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Litteræ laureatæ announced the event, and proclaimed that the enemy's army was routed.'

The Romans were far behind the eastern nations. in adopting the convenience of the post. It does. not appear, even in the time of Cicero, that any public provision had been made for the conveyance of letters of any description. The carriage was committed to some private hand, or special messenger, usually a slave, who was called tabellarius. Men of high condition often employed slaves, for freedmen, to write their letters, called amanuenses; which domestics were held in great consideration, as persons of a very confidential character. Sometimes, indeed, the proper and expedient time for the delivery of the letter was left to the discretion of the tabellarius.2

It appears, from Suetonius, that Augustus Cæsar felt the inconvenience arising from the want of a public provision for the transmission of important despatches; and that, in order to establish a speedy intercourse with the provinces of the empire, he first stationed young men at moderate intervals along the high roads, and afterwards chariots, to facilitate the transport of letters, and oral intelligence. And this

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Æquorum exercitum deletum (Tit. Lib. I. v. c. 28).—

Roberts.

2 Cicero writes to Brutus (Cic. ad Fam. lib. xi. ep. xvi.; and see Harat. lib. i. ep. xiii.): "Permagni interest, quo tibi hæc tempore epistola reddita sit: utrum cum sollicitudinis aliquid haberes, ad cum ab omni molestia vacuus esses. Itaque ei præcepi, quem ad te misi, ut tempus observaret epistolæ tibi reddendæ. Nam quemadmodum coram qui ad nos intempestive adeunt, molesti sæpe sunt; sic epistolæ offendunt non loco redditæ. Si autem ut spero, nihil te perturbat, nihil impedit: et ille, cui mandavi, satis scite, et commode tempus ad te cepit adeundi confido me, quod velim, facile a te impetraturum.'

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continued to be the practice of his successors.

The

word post is Roman, if we suppose it, as is probable, to be derived from positus, the carriers being placed, or posted, at certain settled distances from each other. It does not seem, however, that regular relays of horses were part of the institution. The messengers. seized any horses they could find, till Trajan appointed regular horse-stations for the conveyance of despatches and intelligence, of which a particular mention is made in the Theodosian Code, "de Cursu Publico." It was not, however, till in quite modern times, that this most useful provision came under a regular and general management, so as to be a system of popular economy and common convenience. Lewis Hornigk, who has furnished, in the German language, a full and accurate treatise on posts, tells us that they were first settled on this large scale, by the Count de Taxis, at his own expense; in acknowledgment of which the Emperor Matthias, in 1616, gave him in fief the charge of postmaster under him and his

successors.

It is said that Charlemagne established stations. for couriers, who rode upon horseback, delivering messages and parcels; but that the custom lapsed at his death, and was revived in France by Louis XI., who made his stations four French miles apart. But Rollin relates that France was indebted, for the great conveniency of the post, to the university of Paris. That university being at the time of its institution the only one in the kingdom, and having great numbers of scholars resorting to it from all parts of the country, took into its employment messengers, whose business it was, not only to bring clothes, silver, and gold for the students, but also to carry bags of law proceedings, informations, and inquests; and, in

process of time, to conduct all sorts of persons, indifferently, to and from Paris, finding horses and diet; as also to convey letters, parcels, and packets for the public, as well as the university. In the university registers of the faculty of arts these messengers are often styled nuncii volantes. Until, in 1576, by a royal edict, Henry III. granted certain privileges to royal messengers, similar to those which his predecessors had granted to the messengers maintained at the charge of the university, the students were the only post-riders, and the university the only postal department of France. It was in recognition of its services that Louis XV., by his decree of the council of state, of the 14th of April, 1719, and by his letters patent, registered in parliament, and in the chamber of accounts, ordered that, in all the colleges of the university, the students should be taught gratis; and to that end, for the time to come, appropriated to the university one-twenty-eighth part of the revenue arising from the general lease or farm of the posts and messengers of France, which twenty-eighth amounted in that year to 184,000 livres, or about $37,000. In England we find but little trace of anything like a post establishment till about the twenty-third year of Elizabeth. In the early stages of society, private persons departed but seldom from their homes or families, and the business of commerce was transacted with very little complication. The king's letters and writs to summon his barons, command his sheriffs, and collect his revenues, were carried, by special messenger, through the medium of a general establishment, charges for the conduct and expenses of which, make frequent items in the records of the royal household; and this practice was imitated by the more powerful nobles, who had their nuncii among their retainers.

For these nuncii, by degrees, fixed posts and stations were established, for the maintenance of regular relays; and in the time of Edward IV., during the war with Scotland, certain posts, twenty miles apart, are said to have been fixed for a succession of carriers, who were so well equipped and furnished with means, as to expedite the conveyance at the rate of one hundred miles per diem. By statute 2 and 3 Edw. VI., ch. 3, "the rate for the hire of post-horses, for the conveyance of letters, was fixed at one penny per mile."

In 1581, Thomas Randolph was appointed chief postmaster-general of England, and seems to have occupied himself more with the establishment and supervision of post-houses, than with the introduction of any great improvements in the transmission of the mails. There was no complete organization of mail service, in England, until during the reign of James I., who constituted the office of postmaster of England for foreign parts, and appointed Matthew Le Quester the first postmaster, with reversion to his son. Le Quester appointed William Frizell and Thomas Witherings his deputies. The latter became postmaster-general in 1635, and was directed to establish running-posts between London and Edinburgh, to go night and day, and come back in six days. In 1644, Edmund Prideaux, a member of the house of commons, was appointed master of the posts, and first established a weekly conveyance of letters into all parts of the nation. In 1656 an act was passed to

1 When the Spaniards invaded Peru, fifty-four years before Randolph's appointment, they had found an admirable system of postal communication in operation from Quito to Cuzco, the couriers winding around their waists the quipu, a species of sign-writing by means of knotted cords. News of the invaders was thus transported to the capital, as it had been by pictures, when the Spaniards landed in Mexico.

settle the postage of England, Scotland, and Ireland, fixing the rates of letter postage and the prices for post-horses.' Rowland Hill proposed, in a pamphlet, the sweeping changes which have connected his name illustriously with the postal service in 1837.

Parliament adopted the changes in 1839, and they went into operation in 1840, under Hill's supervision. Inland postage was reduced to the uniform rate of one penny for a single half ounce; the franking privilege was abolished, and to the dispatch of the mails at more frequent periods, and increased speed in the delivery of letters, was added prepayment, by stamps. In 1848 the transmission of books by post was granted, at first, at 6d. per lb. This was subsequently modified so as to give increased facilities for forwarding proofs, pictures, &c., at low prices. The money-order system

1"The rates of postage, previous to the act of 1645, were, for a single piece of paper: Under 80 miles, 2d.; between 80and 140 miles, 4d.; above 140, 6d.; and on the borders and in Scotland, 8d. That act raised the rates to 14d. for a distance of more than 300 miles, from which sum they were diminished according to the distance, down to 2d. for 7 miles and under. Between this period and 1838, although a multitude of acts relative to postal affairs were passed, the rates were not materially changed. All manner of devices for avoiding the payment of postage were adopted. The franking privilege was at an early period granted to members of parliament and officers of the government, and was much abused; and franks were sold openly."-American Encyclopædia.

2

In 1849, the French mail tariff was fixed as follows: For letters within Paris, 2 sous (2 cents nearly) when the weight is under 13 grammes (not quite half an ounce), 4 sous if over 15 and under 30 grammes, &c.; for letters to or from other parts of France, Algeria, and Corsica, 4 sous if under 15 grammes, &c. If not prepaid, one-half is added to these rates. Newspapers must always be prepaid, but throughout France the postage is only 1 sou, and if treating on questions of political or social economy, only half that price. For foreign countries, the weight prescribed for single postage is 7 grammes, or about oz. In 1859, the total number of French

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