uilty of embezzling the
postage of bye or way letters should forfeit [L]5 for every letter and
[L]100 for every week during which he continued the practice.[51] Even
this penal clause was insufficient to check the abuse, as owing to the
unsatisfactory method of dealing with bye and way letters there was
small risk of detection in fraud.

In 1719 Ralph Allen, then postmaster of Bath, proposed to the
Postmasters-General that the management of the bye and cross post
letters should be leased to him for a term of years, and offered a rent
one and a half times as great as the revenue from the letters at that
time. The offer was accepted, and the lease, which in the first instance
was for seven years, was renewed from time to time. Allen, whose
discovery was merely that of a method of check on the receipts of the
postmasters from the bye and cross letters, was able to pay the rent
agreed upon, largely to suppress the illicit transmission of the
letters, and to make a handsome profit.[52] The chief importance of
Allen's work lies, however, not so much in the fact of his rendering the
bye and cross post letters subject to effective check, as in the fact
that in order to retain his lease he, on each occasion of renewal,
undertook the provision of additional facilities. By this means a daily
post was gradually extended to almost all the post routes.[53]

In 1765 the inland rates for short distances were reduced, and a new
standard of charge was introduced. Hitherto, all charges had been
regulated on a mileage basis. For short distances they were now based on
the number of post stages. For one post stage the rate was made 1d. for
a single letter, for a double letter 2d., for a treble letter 3d., and
for every ounce 4d.; for two post stages, 2d., and in proportion for
double, treble, and ounce letters.[54] The financial result of the
change was unsatisfactory.[55]

Up to this period the mails were carried by postboys riding horse.
Notwithstanding that on all the chief roads stage-coaches were running
more expeditiously than the post-horses, the Post Office kept to the old
way. The superiority of the stage-coaches as means for the conveyance of
letters was noticed by Mr. John Palmer, proprietor of the theatre of
Bath,[56] who was so greatly impressed with the fact that he devised a
complete and definite plan for the establishment of a system of mail
conveyance by coach. The cost of the riding post (boy and horse) was 3d.
a mile, a