von
Taxis and his descendants as an hereditary fief.

The actual development of the posts was of a twofold character. At first
the Taxis family were able to establish their posts in various parts of
the Empire without opposition; the princes were themselves satisfied
with their messenger systems, and were indisposed to establish posts on
account of the heavy cost. But after a time, when the profitable
character of the Taxis posts became apparent,[714] the princes
questioned the right of the Imperial Postmaster-General to lay posts
within their territories, and claimed that they alone possessed that
right.[715] In 1597 the posts were proclaimed an Imperial
reservation,[716] but this theory was never accepted by the
princes.[717] The Taxis posts, therefore, never became general
throughout the Empire. Eights were obtained in certain States, so that
they became an important system reaching many parts of the Empire; but
they did not altogether supplant the territorial services.[718]

In the early part of the seventeenth century the struggle against the
monopoly of the Imperial posts developed. The States were jealous of the
growing power of Austria, and political affinities were weakening. There
was, moreover, some feeling against such an office being held by an
alien family.[719] The Palatinate, W[:u]rtemberg, Saxony, Brandenburg, and
Mecklenburg established posts within their respective territories.[720]
The whole question became involved with the disputes which led up to
the Thirty Years' War, and the princes found their position indirectly
strengthened by the Peace of Westphalia, which contained no settlement
of the disputes regarding the posts, but merely referred the question to
the next Reichstag. Attempts were made to extend the Imperial posts, but
much opposition was encountered. Nevertheless, the system continued to
expand and attained considerable dimensions. The family held the
exclusive right of carrying passengers as well as letters; and it was
estimated that during the eighteenth century the house of Thurn and
Taxis received a gross sum of 20,000 livres per day, and a net profit of
four millions a year. Some 20,000 men, and a greater number of horses,
were employed in the service.[721]

The Revolutionary Wars were disastrous to the system. The Taxis posts
were in many instances replaced by territorial posts,[722] and by the
Peace of Luneville (1801), which made the Rhine the boundary between
France and Germ