Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/659

Rh For many years after the conquest, postal communication with Spain was infrequent and irregular; nor was the system by which the mail service was conducted such as to secure secrecy or even safe delivery, At first all correspondence, including royal despatches, was ordered to be conveyed to its destination free of charge, and be punctually delivered; but during the last half of the sixteenth century a postal service was established by the crown, which being made salable to the highest bidder was not only ill conducted, but opened a way to dishonesty and treachery. Correspondents whether political or commercial could seldom feel confident that their letters would reach their destination, or escape being tampered with by ecclesiastics or inimical secular authorities. Nor did the Indian mail-carriers escape abuses, and from time to time laws were passed for the purpose of insuring to them payment for their hard services and relief from ill-treatment. Even the natives trafficking on the mail routes suffered, their beasts of burden being taken from them and their cargoes cast down on the road side.

During the seventeenth century the postal communication both internal and trans-oceanic was greatly increased, and in 1659 Viceroy Alburquerque