Chapter 2

Dr. James Russell, in his _Reminiscences of Yarrow_, describes how tardy and uncertain the mail service by post was in the early years of the present century; and what he says is a severe contrast to the service of the present time, which provides for the delivery of letters, generally daily, in every hamlet in the country. Dr. Russell writes:--

"Since I remember (unless there was a chance hand on a Wednesday) our letters reached us only once a week, along with our bread and butcher meat, by the weekly carrier, Robbie Hogg. His arrival used to be a great event, the letter-bag being turned out, and a rummage made for our own. Afterwards the Moffat carriers gave more frequent opportunities of getting letters; but they were apt to carry them on to Moffat and bring them back the following week."

Another instance of the slow communications is given in a letter written from Brodick Castle, Arran, by Lord Archibald Campbell, on the 25th September 1820.

The letter was addressed to a correspondent in Glasgow, and proceeds thus: "Your letter of the 18th did not reach me till this morning, as, in consequence of the rough state of the weather, there has been no postal communication with this island for several days." The time consumed in getting this letter forward from Glasgow to Brodick was exactly a week, and when so much time was required in the case of an island lying in the Firth of Clyde, what time would be necessary to make communication with the Outer Hebrides?

Even between considerable towns, as representing important centres in the country, the amount of correspondence by letter was small. Thus the mail from Inverness to Edinburgh of the 5th October 1808 contained no more than 30 letters. The total postage on these was L2, 9s. 6d., the charges ranging from 11d. to 14s. 8d. per letter. At the present time the letters from Inverness to Edinburgh are probably nearly a thousand a day; but this is no fair comparison, because many letters that would formerly pass through Edinburgh now reach their destinations in direct bags--London itself being an instance.

But coming down to a much later date, and looking at what was going on between London and Edinburgh, the capital towns of Great Britain, what do we find? An analysis of the London to Edinburgh mail of the 2d March 1838 gives the following figures; and let it not be forgotten that in these days the Edinburgh mail contained the correspondence for a large part of Scotland:--

2296 Newspapers, weighing 273 lbs., and going free.

484 Franked Letters, weighing 47 lbs., and going free.

Parcels of stamps going free.

1555 Letters, weighing 34 lbs., and bearing postage to the value of L93.

These figures represent the exchange of thought between the two capitals fifty years ago. These were truly the days of darkness, when abuses were kept out of sight and were rampant.

Down to much later times the bonds of privilege remained untied. In the Civil Service itself what changes have taken place! The doors have been thrown open to competition and to capacity and worth, and probably they will never be closed again. The author of these lines had an experience in 1867--not very long ago--which may be worthy of note. He had been then several years in the Post Office service, and desired to obtain a nomination to compete for a higher position--a clerkship in the Secretary's office. He took the usual step through the good offices of a Member of Parliament, and the following rebuff emanated from headquarters. It shall be its own monument, and may form a shot in the historical web of our time:--

"I wrote to ---- (the Postmaster-General) about the Mr. J. W. Hyde, who desires to be permitted to compete for a clerkship in the London Post Office, described as a cousin of ----.

"(The Postmaster-General) has to-day replied that nominations to the Secretary's office are not now given except to candidates who are actually gentlemen, that is, sons of officers, clergymen, or the like. If I cannot satisfy (the Postmaster-General) on this point, I fear Mr. Hyde's candidature will go to the wall."[2]

Now one of the chief obstacles in the way of rapid communication in our own country was the very unsatisfactory state of the roads. Down to the time of the introduction of mail-coaches, just about a hundred years ago, the roads were in a deplorable state, and travellers have left upon record some rather strong language on the subject. It was only about that time that road-making came to be understood; but the obvious need for smooth roads to increase the speed of the mail gave an impetus to the subject, and by degrees matters were greatly improved. It is not our purpose to pursue the inquiry as to roads, though the subject might be attractive, and we must be content with the general assertion as to their condition.

But not only were the roads bad, but they were unsafe. Travellers could hardly trust themselves to go about unarmed, and even the mail-coaches, in which (besides the driver and guard) some passengers generally journeyed, had to carry weapons of defence placed in the hands of the guard. Many instances of highway robbery by highwaymen who made a profession of robbery might be given; but one or two cases may repay their perusal. On the 4th March 1793 the Under-Sheriff of Northampton was robbed at eight o'clock in the evening near Holloway turnpike by two highwaymen, who carried off a trunk containing the Sheriff's commission for opening the assizes at Northampton.

In the Autobiography of Mary Hewitt the following encounter is recorded, referring to the period between 1758-96: "Catherine (Martin), wife of a purser in the navy, and conspicuous for her beauty and impulsive, violent temper, having quarrelled with her excellent sister, Dorothea Fryer, at whose house in Staffordshire she was staying, suddenly set off to London on a visit to her great-uncle, the Rev. John Plymley, prebend of the Collegiate Church at Wolverhampton, and Chaplain of Morden College, Blackheath. She journeyed by the ordinary conveyance, the Gee-Ho, a large stage-waggon drawn by a team of six horses, and which, driven merely by day, took a week from Wolverhampton to the Cock and Bell, Smithfield.

"Arrived in London, Catherine proceeded on foot to Blackheath. There, night having come on, and losing her way, she was suddenly accosted by a horseman with, 'Now, my pretty girl, where are you going?' Pleased by his gallant address, she begged him to direct her to Morden College. He assured her that she was fortunate in having met with him instead of one of his company, and inducing her to mount before him, rode across the heath to the pile of buildings which had been erected by Sir Christopher Wren for decayed merchants, the recipients of Sir John Morden's bounty. Assisting her to alight, he rang the bell, then remounted his steed and galloped away, but not before the alarmed official, who had answered the summons, had exclaimed, 'Heavens! Dick Turpin on Black Bess!' My mother always said 'Dick Turpin.' Another version in the family runs 'Captain Smith.'"

The _Annual Register_ of the 3d October 1792 records the following case of highway robbery:--

"The daily messenger, despatched from the Secretary of State's office with letters to His Majesty at Windsor, was stopped near Langley Broom by three footpads, who took from him the box containing the despatches, and his money, etc. The same men afterwards robbed a gentleman in a postchaise of a hundred guineas, a gold watch, etc. Some light dragoons, who received information of the robberies, went in pursuit of the thieves, but were not successful. They found, however, a quantity of the papers scattered about the heath."

We will quote one more instance, as showing the frequency of these robberies on the road. It is mentioned in the _Annual Register_ of the 28th March 1793.

"Martin (the mail robber), condemned at Exeter Assizes, was executed on Haldown, near the spot where the robbery was committed. He had been well educated, and had visited most European countries. At the end of the year 1791 he was at Paris, and continued there till the end of August 1792. He said he was very active in the bloody affair of the 10th August, at the Palace of the Tuilleries, when the Swiss Guards were slaughtered, and Louis XVI. and his family fled to the National Assembly for shelter. He said he did not enter with this bloody contest as a volunteer, but, happening to be in that part of the city of Paris, he was hurried on by the mob to take part in that sanguinary business. Not speaking good French, he said he was suspected to be a Swiss, and on that account, finding his life often in danger, he left Paris, and, embarking for England at Havre de Grace, arrived at Weymouth in September last, and then came to Exeter. He said that being in great distress in October he committed the mail robbery."

A rather good anecdote is told of an encounter between a poor tailor and one of these knights of the road. The tailor, on being overtaken by the highwayman, was at once called upon to stand and deliver, the salutation being accompanied by the presentation of two pistols at the pedestrian's head. "I'll do that with pleasure," was the meek reply; and forthwith the poor victim transferred to the outstretched hands of the robber all the money he possessed. This done, the tailor proceeded to ask a favour. "My friends would laugh at me," said he, "were I to go home and tell them I was robbed with as much patience as a lamb. Suppose you fire your two bull-dogs right through the crown of my hat; it will look something like a show of resistance." Taken with the fancy, the robber good-naturedly complied with the request; but hardly had the smoke from the weapons cleared away, when the tailor pulled out a rusty old horse pistol, and in turn politely requested the highwayman to shell out everything of value about him--his pistols not excepted. So the highwayman had the worst of the meeting on that occasion. The incident will perhaps help to dispel the sad reproach of the craft, that a tailor is but the ninth part of a man.

It should not be forgotten that these perils of the road had their effect in preventing intercourse between different parts of the country.

In such outlying districts as were blessed with postal communication a hundred years ago, the service was kept up by foot messengers, who often travelled long distances in the performance of their duty. Thus in 1799 a post-runner travelled from Inverness to Loch Carron--a distance across country, as the crow flies, of about fifty miles--making the journey once a week, for which he was paid 5s. Another messenger at the same period made the journey from Inverness to Dunvegan in Skye--a much greater distance--also once a week, and for this service he received 7s. 6d. The rate at which the messengers travelled seems not to have been very great, if we may judge from the performances of the post from Dumbarton to Inveraray. In the year 1805 the Surveyor of the district thus describes it: "I have sometimes observed these mails at leaving Dumbarton about three stones or 48 lbs. weight, and they are generally above two stones. During the course of last winter horses were obliged to be occasionally employed; and it is often the case that a strong highlander, with so great a weight upon him, cannot travel more than two miles an hour, which greatly retards the general correspondence of this extensive district of country."

These humble servants of the post office, travelling over considerable tracts of country, would naturally become the means of conveying local gossip from stage to stage, and of spreading hearsay news as they went along. In this way, and as being the bearers of welcome letters, they were no doubt as gladly received at the doors of our forefathers as are the postmen at our own doors to-day. Indeed, complaint was made of the delays that took place on the route, probably from this very cause. Here is an instance referring to the year 1800. "I found," wrote the Surveyor, "that it had been the general practice for the post from Bonaw to Appin to lodge regularly all night at or near the house of Ardchattan, and did not cross Shien till the following morning, losing twelve hours to the Appin, Strontian, and Fort-William districts of country; and I consider it an improvement of itself to remove such private lodgings or accommodations out of the way of posts, which, as I have been informed, is sometimes done for the sake of perusing newspapers as well as answering or writing letters."

Exposed to the buffetings of the tempest, to the rigours of wintry weather, and considering the rough unkept roads of the time, it is easy to imagine how seductive would be the fireside of the country house; and bearing in mind the desire on the part of the inmates to learn the latest news, it is not surprising that the poor post-runner occasionally departed from the strict line of duty.

But immediately prior to the introduction of mail-coaches, and for a long time before that, the mails over the longer distances were conveyed on horseback, the riders being known as "post-boys." These were sometimes boys of fourteen or sixteen years of age, and sometimes old men. Mr. Palmer, at whose instance mail-coaches were first put upon the road, writing in 1783, thus describes the post-boy service. The picture is not a very creditable one to the Post Office. "The post at present," says he, "instead of being the swiftest, is almost the slowest conveyance in the country; and though, from the great improvement in our roads, other carriers have proportionably mended their speed, the post is as slow as ever. It is likewise very unsafe. The mails are generally intrusted to some idle boy without character, and mounted on a worn-out hack, and who, so far from being able to defend himself or escape from a robber, is much more likely to be in league with him." There is perhaps room for suspicion that Mr. Palmer was painting the post-boy service as black as possible, for he was then advocating another method of conveying the mails; but he was not alone in his adverse criticism. An official in Scotland thus described the service in 1799: "It is impossible to obtain any other contractors to ride the mails at 3d. out, or 1 1/2d. per mile each way. On this account we are so much distressed with mail riders that we have often to submit to the mails being conveyed by mules and such species of horses as are a disgrace to any service." This is evidence from within the Post Office itself. While young boys were suited for the work in some respects, they were thoughtless and unpunctual; yet when older men were employed they frequently got into liquor, and thus endangered the mails. The records of the service are full of the troubles arising from the conduct of these servants. The public were doubtless much to blame for this. For the post-boys were, as we may suppose, ever welcome at the house and ball, where refreshment, in the shape of strong drink, would be offered to them, and they thus fell into trouble through a too common instance of mistaken kindness.

In the year 1763 the mail leaving London on Tuesday night (in the winter season) was not in the hands of the people of Edinburgh until the afternoon of Sunday. This does not betoken a very rapid rate of progression; but it appears that in many cases the post-boy's speed did not rise above three or four miles an hour. The Post Office took severe measures with these messengers, through parliamentary powers granted; and even the public were called upon to keep an eye upon their behaviour, and to report any misconduct to the authorities.

Mention has already been made of the unsafety of the roads for ordinary travellers; but the roads were in no way safer for the post-boys. In 1798 a post-boy carrying certain Selby mails was robbed near that place, being threatened with his life, and the mail-pouch which he then carried was recovered under very strange circumstances in 1876.

But to come nearer home. On the early morning of the 1st of August 1802 the mail from Glasgow for Edinburgh was robbed by two men at a place near Linlithgow, when a sum of L1300 or L1400 was stolen. The robbers had previously been soldiers. They hurried into Edinburgh with their booty, got drunk, were discovered, and, when subsequently tried, were sentenced to be executed. The law was severe in those days; and the Post Office has the distinction of having obtained judgment against a robber who was the last criminal hung in chains in Scotland. According to Rogers, in his _Social Life of Scotland_, this was one Leal, who, in 1773, was found guilty of robbing the mail near Elgin. A curious fact came out in connection with the trial of this man Leal, showing what may be termed the momentum of evil. It happened that some time previously Leal and a companion had been to see the execution of a man for robbing the mail, and, on returning, they had to pass through a dark and narrow part of the road. At this point Leal observed to his companion that the situation was one well suited for a robbery. And it was here that he afterwards carried the suggestion then made into effect.

When such robberies took place the post-boys sometimes came off without serious mishap, but at other times they were badly injured. On Wednesday the 23d October 1816, a post-boy near Exeter was assaulted (as the report says) in "a most desperate and inhuman manner," when his skull was fractured, and he shortly afterwards died.

The post-boys were exposed to all the inclemency of the weather both by day and night. Sometimes they were overtaken by snow-storms, when they would have to struggle on for their lives. Sometimes, after riding a stage in severe frost, they would have to be lifted from their saddles benumbed with cold and unable to dismount. At other times accidents of a different kind happened to them, and, as has been shown, they sometimes lost their lives.

Mail-coaches were first put upon the road on the 8th of August 1784. The term of about sixty years, during which they were the means of conveying the principal mails throughout the country, must ever seem to us a period of romantic interest. There is something stirring even in the picture of a mail-coach bounding along at the heels of four well-bred horses; and we know by experience how exhilarating it is to be carried along the highway at a rapid rate in a well-appointed coach.

We cannot well separate the service given to the Post Office by mail-coaches from the passengers who made use of that means of conveyance, and we may linger a little to endeavour to realise what a journey was like from accounts left us by travellers. The charm of day travelling could no doubt be conjured up even now by any one who would take time to reflect upon the subject. But other phases of the matter could hardly be so dealt with.

De Quincey, in his _Confessions of an English Opium Eater_, gives a pleasing description of the easy motion and soothing influence of a well-equipped mail-coach running upon an even and kindly road. The period he refers to was about 1803, and the coach was that carrying the Bristol mail--which enjoyed unusual advantages owing to the superior character of the road, and an extra allowance for expenses subscribed by the Bristol merchants. He thus describes his feelings: "It was past eight o'clock when I reached the Gloucester Coffee-House, and, the Bristol mail being on the point of going off, I mounted on the outside. The fine fluent motion of the mail soon laid me asleep. It is somewhat remarkable that the first easy or refreshing sleep which I had enjoyed for some months was on the outside of a mail-coach....

"For the first four or five miles from London I annoyed my fellow-passenger on the roof by occasionally falling against him when the coach gave a lurch to his side; and, indeed, if the road had been less smooth and level than it is I should have fallen off from weakness. Of this annoyance he complained heavily, as, perhaps, in the same circumstances, most people would.... When I next woke for a minute from the noise and lights of Hounslow (for in spite of my wishes and efforts I had fallen asleep again within two minutes from the time I had spoken to him), I found that he had put his arm round me to protect me from falling off; and for the rest of my journey he behaved to me with the gentleness of a woman, so that, at length, I almost lay in his arms.... So genial and refreshing was my sleep that the next time, after leaving Hounslow, that I fully awoke was upon the pulling up of the mail (possibly at a post-office), and, on inquiry, I found that we had reached Maidenhead--six or seven miles, I think, ahead of Salthill. Here I alighted, and for the half-minute that the mail stopped I was entreated by my friendly companion (who, from the transient glimpse I had had of him in Piccadilly, seemed to me to be a gentleman's butler, or person of that rank) to go to bed without delay."

Night journeys might be very well, in a way, during the balmy days of summer, when light airs and sweet exhalations from flower and leaf gave pleasing features to the scenes, but in the cold nights of winter, in lashing rain, in storms of wind and snow, the unfortunate passengers and the guard and coachman must have had terrible times of it. It is said of the guards and coachmen that they had sometimes, when passing over the Fells, to be strapped to their seats, in order to keep their places against the fierce assaults of the mountain blast.

The winter experience of travelling by mail-coach in one of its phases is thus described by a writer in connection with a severe snow-storm which occurred in March 1827: "The night mail from Edinburgh to Glasgow left Edinburgh in the afternoon, but was stopped before reaching Kirkliston. The guard with the mail-bags set forward on horseback, and the driver rode back to Edinburgh with a view, it was understood, to get fresh horses. The passengers, four in number, entreated him to use all diligence, and meanwhile were compelled to wait in the coach, which had stuck at a very solitary part of the road. There they remained through a dark and stormy night, with a broken pane of glass, through which the wind blew bitterly cold. It was nine o'clock next morning when the driver came, bringing with him another man and a pair of horses. Having taken away some articles, he jestingly asked the passengers what they meant to do, and was leaving them to shift for themselves, but was persuaded at length to aid one who was faint, and unable to struggle through the snow. He was allowed to mount behind one of the riders; the other passengers were left to extricate themselves as best they could."

Many instances might be given of the stoppage of the coaches on account of snow, and of the efforts made by the guards to push on the mails. In 1836 a memorable snow-storm took place which disorganised the service, and the occasion is one on which the guards and coachmen distinguished themselves. The strain thrown upon the horses in a like situation is well described by Cowper, if we change one word in his lines, which are as follows:--

"The _coach_ goes heavily, impeded sore By congregated loads adhering close To the clogg'd wheels; and in its sluggish pace Noiseless appears a moving hill of snow.

The toiling steeds expand the nostril wide, While every breath, by respiration strong Forced downward, is consolidated soon Upon their jutting chests."