This department is under the superintendence of a Post Master General, who is aided in the discharge of its duties by two Assistants. He has the sole appointment of all postmasters throughout the United States; the making of all contracts for carrying the mails; and, in brief, the control, according to law, for every thing relating to the institution. The revenue arising from the General Post Office has, for the most part, been expended upon the extension and improvement of the establishment, by which means the accommodation of the mail conveyance for letters, newspapers, pamphlets, &c. has, in a most extraordinary degree, been extended to the inhabitants of every part of the Union, even to the most remote territorial settlements. RATES OF POSTAGE. For single Letters, composed of one piece of paper. Miles. Cents. Any distance not exceeding.. Over 36, and not exceeding... Over 400........ ....... .80......10 .150......124 ....400......18 .25 Double Letters, or those composed of two pieces of paper, are charged with double those rates. Tripple Lellers, or those composed of three pieces of paper, are charged with tripple those rates. Quadruple Letters, or those composed of four pieces of paper, are charged with quadruple those rates. All letters, weighing one ounce avoirdupois, or more, are charged at the rate of single postage for each quarter of an ounce, or quadruple postage for each ounce according to their weight; and no letter can be charged with more than quadruple postage, unless its weight exceeds one ounce avoirdupois. Newspaper postage. For each Newspaper, not carried out of the State in which it is published; or if carried out of the State, but carried not over 100 miles,............. ........1 cent Over 100 miles, and out of the state in which it is published, 1 c Magasines and pamphlets. If published periodically, distance not exceeding 100 miles, 13 cents per sheet. Ditte........do......over 100 miles..... 23 .....do...... If not published periodically, distance not exceeding 100 miles..... Ditto........do......over 100 miles..........6 to April 1, 1836 per cent. athiet to the rates of roving a cerea court of the war expenses. department fell short of itverpenses by 48,999, ing the gvan 399, 8911 1132, and 1823, the gast,257, Suce that period, there has been a From France and Great Britain. The post roads are divided into 1644 distinct mail routes. The annual expense for transporting the mail is $926,305. The annual amount of compensation to 7,003 post masters, including the contingent expenses of their offices, is $481,685 There is a progressive increase in the number of post offices, amounting, at this time, to the establishment of 500 new post of fices in a year. There are forwarded to the General Post Office, 330,000 dead letters in one year. **There are 35,000 accounts settled at the General Post Office in a year. . Nothing is paid out of the Treasury for the support of the Post Office establishment. All its expenses are defrayed from its own resources; and, besides the net revenue which it yields, it fürnishes to all the other departments of the government, the means of transmitting communications to every part of the Union, free of expense. It is the policy of the Government to apply the revenue of this Department principally to the extension of its operations, and the improvement of the facilities which it affords, both to the correspondent and to the traveller. INTERCOURSE WITH FOREIGN NATIONS. Ministers, Consuls, &c. of Foreign Powers, resident in the United States. From France. Count de Menou, Charge d'Affaires,.......................Washington, D. C. Mr. D. St. Andre, Consul General,. M. Signet, Consular Agent,.... M. Pillavoine, Consul, M. Henri, Consular Agent,............................ M. Thomasson, Vice Consul, M. Batre, Consular Agent, M. Cuilleman, Consul..... ....... Boston, Mass. ..Philadelphia, Pa. ..Baltimore, Md. .Charleston, S. C. ....Norfolk, Va. Savannah, Ga. .......Mobile, Al. .......New Orleans, La. M. Hersant, attached to the office of the Consul General. ་་ From Great Britain. Charles Richard Vaughn, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary,..... ..................... ......................Washington, D. C: Rates of Postage, &c. Small pamphlets, containing not more than a half sheet royal, are charged with half those rates. Eight pages quarto are rated as one shrel, and all other sizes in the same proportion. The number of sheets which it contains, must be printed or written on one of the outer pages of every pamphlet or Magazine to be sent by mail. Every thing not coming under the denomination of newspapers or pamphlets, is charged with letter postage There are established by law, 99,134 miles of post roads in the United States, over which the mail is regularly transported. Lines of mail stages and steam boats are established for the regular conveyance of passengers, from Eastport in Maine, through all the principal commercial cities, by way of Augusta in Georgia and Mobile in Alabama, to New Orleans in Louisiana: also, from the seat of the general Government to Jefferson in Missouri, Louisville in Kentucky, Nashville in Tennessee, and Tuscumbia in Alabama. The mail is transported in stages over more than 30,000 miles of post roads... There are in the United States, January 1, 1828, 7,003 post offices, and the number is daily increasing. The following statement of the extent of the Post Office Department, will give a general review of its progress. Extent in Number of Amount of posta- Net Revenue. miles of post roads. -Year, post offices. ges. *From April 1, 1815, to April 1, 1816, 50 per cent. was added to the rates of postages, for the purpose of raising a revenue an account of the war expenses In 1820, the revenue of the department fell short of its expenses by 848,909, and, in 1823, by 826,880, and during the years 1820, 1821, 1822, and 1823, the whole deficiency amounted, to 8251,157, Since that period, there has been a surplus every year, |