DOCUMENTS AND EXTRACTS ILLUSTRATING ASPECTS OF POSTAL HISTORY-- (i) Ancient Posts 374 (ii) Nuncii and Cursores 377 (iii) Witherings' Scheme for the Reform of the Posts in England, 1635 378 (iv) The Monopoly and the General Farm of the Posts 380 (v) The English Post Office in 1681 384 (vi) The Cross Posts 388 (vii) The Early Posts in North America 391 (viii) The Clerks of the Road and the Transmission of Newspapers 403 APPENDIX C-- LIST OF AUTHORITIES 412 INDEX 425 INTRODUCTION This book contains a collection of facts and an examination of principles which will be of value to all students of the subject with which it deals. It is more comprehensive than any book on rates of postage yet published in the English language, or, I believe, in any other. It is careful and unbiased, and although here and there some of the author's conclusions may not meet with unanimous acceptance, they cannot fail to stimulate useful discussion on a matter which is far more important than is often realized. The whole of our social organization has come to depend in large degree upon the post. Commerce, in all its departments, relies upon it. All the variety of associations which are, in their wide expansion, distinctive of modern civilization and necessary to its life and energy--employers' associations, trade unions, co-operative societies, friendly societies, religious bodies, political and propagandist organizations of every kind, local, national, and international--the whole nervous system of the modern State, depends upon the quick transmission of information and ideas; it would never have reached and could not maintain its present development without cheap, reliable, and speedy means of communication. The indirect effects of changes--even small changes--in the postal system are often extensive and almost incalculable.