The trip from London to Oxford was twelve hours. The
company of Coach and Coach Harness Makers was founded with the
consent of the king. The body of a coach hung from the frame by
leather braces. One axle pivoted for turns. Plate glass was used
in the windows. Rivers improved so that most places were no more
distant from navigable waters than a long day's haul on land.
The several post offices were put under the authority of one
Postmaster General appointed by the king for the purpose of speed
and safety of dispatches, which were carried by horseback. One
sheet letter going less than 80 miles cost 2d., and more than 80
miles, 4d.
When the army was disbanded after the Restoration, its officers
and soldiers were allowed return to their trades and their
apprenticeships without serving the usual seven years. Parishes
were required to provide for poor and maimed officers and soldiers
who served Charles I or Charles II. The Royal Hospital founded by
Charles as a home for veteran soldiers opened in 1692. Greenwich
palace was converted to a hospital for seamen and their widows and
children to encourage men to become seamen: mariner, seaman,
waterman, fisherman, lighterman, bargeman, keelman, or seafaring
man in the king's Navy. Also, disabled seamen's children were to
be educated at the expense of the hospital.
Charles retained one regiment from which he started a small
standing army, which slowly increased in size ever after.
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