postal service -- Great Britain
Many matters of detail in the arrangements of the Post-Office were
discussed in Parliament during the first three years of the Restoration.
Long-promised bye-posts were now for the first time established; the
circulation of the letters, meaning by that the _routes_ the mails shall
take, and many such subjects, best settled of course by the authorities,
weary the reader of the Journals of the House of Commons about this
date. In December, 1660, for instance, we find the House deliberating on
a proviso tendered by Mr. Titus to the following effect:--"Provided also
and be it enacted, that a letter or packet-post shall once every week
come to Kendal by way of Lancaster, and to the town of Penrith in
Cumberland by way of Newcastle and Carlisle, and to the City of Lincoln
and the borough of Grimsby likewise;" and we are glad to find that this
reasonable proviso, to give these "_out-of-the-way places_" the benefit
of a weekly post, was agreed to without cavil. We notice one important
resolution of the session of this year, setting forth that, as the
Post-Office Bill has been carried through the Houses satisfactorily,
"such of the persons who have contributed their pains in improvement of
the Post-Office, be recommended to the King's Majesty for consideration,
to be had of the pains therein taken accordingly." Let us hope (for we
find no further mention of the matter) that all concerned got their
deserts. Tardy as the English people were, compared with their
continental neighbours, in rearing the institution of the post, the
foundation of an establishment was now laid which has, at the present
time, far distanced all competitors in its resources and in the matter
of liberal provisions for the people. Even before the days of penny
postage, the Duke of Wellington, than whom no man was supposed to know
better the postal regulations of the Continent, gave it as his
deliberate opinion, that "the English Post-Office is the only one in
Europe which can be said to do its work." In rewarding, therefore, those
who contributed so much to this success at this early period of the
history of the establishment, King Charles would simply pay an
instalment of the debt which future generations would owe to them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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