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Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
50
Little
is
known
of
the
earlier
postal
arrangements
of
Ireland.
Before
any
legislative
enactments
were
made
in
the
reign,
it
is
said,
of
Charles
I.,
the
letters
of
the
country
were
transmitted
in
much
the
same
way
as
we
have
seen
they
were
forwarded
in
the
sister
country.
The
Viceroy
of
Ireland
usually
adopted
the
course
common
in
England
when
the
letters
of
the
King
and
his
Council
had
to
be
delivered
abroad.
The
subject
is
seldom
mentioned
in
contemporary
records,
and
we
can
only
picture
in
imagination
the
way
in
which
correspondence
was
then
transmitted.
In
the
sixteenth
century,
mounted
messengers
were
employed
carrying
official
letters
and
despatches
to
different
parts
of
Ireland.
Private
noblemen
also
employed
these
"intelligencers,"
as
they
were
then
and
for
some
time
afterwards
called,
to
carry
their
letters
to
other
chiefs
or
their
dependents.
The
Earl
of
Ormond
was
captured
in
1600,
owing
to
the
faithlessness
of
Tyrone's
"intelligencer,"
who
first
took
his
letters
to
the
Earl
of
Desmond
and
let
him
privately
read
them,
and
afterwards
demurely
delivered
them
according
to
their
addresses.[24]
Charles
I.
ordered
that
packets
should
ply
weekly
between
Dublin
and
Chester,
and
also
between
Milford
Haven
and
Waterford,
as
a
means
of
insuring
quick
transmission
of
news
and
orders
between
the
English
Government
and
Dublin
Castle.
We
have
seen
that
packets
sailed
between
Holyhead
and
Dublin,
and
Liverpool
and
Dublin,
as
early
as
the
reign
of
Elizabeth.
Cromwell
kept
up
both
lines
of
packets
established
by
Charles.
At
the
Restoration,
only
one--namely,
that
between
Chester
and
Dublin--was
retained,
this
being
applied
to
the
purposes
of
a
general
letter-post.
The
postage
between
London
and
Dublin
was
6d.,
fresh
rates
being
imposed
for
towns
in
the
interior
of
Ireland.
A
new
line
of
packets
was
established
to
make
up
for
that
discontinued,[25]
to
sail
between
Port
Patrick
and
Donaghadee,
forming
an
easy
and
short
route
between
Scotland
and
the
north
of
Ireland.
For
many
years
this
mail
was
conveyed
in
an
open
boat,
each
trip
across
the
narrow
channel
costing
the
Post-Office
a
guinea.
Subsequently,
a
grant
of
200l.
was
made
by
the
Post-Office
in
order
that
a
larger
boat
might
be
built
for
the
service.
This
small
mail
is
still
continued.
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