o towns not being on the same
post road, however near the towns might be, letters could circulate only
through London; and the moment London was reached an additional rate was
imposed. Hence the apparent charges, the charges as deduced from the
table of rates, might be very different from the actual charges. Bristol
and Exeter, for instance, are less than 80 miles apart; but in 1660, and
for nearly forty years afterwards, letters from one to the other passed
through London, and would be charged, if single, not 2d. but 6d., and if
double, not 4d. but 1s. That is to say, the postage or portage, as it
was then called, would consist of two rates, and each of these rates
would be for a distance in excess of 80 miles."--H. Joyce, _History of
the Post Office_, p. 29. Cf. _infra_, Appendix B, pp. 390-1.

This practice of charging according to the route traversed and not
according to direct distance was also followed in other countries. It is
perhaps comparable to the practice of computing railway charges on the
basis of the distance by railway, and not as the crow flies.

[38] H. Scobell, _Collection of Acts and Ordinances_, London, 1658, p.
511.

[39] 12 Car. II, cap. 35.

[40] See, e.g., Royal Proclamations, 16th January 1660-1 and 16th July
1667.

[41] See Appendix, pp. 388-391.

[42] "As early as William's reign they (the Postmasters-General) had
been asked to estimate how much an additional penny of postage would
produce; ... the necessities of the Civil List had prompted the
inquiry."--H. Joyce, _History of the Post Office_, p. 119.

[43] 9 Anne, cap. 10.

[44] 9 Anne, cap. 10, [S] 35.

[45] "The additional tax has never answered in proportion to the produce
of the revenue at the time it took place, the people having found
private conveyances for their letters, which they are daily endeavouring
to increase, notwithstanding all the endeavours that can be used to
prevent them."--Statement by the Postmasters-General, 20th May 1718
(_British Official Records_).

[46] H. Joyce, _History of the Post Office_, p. 145.

[47] 9 Anne, cap. 10, [S] 39.

[48] 3 Geo. III, cap. 75, [S] 1.

[49] "An important legal decision, with which the Post Office had only
the remotest concern, an improved system of expresses following as a
natural consequence from circumstances over which the Post Office had no
control, a simple contrivance to facilitate the posting of letters (i.e.
the aperture), and an acceleration of the mail bet