POST AND POSTAL SERVICE. The word post is derived from the Latin posilus, meaning because horses were put or which the letter was addressed, and was willing to undertake the delivery of it. The Emperor Diocletian, at the end of the 3d century, appears to have been the first to establish a postal system for the benefit of private persons. At later dates Theodoric the Great, Charlemagne and others had well-organized services for com munication with all parts of their empire.
Early History of the Public Post.— The earliest postal system was established in France by the University of Paris. From the end of the 13th century this institution maintained couriers, who at certain times took charge of letters and money for the students collected in that city from almost all parts of Europe. Louis XI established for his own use mounted messengers, and by an edict of 19 June 14.64 instituted post stations on the chief roads of placed at certain distances to transport letters or travelers. From this ancient beginning, the post has developed into one of the most effective instruments of civilization. In the Old Testa ment are frequent references to the posts. In 2 Chron. one will find: °So the posts went with the letters;' and °So the posts passed from city to city." In Esther, also, and in Job and Jere miah one will find other allusions to the posts. But they were never for the use of the common people. The first recorded postal system was in the Persian Empire. According to Xenophon, Cyrus the Elder caused couriers with saddled horses, to stand ready at different stations throughout the empire, situated one day's jour ney from each other, in order to receive reports from the provinces without delay. In the time of Julius Cmsar the service of couriers in the parts of the Roman dominions under his gov ernment was so well organized that of two let ters which he wrote from Britain to Cicero at Rome, the one reached its destination in 26 and the other in 28 days. Such services, however, were only established by governments or per sons in authority for their own use. Private persons, in their intercourse with one another, had to employ slaves to convey their letters to destination, or to trust to the chance of finding some person who was going to the place to France. This system was continued under the following reign, and ultimately private persons began to make use of the royal couriers for the transmission of their own correspondence. During the reign of Louis XIII the French system of posts received a more regular form from the establishment of a comptroller-general of posts.
In Germany the first post was established in Tyrol in the latter half of the 15th century, by Roger I, count of Thurn, Taxis, and Valsas sina. His son established another from Brus sels to Vienna in 1516, by the wish of the Em peror Maximilian I. In 1522 a post was estab lished between Vienna and Nuremberg, and Charles V, anxious to have news as quickly as possible, on account of the vastness of hii states, caused Leonard of Thurn and Taxis to establish a permanent riding-post from the Netherlands through Liege, Trives, Spire and Rheinhausen, through Wurttemberg, Augsburg and Tyrol to Italy.
The postal system of Italy began in Pied mont. Until 1561 the transmission of letters was in the hands of the communes or private persons, who were authorized by the state to charge for the service a sum which varied ac cording to circumstances. In the year mem tioned the posts were farmed out by Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, to a postmaster-gen eral. This arrangement continued until 1697, when Duke Victor Amadeus II added the pro ceeds of the post office to the revenue of the state, an indemnity being paid to the postmaster, who had the contract for them. From 1710 downward the post office was administered directly by the state.
The British Post.— There were private posts in England from the time of Edward III. In 1635 a public post was established between London and Edinburgh. In 1644 Edmund Pri deaux, then a member of the House of Com mons, was appointed master of the posts, and CFst established a weekly conveyance of letters into all parts of the nation. In 1683 a penny post was set up in the metropolis. During the government of William III acts of Parliament were passed which regulated the internal postal system of Scotland; and, by the ninth act of Queen Anne, the postal system of England was arranged on an improved footing. A general post office was instituted at London for the Brit ish dominions with chief offices at Edinburgh, Dublin and other places, while the whole sys tem was placed under the control of a post master-general with power to appoint deputies for the chief offices. At this time the letter rate of postage was eight cents for 15 miles or under, with a rising scale to 25 cents for 300 miles. In 1837 Sir Rowland Hill inaugurated a movement for reform in the postal service. Penny postage resulted in 1839, and on 6 May 1840 the first postage stamp, designed by W. Mulready, was first brought into use. In the same year the money-order system was adopted and in 1848 the book post was established. In 1855 pillar letter-boxes were introduced, and London was divided into 10 districts, for greater facility in the distribution of city letters. The British post-office system developed rapidly after 1860, and has long included a parcels post and banking and telegraph systems. The service is under the immediate control of the Postmasier General, assisted by the chief secretary of the post office in London. There are also chief offi cers in Edinburgh and Dublin. The Postmaster General is a member of the Privy Council, and sometimes a Cabinet minister. In 1915 there were 24,509 post offices in the United Kingdom and 50,285 road and pillar letter-boxes. The total number of letters delivered during the year was 3,409,000,000.