The expense of the Secretary's Packet and Expresses from the Post Office to London, from 11th November 1704 to 1st May 1707, amounted to £1994, 9s. sterling. The expense for Expresses for public affairs of the Government, sent and received betwixt London and Berwick, from 18th January 1707 to 1st May 1707, paid to the London Post Office, amounted to £476, 2s. 6d. Between 14th March and 6th October 1705, there were 25 "flying packets" (or special despatches) outgoing, and from 21st January to 3rd October 1705, the like number of flying packets sent by them. The cost of these paid to the Postmaster of Haddington and Cockburnspath was £23, 15s. sterling. The same Postmasters received £40, 14s. 6d. sterling for flying packets sent by them for the stages between Edinburgh and Berwick, from 14th April 1706 to 1st May 1707. A sum of £13, 5s. sterling was also paid for inquiries as to a robbery of the packet at or near Dunglass Miln.[20]

From this period downwards, the data are of a more minute description, giving the condition of the Post Office more in detail, and affording the means of estimating its progress by the extent of its establishment.

In 1708, the business of the General Post Office at Edinburgh was discharged by seven persons, viz.—George Main, manager for Scotland, who held his commission from the Postmaster-General of Great Britain, salary £200 per annum; his accountant, £50 per annum; a clerk, £50; the clerk's assistant, £25; three letter-carriers or runners, each 5s. per week.[21]

In 1710, the Act of William, 1695, was repealed by an Act of Anne, and the Post Office of Scotland was united with that of England, Ireland, and America under one Postmaster-General. It was ordained "that a Chief Letter Office be kept at Edinburgh, and the Packet Boats between Donaghadee and Portpatrick are still to be maintained." This Act also regulates the rates of Postage.[22]

During the five years which immediately followed the Union, and which ended on the 1st May 1712, the average annual sum paid into the Exchequer by the Scottish Post Office, was £6000.[23]

From the time of the Act of Anne, the establishment in Scotland was governed by a Deputy Postmaster-General, under the authority of the Postmaster-General of Great Britain, to whom all matters of importance had to be referred, and whose sanction required to be given to any matter involving pecuniary outlay. The first Deputy Postmaster-General, under the new arrangement, was George Main, who remained in office till 1715, when he was succeeded by Mr. James Anderson,[24] a writer to the Signet in Edinburgh. There is a collection of this gentleman's papers in the Advocate's Library in Edinburgh, and amongst them some official correspondence, which gives not only interesting information relating to the Post Office, but also as to the state of the country at that period, and it is from this source that precise information is derived as to the condition of the postal arrangements.

When Mr. Anderson took office on the 12th July 1715, there was not a single Horse Post in Scotland, Foot Runners being the usual means of conveyance for the Mails. In this manner direct Bags were conveyed from Edinburgh as far north as Thurso, and westward to Inverary. There were three Mails a-week from Edinburgh to Glasgow, and three in return; the runners set out from Edinburgh each Tuesday and Thursday, at twelve o'clock at night, and on Sundays in the morning, and the Mails arrived at Glasgow on the evening of Wednesday and Friday, and on the forenoon of Monday. For this service the Post Office paid £40 sterling per annum, but from the fraudulent dealing of the Postmaster of Falkirk, who made the payments, the runners seldom received more than from £20 to £25.

After his appointment, Mr. Anderson directed his attention to the establishment of Horse Posts on the Western Road from Edinburgh. The first regular Horse Post in Scotland appears to have been from Edinburgh to Stirling; it started for the first time on the 29th November 1715. It left Stirling at two o'clock afternoon, each Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and reached Edinburgh in time for the Night Mail to England. In March 1717, the first Horse Post between Edinburgh and Glasgow was established, and we have the details of the arrangement in a memorial addressed to Lord Cornwallis and James Craggs, who jointly filled the office of Postmaster-General of Great Britain. The memorial states, that the "Horse Post will set out for Edinburgh each Tuesday and Thursday, at eight o'clock at night, and on Sunday about eight or nine in the morning, and be in Glasgow (a distance of thirty-six miles by the post road of that time) by six in the morning on Wednesday and Friday in summer, and eight in winter, and both winter and summer will be on Sunday night." There appears to have been a good deal of negotiation connected with the settlement of this Post, in which the Provost and Bailies of Glasgow took part. After some delay, the matter appears to have been arranged to the satisfaction of all parties.

A proposition was made at this time to establish a Horse Post between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, at a cost of £132, 12s. per annum, to supersede the Foot Posts, which were maintained at a cost of £81, 12s. The scheme, however, appears not to have been entertained at that time by the Post Office authorities.

At this period (1715), it took double the time for the Mail to perform the journey between London and Edinburgh that it did in the middle of the seventeenth century. When the Mail was first established by Charles I. in 1636, three days was the time allowed for the special couriers to perform the journey between Edinburgh and London; in 1715, it required six days for the Post to perform the same journey. This can easily be seen by examining the post marks on letters of that time.

In the year 1715, Edinburgh had direct communication with sixty post towns in Scotland, and in the month of August, the total sum received for letters passing to and from these offices and Edinburgh, was £44, 3s. 1d. The Postage on letters to and from London in the same month amounted to £157, 3s. 2d., and the Postage for letters per the London road, amounted to £9, 19s., making the total sum for letters to and from Edinburgh, during that month, amount to £211, 5s. 3d.—equal to £2535, 3s. per annum.[25]

At this period we have interesting records of the seizure and pillage of the Mail by the Rebels. On the 16th September 1715, the Postmaster of Inverness wrote to the Postmaster-General—"I had yours of y^e 8th current, Tuesday last, about 10 o'clock forenoon. The night before I had account that y^e Post was prisoner; our bagg was broke up, so was y^e Dingwall and Dornoch baggs. You