ide accommodation for
travellers, a system of relays was established in 1597, in addition to
the ordinary posts.[182] The stages were fixed at distances varying from
twelve to fifteen leagues, and the charge for a horse was 20 sous for
each stage. This system was amalgamated with the posts in 1602, and the
functions for which the relays had been established were exercised by
the posts until after the Revolution. They were definitely abandoned to
private enterprise in 1797.

The transmission of ordinary letters for private individuals was not at
first contemplated,[183] but it became common for the royal messengers
to carry letters for the public. The conveyance of private letters was
first definitely provided for by the State in 1576. In that year a
special system of messengers was established, whose function was to
convey legal documents between the Parliament and the inferior courts,
and was limited to the period during which Parliament was sitting.
These messengers were required to carry letters for private individuals
at the following rates:--

For a single letter 10 deniers
For a packet of three or four letters 15 "
For packets of letters weighing an ounce or more 20 "

irrespective of distance.[184]

Under Richelieu the ordinary posts were given a regular organization.
Fixed days of departure and arrival were appointed; offices were
established in the towns; and in 1627 the first general table of rates
was issued.[185] Previously the rate was fixed mutually between the
couriers and the senders or receivers of letters.[186]

For single letters the tariff of 1627 prescribed rates of 2 sous for
transmission between Paris and Dijon, and 3 sous for transmission
between Paris and Lyons, Paris and Bordeaux, Paris and Toulouse. For
letters composed of more than one sheet, but less than 1/2 ounce in
weight, the rate varied from 3 to 5 sous; and for larger packets the
rate was from 5 to 8 sous per ounce. In 1637 the posts were given the
monopoly of the carriage of letters.[187]

In the first years the posts had been a charge on the State, but at
about this time they were let at farm, and proved a fruitful and growing
source of revenue to the State. By 1672 the annual rent of the farm had
risen to 1,700,000 livres, and in 1791, the last year of the farm, the
net revenue was about 12,000,000 fr.

A new tariff was established in 1676, as follows:--

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