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Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
36
The
resolution
establishing
Prideaux
in
the
office
states,[14]
that
the
Lords
and
Commons,
"finding
by
experience
that
it
is
most
necessary
for
keeping
of
good
intelligence
between
the
Parliament
and
their
forces,
that
post-stages
be
erected
in
several
parts
of
the
kingdom,
and
the
office
of
Master
of
the
Post
and
Couriers
being
at
present
void,
ordain
that
Edmund
Prideaux
shall
be
and
hereby
is
constituted
Master
of
the
Posts,
Couriers,
and
Messengers."
Prideaux
must
have
been
an
energetic
and
pains-taking
manager.
He
was
very
zealous
and
greatly
improved
the
service,
"establishing,"
says
Blackstone,
"a
weekly
conveyance
of
letters
to
all
parts
of
the
country,
thereby
saving
to
the
public
the
charge
of
maintaining
postmasters
to
the
amount
of
7,000l.
per
annum."
It
seems
to
have
been
clearly
seen
in
Parliament
that
the
Post-Office
would
eventually
pay
its
own
expenses,
and
even
yield
a
revenue;
for,
in
deciding
on
Prideaux's
proposal,
their
object
is
stated
quite
concisely
in
one
of
the
clauses
sanctioning
it:--"That
for
defraying
the
charges
of
the
several
postmasters,
and
easing
the
State
of
it,
there
must
be
a
weekly
conveyance
of
letters
to
all
parts
of
the
country."
For
twenty
years
previously
the
establishment
of
the
post
had
been
a
burden
to
the
extent
of
three
or
four
thousand
pounds
a
year
on
the
public
purse.
Prideaux
at
first
was
allowed
to
take
the
profits
of
his
office,
in
consideration
of
his
bearing
all
the
charges.
In
1649,
five
years
after
his
appointment,
the
amount
of
revenue
derived
from
the
posts
reached
5,000l.
and
a
new
arrangement
was
entered
into.
The
practice
of
farming
the
Post-Office
revenue
began
from
the
year
1650,
and
lasted,
as
far
as
regards
some
of
the
bye
posts,
down
to
the
end
of
the
last
century.
In
1650
the
revenue
was
farmed
for
the
sum
of
5,000l.
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