́if, by accident, a packet should lose its wrap. governors of states, the three assistant postper, the postmaster discovering it is bound masters-general, and certain postmasters, each, either to re-direct it, or to return it to the pub- however, under given restrictions. Besides lisher. And no postmaster is allowed to lend these, publishers of newspapers, periodicals, or to suffer to be read, in his office, any news- etc., not exceeding 16 oz. in weight, may expaper directed to another person; but to change with each other, postage free. The guard against fraud, he is not only permitted franking privilege is purely personal: it travels but required to take the wrappers off from with its possessor, and can be exercised only in papers which come to his office in envelopes one place at the same time. Franks cannot these wrappers not being counted part of the be left behind on envelopes for letters to be newspapers, and not being subject to postage. written by another person; yet this rule is Collection of Postage and Delivery of Let- perpetually violated, without reflection, by ters. Nothing but specie can be taken for post members of Congress. Postmasters, whose ages; and postmasters are not authorized, in yearly receipts do not exceed $200, can frank any case, to give credit. Postage on newsletters to publishers of newspapers, as their papers regularly subscribed for is to be paid agent, for the agency being taken for granted quarterly in advance. Letters may be deliv- by the appearance of the frank. The free ered only to the person addressed, or to one authorized to receive them, by order, which order, however, is sometimes implied. Letters delivered to the wrong person, and opened by him through mistake, must receive his endorsement to that effect, and be returned therewith to the post-office.

Letter Carriers and Mail Agents.-Postmasters may employ letter-carriers, who are qualified for their office, by giving to the United States approved bonds. Their compensation in large cities is one cent per letter; in small cities, two cents, as formerly; on each paper they are entitled to cent. It is the duty of the mail carrier to receive and convey all letters to the post-office which are handed to him more than a mile from the office. Beside these carriers, there are employed (by the Postmaster-General) on certain railroad and steamboat routes, mail agents and mail mes sengers, who are qualified by taking the required oaths, and who, like mail carriers, are exempt from militia and jury duty.

Postage Stamps and Advertising Letters. Postage stamps, of the denomination of one, three, and twelve cents, may be purchased to any amount, at important offices; and these answer all the purposes of money, and are, in some respects, more convenient for the prepayment of postage. Such a stamp is cancelled by the postmaster in whose office the letter bearing it may have been deposited. Letters remaining uncalled for in any office are to be advertised every week, or less frequently, according to a fixed rule, in the paper of the place in which the office is situated which has the largest circulation, at the rate of one cent per letter. If there be no paper in the town, or if the list be refused, the postmaster inust post up, in a conspicuous place, a manuscript list of the letters in question.

The Franking Privilege.-Certain citizens and officers of government are entitled to freedom of postage on their letters and packets: among these are Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. Taylor, any person who has been President of the United states, the Vice-President, members of Congress, and delegates from territories, the

matter sent to and from Washington, during the last two years, would have realized $1,795,920, at the present rates, and $4,240,820 at the rates in force a year ago; and this not counting newspapers, etc. This abuse of the privilege requires legislative action.

Lost Letters, &c.-Money or any valuable property transmitted by the mail, is at the risk of the owner. If a letter is lost, the department will make every effort to recover it, and to punish any one who has been the cause of the loss. To assist it in its efforts to do so, the loser should forward to Washington all the particulars which he can collect respecting the mailing of the letter, etc. Should not the let ter or money be recovered after all, there is no remedy; the courts have frequently decided in favor of the department, and there is only in certain cases a remedy against the postmaster. The postmaster is liable for the loss, if it can be proved that it was sustained in consequence of his negligence.

Expenses and Receipts of the Department.— The entire expenditure of the last year, as given in the Postmaster-General's late report, (Dec., 1851,) amounted to $6,278,401; but this includes a payment made to Great Britain, and a payment under an award. The ordinary expenditure was $6,024,566. The receipts during the same period amounted to $6,786,493; of which $5,369,242 were derived from letter (including foreign) postage and stamps sold, and $1,035,130 from postage on newspapers, periodicals, etc. Allowance must be made here for the sum payable to Britain, and for that for additional appropriations. These allowances made, the ordinary revenues are $6,551,977, being an increase of $999,006 over those of the preceding year, and a balance of $527,411 over the proper expenditures of the present year. The estimated expenses for the current year are $7,123,448. The reduced rates on printed matter, and the extension of the exchange privilege to publishers, will alone, it is thought, reduce the revenue for the current year $500,000. If all the free matter carried in the mail were charged with postage, it would, at the present rates, add to the rev

enue between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 per

annum.

the reviews, the numerous magazines, and theological, medical, and law periodicals, more In his late report, Mr. Hall recommends that than three times the amount of postage charged the rates on letters remain as they now are, for the same distance upon an equal weight of but that not more than two, or at most three, newspapers. Such periodicals are less ephemrates of inland postage should be fixed on eral than the ordinary newspapers, and cernewspapers sent to subscribers, and that the tainly not less beneficial in their influence." It postage on transient newspapers and other is hoped that Congress will take this matter printed matter should be more nearly assimi- in hand during the present session, and reduce fated to the ordinary newspaper rates. "It is to something like regularity and fairness our difficult," he says, and the remark is worthy of present anomalous system of newspaper and serious consideration, "to assign a sufficient periodical postage.

reason for charging upon such periodicals as

APPENDIX I—Statement of the number of Post-offices, the length of Mail Routes, and extent of Mail Transportation in the United States, and of the Amount of Receipts and Expenditures of the Post-office Department, under appropriate heads, in each year, from 1840 to 1851, inclusive.

1810..

13,468

1841.

1842.

13,733

1843.

1844.

1845.

155,739
13.778 155,026
149,732
13,814 142,295
14,103
14,183

144.687

143.940

1846..

14,601 149,679

ƒ652.142 49

1847. 1848..

15,146 153,818

8,084,922

30,802,977

63,198,957 43

g643.160 59

8,713,200

16,159 163,208
16,747 167,703
18,417 178,672 10,634.574

19,796

192,026 13,855,209

38,849,069

Appendix I. continued.

€5,369,242 76 1,035.130 89

EXPENDITURES.

767,334 85

819,016 20

Paid for trans-]

portation

(a) Including $210,205 28 received for letter postages of the Government. (b) Do. $163,505 48 received for do. do. (c) Including $35,611 22 of British postages. (d) Including $147,063 82 of British postages. (e) Including $58,626 44 of British postages. (f) Including $22,089 81 received for newspaper and pamphlet postages of the Government. (g) Including $20,942 59 received for ditto. (h) Including $482 657 drawn from the Treasury under the act approved 9th September, 1841. () Including $150 000, drawn from the Treasury under the 21st section of the act of 3d March, 1845. Including $600,000, drawn from the Treasury under section 21 of the act of March 3d, 1845. (k) Including $125.000, drawn from the Treasury under the 2d section of the act of the 19th June, 1846. () Including $233,235 40 paid for British postages. J. MARRON, Third Assistant Postmaster-General.

Post-office Department, November 28, 1851.

APPENDIX II.-The following table shows very nearly the number of Post-offices in each State and Territory on the 30th day of June last, classified according to the compensation allowed to each Postmaster, for the fiscal year 1850–51.

APPENDIX III.-Statement of the number of Post-offices and length of Post-roads in the United States, the annual amount paid for Mail Transportation, and of Receipts and Expenditures of the Post-office Department at periods of five years, from 1790 to 1885,

inclusive.

POST SYSTEM-ANCIENT.-One of the body. They have been known to accomplish most important steps taken by Cyrus, when a distance of upwards of one thousand parahe had subjugated the kingdom of Babylon, sangs, more than 2,700 English miles, in a day. was to create an establishment similar to our According to the elder Pliny, Decius Brutus modern posts, by which the most speedy in- sent dispatches from Modena by pigeons. telligence was conveyed throughout the whole They were in much later times employed by extent of his vast empire. Between Sardis, the merchants of Paris and Amsterdam to the capital of Lydia, and Lusa, the residence convey the course of exchange and the prices of the Persian king, there are computed to of stocks from one city to the other. And in have been one hundred and eleven houses. our day, the velocity of their movements has The distance of the road has been estimated much anticipated those of the steam engine. at 13,400 Greek stadia, nearly equal to 1,340 Part of the post system of the Great Mogul geographical miles. From the errors of tran-is conducted by means of pigeons. They are scribers, however, as appears from a note to Macpherson, there is some apparent disagreement upon this point, and commentators have consequently been much puzzled in reconciling the remote distances by which the houses were separated. We may regard the inference which has resulted, that some of the stages are evidently omitted, as a legitimate one, though we may not conceive fully the advantages resulting from the fact as conducive to any very important end.

kept in several places for the conveyance of letters on extraordinary occasions, and they carry them from one end of that immense empire to another. The Dutch within Seizes have resorted to the same vehicles. The Consul at Alexandretta is said by Tavernier to have been accustomed to send news daily to Aleppo in five hours' time by means of pigeons, though these two places are three days' journey apart on horseback.

Pedestrian messengers were maintained by the University of Paris in the beginning of the thirteenth century, who, at certain times, took charge of money and letters for the students, collected in that city from almost all parts of Europe.

Posts, upon the authority of Lewis Hornick, were first settled in Germany by the Count de Taxis, at his own expense, in acknowledgment of which the Emperor Mathias in 1616 gave him in fief the charge of postmaster under him and his successors. This point, however, is not very clearly established.

Italy appears to have been the cradle of the system of posts. Constituted principally with the view of obtaining intelligence from the army, under the Emperor Augustus, it was in the most flourishing condition, and the couriers employed were remarkable for their extraordinary swiftness. Dispatches from Sclavonia were received by Augustus in four days, and Tiberius is said to have indignantly thrown away all dispatches that were more than twenty days from Asia, fifteen from Europe, ten from Africa, five from Sclavonia, and three from any part of Italy. Such was the In 1295, throughout Cambula, in the provexpedition to which the ancients were accus-ince of Cathay, two days' journey from the tomed. The privacy of letters was so much ocean, inns were established at proper disrespected, that the breaking of a seal was, by tances, where horses, provisions, and fodgings the criminal code of Milan, punished with death.

During the ninth century, messengers who travelled on horseback existed in Germany, France, and Italy, devoted exclusively to the government service. The establishment, however, seems to have been of but short duration.

were kept for the khan's ambassadors and messengers, and ferry boats were stationed also at the rivers and lakes. By these means letters were conveyed at the rate of from 200 to 250 miles in a day.

On the road from Cuzco to Quito messengers were found placed at short distances from each other, when the Spaniards discovered Peru in 1527. The orders of the Inca were transmitted by them with remarkable speed.

In the East carrier pigeons are used. They became known in Europe through the Crusaders, but seem never to have been introduced About 1740 the Turks commenced the esto any extent in more recent years. The carrier tablishment of posts after the manner of pigeon is a native of the East. An actual Christendom, throughout their entire dominpost system, says Leiber, was established by ions. It was generally expected that they the Sultan Mouredden Mahmood, who died in would operate very advantageously to their 1174, in which pigeons were the messengers. commerce, independent of the large addition It was extended and improved by the Caliph which would be made to the sultan's revenue, Ahmed Abraser-Lidiv-Allah of Bagdad, who which, in consequence of the late wars with died in 1225. When that city fell into the Russia, had become greatly impaired. We hands of the Mongols in 1258, this flying post see very clearly, therefore, that in an age was destroyed by them. The manner of using far removed from the one in which we live, them is by placing a particular kind of silk the benefits to be derived from this system paper, called bird paper, lengthwise under one judiciously administered had forcibly impresswing, and fastened with a pin to a feather, ed themselves upon the minds of all people of the point of the pin being turned from the all nations. Indeed, it is difficult to conceive

a state of society in which an approach to miles; 4d. between 80 and 140 miles; ed if civilization and refinement will not originate above 140 miles, and upon the borders of an establishment like this. Mr. Ellis, in his Scotland, and in Scotland, 8d., and proportion"Polynesian Researches," says, that though ally for double letters and packets. Unless the natives of the Sandwich Islands have not to such places as the king's post did not go, so far advanced in civilization as to have a messengers were not permitted to carry let regular post, a native seldom makes a journey ters, except such as were common known caracross the island, and scarcely a canoe passes riers with a letter to a friend. from one island to another, without conveying a number of letters.

Notwithstanding King Charles's proclamation, letter carriers appear to have been still in use in 1637, between England and France. An agreement was formed between the heads of these two nations, by which the route was made from Dover to Calais, and thence to Paris by Bologne, Abbeville, and Amiens All private posts were prohibited, and a renewal made of the former declaration of the several rates of postage as exhibited under the year 1635.

The system of posts in England has attained to a very great perfection, and it is remarkable to observe the many changes through which it has passed from its infancy, so far as we have been instructed, to the present time. King Edward introduced an establishment of riders with post horses, to be changed every twenty miles, during the war with Scotland in 1480. By handing letters and packets from one to another, they were forwarded 200 The postage of England, Ireland and Scotmiles in the course of two days, apparently land was farmed by the Council of State to the farthest extent of the establishment. This John Manley, Esq., in 1652, for £10,000 yearmode of conveyance was taken from one ly. Under this settlement the rate of postage France had adopted a short time previously, varied but slightly from that of 1635. neither of which tended to the public accommodation, or had any connection with commerce. We can only regard them, therefore, as the rudiments of an establishment, constituting, as it has well been said, the most essential accommodation ever given to commerce and friendly intercourse.

It may not be uninteresting to many of our readers to trace the gradual growth and extension of this branch of the public service in a country like England, where, as is clearly evident, it has been carried to as high a state of perfection as in any other country on the face of the globe. Considerations of economy have always failed to exercise the same influence with the English nation, when opposed to great national objects, to which, in our country, it seems the bent and policy of the people to give them. Republican simplicity is not at variance with grand designs, conceived for the general benefit, and tending to the establishment of a great national end. In 1631, William Frizell and others obtained a grant of the office of Postmaster for foreign parts in reversion. King James, it would appear, had previously erected this office, but previous to this appointment private undertakers only conveyed letters to and from foreign parts. Subsequently, however, it was strictly enjoined that none but the foreign postmasters would presume to exercise any part of that office.

A running post was established by King Charles, in 1635, between London and Edinburgh, to go and come in six days, and to take all such letters as should be directed to any post-town in or near the road. By-posts were also required to be placed at different points, to bring in and carry out letters from Lincoln, Hull, and other places. The postage was fixed at 2d. the single letter, if under 80

A new general post-office for the Commonwealth of the three kingdoms was erected by the Protector and his Parliament in 1656. The regulations by which it was governed were confirmed at the restoration of Charles the Second.

By act of Parliament, in 1660, the rates of postage for England and Ireland were slightly modified. The revenue for the year amounted to £21,500.

In 1676, Sir William Petty, considered to have been well versed in the theory of commerce, is said to have written his political arithmetic. In his remarks upon the system of posts, he computes the postage of letters from the year 1636 to 1676 as having increased from one to twenty. "The very postage of letters costs the people," he says, £50,000 per annum, farmed at much less"

The penny post was established in London and its suburbs about 1583, by a man whom history has handed down to us as an uphol sterer by trade, named Murray, who afterwards assigned it to one Dockwra, who car ried it on successfully for a number of years, till a claim was laid to it by the government as interfering with the general post-office, which was part of the crown revenue. wra, in consequence, had a yearly pension of £200 settled on him for life.*

Dock

In 1685, the revenue of the general postoffice, estimated at £65,000 per annum, was settled by the Parliament upon James the Second, to be his private estate, and never to

* A writer in Rees' Cyclopædia, vol. 29, Art. "Post," says, "The penny post was first set up in London in or about the year 1683 by a private unyearly pension of £200 a year for life, in lieu of the dertaker, to whose assigns government allowed s revenue arising from it.”