The first mail coach ran between London and Bristol in 1784. It was furnished by contractors at a cost of 3_d._ a mile. This was the initial cost, however, and by 1797, the rate had been reduced to a penny a mile each way. In the early part of August, 1784, there was only one mail coach. At the end of the same month, coaches went to Norwich, Nottingham, Liverpool, and Manchester. During the next year they were sent to Leeds, Gloucester, Swansea, Hereford, Milford, Worcester, Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Holyhead, Exeter, Portsmouth, and other places. In 1786 they ran between London and Edinburgh. In 1797 there were forty-two mail coach routes established, connecting sixty of the most important towns in the kingdom, as well as intermediate places. These coaches travelled a total distance of 4110 miles and cost the Government £12,416 a year, only half the sum paid for post horses and riders under the old system. The coaches made daily journeys over nearly two thirds of the total distance traversed and tri-weekly journeys over something less than one third the total distance. The remainder travelled one, two, four, and six times a week. The result of the establishment of these mail coaches was summed up by a Parliamentary committee in the following words: "They have lessened the chance of robbery, diminished the need for special messengers and expresses, and now carry the letters formerly sent by post coaches."[171] [171] _Parl. Papers_, 1812-13, _Rep. Com._, ii, pp. 4, 36, 37, 98; _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, p. 114; _D. N. B._, xliii, p. 140. Palmer had been appointed Controller-General of the Post Office and had chosen as his assistant a man by the name of Bonner. Palmer himself was of a violent and headstrong disposition, and as ill-luck would have it, Walsingham, one of the Postmasters-General, was as masterful as himself. Palmer considered that his office was outside the scope of Walsingham's authority, and although he failed in making his position absolutely free from the control of the Postmasters-General, yet he heeded them as little as possible. He organized a newspaper department without consulting his superiors and paid no attention to them when an explanation was asked. He stirred up the London merchants to complain about the late delivery of their letters, a delay which he had probably brought about intentionally. A mail coach had been ordered by Walsingham to carry the King's private despatches while His Majesty was taking the waters at Cheltenham. This was done without consulting Palmer, who was so indignant that he persuaded the contractor to send in an enormous bill for supplying the coach. All this came out through the treachery of Bonner, who owed his advancement entirely to the friend whom he betrayed. He went so far as to hand over to the Postmasters-General the private letters which Palmer had written him. Palmer was dismissed in 1792 with a pension.[172] [172] _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, pp. 82-83; Joyce, pp. 251, 275.