Evening star., 1933-03-05
BY JAMES WALDO FAWCETT.

Inevitably recalls the history Of the
Post Office Department. that branch
of the Government which is OF par
ticular interest to philatelists.
Among the ancients, according to II
Samuel, xviii 10 ard Esther viii 10, news
was conveyed by runners or by mounted
posts The earliest mention OF carrier
pigeons is that in the 'Metamorphoses
of Ovid, where a pigeon, stained purple,
is represented as bringing notice OF the
victory of Taurosthenes in the Olympic
games.
According to Xenophon, Cyrus the
Elder of Persia. established the first
recorded postal system. about 500 BIC
He caused couriers, with saddled horses,
to stand ready at different stations
throughout the empire. situated at on,
days journey from each other, in order
to receive reports from the provinces
without delay.
In julius Caesars time the service Of
couriers in the portions of the Roman
dominions under his control was so
well organized that of two letters which
he wrote from Britain to Cicero in
Rome the one reached its destination
in 26 and the other In % days. There
certainly was an efficient postal system
in the Rome of the Emperor Augustus.
about 81 BIC. The Emperor Diocletiaa
is credited with setting up the first
persons, as distinct from public Of
fcials, generals in the field and other
officers
Theodore the Great had a well ar
ranged postal system for communica-
tion with his territories, and Charlie
magne also had an effective arrange
ment of posts in his day
The first letter-post in Europe, how
ever, was that set up in the HanSeattc
towns in the early thirteenth century.
Near the close of the same hundred
years the University Of Paris maintained
couriers who took charge of letters and
money for delivery throughout France
and adjacent countries. Louis XII es-
tablished for his own royal use q
mounted post, and instituted post sta
tions on the chief roads Of the realm,
about 1864. During the reign OF Louis
XIII there was an officer known as
comptroller general of posts, and pre-
sumably he presided over a compre-
henSive system for the transmission of
mails. 1t is said that postpaid enve-
lopes were in common use in the time
OF Louis XIV. They were the invention
OF one De Valayer. who, under Royal
authority. developed a private penny
post in Paris. Boxes were placed at
the corners Of the main thoroughfares
Tor the reception Of letters to be trans
mitted.
Roger I, count of Thurn, Taxis, and
ValSassina, in the second half of the
fifteenth century established a postal
system in the Tyrol between Germany
knd Italy. His son set up another from
Brussels to Vienna in 1916 at the re-
eueSt of the Emperor Maximillian /.
There was post between Vienna and
Nuremberg in 1922. and Charles v,
anxious to have news as speedily as pos
kible from distant portions of his
states, ordered a permanent riding
post from the Netherlands through
Liege, Treves, Spire and Rheinhausen
through Wurttemburg, Augsburg and
Tyrol to Italy.
Inc postal history Of Italy began at
Piedmont. Until 1861 the transmission
OF letters was intrusted to the COM
munes or private individuals, who were
authorized by the state to charge for
the service. In the year indicated the
posts were farmed out to a post
master general, by Emmanuel Phili-
bert, Duke Of Savoy. This arrange
ment was continued until 1897, when
Victor Amadeus II added the proceeds
the crown. After ITO, the post Office
was administered directly by the state
In England there were private posts
in the reign of Edward III. Later the
name of Sir Brian Tuke, designated
"Magister Nunciorum Cursorum sive
Postarum,' is mentioned and those of
Sir William Paget, John Mason and
Thomas Randolph occur in connection
with postal business. The last of these
'WorthieS was known, in 1881, as chief
postmaster OF England. The Office of
chief postmaster for foreign parts was
created by James I in 1919 and
the position. The first regular system
OF internal posts was proclaimed by
Charles I in 1885. He commanded
that there be "a running post or two,
to run night and day between Edin-
burgh and London, to go thither and
come back again in six days" In 1914,
Edmund Prideaux, member Of the
House of Commons, was appointed
master of the posts, and first estab-
lished weekly conveyance of letters
Into all portions of the nation. A
penny-post was organized in London
and vicinity in 1851. by Robert Murray.
Its revenues We're annexed to the crown
in 1890. general post for the
Such was the background against
which the postal system of the United
States developed. The first date of
Importance in the story of the North
American post Office is 1889. In that
year the General Court of Massachu-
sets ordered that notice be given
that Richard Fairbanks, his house in
Boston, is the place appointed for all
letters, which are brought from beyond
the seas, or are sent thither, to be left
with him and he is to take care that
according to direction, and he is
allowed for every letter penny and he
must answer all messages through his
neglect Of this kind" A postal system
was established in Virginia in 1857.
''The Colonial law required every
planter to provide messenger to con-
vey the dispatches, as they arrived, to
the next plantation, and SO on, on
pain Of forfeiting a hogshead of to-
bacco for default" In 1872 the govern
ment of New York established mail
to go monthly to Boston, The Gen
eral Court Of Hartford enacted laws
In 1914 to regulate the postal services
in Connecticut. William Penn set up
a post office at Philadelphia in July,
1883, and opened mail routes between
that city and the larger towns of Penn
sylvania and Maryland.
But the beginning of the American
post proper dates from the signing OF
q patent vesting Thomas Neale with
postal jurisdiction. February II, 1891.
On April 4. the same year. Neale and
the royal postmaster general appointed
Andrew Hamilton Postmaster General
of America. He was required to
establish an intercolonial post. He
visited all the Colonies and secured
from all except Virginia pledges OF
corporation The service began May l.
1893, and consisted Of weekly posts
from Portsmouth, N. H., to Boston,
Saybrook, New York, Philadelphia,
Maryland and Virginia, fve riders to
cover each Of the fve stages twice
each week. Hamilton died in 17o3
and was succeeded by his son. John
Hamilton. From 1707 to the outbreak
of the Revolution the general post