Page 234 - British Post Office Notices 1666 to 1799

Act of 9 Queen Anne, Cap. 10

Act of 9 Queen Anne, Cap. X.

An Act for establishing a General Post Office for all her Majesty's Dominions, and for settling a weekly Sum out of
the Revenues thereof, for the Service of the War, and other her Majesty's Occasions.

Mosr gracious Sovereign; Whereas by an Act made in the twelfth Year of the Reign of his late Majesty's King
CHARLEs the Second, a General Post Office was erected and established in that Part of Great Britain called England, and
by the twentieth Act of the fifth Session of the first Parliament of his late Majesty King WILLIAM the Third, a General Post
Office was erected and established in that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, and several Rates of Postage were thereby
severally appointed to be received, under several different Powers and Authorities; which two Kingdoms being since united,
it is most likely that a Correspondence by Post will be best managed and ordered for the publick Good, by uniting also the
said two Post Offices under one Postmaster General: And whereas also Posts have at great Charges been established by
Packet Boats, between that Part of Great Britain called England and the West Indies, and also on the main Land in Norlh
America, through most of her Majesty's Plantations and Colonies in those Parts, as also to divers Parts in Europe, to which
no Packet Boats were, till lately, settled, and more Posts may yet be settled and established for the publick Good and
Welfare of all your Majesty's Subjects: And whereas the several Rates of Postage may in many Parts, with little Burthen to
the Subject, be encreased, and other new Rates granted, which additional and new Rates may, in some Measure, enable
your Majesty to carry on and finish the present War, so as suitable Powers and Authorities be made for collecting the same,
and sufficient Provision be made, as well for preventing the undue collecting the Delivery of Letters by private Posts,
Carriers, Higlers, Watermen, Drivers of Stage Coaches, and other Persons, as all other Frauds to which the Revenue might
otherwise be liable; which cannot be well and properly done, to answer the Ends aforesaid, without the Authority of
Parliament in a new Act to be made for the said Office, and for the Revenues to arise thereby: We therefore your Majesty's
most dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Commons of Great Britain in Parliament assembled, do most humbly beseech your
Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and
Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by Authority of the
same, That the said Act made in England in the twelfth Year of the Reign of his said late Majesty King CHARLES the
Second, intituled,AnAct for erecting and establishing a Post Office, and the said Act made in Scotland in the fifth Session of
the first Parliament of his said late Majesty King WILLIAM the Third, intituled An Act anent the Post Office, and every
Article, Clause and Thing therein or in either of them contained, shall be, and is and are hereby, from and after the first
Day of June one thousand seven hundred and eleven, actually repealed, except as is herein after mentioned.

II. And to the End a General Post Office may be established for and throughout her Majesty's Kingdoms of Great
Britain and Ireland, her Colonies and Plantations in North America, and the West Indies, and all other her Majesty's
Dominions and Territories, in such Manner as may be most beneficial to the People of these Kingdoms, and her Majesty
may be supplied, and the Revenue arising by the said Office better improved, settled, and secured to her Majesty, her Heirs
and Successors, in such Manner, as is herein after mentioned; be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from and after
the said first Day of lune one thousand seven hundred and eleven, there be from thenceforth one General Letter Office and
Post Office, erected and established, in some convenient Place within the City of London, from whence all Letters and
Packets whatsoever, may be with Speed and Expedition sent into any Part of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, or
to North America, the West Indies, or to any other of her Majesty's Dominions or Territories, or unto any other Kingdom or
Country beyond the Seas, at which said Office all Returns and Answers may be likewise received; and that one Master of
the said General Letter Office and Post Office shall be, from Time to Time, appointed by the Queen's Majesty, her Heirs
and Successors, to be made and constituted by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of Great Britain, by the Name and Style
of her Majesty's Postmaster General; which said Master of the said Office, and his Deputy and Deputies by him thereunto
sufficiently authorized, and his and their Servants and Agents, and no other Person or Persons whatsoever shall, from Time
to Time, and at all Times, have the receiving, taking up, ordering, dispatching, sending Post, or with Speed, carrying and
delivering of all Letters and Packets whatsoever, which shall, from Time to Time, and at all or any Times, be sent to and
from all and every the Parts and Places of Great Britain and Ireland, North America, the West Indies, and other her
Majesty's Dominions, and also to and from all and every the Kingdoms and Countries beyond the Seas, where he shall
settle, or cause to be settled, Posts, or running Messengers for that Purpose: Except such Letters as shall respectively
concern Goods sent by common known Carriers of Goods by Carts, Waggons, or Pack Horses, and shall be respectively
delivered with the Goods such Letters do concern, without Hire or Reward, or other Profit or Advantage for receiving or
delivering such Letters; and except Letters of Merchants, and Masters, Owners of any Ships, Barques, or Vessels of
Merchandize, or any the Cargo or Loading therein, sent on board such Ships, Barques, or Vessels of Merchandize, whereof
such Merchants or Masters are Owners as aforesaid, and delivered by any Masters of any such Ships, Barques or Vessels of

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