station, particularly a military station.—Any place where persons are set or placed upon particular occasions may be termed a post; but the word in this view is now chiefly restricted to military operations, and means any place or situation where soldiers are stationed. Thus the detachments established in front of the army are termed the out-posts, the stations on the wings of the army are said to be the posts of honour, as being the most conspicuous and most exposed. But in the operations of a campaign, a post properly signifies any spot of ground capable of lodging soldiers, or any situation, whether fortified or not, where a body of men may make a stand and engage the enemy to advantage. The great advantages of good posts, in carrying on war, as well as the mode of securing them, are only learned by experience. Barbarous nations disdain the choice of posts, or at least are contented with such as immediately fall in their way; they trust solely or chiefly to strength and courage: and hence the fate of a kingdom may be decided by the event of a battle. But enlightened and experienced officers make the choice of posts a principal object of attention. The use of them is chiefly felt in a defensive war against an invading enemy; as by carrying on a war of posts in a country where this can be done to advantage, the most formidable army may be so harassed and reduced, that all its enterprises may be rendered abortive. Indeed in modern times this is so well understood, that pitched battles have become much more rare than formerly, manoeuvring and securing of posts being considered as the most essential objects in the conduct of a campaign; a change in the art of war much to the advantage of humanity; skill, conduct, and prudence, having thus obtained the ascendancy over brutal courage and mere bodily strength. In the choice of a post, the general rules to be attended to are, that it be convenient for sending out parties to reconnoitre, surprise, or intercept the enemy; that if possible it have some natural defence, as a wood, a river, or a morass, in front or flank, or at least that it be Post, he difficult of access and susceptible of speedy fortification; that it be so situate as to preserve a communication with the main army, and have covered places in the rear to favour a retreat; that it command a view of all the approaches to it, so that the enemy cannot advance unperceived and ret concealed, while the detachment stationed in the post are forced to remain under arms; that it be not commanded by any neighbouring heights; and that it be proportioned in extent to the number of men who are to occupy and defend it. It is not to be expected that all these advantages will often be found united; but these posts ought to be selected which offer the greatest number of them. See War, Index.
office or employment. This use of the word is probably derived immediately from the idea of a military station; a post being used to express such offices or employments as are supposed either to expose the holder to attack and opposition, or to require abilities and exertion to fill them. Hence the term is used only for public offices, and employments under the government; and were strict propriety of speech always attended to, posts would denote those stations only in which duty must be performed. In common language, however, every public office or appointment, even though nominal and sinecure, goes under the name of a post.
operation in book-keeping. Posting in book-keeping means simply the transferring an article to the place in which it should be put, and arranging each under its proper head. It is upon this that the whole theory of book-keeping is founded. The Waste-book, which is the groundwork of all subsequent operations, records every transaction exactly in the order in which it occurs. From this the several articles are posted, or transferred into the Journal, which in fact is but a kind of supplementary book to the Waste-book. From the Journal they are posted anew into the Ledger; in which a separate place is appropriated for each person with whom transactions are carried on, and frequently for every separate article about which the business is concerned. The particular mode according to which such transferences are made, may vary according to the nature of the trade carried on; the object is the same in all, to place every article so that its operations on the general state of the business may be certainly known and distinctly traced. For a full account of the way in which this is done, see Book-Keeping.
conveyance for letters or dispatches. In the early periods of society, communication between the different parts of a country is rare and difficult, individuals at a distance having little inclination or opportunity for mutual intercourse: when such communication is at any time found necessary, a special messenger must be employed. As order and civilization advance, occasions of correspondence multiply. In particular, the sovereign finds it requisite frequently to transmit orders and laws to every part of the kingdom; and for doing so he makes use of couriers or messengers, to whom he commits the charge of forwarding his dispatches. But without stations in the way, where these couriers can be certain of finding refreshment for themselves and supplies of what may be necessary for carrying them forward, the journey, however urgent and important, must always be retarded, and in many cases altogether stopped. Experience, therefore, soon pointed out the necessity of ensuring such accommodations, by erecting upon all the great roads houses or stations at convenient intervals, where the messengers might stop, as occasion required, and where too, for the greater convenience, relays of fresh horses should always be in readiness, to enable them to pursue their journey with uninterrupted dispatch. These houses or stations were with great propriety termed posts, and the messenger who made use of them a post. Though at first, it is probable, the institution was intended solely for the sovereign and the necessities of the state; yet by degrees individuals, seeing the benefit resulting from it, made use of the opportunity to carry on their own correspondence; for which they were willing to pay an allowance to the sovereign. Thus a post-office, of some kind or other, gradually came to be established in every civilized country. Without taking notice of the different means of carrying on correspondence said to have been attempted by pigeons, dogs, and other animals, we can at least trace with certainty the invention of something like regular posts as far back as the ancient Persians. Xenophon affirms us, that they were invented by Cyrus on his Scythian expedition, about 500 years before Christ; that the houses at the several stations were sumptuously built, and large enough to contain a number of men and horses; and that every courier on his arrival was obliged to communicate his dispatches to the postmaster, by whom they were immediately forwarded. From the shore of the Egean sea to Susa the capital, there were, according to Herodotus, 111 stages for posts, each a day's journey distant from the preceding.
In what manner posts were established and conducted among the Greeks does not clearly appear; but from the extended commerce carried on, and the frequent communications enjoyed among the different states, there can be no doubt that a regular conveyance, in some form or other, was established.
Though posts were well known among the Romans, yet it is difficult to trace with certainty the period of their introduction. Some writers carry it back to the times of the republic; posts and post-offices, under the names of stations and stations, having been then, it is said, established by the senate. Whether this was the case or not, Suetonius affirms us that Augustus instituted posts along all the great roads of the empire. At first the dispatches were conveyed from post to post by young men who run on foot, and delivered the dispatch to others at the next stage. By and by Augustus substituted, in room of these, horses and chariots, both for the conveyance of dispatches and the convenience of travelling. His successors continued the same establishment; to the maintenance of which every subject of the empire was obliged to contribute. Post-horses are mentioned in the Theodorian code de curfus publicis; but there were only the public horses appointed to be kept there for the use of the public messengers, who before this institution seized any that came in their way. At each post-station, according to Procopius, 10 horses and as many postillions were kept, and the usual rate of their travelling was from five to eight stations a-day.
It is to be observed, however, that all these establishments of posts in ancient times were formed as much, if not more, for travelling stations, than for the mere conveyance of letters and dispatches. This latter object, it is true, was thereby secured; but the epistolary correspondence of antiquity was probably at no time so extensive as to require or maintain post-offices on the footing of modern posts, for the mere conveyance of letters. It is in later times only, when the extension of commerce and diffusion of literature gave occasion to frequent communication, that these establishments are to be looked for.
The earliest institution of posts that occurs in modern history is about the year 807 by the emperor Charlemagne; who, having reduced under his dominion Italy, Germany, and a part of Spain, established three public posts at the public expense, to carry on the communication with these three provinces. The institution of posts, however, like many other institutions of that emperor, dropped at his death, and for a considerable time afterwards no traces of any such establishment are to be found. We cannot indeed discover them with certainty sooner than 1464, when that restless and suspicious prince Louis XI. established posts in France, that he might be the sooner advertised of all that passed in his own or the neighbouring kingdoms. He employed in this service 230 couriers, who delivered the letters at the different stations, and in the various towns through which they passed in their course. Succeeding monarchs created at different times certain offices for the express purpose of superintending the posts; but the frequent changes to which these offices were exposed, prevented for a long time the establishment of any regular system of posts in that kingdom; insomuch that in 1619 the author of the life of the duke d'Epernon says the packet or letter-office was not yet set up in France. Former establishments, it is probable, were solely for the use of the court, not for the general good of the nation. From France, the institution gradually spread through several other parts of Europe. In Germany, Lewis Hornig affirms we they were first introduced by Count Taxis, who settled them at his own expense; in acknowledgment for which the Emperor Matthias in 1616 gave as a fief the office of postmaster to him and his descendants.
In England, the establishment of posts in some form or other appears as early as the reign of Edward III., but the notices concerning them are so vague, that no account can be given of them. In the reign of Edward VI., however, some species of posts must have been set up, as an act of parliament passed in 1548, fixing the rate of post-horses at one penny per mile: The post-horses here referred to were, it is probable, chiefly for travelling, and the carriage of letters or packets only an occasional service. In 1581, we find in Camden's Annals mention made of a chief postmaster for England being appointed.—How his office was managed, does not clearly appear; the limited state of the correspondence of the country, probably rendered it of trifling consequence. King James I. originally erected a post-office, under the control of one Matthew de Querier or de l'Equetier, for the conveyance of letters to and from foreign parts; which office was afterwards claimed by Lord Stanhope; but was confirmed and continued to William Prizel and Tho. Witherings, by king Charles I. in 1632. Previous to this time, it would appear that private persons were in use to convey letters to and from foreign parts; all such interference with the postmaster's office is therefore expressly prohibited. King Charles, in 1635, erected a letter-office for England and Scotland, under the direction of the above Thomas Witherings. The rates of postage then established were, two-pence for every single letter for a distance under 80 miles; four-pence from 80 to 140 miles; sixpence above 140 miles. The allowance to the postmasters on the road for horses employed in these posts was fixed at two-pence halfpenny per mile for every single horse. All private inland posts were discharged at this time; and in 1637 all private foreign posts were in like manner prohibited. The posts thus established, however, extended only to a few of the principal roads; and the times of transmission were not in every case so certain as they ought to have been.
Witherings was superseded for abuses in the execution of his offices in 1643, and they were sequestrated into the hands of Philip Burlanachy, to be exercised under the care and oversight of the king's principal secretary of state. On the breaking out of the civil war, great confusions and interruptions were necessarily occasioned in the conduct of the letter-office: but it was about that time that the outline of the present more extended and regular plan seems to have been conceived by Mr Edmond Prideaux, who was afterwards appointed attorney-general to the commonwealth. He was chairman of a committee in 1642 for considering the rate of postage to be set upon inland letters; and some time after was appointed postmaster by an ordinance of both houses of parliament; in the execution of which office he first established a weekly conveyance of letters into all parts of the nation. In 1653, this revenue was farmed for £10,000 for England, Scotland, and Ireland; and after the charge of maintaining postmasters, to the amount of £7000 per annum, was saved to the public. Prideaux's emoluments being considerable, the common council of London endeavoured to erect another post-office in opposition to his; but they were checked by a resolution of the house of commons, declaring that the office of postmaster is, and ought to be, in the sole power and disposal of the parliament. This office was farmed by one Maubey in 1654. In 1656 a new and regular general post-office was erected by the authority of the protector and his parliament, upon nearly the same model that has been ever since adopted, with the following rates of postage: For 80 miles distance, a single letter two pence; for a greater distance, not out of England, three pence; to Scotland, four pence. By an act of parliament passed soon after the restoration in 1660, the regulations settled in 1656 were re-established, and a general post-office similar to the former, but with some improvements, was erected. In 1663 the revenue of the post-office was found to produce £21,500 annually. In 1685 it was made over to the king as a branch of his private income, and was then estimated at £65,000 per annum. The year after the revolution the amount of the post-office revenue was £90,504:10:6. At the union the produce of the English post-office was stated to be £101,101. In 1711 the former establishments of separate post-offices for England and Scotland were abolished; and by the stat. 9 Anne, c. 10, one general post-office, and one postmaster-general, was established for the whole united kingdom; and this postmaster was empowered to erect chief letter-offices at Edinburgh, at Dublin, Dublin, at New York, and other proper places in America and the West Indies. The rates of postage were also increased at this time as follows.—In England, for all distances under 80 miles 3 d.; above 80 miles 4 d. From London to Edinburgh 6 d. In Scotland, under 50 miles 2 d.; from 50 to 80 miles 3 d.; above 80 miles 4 d. In Ireland, under 40 miles 2 d.; above 40 miles 4 d.—By the above act all persons, except those employed by the postmaster, were strictly prohibited from conveying letters. That year the gross amount of the post-office was £111,461 17s. 10d. The nett amount, on a medium, of the three preceding years, was, in the printed report of the commissioners, for the equivalent stated to be for England, £62,000, and for Scotland £2000. In 1754 the gross revenue of the post-office for Great Britain amounted to £210,663, in 1764 to £281,535, and in 1774 to £345,321.
The privilege of franking letters had been enjoyed by members of parliament from the first erection of the post-office; the original design of this exemption was, that they might correspond freely with their constituents on the business of the nation. By degrees the privilege came to be shamefully abused, and was carried so far, that it was not uncommon for the servants of members of parliament to procure a number of franks for the purpose of selling them; an abuse which was easily practised, as nothing more was required for a letter's passing free than the subscription of a member on the cover. To restrain these frauds, it was enacted, in 1764, that no letter should pass free unless the whole direction was of the member's writing, and his subscription annexed. Even this was found too great a latitude; and by a new regulation in 1784, no letter was permitted to go free unless the date was marked on the cover in the member's own hand-writing, and the letter put into the post-office the same day. That year the rates of postage were raised in the following proportions: an addition of 1 d. for a single stage; 1 d. from London to Edinburgh; 1 d. for any distance under, and 2 d. for any distance above, 150 miles. An addition to the revenue of £120,000 was estimated to arise from these regulations and additional rates. In all the statements of duties upon postage of letters given in this account, the rates mentioned are those upon single letters, double letters pay double, treble letters treble, an ounce weight quadruple postage; all above are charged by the weight in the same proportion.
About the year 1784, a great improvement was made in the mode of conveying the mails, upon a plan first suggested in 1782 by Mr John Palmer. Diligences and stage-coaches, he observed, were established to every town of note in the kingdom; and he proposed that government, instead of sending the mails in the old mode, by a boy on horseback, should contract with the masters of these diligences to carry the mail, along with a guard for its protection. This plan, he showed, would not fail to ensure much more expeditious conveyance, the rate of travelling in diligences being far quicker than the rate of the post; and it was easy to carry it into execution with little additional expense, as the coach owners would have a strong inducement to contract at a cheap rate for conveying the mail, on account of the additional recommendation to passengers their carriages would thereby acquire in point of security, regularity, and dispatch.
Vol. XV. Part II.
The government heartily approved of this plan, and the public at large were satisfied of its utility; yet, like all new schemes, however beneficial, it met with a strong opposition: it was represented by a number of the oldest and ablest officers in the post-office, not only as impracticable, but dangerous to commerce and the revenue. Notwithstanding of this opposition, however, it was at last established, and gradually extended to many different parts of the kingdom; and, upon a fair comparison, it appeared that the revenue was improved, and the plan itself executed for £20,000 per annum less than the sum first estimated by Mr Palmer.
The present establishment of the general post-office for Great Britain, consists of two postmasters-general, a secretary, surveyor, comptroller-general, and upwards of 150 assistants and clerks for the head letter office in London; the number of deputy postmasters and other officers throughout the kingdom is very considerable, but not easy to ascertain with accuracy, as it must frequently vary with the changes made in the establishment of country posts. The total expense of this branch of the revenue in 1788 was £149,029, 17s. 2d. the gross produce may now be reckoned at £650,000.
The first accounts we have of the establishment of a post-office in Scotland reach no farther back than 1635, when Charles I. erected one both for Scotland and England. The post to Scotland by that appointment was to run night and day, to go from London to Edinburgh and to return in six days, taking with it all letters intended for any post-town in or near the road; the rate of postage from London to Edinburgh was 8 d. for a single letter. The expedition with which the post went from London to Edinburgh at this time, is indeed surprising, considering the nature of the roads; perhaps, however, though the king made the regulation that it should go and return in six days, the journey was not always performed in the specified time. During the government of Cromwell, the public post conveyed letters to Scotland as well as England; the postage from London to Scotland was only 4 d. After the Restoration, when the post-office was erected for England, mention is made in the act of parliament of the conveyance of letters to Scotland; and the postage to Berwick is fixed at 3 d. For some time after, however, we find no establishment by act of parliament of an internal post in Scotland. In 1662, a post between Ireland and Scotland was first established; and the privy council gave Robert Main, who was then postmaster-general for Scotland, an allowance of £200 Sterling to build a packet-boat for conveying the mail between Portpatrick and Donaghadee; the postage to Ireland was 6 d. In 1669, a post was established to go between Edinburgh and Aberdeen twice a-week, and between Edinburgh and Inverness once a-week; the rate of postage was fixed, for 40 Scots miles 2 d. and for every 20 miles farther an additional penny. These appear to have been the only public posts in Scotland at that time; but as they could not suffice for the correspondence of the country, there must have been more, either under the direction of the postmaster, or in the hands of private persons; probably there might be of both kinds. In 1690, an act for the security of the common post was passed, subjecting robbers of the mail to capital punishment. It was not till 1695 that the establishment of the post-office in Scotland received the sanction Post.
function of parliament: posts were then appointed for all parts of Scotland; the rates of postage were fixed, for any place within 50 miles of Edinburgh 2d. between 50 and 100 miles 3d. all places above 100 miles 4d. By the same act, a weekly packet to Ireland was established, and L.60 Sterling annually allowed for that service. Though posts were established in consequence of this act, yet such was their mode of travelling, that they hardly deserved the name. Thus, for instance, the person who set out to carry the mail from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, in place of stopping at the first intermediate stage from Edinburgh, and delivering over the mail to another, to be carried forward, went on with it himself the whole journey, retailing two nights by the way, first at Dundee, and next at Montrose.
In this manner the mail was conveyed thrice a-week from Edinburgh to Aberdeen; but between most parts of Scotland the post went only twice, and between some only once a-week. The post-boy generally travelled on foot. Horses were but little used in the service of the post-office.
At the Union, the Scots post-office was farmed for L.1194: in 1710, the nett amount for Scotland was reckoned to be L.2000. The epistolary correspondence of Scotland must have been small indeed, when even the rates of postage then established proved to be very unproductive. This may perhaps, however, be in part accounted for, by conjecturing, that as private posts had probably prevailed pretty much before 1695, it was long before there were entirely suppressed, the people still adhering to their old conveyances, and difficulties occurring in strictly enforcing the law; the amount of the post-office revenue, therefore, at the two periods above-mentioned probably exhibits a view of only a part of the correspondence of Scotland.
In 1711, it has been already mentioned, one general post-office was established for the whole united kingdom; but the postmaster-general was authorised to erect at Edinburgh a chief letter office for Scotland.—This was accordingly done, and a postmaster-general for North Britain, with other necessary officers, appointed. All the deputy postmasters in Scotland are under his immediate direction, but he himself is under the control of the postmaster-general for Great Britain. From this head letter office posts were established to the different parts of Scotland.
For many years the post-boys generally travelled on foot, or if on horseback, without a change of horses. It was not till about 1750 that the mail began to be conveyed from stage to stage by different post-boys and fresh horses to the principal places in Scotland, and by foot runners to the rest. The communication between London and Edinburgh was at first but thrice a-week, and so slow, that the mail from London to Edinburgh was upon the road 85 hours, and from Edinburgh to London 131 hours. In 1757, upon a representation from the royal boroughs, regulations were fallen upon, by which the time was shortened to 82 hours in the one case, and 85 in the other. By the extension of Mr Palmer's plan to Scotland, the time has been still farther shortened to about 60 hours in each case.
The establishment of the Scots post-office, which has been gradually enlarged as the state of the country required, consists at present of a postmaster-general, secretary, solicitor, and accountant, with a number of other clerks and assistants for the head office at Edinburgh; under its management are about 180 deputy-postmasters for the different post-towns through Scotland.
The nett produce of the post-office for Scotland in 1733 was L.5399, in 1754 L.8027, in 1757 L.10623, in 1760 L.11942, in 1776 L.31103. In 1788 the gross produce was L.55836, the expence L.22636, 13 s. 6 d.; in 1793 the gross amount was about L.64000, the nett produce about L.40000.
Penny-Post, a post established for the benefit of London and other parts adjacent, whereby any letter or parcel under 16 ounces weight, or L.10 value, is speedily and safely conveyed to and from all places within the bills of mortality, or within 10 miles of the city. It is managed by particular officers, and receiving houses are established in most of the principal streets, for the more convenient transmission of the letters. Some other large towns have instituted similar establishments.
About 20 years ago a penny-post was set up in Edinburgh by an individual, unconnected with the general post-office. It met with but indifferent encouragement for some years, doubts being entertained as to its punctuality in delivering the letters; by degrees, however, it seemed to be advancing in estimation, and was more frequently employed. About a year ago, the general post-office, in virtue of the act of parliament prohibiting the conveyance of letters by any but those employed under the postmaster-general, took the penny-post entirely into its own hands; and at present letters are transmitted from the general post-office to the different quarters of Edinburgh and the suburbs, three or four times a-day.
particular mode of travelling. A person is said to travel post, in contradistinction to common journey travelling, when, in place of going on during his whole journey in the same vehicle, and with the same horses, he stops at different stages, to provide fresh horses or carriages for the sake of greater convenience and expedition. As he thus uses the same mode of travelling that is employed for the common post, he is said to travel post, or in post, i.e., in the manner of a post.
In tracing the origin of posts, it has been already remarked, that the more ancient establishments of this kind were fully as much for travelling stations as the conveyance of letters. The relays of horses provided at these public stations for the messengers of the prince, were occasionally, by special licence, allowed to be used by other travellers who had sufficient interest at court. Frequent demands of this nature would suggest the expedient of having in readiness supplies of fresh horses or carriages over and above what the public service required, to be hired out to other travellers on payment of an adequate price. We find, therefore, that in former times the postmasters alone were in use to let out horses for riding post, the rates of which were fixed in 1548 by a statute of Edward VI, at one penny per mile. In what situation the state of the kingdom was with regard to travelling post for more than a century after this period, we cannot now certainly discover; but in the statute re-establishing the post-office in 1660, it is enacted, that none but the postmaster, his deputies, or assigns, shall furnish post-horses for travellers; with a proviso, however, that if he has them not ready in half an hour after after being demanded, the traveller shall be at liberty to provide himself elsewhere.
The same prohibition is contained in the act establishing the Scots post-office in 1695, as well as in the subsequent act of Queen Anne, erecting the general office for the united kingdom. It is doubtful, however, whether it ever was strictly enforced. By an explanatory act of 26 Geo. II. the prohibition is confined to post horses only, and every person declared to be at liberty to furnish carriages of every kind for riding post. This regulation has, in fact, done away the prohibition, as hardly any person now thinks of travelling post except in a carriage.
The rate fixed by the act 1695, in Scotland, for a horse riding post, was three-pence per Scotch mile. By the act 9 Anne, c. 10, three-pence a-mile without, and four-pence a-mile with, a guide, was the sum fixed for each horse riding post. The increase of commerce, and necessity for a speedy communication between different parts of the kingdom, have brought the mode of travelling post so much into use, that upon every great road in the kingdom post-chaises are now in readiness at proper distances; and the convenience of posting is enjoyed in Britain to a degree far superior to what is to be met with in any other country whatever.
Posting at last appeared to the legislature a proper object of taxation. In 1779 the first act was passed, imposing duties on horses hired either by themselves or to run in carriages travelling post: the duties were, one penny per mile on each horse if hired by the mile or stage, and one shilling per day if hired by the day. Every person letting out such horses was also obliged to take out a licence at five shillings per annum. These duties were next year repealed, and new duties imposed, of one penny per mile on each horse hired by the mile or stage, and 1s. 6d. on each if hired by the day. A number of additional regulations were at the same time enacted for securing these duties. An addition of one halfpenny per mile, or three-pence per day, for each horse riding post, was imposed in 1785, by Stat. 25 Geo. III. c. 51. The duty is secured, by obliging every letter of horses to deliver to the person hiring them a ticket, expressing the number of horses hired, and either the distance in miles to be travelled, or that the horses are hired by the day, as the case happens to be. These tickets must be delivered to the bar-keeper at the first turnpike through which the traveller passes; and the turnpike-keeper gives, if demanded, what is termed an exchange ticket, to be produced at the next turnpike. The stamp-office issues to the person licensed to let post-horses such a number of these tickets as is required, and these must be regularly accounted for by the person to whom they are issued. As an effectual check upon his account, the turnpike-keeper is obliged to return back to the stamp-office all the tickets he takes up from travellers. Evasions are by these means rendered difficult to be practised without running a great risk of detection. In 1787, for the more effectually levying the post-horse duties, a law was passed, authorising the commissioners of the stamp-office to let them to farm by public auction, for a sum not less than the produce in the year ending 1st August 1786.
In the advertisement published by the commissioners in consequence of this law, previous to the receiving proposals for farming them, the total amount of the duty for Great Britain is stated to have been, at the period above referred to, L. 119,873. The sum for which that duty was farmed in 1794 amounted in all to L. 140,030, of which the district of North Britain was L. 6000.
Soon after the tax was imposed, considerable difficulties were raised about the meaning of the term posting, and what mode of journeying should subject travelers to duty. The old law, Stat. 9 Anne, c. 10, explained posting to be "travelling several stages, and changing horses;" but the acts imposing the posting duties expressly declare, that "every horse hired by the mile or stage shall be deemed to be hired to travel post, although the person hiring the same doth not go several stages upon a post road, or change horses;" and that "every horse hired for a day or less period of time, is chargeable with the duty of three halfpence per mile, if the distance be then ascertained; and if the distance be not then ascertained, with 1s. 6d. each horse." Horses hired for any less time than two days are by these acts to be deemed to be hired for a day. An action was brought in 1788, in the court of exchequer at Edinburgh, to determine whether several disputed cases fell under the meaning of the act, and were liable to duty; when the following decisions were given:
Saddle-horses both hired and paid by the mile, and saddle-horses hired originally for an excursion, but afterwards paid by the mile, were found liable to duty according to the number of miles paid for; carriage-horses, where the carriage is hired and paid for only at the usual rate of outgoing carriages, and no more, whether the person hiring it does or does not return in it, were found liable to duty only for the number of miles out; but if the carriage be hired and paid for, or actually paid for though not originally hired, at the usual rate of carriages employed both to carry out and bring back the same company, the duty was found to be exigible according to the number of miles both out and home taken together. Hackney-coaches in Edinburgh, hired and paid for less than two miles, were found liable to duty for one mile.
No duty was found to be exigible on saddle-horses hired for a mere excursion, and paid for accordingly, where the distance neither is nor can be ascertained; on hackney-coaches employed in the streets for less than a mile, or for an excursion or round of visits merely; and on horses or carriages hired for a journey of three days or more, and paid for accordingly, or paid for at the rate of three days, though the journey should actually be performed in two full travelling days. The general rule of these decisions was, that in every case, except unascertainable distance, or journeys exceeding two days, the mode of travelling fell under the legal definition of posting. The only point that may seem doubtful in the judgments here stated, is that where the duty is found chargeable by the number of miles both going and returning. Yet as the law expressly declares, that horses hired by the mile or stage are to be deemed posting, and as the number of miles for which they are hired can only be ascertained by the number paid for, it is clear, that where an addition to the outgoing charge is made on account of bringing back the person hiring the carriage, the carriage in that case is actually hired and paid for according to the number of miles both out and home, and the duty must fall to be rated accordingly. The doubtful points being now settled by the above decisions, the mode of levying the duty in Scotland has been regulated agreeably to them ever since the matter was thus determined.