But whatever their number or weight was in 1855, it escaped Mr. Page’s recollection to mention them in his comparison between the weights transmitted in that year, and those of 1839.
The foregoing items supply some of the omissions made by Mr. Page in his calculations, and furnish reasons for dissenting from his assertion, that whilst “in 1838 the gross weight of the night mails despatched from London was 4 tons 6 cwt. 1 qr., the total weight of the night mails despatched in a single evening at the present time, _may be stated_ (the italics are ours) at about 12 tons 4 cwt. 3 qrs.”
Mr. Page estimates the gross weight of mails per annum for the entire Kingdom, including guards, clerks, &c., as being considerably under 20,000 tons, “a large portion of which was not conveyed by railway at all.” Mr. Page adds, “Assuming, however, that the whole of it had gone by the railways, it would appear that the Post Office paid 1/23 part of the total earnings for the conveyance of less than a 1/400 part of the total weight.” Mr. Page must excuse us for asserting that the total _weight_ of mails in 1855 was nearer to 80,000 tons than to 20,000, and that by bulk it was nearly 200,000 tons, of which more than half was carried by railway.
Until September 1838, fifty-two horses started every evening from London, with thirteen mail coaches behind them, to convey the mails that are now carried by the Scotch Limited Mail. The weight of mails carried by the coaches was about four tons, their bulk about ten tons measurement. The horses travelled gallantly up hill and down dale over first-class roads at the rate of more than ten miles an hour, and at the end of six or seven miles they were replaced by others of the same mettle. They were guided by thirteen first-class “whips” of the olden time, and no matter what the weather was, or how rough any portion of the road might be temporarily, the great ambition was, not to be a second after time at appointed places. In charge of these four or ten tons, as the case may be, were thirteen guards, to whom the custody of the mails was entrusted. They were responsible for their safe and faithful transmission between St. Martin’s-le-Grand and their destinations.