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435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
49
It
was
only
towards
the
close
of
the
seventeenth
century,
that
the
Scotch
and
Irish
post
establishments
come
at
all
into
notice.
The
first
legislative
enactments
for
the
establishment
of
a
Scotch
post-office
were
made
in
the
reign
of
William
and
Mary.
The
Scotch
Parliament
passed
such
an
act
in
the
year
1695.
Of
course
the
proclamations
of
King
James
I.
provided
for
the
conveyance
of
letters
between
the
capitals
of
the
two
countries;
and
although
posts
had
been
heard
of
in
one
or
two
of
the
principal
roads
leading
out
of
Edinburgh,
even
before
James
VI.
of
Scotland
became
the
first
English
king
of
that
name,
it
was
only
after
the
Revolution
that
they
became
permanent
and
legalized.
Judging
by
the
success
which
had
followed
the
English
establishment,
it
was
expected
that
a
Scotch
post
would
soon
pay
all
its
expenses.
However,
to
begin,
the
King
decided
upon
making
a
grant
of
the
whole
revenue
of
the
Scotch
office,
as
well
as
a
salary
of
300l.
a
year,
to
Sir
Robert
Sinclair,
of
Stevenson,
on
condition
that
he
would
keep
up
the
establishment.[23]
In
a
year
from
that
date,
Sir
Robert
Sinclair
gave
up
the
grant
as
unprofitable
and
disadvantageous.
It
was
long
before
the
Scotch
office
gave
signs
of
emulating
the
successes
of
the
English
post,
for,
even
forty
years
afterwards,
the
whole
yearly
revenue
of
the
former
was
only
a
little
over
a
thousand
pounds.
About
1700,
the
posts
between
London
and
Edinburgh
were
so
frequently
robbed,
especially
in
the
neighbourhood
of
the
borders,
that
the
two
Parliaments
of
England
and
Scotland
jointly
passed
acts,
making
the
robbery
or
seizure
of
the
public
post
"punishable
with
death
and
confiscation
of
moveables."
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