ce settled and established in this Kingdom," and conducted
immediately under the eye of the King's Government. The amount paid for
the farm had increased with the passing of the years, in measure with
the increase of the business of the Office--not by any change in the
scale of charges, which remained as fixed in 1660. Now, however, the
Office was made a financial instrument, the proceeds of which were to be
regulated by manipulation of the rates of charge. The results of the Act
of 1711 did not fulfil the anticipations of its framers. Provision had
been made for the disposal of that increase of revenue which was looked
for: "the full, clear, and entire Weekly Sum of Seven Hundred Pounds of
Lawful Money of _Great Britain_" was to be paid out of the revenues of
the Post Office "towards the Establishment of a good, sure, and lasting
Fund, in order to raise a present Supply of Money for carrying on the
War and other her Majesty's most necessary Occasions."[44] This [L]700 was
to be paid entirely from the proceeds of the increase in the rates. The
existing revenue of [L]111,461 a year was to be disposed of as
theretofore. All pensions and charges on the revenue were to continue,
and were to have preference over the payment of [L]700 a week. Of the
surplus over and above the [L]111,461 a year and the [L]700 a week,
one-third part was to be at the disposal of Parliament, the rest to be
paid into the Exchequer with the [L]111,461.

But the increase of revenue was so small that some of these provisions
remained for many years inoperative. The increase of rate was found
burdensome. Merchants resorted to every available means of avoiding the
additional expense.[45] A large clandestine traffic in letters grew up.
The very postboys were found carrying letters outside the mail for what
fees they could obtain. In 1710 the net revenue had been [L]66,822. In
1721 it was [L]99,784, an increase of [L]32,962. After the deduction,
therefore, of the [L]700 a week (or [L]36,400 a year), the payment of which
had preference over all other payments chargeable on the Post Office
revenue, excepting only the expenses of management, the actual net
revenue of the Post Office available for the purposes prescribed by the
Act was in 1721, [L]63,384, or less than the revenue of 1710 by [L]3,438.
The Act provided that one-third of the surplus of the yield of postage
over and above the sum of [L]147,861 ([L]111,461 plus the [L]700 a week)
should be at the