FOOTPRINTS 
 
 LETTER-CARRIER-; 
 
 OB, 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 BIOGRAPHIES, TALES, SKETCHES, 
 
 INCIDENTS, AND STATISTICS CONNECTED WITH 
 
 POSTAL HISTORY. 
 
 JAMES REES, 
 
 CLERK IN THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 
 
 "The Post-Office is properly a mercantile project. The government advances 
 the expense of establishing the different offices, and of buying or hiring the 
 necessary horses or carriages, and is repaid with a large profit by the duties upon 
 what is carried." SMITH, Wealth of Nations. 
 
 "A Messenger with Letters." SPENSER. 
 
 Or , 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 FOI 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 1866. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 
 District of Pennsylvania. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THERE are few institutions in this or in any other 
 country the history of which is so little known as is that 
 of the post-office. The very name, in the opinion of the 
 masses, is sufficient to enlighten them; and beyond this 
 little or no interest is manifested. Yet the history, if 
 fairly written, would surprise that very portion who con- 
 sider the name alone an index to its unwritten pages. 
 
 Indeed, it seems strange that so important a branch of 
 our government should have been so slighted by those 
 who constituted themselves historic writers. Our school- 
 books contain no allusion to it, nor are its officer* men- 
 tioned with any marks of commendation in any of our 
 national works. And yet there are names identified with 
 this department, both as regards mind, intellect, and cha- 
 racter, unequalled by those of any other in the country. 
 
 Perhaps it is looked upon as being merely an appliance 
 to the wheels of government and not essential to its 
 general movements. Is this so? is the department a 
 mere workshop and its officers and employees simply 
 workers ? 
 
 We have endeavored in this work perhaps feebly to 
 place the "post" before our readers as one of the most 
 important branches of the General Government. We 
 have thrown around its social and political history an 
 interest by connecting with it incidents, facts, and local 
 matter more immediately identified with events which 
 have marked our country's history from its earliest period 
 to that of the present. 
 
 i* 5 
 
 165037 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Much has transpired during all these years to render 
 such a work both instructive and interesting; and although 
 we do not claim for ours any such pretension, yet we may 
 safely term it a pioneer in the cause of our postal history. 
 
 We have also endeavored, without any aid from the 
 postal department at Washington, to furnish a somewhat 
 desultory history of the post in this country, while at the 
 same time we have given some account of those of other 
 nations. Ours is not a mere statistic history, but one 
 that blends with it a certain amount of information upon 
 every subject more or less connected with it. Aiming at 
 no high literary attainments, or attempting to excel others 
 in language, beauty of sentiment, or construction of sen- 
 tences, he has written a work in his own style, and in a 
 manner which he flatters himself will be received favor- 
 ably by the masses. The American language given in 
 its plainest style will be far more appreciated by them 
 than if clothed in the classic garb scholastic and academi- 
 cal tailoring has thrown around it. 
 
 The nrimitive style in which our forefathers wrote has 
 been materially changed by the introduction of foreign 
 and learned words. This, it is true, as Blair says, "gives 
 an appearance of elevation and dignity to style;" but 
 often, also, they render it stiff and forced; and, in general, 
 a plain native style, as it is more intelligible to all readers, 
 so, by a proper management of words, "it may be made 
 equally strong and expressive with this Latinized English." 
 Barren languages may need such assistance, but ours is 
 not one of these. 
 
 The author is also aware that in the general arrange- 
 ment of his subject there may seem a want of connection; 
 but, as the postal chain is linked to dates, he may be 
 excused if other portions of the work fly off in tangents. 
 This, however, -is owing more to the variety of postal 
 matter introduced than to any neglect on his part to 
 bring them into harmonic action. 
 
 The post-office, dry and uninteresting as its name alone 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 implies, possesses an interest few people are aware. It is 
 not a mere commercial affair, but one th'at connects itself 
 with the interest of every man, woman, and child in the 
 country whose business and sympathies are alike linked 
 to its operations. There is not a country or a spot of 
 ground on the habitable globe where civilization, with its 
 handmaid, intellect, treads, but is identified with this vast 
 postal chain. Touch the wire at one end, and its vibration 
 may tend to enlighten even the land of the heathen. 
 The wire has been touched; for 
 
 "From Greenland's icy mountains, 
 
 From India's coral strand, 
 Where Afric's sunny fountains 
 Koll down their golden sand, 
 From many an ancient river, 
 From many a palmy plain," 
 
 come messages from our missionaries, who are endeavor- 
 ing to extend the cause of Christianity, and which postal 
 facility, the enterprise of civilized nations, affords. 
 
 The author in a great measure had to rely upon his 
 own resources for all the postal information incorporated 
 in this work. The department at Washington and post- 
 offices throughout the country seem to consider the records 
 of the institution not of sufficient importance to be pre- 
 served in such a manner as to make a reference to them 
 an easy matter. 
 
 To M. Hall Stanton, Esq., and Thomas H. Shoemaker, 
 Esq., the author feels highly indebted, not only for the 
 interest they have taken in the work, but for placing at 
 his disposal their valuable libraries and the loan of old 
 and rare works. 
 
 For the valuable statistical tables^ so carefully and so 
 well arranged, giving at a glance the Ledger account of 
 the financial postal department, the author is indebted. to 
 "William Y. McKean, Esq., the able and talented editor of 
 "The National Almanac and Annual Eecord," a work, 
 to use the language of a distinguished public character, 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 "which is a little library in itself, and one which answers 
 nearly all questions on public affairs in a most satisfactory 
 manner." 
 
 To "the press" of our country, which has become its 
 historian, is the author indebted. for much valuable matter 
 connected with the subject of the post. If from these 
 sources he has compiled a work calculated to place the 
 postal department in its proper light and render it in the 
 least instructive or interesting, he will be fully repaid for 
 the labor bestowed upon it. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 THE custom of dedicating works to individuals is of 
 some antiquity, or, at least, as far as the antiquity of 
 book-making extends. At one period it served the double 
 purpose of creating a patron and enlarging the sale of 
 the book. Again, dedications became popular when great 
 men condescended to notice authors and placed their 
 extensive libraries at their disposal. Books published in 
 the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries afford 
 the curious reader rich specimens of this species of lite- 
 rary composition. 
 
 Others, again, dedicated their works to men whose 
 opinions assimilated with their own. Thus, the philoso- 
 pher dedicated his work to one who was considered versed 
 in the mysteries of science; the poet dedicated his effu- 
 sions to an admirer of rhyme; the ,dramatist, to a well- 
 known patron of the stage and of the drama; the painter 
 dedicated his work on art to a connoisseur, one whose 
 skill and judgment in the arts had secured him a "world- 
 renowned reputation." 
 
 In our day and country the sale of a book depends 
 
 9 
 
10 DEDICATION. 
 
 altogether upon its own merits and the honest criticism 
 of the press. Dedications, therefore, are looked upon as 
 one of those liberties an author can take with a friend, 
 and thus bring his name before the public in connection 
 with the work without being accused of selfish or inte- 
 rested motives. 
 
 Just such a liberty the author of this work takes with 
 one whom he is proud to call friend, one whose many 
 amiable qualities endear him to all. It is, therefore, 
 with much pleasure he dedicates this work to 
 
 M. HALL STANTOJV, Esq. 
 of Philadelphia, 
 
 as a memento of friendship and of the many happy hours 
 that friendship has afforded. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. 
 
 PAQB 
 
 POSTS POST-OFFICES, ANCIENT AND MODERN 13 
 
 II. 
 NIHIL SUB SOLE Novi 26 
 
 III. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE MATERIALS OF WRITING, TABLETS, ETC 35 
 
 IV. 
 MESSENGERS, CARRIERS, ETC 49 
 
 V. 
 POST-OFFICES ENGLAND 57 
 
 VI. 
 THE KAFFIR LETTER-CARRIER AFRICAN POST 88 
 
 VII. 
 
 POST-OFFICES THE COLONIES 90 
 
 11 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 PAGH 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA THE OLDEN TIME ,. 102 
 
 IX. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE POSTS, ETC 110 
 
 X. 
 
 REMINISCENCES 156 
 
 XI. 
 POSTMASTERS 187 
 
 XII. 
 PHILADELPHIA 1793 230 
 
 XIII. 
 SPECIAL AGENTS 319 
 
 XIV. 
 MISCELLANEOUS 365 
 
 XV. 
 
 TALES OF THE POST-OFFICE 397 
 
 XVI. 
 ADDENDA... 410 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 FOOT-PKINTS 
 
 OF A 
 
 LETTER-CARRIER 
 
 i. 
 
 " The Post-office is properly a mercantile project. The Government ad- 
 vances the expenses of establishing the different offices, and of buying or 
 hiring the necessary horses or carriages, and is repaid with a large profit 
 by the duties upon what is carried." SMITH'S WEALTH OP NATIONS. 
 
 IN the earlier periods of society, communication between 
 the parts of a country was a rare and difficult undertaking. 
 Individuals at a distance, having little inclination and less 
 opportunity for such intercourse, were naturally satisfied 
 with their limited means of communicating one with 
 another. 
 
 As civilization advanced and trade became a national 
 feature, these communications became more important and, 
 of course, more frequent. Our readers will observe, as we 
 progress in this work, how it assumes at last one of the 
 most important branches of a government. Indeed, this 
 it was destined to become^from the fact that it originated 
 with tbfi people, and their interest made it a part and por- 
 tion of the great postal system. 
 
 Posts and post-offices, as understood in modern parlance, 
 are identified with trade and commerce, and in their connec- 
 tion with letters. The word post, however, was used long 
 
 2 13 
 
14 POSTS POST- OFFICES, 
 
 before post-offices were established, implying a public esta- 
 blishment of letters, newspapers, &c. In the Roman Em- 
 pire, couriers, on swift horses, passed from hand to hand the 
 imperial edicts to every province. Private letters were 
 sent to their destination by slaves, or intrusted to casual 
 opportunities. 
 
 Although we are apt to stigmatize two of the greatest 
 nations of the earth the Greeks and Romans as being 
 uncivilized, and historically termed barbarians, yet were 
 they highly educated in many of the branches of litera- 
 ture, art, and science. The posts were well known among 
 the Romans ; yet is it difficult to trace with certainty the 
 period of their introduction. Some writers carry it back 
 to the time of the Republic, posts and post-offices, under 
 the name of statores and station, having been then, it is 
 said, established by the Senate. Whether this was the case 
 or not, Suetonius assures us that Augustus substituted posts 
 along the great roads of the Empire. At first, the des- 
 patches were conveyed from post to post by young men 
 running on foot and delivering them to others at the next 
 route. Post-horses are mentioned in the Theodosian Code, 
 decursu publico ; but these were only the public horses for 
 the use of the government messengers, who, before this 
 institution was established, seized every thing that came in 
 their way. 
 
 Horace speaks of the post as " means of conveying rapid 
 intelligence." Flying posts in the days of Richard III. 
 were used for military purposes, imparting news of war, 
 victory, &c. " Equi positi" post-horses were common 
 even before the idea of a general postage-system was con- 
 ceived. " Post-haste" is a familiar phrase among the old 
 poets. Drayton says, 
 
 "A herald posted away 
 The King of England to the field to dare." 
 
ANCIENT AND MODERN. 15 
 
 Virgil, in one of his sublime epics, makes use of this ex- 
 pression : 
 
 "Now Jove himself hath sent his fearful mandate through the skies: 
 The post of gods is come !" 
 
 After the introduction of letters and the conveyance of 
 messages, written and printed, the word post was under- 
 stood to mean " to ride or travel with post-horses ;" " with 
 speed or despatch of post-horses." What it means now in 
 such connection can only be explained by calculating the 
 speed of lightning. 
 
 The modern post and post-office form a part and portion 
 of a government, and act in concert with other great agents 
 of civilization in the formation of permanent institutions. 
 
 The post-office is one of those tests by which the pro- 
 gressive prosperity of a country may be ascertained. In 
 this respect, perhaps no other nation in the world presents 
 a more extended view of such progress, in connection with 
 the postal system, than does that of the United States. In 
 the short space of eighty years she has set an example, by 
 the action and the enterprise of her people, to nations who 
 boast of a political and national existence of centuries. 
 
 The literary treasures of England, accumulating from 
 Alfred, Bede, and Chaucer, through a succession of en- 
 lightened ages, swelling up in their onward progress the 
 vast catalogue of science, connecting with their recorded 
 mental wealth the names of men who consecrated with 
 their genius the age in which they flourished, did less 
 for her commercial interest, throughout all those periods, 
 than has the United States in less than fifty years. 
 Enterprise came forth under the light of liberty, and 
 extended its operations to every department of trade, 
 commerce, art, and science. England became alive to the 
 fact that a new people had created and given a living 
 principle to the mechanical workings in the world of 
 
16 POSTS POST- OFFICES, 
 
 trade and commerce. Its operations gave vigor to action, 
 and infused a spirit into merchants and traders which, 
 heretofore, followed in the wake of monarchical follies, 
 
 "As peddlers from town to town." 
 
 We purpose to speak now of the post being a branch 
 of the government, and, in some respects, one of the most 
 important. 
 
 The post-office department should be, but it is not, a 
 social agent. The peculiar character of a republican 
 government is such that the post becomes essentially a 
 great political one. Its connection with an administra- 
 tion is one of the links connecting party with its poli- 
 tical interests, and which becomes broken immediately on 
 the success attending that of a rival. It is rotary in its 
 motion; hence the various changes which necessarily occur 
 at elections have a tendency to retard, rather than ad- 
 vance, the postal system on its road to perfection. Indeed, 
 it is not assuming too much if we say that civil liberty, 
 practically speaking, partly consists in these changes ; for 
 opposition is an essential and vital element of such 
 liberty, and opposition, with these possible changes, would 
 have little or no meaning. If, however, they were limited 
 to the heads of the department, and not extending down 
 to the humblest workers in the office, the evil effects ever 
 attending on such changes would not so materially operate 
 against its interests, and, of course, that of the community. 
 A general sweep of the employees of any one State or govern- 
 ment department makes the whole system a gigantic politi- 
 cal, rather than what it should be, a social, institution. 
 
 In whatever light, however, we view the post-office, it 
 presents to us a subject of the highest interest. Connect 
 it with commerce, and it assumes the power of a " Merlin/ 7 
 whose magic wand, raised in the ages of superstition, 
 astonished the world ! Connect it with the arts, and na- 
 
ANCIENT AND MODERN. 17 
 
 tions are brought together by the mere stroke of the pen ! 
 Associate it with science, religion, in fact, with any of the 
 prominent features which make up civilized life, it becomes 
 at once the great medium through which their mysteries 
 and developments are made manifest to all. 
 
 Viewed historically, we trace the history of the post to 
 Moses, and the peopled countries, even to the children of 
 Canaan, in the swamps of Egypt. We link it with the 
 hieroglyphic, or symbolical, characters of that age, long 
 before Hermes substituted alphabetical signs. We follow 
 it up, through sacred and profane history, to the exclusive 
 royal messengers in Persia mentioned by Herodotus, and 
 the grant of the postal establishment as an imperial fief, 
 made by Charles V. to the princely family of Thurn and 
 Taxis, and from that down to the establishing of that sys- 
 tem which is now followed by all civilized nations. 
 
 The making a branch of a government an hereditary 
 one, particularly that of the postal, could only have ori- 
 ginated under the genial rule of Charles. The family of 
 Thurn and Taxis held the post-office as a fief, given to 
 them by the Emperor Charles V., and they continued to 
 hold it long after the different German States had become 
 independent. Of course, like all such fiefs, (even those of 
 Saxon notoriety,) it became, in time instead of what the 
 true meaning implied, " fealty or fidelity," to " keep and 
 sustain any thing granted and held upon oath, &c." a 
 most vile and corrupt institution.* 
 
 * In 1516 a regular line of posts was established in the Tyrol, connect- 
 ing Germany and Italy, by Roger, Count of Thurn and Taxis. His success- 
 ors received from the Emperor of Germany repeated enfeoffments of the im- 
 perial post, and extended it over the greatest part of Germany and Italy. 
 Venice, Genoa, Leghorn, and Naples were thus connected with Hamburg, 
 Bremen, Lubeck, and Frankfort-on-the-Main ; and the active commerce 
 which had sprung up between these cities became facilitated by such 
 postal advantages as the system afforded. The Counts of Thurn and 
 Taxis retained their postal monopoly till the fall of the German Empire. 
 
 2* 
 
18 THE FIRST RECORDED RIDING-POST. 
 
 THE FIRST RECORDED RIDING-POST. 
 
 The first recorded riding-post was established in 
 Persia, by Cyrus, 599 B. c. Cyrus was the son of Cam- 
 byses, King of Persia, and Mandane, daughter of Astyages, 
 King of the Medes. The history of Cyrus is a lesson 
 worthy to be read by all who can appreciate in one man 
 all those elements which combine to make a great one. 
 He was educated according to the Persian institutions, of 
 which Xenophon gives such glowing accounts. Among 
 the numerous inventions he made and carried into opera- 
 tion, that of the posts and couriers, to facilitate the trans- 
 portation of letters, was probably the most important. 
 He caused post-houses to be built and messengers to be 
 appointed in every province. There were one hundred 
 and twenty provinces. Having calculated how far a good 
 horse with a brisk rider could go in a day, without being 
 spoiled, he had stables built in proportion, at equal dis- 
 tances from each other, . and had them furnished with 
 horses and grooms to take care of them. He likewise 
 appointed a "postmaster," to receive the packets from 
 the couriers as they^ arrived, and give them to others, 
 and to take the horses and furnish fresh ones. Thus, the 
 post went continually, night and day, with extraordinary 
 speed. Herodotus speaks of the same sort of couriers in 
 the reign of Xerxes. He speaks of eleven postal stages, 
 a day's journey distant from one another, between Susa 
 and the .ZEgean Sea.* 
 
 * Ambassadors and heralds those sacred ministers of the kings of 
 Greece in that primitive age of civilization and the cultivation of the 
 arts were the "posts" by which demands were made by one power 
 from another, and redresses and grievances settled. These heralds 
 were equally respected by friends and foes. They travelled in safety 
 through the midst of embattled hosts, proclaimed to the silent war- 
 riors the commissions with which they were intrusted, or demanded, in 
 return, truce, or time to consult and settle disputes, &c. 
 
THE FIRST RECORDED RIDING-POST. 19 
 
 These couriers were called in the Persian language by a 
 name signifying, as near as we can comprehend it, "ser- 
 vice by compulsion." The superintendency of the posts be- 
 came a considerable employment. Darius, the last of the 
 Persian kings, had it before he came to the crown. Xeno- 
 phon notices the fact that this establishment subsisted still 
 in his time, which perfectly agrees with what is related in 
 the book of Esther concerning the edict published by 
 Ahasuerus in favor of the Jews, which edict was carried 
 through that vast empire with a rapidity that would have 
 been impossible without these posts erected by Cyrus.* 
 
 Persia, in some respects, has not kept pace with the pro- 
 gress of other nations, or carried out those plans of govern- 
 ment and schemes which Cyrus originated in his early 
 reign. Traces of a race far more energetic than the pre- 
 sent inhabitants of Persia are found in various parts of the 
 kingdom. The ruins of many ancfent cities scattered over 
 the land are imposing and grand, especially those of Per- 
 sepolis. Next to the pyramids of Egypt and the colossal 
 ruins of Thebes, they have attracted the attention of tra- 
 vellers, and, like them, still remain an enigma, their his- 
 tory, dates, and objects being involved in the gloom of 
 antiquity. These evidences prove the existence of a state 
 of refinement in art in the sixth century, scarcely equalled, 
 certainly not excelled, since, and fully sustain the data 
 given to that wonderful discovery, the establishing the 
 
 * "And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with 
 the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders ou 
 mules, camels, and young dromedaries." Esther viii. 10. 
 
 " There is no doubt every available means of conveyance were adopted 
 to carry these important letters throughout the kingdom, as the great- 
 est speed was needful in the emergency. He sent men on horseback, 
 and upon other creatures as swift as horses, and upon mules, both 
 young and old, according as the places were nearer or farther off. 
 So he ordered the letters to be sent by post." Bp. Patrick. 
 
20 THE FIRST RECORDED RIDING-POST. 
 
 postal system and the first introduction of the "riding- 
 post."* 
 
 In the highest eras of their civilization, neither the 
 Greeks nor the Komans had a public letter-post; though 
 the conveyance of letters is as much a matter of necessity 
 and convenience as the conveyance of persons and mer- 
 chandise. 
 
 There were stationese and mounted messengers, called 
 tabellariij who went in charge of the public despatches; 
 but they were strictly forbidden to convey letters for pri- 
 vate persons. 
 
 In the time of Augustus, post-houses were established 
 throughout the kingdom, and post-horses stationed at 
 equal distances to facilitate the transmission of letters, &c. 
 Under his reign, literature flourished, many salutary laws 
 were established, 3nd he so embellished Rome that he was 
 declared " to have fount! it brick and left it marble." He 
 was born at Rome, B. c. 63, died at Nola in the seventy- 
 sixth year of his age. 
 
 We have alluded to the fact of nations, considerably 
 advanced in civilization at the early period of the world's 
 history, being without a public post for the conveyance of 
 letters. Yet, when we take into consideration that trade and 
 commerce were then in- their infancy, simple messengers 
 only were required. Indeed, letters at that period were 
 only written when great occasions called them forth. 
 What with us is now a pleasure, was with the ancients 
 a task. 
 
 It was not until the year 807 that a postal service was 
 
 * The ruins of the palace of Persepolis are still to be seen near 
 Istaker, on the right bank of the united waters of the Medus and the 
 Araxes. Travellers speak of them with admiration, not unmixed with 
 awe. Many pillars still remain standing, a melancholy monument of 
 the wealth, taste, and civilization of the Persians, and, in this instance, 
 of the barbarian vengeance of the Greeks. 
 
THE FIRST RECORDED RIDING-POST. 21 
 
 established by the Emperor Charlemagne, r-a service which 
 did not survive him. This, however, differed very little 
 from that which was framed by Cyrus. 
 
 The first actual letter-post system, connecting countries 
 together by communications, furthering the cause of trade 
 and commerce, and established to facilitate the conveyance 
 of letters throughout the commercial world, originated in 
 the manufacturing and business districts of the " Hanse 
 Towns." The confederacy was established in 1169. 
 
 So early as the thirteenth century this federation of the 
 republics required constant communication with each other ; 
 and it became almost a necessity of their existence that 
 some letter-post system should be established. 
 
 The society termed the "Association of the Hanse- 
 towns," is better known in history under the name of 
 " The Hanseatic League." It consisted chiefly of mer- 
 chants, men who had brought commerce to all the perfec- 
 tion it was capable of acquiring at that period, which may 
 justly be termed the dawn of our great commercial history. 
 It was under this league the banking system, exchanges, 
 and the principles of book-keeping, with double entries, 
 and various other practices which facilitate and secure 
 commercial intercourse, originated. We speak here of the 
 banking system only. Banks existed long prior to this 
 date, but in a very different form. Those of the ninth 
 century were literally " benches," from the custom of the 
 Italian merchants exposing money to lend on a " banco," 
 or bench, or tables. 
 
 The towns of the " Hanseatic League" were originally 
 a confederacy united in an alliance for the mutual sup- 
 port and encouragement of their commerce. Perhaps the 
 world's history does not present an example so fraught 
 with interest to the commercial world than that which 
 was here furnished. Industry, application, a union of 
 interests, combined with a general knowledge of trade and 
 
22 THE FIRST RECORDED RIDING-POST. 
 
 commerce, the league soon became the wonder of sur- 
 rounding nations, who not only imitated its example, but 
 followed its precepts. It was under its dynasty the postal 
 system was established and communications of post-routes 
 opened with all the towns. In proportion as the reputa- 
 tion, opulence, and forces of the league subsequently 
 changed to " The Hanseatic Confederacy" increased, there 
 were few towns of note in Europe that were not associated 
 with it. Thus, France furnished to the confederacy Rouen, 
 St. Malo, Bordeaux, Bayonne, and Marseilles. Spain: 
 Cadiz, Barcelona, and Seville. Portugal : Lisbon. Italy 
 and Sicily : Messina, Leghorn, and Naples. Russia : Novo- 
 gorod. Norway : Bergen, &c. Lastly, England furnished 
 London to this celebrated association, whose warehouses 
 and factories were the wonder and the admiration of the 
 commercial world.* As we have said, it was under this 
 league the first practical post system was established ; and 
 its legitimate object and purpose was only interfered with 
 when it became subject to a higher power. 
 
 This great commercial league fully sustained the opinion 
 at least entertained at that period that " Commerce 
 alone is sufficient to insure greatness." Subsequent events, 
 arising out of the political elements of a country, afford 
 convincing proofs that something more substantial than 
 commerce is requisite to maintain the independence of any 
 nation. This, however, is a question which involves that 
 of the laws of nations and the ethics of political economy. 
 Mr. Oddy ascribes the downfall of the Hanse Confederacy 
 to their becoming warlike, and preferring political import- 
 ance to wealth obtained by their original modes. It is, 
 however, probable that no system of policy, either com- 
 mercial or political, however wise or moderate, could have 
 
 * See Oddy's European Commerce ; Anderson's History of Commerce, 
 and Historical Disquisitions of India. 
 
THE FIRST RECORDED RIDING-POST. 23 
 
 prevented the wars in which the Hanseatic League were 
 involved. They stood on the defensive against their hos- 
 tile neighbors, whose envy and jealousy were excited by 
 the showy wealth of these cities. If commerce, therefore, 
 brought on these wars, and defeated the great object of the 
 league, it is evident that something more powerful than 
 commercial sway was necessary to keep it in contact with 
 the agricultural and political interests of the nation.* 
 
 The combination of agriculture, manufactures, and com- 
 merce is no doubt the true cause of greatness, the opu- 
 lence and power of those nations who study the interest 
 of each alike. It ought therefore to be the policy of the 
 rulers to guard the progress of these great branches with 
 the same fostering care and protection, to encourage one 
 without depressing the other ; and to watch their reciprocal 
 bearings, connection, and affinity, that the general interest 
 may be promoted and the resources consolidated into a 
 mass of strength adequate or superior to the power of 
 their enemies. The United States has not lost sight of 
 this fact ; and hence every department of its great interests 
 is alike defended, protected, and encouraged. We may 
 have wars; but they will never arise from our neglect of 
 any one particular branch of the government, or of its 
 source of revenue. 
 
 Perhaps no city in the world presented a greater 
 display of wealth than did that of Bruges in the year 
 1301. She was one of the cities of the confederacy. 
 It contained in that year sixty-eight companies of 
 traders and artificers, while its citizens rivalled many 
 of the European monarchs in their sumptuous mode of 
 living. Some idea of their splendor may be formed from 
 the following anecdote, recorded by Dr. Robinson in his 
 "Historical Disquisitions," who relates that, in the year 
 
 * Dr. James Mease. 1811. 
 
24 THE FIRST RECORDED RIDING-POST. 
 
 1301, Joanna of Navarre, the wife of Philip the Fair, of 
 France, having been some days in Bruges, was so much 
 struck with the splendor of the city and its grandeur, as 
 well as the rich and costly dresses of the " citizen's wives," 
 that she was moved by female envy to exclaim with indig- 
 nation, " I thought that I had been the only queen here ; 
 but I find that there are many hundreds more." 
 
 The Hanse Towns had attained the summit of their 
 power in 1428; but they began to decline the moment 
 they became warlike, thus neglecting their great commer- 
 cial power, wealth, and influence. The rise of Holland 
 accelerated their decline ; and the general attention which 
 other nations began to pay to manufactures and commerce, 
 by distributing them more generally and equally amongst 
 the people in different parts of Europe, destroyed that 
 superiority which they had so long enjoyed. 
 
 The number and variety of the military undertakings 
 in which the Hanse Towns embarked, contributed more 
 powerfully, perhaps, than any of the causes above specified 
 to accelerate their ruin. A general jealousy was raised; 
 and the kings of France, Spain, and Denmark, and several 
 States of Italy, forbid their towns to continue members of 
 the confederacy. Upon this, the Teutonic Hanse Towns 
 restricted the confederacy to Germany. About the middle 
 of the seventeenth century the confederacy was almost 
 wholly confined to the towns of Hamburg, Lubeck, and 
 Bremen. They retained the appellation of the Hanseatic 
 Towns, and claimed their former privileges, among which 
 their postal system was included. Under the appellation 
 of the Hanse Towns they were recognized at the peace of 
 Utrecht, in 1715, and at the Definite Treaty of Indemnity, 
 in 1805, almost the last moment of their political exist- 
 ence.* 
 
 * Historical Sketch of the Progress of Trade (1811). 
 
THE FIRST RECORDED RIDING-POST. 25 
 
 The first serious blow struck the postal system was that 
 which it received from the Emperor Maximilian. He 
 established a post between Austria and Normandy, and, 
 as a sort of retaliatory measure, made it an espionage over 
 his subjects through the medium of their correspondence, 
 and also for the purpose of enriching himself by the 
 profits of the enterprise. Fortunately, however, for the 
 cause of justice and of letters, Maximilian died before he 
 had inflicted this great wrong on the people to any extent. 
 He died January 12, 1519. 
 
 Having brought the reader to this point of our postal 
 history, it may not be out of place before we reach the 
 fifteenth century when it assumed a very different aspect 
 to give some account of the earlier history of art, pastoral 
 life, language, writing materials, letters, &c v more or less 
 connected with our subject. 
 
26 NIHIL SUB SOLE NOVL 
 
 II. 
 
 $ tit 
 
 " There is nothing new under the sun." " There "is no new thing/' says 
 Solomon, "under the sun." 
 
 We cannot speak of any thing, either of a useful or 
 ornamental character, but we invariably cast our eyes over 
 the ages of the world and trace up, or rather back, to its 
 earliest period, their very origin. There is scarcely an art 
 or a science of which we boast now but owes its existence 
 to the past ages. We have the proofs on their paintings, 
 their mechanics, their arts, and sciences: these are the 
 evidences to prove how far they had advanced in know- 
 ledge before the world's revolutions cast them back again 
 to ignorance and gloom. With the downfall of cities 
 crumbling away under the fiat of the Almighty, or swal- 
 lowed up by earthquakes went the genius of ages ; and 
 from their ruins and the debris of classic temples came 
 those traces of high art of which no other living evidences 
 bore witness. The secret went down amid their tottering 
 ruins, and left to after-ages the simple task of imitating 
 their monumental sculptured beauties and fresco painting 
 on the shattered walls of their ruined temples. 
 
 Well, then, may we exclaim with Solomon, 
 
 "There is no new thing under the sun." 
 
 George R. Gliddon, in his great work of "Ancient 
 Egypt," speaking of the state of the arts in the earliest 
 ages of Egyptian history, says: 
 
 " Will not the historian deign to notice the prior origin 
 of every art and science in Egypt a thousand years before 
 
NIHIL SUB SOLE NOVL 27 
 
 the Pelasgians studded the isles and capes of the Archi- 
 pelago with their forts and temples, long before Etruscan 
 civilization had smiled on Italian skies ? And shall not the 
 ethnographer, versed in Egyptian lore, proclaim the fact 
 that the physiological, craniological, capillary, and cuticular 
 distinctions of the human race existed on the distribution 
 of mankind throughout the earth?" 
 
 Philologists, astronomers, chemists, painters, architects, 
 physicians must return to Egypt to learn the origin of 
 language and writing ; of the calendar and solar motion ; 
 of the art of cutting granite with a copper chisel and 
 giving elasticity to a copper sword; of making glass with 
 the variegated hues of the rainbow; of moving single 
 blocks of polished sienite 900 tons in weight for any dis- 
 tance by land and water; of building arches, round and 
 pointed, with masonic precision unsurpassed at the present 
 day, and antecedent, by 2000 years, to the " Cloaca Magna" 
 of Rome; of sculpturing a Doric column 1000 years 
 before the Dorians are known in history; of fresco painting 
 in imperishable colors; and of practical knowledge in 
 anatomy. 
 
 "Every craftsman can behold in Egyptian monuments 
 the progress of his art 4000 years ago ; and, whether it be 
 a wheelwright building a chariot, a shoemaker drawing 
 his twine, a leather-cutter using the self-same form of a 
 knife of old as is considered the best form now, a weaver 
 throwing the same hand-shuttle, a whitesmith using that 
 identical form of blowpipe but lately recognized to be the 
 most efficient, the seal-engraver cutting in hieroglyphics 
 such names as Shooph's above 4300 years ago, or even 
 the poulterer removing the pip from geese, all these and 
 many more astounding evidences of Egyptian priority 
 now require but a glance at the plates of Rosellini." 
 
 Perhaps the post-office, being a more modern invention, 
 the result of man's progress, and its use essential to his 
 
28 PASTORAL LIFE. 
 
 present wants and governmental requirements, claims 
 more originality than many of those inventions which a 
 ruder state of society devised. And yet even here we 
 actually owe to those ages much of the material which 
 makes up our great postal superstructure. We learned 
 from tnem how messengers, couriers, and the transmitting 
 of letters formed an important part of their social system, 
 and how it ultimately grew into a political one, under 
 kings and emperors, through all subsequent ages. 
 
 PASTORAL LIFE. 
 
 "Nothing great, nothing useful, nothing high and ennobling, nothing 
 worthy of man's nature, of his lofty origin and ultimate exalted destiny has 
 ever been accomplished but by toil; by diligent and well-directed effort, by 
 the busy hand guided in its effort by the wise, thoughtful, hard-workimg 
 brain." Anon. 
 
 When God said, "Let there be light: and there was 
 light," it was not the mere flash of the brightness of 
 heaven over the earth, but a light that was to be as lasting 
 as creation itself. 
 
 Every thing that sprung up from the earth in its order 
 and beauty received the spirit of a new life from this holy 
 and divine light. And when man in the image of his 
 Maker stood in the Garden of Eden, there shone around 
 him another light, an emanation from God himself. Mind 
 intellect power ! 
 
 Man was the pioneer of the science of government. 
 Deity planned it, and, as the crowning work of his 
 creation, said: 
 
 "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and 
 let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the 
 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, 
 and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." 
 
 As the earth became peopled the wants of man called 
 forth all those energies requisite to sustain life by labor or 
 
PASTORAL LIFE. 29 
 
 otherwise; and these brought forth the mind's attributes 
 combined, and the world became a mirror reflecting Him 
 who created it. 
 
 Pastoral life, in the early ages of the world's history, 
 afforded in itself the means of providing for the wants of 
 man. This led to the cultivation of the soil and the raising 
 of cattle. 
 
 Before the flood, Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Jabez 
 was the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle. 
 Then came trades and professions. These led to art, art to 
 science; and, as their numbers increased, they soon found 
 that their sources from which they derived their subsist- 
 ence the spontaneous fruits of the earth and the flesh of 
 wild animals killed in the chase were insufficient to 
 maintain them. Hence they were obliged to have recourse 
 to other means. Property being established and ascer- 
 tained, men began to exchange one rude commodity for 
 another. While their wants and desires were confined 
 within narrow bounds, they had no other idea of traffic 
 but that of simple barter. The husbandman exchanged a 
 part of his harvest for the cattle of the shepherd; the 
 hunter gave the prey which he had caught at the chase for 
 the honey and the fruits which his neighbor had gathered 
 in the woods. Thus, commercial intercourse began and 
 extended throughout the community. It reached still 
 farther. It passed in its onward career from city to ity, 
 and from kingdom to kingdom, till at last it comprehended 
 and united the remotest regions of the earth. 
 
 Then came trades and professions. These led to art, art 
 to science, and science to the highest degree of knowledge 
 the human mind is capable of attaining. Men became 
 great: greatness led to power, power to rule and govern. 
 The combining of all these elementary steps led to the 
 creation of kings, emperors, and lords. Then followed 
 the division of classes. The phases of human intellect 
 
 3* 
 
30 LANGUAGE. 
 
 harmonized the whole system of rule, and men acknow- 
 ledged in time the one great axiom, that " Knowledge is 
 power." 
 
 As language, writing, and writing-materials are all, 
 more or less, connected with any subject identified with 
 the welfare, the interest, and honor of a nation, as well 
 as of mankind, they will not be considered out of place 
 if alluded to here in connection with the subject of this 
 work. First : 
 
 LANGUAGE. 
 
 Blair, in his introduction to his Lectures on Rhetoric, 
 speaking of language, says : " One of the most distin- 
 guished privileges which Providence has conferred upon 
 mankind is the power of communicating their thoughts to 
 one another. Destitute of this power, reason would be a 
 solitary and, in some measure, an unavoidable principle. 
 Speech is the great instrument by which man becomes be- 
 neficial to man; and it is to the intercourse and trans- 
 mission of thought, by means of speech, that we are 
 chiefly indebted for the improvement of thought itself." 
 
 Tooke, in one of his admirable golden sentences, says : 
 " The first aim of language was to communicate our 
 thoughts ; the second, to do it with dispatch." 
 
 " And all the worlde was of one tongue and one lan- 
 guage." Bible, 1551, Gen. xi. 
 
 Language came into the world along with all things 
 that had life. It was the voice of nature speaking through 
 things animate, giving form and harmony to objects ani- 
 mate as well as inanimate ; and all of which, as soon as 
 created, God pronounced good. 
 
 Flowers had their language, and there was music in the 
 spheres. Trees murmured through their deep forest-home 
 long before the woodman's axe stripped them of their 
 mode of expressing their wild seolian sounds to each other. 
 
LANGUAGE. 31 
 
 And there was language in waterfalls, mountain cataracts, 
 as well as music in the sound, though expressed in 
 thunder-tones ; and, as the spirit of Deity passed over the 
 earth, all living things found tongue, thought, expression, 
 and the human voice syllabled the words and commands 
 of its Maker. Language, therefore, is a divine institu- 
 tion. 
 
 Horace, Pliny, Juvenal, and others, held the opinion 
 that it was a divine institution, and only reached its pre- 
 sent state after a long and gradual improvement of the 
 human family. 
 
 Many of the ancient philosophers and poets believed 
 that men were originally " a dumb, low herd." 
 
 " Mutum et turpe pecus." 
 
 Lord Monboddo who, in his work on " the Origin of 
 Language," labors to prove that man is but a higher spe- 
 cies of monkey thinks that originally the human race 
 had only a few monosyllables, such as, Ha, he, hi, ho, 
 by which, like beasts, they expressed "certain emotions. 
 Others, again, assert that the early races were in all things 
 rude and savage, totally ignorant of the arts, unable to 
 communicate with each other, except in the imperfect 
 manner of beasts, and sensible of nothing save hunger, 
 pain, and similar emotions. Cicero, alluding to the human 
 race in primeval ages, says : 
 
 "There was a time when men wandered everywhere 
 through life after the manner of beasts, and supported 
 themselves by eating the food of beasts. Fields and 
 mountains, hills and dales were alike their homes." 
 
 Rousseau represents men as originally without language, 
 as unsocial by nature, and totally ignorant of the ties of 
 society. He does not, however, seek to explain how lan- 
 guage arose, being disheartened at the outset by the diffi- 
 culty of deciding whether language was more necessary for 
 
 OFTHE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
32 LANGUAGE. 
 
 the institution of society, or society for the invention of 
 language. 
 
 Language is beyond doubt a divine institution, in- 
 vented by Deity, and by him made known to the human 
 race. If language was devised by man, the invention 
 would not have been at once matured, but must have 
 been the result of the necessities and experience of success- 
 ive generations. Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden, 
 spoke a language the purity of which continued until its 
 final disruption at the building of the Tower of Babel. 
 
 What language is more beautiful and expressive than 
 that of the Hebrew ? It is the language of Deity, and 
 it pleased our Lord Jesus to make use of it when he spake 
 from heaven unto Paul. 
 
 There are said to be no less than 3425 known languages 
 in use in the world, of which 937 are Asiatic, 588 Euro- 
 pean, 276 African, and 1624 American languages and 
 dialects. 
 
 By calculation from the best dictionaries, for each of the 
 following languages there are about 20,000 words in the 
 Spanish, 22,000 in the English, 38,000 in the Latin, 
 30,000 in the French, 45,000 in the Italian, 50,000 in the 
 Greek, and 80,000 in the German. 
 
 In the estimate of the number of words in the English 
 language it includes, of course, not only the radical words, 
 but also derivatives, except the preterites and participles 
 of verbs ; to which must be added some few terms which, 
 though set down in the dictionaries, are either obsolete or 
 have never ceased to be considered foreign. Of these 
 about 23,000, or nearly five-eighths, are of Anglo-Saxon 
 origin. 
 
 The alphabets of different nations contain the following 
 number of letters : English, 26 ; French, 23 ; Italian, 
 20; Spanish, 27; German, 26; Sclavonic, 27; Russian, 
 
LANGUAGE. 33 
 
 41; Latin, 22; Hebrew, 22; Greek, 24^* Arabic, 28; 
 Persian, 32 ; Turkish, 33 ; Sanscrit, 50 ; Chinese, 214. 
 
 Anthony Brewer (1617) thus characterized those best 
 known : 
 
 " The ancient Hebrew, clad with mysteries ; 
 The learned Greek, rich in fit epithets, 
 Blest in the lovely marriage of pure words ; 
 The Chaldean wise ; the Arabian physical ; 
 The Roman eloquent ; the Tuscan grave ; 
 The braving Spanish, and the smooth-tong'd 
 French." 
 
 ' The Hebrew language and letters are derived from the 
 Phoenician, since Tyre, Sidon, &c. were distinguished 
 cities in the age of Moses and Joshua. Even Abraham 
 lived in their territory. 
 
 Sanscrit is the basis of Hindoo learning, and said to be 
 the first character. 
 
 The most ancient Arabic, called Kufick, so named from 
 Kufa, on the Euphrates, and not now in use. The 
 modern Arabic was invented by the Vizier Moluch, A. D. 
 933, in which he wrote the Koran. 
 
 Armenian is used in Armenia, Asia Minor, Syria, Tar- 
 tary, &c. It approaches the Chaldean or Syriac, and the 
 Greek. 
 
 Chaldean, Phoenician, or Syriac, ascribed to Adam, 
 Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Moses, is the same as the 
 Hebrew. 
 
 The Coptic is an alphabet so called from Coptos in 
 Egypt, a mixture of Greek and Egyptian. 
 
 * To Cadmus, who founded the kingdom of Thebes [1448 B.C.], is 
 ascribed the introduction of alphabetical writing into Greece. At least 
 sixteen letters of their alphabet claim him as the author. But as the 
 order, names, and form of the characters greatly correspond with the 
 Phoenician, it seems very probable that the Greek letters were formed 
 from them, and that Cadmus did not invent, but copy them. 
 
34 LANGUAGE. 
 
 Ethiopic, or Abyssinian, is derived from the Samaritan, 
 or Phoenician. 
 
 The Etruscan was the first alphabet used in Italy, and 
 so called from the Etrusci, the most ancient inhabitants. 
 
 Gothic : the most ancient characters under this name are 
 attributed to Bishop Ulphilas. 
 
 Cadmus, the Phoenician, introduced the first Greek al- 
 phabet into Boaotia, where he settled B.C. 1500; though 
 Diodorus says the Pelasgian letters were prior to the Cad- 
 mean. 
 
 The Greeks called the Phoenicians Pelasgu quasi Pelagi, 
 because they traversed the ocean and carried on commerce 
 with other nations. 
 
 Scaliger supposes the Phoenician to have been the ori- 
 ginal Hebrew character, otherwise the Samaritan, which 
 is generally supposed to be that which was used by the 
 Jews from the time of Moses to the Captivity. 
 
 The alphabet of the Sanscrit is called the devanagari. 
 
 The Oriental alphabets are the Hebrew, ancient and 
 modern ; Rabbinical ; Samaritan, ancient and modern ; 
 Phoenician ; Egyptian hieroglyphic ; Chinese characters. 
 
 The Irish alphabet is the Phoenician. 
 
ORIGIN OF WRITING-MATERIALS. 35 
 
 III. 
 
 THE art of writing is very ancient. Its origin is 
 actually lost in the distance of time. From one point, 
 however, this side of the gulf of lost ages, in which 
 high art perished, and with it the key to all its antedilu- 
 vian greatness, we date our history. 
 
 The Bible gives us the earliest notice on the subject that 
 is anywhere to be found. The most ancient mode of 
 writing was on cinders, on bricks, and on tables of stone; 
 afterwards on plates of various materials, on ivory and 
 similar articles. One of the earliest methods was to cut 
 out the letters on a tablet of stone. Moses, we are told, 
 received the two tables of the Covenant on Mount Sinai, 
 written with the finger of God; and before that, Moses 
 himself was not ignorant of the use of letters.* [Exodus 
 xxiv. 4; xvii. 14.] A learned writer says: "In Genesis 
 v. 1, 'This is the book of the generations of Adam/ 
 reference is made to the book of genealogy; whence it 
 irresistibly follows that writing must have been in use 
 among the antediluvian patriarchs; and, under the view 
 that writing was a divine revelation, the same almighty 
 
 . * And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like 
 unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in 
 the first tables, which thou brakest. Exodus xxxiv. 1. 
 
 In the ark of the covenant, so carefully preserved by the Jews, was 
 Moses required to put the two tables of stone on which the Ten Com- 
 mandments were written with the finger of God. We are expressly told 
 that the ark contained nothing besides these tables. Aaron's rod, the 
 pot of manna, and the copy of the law were by, but not within the ark. 
 1 Kings viii. 9. 
 
36 ORIGIN OF WRITING-MATERIALS. 
 
 power that, according to the preceding proposition, in- 
 structed Moses, could have equally vouchsafed a similar 
 inspiration to any patriarch from Adam to Noah. Nor 
 does it seem consistent with the merciful dispensation 
 which preserved Noah's family through the grand cata- 
 clysm, and had condescended, according to the biblical 
 record, to teach him those multitudinous arts indispensably 
 necessary to the construction of a vessel destined to pass 
 uninjured through the tempests of the Deluge, that the 
 Almighty, by withholding the art of writing, should have 
 left the account of antediluvian events to the vicissitudes of 
 oral tradition, or denied to Noah's family the practice of this 
 art, which, it is maintained, was conceded first to Moses." 
 
 It is said that " Moses was learned in all the wisdom of 
 the Egyptians." The five books of Moses carry with 
 them internal evidence, not of one sole, connected, and 
 original composition, but of a compilation by an inspired 
 writer from earlier annals. The genealogical tables and 
 family records of various tribes that are found embodied 
 in the Pentateuch, bear the appearance of documents 
 copied from written archives. We have the authority of 
 Genesis v. 1 for asserting the existence of a book of gene- 
 alogies in the time of Noah; and a city mentioned by 
 Joshua was named in Hebrew " Kirjath Sefer," " The City 
 of Letters." It is impossible to prove that letters were 
 unknown before Moses ; and the Hebrews of his day 
 appear to have had two distinct modes of writing the 
 characters of which, in one case, were " alphabetic" and in 
 the other "symbolic" The inscription on the ephod itself, 
 is said Exodus xxviii. 36 to have been written in cha- 
 racters " like the engravings of a signet." 
 
 The materials and instruments with which writing 
 was performed were, in comparison with our pen, ink, 
 and paper, extremely rude and unwieldy. One of the 
 earliest methods was to cut out the letters on a tablet of 
 
ORIGIN OF WRITING-MATERIALS. 37 
 
 stone. Another was to trace them on unbaked tiles, or 
 bricks, which were afterwards thoroughly baked or burned 
 with fire. When the writing was wanted to be more 
 durable, lead or brass was employed. In the book of Job, 
 mention is made of writing on stone. It was on tablets 
 of stone that Moses received the law written by the finger 
 of God himself. Tablets of wood were frequently used 
 as being more convenient. Such was the writing-table 
 which Zacharias used. [Luke i. 63.] Cedar was pre- 
 ferred as being more incorruptible; from this custom 
 arose the celebrated saying of the ancients, when they 
 meant to give the highest eulogium of an excellent work, 
 et cedro digna loGuti, that it was worthy to be written on 
 cedar. These tablets were made of the trunks of trees. 
 The same reason which led them to prefer the cedar to 
 other trees, induced them to write on wax, which is incor- 
 ruptible. Men used it to write their testaments, in order 
 better to preserve them. Thus, Juvenal says, cereus implere 
 capaces. The leaves and, at other times, the bark of 
 different trees were early used for writing. From the 
 thin films of bark peeled off from the Egyptian reed 
 papyrus which grew along the Nile, a material was formed 
 in latter times answering the purpose much better. It 
 bore the name of the reed, papyrus, or, in our language, 
 paper. Long afterwards its name passed to a different 
 material, composed of linen or cotton, which has taken 
 place of all others in the use of civilized countries, and is 
 called to this day paper. Paper made of cotton was in 
 use in 1001; that of linen rags in 1319.* 
 
 * Meerman, well known as a writer upon the antiquities of printing, 
 offered a reward for the earliest manuscript upon linen paper ; and, in a 
 treatise upon the subject, fixed the date of its invention between 1270 
 and 1300. But Mr. Schwandner, of Vienna, is said to have found in 
 the imperial library a small charter bearing the date of 1243 on such 
 paper. But more than one Arabian writer asserts the manufacture of 
 
38 THE PEN. 
 
 "The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the 
 brooks, .... shall wither, be driven away, and be no more." 
 Isaiah xix. 7. 
 
 Pliny, speaking of the papyrus, says : 
 
 "Before we depart out of Egypt, we must not forget 
 the plant papyrus, but describe the nature thereof, con- 
 sidering that all civilitie of life, the memoriall, and im- 
 mortalitie also of men after death consisteth especially in 
 paper which is made thereof. M. Varro writeth that the 
 first invention of making paper was devised upon the 
 conquest of -ZEgypt, achieved by Alexander the Great, at 
 what time as he founded the city of Alexandria in .ZEgypt, 
 where such paper was first made." Holland, Plinie, b. 
 xiii. c. 21. 
 
 We have alluded to the barks of trees being used. The 
 thin peel which is found between the second skin of a tree 
 was called liber, from whence the Latin word, liber, a 
 book; and we have derived the name of library and libra- 
 rian in the European language, and in the French their 
 livre for book. 
 
 TH E PEN. 
 
 The instruments employed by the ancients for making 
 the letters on their tablets was a small, pointed piece of 
 iron, or some other hard substance, called by the Romans 
 a style: hence a man's manner of composition was figura- 
 tively called his style of writing. The use of the word 
 still continues, though the instrument has long since passed 
 away 
 
 Style derives its name from stylus, Latin, as also from a 
 Greek word, columna, an instrument with a point. 
 
 linen paper to have been carried on at Samarcand early in the eighth 
 century, having been brought thither from China; and, what is more 
 conclusive, Casiri positively declares many manuscripts in the Escurial 
 of the eleventh and twelfth centuries to be written on this substance. 
 Bibliotheca Hispanica Arabica, t. 11, p. 9. 
 
PENCILS. 39 
 
 Reeds formed into pens were used to trace the letters 
 with ink of some sort after the fashion that is now com- 
 mon; or else they were painted with a small brush, as 
 was probably the general custom at first. Pens made of 
 quills were not in use until the fifth century. The oldest 
 certain account of writing with quills is a passage of Isi- 
 dore, who died in 636, and who, among the instruments 
 of writing, mentions "reeds and feathers." In the same 
 century a small poem was written on a pen, which is to 
 be found in the works of Althelmus. He died in 709. 
 
 "We annex the following as giving a poetical original of 
 the pen : 
 
 "Love begg'd and pray'd old Time to stay 
 
 While he and Psyche toyed together ; 
 Love held his wings : Time tore away, 
 
 But in the scuffle dropp'd a feather. 
 Love seized the prize, and with his dart 
 
 Adroitly work'd to trim and shape it, 
 Psyche, though 'tis pain to part, 
 
 This charm shall make us half escape it. 
 Time need not fear to fly too slow 
 
 When he this useful loss discovers, 
 A pen's the only plume I know 
 
 That wings her pace for absent lovers." 
 
 PENCILS. 
 
 The ancients drew their lines with leaden styles ; after- 
 wards a mixture of tin and lead fused together was used. 
 The mineral known under the name of plumbago is sup- 
 posed to have been first employed for the purpose of 
 drawing in the fifteenth century. In 1565, an old author 
 notes that people had pencils for writing which consisted 
 of a wooden handle, in which was a piece of lead; and a 
 drawing is given of the pencil as an object of curiosity. 
 They continued to be uncommon for upwards of a century, 
 when we hear them spoken of being enclosed in pine or 
 cedar. 
 
40 THE SCRIBE. 
 
 THE SCRIBE. 
 
 "Scribe was a name which, among the Jews, was applied to two sorts of 
 officers. 1. To a civil: and so it signifies a notary, or, in a large sense, any 
 one employed to draw up deeds and writings. 2. This name signifies a 
 church officer, one skillful and conversant in the law to interpret and explain 
 it." Sortth. vol. iv. ser. 1. 
 
 The word scribe is derived from the Latin, scrib-ere, 
 which has the same meaning as "schrabben" (Dutch), to 
 scrape or draw a style, or pen, over the surface of paper 
 or parchment. 
 
 The name, however, was given to such as excelled in 
 the use of the pen, and who were likewise distinguished 
 in other branches of knowledge. It came in time to mean 
 simply a learned man; and, as the chief part of learning 
 among the Jews was concerned with the sacred books of 
 Scripture, the word signified especially one "who was 
 skilled in the law of God" one whose business it was, not 
 merely to provide correct copies of its volume, but also to 
 explain its meaning. Thus, Ezra is called "a ready scribe 
 of the law of Moses." Ezra vii. 6. 
 
 Before the introduction of types, books were written 
 generally upon skins, linen, cotton-cloth, or papyrus: 
 parchment in later times was most esteemed. The busi- 
 ness of the scribes was to make duplicate copies of these 
 books, which, when completed, the leaves were pinned 
 together so as to make a single long sheet. This was then 
 rolled round a stick: hence books of every description 
 or size were called "rolls;" our word volume means just 
 the same thing in its original signification. 
 
 " Volumed in rolling masses." 
 
 In the time of our Saviour the scribes formed quite a 
 considerable class in society. Many of them belonged to 
 the sanhedrim, or chief council, and are therefore fre- 
 quently mentioned in the New Testament with the elders 
 and chief priests. See Luke v. 17, x. 25; Matthew xxiii. 
 2; Matthew ii. 4, also xiii. 52; and Mark xii. 35. 
 
INK INK-HORNS. 41 
 
 ANCIENT INK. 
 
 The ink used by the ancients appears to have been what 
 is termed in art a " body color," or a more solid medium 
 than is at present used, and similar to what is used by the 
 modern Chinese. 
 
 Subsequently, lamp-black, or the black taken from 
 burnt ivory, and soot from furnaces and baths, according 
 to Pliny and others, formed the basis of the ink used by 
 old writers. 
 
 It has also been conjectured that the black liquor of the 
 scuttle-fish was frequently employed.* Of whatever ingre- 
 dients it was made, it is certain, from chemical analysis, 
 from the blackness and solidity in the most ancient manu- 
 scripts, and from inkstands found at Herculaneum, in 
 which the ink appears like thick oil, that the ink then 
 made was much more opaque, as well as encaustic, than 
 what is used at present. Inks red, purple, and blue, and 
 also gold and silver inks were much used; the red was 
 made from vermilion, cinnabar, and carmine; the purple 
 from the murex, one sort of which, named the purple 
 encaustic, was set apart for the sole use of the emperors. 
 Golden ink was used by the Greeks much more than by 
 the Romans. The manufacture of both gold and silver 
 ink was an extensive and lucrative business in the Middle 
 Ages. Another distinct business was that of inscribing 
 the titles, capitals, as well as emphatic words, in colored 
 and gold and silver inks. 
 
 INK-HORNS. 
 
 The ink-horns were sometimes made of lead, sometimes 
 of silver, and were generally polygonal in their form. 
 
 * The scuttle-fish emits a liquid strongly resembling ink. 
 
 4* 
 
42 HIEROGLYPHICAL WRITING. 
 
 HIEROGLYPHICAL WRITING. 
 
 The remote antiquity of hieroglyphical writing may be 
 inferred from the fact that it must have existed before the 
 use of the solar month in Egypt, " which," says Gliddon, 
 " astronomical observations on Egyptian records prove to 
 have been in use at an epoch close up to the Septuagint 
 era of the Flood." From Egyptian annals we may .glean 
 some faint confirmation of the view that they either pos- 
 sessed the primeval alphabet, or else they rediscovered its 
 equivalent from the mystic functions and attributes of the 
 " two Thoths," the first and second Hermes, both Egyp- 
 tian mythological personages, deified as attributes of the 
 Godhead. 
 
 To " Thoth," Mercury, or the first Hermes, the Egyp- 
 tians ascribed the invention of letters. 
 
 The first attempts of " picture-writing" were to imitate 
 certain images, each representing a word or letter. Draw- 
 ing, therefore, was the most natural medium; and the 
 study of representing things pictorially became popular 
 and the only mode of communication. 
 
 The true origin of alphabetical writing has never 
 been traced ; but that of the Egyptians has been proved 
 by the Comte de Caylus to be formed, as stated above, 
 of hieroglyphical marks, adopted with no great variations.* 
 "We find," says Warburton, "no appearance of alpha- 
 betical writing or characters on their public monuments." 
 
 This, however true at the time he wrote, cannot now be 
 asserted ; since the celebrated Rosetta stone, in the British 
 Museum, is engraved with three distinct sets of characters, 
 Greek, Egyptian, and a third resembling what are called 
 hieroglyphics. The only doubt that can be entertained 
 is, whether these are strictly hieroglyphics, that is, re- 
 presentations of things, or rather an alphabetical cha- 
 racter peculiar to the priesthood, and called hierograin- 
 
HIEROGLYPHWAL WRITING. 43 
 
 tnatics. 1. The existence of this sacred alphabet is 
 attested by Herodotus, Diodorus, and several other 
 writers. 2. It went occasionally under the name of hie- 
 roglyphic, as appears not only by the passage quoted 
 above from Manetho, if we do not alter the text, but 
 from one in Porphyry, which may be found in Warbur- 
 fcon. 3. It was, however, considered as perfectly distinct 
 from the genuine hieroglyphic, w.hich was always under- 
 stood to denote things, either by mere picture-writing, 
 or, more commonly, by very refined allegory. 4. Works 
 of a popular and civil nature were written in this cha- 
 racter, as we learn from Clement of Alexandria ; whereas 
 the genuine hieroglyphic was exceedingly secret and mys- 
 terious, and the knowledge of it confined to the priest- 
 hood. 5. The inscription upon the Rosetta stone is said, 
 in the terms of the decree contained in it, to be written in 
 the sacred, national, and Greek characters. 6. It could 
 not be a mysterious character, such as the genuine hiero- 
 glyphic seems to have been, because it was exposed to 
 public view with a double translation. 7. It occupies a 
 considerable space upon the stone, although an indefinite 
 part of it is -broken off; although the real hieroglyphic, 
 as is natural to emblematic writing, appears to have 
 been exceedingly compendious. 8. The characters do not 
 appear to be very numerous, as they recur in various 
 combinations of three, four, or more, as might be expected 
 from the letters of an alphabet. But this argument we do 
 not strongly press, because our examination has not been 
 very long. It appears to hold out a decisive test, and we 
 offer it as such to the ingenuity of antiquaries. 
 
 Upon these grounds we think that the characters upon 
 the Rosetta stone, which are commonly denominated hie- 
 roglyphics, are in fact the original alphabetic characters 
 of the Egyptians, from which the others have probably 
 been derived by a gradual corruption through haste in 
 
44 EIEROGLYPHICAL WRITING. 
 
 writing. They are, however, in one sense, hieroglyphics, 
 being tolerably accurate delineations of men, animals, and 
 instruments. If we are right in our conjectures, the 
 value of the Rosetta stone is incomparably greater than 
 has been imagined. We have no need of hieroglyphics: 
 Roman and Egyptian monuments are full of them. But 
 a primitive alphabet, probably the earliest ever formed in 
 the world, and illustrating an important link in the 
 history of writing, the adaptation of signs to words, 
 is certainly a discovery very interesting to any philoso- 
 phical mind. Through what steps the analysis of arti- 
 culate sound into its constituent parts was completed if 
 we can say that it ever has been completed so as to esta- 
 blish distinct marks for each of them, and whether these 
 marks were taken at random, or from some supposed ana- 
 logy between the simple sounds they were brought to re- 
 present and their primary hieroglyphical meaning, are ques- 
 tions which stand in need of solution.* 
 
 The Rosetta stone is the only one yet discovered, being 
 no doubt the pioneer to many more that may yet be un- 
 earthed. The importance of this stone its inscription 
 indicating the probability of its supplying a key to the 
 deciphering of the long-lost meanings of Egyptian hiero- 
 glyphics "was immediately," says Gliddon, in his Lec- 
 tures on Ancient Egypt, " perceived by the learned, who in 
 vain endeavored to trace the analogy between symbolical 
 and alphabetical writing. Its arrival in London excited 
 the liveliest interest in all those who had devoted them- 
 selves to Egyptian archaeology ; and the attention of the 
 
 * The Rosetta stone, or rather a fragment of it, was discovered by a 
 French officer of engineers, Mons. Bouchard, in August, 1799, when 
 digging the foundations of Fort St. Julien, erected on the western 
 bank of the Nile, between Rosetta and the sea, not far from the mouth 
 of the river. It was deposited in the British Museum in 1802. 
 
HIEROGLYPHICAL WRITING. 45 
 
 greatest scholars of the age was directed tojts critical in- 
 vestigation. (See Gliddon's work on Ancient Egypt.) 
 
 Any one who will examine the hieroglyphical alphabet 
 closely will discover a most extraordinary coincidence- in 
 that of the symbolical writing of our North American 
 Indians, specimens of which are in the museum at Wash- 
 ington City. A war despatch, giving an account of one 
 of their expeditions, has the same emblematical figures as 
 has that of the Egyptians as used 1550 B.C. 
 
 There are also among other tribes many remarkable 
 similarities, and analogous with Egyptian symbolical 
 writings, which strengthen the supposition that the Indians 
 of North America are one of the lost tribes of Israel. Nor 
 is it alone the mere words which these signs and figures 
 convey, but certain traits of character in their habits and 
 customs as compared with the ancients. (See Isaiah xi. 
 11-15.) 
 
 The Indians have a tradition among them to this effect : 
 "that nine parts of their nation out of ten passed over a 
 great river." They also have traditions of the " Flood," 
 " a good book," " Tower of Babel," " dispersion of the 
 Jews," and the " confounding of language." It is related 
 by Father Charlevoix, the French historian, that the 
 Hurons and Iroquois in their early day had a tradition 
 among them that the first woman came from heaven and 
 had twins, and that the elder killed the younger. In 
 1641 an old Indian woman stated that this tradition 
 among her tribe was that the Great Spirit had killed 
 his brother. This is evidently a confusion of the story 
 of Cain and Abel. Still, the tradition is remarkable 
 from the fact that this, as well as the others alluded to, 
 existed long before the discovery of this continent. 
 
 The Ottawas say that there are two great beings 
 who rule and govern the universe, and who are at war 
 with each other. The one they call "Mameto" the other 
 
46 HIEROGLYPHICAL WRITING. 
 
 " Matchernaneto." There is a wonderful, or rather, we 
 should say, a remarkable, resemblance between the lan- 
 guage of the Creek Indians with that of the ancient 
 Hebrew ; for instance : " Y He Howa" means Jehovah ; 
 "Halleluwah," hallelujah; "Abba," in Creek, has the 
 same meaning as " Abba" in Hebrew ; " Kesh," kesh ; 
 "Abe," Abel; "Kenaaj," Canaan; " Awah," Eve, or 
 Eweh ; " Korah," Cora ; " Jennois," Jannon, both literally 
 meaning, " He shall be called a son." There is more in 
 these similarities than can be attributed to mere chance. 
 
 Any one at all familiar with hieroglyphical writing 
 need only to examine the Indian characters upon buffalo 
 and other skins received in trade from the Indians to 
 trace, as it were, a distinct line from that most ancient 
 school of designing figures to suit expression and lan- 
 guage, down to these tribes, who may well be called the 
 descendants of the " remnant of" God's people, who were 
 scattered over the lands of Egypt and the " islands of the 
 sea," in the time of Isaiah. 
 
 In the Ambrosian Library at Milan there are to be 
 seen Mexican hieroglyphics, painted in Mexico upon 
 buck-leather, and were presented to the Emperor Charles 
 V. by Ferdinand Cortez. These hieroglyphics are now 
 as little understood as are those of Egypt, although both are 
 now gradually yielding to the mind's influence in their 
 development. Impressions of these were taken on copper 
 from fac-similes in the possession of Humboldt. 
 
 Perhaps the first real step made into the hieroglyphical 
 arcana may be dated from 1797, when the learned Dane, 
 George Zoega, published at Rome his folio " De Origine 
 et lisa Obeliscorum," explanatory of the Egyptian 
 Obelisks. (G. R. Gliddon.) 
 
THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES. 47 
 
 THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES THE CONFOUNDING 
 OF LANGUAGES. 
 
 One of the most remarkable passages in Holy Writ 
 is that which speaks of the confounding of language. 
 " And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they 
 have all one language. Let us go down, and there con- 
 found their language, that they may not understand one 
 "'another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from 
 thence upon the face of the earth, and they left off to build 
 the city. 7 ' 
 
 The name of it was called " Babel" (confusion), from the 
 Hebrew. The consequence of this eternal fiat, which went 
 forth like a flash of lightning, was, that the people became 
 as strangers to each other, and spoke a language wild and 
 chaotic. Gesticulation took the place of words ; and hence 
 their punishment for daring to contest power with their 
 Creator. 
 
 The building of the Tower of Babel was an act of 
 Nimrod's, who "esteemed it a piece of cowardice to sub- 
 mit to God ;" and he urged the people on to build this 
 tower, saying, He would be revenged on God if he should 
 ever have a mind to drown the world again ; for that he 
 would build it so high the waters could not reach it. The 
 place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon. 
 From this date may be ascribed the history of languages. 
 It is supposed, however, that Noah and other pious per- 
 sons, chiefly the descendants of Shem in the line of Eber, 
 not being concerned in this project, retained the original 
 language. Now, if this was, as it is highly probable, the 
 Hebrew, we may conclude it was thus called from Eber, 
 to whose descendants it was peculiar; and perhaps this is 
 the most satisfactory reason that can be assigned why 
 Abraham is called the Hebrew and his posterity Hebrews. 
 
 It was not, however, the mere confusion of tongues 
 
48 THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES. 
 
 which rendered the people incapable of conversing one 
 with another, but it was the extraordinary miracle con- 
 nected with it of the mind's confusion. Incapable, there- 
 fore, of bringing their original language back to its former 
 use, they invented new languages, new phrases; and thus 
 in time every great nation had its own language. The 
 dividing of languages was therefore the dividing of 
 nations. The precise number of original languages then 
 heard for the first time cannot be determined. The 
 Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Teutonic, Sclavonian, Tartarian, 
 and Chinese languages are considered to be original : the 
 rest are only dialects from them. 
 
 * History is silent on the early data of the building of the 
 Tower of Babel; nor is one of its builders' names men- 
 tioned, except the somewhat obscure intimation respecting 
 Nimrod.* 
 
 Babylon subsequently became the head-quarters of 
 idolatry, and the type of the "mystical Babylon," the 
 mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. 
 
 The glory of Babylon departed. Its walls of sixty miles 
 in circumference, eighty-seven feet thick and three hun- 
 dred and fifty feet high, built of brick and containing 
 twenty-five gates of solid brass and two hundred and fifty 
 towers, are now the wonder of men who gaze upon the 
 debris of "splendor in ruins." 
 
 The ruins of "Birs Nimrod," on an elevated mount, 
 are supposed to be the Tower of Babel of the sacred Scrip- 
 tures, and the temple of Belus, so minutely described by 
 Herodotus. The base of this tower measures two thousand 
 and eighty-two feet in circumference. Babylon was in its 
 glory in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. It was besieged 
 and taken by Cyrus B. c. 538, and afterwards by Alex- 
 ander the Great. 
 
 * Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, book 1, chap. iv. 
 
MESSENGERS, CARRIERS, ETC. 49 
 
 IV. 
 
 "The eye is a good messenger, 
 Which can to the heart in such manner 
 Tidings send as can ease it of its pain." 
 
 CHAUCER. 
 
 THERE are so many beautiful passages both in sacred 
 and profane history alluding to messengers, in connection 
 with our subject, that there is no doubt but as civilization 
 progressed the word and its meaning laid the foundation 
 for the many improvements which are to be found in our 
 present postal system, a system which now connects all 
 nations together by a letter-line mode of communication. 
 
 There is a beautiful passage in Holy Writ from which, 
 figuratively, we date the origin of first carrier or mes- 
 senger: it is that of the dove that went forth from the 
 ark. "And the dove came in to him in the evening, and, 
 lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked oif : so Noah 
 knew that the waters were abated from off the earth." 
 
 THE RETURN OF THE DOVE. 
 
 "There was hope in the ark at the dawning of day, 
 When o'er the wide waters the dove flew away; 
 But when ere the night she came wearily back 
 With the leaf she had pluck'd on her desolate track, 
 The children of Noah knelt down and adored, 
 And utter'd in anthems their praise to the Lord. 
 Oh, bird of glad tidings! oh, joy in our pain! 
 Beautiful Dove, thou art welcome again." 
 
 MAC KAY. 
 
 The name of messenger is derived from the Latin word 
 missaticum, and this from missus, one sent. The old 
 
 5 
 
50 THE CARRIER-PIGEON. 
 
 French mes was applied both to the message and the 
 messager. 
 
 "But eare he thus had say'd, 
 With flying speede and seeming great pretence, 
 Came running in, much like a man dismay'd, 
 A messenger with letters, which his message say'd." 
 
 SPENSER. 
 
 Gower, the poet of the fourteenth century, says : 
 
 " The raynbow is hir messager e" 
 
 Angels are called "winged messengers." 
 
 "The angels are still dispatched by God upon all his 
 great messages to the world, and, therefore, their very 
 name in Greek signifies a messenger" South, vol. viii. 
 ser. 3. 
 
 Milton also thus beautifully alludes to the angel mes- 
 sengers : 
 
 "For will deign 
 
 To visit the dwellings of just men 
 Delighted, and with frequent intercourse 
 Thither will send her winged messengers 
 On errands of supernal grace. 
 
 Carriers, in connection with letters, are modern append- 
 ages to the post-office, and now form one of its most im- 
 portant branches. They are indeed welcome messengers. 
 
 " The very carrier that comes from him to her is a most 
 welcome guest; and if he bring a letter she will read it 
 twenty times over." Burton. 
 
 THE CARRIER-PIGEON. 
 
 The first mention we find made of the employment of 
 pigeons as letter-carriers is by Ovid, in his "Metamor- 
 phoses," who tells us that Taurosthenes, by a pigeon stained 
 with purple, gave notice of his having been victor at the 
 Olympic Games on the very same day to his father at 
 JEgina. 
 
THE CARRIER-PIGEON. 51 
 
 Goldsmith, in his "Animated Nature/' says: "It is 
 from their attachment to their native place, and particu- 
 larly where they have brought up their young, that these 
 birds (pigeons) are employed in several countries as the 
 most expeditious carriers." 
 
 When the city of Ptolemais, in Syria, was invested by 
 the French and Venetians, and it was ready to fall into 
 their hands, they observed a pigeon flying over them, and 
 immediately conjectured that it was charged with letters 
 to the garrison. On this the whole army raising a loud 
 shout, so confounded the poor aerial post that it fell to the 
 ground ; and, on being seized, a letter was found under its 
 wings from its Sultan, in which he assured the garrison 
 that "he would be with them in three days with an army 
 sufficient to raise the siege." For this letter the besiegers 
 substituted another to this purpose: "that the garrison 
 must see to their own safety ; for the Sultan had such other 
 aifairs pressing him it was impossible for him to come to 
 their succor;" and with this false intelligence they let the 
 pigeon flee on his course. The garrison, deprived by this 
 decree of all hopes of relief, immediately surrendered. The 
 Sultan appeared on the third day, as promised, with a 
 powerful army, and was not a little mortified to find the 
 city already in the hands of the Christians. 
 
 In the East the employment of pigeons in the convey- 
 ance of letters is still very common, particularly in Syria, 
 Arabia, and Egypt. Every bashaw has generally a basket- 
 ful of them sent him from the grand seraglio, where they 
 are bred, and, in case of any insurrection or other emergency, 
 he is enabled, by letting loose two or more of these extra- 
 ordinary messengers, to convey intelligence to the govern- 
 ment long before it could be possibly obtained by other 
 means. 
 
 The diligence and speed with which these feathered 
 messengers wing their course is extraordinary. From the 
 
52 THE CARRIER-PIGEON. 
 
 instant of their liberation their flight is directed through 
 the clouds at an immense height to the place of their des- 
 tination. They are believed to dart onward in a straight 
 line, and never descend except when at a loss for breath; 
 and then they are to be seen commonly at dawn of day 
 lying on their backs on the ground, with their bills open, 
 sucking with hasty avidity the dew of the morning. Of 
 their speed the instances related are almost incredible. 
 
 The Consul of Alexandria daily sends despatches by 
 these means to Aleppo in five hours, though couriers 
 occupy the whole day, and proceed with the utmost expe- 
 dition from one town to the other. 
 
 Some years ago a gentleman sent a carrier-pigeon from 
 London, by the stage-coach, to his friend in St. Edmunds- 
 bury, together with a note desiring that the pigeon, two 
 days after their arrival there, might be thrown up precisely 
 when the town-clock struck nine in the morning. This 
 was done accordingly, and the pigeon arrived in London 
 and flew to the Bull Inn, Bishopsgate Street, into the 
 loft, and was there shown at half an hour past eleven 
 o'clock, having flown seventy-two miles in two hours and 
 a half. 
 
 Carrier pigeons were again employed, but with better 
 success, at the siege of Leyden, in 1675. The garrison 
 were, by means of the information thus conveyed to them, 
 induced to stand out till the enemy, despairing of reducing 
 the place, withdrew. On the siege being raised, the Prince 
 of Orange ordered that the .pigeons which had rendered 
 such essential service should be maintained at the public 
 expense, and at their death they should be embalmed and 
 preserved in the town-house as a perpetual token of grati- 
 tude. 
 
 .At Antwerp, in 1819, one of the thirty-two pigeons 
 belonging to that city, which had been conveyed to Lon- 
 don and there let loose, made the transit back being a 
 
LETTERS. 53 
 
 distance in a direct line of one hundred and eighty miles 
 in six hours. 
 
 It is through the attachment of the animals to the place 
 of their birth, and particularly to the spot where they 
 had brought up their young, that they are thus rendered 
 useful to mankind. 
 
 When a young one flies very hard at home, and is come 
 to its full strength, it is carried in a basket or otherwise 
 about half a mile from home and there turned out; after 
 this it is carried a mile, two, four, eight, ten, twenty, &c., 
 till at length it will return from the furthermost parts of 
 the country. 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 The word letter is derived from the Latin "litera" of 
 which Yossius has not decided its etymology, perhaps, 
 from litum, past participle of linere, to smear, as one of 
 the oldest modes of writing was by graving the characters 
 upon tablets smeared over or covered with wax. From 
 this word comes that of letters; and, as they are more im- 
 mediately connected with our subject, we incline to the 
 opinion of Pliny that the word linere, to smear, is by far 
 the most truthful definition. In this respect that of 
 " smearing" it has lost nothing of its original character, 
 if we were to judge from the appearance of many letters 
 daily passing through the post-office. 
 
 "Smeared o'er with wax" would not cause any great 
 surprise to a modern post-office clerk if a letter presented 
 itself with this only on it ; but when in addition he could 
 scarcely read the name through the mists of blotted ink and 
 bad spelling, we venture to say he would endorse Pliny's 
 opinion, above that of all others, without the least hesita- 
 tion. 
 
 An Oriental scholar, speaking upon the subject of writing 
 as connected with the ancients, makes use of this language : 
 " The origin of the art of writing loses itself among the 
 
 5* 
 
54 THE FIRST LETTER-WRITERS. 
 
 nebulous periods of man's primeval history. With the 
 original ethnographic varieties of the human species, the 
 primitive distribution of mankind, the patriarchal foun- 
 tains of a once-pure religion, and the earliest sources of 
 the diversity of language, must be associated the first deve- 
 lopments of this art which, from the remotest periods, has 
 enabled man to record his history, and to overcome space 
 and time in the transmission of his thoughts." 
 
 Symbolical or hieroglyphic writing is also very ancient. 
 It was the ancient style of writing among the Egyptians. 
 They were also termed "sacred sculptured characters," 
 which was the original or, rather, monumental method. 
 The hieratic or sacerdotal was used by the scribes and 
 priests in literary pursuits prior to 1500 B.C. 
 
 There is a beautiful conceit of Lord Bacon's, " lAterce 
 Vocales" (vocal letters), the designation given by that phi- 
 losopher to the popular lawyers of the House of Commons 
 in the reign of James I., meaning those lawyers who were 
 bold enough to speak their minds and to stand up for the 
 rights of their constituents. 
 
 Words, however, will pass away and be forgotten ; but 
 that which is committed to writing will remain as evidence ; 
 for then you have them in " black and white." 
 "Litera scripta manet." 
 
 THE FIRST LETTER-WRITERS. 
 
 Jezebel, it seems, was the first or, at least, we believe 
 the first that is mentioned in the Bible as a letter-writer : 
 " So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them 
 with his seal, and sent the letters unto tlte elders and to 
 the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth."- 
 1 Kings xxi. 8. 
 
 For fear a wrong construction should be put upon this 
 act of Jezebel, and the cause of letters affected thereby, it 
 may be well to state that she was allowed to do so by him, 
 
SOLOMON TO KING HIRAM. 55 
 
 and that his name and seal were to be used as she pleased. 
 She, however, used both for a bad purpose: hence the 
 name of Jezebel is synonymous with deceit and treachery. 
 
 Letter-writing is also alluded to in Nehemiah ii. 7 : 
 " Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let 
 letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that 
 they may convey me over till I come into Judah." Also, 
 in Esther i. 22 : " For he sent letters into all the king's 
 provinces, into every province according to the writing 
 thereof, and to every people after their language, that every 
 man should bear rule in his own house ; and that it should 
 be published according to the language of every people." 
 
 Hiram, King of Tyre, when he heard that Solomon 
 succeeded to his father's kingdom, was very glad of it; for 
 he was a friend of David's. So he sent ambassadors to 
 him, and saluted him, and congratulated him on the pre- 
 sent happy state of his affairs. Upon which, Solomon 
 sent an epistle, the contents of which here follow : 
 
 SOLOMON TO KING HIRAM. 
 
 " Know thou that my father would have built a temple 
 "to God, but was hindered by wars and ^continual expedi- 
 " tions ; for he did not leave off to overthrow his enemies 
 "till he made them all subject to tribute. But I give 
 " thanks to God for the peace I at present enjoy, and on 
 " that account I am at leisure and design to build a house 
 " to God ; for God foretold to my father that such a house 
 " should be built by me. Wherefore I desire thee to send 
 " some of thy subjects with mine to Mount Lebanon, to 
 " cut down timber ; for the Sidonians are more skillful than 
 " our people in cutting of wood. As for wages to the 
 " hewers of wood, I will pay whatsoever thou shalt deter- 
 " mine." 
 
 When Hiram had read this epistle he was pleased with 
 it, and wrote back this answer : 
 
56 HIRAM TO KING SOLOMON. 
 
 HIRAM TO KING SOLOMON. 
 
 " It is fit to bless God that he hath committed thy father's 
 " government to thee, who art a wise man and endowed 
 " with all virtues. As for myself, I rejoice at the condi- 
 " tion thou art in, and will be subservient to thee in all 
 " that thou sendest to me about ; for when by my subjects 
 " I have cut down many trees of cedar and cypress wood, 
 " I will send them to sea, and will order my subjects to make 
 " floats of them, and to sail to what place soever of thy 
 "country thou shalt desire, and leave them there; after 
 " which, thy subjects may carry them to Jerusalem. But 
 " do thou take care to procure us corn for this timber, which 
 " we stand in need of because we inhabit an island."* 
 
 Josephus says : " The copies of these epistles remain at 
 this day, and are preserved not only in our books, but 
 among the Tyrians also." They were at that period 
 among the records in the city of Tyre. Other epistles are 
 also there recorded, among which were those written by 
 Xerxes, King of the Persians, to Ezra; Artaxerxes to the 
 Government of Judea ; Antiochus the Great to Ptolemy 
 Epiphanes ; and of the Samaritans to Antiochus, Alexan- 
 der Balas to Jonathan, Onias to Ptolemy and Cleopatra, 
 and many others.f 
 
 * These epistles of Solomon and Hiram are those in 1 Kings v. 3-9, and 
 in 2 Chronicles ii. 3-16. 
 
 f Letters were generally in the form of rolls, round a stick, or, if a 
 long letter, round two sticks, beginning at each end and rolling them 
 until they met in the middle. Books of every size were called rolls. Our 
 word volume means just the same thing in its original signification. 
 Jer. xxxvi. 2 ; Ps. xl. ; Isa. xxxiv. 4. The roll, book, or letter was 
 commonly written on one side: that which was given to Ezekiel, in 
 vision, was written on both, within and without. Ezek. ii. 10. Letters 
 then, as is the custom in the East at present, were sent in most cases 
 without being sealed ; while those addressed to persons of distinction 
 were placed in a valuable purse, or bag, which was tied, closed over 
 with clay or wax, and so stamped with the writer's signet. The Roman 
 scrinium, or book-case, a very costly cabinet, shows how these rolls were 
 preserved. They were put in lengthwise, and labeled at top. 
 
POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 57 
 
 V. 
 
 THE history of the English post-office affords but little 
 interest to the general reader beyond that which its statis- 
 tics and geographical calculations afford. It is, however, a 
 history that goes hand in hand with its trade and commerce ; 
 and whatever improvements have been made upon its past 
 history are owing altogether to the enterprise of those who 
 are identified with those branches of the world's great 
 business. 
 
 It is not the statesman or the politician who originates, 
 but the mechanic, the farmer, and the merchant. The 
 former are the aristocrats of society ; the latter, the work- 
 ers, the very bone and sinew of a government. 
 
 It is to the farmer, the artisan, and the merchant that 
 art and science are indebted to their position among the 
 most brilliant things of earth. It is to them that com- 
 merce owes wings to fly to the remotest parts of the civil- 
 ized world, laden with the handiwork of art and the 
 richness of a nation's growth. Society becomes more dig- 
 nified, man more ennobled. It is to this power that kings, 
 emperors, and lords owe their positions ; for one word 
 from that class will bring the loftiest head to the block, 
 if by word or action the attempt should be made to lessen 
 or destroy that power which elevated him or them to 
 eminence. 
 
 The commercial power of England is its rule, and to it 
 that nation owes all its present greatness. The politics of 
 England is its disgrace; its commerce, its honor. The 
 king and Parliament are at the head of the one, the 
 hewers of wood and drawers of water at that of the other. 
 
58 POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 
 
 We have already alluded to the postal system organized 
 by the Emperor Charlemagne in the year 807. Yet in 
 China posts had existed from the earliest times. These 
 were called Jambs, and were established at a distance from 
 each other of twenty-five miles. This mode of conveying 
 letters was by horses; and it is stated by Marco Polo, the 
 Venetian traveller, that there were frequently as many as 
 three or four hundred horses in waiting at one of these 
 places. He also states that there were ten thousand sta- 
 tions of this kind in China, some of them affording sump- 
 tuous accommodation to travellers. Two hundred thou- 
 sand horses are said to have been engaged in the service. 
 
 Louis XI. first established post-houses in France. 
 Post-horses and stages were first introduced into England 
 in 1483. 
 
 The mounted posts in France were stationed at dis- 
 tances of four miles apart, and were required to be 
 ready day and night to carry government messages as ra- 
 pidly as possible. Private correspondence, however, was 
 carried on very differently. The students of a university 
 in Paris established a postal institution in the eleventh 
 century. A number of pedestrian messengers were em- 
 ployed, who bore letters from its thousands of students to 
 the various countries of Europe from which they came, 
 and brought to them the money they needed for the pro- 
 secution of their studies. 
 
 The great development of commerce following the Cru- 
 sades, and the geographical discoveries of the Italians, 
 Portuguese, and Spaniards, created a necessity for a more 
 extended business-correspondence about the beginning of 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 In Peru, in 1527, the Spanish invaders found a regular 
 system of posts in operation along the great highway from 
 Quito to Cuzeo, and messages as to the progress of the 
 invasion, as well as on other subjects, were forwarded to the 
 
POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 59 
 
 Inca by fleet-footed runners, who wound, around their 
 waists the quipu, a species of sign-writing, by means of 
 knotted cord. 
 
 In Sierra Leone they have what is termed the " Kaffir 
 letter-carrier," who immediately on the arrival of a vessel 
 takes charge of the letters ; and, although it should be 
 late at night, he starts on his mission into the settlement, 
 and actually arouses the sleepers with his cry of, " Ah, 
 massa, here de right book come at last !" The Kaffir car- 
 ries his letters in a split stick, which he thrusts under your 
 very nose as he approaches with his welcome document. 
 He is one of those rare letter-carriers who never tires, nor 
 complains of making too many trips a day. 
 
 The regular riding-post system owes its origin to Ed- 
 ward IV. This answered not only the demands of the 
 government, but those of merchants, traders, and others. 
 The former had, however, what were termed "govern- 
 ment messengers," whose business was more particularly 
 to summon the barons, sheriffs, and other officers. Heralds 
 are not to be confounded with these messengers, as they 
 were more identified with the military than with the civil 
 power. 
 
 In the reign of Henry I. messengers were first perma- 
 nently employed by the king 
 
 "Messengers lie sent throughout England." 
 
 In the reign of King John, messengers were called the 
 " nuncii :" subsequently they became attached to the royal 
 palace, and wore the king's livery, as- in the reign of 
 Henry III. Several private letters are in existence, 
 dating as far back as the reign of Edward II., which bear 
 the appearance of having been carried by the nuncii of 
 that period, with " Haste, poste, haste !" written on the 
 back. 
 
 Little or no improvement was made in England in the 
 
60 POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 
 
 postal system until about the end of Queen Elizabeth's 
 reign. Even then it simply corrected some of the abuses 
 of the old system, by establishing what was called " Mas- 
 ter of the Postes." 
 
 Some idea may be formed of the limited character of 
 this department of her majesty 's service, when we state 
 that before her death the expenses of the post did not ex- 
 ceed .5000 per annum. Previous to this estimate, how- 
 ever, the expenses were considerably larger, owing to the 
 careless manner, as well as the extravagance, of those hav- 
 ing charge of it. 
 
 The reign of Elizabeth was more distinguished for its 
 number of great men in the world of letters than for almost 
 any other characteristic feature. The names of these have 
 been handed down to us, identified with literature in all its 
 various branches, statesmen, warriors, divines, scholars, 
 poets, and philosophers. Among them we find the names 
 of Raleigh, Drake, Coke, Hooker, and others of higher 
 sounding and more frequently quoted, Shakspeare, Sidney, 
 Bacon, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, men " whose 
 fame has been eternized in her long and lasting scroll, and 
 who by their words and acts were benefactors of their 
 country and ornaments of human nature." 
 
 Although an age of letters, the commercial interest was 
 not neglected. Still, that attention was not paid to the 
 merchant's demands for new laws and regulations which 
 the increasing business demanded : hence there arose a dif- 
 ficulty in the postal system, which was more immediately 
 identified with their interests. 
 
 In the early part of the queen's reign, disputes were fre- 
 quent with the foreign merchants resident in London, with 
 regard to the foreign post, which up to this reign they 
 had been allowed to manage among themselves. In 1558, 
 the queen's council of state issued a proclamation "for 
 the redress of disorders in postes which conveye and bring 
 
POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 61 
 
 to and out of the parts beyond the seas, pacquets of let- 
 ters." 
 
 This system a system which the very spirit of trade 
 should rise up against was done away with, and the sole 
 authority was given to the " Master of the Postes," who, 
 therefore, took charge of the foreign office. The title of 
 his office was changed, in consequence, to that of " Chief 
 Postmaster." Thomas Randolph was the first Chief Post- 
 master in England. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that during all these periods 
 of English history the " common people" held little or no 
 communication with each other : hence their correspond- 
 ence was very limited. Few of them could read or write. 
 Palmers, nay, even wandering gipsies, were not unfrequently 
 the " common people's" post. The former, particularly, 
 were trusted with letters and packets for the " gentry." 
 
 Under the Stuarts a regular system of post was esta- 
 blished, the benefits of which were to be shared by all who 
 could find the means. Even then England was behind 
 the other European nations in establishing a public letter- 
 post. Still, it was a vast improvement on those of the pre- 
 ceding reigns.* 
 
 In 1632, Charles I. approved of William Frizell and 
 Thomas Witherings, to whom the office had been assigned 
 by Lord Stanhope under James I. 
 
 These two gentlemen, as the head of the post-depart- 
 ment, gave general satisfaction, and tended much to satisfy 
 those who had just reason to complain of the system as 
 heretofore conducted. 
 
 1635. Till this time there had been no certain and 
 constant intercourse between England and Scotland. 
 
 * The mail was carried on horseback with the ancient pack-saddle, 
 vulgarly called "saddle-bags." In passing along, he announced his 
 approach by blowing a "ram's horn." 
 
 6 
 
62 POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 
 
 Thomas Witherings, his majesty's Postmaster of England 
 for foreign parts, was now commanded "to settle one or 
 two posts, to run day and night between Edinburg and 
 London; to go thither and come back again in six days; 
 and to take with them all such letters as shall be directed 
 to any post-town on the same road; and the posts to be 
 placed in several places out of the road, to run and bring 
 and carry out of the said roads the letters as there shall be 
 occasion, and to pay twopence for every single letter under 
 fourscore miles ; and if one hundred and forty miles, four- 
 pence ; and if above, then sixpence. The like rule the king 
 is pleased to order to be observed to Westchester, Holyhead, 
 and from thence to Ireland; and also to observe the like 
 rule from London to Plymouth, Exeter, and other places 
 in that road; the like from Oxford, Bristol, Colchester, 
 Norwich, and other places. And the king doth command 
 that no other messenger, foot-posts, shall take up, carry, 
 receive, or deliver any letter or letters whatsoever, other 
 than the messengers appointed by the said Thomas With- 
 erings, except common known carriers or particular mes- 
 sengers to be sent on purpose with a letter to a friend." 
 Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 104. 
 
 It will be observed, by those who are acquainted with 
 the business of the postal department, that the above 
 forms the groundwork of that gigantic institution which, 
 linking itself with those of other nations, encircles the 
 whole civilized world, 
 
 After undergoing many and various changes, it became, 
 under the Protectorate, a sort of convenience for Cromwell 
 and his council, who, taking advantage of its immense 
 power, made it subservient to the interests of the com- 
 monwealth. One of the peculiar features which it as- 
 sumed under Cromwell's rule was that " it might be made 
 the agent in discovering and preventing many wicked 
 designs which have been and are daily contrived against 
 
POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 63 
 
 the peace and welfare of this commonwealth, the intelli- 
 gence whereof cannot well be communicated except by 
 letters of escript." 
 
 A system of espionage was thus established which no one 
 having the interest of the nation and people at heart 
 could consistently subscribe to. But Cromwell's rule was 
 based on fanaticism: hence those leading principles, the 
 result of a long and religious study, and which made up 
 the business character of England before he gained the 
 right to rule, were all swallowed up in the vortex of his 
 own created revolutions. 
 
 At'the Restoration the system became adapted to the 
 more enlightened intellect of the people, and various 
 changes took place, which gave universal satisfaction. 
 These were made in the reign of Charles II. 
 
 Two years before the death of this monarch the first 
 penny post in England was established (1683). 
 
 This establishment was originated by one Murray, an 
 upholsterer, and it was afterwards assigned to Mr. William 
 Docwray, whose name long subsequently figured in post- 
 office annals. The penny post was found to be a decided 
 success. No sooner was this fact made apparent, than the 
 Duke of York, on whom and his heirs male in perpetuity 
 the entire revenue of the post-office had been settled by 
 stat. 15 Car. II. c. 14, complained that this post was an 
 infraction of his monopoly. 
 
 In 1685, Charles II. died, and, the Duke of York suc- 
 ceeding his brother, the revenues of the post-office reverted 
 to the crown. Throughout the reign of James II. the 
 receipts of the post-office went on increasing, though no 
 great improvements were made in the administration. It 
 was this bigoted king who commenced the practice of 
 granting pensions out of the post-office revenues. The 
 year after he ascended the throne he granted .4700 a year 
 to Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, one of his 
 
64 POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 
 
 brother's many mistresses, to be paid out of the post-office 
 receipts. It is a curious and disgraceful fact that this 
 pension is still paid to the Duke of Grafton as her living 
 representative. The Earl of Rochester was allowed a 
 pension of 4000 a year from the same source. These 
 pensions were paid during the reign of William and Mary, 
 and the following pensions were added : 
 
 Duke of Leeds , 3500 
 
 Duke of Schomberg 4000 
 
 Lord Keeper 2000 
 
 William Docwray, 1698 500 
 
 Among the post-office pensions granted in subsequent 
 reigns, Queen Anne gave one, in 1707, to the Duke of 
 Maryborough and his heirs of <5000. The heirs of the 
 Duke of Schomberg were paid by the post-office till 1856? 
 when about $20,000 were advanced to redeem a fourth 
 part of the pension, the burden of the remaining part 
 being then transferred to the Consolidated Fund. There 
 was, it must be admitted, some semblance of reason in 
 giving Docwray a pension, for he had claims as founder 
 of the district post or the penny post; but he only held 
 his pension for four years, losing both his emoluments and 
 his office in 1698, when charges of gross mismanagement 
 were brought against him. Some of the charges alleged 
 are curious. It was stated that he stopped " under spetious 
 pretences most parcells that are taken in, which is a great 
 damage to tradesmen, by loosing their customers or spoil- 
 ing their goods, and many times hazard the life of the 
 patient when physick is sent by a doctor or apothecary." 
 
 Ten years after the removal of Docwray from his office, 
 another rival to the government department sprung up, in 
 the shape of a half-penny post. The scheme, established 
 by a Mr. Povey, never had a fair trial. 
 
 The first act for establishing a general post-office in all 
 her majesty's dominions was the 9th Anne, c. 10. This 
 
POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 65 
 
 act, which remained long in force, was the, foundation of 
 all subsequent legislation. By its provisions a general 
 post and letter office was established in London for Great 
 Britain, Ireland, North America, the West Indies, or any 
 other of her majesty 's dominions, or any country or king- 
 dom beyond the seas. To this end chief offices were 
 established in Edinburgh, at Dublin, at New York, and 
 in other convenient places in her majesty's colonies of 
 America and the islands of the West Indies. The whole 
 of these chief offices were to be under the control of an 
 officer to be appointed by the queen by letters patent 
 under the great seal) by the name and style of Her 
 Majesty's Postmaster-General. The improvements intro- 
 duced by this act increased the importance of the post- 
 office and added to the available revenue of the country. 
 For ten years no further steps were taken to develop the 
 service; but in 1720, Ealph Allen, immortalized by Pope, 
 appeared on the scene, and he was destined to be one of 
 the great improvers of the establishment. Mr. Allen, 
 who at this time was postmaster of Bath, and who from 
 his position was aware of the defects of the system, pro- 
 posed to the government to establish cross-posts between 
 Exeter and Chester, going by way of Bristol, Gloucester, 
 and Worcester, thus connecting the west of England with 
 the Lancashire district. The Bath postmaster proposed a 
 complete reconstruction of the cross-post system, guaran- 
 teeing improvement to the revenue and increased accom- 
 modation to the public. The Lords of the Treasury 
 granted him a lease of the cross-posts for life, his engage- 
 ment being to bear all the costs of the new service and to 
 pay a fixed rental of <6000 per year. The contract was 
 several times renewed to Allen, the government on each 
 occasion stipulating that the service should be extended. 
 In this wise, in 1764, the period of Allen's death, it was 
 found that the cross-posts had extended to all parts of the 
 
 6* 
 
66 POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 
 
 country. Notwithstanding the losses he suffered through 
 the dishonesty of country postmasters, Allen estimated 
 the net profits of his contract at the sum of 10,000 
 annually: so that at the end of his official life he had 
 made nearly half a million sterling. He bestowed a con- 
 siderable part of his income in supporting needy men of 
 letters. He was the friend of Fielding, of Pope, and 
 Warburton. Fielding has drawn his character in the 
 person of Allworthy, and Pope has celebrated his benevo- 
 lence in the well-known lines, 
 
 " Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame, 
 Do good by stealth and blush to find it fame." 
 
 On Allen's death the cross-posts were brought under 
 the control of the postmaster-general, and the success of 
 the amalgamation was so complete that at the end of the 
 first year profits to the amount of .20,000 were handed 
 over to the crown. In subsequent years the proceeds con- 
 tinued to increase still more rapidly, so that when the by- 
 letter office was abolished in 1799 they had reached the 
 sum of 200,000 per annum. 
 
 In the time of George I. the whole London post-office 
 establishment, which at present numbers several-thousand 
 officers of different grades, was worked, without counting 
 letter-carriers, by a staff of thirty-two persons only. 
 
 The treasury warrants warrants directed to the mas- 
 ters of packet service, towards 1701 franked, as Mr. 
 Lewins observes, the strangest commodities. Among 
 others, fifteen couple of hounds going to the King of the 
 Romans, two maid-servants going as laundresses to my 
 lord ambassador Methuen, Doctor Chrichton, carrying with 
 him a case and divers necessaries, two bales of stockings 
 for the use of the ambassador to the court of Portugal, 
 and four flitches of bacon for Mr. Pennington, of Rotter- 
 dam. Nor were these the only abuses. So little precau- 
 
POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 67 
 
 tion was used in the reigns of George I. and George II. 
 that thousands of letters passed through the post-office 
 with the forged signatures of members. Even in. the 
 early part of the reign of George III. it was related, in 
 the investigation of 1763, that one man had in the course 
 of five months counterfeited one thousand two hundred 
 dozens of franks of different members of Parliament. In 
 the year 1763 the worth of franked correspondence passing 
 through the post-office was estimated at 170,000. In 
 1764, when George III. had been four years on the throne, 
 it was enacted that no letter should pass franked through 
 the post-office unless the whole address was in the M. P.'s 
 handwriting with his signature attached. In 1784, frauds 
 still continuing, it was ordered that franks should be 
 dated, the month should be given in full, such letters to 
 be put into the post on the day they were dated. From 
 1784 to the date of the penny postage, no further regula- 
 tions were made as to the franked correspondence, the 
 estimated value of which during these years was 80,000 
 annually. 
 
 It was fifteen years after the death of the kindly and 
 benevolent Allen, the postmaster of Bath, that John 
 Palmer, also of Bath, and one of the greatest of post- 
 office reformers, rose into notice. Originally a brewer, 
 Mr. Palmer was in 1784 the manager of the Bath and 
 Bristol theatres. Having frequently to correspond with 
 and travel to London, Mr. Palmer found that letters 
 which left Bath on the Monday night were not delivered 
 in London until the Wednesday afternoon or night, but 
 that the stage-coach which left through the day on Monday 
 arrived in London on the following morning. He pointed 
 out to the authorities that commercial men and tradesmen, 
 for safety and speed, sent their correspondence as parcels, 
 robberies from carelessness and incompetence of post-office 
 servants being then frequent. Mr. Palmer was ready with 
 
68 POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 
 
 remedies for these countless defects. In 1783 he sub- 
 mitted his scheme to Mr. Pitt, who lent a ready ear. The 
 officials, however, were first to be consulted; and they, 
 as is their wont, made many and sweeping objections to 
 changes which they represented not only to be impracti- 
 cable and impossible, but dangerous to commerce and the 
 revenue. Mr. Pitt, however, as Mr. M. D. Hill says in 
 an article on the post-office, inherited his great father's 
 contempt for impossibilities. He saw that Mr. Palmer's 
 scheme would be as profitable as it was practicable, and he 
 resolved that it should be adopted. 
 
 Mr. Palmer was installed at the post-office on the day 
 of the change, under the title of Controller-General. It 
 was arranged that his salary should be .1500 a year, 
 together with a commission of two and a half per cent, 
 upon any excess of revenue over <240,000. The rates 
 of postage were now slightly raised ; but, notwithstanding, 
 the number of letters began most perceptibly to increase. 
 Several of the principal towns, and notably Liverpool and 
 York, petitioned the treasury for the new mail-coaches. 
 But, though manifest success attended the introduction of 
 the Palmer scheme, yet the authorities were determinedly 
 opposed to the reformer, and he had to contend with them 
 single-handed. In 1792, when his plans had been about 
 eight years in operation and were beginning to exhibit 
 elements of success, it was deemed desirable that Palmer 
 should surrender his appointment. In consideration, how- 
 ever, of his valuable services, a pension of X3000 per 
 annum was granted to him; but this sum fell far short of 
 the emoluments which had been promised to him, and he 
 memorialized the government, but without success. He 
 protested against this treatment, and his son, General 
 Palmer, member for Bath, frequently urged his father's 
 claims before Parliament; but it was not until 1813, after 
 a struggle of twenty years, that the House of Commons 
 
POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 69 
 
 voted him a grant of X 50,000. This great benefactor 
 of his country died in 1818. In the first year of the in- 
 troduction of his plans, the net revenue of the post-office 
 was about X250,000. Twenty years afterwards, the pro- 
 ceeds had increased sixfold, to no less a sum than a million 
 and a half, an increase doubtless partly attributable to 
 the increase of population, but mainly to the punctuality 
 and security of the new arrangements. Mails not only 
 travelled quicker, but Mr. Palmer augmented their num- 
 ber between the largest towns : three hundred and eighty 
 towns, which had in the olden time but three deliveries a 
 week, had in 1797 a daily delivery. The Edinburgh coach 
 required less time by sixty hours to travel from London ; 
 and there was a corresponding reduction between towns at 
 shorter distances. For many years after their introduc- 
 tion, not a single attempt was made to rob Palmer's mail- 
 coaches, which were efficiently guarded. 
 
 In 1836 there were fifty four-horse mails in England, 
 whereas forty years before there was not a third of the 
 number. We remember the annual procession of the 
 mail-coaches on the king's birthday, a gay spectacle, 
 which Mr. Lewins is not old enough to remember. Coach- 
 men and guards on that occasion donned a new red livery, 
 and all the coachmen and most of the guards wore bouquets 
 in their button-holes. In the year 1814 the business 
 of the post-office had increased so greatly that better 
 accommodation was sought than was afforded by the office 
 then in Lombard Street. The first general post-office, 
 opened in Cloak Lane, was removed from thence to the 
 Black Swan, in Bishopsgate Street. After the fire of 1666 
 a general post-office was opened in Covent Garden; but 
 it was soon removed to Lombard Street. In 1825 the 
 government acquiesced in the views of the great majority 
 of London residents, and St. Martin's-le-Grand was chosen 
 
70 POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 
 
 for the site of a new building, to be erected from the de- 
 signs of Sir R. Smirke. 
 
 It was opened for business in September, 1829. From 
 the date of the opening, improvements ceased to be per- 
 tinaciously resisted. It was not, however, till the late 
 Duke of Richmond became the postmaster-general, in the 
 ministry of the late Earl Grey, in 1830, that improve- 
 ments were earnestly forwarded by the head of the depart- 
 ment. The duke, a highly public-spirited and patriotic 
 man, was indefatigable in the service of the department 
 over which he was placed from 1830 to 1834. At first 
 his grace refused to accept any remuneration for his ser- 
 vices ; but at length, in compliance with the strong repre- 
 sentations of the treasury lords as to the objectionable 
 nature of gratuitous services, "which must involve in many 
 cases the sacrifice of private fortune to official station/' 
 he consented to draw his salary from the date of the trea- 
 sury minute already referred to. In 1834, Lord Grey's 
 postmaster-general submitted a list of improvements to 
 the treasury lords, in which at least thirty substantial mea- 
 sures of reform were proposed. It was under this, func- 
 tionary that amalgamation of the Irish and Scotch offices 
 with the English took place. 
 
 The railway for the first few years of its existence ex- 
 erted but little influence on post-office arrangements. On 
 the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester line, how- 
 ever, in 1830, the mails of the district were consigned 
 to the new company for transmission. After railways had 
 been in existence seven or eight years, their influence be- 
 came paramount, and in 1838 and 1839 acts were passed 
 to provide for the conveyance of mails by them. 
 
 It was in 1836 that Sir Francis Freeling, who had been 
 secretary to the post-office since 1797, a period of forty 
 years, died. He was an industrious public servant of the 
 old school, strictly performing his duty according to 
 
POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 71 
 
 ancient precedent and routine. He was succeeded in his 
 office by Colonel Maberly, the son of a gentleman who, 
 having amassed a considerable fortune by trade, entered 
 Parliament, and ultimately succeeded Perry as the pro- 
 prietor of the "Morning Chronicle." Colonel Maberly 
 had been himself in Parliament, and was generally con- 
 sidered a good man of business; but he was an entire 
 stranger to the business of the post-office, and, according 
 to his own evidence before the Select Committee on Post- 
 age, w T as introduced into the office by the treasury for the 
 purpose of carrying into effect the reforms which a com- 
 mission of inquiry had recommended. 
 
 On the fall of Sir R. PeePs administration, in 1835, 
 the Earl of Lichfield succeeded to the office of postmaster- 
 general under Lord Melbourne. It must be admitted 
 that the new postmaster and secretary introduced many 
 important reforms. The money-order office was trans- 
 ferred from private hands to the general establishment. 
 At this juncture also commenced the system of registering 
 valuable letters, and, at the suggestion of Mr. Rowland 
 Hill, a number of day mails were started for the pro- 
 vinces. 
 
 At the close of 1836 the stamp-duty on newspapers 
 was reduced from 3 Jd to Id, a reduction which led to an 
 enormous increase in the newspapers passing through the 
 post-office. 
 
 But, though these improvements were in themselves 
 commendable, the authorities still tenaciously clung to the 
 old rates of postage, and refused to listen to any plan for 
 the reduction of postage-rates. Colonel Maberly, the 
 secretary, had no sooner learned the business of his office 
 than he made a proposition to the treasury that the letters 
 should be charged in all cases according to the exact dis- 
 tance between the places where a letter was posted and de- 
 livered, and not according to the full distance. The lords 
 
72 POST- OFFICES-ENGLAND. 
 
 of the treasury promptly refused, to use the language of 
 Mr. Lewins, "this concession." 
 
 In 1837 the average general postage was estimated at 
 9 Jd. per letter ; exclusive of foreign letters, it was still as 
 high as 8fdL It is a curious but significant fact that in 
 the reign of Queen Anne the postage of a letter between 
 London and Edinburgh was less than half as much as 
 the amount charged at the accession of Queen Victoria. 
 The fact that the revenue derived from so well-protected 
 a monopoly remained stationary for nearly twenty years 
 may be fairly attributable to these high postage-rates.* 
 
 Mr. Lewins states that the revenue derived in 1815 
 from the post-office amounted to a million and a half; 
 while twenty-one years afterwards, in 1836, notwith- 
 standing the increase of trade and the diffusion of know- 
 ledge, the increase of this sum had only been between 
 three and four thousand pounds. The evil of high rates 
 led not merely to small returns, but to the evasion of 
 postage by illicit means of conveyance, so that some car- 
 riers of letters were doing as large a business as the post- 
 office itself. 
 
 This will appear evident from the statement that a post- 
 office official seized a parcel containing eleven hundred 
 letters in a single bag in the warehouse of a London carrier. 
 The head of this firm proffered instant payment of 500 
 if the penalties were not sued for. The postmaster-general 
 accepted the offer, and the letters passed throught the post- 
 office on the same night. 
 
 So early as 1833, the late Mr. Wallace, M. P. for Green- 
 
 * The number of letters annually transmitted throughout the king- 
 dom is estimated at about 77,000,000 ; the gross receipts for postage 
 (1837) were 2,339,737 18*. 3d. ; the total cost of management and 
 transportation, 698,632 2s. 2d., leaving a balance of 1,641,105 
 10s. Id. .as the revenue received by the government from the depart- 
 ment. The number of franked letters was 7,000,000, and 44,500,000 
 newspapers, which were free of postage. 
 
POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 73 
 
 ock, drew the attention of the House of Commons to the 
 numerous abuses in the post-office. There can be no 
 question that his frequent motions and speeches directed 
 public attention specifically to the subject and incalculably 
 advanced the cause of reform. Mr. Wallace was not 
 aided by the government or by the aristocracy or higher 
 professional classes ; but he derived much active support 
 from the mercantile and manufacturing community, and 
 from the shopkeepers in all the great towns of the empire. 
 It was the ventilation of the subject of the post-office 
 by the member for Greenock that first drew the attention 
 of Mr. now Sir Rowland Hill, to the subject. The son 
 of a country schoolmaster, Mr. Hill had for a long time 
 acted as usher at his father's establishment at Birmingham. 
 Being of an active and energetic disposition, he left the 
 paternal roof for the metropolis, and was in 1833, when 
 he was about thirty-eight years of age, secretary to the 
 commissioners for the colonization of South Australia. 
 Here he exhibited powers of organization, and we have 
 from his own pen a statement that he read very carefully 
 all the reports on post-office subjects. He put himself 
 into communication with Mr. Wallace, M. P., who af- 
 forded him much assistance. He also corresponded with 
 Lord Lichfield, then postmaster-general, who imparted 
 to him the official information he sought. In January, 
 1837, Mr. Hill published the results of his investiga- 
 tions and embodied his schemes in a pamphlet entitled 
 " Post-Office Reform : its Importance and Practicability." 
 The pamphlet created a sensation in the mercantile world. 
 It was well noticed in the "Spectator" and "Morning 
 Chronicle," to both of which journals Mr. HilFs elder 
 brother Matthew, now a commissioner of bankruptcy at 
 Bristol, contributed. Mr. Rowland Hill contended that 
 the post-office was not making progress like other great 
 national interests, that its revenue had diminished in- 
 
 7 
 
74 POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 
 
 stead of increased, though the population had augmented 
 six millions and trade and commerce had proportionally 
 increased. From data in his possession Mr. Hill pretty 
 accurately proved that the primary distribution, as he 
 called the cost of receiving and delivering the letters, and 
 also the cost of transit, took two-thirds of the total cost 
 of the management of the post-office. Out of the total 
 postal expenditure of 700,000, Mr. Hill calculated that 
 the amount which had to do with the distance letters tra- 
 velled amounted to 144,000. From calculations which 
 he then made, he arrived at the conclusion that the average 
 cost of conveying each letter was less than the one-tenth 
 of a penny. By this process he deduced the conclusion 
 that postage ought to be uniform. The propriety of a 
 uniform rate was further demonstrated by the fact that 
 under the old system the cost of transmission was not 
 always dependent on distance. The case was made still 
 plainer by these facts. An Edinburgh letter, costing the 
 post-office an infinitesimal fraction of a farthing, was 
 charged Is. IJd., while a letter for Louth, in Lincoln- 
 shire, costing the post-office fifty times as much, was 
 charged ~LOd. 
 
 Mr. Hill's four proposals were: 1st, a large diminu- 
 tion in the rates of postage, even to Id. in a half-ounce 
 letter; 2d, increased speed in the delivery of letters; 3d, 
 more frequent opportunity for the despatch of letters; 
 4th, simplification and economy in the management of 
 the post-office, the rate of postage being uniform. 
 
 In February, 1838, Mr. Wallace moved for a select 
 committee of the Commons to investigate Mr. HilFs pro- 
 posals; but the government resisted the measure. Lord 
 Lichfield, the postmaster-general, described it as a wild, 
 visionary, and extravagant scheme. The public at large 
 were greatly dissatisfied. Some of the most influential 
 men in the city of London established a committee for 
 
POST-OFFICESENGLAND. 75 
 
 the purpose of distributing information on the subject by 
 means of pamphlets and papers and for the general pur- 
 poses of the agitation. A month or two after Mr. Wal- 
 lace's motion, Mr. Baring, then Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer, proposed a committee to inquire into the present 
 rates of charging postage, with a view to such reduction 
 as may be made without injury to the revenue, and for 
 them to examine into the mode of collecting and charging 
 postage recommended by Mr. Rowland Hill. The com- 
 mittee sat sixty-three days, concluding their deliberations 
 in August, 1838. They examined the principal officers 
 of the post-office, and eighty-three independent wit- 
 nesses. 
 
 In opposition to the views of official men, Mr. Hill 
 held that a fivefold increase in the number of letters would 
 suffice to preserve the existing revenue, and he predicted 
 that the increase would soon be reached. He showed that 
 the stage-coaches then in existence could carry twenty- 
 seven times the number of letters they had ever yet done. 
 The post-office authorities traversed every statement of 
 Mr. Hill and his supporters, and Colonel Maberly ex- 
 pressed an opinion that if the postage were reduced to one 
 penny the revenue would not recover itself for forty or 
 fifty years. But, notwithstanding the opposition of the 
 post-office authorities, the committee reported for a reduc- 
 tion of the rates, for the more frequent despatch of letters, 
 and for additional deliveries, adding that the extension of 
 railways made these changes urgently necessary. They 
 further urged that the principle of a low uniform rate was 
 just, and that when combined with prepayment it would 
 be convenient and satisfactory. 
 
 The commissioners, consisting of Lord Seymour, Lord 
 Duncannon, and Mr. Labouchere, proposed that any letter 
 not exceeding half an ounce should be conveyed free 
 within the metropolis, and the district to which the town 
 
76 POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 
 
 and country deliveries extend, if enclosed in an envelope 
 bearing a penny stamp. 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer had the plan of a 
 uniform rate of postage embodied in a bill, which passed 
 in the session of 1839. This act, approved by a majority 
 of one hundred and two members, conferred temporarily 
 the necessary power on the lords of the treasury. On the 
 12th of November, 1839, their lordships issued a minute 
 reducing the postage of all inland letters to the uniform 
 rate of 4d The country was greatly dissatisfied. It re- 
 quired Mr. Hill's plan; and the fourpenny rate was in no 
 respect his. The treasury lords were at length convinced 
 they had made a mistake, and on the 10th of January, 
 1840, another minute was issued, ordering the adoption of 
 a uniform penny rate. On the 10th of August the trea- 
 sury had its minute confirmed by the statute 3 & 4 Viet. 
 c. 96. A treasury appointment was given to Mr. Hill, to 
 enable him to assist in carrying out the penny postage. 
 He only, however, held the appointment for about two 
 years; for when the conservative party came into power 
 the originator of the penny postage lost his situation. 
 Mr. Hill entreated to be allowed to remain at any sacrifice 
 to himself, but Sir R. Peel was obdurate. 
 
 Mr. HilFs. popularity increased with his dismissal. A 
 public subscription was opened for him throughout the 
 country, as an expression of national gratitude, which 
 amounted to over ,13,000. On the restoration of the 
 whigs to power, in 1846, he was placed in St. Martin's-le- 
 Grand as secretary to the postmaster-general. In 1854, 
 on Colonel Maberly's removal to the audit-office, he was 
 named secretary to the post-office under the late Lord 
 Canning, the highest appointment in the department. 
 In 1860 the secretary of the post-office was made a Knight 
 Commander of the Bath. During the autumn of 1863 
 his health began to fail him, and in March of the present 
 
POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 77 
 
 year (1865) he resigned his situation. The executive gov- 
 ernment showed a just and liberal sense of Sir Rowland 
 HilFs merits. By a treasury minute of the llth of March, 
 1864, advantage was taken by the government of the 
 special clause in the Superannuation Act relating to extra- 
 ordinary services, to grant him a pension of three times 
 the usual retiring allowance. This was not merely a just 
 but a generous act; and the language in which the resolu- 
 tion was couched was not official, nor solemnly and deco- 
 rously dull, as is usual on such occasions, but encomiastic 
 in the highest degree. Sir Rowland Hill was pronounced 
 not merely a meritorious public servant, but a "benefactor 
 of his race." We do not say this eulogistic epithet was 
 not deserved, for we think it was well merited ; but we 
 may be permitted to remark that Sir Rowland Hill has 
 lived in a felicitous time, thus promptly to find his merits 
 officially recognized on retiring from his labors. 
 
 Harvey, Jenner, Palmer of Bath, of whom we have 
 antecedently spoken, and scores of other discoverers and 
 philanthropists, were less fortunate than the late post- 
 office secretary. Sir Rowland Hill was not only allowed 
 to retire on his full salary of c2000 per annum, but Lord 
 Palmerston gave notice that the pension should be con- 
 tinued to Lady Hill in the event of her ladyship surviving 
 her husband.* Since this notice was given by the premier, 
 an influential deputation of the house waited on the first 
 minister of the crown, strongly urging that, in place of the 
 deferred pension to Lady Hill, a Parliamentary grant, suf- 
 
 * Since the text was written, namely, on the evening of Monday, 
 the 6th of June, the Lord Chancellor in the one house and Viscount 
 Palmerston in the other communicated a message of the queen of her 
 majesty's gracious intention to confer on Sir Rowland Hill a sum of 
 20,000, and asking her faithful Commons to make provision for the 
 
 7* 
 
78 POST-OFFICESENGLAND. 
 
 ficient, though reasonable, should be made at once to the 
 late secretary. 
 
 We do not say that the social, moral, and commercial 
 results of the famous penny postage have not been singu- 
 larly wondrous and beneficial, and that Mr. Hill does not 
 deserve all that has been done for him by ministers, by 
 his private friends and admirers, by the commercial and 
 manufacturing community, and by the public at large. 
 We think the late post-office secretary fully deserves every 
 farthing that has been paid or that may be hereafter paid 
 to him, whether as an annuity or a gratuity ; we think he 
 deserves the order of K.C.B., which he obtained, and, 
 further, that he deserves to have his merits and his name 
 commemorated by a statue intended to be erected at Bir- 
 mingham in his honor. But how few are there in this 
 world of ours who obtain a tithe of their deserts ! Neither 
 Harvey, Jenner, Newton, nor Locke was properly re- 
 warded by his country. Newton, indeed, passed many 
 years of his life in straitened circumstances, and never 
 had any employment which produced him more than from 
 XI 200 to ,1500 per annum, while Locke's commissioner- 
 ship of appeals gave him only the miserable pittance of 
 200 a year. It is the good fortune of Sir Rowland 
 Hill to have flourished in more liberal times, when merit 
 is fittingly acknowledged and rewarded. 
 
 The discovery of Sir Rowland Hill was not a brilliant 
 and wonderful so much as a useful discovery, and there 
 can be no doubt that he worked out all the details with a 
 patience, a perseverance, and a judgment sure and unerr- 
 ing. When the system of penny postage had been in 
 operation two years, it was found that the success of the 
 scheme had surpassed the most sanguine expectations. It 
 almost entirely prevented breaches of the law and that 
 illicit correspondence by which the revenue had long been 
 defrauded. Commercial transactions as to very smal] 
 
POST- OFFICESENGLAND. 79 
 
 amounts were chiefly managed through the post: small 
 money-orders were constantly transmitted from town to 
 town and from village to village, the business of the 
 money-order office having increased twentyfold. No men 
 are more indebted to the system of the penny post than 
 literary men, publishers, and printers, manuscripts and 
 proof-sheets now passing to and fro from one end of the 
 kingdom to the other with care, cheapness, and celerity. 
 Common carriers, too, are greatly benefited by the penny 
 postage. Pickford & Co. now despatch by post more than 
 ten times the number of letters they despatched in 1839. 
 Mr. Charles Knight, the London publisher, stated that the 
 penny postage stimulated every branch of his trade, and 
 brought the country booksellers into daily communication 
 with the London houses. Mr. Bagster, the publisher of 
 the Polyglot Bible in twenty-four languages, stated to 
 Mr. Hill that the revision which he was just giving to his 
 work would on the old system have cost him 1500 in 
 postage alone, and that the Bible could not be printed but 
 for the penny post. One of the principal advocates for 
 the repeal of the Corn Laws stated that the objects of the 
 league were achieved two years earlier than otherwise, 
 owing to the introduction of cheap postage. Conductors 
 of schools and educational establishments stated how people 
 were learning everywhere to write for the first time, in 
 order to enjoy the benefits of a free correspondence. In 
 all the large towns, too, it was remarked that night-classes 
 were springing up for teaching writing to adults. As the 
 system made progress with the public, Mr. Hill's recom- 
 mendations and improvements extended and expanded. 
 A cheap registration started into existence, simplification 
 was introduced in the mode of sorting letters, slits were 
 suggested in the doors of houses, restriction as to the 
 weight of parcels was removed, and a book-rate was esta- 
 
80 POST- OFFICES ENGLAND. 
 
 blished. It was also suggested that railway stations should 
 have post-offices connected with them, and that sorting 
 should be done in the train and in the packets. The union 
 of the two corps of general and district letter-carriers, the 
 establishment of district offices, and an hourly delivery 
 instead of every two hours, were also suggested by Mr. 
 Hill, and, after being strenuously combated by the au- 
 thorities, carried by the indefatigable secretary. 
 
 The amalgamation of the general post and what were 
 called the London district carriers did not take place till 
 1855, when the Duke of Argyll was postmaster-general. 
 For this amalgamation Mr. Hill had been striving from 
 the commencement. It avoided the waste of time, trouble, 
 and expense . consequent on two bodies of men the one 
 being paid at a much higher rate of wages going over 
 the same ground. 
 
 A more important step than this was the division of 
 London into ten districts. Under the new arrangement, 
 instead of district letters being carried from the receiving 
 houses to the chief office in St. Martin's-le-Grand, to be 
 there sorted and redistributed, they were sorted and dis- 
 tributed at the district office according to their address. 
 An important part of the new scheme was that London 
 should be considered in the principal post-offices as ten 
 different towns, each with its own centre of operations, 
 and that the letters should be assorted and despatched on 
 this principle. A new and special service was brought 
 into operation between England and Ireland on the 1st of 
 October, 1860. Night and day mail-trains have from that 
 date been run from E us ton Square to Holy head, and 
 special steamers have been employed at an enormous 
 expense to cross the channel. Letter-sorting is now car- 
 ried on not only in the trains but on board the packets, 
 nearly all the post-office work for immediate delivery 
 
LONDON DISTRICTS. 81 
 
 being accomplished between London and Dublin and 
 Dublin and London respectively.* 
 
 The first letter penny post was established in Edinburgh 
 by one Peter Williamson, a native of Aberdeen. He kept a 
 coffee-shop in the Parliament House, and as he was fre- 
 quently employed, by gentlemen attending the courts, in 
 sending letters to different parts of the city, and as he had 
 doubtless heard something of the English penny post, he 
 began a regular post with hourly deliveries, and established 
 agents at different parts of the city to collect. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 Posts for letters, mode of carrying, invented in Paris, 
 1470; post-horses by stages, 1483. Louis XI. first esta- 
 blished them in France. In England, 1581 ; Germany, 1641 ; 
 in the Turkish dominions, 1740. Offices erected, 1643, and 
 in 1657 ; made general in England, 1656 ; in Scotland, 1695 ; 
 as at present formed, 12 Charles II., December 27, 1660. 
 Penny posts began in London, 1681 ; taken in hand by the 
 government, 1711; the penny post made twopence, 1801. 
 Mails first conveyed by coaches, August 2, 1784; the first 
 mail by railway, November 11, 1830, between Manchester 
 and Liverpool. 
 
 The mail first began to be conveyed by coaches, on 
 Palmer's plan, August 2, 1785. 
 
 Posting and post-chaises invented in France. 
 
 Post-chaise tax imposed, 1779; altered, 1780. 
 
 LONDON DISTRICTS. 
 
 The postal districts of London are so arranged as to 
 render favorable not only the facilities for delivering letters, 
 
 * Condensed from a work entitled "Her Majesty's Mails: an His- 
 torical and Descriptive Account of the British Post-Office." By Wil- 
 liam Lewins. London, Sampson Low, Son & Marston, 14, Ludgate 
 Hill. 1864. 
 
82 L OND ON DISTRICTS. 
 
 but equally so to the carriers. The employees of the Lon- 
 don post-office are not overtasked, nor are the carriers com- 
 pelled as it were to become " beasts of burden." A want 
 of consideration on the part of officials here for those in 
 their employ is a sad reflection on our republican institu- 
 tions. Men who exercise a little brief authority imagine 
 themselves for the time-being taskmasters, and those in 
 their employ slaves. Nothing in the world tends more to 
 change a man's politics than the abuses arising out of the 
 system pursued by men in power towards those in their 
 employ. Thus comparisons are drawn between the two 
 parties, and the course of each is canvassed ; and not unfre- 
 quently, we regret to say, the Democracy has the advantage. 
 It has always been a principle of the Democratic party to 
 take care of " their men." It is a fact that under Demo- 
 cratic administration the salaries of the employees in the 
 post-office were thirty-three and one-third per cent, more 
 than they receive at present, and that, too, when gold was 
 at par and the rate of living fifty per cent, cheaper than it 
 is now. The fact is, there are not ten men in the post- 
 office department whose salaries are adequate to their wants ; 
 and to their just demand for an increase of salary they 
 are coolly answered that "if they are not satisfied they 
 can resign, as there are plenty outside willing to take 
 their place." Is it to be expected that men so treated 
 can consistently admire a system or maintain a principle 
 that strikes at the root of their interest and patriotism? 
 In another part of this work we have alluded to 
 this subject, and referring to it here is simply to con- 
 trast a portion of our postal system with that of the Eng- 
 lish. Let it be distinctly understood that these remarks 
 apply as much to the heads of the postal department at Wash- 
 ington as they do to their officials : the latter simply imitate 
 the actions and carry out the plans of their superiors, and 
 not unfrequently in a manner as insulting as their action 
 
L OND ON DISTRICTS. 83 
 
 and conduct are repulsive. Men in power should be gen- 
 tlemen ; and in selecting their assistants, this natural 
 attribute of the man, refined by education, would exercise 
 its influence in such a manner as to render such selection 
 a very easy matter. But, unfortunately, in many instances 
 such is not the case. The great error committed by the 
 fortunate candidates for office is that of assuming conse- 
 quence, or, to use a more familiar phrase, "putting on airs :" 
 it is an error that in part arises out of our system of 
 government, and is one that can only be corrected by 
 placing gentlemen in high positions, instead of ignorant, 
 brawling politicians. It is true, our government is not 
 established upon a state religious basis ; or, if it were so 
 intended, that corner-stone has been misplaced. Our rulers 
 are generally politicians. To obtain office, corruption not 
 unfrequently takes precedence of religion: hence injustice, 
 wrong, and oppression are the means used to insure suc- 
 cess. Examples thus set in high places have been followed 
 through all the departments ; peculation in office, fraud in 
 agents, government itself cheated, are all indications of 
 corruption, and are the strongest evidences to be adduced 
 for the increase of crime, the disregard of truth, and the 
 absence of morality among us. Even our clergy display 
 more of the 
 
 "animum pictura pascit inani"* 
 
 than they do of the principle conveyed in this line from 
 
 Virgil,- 
 
 "Animus lucis contemtor."f 
 
 The English post-office, to a certain extent, is a political 
 one ; but there is one feature in it which differs materially 
 
 * " He fills his mind with a vain or idle picture ;" or, "He feeds his 
 mind with empty representations. He dwells with eagerness upon the 
 painted semblance," &c. 
 
 f " A mind regardless of life [if sacrificed in a good cause]." 
 
84 
 
 TOWN DELIVERIES. 
 
 from our own, and it is one that reflects the highest credit 
 on the English government ; and that is, a man is not dis- 
 charged from office simply on political grounds, but is 
 retained as long as he attends to his business and conducts 
 himself properly. The reward of merit and long service 
 is, when incapable of attending to his duties, a pension 
 from his government. With these remarks, elicited by 
 contrasting the two systems, we annex the following synop- 
 sis of the London postal arrangements : 
 
 (From the London " Postal Guide" for 1864.) 
 The London district comprises all places within a circle 
 of twelve miles from the general post-office, including 
 Cheshunt, Hampton, Hampton Court, and Sunbury, and 
 the post towns of Barnet, Waltham Cross, Romford, Brom- 
 ley, Croydon, Kingston, and Hounslow. It is divided 
 into ten postal districts, each of which is treated, in many 
 respects, as a separate post town. The following are the 
 names of the districts, with their abbreviations, viz. : 
 
 Northern N. 
 
 Northeastern N.E. 
 
 Northwestern N.W. 
 
 Southern S. 
 
 Southeastern S.E. 
 
 Southwestern S.W. 
 
 Eastern , E. 
 
 Eastern Central E.G. 
 
 Western W. 
 
 Western Central... W.C. 
 
 By adding the initials of the postal districts to the 
 addresses of letters for London and its neighborhood, the 
 public will much facilitate the arrangements of the post- 
 office. 
 
 The district initials for every important street or place 
 are given in the street list. 
 
 TOWN DELIVERIES. 
 
 The portion of each district within about three miles of 
 the general post-office is designated the town delivery, and 
 the remainder the suburban delivery. 
 
 Within the town limits there are twelve deliveries of 
 
TO WN DELIVERIES. 85 
 
 letters daily. The first, or general post delivery, including 
 all inland, colonial, and foreign letters arriving in sufficient 
 time, commences about 7.30 A.M., and is generally com- 
 pleted throughout London by nine o'clock, except on Mon- 
 days, or on other days when there are large arrivals of 
 letters from abroad. 
 
 The second delivery, which commences about nine A.M., 
 includes the correspondence received by the night mails 
 from Ireland and France, and letters from the provinces 
 and abroad which may arrive too late for tlje first delivery, 
 as well as those posted in the nearer suburbs by 6.30 A.M., 
 as specified in the tables for each district. 
 
 The next nine deliveries are made hourly, and include 
 all letters reaching the general post-office or the district 
 offices in time for each despatch. 
 
 The last delivery commences about 7.45 P.M. 
 
 Each delivery within the town limits occupies about an 
 hour from the time of its commencement, which may be 
 averaged at from forty-five minutes to an hour from the 
 time of despatch from the general post-office, according to 
 the distance from St. Martin's-le-Grand and the number 
 of letters to be arranged by the letter-carriers for distribu- 
 tion. 
 
 The provincial day mails are due at various times, and 
 the letters are included in the next delivery after their 
 arrival in London. The day mails from Ireland, France, 
 and the continent generally, and the letters received from 
 Brighton and other towns which have a late afternoon 
 communication with London, are delivered the same even- 
 ing in London and the suburbs within the six-mile circle. 
 
 The suburban deliveries are regulated in a similar man- 
 ner, with this difference, however, that in some of the less- 
 thickly inhabited portions the deliveries are necessarily 
 fewer. 
 
 8 
 
THE POSTE RESTANTE. 
 
 THE POSTE RESTANTE. 
 
 There is more attention paid in England to this letter 
 or paper inscription than there is with us. The " Poste 
 Restante" being intended solely for the accommodation of 
 strangers and travellers who have no permanent abode in 
 London, letters for residence in London must not be ad- 
 dressed " Post-Office till called for." Letters addressed 
 to " initials" or " fictitious names" cannot be received at 
 the " Poste Restante." If so addressed, they are returned 
 to the writers. 
 
 With us, little or no attention is paid to this important 
 postal matter : hence, a letter addressed simply to " John 
 Smith, Philadelphia," without the word " Transient," " or 
 Poste Restante," must necessarily take its winding way 
 through all the phases of postal travel until it reaches the 
 dead-letter office. We make another extract from the Eng- 
 lish " Postal Guide :" 
 
 "Letters for strangers are delivered from the Poste 
 Restante for a period of two months ; after which period 
 they must have them addressed to their place of residence, 
 in order that they may be sent by the letter-carriers. Let- 
 ters for known residents in London, addressed to the ' Poste 
 Restante/ are retained for one week only. 
 
 " Letters addressed i Post-Office, London/ or ' Poste 
 Restante, London/ are delivered only at the Poste Restante 
 office, on the south side of the hall of the general post- 
 office, St. Martin's-le-Grand ; and . at this office also, and 
 there only, are delivered letters addressed to the district 
 or branch offices in London. The hours of delivery are 
 between nine and five. 
 
 " All persons applying for letters at the Poste Restante 
 must be prepared to'give the necessary particulars to the 
 clerk on duty, in order to prevent mistakes, and to insure 
 
THE POSTE RESTANTE. 87 
 
 the delivery of the letters to the persons to whom they 
 properly belong." 
 
 The establishment of a " Poste Restante" on this prin- 
 ciple would be an important feature in our post-office, and 
 would save both trouble and expense. 
 
THE KAFFIR LETTER-CARRIER. 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE African post, as we term it, is of course simply 
 connected with the European settlements. A system of 
 carrying letters is established, and the principal messen- 
 gers or carriers are the Kaffirs. In the several settlements, 
 more particularly those of the British at Sierra Leone, 
 Cape Coast Castle, and the Cape of Good Hope, and 
 at several unimportant establishments on the Gold and 
 Silver Coasts, these messengers of the African race were 
 not only very useful in conveying letters, packages, &c., but 
 honest, trustworthy, and remarkably swift of foot. In 
 Sierra Leone more particularly they were considered very 
 important personages. In 1845 there was a well-known 
 character, called the "Kaffir letter-carrier." He was em- 
 ployed to convey letters to the South African settlement. 
 He carried his document in a split at the end of a long 
 stick. He took great interest in his employment ; and if 
 a vessel arrived at a late hour of the night, and the letter 
 came into his possession before morning, he would start oif 
 with it: no matter how dark the night or how great the 
 distance, away he would speed. When he reached the house 
 of the person to whom the letter was directed, one of his 
 customers, he would commence shouting and knocking ; 
 and as soon as the house was alarmed, he would exclaim, 
 " Ah, massa, here de right book come at last !" This ex- 
 pression was caused by the anxiety manifested by the Euro- 
 peans generally to receive letters and packages by every ves- 
 sel. Another reason that might be assigned for the activity 
 displayed by the Kaffir letter-carrier was the fact that he 
 
THE AFRICAN POST. 89 
 
 * 
 
 usually displayed some extra trinket immediately after 
 the delivery of his letter or package. The free-delivery 
 system had not been adopted in Africa at that period, nor 
 do we believe it can boast of that liberal governmental 
 privilege yet. 
 
 The name of Kaffir, or unbeliever, was originally given 
 to the inhabitants of the southern coast of Africa by the 
 Moors ; and, being adopted by the Portuguese, it became 
 the common appellation of all the tribes occupying the 
 southeastern coast. The Kaffirs living beyond the Fish 
 River, on the eastern boundary of the colony, are a bold, 
 warlike, and independent people, and are supposed to be 
 of Arabian origin. 
 
 8* 
 
90 -POST-OFFICES THE COLONIES. 
 
 VII. 
 
 "There were men with hoary hair 
 
 Amid that pilgrim band : , 
 Why had they come to wither there, 
 Away from their childhood's land ?" 
 
 HEMANS. 
 
 IP fanaticism had not been mixed up with the materials 
 embarked on the Mayflower, July 22, 1620, those scenes 
 which disgraced humanity and civilization and enacted 
 under the belief of witchcraft would never have occurred 
 here; but, unfortunately, that evil came over with the 
 "Pilgrim Fathers/ 7 and its consequences gave a dark 
 page to the history of the "Land of Promise." 
 
 They were, it is true, the pioneers of liberty to a certain 
 extent, freedom to the body, but not to the mind. 
 
 The chains, riveted by the old Gothic laws at that 
 period existing in England, and by which millions of 
 human creatures were held in a state of mental and phy- 
 sical bondage, were left behind, it is true; but the link 
 which bound them to superstition remained unbroken. 
 
 Apart from this, however, their landing on Plymouth 
 Kock was the dawn of a new era, and it gave an additional 
 spring to human enterprise, " opened new trains of thought, 
 new paths of gain and of information." 
 
 "What sought they thus afar? 
 Bright jewels of the mine, 
 The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? 
 They sought a faith's pure shrine!" 
 
 Passing over the dark days of witchcraft and the per- 
 secution of the Quakers, the colonial history brightens 
 
POST-OFFICES THE COLONIES. 91 
 
 up under a more tolerant rule. That the belief in witch- 
 craft was a delusion arising from ignorance, under the 
 influence of which many persons became frantic, there 
 can be no doubt. And yet there was a method in their 
 madness so cunningly carried out that it deceived many 
 far more enlightened. A writer speaking upon the sub- 
 ject says, "It is but justice to the inhabitants of New 
 England to observe that, though the present age may 
 censure the past for its superstition, neither England nor 
 any other nation is entitled to cast the first stone at them. 
 More persons were put to death in England in a single 
 county, in a few months, than suffered in all the colonies 
 during the whole period of their existence." 
 
 The scenes that were enacted in New England during 
 this epidemical reign of insanity gradually yielded to the 
 influence of reason, which under proper religious disci- 
 pline once more assumed its rule. One of the chief 
 causes which tended to arouse the mind from its mental 
 darkness was the fact of a dog being taken up on sus- 
 picion, and actually hanged, as an accomplice of his master, 
 who was accused of witchcraft !* This act capped the 
 climax of folly. People began to wonder if such things 
 could be ; and they actually took the case of the dog into 
 serious consideration, and then came to this very wise con- 
 clusion, that he fell a martyr to the folly and ignorance 
 of a few fanatics. They then began to ridicule those who 
 assumed the power to terrify the people and who had 
 exercised it to a bitter end over men and animals. This 
 did more to bring men to their senses than all the preach- 
 ing and reasoning of the elders previously.f 
 
 * Hinton. 
 
 f That such scenes should have taken place here is not so strange, 
 when we take into consideration the fact that all England was witch- 
 mad, and the epidemic raged there subsequent to those atrocities which 
 disgraced our colonial history. Even now the blush of shame reflects its 
 
92 POST-OFFICES THE COLONIES. 
 
 Naturally, while these idiotic scenes were enacting, the 
 arts and sciences, commerce and manufactures, were ma- 
 terially neglected ; but when the glfJom which fanaticism 
 had cast over this portion of the colonies had passed away, 
 the dawn of reason and civilization awoke her benighted 
 children to a new state of existence. 
 
 To trace up the postal history of the colonies to the 
 glorious epoch of our independence would be to give 
 a history of trade and commerce, science and art. To 
 these do every thing useful and ornamental in the New 
 World owe its existence. It is true the postal depart- 
 ment was at the early age of colonial history but a minor 
 consideration. The system was a limited one, and con- 
 sisted in having post-roads and post-riders. Even here 
 the latter were to be seen "like angels' visits, few and 
 far between." We can draw one of these from a picture 
 seen in our boyhood days. It was in the good old State 
 of Pennsylvania, not many miles from the city of Phila- 
 delphia, and while trudging on our way to the village 
 school, this living picture presented itself. A tall, gaunt 
 man sat on a tall, gaunt horse ; he came riding slowly up 
 
 hue on those pages devoted to witchcraft in New England, from the 
 cheeks of those who cannot read our country's history without referring 
 to them. During the seventeenth century 40,000 persons are said to 
 have been put to death for witchcraft in England alone. In Scotland 
 the number was probably, in proportion to the population, much 
 greater ; for it is certain that even in the last forty years of the six- 
 teenth century the executions were not fewer than 17,000. In 1743 the 
 madness may be said to have reached its highest pitch ; for in that year 
 occurred the celebrated case of the Lancashire witches, in which eight 
 innocent persons were deprived of their lives by the inherent falsehoods 
 of a mischievous urchin. The civil war, far from suspending the pro- 
 secution, seemed to have redoubled it. In 1644-45 the infamous 
 Matthew Hopkins was able to earn a livelihood by the profession of 
 witch-finder, which he exercised, not indeed without occasional sus- 
 picion, but still with general success. And even twenty years later 
 the delusion was still sanctioned by the most venerable name of tbe 
 English law ! 
 
POST-OFFICES THE COLONIES. 93 
 
 the road, this was not, as now, a fast age : his hair was 
 partly gray, and fell in tow-looking ringlets down and 
 around his long, sinewy neck. Over the horse's back 
 was swung a large, well-filled pair of saddle-bags. He 
 was the post-rider. He had started from the main post 
 of the county, established in Norristown, to others in 
 directions diverging from the main road. He stopped 
 his horse, and, raising his tall form, resting his feet on 
 a pair of old rusty stirrups, he shouted out, in a voice of 
 mimic thunder, "Look here, Jim: take this letter to 
 your mother, 'mediate ; for that is written on the back ; 
 and as you pass Mrs. Stroud's, hand her this newspaper. 
 Do this, Jim, and I'll give you sixpence next pay-day." 
 Such was the post. 
 
 Connected with this little incident there is a somewhat 
 curious coincidence. Little did the writer think then, 
 while acting as "an incipient post," he should in after years 
 find himself in a position in the Philadelphia post-office, 
 acting first as a carrier, and then as clerk, and whose early 
 vocations in life were in no manner identified with public 
 men and public institutions. But what will not revulsions 
 in trade, politics, and governments effect ! Equally strange, 
 too, that forty years after the little incident of the "old 
 post" he should meet in the same office the son of that 
 same Mrs. Stroud mentioned above, acting in a similar 
 capacity. Truly may it be said that "coming events cast 
 their shadows before us on our boyhood's wayward path." 
 But this is a digression. 
 
 Expresses and regular messengers were employed by 
 the colonists, and horses were kept in constant readiness 
 to start on a moment's notice with letters or packets, for 
 the government as well as individuals. There was no 
 established postal system but that which the exigencies of 
 the times created. The post-riders, or rather government 
 messengers, ran frequent risks. Captain Hutchinson 
 
94 POST-OFFICES THE COLONIES. 
 
 started July 4, 1665, sent by the Governor of Massachu- 
 setts with letters constituting him a commissioner to treat 
 with the JSTarragansetts. The "letter system" failed to 
 conciliate the tribe, as they had openly declared for Philip ; 
 and here we have another illustration of the fact that 
 in cases of war and rebellion the "sword is mightier than 
 the pen." The colonial forces marched into their country 
 and compelled them to sign a treaty, which, however, was 
 only considered binding as long as the forces sent against 
 them were present. 
 
 In 1676, however, the colonial court established a post- 
 office in Boston, appointing John Heyward postmaster. 
 Heyward followed the system as established in England, 
 and placed posts and made routes to the extent of the 
 commercial interest of the State. This gave general satis- 
 faction to those who were interested in this mode of com- 
 municating with men connected with them in trade, as 
 also to others who had friends and relations scattered 
 throughout what was then a thinly-populated State. 
 
 In the year 1700, Col. J. Hamilton, of New Jersey, and 
 son of Governor Andrew Hamilton, first devised the post- 
 office scheme for British America, for which he obtained 
 a patent and the profits accruing. Afterwards he sold it 
 to the crown, and a member of Parliament was appointed 
 for the whole, with a right -to have his substitute reside in 
 New York. The statute of Anne, in 1716, placed the 
 postal department under the immediate control of the 
 crown. 
 
 The first regular post-office established in the colonies 
 by Parliament was in 1710. By its provisions a general 
 post-office was established in North America and the West 
 Indies, or any other of her majesty's dominions, or in any 
 country or kingdom beyond the seas, and "at which office 
 all returns and answers may be likewise received. For 
 the better managing, ordering, collecting, and improving 
 
POST-OFFICES THE COLONIES. 95 
 
 the revenue, and also for the better computing and setting 
 the rates of letters according to distance, a chief office is 
 established in Edinburgh, one in Dublin, one at New 
 York, and other chief offices in convenient places in her 
 majesty's colonies of America, and one in* the islands of 
 the West Indies, called the e Leeward Islands.' '' 
 
 That our readers may form some idea of the limited 
 use of a post-office at that period, it is only necessary to 
 state the fact that in 1708 New York contained but one 
 thousand houses, most of them substantially built. The 
 great Trinity Church, so called then, was erected in 1695.* 
 A library was established there in 1700, and the post-office, 
 as stated above, in 1710. The post-horse. system, such as 
 was pursued in England, continued, nor was it until 1732 
 that the first stage-route to Philadelphia was established : 
 stages also departed for Boston monthly, taking a fortnight 
 on the route. 
 
 The following announcement is taken from the " Phila- 
 delphia Weekly Mercury," dated November 30, 1752: 
 
 "On Monday next the Northern post sets out from New 
 York, in order to perform his stage but once a fortnight 
 during the winter quarter; the Southern post changes also, 
 which will cause this paper to come out on Tuesdays 
 during that time. The colds which have infested the 
 Northern colonies have been also troublesome here; few 
 families have escaped the same; several have been carried 
 off by the cold, among whom was David Brintnall, in the 
 seventy-seventh year of his age. He was the first man 
 that had a brick house in the city of Philadelphia, and 
 was much esteemed for his just and upright dealing. 
 There goes a report here that the Lord Baltimore and his 
 lady are arrived in Maryland, but, the Southern post being 
 not yet come in, the said report wants confirmation." 
 
 * It was enlarged in 1737, burned down in 1776, rebuilt in 1778. 
 The present, building has a steeple 198 feet high. 
 
96 POST-OFFICES THE COLONIES. 
 
 The David Brintnall mentioned here built the first 
 house made of brick in the city of Philadelphia: it was 
 situated in Chestnut Street below Fourth, and stood back 
 from the street-line, with a small garden in front. The 
 first house erected in Philadelphia was a wooden one, on 
 the east side of Front Street, a little north of the place 
 now called " Little Dock Street/ 7 and is said not to have 
 been finished when William Penn first arrived. The 
 owner, John Guest, kept a public house there for many 
 years. His sign was a "Blue Anchor." The town and 
 boroughs of Philadelphia were located in 1682. 
 
 Letters between New York and Boston were, previous 
 to the introduction of stages, conveyed on horseback. 
 Madam Knight, in her journal, dated 1704, says that 
 "she was two weeks in riding with the postman, as her 
 guide, from Boston to New York. In most of the towns 
 she saw Indians." In 1702, Mrs. Shippen, soon after her 
 marriage, came from Boston to Philadelphia on horseback, 
 bringing a baby on her lap. 
 
 Even at a much later period the mode of travelling was 
 still in a slow way, as may be seen by the following adver- 
 tisement, which appeared in 1776: 
 
 "This is to give notice to the Publick that the stage 
 waggons kept by John Burrowhill, in Elm Street, in Phila- 
 delphia, and John Mersereax, at the Blazing Star, near New 
 York, intend to perform the journey from Philadelphia to 
 New York in two days; also to continue seven months, 
 viz.: from the 14th of April to the 14th of November, 
 and the remaining five months of the year in three days. 
 The waggons to be kept in good order, and good horses, 
 with sober drivers. They purpose to set off from Phila- 
 delphia on Mondays and Thursdays punctually at sunrise, 
 and to be in Prince-Town the same nights, and change 
 passengers, and return to New York and Philadelphia the 
 
POST-OFFICES THE COLONIES. 97 
 
 following days. The passengers are desired to cross Pow- 
 lass Hook Ferry the evening before. The waggon is not 
 to stay after sunrise. Price, each passenger, from Powlass 
 Hook to Prince Town, ten shillings; from thence to 
 Philadelphia, ten shillings also ; Ferriage free. Threepence 
 each mile any distance between. Any gentlemen or ladies 
 that wants to go to Philadelphia, can go in the stage and 
 be home in five days, and be two nights and one day in 
 Philadelphia to do business or see the market-days. All 
 gentlemen and ladies who are pleased to favour us with 
 their custom may depend on due attendance and civil usage 
 by those humble servants, 
 
 "JOHN MERSEREAX, 
 
 "JOHN BUKROWHILL. 
 "June, 1776." 
 
 Market-days in Philadelphia at that period, and long 
 afterwards, were great attractions to the country-people, 
 even apart from business. It was also customary to ring 
 the bells of Christ Church on the evenings previous to 
 "market-days" for the edification of the country-people, 
 who had learned to look upon them or at least to hear 
 their sound as more or less identified with our independ- 
 ence. There is a peculiar history attached to these bells. 
 They were purchased in England at a cost of <900. 
 There were eight of them, and their aggregate weight was 
 eight thousand pounds, the tenor bell weighing eighteen 
 hundred pounds.' In 1777, fearful of their falling back 
 again into English hands, they were taken down and con- 
 veyed to Allentown, Pennsylvania, for "safe keeping." 
 After the evacuation of the city they were replaced, and 
 have been ringing joyfully ever since. They pealed forth 
 in gladsome sounds when the old State-House Bell sounded 
 its note to liberty, and in harmony they proclaimed it to 
 the world. But did the world respond? Did it shake off 
 
98 EARLY POSTS. 
 
 the bonds which bound man to man by an iron chain? 
 Did it " proclaim" alike to the African that freedom was 
 his birthright? Alas! no; for although the Declaration 
 of our Independence pronounced "all men equal," yet a 
 distinction was made in color, and, under that very docu- 
 ment and the Constitution, slavery came in, to become in 
 time, what it was 'in reality before, a curse. 
 
 Years passed on ; trade and traffic in human flesh con- 
 tinued, until the Almighty, in his wondrous mystery, 
 brought about their emancipation in a manner that levelled 
 the institution of slavery to the ground forever. But, 
 alas ! have we not as a people and a nation been severely 
 punished? Established on a basis of crime and carried 
 out in a spirit of fiendish ferocity, they dared call it a 
 "divine institution." For this fearful error on the part 
 of those eminent men who framed that document, our 
 country has suffered fearfully; but these bells and all 
 other bells will peal once more under a new order of 
 things, and truly as well as righteously "proclaim liberty 
 throughout the land to all the people thereof." Then 
 will our land 
 
 "be blest, 
 
 Its branchy glories spreading o'er the West; 
 No summer gourd, the wonder of a day, 
 Born but to bloom, and then to fade away, 
 A giant oak, it lifts its lofty form, 
 Greens in the sun, and strengthens in the storm. 
 Long in its shade shall children's children come, 
 And welcome earth's poor wanderers to a home, 
 Long shall it live, and every blast defy, 
 Till Time's last whirlwind sweep the vaulted sky." 
 
 EARLY POSTS. 
 
 New York, like Pennsylvania, has its primitive postal 
 history. The first postmaster at Schenectady was Dr. 
 Eleazer Mosely, who died in 1833, aged seventy-three 
 years. He established a post by raising subscriptions 
 
NEW YORK POST-OFFICE. 99 
 
 from the inhabitants, which operated very favorably ; and 
 the result was the carrying the mail by contract. 
 
 At first the western mail was carried from Albany once 
 a week, in a valise on the shoulder of a footman. 
 
 As late as the year 1810 there was only a weekly mail 
 between Canandaigua and Genesee River, carried on horse- 
 back, and part of the time by a woman ! 
 
 In 1730 notice was published to this effect : " Whoso- 
 ever inclines to perform the foot-post to Albany this winter 
 is to make application to Richard Nichols, the postmaster." 
 Only think of this, ye modern letter-carriers ! 
 
 The carrying of the mail between New York and Phila- 
 delphia previous to the Revolution was a very small 
 matter: it was hardly an affair to be robbed. It was 
 carried by a boy, who took the whole in saddle-bags, on 
 horseback, three times a week. Next it was carried in a 
 sulky ; next in coaches. What is it now ? 
 
 In 1753 the post-office at the Bowling Green, Broad- 
 way, was, as announced, " opened every day save Saturday 
 afternoons, and Sundays from eight to twelve A.M. and 
 from two to four P.M." 
 
 NEW YORK POST-OFFICE. 
 
 The original office was situated at the corner of William 
 and Garden Streets, in which house resided the then Post- 
 master-General, Theodorus Bailey. It was also the resi- 
 dence of Sebastian Ballman, the first postmaster of the 
 city subsequently to the Revolution, who was appointed to 
 the office by General Washington. The room used as an 
 office was twenty-five to thirty-five feet in length, and 
 contained one hundred boxes. In 1827 it was in the 
 basement of the " Merchants' Exchange," occupying two- 
 thirds of that extensive space. The Merchants' Exchange 
 is situated on Wall Street. It is built of white marble. 
 Its front on Wall Street is one hundred and fourteen feet, 
 
100 INDEPENDENT POST-OFFICE. 
 
 and its depth, extending to Garden Street, one hundred 
 and fifty feet. The portico of the building, to which a 
 flight of marble steps ascends, is ornamented with Ionic 
 columns twenty-seven feet high. 
 
 In 1844 the post-office was removed to a new building, 
 the first, we believe, ever erected in that city expressly for 
 postal purposes.* It is situated on Nassau Street, and re- 
 flects but little credit to the city either for its architectural 
 or business-like appearance. There is many a lager-beer 
 establishment can compete with almost any post-office in 
 this country in point of those attractive qualities in archi- 
 tectural design in which they are so totally deficient. In 
 this, however, we are not surprised ; for the former has 
 become an institution that may well claim precedence 
 over almost any other in the country. Lager-beer saloons 
 are institutions dedicated to death: hence their motto 
 should be the Dutch word for beer, BIER. 
 
 INDEPENDENT POST-OFFICE. 
 
 An independent post-office was established in New 
 York in 1775. It was suggested by William Goddard, 
 the publisher of the "Maryland Journal," and John 
 Holt, the printer, was appointed postmaster. It went 
 
 * The building occupied by the post-office originally belonged to the 
 corporation of the Middle Dutch Church, and was their place of wor- 
 ship from the close of the seventeenth century until 1844. Up to that 
 period it was the oldest church-edifice remaining in the city. A great 
 part of the wood-work of the steeple, completely wrought, was brought 
 from Holland. The building itself was of stone. During the Revolu- 
 tion it was near the upper verge of the city, its location being upon 
 Nassau, Cedar, and Liberty Streets. When the British took possession 
 of the city in 1776, they used it as a barracks for the soldiers. It 
 was afterwards converted into a hospital, and finally the pews were 
 removed and it was made a riding-school. In 1790 it was repaired, 
 and again devoted to the worship of God. It was purchased by the 
 General Government in 1861, for the purpose of a post-office, for 
 $250,000. 
 
JOHN HOLT. 101 
 
 into (partial) operation on the llth of May. The office 
 was kept at Holt's printing-office. 
 
 There is no doubt that the " Sons of Liberty/ 7 a popular 
 association of Americans, were connected with this move- 
 ment ; for one of the first acts of its members was to send, 
 through this office, threatening letters to the leading mem- 
 bers of the tory party. This association took the lead in 
 political matters, and exercised a powerful influence over 
 the masses. 
 
 They also, in the dead hour of the night, went to Holt's 
 printing-office and printed inflammatory handbills them- 
 selves, and then circulated them throughout the city. 
 
 JOHN HOLT. 
 
 This gentleman was originally mayor of Williamsburg, 
 Virginia. He also established a newspaper there, arid 
 rendered important service to the cause of the patriots. 
 He came to New York, where ten years before he had 
 published the "New York Gazette and Post-Boy" in 
 company with James Parker. He started another paper 
 shortly after his arrival in New York. When the British 
 took possession of the city, he left it, and published his 
 journal at Esopus and Poughkeepsie. While at the for- 
 mer place he published Burgoyne's pompous proclamation, 
 also the full account of the dreadful massacre in the 
 Wyoming Valley. Holt died January 30, 1784, aged 
 sixty-four years. 
 
 The tongue of slander found no poison in his life to 
 bait shafts with; and justice, having awarded him all 
 praise in life, left his memory and his acts to the historian. 
 
 9* 
 
102 HISTOR Y OF PENNSYL VANIA. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 WILLIAM PENN, the founder of the colony of Penn- 
 sylvania, was born in London in the year 1644. His 
 father, Sir William Penn, was distinguished in the British 
 navy as an able admiral, being commander of the fleet 
 at the reduction of Jamaica in 1655, and contributing 
 greatly to the defeat of the Dutch fleet in 1664. For his 
 services he was knighted by Charles II. 
 
 William Penn was entered in 1660, as a gentleman 
 commoner, at Christ's Church, Oxford ; but, withdrawing 
 from the national forms of worship, in connection with 
 other students, who like himself had attended the preach- 
 ing of Thomas Loe, an eminent member of the Society 
 of Friends, commonly called Quakers, he was punished 
 by fine for nonconformity, and in the succeeding year, for 
 pertinacious adherence to his opinions, was expelled from 
 the college. His father, considering that his singularly 
 sober and serious manner of life tended to prevent his 
 elevation to the honors of Charles's licentious court, was 
 indignant at his disgrace, and therefore turned him out 
 of doors in 1662, after, as he says, being whipped and 
 beaten. 
 
 He was, however, sent by his father to France, and after 
 his return was entered at Lincoln's Inn as a law-student. 
 He renewed his acquaintance with Loe in Ireland, where 
 he had been sent to manage an estate in 1666, and showed 
 so much partiality to the persecuted sect of Quakers that 
 he was arrested at a meeting in Cork and imprisoned by 
 
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 103 
 
 the authorities, who at last restored him to liberty at the 
 intercession of some influential persons. He returned to 
 England, when he had a violent altercation with his father, 
 who was desirous that he should abandon habits so sin- 
 gular, so offensive to decorum, and so opposed to esta- 
 blished forms ; and, refusing to appear uncovered before 
 the king and before his father, he was a second time dis- 
 missed in disgrace from protection and favor. 
 
 In consequence of a controversial dispute in 1668, when 
 he first appeared as a preacher, he was sent to the Tower, 
 where he remained a prisoner for seven months, and 
 shortly after his release he was, on the passing of the 
 Conventicle Act, again sent to prison in Newgate, from 
 which he was liberated by the interest of his father, who 
 about this time became reconciled to him, and, dying some 
 time after, left him an estate of <1500 per annum. Marry- 
 ing in 1672, he fixed his residence in Hertfordshire, 
 occupying himself zealously in promoting the cause of 
 the Friends both by preaching and writing. 
 
 Soon after his return from Holland, whither he had 
 gone in 1677 to assist at a general meeting of Friends, 
 he petitioned his majesty Charles II. for a grant of land 
 lying north of that already granted to Lord Baltimore, 
 and west of the now Delaware. In consideration of his 
 father's services, and of a debt of sixteen thousand pounds 
 due the admiral at his decease, the grant was readily 
 made, to which the Duke of York added by cession a 
 neighboring portion of territory on the Delaware to the 
 south of the king's grant. The patent bore date March 4, 
 1680-81 ; and in this instrument the king gave the name 
 of Pennsylvania to the province, in honor of Admiral 
 Sir William Penn. 
 
 The day after the charter was granted to Penn, he 
 wrote a letter to Robert Turner, in which he gives the 
 
104 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 particulars of the naming of his province. The essential 
 parts of this letter we quote : 
 
 "... Know that, after many waitings, watchings, 
 solicitings, and disputes in council, this day my country 
 was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, 
 with large powers and privileges, by the name of Penn- 
 sylvania, a name the king would give it in honor of my 
 father. I chose New Wales, being a pretty hilly country ; 
 but Penn being Welsh for a head, as Penmanmoire in 
 Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in Buck- 
 inghamshire, the highest land in England, called this 
 Pennsylvania, which is the high or head woodlands ; for 
 I proposed, when the secretary, a Welshman refused 
 to have it called New Wales, Sylvania, and they added 
 Penn to it, and though I much opposed it, and went to 
 the king to have it struck out and altered, he said it was 
 past, and would take it upon him; nor could twenty 
 guineas move the under-secretaries to vary the name, for 
 I feared lest it should be looked on as a vanity in me, and 
 not as a respect in the king, as it truly was, to my father, 
 whom he often mentions with praise." 
 
 The charter constituting William Penn and his heirs 
 true and absolute proprietaries of Pennsylvania, saving to 
 the crown their allegiance and the sovereignty, is preserved 
 in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth at 
 Harrisburg. Being thus constituted absolute proprietor 
 and governor of Pennsylvania, Penn published "A Brief 
 Account of the Province," proposing terms of settlement 
 to such as might choose to remove thither ; in which land 
 was offered to purchasers at forty shillings per hundred 
 acres, with a quit-rent of one shilling per annum. Many 
 persons embraced his offer, and several companies of emi- 
 grants sailed to take possession of their new purchase, 
 landing, December, 1681, at Chester. 
 
 While the colony was thus commenced, Penn remained 
 
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. ]0o 
 
 in England, occupied in forming a government for his 
 people and providing means for its security. 
 
 Early in 1682 the proprietary published "The Frame 
 of Government of the Province of Pennsylvania, together 
 with Certain Laws, &c.," in the preface to which is found 
 a sketch of his sentiments on the form and substance of 
 civil government. 
 
 The governor, having completed all his preparations, 
 sailed early in the fall of 1682, in company with about 
 one hundred colonists, mostly Quakers from his own 
 neighborhood, of which number, however, about thirty 
 persons perished by small-pox, which broke out after their 
 departure. 
 
 The first colonists sent out, being chiefly of the Society 
 of Friends, with the predominating characteristics of their 
 people, temperance, industry, and economy, and conducting 
 themselves in the difficulties and hardships of their new 
 situation with much prudence and circumspection, avoided 
 most of the dangers to which a new colony is usually 
 subject, and received with demonstrations of satisfaction 
 the new settlers who arrived at New Castle October 24, 
 1682. Immediately on his arrival, Penn proceeded to 
 establish his government over the colony, and the first 
 assembly was convened at Chester on December 4. This 
 legislature, in a session of three days, passed laws annex- 
 ing the lower counties ceded by the Duke of York to the 
 province, confirming an act of settlement, and naturalizing 
 resident foreigners, and also passed in form, after some 
 revision, the laws which had been prepared in England. 
 
 After a visit to Lord Baltimore in his government of 
 Maryland, Penn returned to Coaquannock (the site of 
 Philadelphia), and, still conscientiously regarding the In- 
 dians as rightful possessors of the soil, he invited them to a 
 conference at Shackamaxon (now Kensington), where they 
 assembled in great numbers. A formal treaty of peace and 
 
106 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 amity was made : the Indians were paid for their lands, and 
 departed for their homes full of love and admiration for the 
 great and good Onas, as they called Penn. For seventy 
 years this simple but sincere treaty remained inviolate : of 
 it Voltaire says, " It was the only treaty between these peo- 
 ple and the Christians that was not ratified by an oath, and 
 which was never broken. 77 Certain it is that Penn's strict 
 observance of justice in paying for the soil, and the inte- 
 rest he manifested, during many successive treaties, in 
 their real welfare, not only operated to secure the colony 
 for many years from hostile attacks, but implanted in the 
 generous though uncultivated mind of the Indian a 
 regard for Penn and the Quakers which bids fair to be 
 transmitted to the latest remains of the race. 
 
 The capital of the province, Philadelphia, was next to 
 be laid out, of which at the time of Penn's arrival not a 
 house was completed, the colonists having in general no 
 better lodgings than caves hollowed out of the high banks 
 of the rivers. The very ground on which it was proposed 
 to locate was in dispute, being claimed by some Swedes, 
 who were induced to relinquish their claim for a larger 
 portion of land elsewhere. The city was located between 
 Wicacoa, now Southwark, and Shackamaxon, two miles 
 in length and one in breadth, with a navigable river at 
 each end, and was planned with admirable convenience 
 and regularity under the inspection of the Surveyor- 
 General of the province. During the first year there 
 were erected about eighty houses; and the establishment 
 of various mechanical arts, as well as a profitable trade, 
 soon gave strength to the infant city. 
 
 Early in 1683 the first jury was impanelled for the 
 trial of one Pickering, with others as accessories, who 
 were convicted before the governor and council of counter- 
 feiting the Spanish silver money current in the colony. 
 The sentence discovers the same spirit of mildness and 
 
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 107 
 
 equity which at this day constitutes the praise and the 
 efficacy of the criminal code of the State. He was to pay 
 a fine of 40 towards the building of a court-house, 
 standing committed until payment, find securities for his 
 good behavior, and make restitution in good silver to 
 the holders of his base coin, which, being first melted down, 
 was to be restored to him. 
 
 Penn's interest at court had declined considerably, partly 
 caused by ambitious enemies; but it was soon restored 
 upon the death of Charles II. by the accession of his more 
 immediate patron, James II., which occurred shortly after 
 Penn's arrival in England in 1684. The troubles in that 
 country during the reign of James involved Penn and his 
 colony in difficulty, arid after the revolution of 1688, which 
 placed William and Mary on the throne, Penn was several 
 times imprisoned in consequence of his religion and his 
 supposed adherence to the cause of the fallen monarch. 
 
 On the prevalence of his enemies at court, he had been 
 deprived of his government of Pennsylvania, which was 
 annexed in October, 1692, to that of New York under 
 Colonel Fletcher. 
 
 The suspicions which had so long rendered the king 
 unfriendly to Penn were at last removed. He was honor- 
 ably acquitted of all charges, religious as well as political, 
 which had been brought against him, and his rights were 
 restored to him by an instrument of William and Mary, 
 dated in August, 1694. 
 
 We have given this little sketch of the history of Penn- 
 sylvania simply as an episode. It is, however, connected 
 with that portion of our subject which laid the foundation 
 for a system of communication that has, ever since the 
 introduction of trade and commerce, made up one of their 
 chief facilities in business, and identified itself with the 
 cabinet of Washington, THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 In connection with William Penn our readers will no 
 
108 HIST OR Y OF PENNS YL VANIA. 
 
 doubt be interested in the following letter, which is on file 
 in the Land Department at the Capitol, in Harrisburg, 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 According to the " Harrisburg Telegraph," it appears to 
 be the credentials of a Society of Free-Traders, an organ- 
 ized body of merchants which once existed in London, 
 whose objects were to trade with Canada, at that time a 
 comparatively unknown country. The "Emperor of 
 Canada" was supposed by the company to be a celebrated 
 Indian chief. The letter is written on a piece of parch- 
 ment about two and a half feet wide by three feet in length. 
 The letters are about an inch in length, slightly inclined 
 to the right, bold, and of a very symmetrical formation. 
 The first letters of the first and second lines are large and 
 highly ornamented, a style which is yet kept by some of 
 our first-class publishers, who introduce ornamental initial 
 letters to chapters in their books. The signature of Penn 
 is nearly an inch long, with the same inclination to the 
 right, but the letters are not quite so bold and gracefully 
 formed as those in the body of the document: 
 
 "To THE EMPEROK OF CANADA: The Great God that 
 made thee and me and all the world, Incline our hearts to 
 love peace and Justice that we may live friendly together 
 as becomes the workmanship of the Great God. The 
 King of England, who is a Great Prince, hath for divers 
 Reasons, granted me a large Country in America, which 
 however I am willing to Injoy upon friendly terms with 
 Thee. And this I will say that the people who come 
 with me are a just, plain and honest people, that neither 
 make war upon others nor fear war from others, because 
 they are just. I have set up a Society of Traders in my 
 Province to traffic with thee and thy people for your com- 
 modities, that you may be furnished with that which is 
 good at reasonable rates. And the Society hath ordered 
 
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 109 
 
 their President to treat with thee about a future Trade, 
 and have joined with me to send this messenger with cer- 
 tain presents from us to testify our willingness to have 
 a fair Correspondence with thee. And what this Agent 
 shall do in our names we will agree unto. I hope thou 
 wilt Kindly Receive him, and comply with his desires on 
 our behalf both with respect to Land and Trade. The 
 Great God be with thee. Amen. 
 
 "WM. PENN, 
 " PHILIP THEODORE LEHNMAN, Sec. 
 
 " LONDON, the 21st of the fourth month, called June, 1682." 
 
 10 
 
110 PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 
 
 IX. 
 
 "Among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect, 
 a column in a scene of ruins, a pleasing example that the paths of honor and 
 safety may sometimes be the same." GIBBON. 
 
 WE purposely passed over Pennsylvania in giving a 
 statistical account of post-offices, as we intend to make the 
 Philadelphia post-office the starting-point of a more 
 general history, as far as the State is concerned, as also a 
 more extended notice of the system of the general postal 
 department. Again, there are more historical and remark- 
 able events associated with Pennsylvania, in connection 
 with the Revolution, than any other State in the Union. 
 
 The history of any one post-office after the Revolution 
 would be a history of all ; and, as the writer is more familiar 
 with that of Philadelphia, he is enabled to gather more 
 materials for the miscellaneous portion of his work than 
 if he had selected any other. 
 
 The general business routine of one office differs very 
 little from that of another: yet every office has its "un- 
 written history" and its own "romance and realities." 
 
 New York, with its vast commercial interests both at 
 home and abroad, and justly termed the metropolis of 
 America, could, from the archives of her post-office, give 
 to the world incidents that perhaps would find no parallel 
 in the annals of all the calendars that have registered 
 events of a startling character since the creation of the 
 world. 
 
 A post-office, with its millions of letters, is an epito- 
 mized world. The letters represent the human race, and 
 
THE ROMANCE OF THE POST-OFFICE. Ill 
 
 contain the written records of their vices and virtues ; or 
 it may be compared to a huge volume, and the letters 
 passing to and fro, the indexes to its contents. 
 
 Not that the secrets of a post-office become known to 
 its officers by improper means, but by that process of 
 secret modes of detection whose mysterious workings are 
 unknown to those unconnected with the institution. Very 
 little behind the great city we have named stands that of 
 Philadelphia ; and its post-office, like the tomb, has buried 
 secrets which an " Old Mortality" alone has the power to 
 bring forth. The task be ours to paint the mysteries of 
 the postal tomb. 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF THE POST-OFFICE. 
 
 History and romance have, as it were, by mutual con- 
 sent allied themselves together for the sole purpose of 
 mystifying mankind. It is true the first cannot pervert 
 a living fact, but it can materially affect the character of 
 one long since passed away and mingled with the revolu- 
 tion of words, men, and nations. The latter is simply a 
 colorist: the one maps, the other paints. And yet how 
 often do we hear it said that truth is stranger than fiction ! 
 The romance of a post-office would be a far more truthful 
 history of the human heart than any other work ever 
 written upon the subject. The post-office is the pulsa- 
 tion of a nation, the beating of a million of hearts, and 
 its records would be the world's volume. "A mail- 
 bag," says a writer, "is an epitome of human life. All 
 the elements which go to form the happiness or misery of 
 individuals the raw material, so to speak, of human 
 hopes and fears here exist in a chaotic state. These 
 elements are imprisoned, like the winds in the fabled cave 
 of JEolus, e biding their time 7 to go forth and fulfil their 
 office, whether it be to refresh and invigorate the drooping 
 
112 THE ROMANCE OF THE POST-OFFICE. 
 
 flower, or to bring destruction upon the proud and stately 
 forest king."* 
 
 We have selected the Philadelphia post-office as the 
 scene of our romantic portion of this work, because, as 
 stated, it is familiar to us, and many of the incidents, 
 anecdotes, &c. related came under our immediate notice. 
 We mention this simply to do away with any impression 
 that may arise that our purpose was to exalt one city over 
 another and praise its institutions at the expense of those 
 of other places. The author having received some little 
 credit as a critic in another department of our literature 
 for impartiality at least, it is hoped that he will not be 
 accused of a departure from it in this instance. 
 
 The history of Philadelphia is fraught with much inte- 
 rest; it is identified with the name of one whose mild and 
 conciliating views with regard to the Indians made his 
 colonization one of holy peace, and gave to the name 
 of Philadelphia by Christian practice what its Biblical 
 meaning conveys, "the City of Brotherly Love." 
 
 We annex an extract from a Latin poem, inscribed to 
 James Logan, Esq., by Thomas Makin, dated 1728. It 
 was found among James Logan's papers many years after 
 his death. The poem seems to have been written for 
 amusement in his old age : 
 
 "First, Pennsylvania's memorable name 
 From Penn, the founder of the country, came ; 
 Sprung from a worthy and illustrious race, 
 But more ennobled by his virtuous ways. 
 High in esteem among the great he stood ; 
 His wisdom made him lovely, great, and good. 
 Tho' he be said to die, he will survive; 
 Thro' future time his memory shall live ; 
 This wise proprietor, in love and praise, 
 Shall grow and flourish to the end of days. 
 
 * "Ten Years among the Mail-Bags." By J. Holbrook. 1856. 
 
PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 113 
 
 With just propriety, to future fame 
 Fair Pennsylvania shall record his name. 
 This Charles the Second did at first command, 
 And for his father's merits gave the land ; 
 But his high virtue did its value raise 
 To future glory and to lasting praise."* 
 
 HENRY WALDY, WM. PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 
 
 The want of a regular postal system was not felt in the 
 colonies until they had reached a certain point in trade, 
 commerce, and population. The mode of conveying letters 
 and packages, indeed, as well as merchandise of all kinds, 
 was perfectly simple and of a decided primitive character. 
 
 Pack-horses were used for the purpose of conveying 
 goods from Philadelphia to towns west. Pack-horses 
 afforded almost the sole means of transportation until 
 about 1788, when the roads were made accessible for 
 wagons; and even then, when the first wagon made its 
 appearance at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the "packers" be- 
 came greatly excited, and looked upon it as an improve- 
 ment likely to " ruin their trade." 
 
 The year 1683 was remarkable for the number of emi- 
 grants who arrived in the colony. It was in this year the 
 first Assembly was held in Philadelphia, and laws enacted 
 which had a wonderful bearing on the future prospects of 
 the colony. 
 
 In July of this year William Penn issued an order for 
 
 * Thomas Makin appears to have been one of the most early settlers 
 in the province of Pennsylvania. In 1689 he was second master of the 
 Friends' grammar-school in Philadelphia, which was the first of the 
 kind in the province, and instituted about that time. In 1699 he was 
 clerk for the Assembly, at four shillings per day. He was called "a 
 good Latinist." 
 
 In the "Mercury" of November, 1733, his death is thus announced:- - 
 "Last Tuesday night, Mr. Thomas Makin, a very ancient man, who 
 for many years was a schoolmaster in this city, stooping over a wharf- 
 end to get a pail of water, unhappily fell in, and was drowned." 
 
 10* 
 
114 PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 
 
 the establishing of a post-office, and granted to Henry 
 Waldy, of Tekonay (now written Tacony), authority to 
 hold one, and to supply passengers with horses from 
 Philadelphia to New Castle, or to the Falls. The rates of 
 postage were as follows: "Letters from the Falls, 3d; to 
 Chester, 5d. ; to New Castle, 7d. ; to Maryland, 9d. ; and 
 from Philadelphia to Chester, 2d.; to New Castle, 4c?.; 
 and to Maryland, 6d" The post went once a week, and 
 was to be carefully published "on the meeting-house door 
 and other public places." 
 
 There being no other mode of conveyance except by 
 horse, wagons and stages not being then established, 
 the transporting of letters was, of course, made by "post- 
 horses:" these were of the slow order and conducted on 
 that principle. It was not until 1756 that the first line 
 of stages was established. The chief office was in Straw- 
 berry Alley, at the sign of the "Death of the Fox." 
 
 The stage vid Perth Amboy and Trenton made its trip 
 to New York in three days. John Butler was the pro- 
 prietor, he having been set up in the business by the " Old 
 Hunting Club," to whom Butler had been huntsman and 
 kennel-keeper. The same year " British packet-boats" are 
 first announced between New York and Falmouth. In 
 1765 a second line of stages was set up for New York, to 
 start twice a week, using three days in going through, at 
 twopence a mile. It was a covered Jersey wagon, without 
 springs, and had four owners or proprietors concerned in 
 its management. The same year the first line of stages, 
 vessels, and wagons is set up from Philadelphia to Balti- 
 more vid Christiana and Frenchtown on Elk River, to go 
 once a week from Philadelphia. In 1766 a third line of 
 new stages for New York, modestly called the "Flying 
 Machine," and intended, of course, to beat the two former 
 ones, was set up to go through in two days, to start from 
 Elm Street, near Vine Street, under the ownership of 
 
PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 115 
 
 John Barnhill. They were to be " good stage wagons, and 
 the seats set on springs." Fare, threepence per mile, or 
 twenty shillings for the whole route. In the winter season, 
 however, the "Flying Machine" was to cleave to the rough 
 roads for three days, as in former times. 
 
 In the "Weekly Mercury" of March 8, 1759, we find 
 the following quaint advertisement : 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA STAGE WAGGON AND NEW YORK STAGE BOAT 
 
 "performs their stages twice a week. 
 
 "John Butler with his waggon, sets out on Mondays 
 from his house at the sign of the Death of the Fox, in 
 Strawberry Ally, and drives the same day to Trenton 
 Ferry, when Francis Holman meets him, and proceeds on 
 Tuesday to Brunswick, and the passengers and goods 
 being shifted into the waggon of Isaac Fitzrandolph, he 
 takes them to the New Blazing Star to Jacob Fitzran- 
 dolph's the same day, where Rubin Fitzrandolph, with a 
 boat well suted, will receive them and take them to New 
 York that night. John Butler returning to Philadelphia 
 on Tuesday with the passengers and goods delivered to 
 him by Francis Holman, will again set out for Trenton 
 Ferry on Thursday and Francis Holman <fec. will carry 
 his passengers and goods, with the same expedition as 
 above to New York. 
 
 "March 8, 1759." 
 
 "In 1773, as perfection advanced, Messrs. C. Bessonett 
 & Co., of Bristol," start stage-coaches being the first of 
 that character to run from Philadelphia to New York in 
 two days, for the fare of $4. At the same time " outside 
 passengers" were to pay 20 shillings each.* 
 
 In 1785 the legislature of New York passed an 'act of 
 
 * Watson's Annals. 
 
116 PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 
 
 exclusive privilege for ten years to Isaac Vanwick and 
 others to run a four-horse stage from New York to 
 Albany at fourpence a mile. This to encourage the ex- 
 periment. 
 
 It would be a curious history to follow up that of stage- 
 coaches until the introduction of railroads and steamboats. 
 It would be a history fraught not only with interest, but 
 showing the enterprise of men under a new mode of gov- 
 ernment, and the developing of minds which under 
 monarchical rule were chained as it were to ignorance and 
 fanaticism. Liberty and that freedom a republican system 
 gives both to mind and body create a desire 
 
 "To learn and know the truth of every thing 
 Which is co-natural and born with it, 
 And from the essence of the soul doth spring." 
 
 We have stated that Butler was the "kennel-keeper" to 
 the Old Hunting Club. This club was composed of the 
 " first men of the day." The kennel for the hounds belong- 
 ing to the company was situated on the brow of the hill 
 north of Callowhill Street, descending to Pegg's Run, near 
 Second Street. Butler lived in a low brick house adjoin- 
 ing the northwest corner of Callowhill and Second Streets. 
 Fox-hunting was a favorite amusement of the club. When 
 the population of the city increased and game disappeared, 
 the members removed their establishment over to Glou- 
 cester, so as to make their hunts in the Jersey pines. 
 
 The passion for hunting led to other amusements not 
 quite so interesting or innocent, both as regarded their 
 character and the influence they were calculated to have 
 on society. These were horse-racing and bull-baiting. 
 The latter were frequent, more particularly in the Northern 
 Liberties, and were first supported chiefly by butchers, but 
 gradually assumed a more aristocratical character, being 
 encouraged by many members of the "Old Hunting 
 
PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 117 
 
 Club." John Ord, an Englishman, kept bull-dogs for 
 the purpose of the breed. His establishment was at the 
 corner of Second and High Streets. The cruel amuse- 
 ment of bull-baiting one which gave to Old Spain a 
 character for cruelty only equalled by that of the Inquisi- 
 tion continued until about 1798, when Robert Wharton, 
 Esq., was elected mayor of the city. He attended one of 
 these " bull-baits/ 7 and actually, just as they were about to 
 loose the dogs, jumped into the ring, and, calling aloud, 
 said he would arrest the first man who should commence 
 the cruel work. The effect was tremendous : men started 
 back in affright; the very dogs cowed beneath the glance 
 of his flashing eyes; and the bull gave a roar, no doubt 
 one of rejoicing for his escape. There were no more bull- 
 baitings after that. 
 
 William Penn did not enter upon his mission in the 
 colonies unprepared for all the difficulties he had to en- 
 counter, nor was he ignorant of the history of those 
 nations and their great cities which ages ago gave them a 
 classic habitation and a home. 
 
 Penn evidently had the celebrated city of Babylon in 
 view as a model for Philadelphia ; and, from a draft before 
 us, the idea, as far as regularity and order were concerned, 
 appears to have been well conceived, and, as proved, sub- 
 sequently carried out. 
 
 The history of Philadelphia, as it was during its colonial, 
 caterpillar state, and as it is now in dazzling, butterfly 
 beauty under a far different system of government, is 
 familiar to all : yet we shall have occasion, in connection 
 with our subject, to allude to its former history as we 
 proceed. 
 
 The post-office scheme of Colonel John Hamilton was 
 well adapted to the wants of the colonists. In 1717 a 
 settled post was established from Virginia to Maryland, 
 which went through all the Northern colonies, bringing 
 
118 PENH'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 
 
 and forwarding letters from Boston to Williamsburg, in 
 Virginia, in four weeks. 
 
 In 1727 the mail to Annapolis was opened, to go once 
 a fortnight in summer, and once a month in winter, vid 
 New Castle, &c., to the Western Shore, and back to the 
 Eastern Shore, managed by William Bradford in Phila- 
 delphia, and by William Parks, of Annapolis. 
 
 William Bradford established a press in Philadelphia 
 in 1687, the first-fruits of which was a sheet almanac. 
 The title was, "An Almanac for the Year of the Chris- 
 tian Era 1687 ; particularly respecting the meridian and 
 latitude of Burlington, but may indifferently suit all places 
 adjacent. By William Leeds, Student in Agriculture. 
 Printed and Sold by William Bradford, near Philadelphia, 
 in Pennsylvania." 
 
 A copy of this rare print is in the Philadelphia Library. 
 
 William Bradford was the then deputy postmaster, but, 
 having proved negligent respecting his official accounts, 
 was removed, and Benjamin Franklin was appointed in 
 his stead. Colonel Spottswood was the postmaster-general, 
 at whose instigation Bradford was removed. 
 
 Now commenced a new and important era in the postal 
 department of our country, bearing date 1737. It was 
 at that period, however, a very unimportant matter, but in 
 time has become a gigantic institution. We look back to 
 that period now with more interest, for two reasons: one 
 is, to contrast it with the present, and the other, because 
 the name of Benjamin Franklin is identified with the first 
 great move in our postal history. 
 
 Franklin assumed the deputy-postmastership in 1737. 
 The only pecuniary available result from it, however, was 
 that it afforded him better facilities for procuring news 
 for his paper, and for its distribution. This paper was 
 originally entitled " The Universal Instructor in all Arts 
 and Sciences, and Pennsylvania Gazette," and had reached 
 
PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 119 
 
 its thirty-ninth number when its proprietor sold out to 
 Franklin and Meredith. October 2, 1729, was the date 
 of JSTo. 40, edited by B. Franklin. It was reduced in 
 name to " Pennsylvania Gazette." The increase and emolu- 
 ments of his paper were still further aided by the diminish- 
 ing patronage received by his rival Bradford, the displaced 
 postmaster, who had while in office forbidden his post- 
 riders to distribute any papers but his own. Franklin, 
 speaking of this ungenerous conduct on the part of Brad- 
 ford, said, " I thought so meanly of the practice on his 
 part, that when I afterwards came into the situation I 
 took care never to imitate it." He also says, in his Life, 
 " Thus Bradford suffered greatly from his neglect in due 
 accounting ; and I mention this fact as a lesson to those 
 young men who may be employed in managing affairs for 
 others, that they should always render accounts and make 
 remittances with great clearness and punctuality, &c." 
 
 Perhaps there is no portion of our postal history more 
 interesting than that which characterized its early dawn. 
 It presents a sort of political and financial struggle between 
 trade, commerce, and a government. Franklin, however, 
 settled the question by making it both a national and com- 
 mercial feature. It is also interesting to note the difference 
 between the movements of the public mail in those old 
 colonial days, when its bags, at most but a few score 
 pounds in weight, were almost universally carried on horse- 
 back, and in these times, when it is speeded in tons by 
 steam ! 
 
 Perhaps there was not another man in the colonies 
 better adapted for the postmastership than Franklin. He 
 had been, up to that period, an active business-man. He 
 was a printer, editor, compositor, publisher, bookseller, 
 and stationer, in fact, a modern Faust in the first, and a 
 Mathew Carey in the latter. 
 
 The postal services of the colonies now began to assume 
 
120 PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 
 
 a somewhat business form, and, although some of these 
 services were not immediately connected with the depart- 
 ment, they were nevertheless highly advantageous to the 
 community : as, for instance, letters arriving from beyond 
 sea were usually delivered on board the ship into the 
 hands of the persons to whom they were addressed; 
 families expecting letters would send a messenger on board 
 for the purpose of receiving letters. Those that were not 
 called for before the sailing of the vessel were taken to 
 the " CofFee-House," where everybody could make inquiry 
 for them ; thus showing that the post-office did not seem 
 to claim a right to distribute them, as now. Persons 
 coming from adjacent settlements called at the " Coffee- 
 House," and carried away not only their own letters, but 
 all those belonging to their neighborhood. These were 
 called " neighborly posts." 
 
 As the trade of the colonies extended, the system of 
 letter-delivery began to vary ; and thus the " neighborly 
 post" system resolved itself into that of the " post-rider." 
 
 Perhaps Boston deserves the credit of the first formation 
 of a foreign postal system; for in 1639 the General Court 
 of Massachusetts issued the following decree : 
 
 u It is ordered that notice be given that Richard Fair- 
 banks his house in Boston is the place appointed for all 
 letters which are brought from beyond the seas, or are to 
 be sent thither to be left with him ; and he is to take care 
 that they are to be delivered or sent accordingly to the 
 directions ; and he is allowed for every letter a penny ; and 
 he must answer all miscarriages through his own neglect in 
 this kind." 
 
 In Philadelphia, the Old Coffee-House system prevailed 
 for many years. 
 
 In Virginia, the mail-bag was passed along from plan- 
 
PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 121 
 
 tation to plantation, and each planter was required by law, 
 passed in 1757, to send a messenger with it to his next 
 neighbor, under a penalty of a hogshead of tobacco. Every 
 man took out his own letters from the bag, and so on to 
 the remainder. 
 
 In 1672 the government of New York established a 
 monthly mail to Boston, advertising that those disposed 
 to send letters should bring them to the secretary's office, 
 where, in a a locket-box," they shall be preserved till the 
 messenger calls for them; all persons paying the post 
 b^ore the " bagg be sealed up." 
 
 In 1692 the office of postmaster-general for North Ame- 
 rica was created; but as late as 1704 no post-rider went 
 farther east than Boston, or farther south than Baltimore. 
 When Franklin was appointed postmaster-general, in 1753, 
 the line of posts still began at Boston, and went no farther 
 south than Charleston. 
 
 In 1738 Henry Pratt was made riding-postmaster for 
 all the stages between Philadelphia and Newport, Vir- 
 ginia, " to set out in the beginning of each month, and to 
 return in twenty-four days. To him all merchants, &c. 
 may confide their letters and other business, he having given 
 security to the postmaster-general." 
 
 In 1744 it was announced in the Gazette that the 
 "Northern post begins his fortnight stages on Tuesday 
 next for the winter season." In 1745 John Dalley, Sur- 
 veyor of the State, says that he has just made survey of 
 the road from Trenton to Amboy, and has set up marks 
 at every two miles to guide the traveller ! 
 
 An attempt was made in 1692 to establish post-routes 
 throughout Virginia. A patent was laid before the Vir- 
 ginia Assembly for making a Mr. Neal postmaster-general 
 of that and other parts of America; but though the 
 Assembly passed an act in favor of this patent, it had no 
 
 effect. The reason assigned was that it was impossible to 
 
 11 
 
122 PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 
 
 carry it into execution, on account of the dispersed situa- 
 tions of the inhabitants. 
 
 The locality of the colonial post-offices is a matter of 
 doubt; but, as nearly all the public departments were 
 located in private houses, the presumption is that the 
 post-office was, under Bradford, at his printing-office, and 
 it is more than probable that Benjamin Franklin's resi- 
 dence, corner of Second and Race, was, or at least a portion 
 of it, used for postal purposes. The first located building 
 used for the purpose was on the east side of Water Street, 
 a few doors below High Street, the same house which 
 had before been the residence of the chief justice. 
 
 It is evident from the old records that all along Water 
 Street and Front Street, extending to South, the chief 
 business of the city was transacted. The earliest papers 
 show by their advertisements that many of the goods for 
 retail were sold on Water Street. Even Penn Street at 
 that early period was of some note ; and there are to this 
 day many buildings in its immediate vicinity which bear 
 date prior to 1750. As early as 1737 Mrs. Fishbourne 
 kept a store in Water Street below Walnut, expressly for 
 " ladies 7 goods." In Water Street above Pine Street, in 
 1755, there was a fashionable furnishing-store for gentle- 
 men's wearing apparel. The " Old London CofFee-House" 
 stood at the corner of Front and Market Streets : it was 
 the resort of merchants and the Mite of the city.* All that 
 portion of Front and Second Streets extending as far down 
 as Almond was termed " Society Hill," and was the nu- 
 cleus around and near which the tradesmen, the milliners, 
 mantuamakers, and retail merchants gathered. 
 
 William Penn, Jr., had a small house at the corner of 
 
 * This building, known for many years as " The London Coffee- 
 House," stood at the southwest corner of Front and Market Streets. 
 It was erected in 1701 by Charles Reed, and was first used as a " coffee- 
 house" by William Bradford, the printer. 
 
PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 123 
 
 Second and South Streets. The scenery in the neighbor- 
 hood of Second and Dock Streets is described by old his- 
 torians as being very beautiful. Watson says, " Looking 
 across the 'Dock Creek/ westward, we see all the margin 
 of the creek adorned with every grace of shrubbery and 
 foliage ; and beyond it a gently sloping descent from the 
 line of Second Street, whereon were hutted a few of the 
 natives' wigwams, intermixed among the shadowy trees. 
 A bower near there, and a line of deeper verdure on the 
 ground, marked 'the Spring/ where the naiad weeps her 
 emptying urn." 
 
 In the neighborhood of Union and Front Streets, 
 "Alderman Plumstead" had a splendid garden on the 
 " Sloping Hill :" it was the admiration of the town. In 
 1739 the Kev. George Whitefield preached to fifteen thou- 
 sand people on "Society Hill," near to the flag-staff near 
 Front and Pine. There was also a place of resort in this 
 vicinity, called "Cherry Garden." "The Friends' Meet- 
 ing-House" was also located here, and "George Wells's 
 place" was much admired. The Loxley House, which 
 stood back of 177 South Second Street (old number), 
 below Little Dock, and only within a few years torn down, 
 is well known for its historical reminiscences to our 
 readers. Near to the Loxley House there was a peculiar 
 spring of water, called " Bathsheba's Spring and Bower." 
 The origin of the name is somewhat curious. "Bath- 
 sheba Bowers" was the name of a young lady. She 
 erected a small house near to the best spring of water that 
 was in our city. The house she furnished with books, a 
 table, and a cup, in which she, or any that visited her, 
 drank of the spring. Some people gave it the name of 
 " Bathsheba's Bower," and the spring long afterwards bore 
 the name of "Bathsheba's Spring." 
 
 It was in the immediate vicinity of this then beautiful 
 portion of the city the first theatre was opened. 
 
124 PENNS FIRST POSTMASTER. 
 
 Perhaps there are many of our readers unacquainted 
 with the early history of the stage and the drama in 
 Philadelphia. True, much has been written upon the sub- 
 ject ; but in almost every instance discrepancies both in 
 dates and names have occurred. 
 
 In the year 1747, one hundred and nineteen years ago, 
 a company of comedians were performing in this city. 
 As this announcement will no doubt startle many, we 
 must, as pioneers in the cause of truth and the drama, be 
 chronological as well as logical in establishing the fact. 
 
 The state of society at the period alluded to above was 
 different from what it is now. A feeble, sickly spirit of 
 aristocracy, even at that early stage of our history, dis- 
 graced alike the moral and intellectual character of those 
 who caught the infection ; and hence a bitter feeling existed 
 among the various classes making up the great body politic. 
 This dangerous foe to all social and religious forms was 
 brought over to the colonies by a few decayed branches 
 of the nobility-trees of England, who had established 
 a sort of " West End" fraternity along Front Street below 
 Spruce (in the immediate vicinity of the Loxley House), 
 and which was known for many years as Society Hill. 
 Broad lines of distinction were drawn between the classes, 
 and mechanics were looked upon as being so far beneath 
 the consideration of these "Malaprops" of real life that 
 servants had to negotiate all business transactions: the 
 quality had nothing to do with them ! 
 
 In the principal streets, such as Second, Front, Spruce, 
 and even as far down as South Street, various artisans, 
 shopkeepers, and others had established themselves in 
 business; and it was here the first attempt was made 
 to enact plays and lay the foundation of the drama's 
 temple. 
 
 The Quakers, and the more sober portion of other de- 
 nominations, left no means untried to break up what they 
 
PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 125 
 
 termed " these Satan-like doings." It is true, these exhi- 
 bitions were not publicly announced, and the citizens 
 generally were not aware of their secret place of exhibiting 
 "profane plays." Private as they were, however, suffi- 
 cient publicity was given to them to create an alarm 
 among a class of people possessing all the primitive quali- 
 ties, as well as virtues, of their great founder. 
 
 The dawn of literature in this country (that is, admitting 
 it ever had a morning) dates at a much later period than 
 the year 1747. It is true many obstacles stood in the 
 way of its advancement ; apart from which, the colonists 
 were not a reading community, and the press throughout 
 the land might be likened unto "angels' visits, few and 
 far between." It is true the colonists could boast of a 
 few names, whose works bear date as far back as 1640. 
 In 1639 manuscripts were used in courts. The laws by 
 which the colonies were governed were not printed until 
 1641. The art of printing was introduced into North 
 America in 1639. The first printing-press established in 
 the States was put up at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 
 1639, by Stephen Day. In 1640 he published the Bay 
 Psalm-Book. The year 1678 may be said to form an era 
 in our literature ; for at that time John Foster, Boston, 
 published the works of Anne Bradstreet; in 1676, Peter 
 Folger wrote and published his famous " Looking-Glass 
 for the Times." Various poems, orations, sermons, &c. 
 &c., were published ; but it was not until 1720 the first 
 play loos ivritten on the American continent ; and we deem 
 it of sufficient importance to engross it in our sketch of 
 the American stage. 
 
 Benjamin Coleman, or, as some wrote it, Colman, was 
 born in Boston, October 19, 1676. While at Harvard 
 College, he wrote the tragedy of " Gustavus Yasa ;" and 
 this was the first play enacted by a company of amateurs 
 in the colonies. The history of our literature is associated 
 
 11* 
 
126 PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 
 
 with that of the press : without the press it would have 
 been as learning was when vellum and beech received 
 the impression of certain figures called letters, and were 
 sold at enormous prices, in proportion to the intellectual 
 and physical labor bestowed upon their productions. The 
 moment the press was put in operation in Connecticut, 
 poetry, Pallas-like, sprang from its mystic womb, and, if 
 unlike Pallas, completely armed, was at least so decently 
 clad that criticism faltered at the threshold of censure. 
 The next play written and the first published in the colo- 
 nies was " The Prince of Parthia," by Thomas Godfrey : 
 it was printed in 1768. A copy of it is in the Philadelphia 
 Library. This author was the son of Thomas Godfrey, 
 a glazier, and inventor of the celebrated quadrant now in 
 use. He was born in Philadelphia, in the year 1736. 
 We never refer to these pioneers in the cause of our drama 
 and literature without feeling a desire to moralize. In- 
 deed, to look back over a series of years, and call up 
 images to the mind which have long since passed away, 
 strikes so forcibly the conviction of man's identity with 
 the infinite works of God, that he trembles, while he 
 meditates, and feels his own insignificance while mourn- 
 ing o'er "visions fled." 
 
 They are brought up to our view by the "Old Mor- 
 talities" of every generation ; and the selfsame enthusiastic 
 feeling which prompted them to remember coming ages 
 urges us to fulfil our destiny in this. It would be curious 
 to us in this generation, if it were possible, to raise up the 
 curtain of the mouldering past and bring to view "the 
 things that were," paint the lowly dwellings of our 
 ancestors, the simplicity and primitive qualities of their 
 minds, and the stern moral rectitude of their even lives. 
 All this would contrast fearfully with what we are now, 
 not only as regards our temporal but our spiritual state. 
 If we differ from our good old friends of the eighteenth 
 
PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. ]27 
 
 century, it is on the subject of the drama and the strange 
 notion they had of its immoral tendency; for we never 
 could imagine that the choicest gems from the British 
 poets conveyed to us through the medium of the stage 
 could have any other effect than to exalt the mind, expand 
 the intellect, and open to the view the rich and inexhaust- 
 ible mental wealth of the mimic world. It would be 
 curious, we say, if it were possible to describe that state 
 of society which could exist without musk, poetry, and 
 painting, a state of society no doubt perfectly moral, 
 strictly pure, but rather stiffly starched with the old-fash- 
 ioned notions of propriety and the right of enjoyment. 
 At that period, dancing was prohibited, and a fencing- 
 master from Paris almost hunted down for attempting to 
 teach the art in this city. It is true, a few wax figures 
 and Punch and Judy made their appearance on some 
 holidays ; but they soon melted away before the heat of puri- 
 tanical sunshine. 
 
 We now come to the first attempt at theatrical represent- 
 ations. In the year 1747 a company was formed, com- 
 posed chiefly of young men whose education and birth 
 placed them in positions to advance the cause of science or 
 art, as their tastes and inclinations might have led them to 
 advocate. A family by the name of Courtland, an Eng- 
 lish family, had but recently arrived in this country, and, 
 possessing many of the prevailing notions at that time 
 popular in England, their astonishment at our total igno- 
 rance of the drama and its literature was fully shown by 
 a display of their knowledge and a familiar acquaintance 
 with the living dramatists of that period in England. It 
 is not our purpose to connect the name of Courtland with 
 the organization of this company: indeed, such a thing 
 would be almost impossible, inasmuch as the association 
 was as secret as were the names of its members. One 
 thing, however, was evident : a taste for dramatic reading 
 
128 PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 
 
 soon became prevalent, and the plays of Shakspeare found 
 favor even in the eyes of the godly. Young Courtland, 
 the leader of "Society Hill" boys, soon inoculated his 
 companions with many of their follies, and the play- 
 grounds about the Loxley House resounded with their 
 shouts. From this circle came forth the pioneers of our 
 drama. A companion of Courtland's, by the name of 
 Aitken, was the first to propose a dramatic association. 
 The name of Garrick and the uprising of the English 
 drama in London had already enlisted many here in its 
 favor. 
 
 The place of meeting for the early pioneership of the 
 drama was held in a house on Second Street adjoining the 
 then gardens of the Loxley House, and immediately con- 
 nected with an old white building, recently altered into 
 stores, and which was used in our Revolutionary War as 
 a hospital. The front portion of this dramatic temple 
 was used as a boot and shoe store ; the rear was occupied 
 by the proprietor's family, and the range of rooms over 
 the back building was the scene of the drama's birth. It 
 was here " Richard III. " was enacted, and it was here the 
 few plays that had crossed the Atlantic found favor in the 
 eyes of the aspirants for histrionic fame, and whose dra- 
 matic efforts kindled a flame in many a youthful breast, 
 which has sent its light down through the mimic world 
 to brighten it in all ages. 
 
 A great sensation was created by this theatrical out- 
 break, and on its reaching the ears of the Quakers, they, 
 with others opposed to such "unlawful proceedings and 
 profane exhibitions," had the matter brought before the 
 council, or, rather, the recorder, and we find upon his 
 office-books, bearing date January 8, 1749, gravely writ- 
 ten, " The recorder then acquainted the board that certain 
 persons had taken upon them to act plays in this city, and, 
 as he was informed, intended to make a frequent practice 
 
PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 129 
 
 thereof, which it was feared would be attended with 
 mischievous effect, such as the encouraging of idleness, 
 and drawing great sums of money from weak and incon- 
 siderate people, who are apt to be fond of such kinds of 
 entertainments, though the performance be ever so mean 
 and contemptible. Whereupon the board unanimously 
 requested the magistrates to take most effectual measures 
 for suppressing this disorder, by sending for the actors 
 and binding them to their good behavior, or by such other 
 means as they should judge most proper.' 7 
 
 This proceeding, strange as it may seem, produced quite 
 a contrary effect; for the company, which was now regu- 
 larly organized, and was made subservient to the interests 
 of all concerned, actually stepped out from behind the law 
 and boldly asked permission from the authorities to enact 
 plays in some more public place other than the obscure 
 spot they had selected. Backed by the aristocracy of 
 "Society Hill," their application was granted. 
 
 What aided to strengthen this company and give it 
 character was the fact of several members of a West India 
 company arriving here, who immediately joined them; and 
 thus Richard III., Hamlet, Beau Stratagem, &c., were 
 played in a manner to please the "million." 
 
 The Philadelphia company left the Quaker City at the 
 close of 1749, and opened a temporary theatre in a wooden 
 building in Nassau Street, New York. A writer, alluding 
 to this company and the early history of the drama, says, 
 "The earliest theatrical performances, in the recollection 
 of the oldest inhabitants, were in a store on Crugar's 
 wharf, near Old Slip, by a company of Thespians, corn- 
 posed of 'choice spirits' of a certain order. They were 
 roystering young men, full of tricks and mischief, who 
 used to play cricket in the fields, and who spent their 
 nights at the Boat-House, on Broad Street, near where the 
 United States Public Stores now stand." Our readers 
 
130 PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 
 
 will recognize in these young men the Thespian company 
 from the Quaker City. After playing here with some 
 success, the company left for Virginia. 
 
 They then went to Williamsburg, Virginia, and, al- 
 though William Dunlap denies the fact in his " History 
 of the American Stage," yet it is true that under the 
 presidency of Thomas Lee the Philadelphia company, 
 strengthened by the addition made to it in New York, 
 obtained permission to erect a theatre in Williamsburg, 
 and in the year 1750 it was begun and finished. They 
 played here in 1751.* 
 
 Hallam opened at this very theatre on the 5th of Sep- 
 tember, 1752, and on the evening of July 13, 1752, the 
 Philadelphia and New York company opened their second 
 new theatre in Annapolis, and performed "The Beau 
 Stratagem" and the farce of "The Virgin Unmasked:' 7 
 boxes, 10s.; pit, 7s. Qd. Richard III. was performed 
 twice, the character of Richard by Mr. Wynel, and that 
 of Richmond by Mr. Herbert. Mr. Eyniason, Mr. Aitken, 
 and Mr. Courtland are the only names handed down to us 
 as belonging to the colonial company. 
 
 As Hallam's company arrived at Yorktown in June, 
 1752, and did not open until September at Williamsburg, 
 there is no doubt that a portion of his company joined 
 Eyniason at Annapolis and played until the opening at 
 Williamsburg. 
 
 The first play, therefore, acted in this country by what 
 may be termed a regular company (and this company 
 was composed of the old actors, and two or three of 
 
 * On very meagre authority it is stated that there was a "play-house" 
 in New York in 1733. In an advertisement in "Bradford's Gazette" of 
 that period, a merchant gives his place of business as being "next door 
 to the play-house." This reference is all that has been found respecting 
 it. What kind of a play-house is alluded to here remains a secret to 
 those who take an interest in dramatic reminiscences. 
 
PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 131 
 
 Hallam's, viz.: Wynel and Herbert) was "The Beau 
 Stratagem," and the farce of "The Virgin Unmasked." 
 After the organization of Hallam's company the members 
 of the old became incorporated with it. The Annapolis 
 theatre, which in 1752 was called the New Theatre, was 
 built of brick, and was calculated to hold over five hun- 
 dred persons. Dunlap says this was the first theatre erected 
 in this country, not being advised of the one erected in 
 Williamsburg in 1750. In justice, however, to Dunlap, 
 the author has a letter from the veteran of the drama 
 within a short time before his death, wherein he acknow- 
 ledges his error and does justice to Burke the historian, 
 and admits the justice of our correction made in the year 
 1835. 
 
 The following are the names of a portion of the com- 
 pany who played in the "The Beau Stratagem:" Mr. 
 Eyniason, Mr. Bell, Mr. Miller, Mr. Love, Mr. Court- 
 ney, Mr. Aitken, Mrs. Love, and Mrs. Becceley. These 
 we have every reason to believe were of the old com- 
 pany. 
 
 COPY OF THE FIKST PLAY-BILL ISSUED BY THE ENG- 
 LISH COMPANY AT WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA, SEP- 
 TEMBER 5, 1752. 
 
 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 
 
 Bassanio Mr. Rigby 
 
 Antonio Mr. Clarkson. 
 
 Gratiano Mr. Singleton. 
 
 Salanio and the Duke Mr. Herbert. 
 
 Salarino and Gobbo Mr. Wynel. 
 
 Launcelot and Tubal Mr. Hallam. 
 
 Shylock Mr. Malone. 
 
 Servant to Portia Master L. Hallam. 
 
 Portia Mrs. Hallam. 
 
 Jessica (first appearance on the stage) Miss Hallam. 
 
 Nerissa , Miss Palmer. 
 
132 PENN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. 
 
 LETHE. 
 
 ./Esop Mr. Clarkson. 
 
 Old Man Mr. Malone. 
 
 Fine Gentleman Mr. Singleton. 
 
 Frenchman Mr. Rigby. 
 
 Charon Mr. Herbert. 
 
 Mercury Mr. Adcock. 
 
 Drunken Man and Tattoo Mr. Hallam. 
 
 John Mr. Wynel. 
 
 Mrs. Tattoo Miss Palmer. 
 
 Fine Lady Mrs. Hallam. 
 
 The above cast includes in the bill the names of all who 
 composed the company, with the exception of Mrs. Clark- 
 son, Mrs. Rigby, and Adam Hallam, a child. 
 
 After playing here for a while under circumstances by 
 no means pleasing, the manager cast his eyes to the prin- 
 cipal cities of the country, and selected New York as the 
 first step towards the establishing of the drama among the 
 elite. At that period the first families in Virginia had not 
 assumed that prerogative. Hallam opened his first place 
 of amusement in the city of New York on the 17th day 
 of September, 1753, with "Conscious Lovers," and "Da- 
 mon and Phillida." The site was originally occupied by 
 the old Dutch Church on Nassau Street. As a matter of 
 history, as well as of curiosity, we append the opening 
 bill: 
 
 BY HIS EXCELLENCY'S AUTHORITY. 
 
 By a company of comedians from London, at the New Theatre in Nassau 
 Street, the present evening, being the I7th of September (1753), will be 
 performed a comedy called 
 
 THE CONSCIOUS LOVERS. 
 
 Young Bevel Mr! Rigby. 
 
 Mr. Sealand Mr. Malone. 
 
 Sir John Bevel Mr. Bell. 
 
 Myrtle Mr. Clarkson. 
 
 Cimberton Mr. Miller. 
 
 Humphry Mr. Adcock. 
 
 Daniel Master L. Hallam. 
 
THE PHILADELPHIA STAGE. 133 
 
 Tom Mr. Singleton. 
 
 Phillis Mrs. Becceley. 
 
 Mrs. Sealand Mrs. Clarkson. 
 
 Lucinda Miss Hallam. 
 
 Isabella Mrs. Rigby. 
 
 Indiana ...Mrs. Hallam. 
 
 To which will be added the Ballet Farce of 
 
 DAMON AND PHILLIDA. 
 
 Areas Mr. Bell. 
 
 Ogon Mr. Rigby. 
 
 Korydon Mr. Clarkson. 
 
 Cymon -. Mr. Miller. 
 
 Damon... . Mr. Adcock. 
 
 Phillida Mrs. Becceley. 
 
 A new occasional prologue to be spoken by Mr. Rigby. 
 An epilogue (addressed to the ladies) by Mrs. Hallam. 
 Prices. Box, 85.5 Pit, 6s. ; Gallery, 35. 
 No person whatever to be admitted behind the scenes. 
 
 N. B. Gentlemen and ladies that choose tickets may have them at the 
 new printing-office in Beaver Street. 
 To begin at six o'clock. 
 
 The days of performance, Mondays, Wednesdays, and 
 Fridays, and continued so for half a century. 
 
 The city of Philadelphia was the next move by this 
 company on the checker-board of the mimic world. 
 
 THE PHILADELPHIA /STAGE. 
 
 The Nassau Street, New York, closed on the 18th of 
 March, 1754, and Hallam accepted a pressing invitation 
 from a number of gentlemen in Philadelphia, and opened 
 on the 15th of April, 1754, in a sail-loft or warehouse 
 belonging to William Plumstead, Esq.,* situated in Water 
 Street, southeast corner of the first alley above Pine. This 
 building extended to the wharf. This was certainly a 
 most curious locality: yet at that period the neighborhood 
 of its site was almost aristocratical, for "Society Hill," 
 
 * This gentleman was mayor of the city in the years 1750 and 1755. 
 
 12 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
134 THE PHILADELPHIA STAGE. 
 
 extending all along Front Street to Almond, was the 
 theatre of as much fashionable parade and display as 
 Chestnut Street is now. There stood at that period several 
 finely-built houses, and its proximity to the "Loxley 
 House" and "White Hall" gave it a character it certainly 
 could not claim at the present day : we mean, of course, 
 for its locality as a theatre. There is also another, and 
 perhaps a paramount one; and that is, it was the only 
 place they could get. It was here, on this lone spot, the 
 first regular company of comedians opened their Philadel- 
 phia campaign. The play was the "Fair Penitent," and 
 "Miss in her Teens." 
 
 We present the cast of the tragedy : 
 
 Sciotto Mr. Malone. 
 
 Horatio Mr. Rigby. 
 
 Lothario Mr. Singleton. 
 
 Altamont Mr. Clarkson. 
 
 Catista Mrs. Hallam. 
 
 Lavinia Mrs. Adcock. 
 
 Sucetta Miss Hallam. 
 
 Prices of admission. Box, 4$. j Gallery, "is. 6d. 
 
 Having given an account of the first theatrical exhibi- 
 tion given in this city, and the site of the first theatre, we 
 come now to the second, which may, in fact, be termed the 
 first erected for legitimate purposes. The company con- 
 tinued to play at Plumstead's warehouse, gaining favor 
 gradually with the public, until June, having remained 
 open two months, and playing to crowded houses. On 
 the 17th of June they played "The Careless Husband" 
 by particular request, the proceeds of which were appro- 
 priated to the poor of the city. It is a curious fact in the 
 history of the drama, and one which reflects but little 
 credit upon its opponents, that in almost every case of 
 opposition the belligerent parties were bought over by 
 money, and even this came into their hands as donations to 
 
THE PHILADELPHIA STAGE. 135 
 
 the poor ; but whether the poor ever received a penny of 
 it is a matter time and eternity have already reconciled. 
 Even at the present day there are classes of men whose 
 opinion of actors and theatres would undergo a material 
 change if a portion of the proceeds of the theatrical repre- 
 sentations were poured into their laps, and used, as the 
 phrase goes, for the poor. 
 
 In the year 1759 David Douglas opened the second 
 theatre in Philadelphia. This building stood at the south- 
 west corner of South and Yernon Streets. It was built 
 entirely of wood, weather-boarded and painted a dark lead- 
 color. It was a large building, and calculated to hold a 
 thousand persons. Douglas had succeeded to the throne 
 of the "mimic world" in consequence of the death of Mr. 
 Hallam, whose widow he married. Douglas was a man 
 .of enterprise, and ambitious to establish the regular drama 
 in the Western World. In the pursuit of this object he 
 at once determined to erect temples to the histrionic 
 muses which in after-years would lead to the establish- 
 ing of others, whose classic beauty and architectural 
 design might emulate the proudest edifices of the land 
 and find their model in Roman superstructure. In doing 
 this, he had to contend against the prejudices of the people, 
 and select such plays as were calculated to disarm op- 
 position and enlist the liberal in his favor. Thus, he 
 opened the old South Street Theatre with the tragedy of 
 "Douglass," written, as was stated in the bills, by Mr. 
 Home, minister of the Kirk of Scotland. This was fol- 
 lowed by " Hamlet," which play, it was said, furnished a 
 moral lesson for youth and the regulation of their conduct 
 through life. On the 27th of December a benefit was 
 given towards raising a fund for "purchasing an organ to 
 the college hall in this city, and instructing the charity 
 children in psalmody."* 
 
 * The play on this occasion was "George Barnwell." 
 
136 THE PHILADELPHIA STAGE. 
 
 On the following evening "Hamlet" was played for 
 the benefit of the Pennsylvania Hospital, and the theatre 
 closed for the season. The members of the company at 
 least the chief portion were Mr. and Mrs. Douglas, Miss 
 Cheer, Mrs. Morris,* Mrs. Crane, Mrs. Allyn, and Miss 
 Hallam. In addition to the company which we have 
 already mentioned in another chapter, we find the names 
 of Quelch, Tomlinson, Stuart, Tremaine, Reed, and Morris. 
 
 Francis Mentges, afterwards an officer in our service, 
 was the dancing performer. While he danced he assumed 
 the name of Francis. Miss Cheer was the Lady Macbeth 
 of the day, and Morris, the husband of the lady whose 
 unfortunate fate we have stated, was the low comedian : 
 his name is to be found in various companies, enacting old 
 men, up to as late a period as 1800. Dunlap says, "Those 
 that can look back to 1788 will remember him as a little, 
 shrivelled old man, with a voice palsied with age, having 
 for his second wife a tall, elegant woman, the favorite 
 comedy lady, and the admiration of the public." 
 
 The Presbyterian Synod, in July, 1759, formally ad- 
 dressed the governor and legislature to prevent the opening. 
 The Friends made their application to Judge William 
 Allen to suppress the representations. His reply was 
 that " he had got more moral virtue from plays than he 
 had from sermons." As a sequel, it was long remembered 
 and spoken of, that the night the theatre opened, and on 
 which he intended to visit, he was called to mourn the 
 death of his wife! The motto over the stage was : 
 
 Totus mundis agit histrionem. 
 
 There are many persons who confound this with the 
 third theatre, erected by Douglas. That no further doubt 
 
 * This lady was drowned, together with her maid-servant, in the 
 winter of 1767. 
 
THE PHILADELPHIA STAGE. 137 
 
 may exist upon its site, three brick buildings are situated, 
 as stated, at the southwest corner of South and Vernon 
 Streets. 
 
 Society Hill, which extended from Spruce Street (gradu- 
 ally rising, having its summit on Pine Street) to the 
 Swedes' Church, was the fashionable portion of the city. 
 At that period they had " Cherry Garden" on Society 
 Hill; the "Friends' Meeting-House," the "theatre," 
 " George Wells's place." They had also a flag-staff erected 
 on Society Hill, under which Whitefield preached. This 
 staff stood at the corner of Pine and Front Streets. Alder- 
 man Plumstead's garden was situated in Union Street, 
 and it was the admiration of the town. 
 
 In the year 1724 a slack- and tight-rope exhibition was 
 given by a company of men and women, at the corner of 
 South and Front Streets. They continued their antics for 
 twenty nights to gaping crowds. This was the first exhi- 
 bition of the kind ever given in the city. 
 
 Douglas, finding the more respectable portion of the 
 community disposed to encourage theatricals, selected a 
 more eligible site for the building of another theatre, 
 and for that purpose fixed on a vacant lot situated at the 
 southwest corner of South and Apollo Streets, above 
 Fourth : hence the error of many historians who confound 
 this with the one at the corner of Vernon Street. This 
 theatre was erected in 1760. Little attention was paid 
 to design in the building. The view from the boxes was 
 intercepted by large pillars supporting the upper tier 
 and roof. It was lighted by plain oil lamps, without 
 glasses, a row of which was placed in front of the stage. 
 The scenery was dingy, chamber-scenes taken from descrip- 
 tions of old castles ; and altogether the whole presented a 
 dark and sombre appearance. The stage-box on the east 
 side in after-years was fitted up for President Washington, 
 whenever he honored the theatre with his presence, at 
 
 12*- 
 
138 THE PHILADELPHIA STAGE. ' 
 
 which time "The Poor Soldier" was played by "de- 
 sire." 
 
 Much was written and published at this time against 
 the immoral tendency of the stage; and a cursory glance 
 at the public papers would lead to a belief that the intro- 
 duction of stage-plays was deprecated as being a greater 
 evil than pestilence and famine. The fathers of the Church 
 were quoted most appositely on the occasion, and the poor 
 players were near being confounded with the weight of 
 authority against them ; for, unfortunately, they could not 
 " quote Scripture for their purpose." Occasionally some 
 one was bold enough to raise his voice in their defence, 
 but it was heard as the small note of the oaten reed 
 amidst the braying of the warlike trumpet. More, how- 
 ever, is effected by steady perseverance than by violent 
 measures. The players pursued the " even tenor of their 
 way," and as the mass of the people did not foresee the 
 evil consequences which the more enlightened apprehended, 
 they attracted full audiences, which kept up their spirits 
 in spite of the paper bulls incessantly issued against 
 them. 
 
 We have here to correct an error of Mr. J. F. Watson 
 in his celebrated " Annals of Philadelphia." In doing so, 
 the writer of this would merely remark that this error of 
 Watson's evidently arises from his distaste to the subject 
 of theatres ; for had he exercised a ' twentieth part of his 
 usual judgment in tracing past occurrences, incidents, &c., 
 this would not have occurred. Page 471, first volume of 
 Watson's Annals, we find this paragraph: "In 1760 a 
 large building, constructed of wood, situated in South 
 Street above Fourth Street, was opened," &c. &c. " The 
 managers were Hallam & Henry." 
 
 Mr. John Henry, the partner of Hallam in after-years, 
 arrived in New York from England in 1767, and made 
 his first appearance at the John Street Theatre, New 
 
POST TENEBRAS LUX. 139 
 
 York, December 7 of that year. The company was still 
 Douglas's. 
 
 Mr. Wemyss, in his Chronology of the American Stage, 
 says that the John Street Theatre opened December 7, 
 1767, under the management of Hallam & Henry, and in 
 the same book announces his first appearance in America, 
 on that very evening, as Aimwell in The Beau Stratagem. 
 Hallam & Henry did not form a partnership until the 
 21st of November, 1784. Douglas having gone to Jamaica, 
 where he received a judgeship under the British crown, 
 he relinquished the sceptre of the American company to 
 Hallam, his step-son, who took for his partner John Henry, 
 How our friend Wemyss could fall into so gross an error 
 is entirely beyond our comprehension. The South Street 
 Theatre opened under Hallam & Henry's management in 
 1786. 
 
 The members of the old South Street company, in 1761, 
 consisted of Messrs. Douglas, Hallam, Allyn, Morris, 
 Quelch, Tomlinson, Street, Reed, Tremaine, and Master 
 A. Hallam, Mesdames Douglas, Morris, Crane, Allyn, 
 and Miss Hallam. 
 
 To the antiquarian the subject of our drama and stage 
 would afford a wide range for the display of his genius in 
 that line, as they embrace the very "Memoires pour Servir" 
 for a volume. 
 
 "POST TENEBRAS LUX." 
 
 "After darkness comes light." 
 
 We have referred to these reminiscences of the olden 
 time simply to contrast the past with the present ; for in 
 tracing up the progress of any one institution connected 
 with the government, it necessarily follows that every 
 thing else must have a corresponding progressive interest. 
 Reminiscences, however, are but retrogressive shadows 
 that come over us in their gloom, as they conjure up the 
 
140 POST TENEBRAS LUX. 
 
 spirits of those who have long since passed away from the 
 earth, as have all those scenes which the "Old Mortalities" 
 of the present take delight in repainting. " Passing Away" 
 is but the result of the onward march of Time : 
 
 ''Still he goes, 
 
 And goes, and goes, and doth not pass away ; 
 He rises with the golden morning, calmly, 
 And with the moon at night. Methinks I see 
 Him stretching wide his mighty wings, 
 Floating forever o'er the crowds of men, 
 Like a huge vulture with its prey beneath." 
 
 In 1753, on the death of the postmaster-general for 
 America, Benjamin Franklin and Colonel William Hunter, 
 of Virginia, by a joint commission from the English post- 
 master-general, were appointed to succeed him. The two 
 American deputies were to have .600 per annum between 
 them, provided they could raise the sum from the net 
 proceeds of their office. The colonial post-office receipts 
 had never been sufficient to pay a shilling of revenue into 
 the English treasury; and to render them productive 
 enough to yield the compensation mentioned, various 
 reforms were necessary, and Franklin immediately set 
 about introducing them. In the summer of 1753 he 
 started out on a tour of inspection, and visited every post- 
 office in the colony, except that of Charleston, infusing 
 new vigor into the service, and putting the whole upon 
 an improved footing. 
 
 After four years' almost unremitting attention to the 
 postal service, the new system began to tell, and the results 
 were that the receipts soon yielded the salary of the post- 
 master, and considerably increased the revenue of the 
 government. As he himself stated, it "yielded three times 
 as much clear profit to the crown as the post-office of 
 Ireland did." 
 
 As the modern postal system was based in part upon 
 
POST TENEBRA& LUX. 141 
 
 that of Charles II. '& time, much of it remains to this day ; 
 but the vast improvements made give to the original 
 plan what can be better expressed in the language of the 
 Emperor Augustus: "I found Rome all brick, and left 
 it all marble." Thus the postal department, then in a 
 debris state of chaotic confusion, presents at the present 
 time an institution wherein order and system reign 
 supreme. 
 
 Franklin made every department pay. The carrying of 
 newspapers was made a source of revenue : previous to 
 his administration they had been carried free. He charged 
 each subscriber who received a newspaper by mail nine 
 pence a year for fifty miles, and eighteen pence a year for 
 one hundred miles. Post-riders received orders to take 
 all newspapers offered, instead of only those issued by a 
 postmaster. Franklin himself being both postmaster and 
 newspaper publisher, this action on his part was considered 
 worthy the man and his position. The speed of the post- 
 riders was accelerated by his energy, and their number 
 increased to meet the public demand. 
 
 In 1753 the delivery of letters by the penny post was 
 first begun, and at the same time letters were regularly 
 advertised. Letters from all the neighboring counties 
 were sent to Philadelphia, and lay there until called for. 
 
 Our readers can form some idea of the mode of travelling 
 between cities, when we state that Franklin improved on 
 the old system by 'starting a mail from Philadelphia, to 
 run three times a week in summer, to New York and 
 Boston, and once a week in winter. To get an answer 
 from Boston a Philadelphian had been obliged to wait 
 six weeks. Franklin reduced the time to three. The 
 rates of postage were also materially reduced. The rate 
 across the ocean was fixed at one shilling, and, strange as 
 it may seem, it has not changed since, although one hundred 
 years have elapsed. 
 
142 POST TENEBRAS LUX. 
 
 Most of the post-roads then were mere bridle-paths 
 through forests. "Even/ 7 says a writer, " between Amboy 
 and Trenton, the very road along which Franklin the 
 runaway apprentice had wearily trudged in the rain in 
 1723, had as late as 1775 a stake set up every two miles 
 to keep the traveller from going astray." 
 
 In 1765 Mrs. Franklin, writing to her husband, then in 
 England, says, " The Southern mail has not come in, nor 
 has the Virginia mail, for more than two months." Little 
 intercourse at that period. The name of Franklin in 
 connection with science, and his being deputy postmaster- 
 general, was not only a household word from Boston to 
 Charleston, but was also extensively known in Europe. 
 Only two American names were then familiar to the Old 
 World, Jonathan Edwards in the religious world, and 
 Benjamin Franklin in the circle of science. Jonathan 
 Edwards was born at Windsor, in the province of Con- 
 necticut, in 1703. He graduated at Yale College, and 
 afterwards was a tutor in the establishment. He was 
 ordained in the ministry in 1727. His chief works are a 
 " Treatise on the Religious Affections," " An Enquiry into 
 the Notion of Freedom of Will," "A Treatise on Original 
 Sin," " Religious Narratives," &c. 
 
 In 1756 an attempt was made, instigated by some po- 
 litical enemies, to induce the postmaster-general to remove 
 Franklin from office, as being a "factious and trouble- 
 some man." As the cause assigned was so trifling, the 
 postmaster-general sent his "deputy" a letter of repri- 
 mand, or rather one of gentle reproof. So the matter 
 ended. 
 
 A copy of the "Gazette" bearing date 1747 is in the 
 possession of a gentleman of this city. Published by B. 
 Franklin, Postmaster, and D. Hall. All post-office no- 
 tices and letters remaining in the post-office were pub- 
 lished in the "Gazette." 
 
POST TENEBRAS LUX. 143 
 
 In 1774 Benjamin Franklin was very summarily dis- 
 missed from the office of postmaster. The letter from 
 the postmaster-general stated simply "that the king had 
 found it necessary to dismiss him from the office of 
 deputy postmaster-general of America." 
 
 It is not necessary for us to give the readers the reasons 
 for this act, as the history of Franklin in connection with 
 the events preceding the Revolution will fully explain 
 them. The colonies were in a state of incipient revolution. 
 
 The course pursued by the British Government was 
 such that, under the excitement arising from its acts, the 
 colonies declared themselves constitutionally exempt from 
 all obedience to the measures of the British Parliament, 
 and that the government of the provinces was in fact 
 dissolved. 
 
 Thus, the Congress held in Philadelphia on the 5th of 
 September, 1774, will ever be remembered and celebrated 
 in the annals of history as the first page dedicated to 
 liberty. It was a congress of men who met to decide the 
 question whether one man had the power and the right 
 to rule the million, or the million the right to govern 
 themselves. The success of our Revolution decided the 
 question; and counter-rebellions and revolutions can 
 never change that base, upon which is erected Liberty's 
 throne. 
 
 Franklin arrived in Philadelphia, from England, on 
 the evening of May 5, 1775, and the very next day the 
 Assembly of Pennsylvania, then in session, appointed him 
 a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, which was 
 to convene in Philadelphia four days after. The people 
 of America had everywhere become exasperated beyond 
 all further forbearance. The blood of their countrymen 
 had been wantonly shed by British troops, at Lexington 
 and Concord, in April; and the call to arms was now 
 ringing through the land. 
 
144 POST TENEBRAS LUX. 
 
 The second Congress, held May 10, 1775, was remark- 
 able for its action at a moment when liberty was as a 
 "waif" in the political world, liable at every breeze to be 
 lost in the vortex of its revolutions. It set the seal on 
 British rule in the colonies forever! It was the first 
 move morally and physically made against tyranny and 
 usurpation, and was only surpassed by that which inau- 
 gurated the Fourth of July, 1776, as the birthday of 
 freedom ! 
 
 One of the acts of its members was to adopt the 
 armies of New England, and elect General George Wash- 
 ington commander-in-chief, and also to adopt a platform 
 which made colonial resistance, to use a modern term, "a 
 military necessity." 
 
 Another of their measures was to correct the postal 
 department, which during Franklin's absence had been 
 somewhat neglected. A committee was appointed, of 
 which Franklin was made chairman, to consider the best 
 means of establishing posts for the conveyance of letters 
 and intelligence throughout the country. Franklin was 
 at home in this employment, having served a long ap- 
 prenticeship and studied its workings both theoretically 
 and practically. He drew up a plan for the purpose, and 
 laid it before the committee, who approved of it at once ; 
 and it was eventually the same as that upon which the 
 post-office of America is now conducted. 
 
 The committee recommended that a postmaster-general 
 be appointed for the UNITED STATES, who should hold 
 his office at Philadelphia, and be allowed a salary of one 
 thousand dollars for himself, and three hundred and forty 
 dollars per annum for a secretary and controller, "with 
 power to appoint such and so many deputies as to him 
 may seem proper and necessary;" that a line of posts 
 should be appointed, under the direction of the post- 
 master-general, from Falmouth, in New England, to 
 
POST TENEBRAS LUX. 145 
 
 Savannah, in Georgia, "with as many cross-posts as he 
 shall think fit; that the allowance of the deputies in 
 lieu of salary ancf all contingent expenses shall be 
 twenty per cent, on the sums they collect and pay into 
 the general post-office, annually, when the whole is under, 
 or not exceeding, one thousand dollars, and ten per 
 cent, for all sums above that amount a year; that the 
 several departments account quarterly with the general post- 
 office, and the postmaster-general annually with the Con- 
 tinental treasurers, when he shall pay into the receipt of 
 the said treasurers the profits of the post-office, and if the 
 necessary expenses of this establishment should exceed the 
 produce of it, the deficiency shall be made good by the 
 United Colonies, and paid to the postmaster-general by 
 the Continental treasurers." 
 
 This plan, and resolutions accompanying it, were sub- 
 mitted to Congress, who adopted it, and, taking into 
 consideration the interest Franklin had always taken in 
 the department, and also his summary dismissal under 
 the "British dynasty," unanimously elected Benjamin 
 Franklin, Esq., postmaster-general for one year, and until 
 another Congress assembled. Eighteen months had passed 
 since his dismissal, when he now found himself reinstated 
 in office with higher rank and augmented authority. 
 Nay, more : he was postmaster-general under a new ruling 
 power, a power that was uprising like the glorious sun 
 from the mists and the gloom of a long, dreary night of 
 wrong and oppression. It was now the dawn of a new 
 era in the history of men and of nations. It was the dawn 
 of freedom I 
 
 The people made a law; and as there cannot be ra- 
 tional freedom where there are arbitrary restraints, they 
 adopted Cicero's maxim, and proclaimed liberty as the 
 law of the land : 
 
 " Libertas est potestas faciendi id quod jure liceat." 
 
 13 
 
146 POST TENEBRAS LUX. 
 
 One of the strongest tests by which the progressive 
 prosperity of a country may be ascertained is that of its 
 postal department. It forms a chain which links together 
 all private and public interests; it links state to state, 
 countries to countries, nations to nations. It is the 
 alphabet of the world ! 
 
 Benjamin Franklin appointed Richard Bache, his son- 
 in-law, deputy postmaster. They established mail-riders 
 to carry the mails, and stationed them at distances of twenty- 
 five miles, to deliver from one to the other and return to 
 their starting-places: they travelled night and day, and 
 were men selected for their honesty and sobriety. 
 
 At the same time it was ordered that three advice-boats 
 should be established, "one to ply between North Caro- 
 lina and such ports as shall be most convenient to the 
 place where Congress shall be sitting," one other between 
 the State of Georgia and the same port. The boats to 
 be armed, and to be freighted by individuals for the sake 
 of diminishing the public expense. 
 
 The state of the country was such that it became neces- 
 sary to enlist the services of the most prominent men in 
 its cause, both at home and abroad ; and who so popular 
 then as Benjamin Franklin ? A writer speaking of him 
 and the period says, "With a fame unequalled in bril- 
 liancy by that of any other man of those times, not only 
 as a philosopher and sage, but as a profound political 
 thinker, and an undaunted asserter of the rights and 
 liberties of his country, Franklin's name was now fami- 
 liarly known and revered throughout all Europe." 
 
 Is it to be wondered at, therefore, that he should have 
 been appointed one of the commissioners to France ? The 
 commissioners first appointed for this purpose, on the 
 26th of September, 1776, were Franklin, Silas Dean, 
 and Thomas Jefferson. The last, however, declined, and 
 Arthur Lee, of Virginia, was put in his place. Mr, Lee 
 
POST TENEBRAS LUX. 147 
 
 and Mr. Dean were both in Europe, the former having 
 been employed several years in England as a colonial 
 agent, and the latter having been sent out in the pre- 
 ceding March by the committee of secret correspondence, 
 with a view to diplomatic as well as commercial objects ; 
 and Franklin, after a boisterous voyage in the United 
 States sloop-of-war Reprisal, Captain Wickes, and after 
 escaping from the guns of several British cruisers, met 
 them in Paris in the latter part of December, 1776. 
 This portion of history is familiar to all. 
 
 In the absence of Franklin, Richard Bache attended to 
 the post-office business, and in all respects carried out his 
 father-in-law's plans. 
 
 In March, 1777, Franklin received from Congress a 
 commission as minister to Spain. 
 
 After residing in Europe nearly nine years, acting in 
 the capacities named, he returned to America, and arrived 
 in Philadelphia on the 14th of September, 1785. His 
 return was greeted with every mark of personal regard 
 and public respect. 
 
 We will close this portion of our postal history, and 
 Franklin's connection with it, by the following letter, 
 which he wrote to Mr. Thomson shortly after his return 
 home. It is to be regretted that it is a finale which re- 
 flects but little credit on our government at that time, 
 and gives occasion for our opponents to repeat the old 
 saying that "republics are ungrateful." Nor is Frank- 
 lin's case an isolated one. 
 
 Franklin, speaking of unrequited services to his friend, 
 says, 
 
 "I see by the minutes," speaking of Congress, "that 
 they have allowed Mr. Lee handsomely for his services in 
 England before his appointment to France, in which ser- 
 vices I and Mr. Bollan co-operated with him, and have 
 had no such allowance, and since his return he has been 
 
148 POST TENEBRAS LUX. 
 
 very properly rewarded with a good place, as well as my 
 friend Mr. Jay, though these are trifling compensations 
 in comparison with what was granted by the king to Mr. 
 Gerard on his return to America. But how different is 
 what happened to me ! On my return from England, in 
 1775, the Congress bestowed on me the office of post- 
 master-general, for which I was very thankful. It was, 
 indeed, an office I had some kind of right to, as having 
 previously greatly enlarged the revenue of the post by 
 the regulations I had contrived and established while I 
 possessed it under the crown. When I was sent to France, 
 I left it in the hands of my son-in-law, who was to act as 
 my deputy. But soon after my departure it was taken 
 from him and given to Mr. Hazzard. When the English 
 ministry thought fit to deprive me of the office (that of 
 postmaster), they left me, however, the privilege of re- 
 ceiving and sending my letters free of postage, which is 
 the usage when a postmaster is not displaced for miscon- 
 duct in the office ; but in America I have ever since had 
 the postage demanded of me, which since my return from 
 France has amounted to about fifty pounds, much of it 
 occasioned by my having acted as minister there." 
 
 There are so many incidents connected with Benjamin 
 Franklin incidents associated alike with our country's 
 history, its literature, art, and science that we are not at 
 all surprised at the many editions and variety of style of 
 works written expressly to connect his name with them. 
 We annex a pleasing little sketch of some of the early 
 scenes of his life, from notes furnished by Thomas J. 
 Wharton, Esq., to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
 in 1830 : 
 
 "The year 1719 deserves particular remembrance in 
 the annals of Pennsylvania, as that in which the first 
 newspaper was printed in the State. These potent engines 
 exercise so vast an influence for good or evil over men's 
 
POST TENEBRAS LUX. 149 
 
 minds and actions in the present age, that a particular history 
 of their rise and progress would be no idle or unprofitable 
 task, though out of place here. The first number of the 
 'American Weekly Mercury/ as it was called, appeared 
 on the 22d of December, 1719, on a half-sheet of the 
 quarto size, and purported to be printed 'by Andrew 
 Bradford at the Second Street/ and to be sold by him and 
 by John Copson in Market Street. The price was ten 
 shillings per annum ; and this was quite as much as it 
 deserved. Extracts from foreign journals generally about 
 six months old, and two or three badly-printed advertise- 
 ments, formed the substance of the journal. The office 
 of the editor was a sinecure, at least his pen seems to 
 have been seldom employed, and little information can 
 be derived from the journal concerning the existing con- 
 dition of Philadelphia. Occasionally a bill of mortality 
 tells us that one adult and one child died during a certain 
 week, and even that is beyond the usual number; for 
 some weeks appear to have passed without a single death. 
 From the following advertisement, which appears in No. 
 17, something of the customs and state of things at the 
 period may be gathered : ' These are to give notice 
 that Matthew Cowley, a skinner by trade, is removed 
 from Chestnut Street to dwell in Walnut Street, near the 
 Bridge, where all persons may have their buck and doe- 
 skins dressed, &c.' ' He also can furnish you with bind- 
 ings, &c.' What new ideas of Walnut Street does not 
 this hint about a bridge give us! and how plenty must 
 deer have been in those times, when all persons are invited 
 to have their skins dressed by Matthew Cowley ! And then 
 what a familiar and village-sort of acquaintance with 
 everybody does not the transition at the end, from the 
 third to the second person plural, imply! 'He also can 
 furnish you with bindings, &c. 7 
 
 " Nine years after the appearance of the American Mer- 
 
 13* 
 
150 POST TENEBRAS LUX. 
 
 oury, the Philadelphia press was delivered of a second 
 newspaper, to which the modest title was given of 'The 
 Universal Instructor of all Arts and Sciences, and Penn- 
 sylvania Gazette/ In his inimitable autobiography Frank- 
 lin has immortalized Keimer, the eccentric publisher of 
 this journal, whose vanity and selfishness, whose wild 
 notions upon religion and morals, and whose turn for 
 poetry and gluttony are so happily and graphically de- 
 lineated. Franklin, from whom Keimer had stolen the 
 idea of a second newspaper, attacked it in a series of 
 papers published in Bradford's journal and called The 
 Busy-Body.* The 'Universal Instructor' soon fell into 
 decay, and then into Franklin's hands, by whom it was 
 very skilfully managed, both for his own profit and for 
 the interest and edification of the public. An editorial 
 notice in one of Franklin's papers proves, in rather a 
 ludicrous way, how badly Philadelphia was supplied at 
 the time (1736) with printing-presses. What was called 
 the outer form was printed reversely or upside down to 
 the inner form, and the following apology is offered : ' The 
 printer hopes the irregular publication of this paper will 
 be excused a few times by his town readers, in considera- 
 tion of his being at Burlington with the press, laboring 
 for the public good to make money more plentiful.' 
 
 "It is not generally known that this venerable journal 
 survived till within a year or two of the present time, 
 under the name of 'The Pennsylvania Gazette.' The 
 
 * A manuscript note in the file of the American Mercury, preserved 
 in the City Library, says that Franklin wrote the first five numbers 
 and part of the eighth of this series. The rest were written by J. B., 
 probably Joseph Breintnail, a member of the/wn^o, whom Franklin de- 
 scribes as a "good-natured, friendly, middle-aged man, a great lover 
 of poetry, reading all he could meet with, and writing some that was 
 tolerable; very ingenious in making little nicknackeries, and of sensible 
 conversation." 
 
POST TENEBRAS LUX. 151 
 
 third newspaper published in Pennsylvania was 'The 
 Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser/ the first 
 number of which appeared on the 2d of December, 1742; 
 and several other journals shortly afterwards arose, with 
 various success. In 1760 five newspapers were published 
 in the State, all weekly, three of them printed in the city, 
 one in Germantown, and one in Lancaster. In 1810 the 
 number had increased to sixty-six, of which thirteen were 
 published in Philadelphia; and in 1824 an official return 
 to the postmaster-general stated the number at one hundred 
 and ten, of which eighteen were published in Philadel- 
 phia, eleven of them daily : a prodigious increase, which 
 argues that the appetite for this food has increased in full 
 proportion with the population. It is perhaps worth 
 adding that the first daily newspaper that appeared on the 
 continent of America was published in Philadelphia. 
 
 "There are few persons on record to whose individual 
 genius and exertions a community has owed so much as to 
 Dr. Franklin. If William Penn was the political founder 
 of the province, Franklin may perhaps be denominated 
 the architect of its literature, the gifted author of many 
 of its best institutions, and the father of some of the finest 
 features of our character. It is seldom, however, that 
 Providence has vouchsafed such a length of years to such 
 an intellect, and still more seldom that such events occur 
 as those which developed the powers and capacities of 
 Franklin's mind. The name of this illustrious man is 
 closely connected with the literary history of Pennsyl- 
 vania; but his life and actions are too well known to 
 require that any elaborate notice of them should be given 
 here. Referring, therefore, to his own invaluable memoirs 
 for the events of his personal and political history, I shall 
 content myself with a short sketch of the principal features 
 of his literary career. The year 1723 was that in which 
 Franklin first set his foot in Philadelphia. As he landed 
 
152 POST TENEBRAS LUX. 
 
 on Market Street wharf, and walked up that street, an 
 obscure and almost penniless boy, devouring a roll of 
 bread, and ignorant where he could find a lodging for the 
 night, little could he or any one who then saw him antici- 
 pate that later advent, when, sixty years afterwards, he 
 landed upon the same wharf, amid the acclamations of 
 thousands of spectators, on his return from an embassy in 
 which he had dictated to his former king the terms of 
 peace for the confederated republics, of one of which he 
 was placed at the head, and not merely distinguished as a 
 politician, but covered with literary honors and distinctions 
 from every country in Christendom by which genius and 
 public virtue were held in estimation. And yet the change 
 was scarcely greater for Franklin than for Philadelphia. 
 The petty provincial village, with its scattered houses 
 dotted over the bank of the Delaware, had become a mag- 
 nificent metropolis, distinguished for the wisdom and libe- 
 rality of its institutions, and as the seat of a general and 
 republican government, which at the former period could 
 scarcely have entered into his dreams. 
 
 " At the time of Franklin's arrival in Philadelphia there 
 were two printing-offices in operation. Keimer, the pro- 
 prietor of one of them, had but one press and a few worn- 
 out types, with which, when Franklin visited him, he was 
 composing an elegy, literally of his own composition, for 
 it had never gone through the usual process in this manu- 
 facture, of pen and ink, but flowed at once from his 
 brain to the press. The subject of these typographical 
 stanzas was Aquila Rose, an apprentice in the office, whose 
 surname naturally suggested to the mind of Keimer some 
 touching figures. If we may judge from some specimens 
 of his poetry which Thomas has preserved in his History 
 of Printing, the province lost little by Keimer's emigration 
 to Bermuda, which took place shortly afterwards." 
 
 Perhaps, if we except his scientific and political labors, 
 
POST TENEBRAS LUX. 153 
 
 labors which won him a name while living and honored 
 when dead, there was no other department wherein busi- 
 ness and tact were so united to effect a great national 
 reform as in that of the post-office. 
 
 And yet historians pass over that portion of his life 
 with a mere dash of the pen, and seem to consider it a 
 dry episode in his otherwise eventful career. Had they 
 gone into the history of this connection, the business of 
 the postal department would have loomed up before them 
 a splendid subject to descant upon. It would have shown 
 them how out of chaos came forth, under Franklin's con- 
 trol, a form perfect in shape and gigantic in its propor- 
 tions. It would tower a giant above the many lesser sub- 
 jects he wrote pages upon, and give to the world a leaf 
 in our book on political economy which is now at least 
 as far as this department is concerned a blank page. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin, at the head of the postal depart- 
 ment under the colonial government, was the great pioneer 
 in the cause of letters : he mapped the length and breadth 
 of their extent; brought distant places together by the 
 speed of horses, as he did in after-years by electric power 
 the lightning from the surcharged clouds to our very 
 feet. 
 
 And when at the head of the department, under the 
 States united forming a Union that has made us a nation 
 among nations, to be honored, respected, and feared, he 
 carried out his plans, based upon a principle that has 
 governed the operations of the postal department to this 
 day. 
 
 Franklin died April 17, 1790. In his will, dated July 
 17, 1788, he simply expressed his wish to have his body 
 buried with as little expense or ceremony as might be. 
 But in the codicil, dated June 23, 1789, but a few months 
 before his death, we find this clause : 
 
 " I wish to be buried by the side of my wife, if it may 
 
154 POST TENEBRAS LUX. 
 
 be, and that a marble stone, to be made by Chambers, six 
 feet long, four feet wide, plain, with only a small mould- 
 ing round the upper ledge, and this inscription : 
 
 BENJAMIN ^ 
 
 AND V FRANKLIN. 
 DEBORAH j 
 
 178-. 
 
 to be placed over us both." 
 
 In the graveyard belonging to Christ Church in this 
 city, situated at the southeast corner of Arch and Fifth 
 Streets, this plain slab, with the above inscription, is still 
 to be seen. 
 
 The man to whose memory it is dedicated, in immediate 
 expectation of death (as is shown by the fact that the 
 codicil was made in June, 1789, and the figures 178- 
 are so arranged by him that unless he died in that very 
 year they would be useless), had calmly and deliberately 
 selected the spot where he wished his corpse to repose. 
 There rest the remains of one whose name, though simply 
 recorded on a piece of marble, lives in memory while 
 reason holds its throne in the immortal mind. 
 
 There is in the simple gray stone which now covers the 
 breasts of "Benjamin Franklin and Deborah his wife" 
 more attraction and genuine respectability than could be 
 found in the loftiest pillar ever reared to gratify mere 
 ambition. 
 
 "Can storied urn or animated bust 
 
 Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ? 
 Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust, 
 
 Or flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death ?" 
 
 Richard Bache had acted as postmaster up to 1776, 
 when he was succeeded by Ebenezer Hazard. Hazard's 
 
POST TENEBRAS LUX. 155 
 
 name is better known as an editor than as a postmaster, 
 as he subsequently compiled the valuable historical col- 
 lections bearing his name. He held the office of post- 
 master until the inauguration of President Washington's 
 administration. The succession of postmaster-generals 
 since the adoption of the Federal Constitution will be 
 given in its proper place. 
 
156 REMINISCENCES MAD ANTHONY. 
 
 X. 
 
 MAD ANTHONY WA YNE AND JEMMY THE ROVER. 
 
 IN the year 1776 authority was given to employ extra 
 post-riders between the armies from the head-quarters to 
 Philadelphia. These post-riders ran many risks, as refu- 
 gees were not rare at that day : hence the danger was ma- 
 terially increased in consequence. The letters of General 
 Wayne were interrupted, as were those of others, and the 
 utmost caution was necessary for the purpose of securing 
 a safe conveyance. Various plans were adopted, and the 
 postmaster was active in establishing a postal communica- 
 tion with the armies. There was another mode, however, 
 which was even more successful, but equally dangerous 
 to the parties engaged: this was the spy system. Much 
 valuable information was conveyed to the commanders of 
 the armies by it, which could not have reached them 
 through the regular post. In one of General Wayne's 
 letters, addressed to his family in 1781, he makes allusion 
 to one "Jemmy the Rover," whom he had employed as a 
 spy. While our army was encamped at Valley Forge, 
 Jemmy was repeatedly sent within the British lines, and 
 always returned with correct and important information. 
 With him originated the appellation of " Mad Anthony" 
 as applied to the general. "Jemmy the Rover" was an 
 Irishman by birth, and was a regularly-enlisted soldier in 
 the Pennsylvania line. The real name of Jemmy is not 
 known. He was subject to, or at least feigned, occasional 
 fits of craziness, in which state he often proved very noisy 
 and troublesome, and in one instance was ordered to the 
 
JEMMY THE ROVER. 157 
 
 guard-house. Whilst the sergeant with a file of men was 
 conducting him thither, Jemmy suddenly halted, and asked 
 the sergeant by whose orders he was arrested. "By those 
 of the general," was the reply. "Then forward!" said 
 the Rover. In the course of a few hours he was released. 
 In the act of taking his departure, he asked the sergeant 
 whether Anthony (this being the only name he gave 
 General Wayne) was mad or in fun when he placed him 
 under arrest. The answer was, "The general has been 
 much displeased with your disorderly conduct, and a repe- 
 tition of it will be followed not only by confinement, but 
 by twenty-nine well laid on." " Then," exclaimed Jemmy, 
 " Anthony is mad : farewell to you ; clear the coast for the 
 commodore, Mad Anthony's friend!" He suddenly dis- 
 appeared from the camp. In a postscript to a letter 
 General Wayne wrote to his family, he says, "Jemmy the 
 Rover, alias the commodore, has absented himself from 
 this detachment of the army. Should he in his rambles 
 pass your way, I hope that you will extend towards him 
 every hospitality which may be most likely to minister to 
 his comfort. I am convinced that, whether in his hours 
 of sanity or insanity, he would cheerfully lay down his 
 life for either me or any of my family." 
 
 It is said by some who knew Jemmy that he was a man 
 of good education and extraordinary shrewdness: in fact, 
 it was much doubted whether or not Jemmy feigned de- 
 rangement. 
 
 As every thing having any connection with the events of 
 1776, which led to our independence, must be of interest, it 
 may not be out of place here to introduce the following remark- 
 able prophecy, made in the eighth century by Merlin, the 
 celebrated Welsh astrologer. Its fulfilment in almost every 
 particular renders it the more interesting, as evidenced in 
 the American Revolution, to which reference seems* to 
 have been made. Had this prophecy been published sub- 
 
 14 
 
158 SIBYLLINE ORACLE. 
 
 sequent to the Revolution, its authenticity might have 
 been doubted, or at least questioned. But it is copied 
 from Hawkins's work, published in the year 1530. 
 
 In connection with the prophecy, we also give the key, 
 furnished by an old citizen of Philadelphia to the editors 
 of the "Columbian Magazine," published in this city, in 
 the March number, 1787: 
 
 " SIBYLLINE ORACLE. 
 
 " Uttered by Merlin, Borne time during the eighth century, in Wales, of which he 
 was a native. 
 
 I. 
 
 "When the savage is meek and mild, 
 The frantic mother shall stab her child. 
 
 II. 
 
 "When the Cock shall woo the Dove, 
 The mother the child shall cease to love. 
 
 III. 
 
 "When men, like moles, work under ground, 
 The Lion a Virgin true shall wound. 
 
 IV. 
 
 "When the Dove and Cock the Lion shall fight, 
 The Lion shall crouch beneath their might. 
 
 V. 
 
 "When the Cock shall guard the Eagle's nest, 
 The Stars shall rise all in the west. 
 
 VI. 
 
 "When ships above the clouds shall sail, 
 The Lion's strength shall surely fail. 
 
 VII. 
 
 "When Neptune's back with stripes is red, 
 The sickly Lion shall hide his head. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 "When seven and six shall make but one, 
 The Lion's might shall be undone." 
 
SIBYLLINE ORACLE. 159 
 
 Verse 1. The settlement of America by a civilized 
 nation is very clearly alluded to in the first line. The 
 frantic mother is Britain. America still feels the wounds 
 she has received from her. 
 
 Verse 2. The Cock is France, the Dove is America, 
 Columbia; their union is the epocha when America shall 
 cease to love Britain. 
 
 Verse 3. In many parts of Europe there are subterra- 
 nean works carried on by persons who never see the light 
 of day. But perhaps the solution may more particularly 
 be referred to the siege of York, in Virginia, where the 
 approaches were carried on by working in the earth. In 
 the second line there is another equivoque. We are told 
 by Mr. Addison, in his "Spectator," that a lion will not 
 hurt a true maid. This, at first view, seems to be contra- 
 dicted by the prophecy; but, on examination, the epocha 
 referred to, the virgin, Columbia (or, perhaps, Virginia, 
 by which name all North America was called in the days 
 of Queen Elizabeth), shall wound the lion, that is, 
 Britain, which shows the precise time when the oracle 
 should be accomplished. 
 
 Verse 4 clearly alludes to the successes of the united 
 forces of America and France against those of Britain. 
 
 Verse 5. For the solution of this oracle, as well as all 
 the rest, we are indebted to the engraving of the arms of 
 the United States in the " Columbian Magazine'' for Sep- 
 tember, 1786. America is clearly designated by the eagle's 
 nest, as it is the only part of the globe where the bald 
 eagle (the arms of the United States) is to be found. Thus, 
 this hitherto inexplicable prophecy may now be easily 
 understood as meaning that when the cock that is, France 
 shall protect America (as she did during the late war), 
 the stars that is, the standard of the American empire 
 shall rise in this western hemisphere. 
 
 Verse 6. It is very remarkable that the first discovery 
 
160 SIBYLLINE ORACLE. 
 
 of the amazing properties of inflammable air, by means 
 of which men have been able to explore a region till then 
 impervious to them, happened in the same year when 
 Britain's strength was so reduced as to oblige her to 
 acknowledge the independence of America. The boats 
 in which the adventurous aeronauts traversed the upper 
 regions are the ships here referred to. 
 
 Thus far the prophecy seems to have been already fully 
 and literally accomplished: it is to be hoped that the 
 accomplishment of those which remain is not far remote. 
 
 Verse 7 I understand to mean that when the sea 
 (Neptune's back] is red with the American stripes, the naval 
 power of Britain shall decline. A proper exertion in the 
 art of ship-building would soon produce this effect; and 
 whenever Congress is vested with the power of regulating 
 the commerce of America, we may hope to see the full 
 accomplishment of this prediction. 
 
 Verse 8. This oracle clearly alludes to an epocha not 
 far removed, as we may hope ; for when the thirteen United 
 States shall, under the auspices of the present federal con- 
 vention, have strengthened and cemented their union by a 
 proper revisal of the articles of confederation, so as to be 
 really but ONE NATION, Britain will no longer be able to 
 maintain that rank and consequence among the nations of 
 the earth which she had hitherto done. 
 
 Since the publication of this explanation, the fulfilment 
 of the two last has become a part and portion of our 
 history. That Neptune's back is red with the stripes and, 
 we may add, stars, every child knows; and the sickly lion 
 already hides his head, not only beneath the folds of our 
 flag, but plays second fiddle to the cock of France. 
 
 The eighth is fully accomplished, and '76, as well as 
 seven and six, form a pleasing illustration of the prophecy, 
 as they do one of the most interesting incidents in our 
 history. The thirteen States (seven and six) have multi- 
 
FOURTH OF JULY, 1776. 161 
 
 plied nearly thrice since the Declaration of Independence, 
 and are now, as then, BUT ONE, and that one a nation. 
 
 Walter Scott, speaking of Merlin, or the Savage, as he 
 was called, says, "The particular spot in which he is 
 buried is still shown, and appears, from the following quo- 
 tation, taken from a description of Tweeddale, 1715, to 
 have partaken of his prophetic qualities : 
 
 'When Tweed and Pausayl meet 
 
 At Merlin's grave, 
 Scotland and England shall one 
 Monarch have.' 
 
 For the same day that our King James the Sixth was 
 crowned king of England, the river Tweed, by an extra- 
 ordinary flood, so far overflowed its banks that it met and 
 joined with the Pausayl at the said grave, which was 
 never before observed to fall out." 
 
 The precise spot pointed out to travellers is situated 
 near Drumelzier, a village upon the Tweed. 
 
 FOURTH OF JULY, 1776. 
 "The first motion in Congress was to declare this country independent." 
 
 The first assembling of the Revolutionary Congress took 
 place in this city on the 5th of September, 1774. Subse- 
 quently the progress of the war continued to ripen the 
 public mind and feelings for a total separation from 
 Great Britain. It was not, however, until the 7th of 
 June, 1776, that any special action was had for that pur- 
 pose. On that day Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from 
 Virginia, made the following motion, which was seconded 
 by John Adams: 
 
 "To declare these united colonies free and independent 
 States; that they are dissolved from all allegiance to the 
 British crown, and that all political connection between them 
 and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally 
 dissolved; that measures should be immediately taken for 
 
 14* 
 
162 FOURTH OF JULY, 1776. 
 
 procuring assistance of foreign powers, and that a confede- 
 ration be formed to bind the colonies more closely together." 
 
 On the following day the subject was debated, and on 
 the 1st of July a committee consisting of five delegates 
 Messrs. Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, R. Sherman, and 
 R. R. Lawrence was selected by ballot to draft a 
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 According to parliamentary usage, Mr. Lee would have 
 been the chairman of this committee ; but he was absent in 
 Virginia on account of the illness of a member of his 
 family. Mr. Jefferson, however, having the greatest 
 number of votes, was selected by the other members of 
 the committee to act as chairman, and the draft prepared 
 by him was first read in committee. Some verbal altera- 
 tions were made by Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams, and it 
 was not thought necessary to read the drafts prepared by 
 the others. It was stated at the time that the other 
 members of the committee were so pleased with Mr. Jeffer- 
 son's draft that they would not submit theirs even for con- 
 sideration. Perhaps no higher compliment was ever paid 
 to the author of our Declaration of Independence than 
 that which emanated from the gentlemen who composed 
 this committee. 
 
 The Declaration, thus prepared and amended, was finally 
 adopted in Congress on the 4th, and was read to a meeting 
 of the citizens of Philadelphia, assembled at the State- 
 House yard, from the steps of the building. 
 
 The house in which Mr. Jefferson wrote the Declaration 
 is still standing, at the southwest corner of Seventh and 
 Market Streets. Mr. Jefferson had rooms in it as a lodger 
 when a member of the Congress of ; 76. Two days before 
 the adoption of the Declaration and its promulgation, Mr. 
 Adams, in a letter addressed to his wife, makes use of the 
 following language: 
 
 "I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by sue- 
 
r>norJinrr 
 
 FOURTH OF JULY, 1776. 163 
 
 ceeding generations as the grand anniversary festival. It 
 ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by 
 solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to 
 be solemnized with pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, 
 bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of the continent 
 to the other, from this time forward and forever. 
 
 "I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure 
 that it will cost us to maintain this declaration and to 
 support and defend the States : yet through all the gloom 
 I can see the rays of light and glory. I can see that the 
 end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity 
 will triumph, although you and I may rue it, which I 
 hope we shall not." 
 
 When the bell sounded forth from the steeple of the 
 old State-House, the first peal for liberty gave new life to 
 the citizens: from lip to lip, from street to street, from 
 city, town, and through the country, away, away, the 
 words roll like the waves of the ocean, and reverberating 
 like the roar of the wind as, undulating, it passed through 
 all space. The city of Philadelphia on the afternoon of 
 July 4, 1776, presented to view a city convulsed. Joy 
 united with patriotism, and then the word " Freedom !" 
 became the watchword. 
 
 When the news reached New York, the bells were set 
 ringing, and the excited multitude, surging hither and 
 thither, at length gathered around the Bowling Green, 
 and, seizing the leaden equestrian statue of George III. 
 which stood there, broke it into fragments: this was 
 afterwards run into bullets and hurled against his 
 majesty's troops.* When the Declaration arrived in Bos- 
 
 * As an improvement on the above, cartridge-paper of a peculiar 
 kind was used in 1778. When the American army entered Philadelphia^ 
 in June, 1778, upon the evacuation of the English troops, there was a 
 want of paper fitted for the construction of cartridges. It was adver- 
 tised for, and but a small quantity procured. An order was then issued 
 
164 LIBERTY-TREE. 
 
 ton, the people gathered around old Faneuil Hall to hear 
 it read, and, as the last sentence fell from the lips of the 
 reader, a loud shout went up, and soon from every fortified 
 height and every battery the thunder of cannon re-echoed 
 the cry. 
 
 LIBER TY- TREE. 
 
 During the Stamp Act excitement there arose a practice 
 of signifying public sentiment in a very effectual way, 
 though without any responsible agent, unless the inani- 
 mate Liberty-Tree may be so considered. This tree was 
 a majestic elm that stood in front of a house opposite the 
 Boylston market, on the edge of the " High Street," in the 
 town of Boston. On the 14th of August, 1765, an effigy 
 representing Andrew Oliver, a gentleman appointed to 
 distribute the stamps, was found hanging upon this tree, 
 with a paper before it, on which was written, in large 
 characters, 
 
 "Fair Freedom's glorious cause I've meanly quitted, 
 
 For the sake of pelf; 
 But, ah, the devil has me outwitted, 
 And, instead of stamping others, I've hang'd myself. 
 
 "P. S. Whoever takes this down is an enemy to his 
 
 demanding its instant production by all people in that city who had it. 
 This produced but little, and most probably on account of its scarcity. 
 A file of soldiers was then ordered to make search for it in every place 
 where any was likely to be found. Among other places visited in July, 
 1778, was a garret in a house in which Benjamin Franklin had pre- 
 viously had his printing-office. Here were discovered about twenty- 
 five hundred copies of a sermon which the Rev. Gilbert Tennent had 
 written (printed by Franklin) upon "Defensive War," to rouse the 
 colonists during the French troubles. They were all taken and used 
 as cases for musket-cartridges, and at once sent to the army ; and most 
 of them were used at the battle of Monmouth. The requisites in car- 
 tridge-paper were, of course, thinness, strength, pliability, and inflam- 
 mability ; and such paper was necessarily scarce then. 
 
LIBERTY-TREE. 165 
 
 country." On the right arm was written "A. O.," and 
 on the left, 
 
 'What greater pleasure can there be 
 Than to see a stamp man hanging on a tree ?" 
 
 On another part of the tree a boot was suspended, the 
 emblem of the Earl of Bute, First Lord of the Treasury, 
 from which the devil, with the Stamp Act in his hand, 
 was looking out. Chief Justice afterwards Governor 
 Hutchinson, directed the sheriff to remove this exhi- 
 bition ; but his deputies, from a fear of the popular feeling, 
 declined. In the evening the figures were taken down by 
 the people and carried in procession through the streets. 
 After demolishing the stamp-office, in State Street, they 
 proceeded to Fort Hill, where a bonfire was made of 
 the pageantry in sight of Mr. Oliver's house. It being 
 intimated to Mr. Oliver that it would conduce to the 
 quiet of the public if he would go to the tree and openly 
 resign his commission, he appeared the next day, and de- 
 clared, in the presence of a large concourse of people, that 
 he would not continue in office. It was thenceforward 
 called the Liberty-Tree, and the following inscription 
 placed upon it : "This tree was planted in the year 1614, 
 and pruned by the order of the Sons of Liberty, February 
 14, 1766." On future occasions there was seldom any 
 excitement on political subjects without some evidence 
 of it appearing on this tree. Whenever obnoxious offices 
 were to be resigned or agreements for patriotic purposes 
 entered into, the parties were notified to appear at the 
 tree, "where they always found pens and paper, and 
 a numerous crowd of witnesses, though the genius of the 
 tree was invisible. When the British army took posses- 
 sion of Boston, in 1774, Liberty-Tree fell a victim to 
 their vengeance, or to that of the persons to whom its 
 shade had been disagreeable." Liberty-trees were con- 
 secrated in Charlestown, Lexington, and Roxbury, Mass., 
 
166 LIBERTY-TREE. 
 
 and also in Charleston, S.C., Newport and Providence, 
 R.I. Tudor' s Life of Otis. 
 
 LIBERTY-TKEE. 
 
 1765. 
 
 This beautiful ballad was written by Thomas Paine, the author of the " Age of Rea- 
 son," and published in the Pennsylvania Magazine of July, 1775, while he was editor of 
 that periodical. He composed and published many songs and elegies during his connec- 
 tion with the magazine. Among them, " The Death of Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham" 
 is uncommonly pathetic and graceful. 
 
 LIBERTY-TREE. 
 
 In a chariot of light from the regions of day 
 
 The Goddess of Liberty came ; 
 Ten thousand celestials directed the way, 
 
 And hither conducted the dame. 
 A fair budding branch from the gardens above, 
 
 Where millions with millions agree, 
 She brought in her hand as a pledge of her love, 
 
 And the plant she named Liberty-Tree 
 
 The celestial exotic struck deep in the ground ; 
 
 Like a native it flourished and bore ; 
 The fame of its fruit drew the nations around, 
 
 To seek out this peaceable shore. 
 Unmindful of names or distinctions they came, 
 
 For freemen like brothers agree ; 
 With one spirit endued, they one friendship pursued, 
 
 And their temple was Liberty-Tree. 
 
 Beneath this fair tree, like the patriarchs of old, 
 
 Their bread in contentment they ate, 
 Unvex'd with the troubles of silver and gold, 
 
 The cares of the grand and the great. 
 With timber and tar they Old England supplied, 
 
 And supported her power on the sea ; 
 Her battles they fought, without getting a groat, 
 
 For the honor of Liberty-Tree. 
 
 But hear, ye swains, 'tis a tale most profane, 
 
 How all the tyrannical powers, 
 Kings, Commons, and Lords, are uniting amain 
 
 To cut down this guardian of ours ; 
 
YANKEE DOODLE. 167 
 
 From the east to the west blow the trumpet to arms, 
 Through the land let the sound of it flee, 
 
 Let the far and the near all unite with a cheer 
 In defence of our Liberty-Tree. 
 
 YANKEE DOODLE: THE AIR AND WORDS. 
 
 There are so many versions of the origin of this popular 
 and now national air, as well as the words, that we offer 
 the following to our readers without note or comment. 
 
 In Burgh's Anecdotes of Music, vol. iii. p. 405, after 
 speaking of Dr. Arne and John Frederick Lampe, the 
 author proceeds : " Besides Lampe and Arne, there were 
 at this time [1731] other candidates for musical fame of 
 the same description. Among these were Mr. John 
 Christian Smith, who set two English operas for Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields, Teraminta and Ulysses, and Dr. Tresh, 
 author of the oratorio of Judith." 
 
 About the year 1797, after having become a tolerable 
 proficient on the German flute, I took it into my head 
 to learn the bassoon, and for this purpose procured an 
 instrument and book of instructions from the late Mr. 
 Joseph Carr, who had then recently opened a music-store 
 in Baltimore City, being the first regular establishment of 
 the kind in this country. In this book there was an "Air 
 from Ulysses," which was the identical air now called 
 Yankee Doodle, with the exception of a few notes which 
 time and fancy niay have added. 
 
 Here is another version : 
 
 In the simultaneous attacks that were made upon the 
 French posts in America in 1755, that against Fort Du 
 Quesne (the present site of Pittsburg) was conducted by 
 General Braddock, and those against Niagara and Fron- 
 tenac by Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, and General 
 Johnston, of New York. The following is an extract 
 from Judge Martin's History of North Carolina, giving 
 an account of those expeditions : 
 
1G8 YANKEE DOODLE. 
 
 "The army of the latter (Shirley and Johnston), during 
 the summer, lay on the eastern bank of the Hudson, a 
 little south of the city of Albany. In the early part of 
 June the troops of the Eastern provinces began to pour in, 
 company after company; and such a motley assemblage 
 of men never before thronged together on such an occa- 
 sion, unless an example may be found in the ragged regi- 
 ment of Sir John Falstaff. It would have relaxed the 
 gravity of an anchorite to have seen the descendants of 
 the Puritans, marching through the streets of that ancient 
 city (Albany), take their situations on the left of the 
 British army, some with long coats, and others with no 
 coats at all, with colors as various as the rainbow, some with 
 their hair cropped like the army of Cromwell, and others 
 with wigs, the locks of which floated with grace around 
 their shoulders. Their march, their accoutrements, and 
 the whole arrangement of the troops, furnished matter of 
 amusement to the rest of the British army. The music 
 played the airs of two centuries ago ; and the tout ensemble, 
 upon the whole, exhibited a sight to the wondering stran- 
 gers, to which they had been unaccustomed. Among the 
 club of wits that belonged to the British army there was 
 a Doctor Shackburg, attached to the staff, who combined 
 with the science of surgeon the skill and talents of a 
 musician. To please the new-comers, he composed a 
 tune, and with much gravity recommended it to the 
 officers as one of the most celebrated airs of martial music. 
 The joke took, to the no small amusement of the British. 
 Brother Jonathan exclaimed it was nation fine, and in a 
 few days nothing was heard in the provincial camp but 
 the air of Yankee Doodle. Little did the author in his 
 composition then suppose that an air made for the pur- 
 pose of levity and ridicule should ever be marked for 
 such high destinies. In twenty years from that time the 
 national march inspired the heroes of Bunker Hill, and 
 
YANKEE DOODLE. 169 
 
 in less than thirty years Lord Cornwallis and his army 
 marched into the American lines to the tune of Yankee 
 Doodle." 
 
 Watson, in his "Occurrences of the War of Independ- 
 ence," says, 
 
 " This tune, so celebrated as a national air of the Kevo- 
 lution, has an origin almost unknown to the mass of the 
 people of the present day. An aged and respectable lady, 
 born in New England, told me she remembered it well, 
 long before the Revolution, under another name. It was 
 then universally called 'Lydia Fisher/ and was a favor- 
 ite New England jig. It was then the practice with it, 
 as with Yankee Doodle now, to sing it with various im- 
 promptu verses, such as 
 
 'Lydia Locket lost her pocket, 
 
 Lydia Fisher found it ; 
 Not a bit of money in it, 
 Only binding round it.' 
 
 "The British, preceding the war, when disposed to 
 ridicule the simplicity of the Yankee manners and hilarity, 
 were accustomed to sing airs or songs set to words in- 
 vented for the passing occasion, having for their object to 
 satirize and sneer at the New Englanders. This, as I be- 
 lieve, they called Yankee Doodle, by way of reproach, 
 and as a slur upon their favorite ' Lydia Fisher/ It is 
 remembered that the English officers then among us, 
 acting under civil and military appointments, often felt 
 lordly over us as colonists, and by countenancing such 
 slurs they sometimes expressed their superciliousness. 
 When the battles of Concord and Lexington began the 
 war, the English, when advancing in triumph, played 
 along the road, ' God save the King ;' but when the Ame 
 ricans had made the retreat so disastrous to the invaders, 
 these then struck up the scouted Yankee Doodle, as if to say, 
 6 See what we simple Jonathans can do !' From that time 
 
 15 
 
170 YANKEE DOODLE. 
 
 the term of intended derision was assumed throughout 
 all the American colonies, as the national air of the Sons 
 of Liberty ; even as the Methodists once reproachfully 
 so called assumed it as their acceptable appellation. 
 Even the name of ' Sons of Liberty/ which was so popular 
 at the outset, was a name adopted from the appellation given 
 us in Parliament by Colonel Barr in his speech ! Judge 
 Martin, in his History of North Carolina, has lately 
 given another reason for the origin of ' Yankee Doodle/ 
 saying it was first formed at Albany, in 1755, by a British 
 officer, then there, indulging his pleasantry on the homely 
 array of the motley Americans then assembling to join 
 the expedition of General Johnston and Governor Shirley. 
 To ascertain the truth in the premises, both his and my 
 accounts were published in the gazettes, to elicit, if pos- 
 sible, further information, and the additional facts ascer- 
 tained seem to corroborate the foregoing idea. The tune 
 and quaint words, says a writer in the i Columbian Ga- 
 zette/ at Washington, were known as early as the time of 
 Cromwell, and were so applied to him then, in a song 
 called 'Nankee Doodle/ as ascertained from the collection 
 he had seen of a gentleman at Cheltenham, in England, 
 called ' Musical Antiquities of England/ to wit : 
 
 " 'Nankee Doodle came to town 
 
 Upon a little pony, 
 With a feather in his hat, 
 Upon a macaroni,' &c. 
 
 " The term feather, &c. alluded to Cromwell's going 
 into Oxford on a small horse, with his single plume fast- 
 ened in a sort of knot called a ' macaroni/ The idea that 
 such an early origin may have existed seems strengthened 
 by the fact communicated by an aged gentleman of Mas- 
 sachusetts, who well remembered that, about the time the 
 strife was engendering at Boston, they sometimes conveyed 
 muskets to the country concealed in their loads of manure, 
 
YANKEE DOODLE. 171 
 
 &c. Then came abroad verses, as if set forth from their 
 military masters, saying, 
 
 " 'Yankee Doodle came to town 
 
 For to buy a firelock : 
 We will tar and feather him, 
 And so we will John Hancock.' 
 
 " The similarity of the first lines of the above two ex- 
 amples, and the term ' feather' in the third line, seem to 
 mark in the latter some knowledge of the former precedent. 
 As, however, other writers have confirmed their early 
 knowledge of ( Lydia Locket,' such as, 
 
 " <Lydy Locket lost her pocket 
 In a rainy shower,' &c., 
 
 we seem led to the choice of reconciling them severally 
 with each other. We conclude, therefore, that the Cava- 
 liers, when they originally composed Yankee Doodle/ 
 may have set it to the jig-tune of ' Lydia Fisher/ to make 
 it the more offensive to the Puritans. In this view it was 
 even possible for the British officer at Albany, in 1755, as 
 a man skilled in music, to have before heard of the old 
 Yankee Doodle/ and to have renewed it on that occasion. 
 That the air was uniformly deemed a good retort on 
 British royalists, we must be confirmed in from the fact 
 that it was played by us at the battle of Lexington when 
 repelling the foe, again at the surrender of Burgoyne, 
 and finally at Yorktown surrender, when Lafayette, who 
 ordered the tune, meant it as a retort on an intended 
 affront." 
 
 The following is the first verse in the original American 
 Yankee Doodle song : 
 
 "Yankee Doodle, keep it up, 
 
 Do it neat and handy : 
 The boy to flog the British troops 
 Is Yankee Doodle Dandy." 
 
172 HAIL COLUMBIA. 
 
 HAIL COLUMBIA. 
 
 The following is Judge Hopkinson's own account of the 
 origin of " Hail Columbia :" 
 
 "This song was written in the summer of 1798, when 
 a war with France was thought to be inevitable, Congress 
 being then in session in Philadelphia, deliberating upon 
 that important subject, and acts of hostility having act- 
 ually occurred. About that time a young man by the 
 name of Fox, attached to the Chestnut Street Theatre, was 
 getting up some attraction for his benefit. I had known 
 him when at school. On this acquaintance he called on 
 me on Saturday afternoon, his benefit being announced 
 for the following Monday. He said there were no boxes 
 taken, and his prospect was that he should suffer a loss 
 instead of receiving a benefit from his performance, but 
 that if he could get a patriotic song adapted to the tune 
 of the ' President's March' (then the popular air) he did 
 not doubt of a full house ; that the poets of the theatrical 
 corps had been trying to accomplish it, but were satisfied 
 that no words could be composed to suit the music of the 
 march. I told him I would try for him. He came the 
 next afternoon, and the song, such as it is, was ready for 
 him. It was announced on Monday morning, and the 
 theatre was crowded to excess, and so continued, night 
 after night, for the rest of the season, the song being 
 encored and repeated many times each night, the audience 
 joining in the chorus. It was also sung at night in the 
 streets by large assemblies of citizens, including members 
 of Congress. The enthusiasm was general, and the song 
 was heard, I may say, in every part of the United States." 
 
 The President's March was composed by Professor 
 Pfyle, and was played at Trenton Bridge when Wash- 
 ington passed over on his way to New York to his inau- 
 guration. An old writer, speaking upon this subject, 
 
THE PRESENT AMERICAN FLAG. 173 
 
 says, "I have also reason to believe that the Washing- 
 ton's March generally known by that title I mean the 
 one in the key of G major was composed by the Hon. 
 Francis Hopkinson, Senior, having seen it in a manuscript 
 book of his, in his own handwriting, among other of his 
 known compositions." 
 
 THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER. 
 
 Was written by Francis S. Key, while on board one 
 of the vessels composing the British fleet. He was an 
 agent for the exchange of prisoners, and witnessed in the 
 distance the bombardment of Fort McHenry. The tune 
 was originally set to the song " To Anacreon in Heaven," 
 by Dr. Arnold. 
 
 THE PRESENT AMERICAN FLAG. 
 
 The first flag adopted by the colonial army before Boston 
 was a red flag, with the mottoes, "An appeal to Heaven," 
 and " Qui transtulit sustinet," which was construed by the 
 colonists thus : " God, who transplanted us hither, will 
 sustain us." About this time also the floating batteries, 
 which were the germ of the navy subsequently organized, 
 bore a flag with the motto, "Appeal to Heaven." These 
 flags were adopted before the union of the colonies was 
 effected. After that union, and upon the organization of 
 the army arid fleet, these flags were supplanted by one 
 calculated to show to the world the union of the North 
 American colonies among themselves and as an integral 
 part of the British empire, and as such demanding the 
 rights and liberties of British subjects. And for this pur- 
 pose a flag combining the crosses of St. George and St. 
 Andrew united (the distinctive emblem of Great Britain), 
 with a field composed of thirteen stripes alternate red and 
 white, the combination of the flags previously used in the 
 camps and on the cruises, and the floating batteries of the 
 
 15* 
 
174 THE PRESENT AMERICAN FLAG. 
 
 colonists, was adopted, and called the Great Union flag. 
 The union implied both the union of the colonies repre- 
 sented in the striped field, which was dependent upon it, 
 and the nationality of those colonies. The thirteen stripes 
 alternate red and white, constituting the field of the flag, 
 represented the body of that union, the numbers that com- 
 posed it, as well as the union of the flags which had pre- 
 ceded this Great Union flag. The colors of these stripes, 
 alternate red and white, indicated on the part of the 
 colonies thus represented as united the defiance to op- 
 pression, symbolized by the red color of the flag of the 
 army and the red field of the Continental cruisers, with 
 the purity implied by the white flag of the floating batteries, 
 of which the motto was, "Appeal to Heaven."* These 
 flags of the colonies and this Great Union flag gave place 
 in turn to the flag of the United States, which is thus 
 described in the following resolution of Congress, passed 
 June 14, 1777 : 
 
 "Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States 
 be thirteen stripes alternate red and white; that the union 
 be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new 
 constellation." 
 
 From the above it appears that the only alteration made 
 from the Great Union flag was the substitution of a union 
 of stars representing " a new constellation," in place of the 
 old union of the British crosses ; and the question is, what 
 is the meaning of the " new constellation," and is there 
 any constellation which represents union? The answer is, 
 that the constellation Lyra is of this character ; for, accord- 
 
 * In 1776 was adopted the standard to be used by the commander-in- 
 chief of the American navy, "being a yellow field, with a lively repre- 
 sentation of a rattlesnake in the middle, in the attitude of striking;" 
 underneath were the words, "Don't tread on me" 
 
 The same year the cruisers of the colony of Massachusetts hoisted a 
 white flag, with a green pine-tree and the motto, "Appeal to Heaven." 
 
CONGRESS. 175 
 
 ing to classical authority, the Lyra was the symbol of 
 harmony and unity among men. The constellation Lyra 
 is a time-honored emblem of union, and because it was so 
 it gave to our forefathers the idea of the stars now on our 
 flag, while the stripes have originated as we have men- 
 tioned. May the Stars and the Stripes ever "wave over 
 the land of the free and the home of the brave," and may 
 the United States ever be among the nations of the earth 
 a constellation like Lyra, which is said to "whirl in har- 
 mony and unity along the immense orb of the revolving 
 world, and to lead all the other stars." 
 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 Previous to the Revolution, and during the war, the 
 seat of government, or points of meeting of Congress, 
 were at such places as convenience suggested or the vicis- 
 situdes of war allowed. The first Congress under the 
 present Constitution met in New York, on the 4th of 
 March, 1789. George Washington was inaugurated Pre- 
 sident before this body, John Adams Vice-President. 
 F. A. Muhlenberg, of Pennsylvania, was the Speaker of 
 the House. 
 
 The following are the places at which the Continental 
 Congress met from 1774 to the adoption of the Constitu- 
 tion, in 1789 : 
 
 At Philadelphia, 1774, September 5. 
 
 At Baltimore, 1776, December 20. 
 
 At Philadelphia, 1777, March 4. 
 
 At Lancaster, 1777, September 27. 
 
 At York, Pennsylvania, 1777, September 30. 
 
 At Philadelphia, 1778, July 2. 
 
 At Princeton, 1783, June 30. 
 
 At Annapolis, 1783, November 26. 
 
 At Trenton, 1784, November 1. 
 
 At New York, 1785, January 11. 
 
17G THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 
 
 From which time New York continued to be the place 
 of meeting until the adoption of the Constitution. From 
 1781 to 1788, Congress met annually (on the first Mon- 
 day in November), pursuant to the Articles of Confedera- 
 tion adopted June 9, 1778. 
 
 The first Congress under the Constitution met in New 
 York on the 4th of March, 1789. The second session of 
 the same Congress met at New York in January, 1790, 
 at which session the permanent seat of government was 
 fixed in the District of Columbia, and the temporary seat 
 moved from New York to Philadelphia. The third ses- 
 sion of the First Congress was held at Philadelphia, De- 
 cember, 1790, where it continued until December, 1800, 
 when Congress met for the first time in Washington. 
 
 The following table, in connection with the names of 
 the postmaster-generals, furnishes a complete panoramic 
 view of the chief officers of the United States Government 
 from 1774 to 1864.* 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS BEFORE *THE REVO- 
 LUTION. 
 
 FIRST CONGRESS, Sept. 6, 1774. Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, Presi- 
 dent. Born in Virginia, in 1726, died at Philadelphia, Oct. 22, 1785. 
 Charles Thomson, of Pennsylvania, Secretary. Born in Ireland, in 
 1730, died in Pennsylvania, Aug. 16, 1824. This patriot was Secretary 
 of all the Congresses in session during the Revolution, and until 
 March 3, 1789. 
 
 SECOND CONGRESS, May 10, 1775, Peyton Randolph, President. Re- 
 signed May 24, 1775. 
 
 John Hancock, of Massachusetts, elected his successor. He was born 
 at Quincy, Mass., A.D. 1737, died Oct. 8, 1793. He was President of 
 Congress until October, 1777. 
 
 Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, President from Nov. 1, 1777, to 
 
 * The author is indebted for the chief sources of information con- 
 tained in this table, to that admirable and useful annual entitled "The 
 Old Franklin Almanac," a title as modest as its contents are useful and 
 instructing. It should be found in every house. 
 
UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. Ill 
 
 Dec. 1778. He was born at Charleston, S. C., A.D. 1724, died in 
 
 South Carolina, Dec. 1792. 
 John Jay, of New York, President from Dec. 10, 1778, to Sept.. 27, 
 
 1779. He was born in New York City, Dec. 12, 1745, died in New 
 
 York, May 17, 1829. 
 Samuel Huntingdon, of Connecticut, President from Sept. 28, 1779, 
 
 until July 10, 1781. He was born in Connecticut, in 1732, died 1796. 
 Thos. McKean, of Pa., President from July, 1781, until Nov. 5, 1781. 
 
 He was born in Pennsylvania, March 19, 1734, died at Philadelphia, 
 
 June 24, 1817. 
 John Hanson, of Md., President from Nov. 5, 1781, to Nov. 4, 1782. 
 
 He was born , died 1783. 
 
 Elias Boudinot, of N. J., President from Nov. 4, 1782, until Feb. 4, 
 
 1783. He was born at Philadelphia, May 2, 1740, died 1824. 
 Thomas Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, President from February 4, 1783, to 
 
 November 30, 1784. Born at Philadelphia, 1744, died in the same 
 place, January 21, 1800. 
 Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, President from November 30, 1784, 
 
 to November 23, 1785. He was born in Virginia, A.D. 1732, died 
 
 1794. 
 John Hancock, of Massachusetts, President from November 23, 1785, 
 
 to June 6, 1786. 
 Nathaniel Gorham, of Massachusetts, President from June 6, 1786, to 
 
 February 2, 1787. He was born at Charlestown, Massachusetts, 
 
 A.D. 1738, died June 11, 1796. 
 Arthur St. Clair, of Pennsylvania, President from February 2, 1787, 
 
 to January 28, 1788. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, , 
 
 died in 1818. 
 Cyrus Griffin, of Virginia, President from January 28, 1788, to the end 
 
 of the Congress under the Confederation, March 3, 1789. He was 
 
 born in England, A.D. 1748, died in Virginia, A.D. 1810. 
 
 UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 1789 to 1793. 
 George Washington, of Virginia, inaugurated as President of the 
 
 United States, April 30, '1789. He was born upon Wakefield estate, 
 
 Virginia, February 22 (llth, Old Style), 1732, died at Mount Vernon, 
 
 December 14, 1799. 
 John Adams, of Massachusetts, Vice-President. Born at Braintree, 
 
 Massachusetts, October 19, 1735, died July 4, 1826, near Quincy, 
 
 Massachusetts. 
 ELECTORAL VOTE George Washington, 69. John Adams, 34. John 
 
 Jay, New York, 9. R. H. Harrison, Maryland, 6. John Rutledge, 
 
178 UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 South Carolina, 6. John Hancock, Massachusetts, 4. George Clin- 
 ton, New York, 3. Samuel Huntingdon, Connecticut, 2. John Mil- 
 ton, Georgia, 2. James Armstrong, Georgia, 1. Edward Telfair, 
 Georgia, 1. Benjamin Lincoln, Massachusetts, 1. Total, 69. Ten 
 States voted, Rhode Island, New York, and North Carolina not 
 voting, not having ratified the Constitution in time. 
 
 1793 to 1797. 
 
 George Washington, President, inaugurated March 4, 1793. 
 John Adams, Vice-President. 
 ELECTORAL VOTE George Washington, 132. John Adams, 77. George 
 
 Clinton, 50. Thomas Jefferson, Virginia, 4. Aaron Burr, New York, 
 
 1. Total, 132. Fifteen States voted. 
 
 1797 to 1801. 
 
 John Adams, President, inaugurated March 4, 1797. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, Vice-President. Born at Shadwell, 
 Virginia, April 13, 1743, died at Monticello, Virginia, July 4, 1826. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE John Adams, 71. Thomas Jefferson, 68. Thomas 
 Pinckney, South Carolina, 59. Aaron Burr, 30. Samuel Adams, 
 Massachusetts, 15. Oliver Ellsworth, Connecticut, 11. George 
 Clinton, 7. John Jay, 5. James Iredell, North Carolina, 3. George 
 Washington, 2. John Henry, Maryland, 2. S. Johnson, North 
 Carolina, 2. Charles C. Pinckney, South Carolina, 1. Total, 138. 
 Sixteen States voting. 
 
 1801 to 1805. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson, President, inaugurated March 4, 1801. 
 
 Aaron Burr, of New York, Vice-President. Born at Newark, N. J. 
 February 6, 1756, died at Staten Island, New York, September 14, 
 1836. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE Thomas Jefferson, 73. Aaron Burr, 73. John 
 Adams, 65. Charles C. Pinckney, 64. John Jay, 1. Total, 138. 
 Sixteen States voting. 
 
 There was no election by the Electoral colleges, and the election was 
 carried into the House of Representatives, when, upon the thirty- 
 sixth ballot, it appeared that ten States voted for Jefferson, four 
 States for Aaron Burr, and two States in blank. Whereupon Jeffer- 
 son was declared elected President, and Burr Vice-President. After 
 this the Constitution was amended, so that the Vice-President was 
 voted for separately as a distinct oflice, instead of being the second 
 on the vote for President. 
 
UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. 179 
 
 1805 to 1809. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson, President, inaugurated March 4, 1805. 
 
 George Clinton, of New York, Vice-President. He was born in Ulster 
 county, New York, A.D. 1739, died in Washington, D. C., April 20, 
 1812. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, Thomas Jefferson, 162 ; Charles Cotes- 
 worth Pinckney, 14. Total, 176. Seven States voting. 
 
 For Vice-President, George Clinton, 162; Rufus King, New York, 14. 
 
 1809 to 1813. 
 
 James Madison, of Virginia, President, inaugurated March 4, 1809. 
 He was born March 16, 1751, in Prince George county, Virginia, and 
 died at Montpelier, Virginia, June 28, 1836. 
 
 George Clinton, of New York, Vice-President, until his death, April 
 20, 1812. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, James Madison, 122; George Clin- 
 ton, 6; C. C. Pinckney, 47. Total, 175. Seventeen States voting. 
 
 For Vice-President, George Clinton, 113; James Madison, 3; James 
 Monroe, Virginia, 3 ; John Langdon, New Hampshire, 9 ; Rufus 
 King, New York, 47. 
 
 1813 to 1817. 
 
 James Madison, of Virginia, President. There is no record in the 
 Journals of Congress of his having taken the oath of office. 
 
 Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, Vice-President, until his death, 
 November 23, 1814. He was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts, 
 July 17, 1744, and died at Washington, D. C. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, James Madison, 128 ; De Witt Clinton, 
 New York, 89. Total, 217. Eighteen States voting. 
 
 For Vice-President, Elbridge Gerry, 131 ; Jared Ingersoll, Pennsyl- 
 vania, 86. 
 
 1817 to 1821. 
 James Monroe, of Virginia, President, inaugurated March 4, 1817. 
 
 He was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, A.D. 1759, died in 
 
 New York, July 4, 1831. 
 Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, Vice-President. Born June 21, 
 
 1774, at Fox Meadows, New York, died at Staten Island, June 11, 
 
 1825. 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, James Monroe, 183 ; Rufus King, 34 
 
 Total, 221. Nineteen States voting. 
 For Vice-President, Daniel D. Tompkins, 183 ; John Eager Howard, 
 
 Maryland, 22 ; James Ross, Pennsylvania, 5 ; John Marshall, Vir- 
 ginia, 4 ; Robert Goodloe Harper, Maryland, 3. 
 
180 UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 1821 to 1825. 
 
 James Monroe, President. There is no record in the Journals of Con- 
 gress of his having taken the oath of office. 
 
 Daniel D. Tompkins, Vice-President. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, James Monroe, 231; John Quincy 
 Adams, Massachusetts, 1. Total, 232. Twenty-four States voting. 
 
 For Vice-President, Daniel D. Tompkins, 218 ; Richard Stockton, New 
 Jersey, 8 ; Robert G. Harper, 1 ; Richard Rush, Pennsylvania, 1 ; Daniel 
 
 Rodney, Delaware, 1. 
 
 1825 to 1829. 
 
 John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, President, inaugurated March 
 
 4, 1825. He was born at Quincy, Massachusetts, July 11, 1767, died 
 
 at Washington City, February 23, 1848. 
 John Caldwell Calhoun, of South Carolina, Vice-President. Born in 
 
 Abbeville district, South Carolina, March 18, 1782, died March 31, 
 
 1850, in Washington City. 
 POPULAR VOTE For President, John Quincy Adams, 105,321 ; Andrew 
 
 Jackson, Tennessee, 152,899; William H. Crawford, Georgia, 47,265; 
 
 Henry Clay, Kentucky, 47,087. 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, Andrew Jackson, 99 ; John Quincy 
 
 Adams, 84 ; William H. Crawford, 41 ; Henry Clay, 37. Total, 261. 
 
 Twenty-four States voting. 
 There being no choice by the Electoral colleges, the vote was taken 
 
 into the House of Representatives, when upon ballot it appeared that 
 
 Adams had received the vote of thirteen States, Jackson seven, and 
 
 Crawford four. John Quincy Adams was therefore declared elected 
 
 President. 
 For Vice-President, the Electoral vote was John C. Calhoun, South 
 
 Carolina, 182 ; Nathan Sanford, New York, 30 ; Nathaniel Macon, 
 
 Georgia, 24 ; Andrew Jackson, Tennessee, 13 ; Martin Van Buren, 
 
 New York, 9 ; Henry Clay, Kentucky, 2. 
 
 1829 to 1833. 
 
 Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, President, inaugurated March 4, 1829. 
 He was born in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, near the Wax- 
 haw Settlements, which are in South Carolina, March 15, 1767, died 
 at the Hermitage, Tennessee, June 8, 1845. 
 
 John Caldwell Calhoun, Vice-President, until his resignation, Decem- 
 ber 28, 1832. 
 
 POPULAR VOTE For President, Andrew Jackson, 650,028 ; John Quincy 
 Adams, 512,158. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, Andrew Jackson, 178; John Quincy 
 Adams, 83. Total, 261. Twenty-four States voting. 
 
 For Vice-President, John C. Calhoun, 171 ; Richard Rush, Pennsylvania, 
 83 ; William Smith, South Carolina, 7. 
 
UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. 181 
 
 1833 to 1837. 
 
 Andrew Jackson, President, inaugurated March 4, 1833. 
 
 Martin Van Buren, of New York, Vice-President. He was born at 
 Kinderhook, New York, December 5, 1782. Died, July 24, 1864. 
 
 POPULAR VOTE For President, Andrew Jackson, 687,502 ; Henry Clay, 
 550,189 ; opposition (John Floyd, Virginia, and William Wirt, Mary- 
 land), 33,108.' 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, Andrew Jackson, 219; Henry Clay, 49; 
 John Floyd, 11; William Wirt, 7. Total, 288. Twenty-four States 
 voting. 
 
 For Vice-President, Martin Van Buren, 189 ; John Sergeant, Pennsyl- 
 vania, 49 ; William Wilkins, Pennsylvania, 30 ; Henry Lee, Massa- 
 chusetts, 11 ; Amos Ellmaker, Pennsylvania, 7. 
 
 1837 to 1841. 
 
 Martin Van Buren, President, inaugurated March 4, 1837. 
 
 Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, Vice-President. He was born in 
 1780 ; died November 19, 1850. 
 
 POPULAR VOTE For President, Martin Van Buren, 762,149 ; opposition 
 (William H. Harrison, Hugh L. White, Daniel Webster, W. P. Man- 
 gum), 736,736. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, Martin Van Buren, 170; William H. 
 Harrison, Ohio, 73; Hugh L. White, Tennessee, 26; Daniel Webster, 
 Massachusetts, 14; W. P. Mangum, 11. -Total, 294. Twenty-six 
 States voting. 
 
 For Vice-President, Richard M. Johnson, Kentucky, 147 ; Francis 
 Granger, New York, 77 ; John Tyler, Virginia, 47 ; William Smith, 
 Alabama, 23. 
 
 1841 to 1845. 
 
 William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, President until his death at Wash- 
 ington, April 4, 1841. He was inaugurated March 4, 1841. He was 
 born in Berkeley county, Virginia, February 9, 1773. 
 
 John Tyler, of Virginia, Vice-President. He was born, April, 1790, at 
 Greenway, Charles City county, Virginia. Died, January 18, 1863. 
 
 John Tyler, of Virginia, became President by the death of William H. 
 Harrison. He took the oath of office April 6, 1841. 
 
 POPULAR VOTE (November, 1840) For President, William Henry Har- 
 rison, 1,274,783; Martin Van Buren, 1,128,702; James G. Birney, 
 New York (Abolition), 7609. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, William Henry Harrison, 234 ; Martin 
 Van Buren, 60. Total, 294. Twenty-six States voting. 
 
 For Vice-President, John Tyler, 234 ; Richard M. Johnson, 48 ; L. W. 
 Tazewell, South Carolina, 11 ; James K. Polk, Tennessee, 1. 
 
 16 
 
182 UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 1845 to 1849 
 
 James Knox Polk, of Tennessee, President, inaugurated March 4, 1845. 
 He was born in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, November 2, 
 1795; died at Nashville, Tennessee, June 15, 1849. 
 
 George Mifflin Dallas, of Pennsylvania, Vice-President. Born in Phila- 
 delphia, July 10, 1792. 
 
 POPULAR VOTE For President, James K. Polk, 1,335,834; Henry Clay, 
 1,297,033 ; James G. Birney, 62,270. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, James K. Polk, 170 ; Henry Clay, 105. 
 Total, 275. Twenty-six States voting. 
 
 For Vice-President, George M. Dallas, 170; Theodore Frelinghuysen, of 
 New Jersey, 106. 
 
 1849 to 1853. 
 
 Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, President, inaugurated March 4, 1849. 
 Born in Virginia, A.D. 1784; died in Washington City, July 9, 1850. 
 
 Millard Fillmore, of New York, Vice-President. Born in Locke town- 
 ship, Cayuga county, New York, January 7, 1800. 
 
 Millard Fillmore, President after the death of Zachary Taylor, July 9, 
 1850. He took the oath of office July 10, 1850. 
 
 POPULAR VOTE For President, Zachary Taylor, 1,362,031; Lewis Cass, 
 of Michigan, 1,222,455 ; Martin Van Buren (Free Soil), 291,455. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, Zachary Taylor, 163; Lewis Cass, 127. 
 Total, 290. Thirty States voting. 
 
 For Vice-President, Millard Fillmore, 163; William 0. Butler, Ken- 
 tucky, 127. 
 
 1853 to 1857. 
 
 Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, President, inaugurated March 5, 
 1853. He was born at Hillsborough, New Hampshire, November 
 23, 1804. 
 
 William R. King, of Alabama, Vice-President. He was born in North 
 Carolina, April 7, 1786 ; died at Cahawba, Alabama, April 18, 1853. 
 
 POPULAR VOTE For President, Franklin Pierce, 1,590,490; Winfield 
 Scott, 1,378,589; John C. Hale, New Hampshire (Abolition), 157,296. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, Franklin Pierce, 254 ; Winfield Scott, 
 of New Jersey, 42. Total, 296. Thirty-one States voting. 
 
 For Vice-President, Vi illiam R. King, 254 ; William A. Graham, of North 
 Carolina, 42. 
 
 1857 to 1861. 
 
 James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, President. He was born at Stony 
 Batter, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1791. 
 
 John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, Vice-President. Born near Lex- 
 ington, Kentucky, January 21, 1821. 
 
 POPULAR VOTE For President, James Buchanan (Democratic), 1,832,232; 
 
GOVERNORS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 183 
 
 John C. Fremont, California (Republican), 1,341,514; Millard Fill- 
 more, New York (American), 874,707. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, James Buchanan, 174 ; John C. Fr6- 
 mont, 109; Millard Fillmore, 8. Total, 291. Thirty-one States 
 voting. 
 
 For Vice-President, John C. Breckenridge, 174; William L. Dayton, New 
 Jersey, 109; A. J. Donelson, Tennessee, 8; total, 291. 
 
 1861 to 1865. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, President, inaugurated March 4, 1861. 
 
 He was born near Muldraugh's Hill, Hardin county, Kentucky, 
 
 February, 1809. 
 Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, Vice-President. He was born at Paris, 
 
 Oxford county, Maine, August 27, 1809. 
 POPULAR VOTE For President, Abraham Lincoln (Republican), 1,857, 610; 
 
 Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois (Democratic), 1,365,976; John C. 
 
 Breckenridge, of Kentucky (Democratic), 847,953; John Bell, of 
 
 Tennessee (Constitutional Union), 590,631. 
 ELECTORAL VOTE For President, Abraham Lincoln, 180; John C. 
 
 Breckenridge, 72 ; John Bell, 39 ; Stephen A. Douglas, 12. Total, 
 
 291. Thirty-three States voting. 
 For Vice-President, Hannibal Hamlin, Maine, 180 ; Joseph Lane, Oregon, 
 
 72; Edward Everett, Massachusetts, 39; Herschel V. Johnson, 
 
 Georgia, 12. 
 
 As our postal history, so far as the States are concerned, 
 is limited to our own State, it may not be out of place 
 here to introduce the following table containing the names 
 of the 
 
 GOVERNORS OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 more, however, as being useful for future reference rather 
 than to its connection with our subject : 
 
 1682 to 1863. 
 
 1682, October. William Penn (Proprietary), acted as Governor until 
 August, 1684. 
 
 Thomas Lloyd, President until December, 1688. 
 Captain John Blackwell, Deputy-Governor to 1690. 
 President and Council to April 26, 1693. 
 
184 GOVERNORS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Benjamin Fletcher, Deputy-Governor to September, 1692. 
 
 William Markham, Deputy-Governor to December 3, 1696. 
 
 William Penn again acted as Governor to November 1, 1701. 
 
 Andrew Hamilton, Deputy-Governor to February, 1703. 
 
 Edward Shippen, President of Council to February, 1704. 
 
 John Evans, Deputy-Governor to February, 1709. 
 
 Charles Gookin, Deputy-Governor to March, 1717. 
 
 Sir William Keith, Bart., Deputy-Governor to June, 1727. 
 
 Patrick Gordon, Deputy-Governor to June, 1736. 
 
 James Logan, President of Council to June, 1738. 
 
 George Thomas, Deputy-Governor to June, 1748. 
 
 James Hamilton, Deputy-Governor to October, 1754. 
 
 Robert Hunter Morris, Deputy-Governor to August 19, 1756. 
 
 William Denny, Deputy-Governor to November, 1759 
 
 James Hamilton, Deputy-Governor to October, 1763 
 
 John Penn, son of Richard Penn, Deputy-Governor to May 6, 1771. 
 
 Richard Penn, Governor to August, 1771. 
 
 John Penn (second time), Governor to September, 1776. 
 
 Thomas Wharton, Jr., President of Executive Council to October, 
 1777. 
 
 Joseph Reed, President to November, 1781. 
 
 William Moore, President to November, 1782. 
 
 John Dickinson, President to October, 1785. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin, President to October, 1788. 
 
 Thomas Mifflin, President to the adoption of the new Constitution in 
 1790. 
 
 UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1790. 
 
 1790. Thomas Mifflin 27,725 
 
 Arthur St. Clair 2,802 
 
 Whole number 30,527 
 
 1793. Thomas Mifflin 19,590 
 
 F. A. Muhlenberg 10,700 
 
 Whole number 30,290 
 
 1796. Thomas Mifflin 30,029 
 
 F. A. Muhlenberg 10,011 
 
 Whole number 40,040 
 
 1799. Thomas McKean 37,244 
 
 James Ross 22,643 
 
 Whole number 59,887 
 
 1802. Thomas McKean 47,879 
 
 James Ross 17,037 
 
 Whole number 64,916 
 
GOVERNORS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 185 
 
 1805. Thomas McKean 48,483 
 
 Simon Snyder 43,644 
 
 Whole number 82,127 
 
 1808. Simon Snyder 67,975 
 
 James Ross 37,575 
 
 John Spayd 4,006 
 
 Whole number 109,556 
 
 1811. Simon Snyder 52,319 
 
 No opposition. 
 
 Whole number 52,319 
 
 1814. Simon Snyder 51,099 
 
 Isaac Wayne 29,566 
 
 Whole number 80,665 
 
 1817. William Findlay 66,331 
 
 Joseph Heister 59,273 
 
 Whole number 125,604 
 
 1820. Joseph Heister 67,905 
 
 William Findlay 66,300 
 
 Whole number 134,205 
 
 1823. John A. Shultze 89,968 
 
 Andrew Gregg 64,221 
 
 Whole number 154,189 
 
 1826. John A. Shultze 72,710 
 
 John Sergeant 1,174 
 
 Whole number 73,884 
 
 1829. George Wolf 78,219 
 
 Joseph Ritner 61,776 
 
 Whole number 129,995 
 
 1832. George Wolf 91,235 
 
 Joseph Ritner 88,186 
 
 Whole number 179,421 
 
 1835. Joseph Ritner 94,023 
 
 George Wolf 65,804 
 
 H. A. Muhlenberg 40,586 
 
 Whole number - 200,413 
 
 1838. David R. Porter 131,496 
 
 Joseph Ritner 121,389 
 
 Whole number 252,885 
 
 1841. David R. Porter 136,335 
 
 John Banks 113,374 
 
 Whole number 249,709 
 
 1844. Francis R. Shunk 160,403 
 
 Joseph Markle 156,114 
 
 Whole number 316,517 
 
 16* 
 
186 GOVERNORS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 1847. Francis R. Shunk 146,081 
 
 James Irvin 128,148 
 
 Emanuel C. Reigert 11,247 
 
 Whole number 285,476 
 
 1848. W. F. Johnston 168,462 
 
 Morris Longstreth 168,192 
 
 Whole number 336,654 
 
 1851. William Bigler 186,507 
 
 W. F. Johnston 178,070 
 
 Whole number 364,577 
 
 1854. James Pollock 204,008 
 
 William Bigler 167,001 
 
 Whole number 371,009 
 
 1857. William F. Packer 188,890 
 
 David Wilmot 146,147 
 
 Isaac Hazlehurst 28,100 
 
 Whole number 363,137 
 
 1860. Andrew G. Curtin 262,403 
 
 Henry D. Foster 230,239 
 
 Whole number 492,642 
 
 1863. Andrew G. Curtin .' 269,496 
 
 G. W. Woodward 254,171 
 
 Whole number 523,667 
 
POSTMASTERS. 187 
 
 XI. 
 
 HAVING brought the postal history of the colonies up 
 to the time Richard Bache succeeded Benjamin Franklin 
 (November, 1776), and whose dismissal gave the latter 
 some grounds of complaint, if not censure, against the 
 appointment of Ebenezer Hazard, who had the office under 
 President Washington, we will carry out the object of 
 these tables, by continuing the list of postmaster-generals 
 from that period. 
 
 SAMUEL OSGOOD. This gentleman was born at An- 
 dover, Massachusetts, February 14, 1748; graduated at 
 Harvard College in 1770; a member of the Massachusetts 
 Legislature, and also of the board of war, and subse- 
 quently an aid to General Ward; in 1779, a member of 
 the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention; in 1781, 
 appointed a member of Congress; in 1785, first commis- 
 sioner of the treasury; and September 26, 1789, post- 
 master-general. He was afterwards naval officer of the 
 port of New York, and died in that city, August 12, 1813. 
 
 Early in the first session of the Second Congress two 
 important subjects of a national character received the 
 attention of the representatives of the people: one was 
 establishing a national mint, and the other the organization 
 of the postal system. 
 
 The establishing of a mint, however, was delayed, and 
 no special action was taken in that direction until 1790, 
 when Mr. Jefferson, then Secretary of State, urged the 
 matter upon the attention of Congress. In 1792, April 
 
188 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 2, laws were enacted for the establishment of a mint. It 
 did not, however, go into full operation until 1795. 
 
 The first mint was located in Philadelphia, and remained 
 the sole issuer of coin in the United States until 1835, 
 when a branch was established in each of the States of 
 Georgia, North Carolina, and Louisiana, in Charlotte, 
 Dahlonega, and New Orleans. These three branches went 
 into operation in the years 1837-38. 
 
 A bill for the organization of a post-office system was 
 passed in 1792, simultaneously with that for establishing 
 the mint. 
 
 Very soon after the commencement of the first session 
 of Congress a letter was received from Ebenezer Hazard 
 (July 17, 1789), then postmaster-general under the old 
 Confederation, suggesting the importance of some new 
 regulations for that department. A bill for the temporary 
 establishing of a post-office was passed soon afterwards. 
 The subject was brought up from time to time, until the 
 present system was organized in 1792. The postmaster- 
 general was not made a Cabinet-officer until the first year 
 (1829) of President Jackson's administration. 
 
 TIMOTHY PICKERING. Born at Salem, Massachusetts, 
 July 17, 1746; graduated in 1763; was colonel of a regi- 
 ment of militia at the age of nineteen, and marched for 
 the seat of war at the first news of the battle of Lexing- 
 ton; in 1775, was appointed judge of two local courts; in 
 the fall of 1776, marched to New Jersey with his regiment; 
 in 1777, appointed adjutant-general, and subsequently a 
 member of the board of war with Gates and Mifflin ; in 
 1780 he succeeded Greene as quartermaster-general; in 
 1790 he was employed in negotiations with the Indians; 
 August 12, 1791, he was appointed postmaster-general; 
 in 1794, Secretary of War, and in 1795, Secretary of 
 State; from 1803 to 1811 he was senator, and from 1814 
 
POSTMASTERS. 189 
 
 to 1817 representative in Congress; died at Salem, June 
 29, 1829. 
 
 JOSEPH HABERSHAM. Born in 1750; a lieutenant- 
 colonel during the Revolutionary War, and in 1785 a 
 member of Congress; appointed postmaster-general, Feb- 
 ruary 25, 1795; he was afterwards president of the United 
 States Branch Bank in Savannah, Georgia; died at that 
 place, November, 1815. 
 
 GIDEON GRANGER. Born at Suffield, Connecticut, 
 July 19, 1767; graduated at Yale College in 1787, and 
 the following year admitted to the bar; in 1793, elected 
 to the Connecticut Legislature; November 28, 1801, ap- 
 pointed postmaster-general; retired in 1814, and removed 
 to Canandaigua, New York; April, 1819, elected a mem- 
 ber of the Senate of that State, but resigned in 1821 on 
 account of ill health. During his service in that body he 
 donated one thousand acres of land to aid the construction 
 of the Erie Canal. Died at Canandaigua, December 31, 
 1822. 
 
 RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS. Born at Middletown, 
 Connecticut, in 1765; graduated at Yale College in 1785, 
 and subsequently admitted to the bar; in 1788, emigrated 
 to Marietta, Ohio, then the Northwestern Territory; in 
 1790, during the Indian wars, he was sent by Governor 
 St. Clair on a perilous mission through the wilderness to 
 the British commandant at Detroit; in the winter of 
 1802-03 he was elected by the legislature the first chief 
 justice of the Supreme Court of the new State ; in Octo- 
 ber, 1804, he was appointed colonel commanding the 
 United States forces in the upper district of the Territory 
 of Louisiana, and resigned his judgeship; in the following 
 year he was appointed one of the United States judges for 
 
190 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 Louisiana; April 2, 1807, he was transferred to the Ter- 
 ritory of Michigan; in October following he resigned his 
 judgeship, and was elected Governor of the State of Ohio, 
 but his election was successfully contested on the ground 
 of non-residence. He was chosen at the same session as 
 one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the State, and 
 at the next session as United States Senator for a vacancy 
 of one year, and also for a full term. In 1810 he was 
 again elected Governor of Ohio, and on the 8th of Decem- 
 ber resigned his seat in the Senate; in 1812 he was re- 
 elected Governor; on the 17th of March, 1814, he was 
 appointed postmaster-general, which he resigned in June, 
 1823. Died at Marietta, March 29, 1825. 
 
 JOHN McLEAN. Born in Morris county, New Jersey, 
 March 11, 1785. His father subsequently removed to 
 Ohio, of which State the son continued a resident. He 
 labored on the farm until sixteen years of age, when he 
 applied himself to study, and two years afterwards re- 
 moved to Cincinnati, and supported himself by copying in 
 the county clerk's office while he studied law. In 1807 
 he was admitted to the bar; in 1812 he was elected to Con- 
 gress, and re-elected in 1814; in 1816 he was unanimously 
 elected by the legislature a judge of the Supreme Court of 
 that State; in 1822 he was appointed by President Mon- 
 roe commissioner of the General Land-Office, and on the 
 26th of June, 1823, postmaster-general; in 1829 he was 
 appointed as one of the justices of the Supreme Court of 
 the United States. 
 
 WILLIAM T. BARRY. Born in Fairfax county, Vir- 
 ginia, March 18, 1780; graduated at the College of Wil- 
 liam and Mary. He was admitted to the bar, and in 
 early life emigrated to Kentucky. In 1828 he was a candi- 
 date for Governor of that State, and defeated by a small 
 
POSTMASTERS. 191 
 
 majority after one of the most memorable contests in its 
 annals; appointed postmaster-general March 9, 1829; in 
 1835, appointed minister plenipotentiary to Spain, and 
 died at Liverpool, England, on his way to Madrid. 
 
 Mr. Barry was the first postmaster-general who had the 
 honor of being one of the Cabinet. Whether such a 
 movement has benefited the postal department or not can 
 only be ascertained by a reference to its records. As these 
 present more the appearance of political names, figures, 
 changes, removals, and a confusion of all the elements 
 which make up a party, it is doubtful if the public mind 
 is prepared to view the postal department in any other 
 light than that of one of the revolving political luminaries 
 of the country. A reference, however, to some statistics 
 furnished in this work, and an occasional reference to its 
 not being a self-sustaining institution, may probably throw 
 some light upon the subject. 
 
 We have avoided, through motives of nationality rather 
 than of choice, any direct allusion to frauds in the postal 
 department. " When Judge McLean left the department 
 it was," said his friends, "in a thriving condition." Such 
 was not the case. From "The Aurora," edited by the late 
 William Duane, bearing date January 10, 1835, we take 
 the following statement: 
 
 " It would be a hopeless task to seek the qualities, ac- 
 tions, evidence of fitness, or principles of Mr. McLean. We 
 know he was a member of Congress : can any one discover 
 any thing which he did there? He was appointed post- 
 master-general to cover the retreat of B,. J. Meigs, who 
 should have been removed three years before. 
 
 "And what did he do in the general post-office? Why, 
 the men who had practised the most enormous abuses, 
 which had been proved by blanching evidence before Con- 
 gress, he retained in the prosecution of their former business. 
 
 "The reproach is no doubt to be shared with Congress, 
 
192 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 which, on the occasion of the investigation of the sale of 
 post-office drafts, suffered the inquiry to be stifled after 
 attempts had been made, without success, on some poor 
 men to suppress the truth, and who were discharged 
 for their fidelity, whilst others were retained whose 
 memories, like the memorable Italian delator, was non 
 mi ricordo ! 
 
 "Mr. McLean entered the general post-office when it 
 was whelmed in abuses and in debt. Accounts in that 
 office had not been brought up, or cash accounts balanced, 
 for several years ; and, in fact, no true account of the 
 affairs of the post-office department at that period had 
 ever appeared. 
 
 " Mr. McLean was a mere walking-stick for the directors 
 of his predecessor. He made some efforts to bring up 
 the business, and some laws were passed to oblige account- 
 ability; but he left the general post-office as he found it, 
 deep in debt, saddling his successor with the burden, and 
 leaving the system in such disorder as to render it neces- 
 sary for Mr. Barry to organize the department wholly 
 anew, were it only to extricate it from the hands of those 
 men who had thrown it all into confusion."* 
 
 Mr. Barry, in his address to the people, speaking of the 
 department as it came from the hands of Mr. McLean to 
 him, says, 
 
 "The late postmaster-general, in his report dated No- 
 vember 17, 1828, shows that, instead of saving $500,000, 
 the expenses of his department from the 1st of July, 1827, 
 to the 1st of July, 1828, were upwards of $25,000 more 
 than all its revenues for the same period, and that he had 
 entered into contracts to take effect from the 1st of Janu- 
 
 * This article appeared about the time Judge McLean was a candi- 
 date for the Presidency, and was brought out to bear upon his success. 
 There is no denying the fact but what there was more truth than poetry 
 in the charges. 
 
POSTMASTERS. 193 
 
 ary, 1829, which involved the department in an expense, 
 for the period of only six months from the 1st of January 
 to the 1st of July, 1829, of $40,778.55 more than all its 
 revenue for the same time ; and that the expenses .of the 
 department for the year commencing the 1st of July, 1828, 
 were $74,714.15 more than its revenues, and that the 
 excess of expenditure, together with the losses sustained, 
 had diminished the finances of the department within one 
 year to the amount of $101,266.03. In this state of things 
 I had no agency. It was produced before I came into 
 office." 
 
 AMOS KENDALL. Born at Dunstable, Massachusetts, 
 August 16, 1789; graduated at Dartmouth College in 
 1811; about the year 1812, removed to Kentucky, and in 
 1815 was appointed postmaster at Georgetown in that 
 State; in 1816 he assumed the editorial charge of the 
 " Argus," published at Frankfort, in the same State, which 
 he continued until 1829, being most of the time State 
 printer; in 1829 he was appointed fourth auditor of the 
 United States Treasury; and May 1, 1835, postmaster- 
 general. He resigned the latter office in 1840, and has, 
 since the introduction of the electric telegraph, been mainly 
 employed in connection with enterprises for its operation. 
 He is yet living. 
 
 A GLANCE OVER HIS POSTAL OPERATIONS. 
 
 The years 1834, 7 35, and '36 were remarkable for an 
 almost epidemic species of madness on the subject of 
 slavery, or, rather, upon the question of the immediate 
 emancipation of the slaves throughout the South. That 
 this was carried to extremes by both parties there can be 
 no doubt, and that very extremity became the chief cause 
 of the rebellion of the South. The question has been settled 
 by the North that although the South had all she could 
 
 17 
 
194 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 claim consistently under an uncertain clause of the Con- 
 stitution, she had no right to make slavery a fiendish 
 monster, that was to ride iron-shod over all the Free States 
 in the Union, and silence the voice of Christianity in its 
 peaceful attempts to lessen its evils. As a relic of the long 
 past, one of the dark pages from Saxon history, the insti- 
 tution of slavery, as sustained in the South, was a deep, 
 damning, dark spot on a land that boasted of principles 
 based on three cardinal precepts, "virtue, liberty, and 
 independence," a misnomer in its Constitution and laws. 
 
 While the fanatical portion of the Northern abolitionists 
 were striving to impress upon the South the enormity of 
 their crime in sustaining slavery, the South was equally 
 virulent in its condemnation of their mode of doing so. 
 Meetings were held all over the country, speeches made, 
 and passion swayed the judgment to the total extinction 
 of common sense. The South accused the North of encou- 
 raging amalgamation; the North indignantly denied it, 
 and with much logic proved that it was a Southern virtue 
 altogether. 
 
 This was the beginning of the rebellion : here were the 
 seeds grown, watered, and nurtured by hatred, envy, and 
 malice. The South had planted its poisonous root on a 
 free soil, and it came in contact with its more wholesome 
 brother: the one began to pale before the venom of the 
 other, blasting it like "a mildew'd ear." It is not our 
 purpose to give a history of these eventful years, nor the 
 consequence attending the operations of the Northern 
 opposition party to slavery against Southern arrogance and 
 presumptuous domination. The question, however, had 
 to be decided at one time or another; and in 1860 it was 
 answered by the thunder sound of cannon and flashes from 
 millions of rifles. 
 
 The South became very indignant against the post-office 
 department, which it accused of an abuse of power, by 
 
POSTMASTERS. 195 
 
 permitting what they called "incendiary publications" to 
 pass through the office to individuals in the South. The 
 Federal Government was called upon to correct this 
 "prostitution of its laws," which was calculated to affect 
 its (the South's) peculiar "domestic institution," and if 
 persisted in would be the CEETAIN DESTRUCTION OF THE 
 UNION. 
 
 In answer to repeated complaints made to Amos Ken- 
 dall, Esq., the then postmaster-general, both from Southern 
 men and Northern advocates of slavery, he stated distinctly 
 that he had no legal authority to exclude newspapers from 
 the mail, nor prohibit their carriage or delivery on account 
 of their character and tendency, real or supposed. Indeed, 
 this would be assuming a power over the liberty of the 
 press which might be perverted and abused to an extent 
 highly injurious to our republican system of government. 
 
 In 1835, Amos Kendall received a letter from the post- 
 master at Charleston, stating that he had detained in the 
 office certain inflammatory newspapers, circulars, pam- 
 phlets, &c., the distribution of which he thought was cal- 
 culated to do much harm in the State ; in fact, a meeting 
 was called in that city of its citizens upon the subject of 
 these " incendiary documents," when it was publicly stated 
 that " arrangements had been made with the postmaster, by 
 which no seditious pamphlets shall be issued or forwarded 
 from the post-office in this city" ! The committee consisted 
 of the following-named gentlemen, who had waited upon 
 the postmaster, and hence his letter to the postmaster- 
 general: General Hayne, John Robinson, Charles Ed- 
 monston, H. A. Desaussure, James Robertson, James Lynah, 
 Edward R. Laurens. The following is an extract from Mr. 
 Kendall's letter to the postmaster at Charleston : similar 
 replies to other postmasters from the Southern States were 
 also forwarded, as it appeared to have been a preconcerted 
 Southern action. Of this there can be no doubt ; for the 
 
196 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 Charleston letter bore date July 29, 1835, the Richmond 
 August 8, New Orleans July 15, and Georgia July 10. 
 Mr. Kendall says, 
 
 "But I am not prepared to direct you to forward or 
 deliver the papers of which you speak. The post-office 
 department was created to serve the people of each and 
 all of the United States, and not to be used as the instru- 
 ment of their destruction. None of the papers detained 
 have been forwarded to me, and I cannot judge for myself 
 of their character and tendency ; but you inform me that 
 they are in character l the most inflammable and incendiary, 
 and insurrectionary in the highest degree/ 
 
 "By no act or direction of mine, official or private, 
 could I be induced to aid knowingly in giving circulation 
 to papers of this description, directly or indirectly. We 
 owe an obligation to the laws, but a higher one to the 
 communities in which we live ; and if the former be per- 
 verted to destroy the latter ', it is patriotism to disregard 
 them. Entertaining these views, I cannot sanction, and 
 will not condemn, the step you have taken. Your justifi- 
 cation must be looked for in the character of the papers 
 detained, and the circumstances by which you are sur- 
 rounded." 
 
 "The surroundings" in and near all Southern post- 
 offices are those which the institution of slavery inaugu- 
 rates. Letters from certain Eastern States were subject to 
 an espionage somewhat similar to that by which a detective 
 policeman tracks an unsuspecting culprit from haunt to 
 haunt, acquiring a perfect knowledge of his habits and 
 the character of his associates. Letters were opened by a 
 sort of steaming process, read and their contents noted, 
 carefully sealed again, and delivered to the person to whom 
 they were directed. If the contents of the letter came 
 under the denunciatory head, the individual to whom it 
 was addressed received intimation from the Order of 
 
POSTMASTERS. 197 
 
 " The Regulators/ 7 a society formed for the purpose of find- 
 ing out abolitionists, to leave the city in twenty-four hours. 
 
 The writer of this resided in the city of New Orleans 
 at that period, and he knew of the existence of one esta- 
 blished as far back as 1829: it was called the "Regu- 
 lators." It was not only formidable in numbers, but 
 equally so in a political point of view. This order has 
 since been merged in that of the "Golden Circle." One 
 of the obligations of the "Regulators" was, and is in the 
 new "junto," to this effect: 
 
 "I do promise that I will use my best exertions to find 
 out any and every one who in any way favors abolitionism, 
 and who attempts to instruct or enlighten a slave, either 
 by teaching him his letters, or by giving him religious 
 instruction," &c. 
 
 Under this oath men were driven from the South, and 
 in some instances tarred and feathered! In 1834 the 
 writer knew an old gentleman from Boston, who, ignorant 
 of the exclusive slave-laws of the State, was compelled to 
 quit New Orleans for simply talking to an old black man 
 about religion and teaching him his letters, so that he 
 might read the word of God: this, too, in a Christian 
 land, a land of freedom !* 
 
 It may be observed, however, in extenuation even for 
 such seeming high-handed measures, that as slavery was 
 an acknowledged institution rearing itself up on the Con- 
 stitution, and that some 4,000,000 of human creatures 
 
 * A man by the name of Carroll, residing in Charleston, South Caro- 
 lina, was accused of being intimate with slaves, and also as a receiver 
 of stolen goods, particularly the article of cotton. He was dragged 
 from his house (August, 1835), and received twenty lashes ; he was 
 then stripped from his waist upwards, tarred and feathered ; he was 
 then marched in procession through the streets and lodged in the jail; 
 he was also compelled to leave the city. The law, it seemed, sanctioned 
 the action of the mob ; for he was actually received in the prison from 
 this self-constituted authority. 
 
 17* 
 
198 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 were chained to it, it was absolutely necessary to keep 
 them in ignorance of any sympathy existing for their 
 degraded state either in the North or the South, lest such 
 sympathy should excite them to resistance. Hence every 
 thing that was calculated to throw light on their benighted 
 pathway, and strengthen any lingering preconceived idea 
 that they were men and not beasts of burden, was kept 
 studiously away from them. As long as this country 
 sanctioned the existence of slavery, just so long was she 
 justified in protecting those States sustaining it from any 
 outbreak on the part of its victims. It was an evil that 
 came in under the Constitution, and it was an evil it was 
 bound to sustain. The anti-slavery party North carried 
 their views far beyond common sense and simple reason ; 
 and this led to Southern opposition. But the more enlight- 
 ened people viewed both parties as acting wrong, and in 
 opposing the first they as strongly repudiated the acts of 
 the latter. And what has been the consequence? The 
 South, alone in its crime, alone in its inhuman traffic, alone 
 in its crushing power to make men beasts of burden, 
 even lower in the animal scale than the animal itself, 
 like Lucifer, rebelled against its country and its God. 
 Thus, slaveholders became barbarians by the very act of 
 attempting to rivet the chains of bondage on man and his 
 country. That rebellion recreated in our midst a new 
 order, or rather carried out the very spirit of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, declaring that these united colonies 
 are, and of right ought to be, " FREE AND INDEPENDENT 
 STATES." There can be no such thing as freedom, if its 
 meaning be linked to the chains of slavery. There is no 
 true freedom for an American to boast of, if one portion 
 of the land sustains slavery and laughs at the sound of the 
 lash as it lacerates the back of a bondsman in the nineteenth 
 century. Age of Christianity ! age of refinement ! age of 
 letters ! What a misnomer ! 
 
POSTMASTERS. 199 
 
 
 
 This feeling, which had a tendency to divide the South 
 from the North, was gradually assuming a dangerous 
 aspect. It was a feeling antagonistical to that which pre- 
 vailed in the North. The one was allied to the age of 
 barbarism, the other to the highest order of civilization. 
 The worst passions of bad men were working the evil ; 
 they engendered hatred and malice ; and the rising popu- 
 larity of the North for its intelligence, its institutions, its 
 educational system, ks arts, its sciences, and, in fact, all 
 that a high state of intellectual knowledge produces, 
 added fuel to the hellish fire that was burning in the 
 Southern breast. 
 
 They could boast of only one institution, and that was 
 slavery. This institution sent forth 
 
 "the piercing cry 
 
 Which shook the waves and rent the sky : 
 E'en now, e'en now, on yonder western shores 
 Weeps pale Despair, and writhing Anguish roars ; 
 E'en now on Afric's groves, with hideous yell 
 Fierce Slavery stalks, and slips the dogs of hell; 
 From vale to vale the gathering cries rebound, 
 And sable nations tremble at the sound !" 
 
 The South actually could boast of but this one institution : 
 for all others, either of commerce, agriculture, education, 
 arts or sciences, they were indebted to the North. And 
 yet they rebelled ! 
 
 The moment men, as well as nations, feel their own 
 insignificance and witness the rising greatness of others, 
 that moment they begin to plot mischief. Treason is the 
 oifspring of disappointment and a desire for power. De- 
 feated ambition not unfrequently steps in, and out of such 
 elements rebellions are made. Lucifer, therefore, may be 
 quoted as the personification of the treason of Jeff Davis. 
 
 The South also made the discovery that slave labor, 
 devoted only to one object, was demoralizing the soil, as 
 
200 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 9 
 
 it had already demoralized society. Northern men and 
 Northern manners did not suit their ideas of refinement, 
 and thus the social relations became unpleasant. 
 
 Every foot of ground neglected or simply used for one 
 especial purpose was gradually wearing out. The census 
 of 1850 furnishes the following facts connected with the 
 decadency of the Southern soil. 
 
 Three hundred and thirty-five thousand natives of Vir- 
 ginia emigrated from the State of Virginia and found 
 homes elsewhere. South Carolina sent forth 163,000. 
 North Carolina lost 261,575, equal to thirty-one per cent. 
 As regards Maryland, the extreme poverty of her soil can 
 be directly traced to man's neglect of what kind Nature 
 sent him, that by the "sweat of his brow" he should cul- 
 tivate and enjoy. 
 
 If we were to trace the cause of this, it would be found 
 to have originated in the sterility of the soil, the absence 
 of free labor and agricultural knowledge. Southern men 
 are not favorably disposed towards Northern improvements 
 in any department, no matter whether it be trade, com- 
 merce, or agriculture: hence they have no such farms 
 South as they have North, even in portions of their 
 country where the soil is equally susceptible of improve- 
 ment. 
 
 The South stated distinctly, speaking through her secret 
 councils, using their own language, "that it could only 
 hope for the real enjoyment of its rights in a SOUTHERN 
 CONFEDERACY" ! 
 
 Mr. Kendall's letter to the postmaster was applauded 
 by the Southern press, and most severely censured by that 
 of the North. One editor said, " There was but one course 
 for the postmaster-general to pursue in relation to the dis- 
 tribution of the documents at Charleston, and that is, to 
 have directed his subordinate officer to follow the statutes 
 as laid down, and leave the result to the law. Instead of 
 
POSTMASTERS. 201 
 
 this, he tells him that it is patriotism sometimes to disregard 
 the law!" 
 
 It is said the law is defective: it may have been in 1835 ; 
 but the South, by its own vile act, has made that law so 
 clear that there is not the least doubt but every Southern 
 postmaster hereafter, whatever his political opinions may 
 be, will be fully able to understand it. 
 
 Perhaps no man exerted himself more to make the 
 postal department honored and respected than did Amos 
 Kendall. He was, consequently, making rules and regu- 
 lations organizing the several departments, and watching 
 each and every operation with a shrewd and business eye 
 to its interest. 
 
 In 1835, under the heading of the "Organization of the 
 Post-Office Department," he published fifty-six rules and 
 regulations, concluding with the following remarks, apart 
 from a political basis: 
 
 "The postmaster-general looks to all those under his 
 direction and control for a cheerful and vigorous co-opera- 
 tion in the management of the business of the department, 
 by which they will not only render an essential service to 
 their country, but assuredly promote their own happiness 
 and extend their individual reputation. It will give him 
 pleasure, and it is his fixed purpose, to advance, as occa- 
 sion may oifer, all such as by their industry, fidelity, and 
 correct deportment may give character to the department 
 and enable him to discharge honorably the important 
 duties with which he is intrusted." 
 
 Mr. Kendall and, in fact, all postmaster -generals in 
 their reports invariably speak of advancing the interest of 
 honest and trustworthy employees; but we believe that 
 unless this important and much-desired consideration is 
 carried out by political influence, anxious expectants will 
 never enjoy the benefits arising from it. 
 
 Postmaster-General Blair made similar promises, which, 
 
202 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 like those of others, were not fulfilled, and the writer of 
 this, among others, was told that an addition to their 
 salary would follow Postmaster-General Blair's promises. 
 The presumption, however, was that there was not a man 
 in the whole postal department who came up to the post- 
 master-general's idea of what constituted "honesty" in its 
 connection with the department. This, however, we do 
 know, that the noisy, ignorant politicians, those who exer- 
 cised an influence over frequenters of rum-shops, were the 
 men who received the most attention from these function- 
 aries. Postmaster-General Blair, in his Annual Report 
 of the Post-Office Department, 1862, winds up with these 
 words : 
 
 " It is my purpose to adhere firmly to my determination 
 to displace incompetency and indifference wherever found 
 in official position under my control, without any discrimi- 
 nation in favor of appointments which I may myself have 
 made under misinformation of facts. The postal business 
 must be conducted, if successful, upon the same principles 
 which control the operations of the upright and sagacious 
 man of business. The department should adhere to those 
 officers who have administrative talents and are faithful to 
 its interests, and should remove those who take no interest 
 in the efficiency of its service." 
 
 This is exactly the argument we have used in another 
 portion of this work in favor of those who are faithful to 
 the interest of the government and have acquired a tho- 
 rough knowledge of their duties. We hope the sugges- 
 tions of Mr. Blair will be practically carried out. 
 
 Mr. Kendall had to contend against a powerful political 
 party which was brought to bear upon his time and 
 patience. The latter was severely tried during the session 
 of Congress, March, 1839. To all the attacks, however, 
 which were made upon him, and the various attempts to 
 accuse him of political partiality in his appointments, he 
 
POSTMASTERS. 203 
 
 answered with a clearness and boldness which fully proved 
 that the attempt to make political capital out of his sup- 
 posed malfeasance in office was at best but a "weak inven- 
 tion of the enemy." 
 
 It was stated that he retained in office a postmaster, "a 
 wretch who was guilty of forgery and counterfeiting, and 
 who escaped the fangs of the law only by turning state's 
 evidence," although he had been fully informed of the 
 facts and knew the character of the man, and that his 
 reason for retaining him (such a villain) in office was that 
 he was an active and determined partisan. To this state- 
 ment Mr. Kendall replied as follows: 
 
 " These charges appear to have been made on the 28th 
 of February last. Lucius D. Smith, postmaster at New 
 Lebanon, Oneida county, New York, the individual re- 
 ferred to, was removed from office on the 21st of January 
 last, and the appointment of his successor was officially 
 announced in the i Globe 7 on the 1st of February last. He 
 had, therefore, been removed more than a month when 
 these charges were uttered on the floor of the House." 
 
 In another portion of this work we have alluded to the 
 fact of the postal department being made a political one. 
 It is one of those institutions that is allied to the general 
 interest of all parties; and for the maintenance of that 
 interest its political influence should not extend throughout 
 all its ramifications. It is true, the heads of the depart- 
 ment in many instances, being mere ciphers, might be 
 with propriety politically disposed of; but the workers in 
 the office the active business-men should not step out 
 from their duties to take part in the active workings of the 
 party at the expense of the postal interest. And yet, under 
 the present system, these men must labor in their " political 
 vocation" or lose their position. Their presence at ward- 
 meetings, their being elected delegates, their lost time at 
 the polls, are all for their chances of retaining place for 
 
204 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 four years. Then they pass away into other business, for- 
 gotten by those who used them as their tools while in 
 office. What are such men, when subject to a system like 
 this, but political paupers? We do not say that men in 
 the post-office should not be the friends and supporters of 
 the party in power : on the contrary, they are expected to 
 be. But cannot a man be the friend and supporter of the 
 government under any administration apart from his 
 political bias, more particularly if he is placed in a posi- 
 tion of honor and trust not easily supplied by another, 
 without being subject to instant dismissal? Previous to 
 1860 this should have been a governmental axiom; but the 
 rebellion changed the whole system, because there arose 
 a divided sentiment in relation to the union of States, 
 originating the treasonable idea that secession was a con- 
 stitutional principle. Men who advocated this doctrine 
 were not considered worthy a place of trust : hence, in the 
 different post-offices throughout the loyal States, the oath 
 of allegiance was administered to the employees, a most 
 important movement; for a disloyal clerk would have been 
 a powerful auxiliary to the rebel cause. Although during 
 the rebellion nay, even up to its very close portions of 
 the press were favorably disposed towards traitors, the 
 post-office made no distinction in its distribution of news- 
 papers: unlike the South in its days of slavish triumph 
 and during the incipient stages of the rebellion, it exer- 
 cised no espionage even over the Copperhead presses of the 
 North, an oversight on the part of our government for 
 which it has dearly paid; for it led to the assassination 
 of Abraham Lincoln, by furnishing to the South the in- 
 formation of its having friends in the North. His death, 
 however, only accelerated the downfall of all their plans 
 and the final surrender of all their armies. 
 
 And here, although perhaps out of place in a work like 
 this, we ask how an editor, dipping his pen in the black 
 
POSTMASTERS. 205 
 
 blood of treason and tracing the dark lines of crime along 
 the columns of his paper could claim postal protection 
 while aiming to destroy the very power under which he 
 claimed the right to publish his incendiary sheet? 
 
 That press should cease to be considered a part and 
 portion of an institution when its columns maintain the 
 right not only to utter treason, but to claim on constitu- 
 tional grounds, according to its idea, the privilege of ex- 
 pressing sentiments calculated to destroy the union of the 
 States.* 
 
 We have alluded to the frequent changes that are made 
 in our post-offices: we annex parallel passages from the 
 English post-office administration and that of our own: 
 
 ELEMENTS OF THE BRITISH SYSTEM. 
 
 In the English postal system there are potential elements 
 which render it a success, while in ours it is a failure. 
 
 One of these elements is that the personnel of their 
 postal administration is more permanent, and the establish- 
 ment is placed purely on a business footing. . It is admi- 
 nistered by experienced men. Once thoroughly instructed 
 in the laws, the regulations, and their duties, the depart- 
 ment measures their claims to office by their continued 
 fidelity and attention to its interests. In some branches 
 of the service, candidates are admitted upon both a physical 
 and mental examination of their qualifications. A medical 
 officer examines the aspirants for clerkships and for the 
 places of carriers and laborers. Post-office savings-banks 
 are connected with the establishment. Provision for life- 
 assurance, the premiums being deducted from weekly or 
 monthly wages, is also a part of their system. They thus 
 combine nearly all interests to procure a permanent and 
 faithful devotion to duty. 
 
 * Constitution of the United States, art. ii. sect. 2. 
 18 
 
206 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 ELEMENTS OF THE AMERICAN POST-OFFICE. 
 
 The elements which make up our postal department are 
 those which politics create. These are constantly changing, 
 and every change produces its own creatures. The very 
 resignations are the consequences of these changes, and not 
 of the desire to secure other employment. Men would 
 rather owe to themselves the right of leaving a position 
 than submit to the pompous notice from an official, com- 
 mencing with, " Your services are no longer required," &c. 
 
 The number of resignations alone during the year 
 ending on the 30th of June, 1862, was 2902, the removals 
 2786, out of 19,973 officers in the loyal States and districts. 
 The resignations were nearly fifteen per cent, of the whole 
 number, and resignations and removals combined about 
 twenty-eight per cent, of the whole number. The new 
 appointees must acquire a practical postal education before 
 they can promptly and accurately discharge their duties. 
 It is evident that a system so liable to constant and large 
 changes in its administration must be defective in many 
 elements of completeness. The theory of our government 
 requires a direct official responsibility to the executive 
 head, and that the term of office should be limited to the 
 proper discharge of that responsibility. The principle is 
 correct. But the proper compensatory principle requires 
 retention of good officers, as truly as it requires the dis- 
 charge of incompetent incumbents. This principle can 
 be carried into effect only when public sentiment shall be 
 so clear and uniform as to make itself felt by all public 
 representatives influencing appointments. 
 
 NUMBER OF POST-OFFICES. 
 
 The number of post-offices established on the 30th of 
 June, 1865, including suspended offices in Southern States, 
 was 28,832; number subject to appointment by the Presi- 
 
POSTMASTERS. 207 
 
 dent, 702; by the postmaster-general, 28,170; number of 
 persons engaged, 85,000. 
 
 APPOINTMENTS 
 
 Made to fill vacancies caused by resignations 3,575 
 
 Removals 925 
 
 Deaths 229 
 
 Changes of names and sites 132 
 
 Establishment of new offices 586 
 
 Total appointments y 5,447 
 
 The number of offices in the late disloyal States is 8902, 
 of which 1051 were reopened on November 15, 1865. 
 
 Number of route-agents, 387; aggregate compensation, 
 $229,522. Number of local agents, 51; aggregate com- 
 pensation, $30,949. Number of special agents, 33; ag- 
 gregate compensation, $82,790. Number of baggage- 
 masters, 110; aggregate compensation, $6600. Number 
 of postal railway-clerks, 64; aggregate compensation, 
 $75,000. 
 
 JOHN MILTON NILES. This gentleman was born in 
 "Windsor, Connecticut, August 20, 1787, and was bred to 
 the bar, and went to Hartford in 1816 to practise law; in 
 1817 he was there concerned in publishing the "Times," 
 which he edited for a time; in 1820 he was appointed 
 postmaster at Hartford by President Jackson, and held the 
 office until made a Senator in Congress in 1835, in which 
 position he remained until 1839; in 1840 he was appointed 
 postmaster-general by President Van Buren; in 1842 he 
 was again elected to the United States Senate, served six 
 years, retired to private life, and died May 31, 1856. 
 
 FRANCIS GRANGER. Born at Suffield, Connecticut, 
 December 1, 1792; graduated at Yale College in 1811; 
 admitted to the bar in May, 1816; he was elected a mem- 
 
208 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 her of the New York Legislature in 1825, and again in 
 1826, 1827, 1829, and 1831; in 1828 he was a candidate 
 for the office of Lieutenant-Go vernor, but was defeated; 
 and in 1830 and again in 1832 he was run for Governor 
 with the same result; in 1834 he was elected to Congress; 
 in 1836 he was a candidate for Vice-President, and re- 
 ceived the electoral votes of the States of Massachusetts, 
 Vermont, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, Indiana, and 
 Kentucky; he was again elected to Congress in 1838 and 
 in 1840; appointed postmaster-general March 6, 1841, but 
 resigned the following September. His successor in Con- 
 gress thereupon resigned, and Mr. Granger was again 
 elected to that body. On the 4th of March, 1843, he finally 
 retired from public life. 
 
 Francis Granger, immediately on entering upon the 
 duties of his office, made the same discovery as had others 
 before him, that the postal department was not self-sus- 
 taining. Had the postmaster-general been acquainted with 
 the business of the office before entering upon its duties, 
 he would have been fully enabled to reconcile the warring 
 elements of statistics and figures which the books of the 
 office presented. The post-office department is not a self- 
 sustaining one, nor will it be until there is a reconstruction 
 of the whole system. In several portions of this work 
 we have alluded to some of the causes tending to such 
 deficiencies, and pointed out the remedy. As this remedy, 
 however, is connected with certain abuses not unknown to 
 high officials, it is questionable if any action will ever be 
 taken upon it. Mr. Granger says, " When first entering 
 upon my official duties, my attention was forced to the 
 constant demands for payment beyond the ability of the 
 department to pay ; and, with a view to ascertain as nearly 
 as might be its undisputed liabilities and probable means, 
 on the 21st of March [1841] last a letter was addressed to 
 
POSTMASTERS. 209 
 
 the Auditor of the Treasury for the post-office department, 
 requesting from him information on those subjects." 
 
 Mr. Granger became considerably enlightened, no doubt, 
 when the auditor furnished him with the following, which 
 he recognized thus : a By an examination of that state- 
 ment, it will be seen that there was due and unpaid to 
 contractors of ascertained balances on the 1st of January 
 last the sum of $447,029, a considerable portion of which 
 has been paid from the revenues of the quarter ending on 
 the 31st of March. A report from the auditor upon the 
 outstanding contracts will undoubtedly increase this amount 
 of indebtedness to a total exceeding half a million of 
 dollars: in addition to which, heavy demands are fre- 
 quently made on the department upon unliquidated 
 claims." .... "Under these circumstances," he asks, 
 " how is the department to be sustained under its present 
 embarrassments ? and what are its financial hopes for the 
 future?" 
 
 " He also states that the amount demanded by railroad 
 companies for transportation of the mails is more than 
 two hundred per cent, higher than is paid for coach 
 service upon the roads connecting links between different 
 railroad companies upon the same main route, and that, 
 too, where the night-service upon the railroads is less than 
 that performed in coaches." He illustrates this by the 
 following: " Boston is one of the most important points 
 of railroad concentration in the Union. Its business pros- 
 perity is proverbial ; and yet in that city the quarter end- 
 ing the 31st of March shows, as compared with the corre- 
 sponding quarter of the year before, a decrease in postage 
 receipts of three thousand one hundred and ninety-five 
 dollars, being double the amount of diminution to be found 
 within the same time in any other post-office in the nation, 
 with the single exception of Philadelphia, which is another 
 great terminus of railroad communication." 
 
 18* 
 
210 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 CHAELES A. WICKLIFFE. Born at Bardstown, Ken- 
 tucky, June 8, 1788, and was admitted to the bar at an 
 early age. He was twice elected to the State legislature 
 during the war of 1812; he twice volunteered in the 
 Northwestern army, and was present at the battle of the 
 Thames ; in 1820 he was again elected to the legislature ; 
 in 1822 he was elected to Congress, and was four times 
 re-elected. During his service in that body he was 
 appointed by the House as one of the managers in the 
 impeachment of Judge Peck. Upon leaving Congress in 
 1833, he was again elected to the legislature, and upon its 
 assembling was chosen Speaker. In 1834 he was elected 
 Lieutenant-Go vernor of the State; and in 1839, by the 
 death of Governor Clark, he became acting Governor. 
 He was appointed postmaster-general September 13, 1841. 
 In 1849 he was chosen as a delegate to the Constitutional 
 Convention of Kentucky ; and under the new Constitution 
 he was appointed as one of the revisers of the statute laws 
 of the State. 
 
 This gentleman's views of the postal department were 
 more practical and business-like than those of his pre- 
 decessor. He says in his report, dated December 2, 
 1841, "As has already been remarked, the original design 
 in the establishment of the post-office department was 
 that its income should be made to sustain its operations. 
 That principle ought never to be abandoned. Whilst the 
 department should not be regarded as a source of revenue 
 to the nation, it never should become an annual charge to 
 the treasury. Upon assuming the discharge of the duties- 
 pertaining to the office of postmaster-general, my first 
 object was to investigate its financial condition; and it 
 becomes my duty to inform you that I did not find it in 
 that prosperous state which the demands upon it require. 
 
 " The income of this department is liable to be affected 
 by the fluctuations of the business of the country. It is 
 
POSTMASTERS. 211 
 
 increased or depressed in proportion to the increase or 
 depression of that business." 
 
 Mr. Wickliffe also took another sensible view of the 
 department : he says, " Besides this cause of fluctuation m 
 its income, other causes of a reduction, more or less in 
 every year, may be found in the increased facilities which 
 the travel upon railroads and steamboats furnishes for the 
 transmission of letters and newspapers by private convey- 
 ance ; secondly, in the great extension, to say nothing of 
 the abuse, of the FRANKING PRIVILEGE ; thirdly, in the 
 recent establishment of what are called private expenses 
 upon the great mail-routes of the United States ; fourthly, 
 in the frauds practised upon the department in evading by 
 various devices the payment of the postage imposed by 
 law." 
 
 CAVE JOHNSON. Born January 11, 1793, in Robert- 
 son county, Tennessee. His opportunities for education 
 were limited, but made available to the greatest extent. 
 In his youth he acted as deputy-clerk of the county, his 
 father being clerk. He was thence led to the study of 
 the law. In 1813 he was appointed deputy-quartermaster 
 in a brigade of militia commanded by his father, and 
 marched into the Creek nation under General Jackson. 
 He continued in this service until the close of the Creek 
 War in 1814. In 1816 he was admitted to the bar; in 
 1817 he was elected by the legislature one of the attorneys- 
 general of the State, which office he held until elected a 
 member of Congress in 1829. He was re-elected in 1831, 
 1833, and 1835, defeated in 1837, again elected in 1839, 
 1841, and 1843. Appointed postmaster-general March 5, 
 1845. In 1849 he served for a few months as one of the 
 circuit judges of Tennessee, and in 1853 was appointed 
 by the Governor and Senate as President of the Bank of 
 Tennessee, at Nashville. 
 
212 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 JACOB COLLAMER. Born at Troy, New York, about 
 1792, and removed in childhood to Burlington, Vermont, 
 ^ith his father; graduated at the State University at that 
 place in 1810; served during the year 1812 a frontier 
 campaign as a lieutenant in the service of the United 
 States; admitted to the bar in 1813; practised law for 
 twenty years, serving frequently in the State legislature. 
 In 1833 he was elected an associate justice of the Supreme 
 Court of the State, from which position he voluntarily 
 retired in 1842. In the course of that period he was also 
 a member of a convention held to revise the Constitution 
 of the State. In 1843, elected to Congress to fill a vacancy, 
 and re-elected for a full term in 1844, and again in 1846. 
 Appointed postmaster-general March 7, 1849, thus form- 
 ing one of the Cabinet of President Taylor. He resigned 
 in 1850, with the rest of the Cabinet, on the death of the 
 President, and was soon afterwards reappointed on the 
 Supreme bench of his State, which office he held until 
 1854, when he was elected a Senator in Congress from 
 Vermont for six years from 1855 ; and in 1861 he was 
 re-elected for the term ending in 1867, serving as chair- 
 man of the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, 
 also that on the Library, and as a member of several other 
 important committees. He received the degree of LL. D. 
 from the University of Vermont and from Dartmouth 
 College, New Hampshire. 
 
 He died on the 9th of November, 1865, at Woodstock, 
 Vermont, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. Mr. 
 Collamer was one of the most distinguished of our states- 
 men, and one of the oldest members of the Senate. 
 
 NATHAN KELSEY HALL. Born at Skaneateles, New 
 York, March 28, 1810; removed to Aurora, in the same 
 State, in 1826, and commenced the study of the law with 
 Millard Fillmore ; removed with the latter to Buifalo in 
 
t 
 
 \^| ^^POSTMASTERS. 213 
 
 1830 ; admitted to the bar in 1832 ; appointed First Judge 
 of the Court of Common Pleas in 1841 ; in 1845 elected 
 a member of the State legislature, and in 1846 a member 
 of Congress. He was appointed postmaster-general July 
 20, 1850, and in 1852 United States Judge for the 
 Northern District of New York. 
 
 It was during his administration that the change was 
 made in the rates of postage, by making letter-postage 
 three cents to every part of the United States, except Cali- 
 fornia and the Pacific Territories, the weight of letter 
 one-half ounce, and prepaid. 
 
 SAMUEL DICKENSON HUBBAKD. Born at Middletown, 
 Connecticut, August 10, 1799; graduated at Yale College 
 in 1819. He was admitted to the bar in 1822, but sub- 
 sequently engaged in manufacturing enterprises. He was 
 mayor of the city of Middletown, and held other offices 
 of local trust. In 1845 he was elected a member of Con- 
 gress, and re-elected in 1847. He was appointed post- 
 master-general September 14, 1852. Died at Middletown, 
 October 8, 1855. 
 
 JAMES CAMPBELL. Born September 1, 1813, in the 
 city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; admitted to the bar 
 in 1834, at the age of twenty-one years; in 1841, at the 
 age of twenty-eight, he was appointed Judge of the Com- 
 mon Pleas Court for the city and county of Philadelphia, 
 which position he occupied for the term of nine years ; in 
 1851, when the Constitution of the State was changed, 
 making the judiciary elective, he was nominated by a 
 State convention of his party as a candidate for the Supreme 
 Court of the State, but was defeated after a warmly-con- 
 tested and somewhat peculiar contest, securing, however, 
 176,000 votes ; in January, 1852, he was appointed At- 
 torney-General of Pennsylvania, which he resigned to 
 
214 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 assume the duties of postmaster-general : he was appointed 
 to that office on the 8th of March, 1853. 
 
 There was no particular feature in the postal department 
 to render this gentleman's name in its connection popular 
 during his term of office. It is somewhat curious, how- 
 ever, that the administrations of Franklin Pierce and 
 James Buchanan both peculiarly political should have 
 furnished to the Southern Confederacy more prominent 
 men who were engaged with them in office than did all the 
 other administrations combined. Is this accident, design, 
 or the effect of their political education under their reign? 
 
 AARON VAIL BROWN. Appointed postmaster-general 
 under James Buchanan's administration in 1857; was born 
 August 15, 1795, in Brunswick county, Virginia; gradu- 
 ated at the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, 
 in 1814; studied law and soon commenced practice in 
 Nashville, Tennessee; he was partner in the law business 
 of the late President Polk ; served in almost all the ses- 
 sions of the legislature of Tennessee between 1821 and 
 1832; he was a member of the House of Representatives 
 from 1839 to 1845, and was in that year elected Governor 
 of Tennessee. 
 
 In his first report as postmaster-general, made December 
 1, 1857, he very modestly stated that, "entering on the 
 administration of the Post-Office Department," he " ven- 
 tured on no new theories, nor attempted any innovations 
 on the well-tried system established and practised upon" 
 by his predecessors. 
 
 It was during his administration that the route from 
 New York to New Orleans was considerably improved and 
 transportation facilitated;* also the mail-service on the 
 
 * This took place on the 1st of July, 1857, by which the mails were 
 to be conveyed between Washington and New Orleans in four days and 
 a half, by way of Richmond and Lynchburg, Virginia, Bristol, Knox- 
 
POSTMASTERS. 215 
 
 Mississippi River below the Ohio was materially changed 
 and improved. 
 
 The overland mail-service to California by the Southern 
 route by contract became an agitating subject, and under 
 proposals approved by an act of Congress, March 3, 1857, 
 various bids were made by parties for carrying the mail. 
 The contract was made on the 16th of September, 1857, 
 with certain parties, at a cost of $600,000 per annum. 
 (See Report for the year 1857.} 
 
 JOSEPH HOLT succeeded Aaron Yail Brown, who died 
 March, 1858, in alluding to which Mr. Holt uses the fol- 
 lowing language: 
 
 " POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT, 
 
 December 3, 1859. 
 
 " SIR : In the month of March last, the sudden decease 
 of my enlightened and deeply-lamented predecessor, im- 
 mediately preceded as it was by the death of the Third 
 Assistant Postmaster-General, so long and so honorably 
 connected with the administration of the postal revenues, 
 filled this department with discouragement and gloom. 
 Associated with this double calamity came another, which 
 awakened painful anxieties, not only from its intrinsic 
 magnitude, but from the fact that the history of the gov- 
 ernment, from its foundation, furnished no parallel for 
 such a disaster. My allusion is, of course, to the failure of 
 Congress to pass the customary appropriation bill for the 
 support of the Post-Office Department, whereby, with all 
 its responsibilities resting upon it and the fulfilment of all 
 its duties demanded by the country, it was still deprived 
 of the use of its own revenues, and thus, necessarily, of all 
 
 ville, Chattanooga, and Grand Junction, Tennessee, and Jackson, Mis- 
 sissippi, all by railroad, with the exception of a gap of ninety milea 
 in Mississippi. 
 
216 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 means of complying with its engagements to the faithful 
 officers toiling in its service. The ordeal so unexpectedly 
 prepared for it was, in all its aspects, as novel as it was 
 perplexing; and disquieting apprehensions were naturally 
 felt for the result." 
 
 This was rather discouraging to Mr.. Holt, who, how- 
 ever, displayed much business tact and perseverance under 
 the circumstances, for he immediately issued the following 
 notice : 
 
 " To POSTMASTEES AND OTHER AGENTS AND EMPLOYEES 
 "OF THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 " Congress having failed to make the necessary appro- 
 priation at its last session for the publication of a Manual 
 of Post-Offices, Laws, and Regulations, now greatly 
 needed, and the department not having sufficient clerical 
 force at its disposal for the preparation of such a work, I 
 have deemed it proper, in accordance with the course pur- 
 sued by two of my predecessors, to purchase, for the use 
 of the department, the necessary number of copies of a 
 private edition, having first caused an examination to be 
 made as to its correctness. 
 
 "The volume now sent is adopted as official, and you 
 will be guided by it accordingly. 
 
 "J. HOLT, Postmaster- General 
 
 "POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT, May 15, 1859." 
 
 The consequences resulting from the* failure of Congress 
 to make the necessary appropriation alluded to by Mr. 
 -Holt were materially felt by those who in good faith had 
 performed their duty, by being compelled to obtain ad- 
 vances on their claims at a fearful sacrifice. Mr. Holt, 
 alluding to this, says, 
 
 "It is to be feared, however, that those whose circum- 
 stances obliged them to dispose of these securities have in 
 
POSTMASTERS. 217 
 
 many cases been compelled to submit to a heavy discount. 
 I would most earnestly urge upon Congress the necessity 
 of making an early appropriation to meet all the existing 
 liabilities of the department. As the faith of the govern- 
 ment has been broken, not only should the principal of 
 these debts be promptly paid, but interest on them should 
 also be allowed. In many instances this may prove but 
 an imperfect indemnity for the damage which the creditors 
 of the department have actually sustained ; but this much, 
 at least, is due, from the gravest considerations of public 
 justice and policy, and cannot, in my judgment, be with- 
 held without national dishonor." 
 
 HORATIO KING was postmaster-general for a short time. 
 He had, of course, no opportunity of displaying those 
 qualities which a long connection with the postal depart- 
 ment had enabled him to acquire. The appointment of 
 Montgomery Blair, which was a settled matter, as the 
 successor of Mr. Holt, limited his services. Glancing 
 over official postal documents, we find his name frequently 
 coupled with important matters in the department. It was 
 during his short service as postmaster-general that the 
 celebrated additional articles were made to those of the 
 convention of March 2, 1857, between the post-office of 
 the United States and the general post-office of France. 
 (See Report of the Postmaster- General for the fiscal year 
 ending June 30, 1861.} 
 
 MONTGOMERY BLAIR. This gentleman was appointed 
 postmaster-general in 1861, forming one of the Cabinet 
 under the administration of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Perhaps history affords no parallel to the state of affairs 
 in our country when Abraham Lincoln took the Presiden- 
 tial chair. Our readers are all familiar with the Listory 
 of this rebellion. We will not go over the grounds, 
 
 19 
 
218 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 dark and bloody as they are: suffice to say, the blow 
 was struck, and treason assumed a bold and formidable 
 front. The Constitution, even from its adoption, with 
 all its amendments, has ever been a fruitful subject of 
 dispute, more particularly with those whose interests 
 were identified with the institution of slavery. To keep 
 that peculiar institution a relic of barbarism intact, 
 with their ideas of labor, men South advocated the 
 idea that a sovereignty of States and their separate in- 
 dependency of the Union were guaranteed to them by 
 the Constitution. This fatal error misled the ignorant: 
 men of intellect, men educated in the Union, living under 
 its Constitution and heretofore abiding by its laws, preached 
 up a Utopian scheme to these misguided men. The South 
 was to become the Eden of the world, and slavery its 
 Magna Charta. 
 
 In the early part of Mr. Lincoln's administration we 
 edited a paper established for the purpose of maintaining 
 his position and opposing the spirit of treason working its 
 way North. We annex the following extract from an 
 editorial article we wrote in 1861, being one of the editors 
 of the " National Guard," a paper devoted to the cause 
 of the Union, the whole Union, and nothing but the 
 Union : 
 
 "When this distinguished man was first nominated for 
 the Presidency, the grounds taken by the opposition were 
 his abolition proclivities. Few people in the North were 
 willing that the institution of slavery should go down 
 beneath the Lincoln banner, and hence the increased 
 opposition to the nomination and the powerful efforts to 
 frustrate his election. He was elected: he became the 
 President of these United States lawfully in the sight 
 of men and of nations, and equally so in the sight of 
 the Almighty. As President of the whole Union he 
 took his seat. Men who expected to hear the thunder- 
 
POSTMASTERS. 219 
 
 tones of his official voice, "down with the South and 
 slavery/' were surprised when they read his opinion upon 
 the subject as President, differing in some respects from 
 that expressed as a mere citizen. Being President, the 
 various State interests had to be consulted: the South 
 was upheaving with the curse of slavery upon it, and four 
 millions of human beings were crying out for mercy. The 
 position in which Mr. Lincoln was placed was a most 
 delicate one: he could not maintain the high fanatical 
 notions of many Northern men, nor would he indorse 
 the actions of the Southerners, who feared that if the 
 administration limited slavery it would ultimately lead to 
 a decadency in their trade in human flesh. This was the 
 state of matters when, in his appeal to the people for aid, 
 he assured the South that he did not intend, in his official 
 capacity, to interfere with their peculiar institution. Then 
 the South dashed back the offered cup of peace presented 
 to them in good faith, and spurned the hand that held it 
 towards them. They feared the man; they feared the 
 popular opinion uprising against slavery, and, deeming a 
 portion of the North favorable to their cause, reared at 
 once the standard of rebellion. 
 
 " Let our readers glance back to that period ; let them 
 take a view of a tall, pale man seated in the chair of state ; 
 let them look into his eyes, his soul, and see and even 
 hear the beating pulse of the nation's heart in his every 
 fibre; let them look out and over the land and hear the 
 maniacs of treason crying for his blood; let them look 
 North, and even there hear the rebel sympathizers breath- 
 ing curses loud and deep ; let them read the first call for 
 75,000 troops, written with a nervous hand and a quailing 
 heart ; then look ! behold ! a nation obeys the call of the 
 President, and the voice of the Union-loving people cheers 
 and upholds him in his seat. The rebels find no open 
 aid North. Covert, treacherous scoundrels, descendants 
 
220 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 of traitors, thieves, and murderers, met, it is true, in secret 
 councils, but soon fell into their earthly hell before the 
 indignant glance of an aroused people. 
 
 " Where now is slavery? Who struck at its very root 
 and sent it shivering into pieces throughout the land? 
 The very men who perfected and planned this revolution. 
 
 "Serpent-like, they bit themselves, and are now dying 
 of the poison. Throughout the whole of these trying 
 scenes from the firing on Fort Sumter to the present 
 Abraham Lincoln has stood up firmly and consistently for 
 the nation. Party questions have been repudiated and all 
 sectional distinctions laid aside; for he had but one object, 
 that of saving the Union! If to do this the destruction of 
 the institution of slavery was necessary, its being power- 
 less, helpless, and dead cannot be laid to his charge: it 
 fell a victim to the acts of men who attempted to place it 
 above the Constitution, and in the doing of which they 
 have crushed it and themselves out of the Union. Thank 
 God for this, the only good they have done!"* 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet was composed of men who set 
 themselves to work in earnest. What they have done is 
 now our country's glory, our nation's triumph. 
 
 Mr. Blair, in his first report, speaking of the com- 
 mencement of his term of office, says, 
 
 "Soon after the commencement of my term of office, 
 the country felt the shock of internecine arms. In view 
 of the great crime attempted against the existence of the 
 nation, it became the duty of this, in common with the 
 other departments of the government, to put forth all 
 its energies to prevent the consummation of that crime. 
 By the existing laws, all postmasters and mail-carriers, and 
 all other persons engaged in handling the mails of the 
 United States, or in clerical service, were required to take 
 
 * See Addenda. 
 
POSTMASTERS. 221 
 
 the usual oath of allegiance to this government, as well as 
 for the faithful performance of their duties. Whenever it 
 was made apparent by their declarations or by their conduct 
 . that there was a practical repudiation of the obligation of 
 this oath, whether the party was a .postmaster or a postal 
 contractor, I ordered a removal from office in the one case 
 and the deprivation of contract in the other. Not only 
 was it unsafe to intrust the transportation of the mails to 
 a person who refused or .failed to recognize the sanctions 
 of an oath, but to continue payment of public money to 
 the enemies of the government and their allies was to give 
 direct aid and comfort to treason in arms. I could not 
 thus permit this branch of government to contribute to its 
 own overthrow. No other course could have reasonably 
 been expected by such contractors. The bond fide observ- 
 ance of that oath, and the duty of allegiance itself, entered 
 into and became a condition, a part of the consideration, 
 of the contract itself. This failing, the department was 
 equitably and legally discharged from its literal obligations. 
 Protection on the part of the government and allegiance on 
 the part of the citizen are correlative, and are conditions 
 mutually dependent in every contract; and the highest 
 public interest demanded the rigid enforcement of this rule 
 of action. Occasional local and transient inconvenience 
 resulted of necessity, but far less than w r ould reasonably 
 have been expected. Loyal men everywhere sustained 
 this action, and speedily furnished the requisite means for 
 continuing the service without increased expense. These 
 changes were mainly called for in parts of Virginia and 
 Maryland and in Kentucky and Missouri. 
 
 "In the same and in neighboring districts the duties of 
 the appointment-office have been very onerous, from the 
 great number of changes required in post-offices, according 
 to changing phases of public sentiment, individual action, 
 and military occupancy. It is believed that these positions, 
 
 19* 
 
222 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 with rare exceptions, are now held by men of unquestioned 
 loyalty. Where such men could not be found, the offices 
 have been discontinued rather than they should be held 
 by repudiators of public faith and used for purposes hostile 
 to the perpetuity of our national institutions." 
 
 On the 23d of September, 1864, Montgomery Blair 
 tendered his resignation of the office of postmaster-general, 
 and the resignation was accepted by the President. 
 
 The causes which led to this action on the part of Judge 
 Blair were of a political character, and of such a nature as 
 to clash with the opinions of men who could have no feel- 
 ings of sympathy with rebels in arms. Among the charges 
 brought against Blair were those of opposition to the 
 general acts of the administration. In answer to one of 
 these, made by the editor of the "National Republican," 
 the judge wrote as follows : 
 
 "WASHINGTON, September 26, 1864. 
 
 "EDITOK OF THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN. DEAR 
 SIB: The statement contained in your paper and other 
 journals that my resignation was caused by the resolution 
 of the Baltimore Convention referring to the Cabinet, has, 
 I observe, led to the inference that the principles adopted 
 by that body were objectionable to me. This is not true. 
 On the contrary, my offers were made in good faith, with a 
 view to allay animosities among the friends of those prin- 
 ciples, and in order to secure their triumph. 
 
 "Yours, respectfully, 
 
 "M. BLAIR." 
 
 The editor of the "United States Mail," a most valu- 
 able post-office assistant, published in New York, noticing 
 Judge Blair's resignation and letter, says, 
 
 "That the official course of Judge Blair as postmaster- 
 general has furnished no cause of dissatisfaction, and had 
 
POSTMASTERS. 223 
 
 no connection with his resignation, is a fact vouched for 
 by the President, who, in his letter of the 23d, says, 
 
 " ' While it is true that the war does not so greatly add 
 to the difficulties of your department as to those of some 
 others, it is yet much to say, as I most truly can, that in 
 the three years and a half during which you have admi- 
 nistered the general post-office I remember no single com- 
 plaint against you in connection therewith/ 
 
 "Judge Blair's administration of the post-office depart- 
 ment has given evidence of a sincere desire to promote the 
 efficiency of the service, and has been marked by the 
 introduction of many important improvements and re- 
 forms, among them the establishment of the money-order 
 system and the new travelling post-office, the simplifica- 
 tion of post-office accounts by the substitution of salaries 
 in lieu of commissions as compensation to postmasters, the 
 free delivery of letters by carriers, with various other 
 plans calculated to increase the postal accommodation of 
 the public and further the interests of the service. He 
 has been a faithful and efficient head of the department, 
 and, as such, leaves a record of which he has no cause to 
 be ashamed."* 
 
 There is no question whatever that Postmaster-General 
 Blair studied the interest of the department with an eye 
 to its future destiny. He nourished it, watched it, and 
 we may well say the postal tree is now known and appre- 
 ciated by its fruit. In 1863 the "Boston Weekly Gazette" 
 thus speaks of him : 
 
 "At a time when war and finance are the all-absorbing 
 themes, nationally speaking, but little attention is paid to 
 the most quiet of our government departments, but none 
 the less important, the post-office. Of the management 
 
 * The postal money-order system was approved by Congress, May 17, 
 1864. It went into operation July 4, 1864. 
 
224 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 of this department too much cannot be said in its praise. 
 When every thing is confused with crowded railroads 
 and the interruption of conveyance threatened by the exi- 
 gencies of other public service, every thing proceeds in 
 the post-office department with almost the regularity of 
 clock-work. Scarcely a mail fails in its destination, any 
 more than if peace prevailed in the land and men had 
 nothing to do but to think of duty connected with trans- 
 portation exclusively. "We think Postmaster-General 
 Blair entitled to the warmest praise for this state of things, 
 that certainly redounds greatly to his credit. No man 
 has ever filled his position who has received more 
 unanimity of approval; and not a complaint is heard of 
 his management. We make these remarks simply because 
 it has surprised us that our own papers to the farthest 
 points reach with such regularity and promptness, and 
 letters from all parts of the country come to us strictly on 
 time." 
 
 The history of Judge Blair since his resignation is 
 identified with that of our politics, in which he seems to 
 take a peaceful interest. 
 
 WILLIAM DENNISON. On the resignation of the Hon. 
 Montgomery Blair, the President appointed this gentleman 
 postmaster-general. This appointment, of course, was 
 made to reconcile political interest and extend to Ohio 
 the right hand of government friendship, and not from 
 any great knowledge Mr. Dennison was supposed to have 
 of postal matters. In this country prominent positions 
 under government are the result of the recipient's status 
 in political circles. It is, therefore, evident that a know- 
 ledge of its duties is not an important requisite qualifica- 
 tion for the office. 
 
 William Dennison was born in the city of Cincinnati, 
 on the 9th day of November, 1815. His father was well 
 
POSTMASTERS. 225 
 
 known through more than half a century as a popular 
 and prosperous innkeeper in the young and rapidly grow- 
 ing city, no citizen in the whole community being more 
 respected for probity and general worth among the pioneer 
 settlers of Ohio and their descendants. He took great 
 pride in his promising son, young William, and largely 
 devoted his pecuniary means to secure the boy a thorough 
 and solid classical education. In preparation for his col- 
 lege course he had the benefit of the best schools and 
 teachers in his native city, and in the year 1831 he entered 
 freshman in the Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, then 
 and now a flourishing and highly-respected institution, 
 which has educated many of the most prominent and 
 powerful minds of the great and populous region north 
 of the Ohio River, among whom are Caleb B. Smith, late 
 Secretary of the Interior and formerly United States 
 judge in Indiana, now deceased, Major-General Robert 
 C. Schenck, Samuel Galloway, William S. Groesbeck, 
 George E. Pugh, and others of equal note. 
 
 In September, 1835, near the close of his twentieth 
 year, he graduated with high honor to himself and the 
 university, then under the long successful presidency of 
 the Rev. R. H. Bishop, D.D., a learned and venerated 
 Presbyterian clergyman, who had early been induced to 
 migrate from Scotland to the Northern United States by 
 the solicitation and in the company of a renowned divine, 
 John Mason, of the Scotch Presbyterian Church in New 
 York, who at that time brought over a very useful and 
 famous little clerical colony to this country. 
 
 Young Dennison then immediately returned to Cincin- 
 nati, and there commenced the study of law in the office 
 of Hon. Nathaniel G. Pendleton (father of the Democratic 
 candidate for the Vice-Presidency) and Stephen Fales, 
 one of the most eminent lawyers of the West, in his youth 
 a classmate of Daniel Webster at Dartmouth College and 
 
226 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 always his intimate personal friend. Completing his 
 legal studies and admitted to the bar, he began the prac- 
 tice of his profession in his native city. Soon afterwards 
 he married the beautiful and highly-educated daughter of 
 William Neil, of Columbus (the State capital), a famous 
 and extensive mail-contractor throughout the Northwest, 
 whose name was very familiar to travellers and newspaper- 
 readers twenty or thirty years ago, in the days of stage- 
 coaches, when railroad enterprise was in its infancy at the 
 West. 
 
 In 1840 he formed a law-partnership with the once 
 famous, but now infamous, Albert Pike, poet, jurist, and 
 rebel general, Indian savage by adoption and taste, leader 
 of scalping-parties, &c. In the execution of that arrange- 
 ment he removed to Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas. 
 But the conditions moral, intellectual, social, and po- 
 litical by which he found himself there surrounded in- 
 duced him, after a brief residence and experience, to 
 terminate the connection and return to Cincinnati, where 
 he resumed his professional business. In 1842, at the 
 earnest solicitation of his father-in-law, he removed to 
 Columbus, which became thenceforth his home. He was 
 made solicitor of the Clinton Bank, of that city, then 
 president of the Bank of Columbus; and he finally 
 accepted the entire management and control of all the 
 vast mail-contract and post-road business of Mr. Neil 
 throughout the region between the Ohio and the great 
 lakes. 
 
 In politics Mr. Dennison was an original Whig. Through- 
 out the existence of that party organization he was a firm, 
 consistent, and zealously-active member of it. In 1847 
 he was elected to a two-years term in the Ohio Senate. 
 He next served as president of the Columbus & Xenia 
 Railroad until 1859, when, having been chosen by the 
 Republican party Governor of the State, he resigned his 
 
.POSTMASTERS. 227 
 
 position in connection with corporations. The great re- 
 bellion found him commander-in-chief of Ohio. He im- 
 mediately organized and placed at the disposal of the 
 Federal Government seventy thousand troops, and in offer- 
 ing them gave to George B. McClellan and William S. 
 Kosecrans their first commissions as general officers. 
 
 Governor Dennison is a working business-man. He is 
 an impressive orator, tall in person, of courtly but win- 
 ning manners. He is a good specimen of a Christian 
 gentleman, a devoted member of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church. 
 
 Mr. Dennison, immediately upon entering the precincts 
 of the postal bureau, commenced the study of the peculiar 
 as well as intricate business of the department. His active 
 mind, tact, and general knowledge soon mastered many 
 of its intricacies, and, with a precision which surprised the 
 more knowing ones of the office, arranged and alphabeted 
 its business in such a manner as to facilitate operations 
 and lessen actual labor. By this time Governor Dennison 
 is, no doubt, quite familiar with the business of a post- 
 office. 
 
 MAILS TO CHINA AND JAPAN. 
 
 One of the most important postal arrangements under 
 this gentleman's administration is the establishing by 
 steamships a postal communication with China and Japan. 
 Congress passed a law, February 17, 1865, authorizing the 
 postmaster to contract for such conveyance. The tender 
 of " The Pacific Mail Steamship Company," the only one 
 offered, was accepted and engaged for the service. The 
 compensation therefor is $500,000 per annum for the 
 performance of twelve round trips between San Francisco 
 and Hong-Kong, China, touching at Honolulu in the 
 Sandwich Islands, and Kanagawa in Japan. 
 
 This is one of the greatest events of the day, and in- 
 
228 POSTMASTERS. 
 
 augurates a new era in the commerce of our country. 
 Unless the United States, however, unites all her great 
 advantages and brings them to bear upon her foreign 
 relations in such a manner as to place her commerce on a 
 footing with that of other nations, the mere fact of a new 
 era with these is simply a postal experiment. It is for 
 us to become masters of the commerce of the world ; and 
 with this line of steamers regularly established, and the 
 completion of the Pacific Railway, there is nothing to 
 stand in the way of success. 
 
 Postmaster Dennison, taking this view of it, says, in his 
 annual report, 1864, 
 
 " There are other ocean-routes besides the one to Brazil 
 which can be safely and profitably occupied by American 
 lines of mail-steamers, among which the route between 
 San Francisco, Japan, and China, at present unoccupied 
 by foreign mail-packets, is perhaps the most important in 
 a commercial point of view, and may be made available 
 in securing to us a large participation in the commerce of 
 the East, the greater portion of which is now enjoyed by 
 Great Britain through her mail-steamship connections vid 
 Suez in the Indian Ocean and China Seas. 
 
 "The central position of the United States, between 
 Eastern Asia and Western Europe, affording routes but 
 little longer, if any, than those now traversed between 
 these distant regions, aided by the superior expedition of 
 railway transportation between the Atlantic and Pacific 
 coasts, will furnish such facilities as will make their 
 adoption a practical necessity for the commercial inter- 
 course between Europe and the populous countries of 
 Eastern Asia. These considerations, and others which 
 will readily suggest themselves, render it important that 
 the Pacific routes properly belonging to us should be 
 occupied by American mail -steamers, the profits of which, 
 with the addition of a small subsidy for the mail-service, 
 
POSTMASTERS. 229 
 
 would justify the establishment of one or more steamship- 
 lines which would be remunerative to the proprietors." 
 
 Now that the rebellion is ended, those steamers which 
 were withdrawn during its progress, thus affording foreign 
 powers all the advantage of ocean lines, will no doubt 
 resume their voyages for the benefit of our own. 
 
230 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 XII. 
 
 1793. 
 
 THE prospects of Philadelphia were brightening up 
 under the influence enterprising men exercised over its 
 commercial interest; and up to 1794 the manufactures, 
 trade, and general business were rapidly extending and 
 improving. Mathew Carey, speaking of our city and 
 prospects, in a pamphlet published in 1793, says, 
 
 " From the period of the adoption of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment, at which time America was at the lowest ebb of 
 distress, her situation had progressively become more and 
 more prosperous. Confidence, formerly banished, was 
 universally restored. Property of every kind rose to, and 
 in many instances beyond, its real value ; and a few re- 
 volving years exhibited the interesting spectacle of a 
 young country with a new form of government emerging 
 from a state which had approached very near to anarchy, 
 and acquiring all the stability and nerve of the best-toned 
 and oldest nations." In this prosperity, which revived 
 the almost extinguished hopes of four millions of people, 
 Philadelphia participated in an eminent degree. Num- 
 bers of new houses in almost every street, built in a neat, 
 elegant style, adorned, at the same time that they greatly 
 enlarged, the city. Its population was extending fast: 
 even at that period the number of vessels that entered the 
 port was 1050. Philadelphia still retained its predilec- 
 tion for old sites and associations; for up to this period, 
 and even long afterwards, the main place of business was 
 Front and Water Streets, extending along those streets 
 from Race down to Almond. Front Street below Market, 
 
PHILADELPHIA. 231 
 
 extending down to Walnut, was the great commercial 
 centre of trade. It was here Thomas Bradford, the root 
 of the present generation of that name, was prominent as 
 an editor of the newspaper called " The True American :" 
 his office was on the west side of Front Street, below 
 Market, No. 8. This property was subsequently sold to 
 John Moss, Esq., upon the site of which he built a store 
 especially for his business. Bradford sold out " The True 
 American" to Thomas T. Stiles. 
 
 In 1791 the post-office was at No. 7 South Front Street, 
 on the east side. Robert Patton was postmaster: he was 
 appointed to that position August 25, 1791. In 1793 it 
 was removed to No. 36, in the very centre of the trade 
 and commerce of the city. 
 
 The building of the "Insurance Company of North 
 America" stood at the southeast corner of Front and 
 Walnut Streets. Ebenezer Hazard, formerly postmaster- 
 general, was the Secretary. The custom-house was also 
 on Front Street near Walnut Street: it occupied seventy- 
 six feet front, and ran through to Water Street. 
 
 Much of the early prosperity of this city was due to 
 Benjamin Franklin, who early in life made it his dwelling- 
 place. His business motto was PROGRESS. 
 
 The fever of 1793, the most malignant scourge our city 
 ever witnessed, not excepting the cholera of 1832, threw 
 a saddening gloom over all things, paralyzing the energies 
 of men and carrying terror among the women and chil- 
 dren. A writer of the time, speaking of it, says, "The 
 consternation of the people of Philadelphia at this 
 period was carried beyond all bounds. Dismay and 
 affright were visible in almost every person's countenance. 
 Most of those who could by any means make it convenient 
 fled from the city. Of those who remained, many shut 
 themselves up in their houses, being afraid to walk the 
 streets." 
 
232 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 Business was at a stand, if not entirely suspended. 
 That of the post-office went on as usual. In September, 
 however, the postmaster informed the public that, in con- 
 sequence of the indisposition of two of the letter-carriers 
 he deemed it necessary to request all those who dwelt south 
 of and in Chestnut Street, and in Front and Water Streets 
 and north of Market Street, to call or send for their letters 
 for a few days. Some of the postmasters in the different 
 States used the precaution to dip Philadelphia letters into 
 vinegar with a pair of tongs before they handled them ! 
 Several of the subscribers to Philadelphia papers made 
 their servants sprinkle them with vinegar and dry them 
 at the fire before they would venture to touch them. 
 
 One hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin, seeing that 
 Philadelphia was gradually declining in the scale of pro- 
 gress, awoke the Kip Van Winkles of Quakerdom by 
 imparting to them new ideas, furnishing to their mental 
 view more enlarged notions of life, liberty, and the pursuit 
 of happiness, and inaugurating a system of education and 
 philosophy which has made his name famous in the world's 
 history. 
 
 His connection with the postal department placed it 
 before the people in a new and improved light, extending 
 trade and commerce by its means to such an extent that 
 in the year 1810 Philadelphia was the leading commercial 
 city in the Union. 
 
 Philadelphia, however, lost sight of one important fact 
 in connection with her commercial interest, and that was 
 (to use a speculating phrase) " never to lose a trick" in the 
 game of opposition with others. Thus, while New York 
 was studying the taste of the town in regard to fashions 
 of dress and works of art, for which European nations 
 were then celebrated, Philadelphia was engaged in looking 
 after her manufacturing interests. The consequence was 
 that in the year 1811 New York, taking advantage of her 
 
POST-OFFICE. 233 
 
 seaboard situation, took the lead in importations, and her 
 market became celebrated for its rich style of dress-goods, 
 and her stores equally so for their gorgeous display of 
 Parisian finery. Instantly that .current of trade which had 
 set in so favorably for Philadelphia changed its course to 
 her rival city, and merchants from the South and West 
 flocked there for what, we regret to say, our city was 
 unable to furnish to the extent its facilities afforded. 
 
 It seems as if Philadelphia succumbed at once to New 
 York, and permitted the Western and Southern trade to 
 pass away from her without a struggle. For years the 
 commerce of Philadelphia had kept pace with the general 
 progress of the country, but in a moment of weakness, or 
 from some local or political cause, her merchants, whose 
 industry and enterprise had been proverbial in all coun- 
 tries, gave up their shipping interest to a rival city, which 
 the latter has successfully maintained ever since. By this 
 act Philadelphia became an inland city. 
 
 If we neglected our shipping, it cannot be said we neg- 
 lected our manufacturers. They have had ample reason to 
 be grateful for such encouragement, as the city has the 
 honor of being considered second to none in the country, 
 at least in this department. We have surpassed New York 
 in many important branches of mechanics, and excelled 
 every other city in the Union, perhaps in the world, in 
 manufacturing locomotives and other essential auxiliaries 
 to steamboats, railroads, &c. 
 
 POST-OFFICE. 
 
 As trade and commerce progressed, the postal depart- 
 ment extended its operations, and the Philadelphia post- 
 office was not behind those of other cities in furthering 
 the cause of the great postal institution of the country. 
 
 The postal boundaries of our country extend over an 
 area ten times greater than those of England and France 
 
 20* 
 
234 LIST OF PHILADELPHIA POSTMASTERS. 
 
 combined; three times as large as the whole of France, 
 Britain, Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Hol- 
 land, and Denmark together; one and a half times larger 
 than the Russian Empire, and only one-sixth less than 
 the area covered by sixty states and empires of Europe. 
 The entire area in 1853 was 2,983,153 square miles. 
 
 Claiming for Philadelphia, and justly, too, credit for its 
 postal as well as its commercial reputation, we will pass 
 over some years and bring our readers down to a later 
 date. First, however, we annex a list of postmasters of 
 Philadelphia from 1791. 
 
 Perhaps no other city in the Union can boast of a list 
 of names in their postal department of men, both as re- 
 gards character and business qualifications, equal to those 
 we furnish here, and who filled the office with so much 
 honor and credit. We are not, however, so clannish in 
 our notions of locality as to include all the names men- 
 tioned here as being entitled to such credit : we make a few 
 exceptions : those exceptions and the reasons are a part of 
 the secret history of post-offices. Several of them have 
 gone to that "bourn from whence no traveller returns," 
 and those that still live live honored and respected. 
 
 LIST OF PHILADELPHIA POSTMASTERS. 
 
 Robert Patton, appointed August 25, 1791. 
 Michael Leib, appointed February 14, 1814. 
 Richard Bache, appointed Feb. 26, 1819. 
 Thomas Sargeant, appointed April 16, 1828. 
 James Page, appointed April 11, 1833. 
 
 OFFICE BECAME PRESIDENTIAL, JULY 9, 1783. 
 
 James Page, reappointed July 9, 1836. 
 John C. Montgomery, appointed March 23, 1841. 
 James Hoy, Jr., appointed June 26, 1844. 
 George F. Lehman, appointed May 5, 1845. 
 
LIST OF PHILADELPHIA POSTMASTERS. 235 
 
 William J. P. White, appointed May 9, 1849. 
 John Miller, appointed April 1, 1853. 
 Gideon F. Westcott, appointed March 19, 1857. 
 Nathaniel B. Browne, appointed May 30, 1859. 
 Cornelius A. Walborn, appointed April 20, 1861. 
 
 The past history of our city shows that the post-office 
 was but a minor consideration on the part of the historian 
 who attempted to speak of its institutions. Even those 
 whose business it was to furnish statistics and local facts 
 invariably overlooked the post-office. A glance back 
 through the vista of time presents to the eye a panoramic 
 view of the buildings which were used for postal purposes; 
 and a more motley architectural picture scarcely ever pre- 
 sented itself to sight. From the time Benjamin Franklin 
 had his office in a portion of his printing-shop to the pre- 
 sent, we cannot find the department ever blessed with even 
 a decent building for postal purposes until the one now 
 occupied for that special service was erected. 
 
 True, the Old Coffee-House on Second Street was the 
 centre of trade, and merchants often met there to discuss 
 commercial matters and secure their foreign papers and 
 letters : still, it was not calculated for the general business 
 of the postal service. From 1793, passing along from 
 street to street, we at last come to Dr. Jayne's gloomy 
 building, where, amid the sound of steam-engines, the 
 fumes from eating-houses, and the dead-rat smell from 
 lager-beer saloons, we find the operations of the great 
 postal business of the city moving on. The very atmo- 
 sphere was as injurious to the health of the employees as 
 its dark and dingy appearance was painful to those who 
 visited it. 
 
 Emerging from this, we come into a new and beautiful 
 building, erected on Chestnut Street below Fifth. For this 
 edifice, so conveniently situated, so light and airy, so ad- 
 
23G THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 
 
 mirably adapted to postal business, the community is solely 
 indebted to Postmaster COKNELIUS A. WALBORN, Esq. 
 
 A GLANCE AT THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE 
 FROM AN ARCHITECTURAL POINT OF VIEW. 
 
 The Philadelphia post-office was completed and ready 
 for the transaction of business on the 23d of March, 1863. 
 It is situated on Chestnut Street, between Fourth and Fifth 
 Streets, adjoining the custom-house. The contrast between 
 these two buildings is most remarkable: one presents the 
 view we have in classic illustrations of the Parthenon of 
 Athens; the other, disdaining all the associations which 
 the history of Greece and Rome throws around our ideas 
 of classic architectural beauty, looms up before us, blending 
 the style of the rural districts of France (Alaori) with that 
 of the city of Paris in the seventeenth century. 
 
 The Exchange of Paris (La Bourse), in the Rue Vivi- 
 enne, seems, at least in part, to have furnished for our post- 
 office the idea for its architectural construction. This is 
 more observable in its Attic design, known in the modern 
 French school as the " masked Attic." The front of the 
 Philadelphia post-office is cased or veneered with white 
 marble, and, in connection with the peculiar Attic style, 
 presents an appearance by no means flattering to the archi- 
 tect who designed it. 
 
 Modern architects consult variety rather than harmony 
 in drawing their plans. Thus, foreign ornaments of a more 
 classic form are occasionally mingled with them : hence 
 we have presented to us an incongruous style, oifensive 
 alike to good taste and judgment. 
 
 The Philadelphia post-office reminds us very much of 
 the Paris post-office (Hotel des Posies), which is situated 
 east of the Palais Royal : it has a handsome front, but in 
 its tout ensemble does not present to view much architec- 
 tural beauty either in style or design. France, like Eng- 
 
THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 237 
 
 land, never considered the architecture of a country as 
 being inseparable from its history : hence her public build- 
 ings present to view the combined peculiarities of the 
 styles and eras of the sixteen different orders which have 
 marked the progress of architecture since the building of 
 the great temple of Samos. 
 
 In this country, with few exceptions, we have not studied 
 architecture with an eye to a national feature : on the con- 
 trary, our artists have copied the styles of all nations, 
 from which designs are made to please the eye only, 
 without regard to originality or the age in which we live. 
 This cannot be called an architectural construction, but 
 rather an adaptation of Grecian models to the buildings 
 of our own time. There is no originality here. 
 
 A building may be well arranged for all purposes of 
 mere convenience, but in reality, if destitute of harmony 
 in its outward appearance, it cannot be called an archi- 
 tectural construction. This remark will apply to the 
 buildings in our country generally, and equally, as stated, 
 to those of England and France. 
 
 If the Philadelphia post-office is devoid of these re- 
 quisites as regards its exterior, its interior makes full 
 amends. 
 
 Every department is so constructed and arranged that 
 there is rio clashing or cause of impediment in the general 
 routine of its business. Each man has his position, each 
 bureau its place, and over all the chief clerk, from an 
 elevated position, has an eye to every action and movement 
 of the employees. To Cornelius A. Walborn, Esq., the 
 present efficient postmaster [1866], is the department in- 
 debted for the admirable arrangements of the Philadelphia 
 post-office. 
 
 In speaking of the outward appearance of " our post- 
 office/ 7 we may be singular in our ideas of what constitutes 
 architectural beauty, and others may appreciate what we 
 
238 THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 
 
 censure. It is not, however, altogether a matter of taste 
 with us, but a sense of what constitutes harmony. In 
 every thing that owes its existence to nature alone, there 
 is harmony. It is, in fact, the music of the spheres join- 
 ing chorus with the growth of plants and flowers, which 
 the ancients believed came blooming into life with music ; 
 or, as the poet says, it may be "the language of some 
 other state, born of its memory." Thus, in all things 
 imitative o nature there should be harmony. Why not 
 in art? 
 
 Perhaps there is no other block of buildings in this 
 city that presents a greater variety of architectural incon- 
 gruities than does that wherein stands the Philadelphia 
 post-office. It may be called a picturesque view of brick, 
 marble, and mortar thrown together without regard to 
 order, style, or harmony. 
 
 Let the classic reader cast his eyes over the topographical 
 view of Olympia as seen from the walls of Altis, glancing 
 down through the " Sacred Grove" and along the Alpheus 
 Biver : you will see even at that period, 440 B.C., how 
 strictly the ancients adhered to harmony. The Temple 
 of Jupiter and the Prytaneum or Senate-house, although 
 widely different in their architectural designing, bore never- 
 theless a remarkable similarity in style, so as to preserve 
 what might be termed classic harmony. Near to the 
 Mount of Saturn stood the Temple of Juno. In the 
 Temple of Vesta, the Theatre, the Hypodrammon, even 
 to the Stables of CEnomaus and the Workshop of Phidias, 
 the same harmonic traits in style and design were observ- 
 able. Every thing was classic, every thing artistic. 
 
 How is this feature observed with us ? Speaking of 
 the block alluded to above, embracing the custom-house, 
 the post-office, the Philadelphia Bank, the Farmers' and 
 Mechanics' Bank, &c., perhaps the following scene from 
 J$. B. Sheridan's "School for Scandal" will give a better 
 
THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 239 
 
 description of the style of architecture characterizing each 
 than any thing we could furnish. 
 
 The several characters are describing the personal ap- 
 pearance of a lady : 
 
 " Orabtree. She has the oddest countenance, a collection 
 of features from all corners of the globe 
 
 "Sir Benjamin. She has, indeed, an Irish front. 
 
 " Orabtree. Caledonian locks. 
 
 "Sir Benjamin. Dutch nose. 
 
 " O)*abtree. Austrian lips. 
 
 "Sir Benjamin. The complexion of a Spaniard. 
 
 " Orabtree. And teeth d la Ohinoise. 
 
 "Sir Benjamin. In short, her face resembles a table 
 d'hote at Spa, where no two guests are of a nation." 
 
 OUTSIDE AND INSIDE VIEW OF THE PHILADELPHIA 
 POST-OFFICE. 
 
 The outside of a post-office before the opening of its 
 doors reminds one of a vast sleeping city, cold and calm, 
 though containing within itself all the elements that make 
 up a living, sleepless world. As the stars shine down on 
 the earth and move on in their spheres, so feeble lights 
 gleam up from the post-office-windows to denote that 
 "watchers" of the night are there, and thus, like the 
 machinery of the great world, move on the wheels of this 
 epitomized one. 
 
 Dull and heavy glide on the hours of night; silence 
 like that of the prairie rests for a while on and around 
 the city, save the howl of some watchful dog and the 
 far-off sound of a tinkling bell. A city at night, wrapped 
 in the curtains darkness throws around it, is like a vast 
 sepulchre, and visited alike with ghosts from the spirit- 
 world. Presently the dark panorama begins to move: 
 there is an uprising of a long stream of light in the 
 
240 THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 
 
 eastern sky ; a vast and mysterious movement, as im- 
 pulsive and as sudden as that of light, agitates the city ; 
 sounds quick and incessant come upon the ear, rattling of 
 wheels, ringing of bells: the world and its inhabitants 
 are awake. The night dream is over ; reality assumes its 
 power once again. Moving on, men, women, and children 
 take their respective ways to business or pleasure, for this 
 world is made up of both. There you see the mechanic, 
 there the merchant looking for the "early worm," there 
 the newsboy hurrying to his morning traffic in literature, 
 himself its evil genius, there the housebreaker moving 
 quietly away from the scene of his villany, and there the 
 man of pleasure staggering to his wretched home. There is 
 one point at which, however, many assemble : there, clus- 
 tered around a marbled veneered building, for it is not 
 all marble, you can read in the looks of the crowd the 
 world's history, and alike the name of the building : it is 
 the PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. The sun that awoke 
 millions from their sleep now shines down and sheds its 
 light around this "mimic world:" it awakes; its night 
 slumber is over; the. hour has arrived action, action. 
 The doors open the crowd rush in. Ah ! what is life ? 
 one scene of struggle and strife, and for what? That's the 
 question. 
 
 "Quid sit futurum eras fuge quasrere" 
 
 is not a bad idea of the poet Horace: its literal meaning 
 is, "Avoid all inquiry with respect to what may happen 
 to-morrow." We should not look so anxiously into the 
 future as to preclude all present enjoyment. 
 
 Action, action is the motto of our land. This the effect 
 of a cause, that cause the Revolution. It changed alike 
 men and the opinion of nations upon the subject of sove- 
 reignty. Mental, physical, political, speculative, and finan- 
 cial revolutions are all the results of one great cause, & 
 
THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 241 
 
 cause bearing date 1776. Here we are; here in the post- 
 office, one of the branches of the General Government. 
 This is the little world of letters, this the index to the 
 inner history of man. It is a book of thoughts. 
 
 THE DEPOSIT- WINDOWS. These are surrounded by a 
 motley crew; letters are dropped in hastily, some care- 
 fully by those who write in doubt and seem to hesitate 
 the sending until the last moment. Why? Ah! reader, 
 there is a mystery in all things : here mystery becomes 
 secrecy. There you see an old lady carefully depositing a 
 letter : she glances down the opening, takes one last look, 
 and, sighing, silently moves away. What are the con- 
 tents of that letter ? It is her secret. 
 
 Pass on to the newspaper not window ; for newspapers 
 are a wholesale article: singly they are mere letters; in 
 bulk they are legion. You must go to a door, and there 
 you will see bags piled Olympus high : these are opened 
 and distributed into their respective pouches to go to all 
 parts of the habitable world ; for newspapers now are, like 
 letters, "the world's correspondents." The inside of the 
 office is now wide awake, the world outside is in arms 
 and "eager for the fray." Millions of letters go and 
 come, millions of hearts are made glad by a mere stroke 
 of the pen, which passes lightning-like through this postal 
 medium, millions of hearts are alike made sad, and 
 mourn and sob over the one line that brings news of 
 sickness and of death. 
 
 The post-office in many points of view presents the 
 appearance of a besieged fort. The chief clerk is at his 
 post: he stands on a platform somewhat elevated above 
 the line of the main floor ; his eye glances along the line 
 of clerks, some of whom are at the (port-holes) delivery- 
 windows, awaiting the outward attack. The assault com- 
 mences, the windows are assailed. Loud voices are heard, 
 one above the rest shouts 2400 : this is answered by an 
 
 21 
 
242 THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 
 
 immediate discharge from within, which silences battery 
 2400. These attacks continue along the " box line 77 until 
 the demand for surrender on the one side is answered by 
 a furious discharge of epistolary ammunition on the other. 
 Both parties retire satisfied with the result. The victory, 
 however, is always on the side of the post-office : the effect 
 of the fire from their port-holes is felt when all within its 
 lines are quiet. The wheels of the department uninjured 
 move on. Let us take a glance through yonder opening. 
 We are on the outside, looking into the interior of this 
 postal fortress. Hundreds of active business-men are 
 moving about in their shirt-sleeves, looking fierce and 
 desperate : they are engaged in a great struggle, a struggle 
 with time. Some are dragging along the vast extent of 
 flooring large leather pouches, others huge canvas bags : 
 it seems, as you gaze, that they are the bodies of the dead 
 and wounded, the result of the recent attack. Not so; 
 they are mail-bags. See how furiously one is thrown 
 down : it is seized upon as if a victim to be sacrificed. 
 "Brass lock," yells one. "Iron," screams another. Brass 
 or iron, they are quickly unlocked, and in an instant their 
 contents are scattered like chaff, and away they go to the 
 four quarters of the globe as fast as busy hands, wind, 
 tide, and steam can take them. 
 
 No fort not even Sumter, Darling, or the defences of 
 "Vicksburg ever presented a more busy scene of life and 
 death than does the post-office on the opening of mail- 
 bags: it may indeed be compared to "life and death;" 
 for, as we have said, it is a "struggle with time. 77 
 
 And yet what to an outsider might seem all chaos, 
 system has reduced to perfect order; and if the same 
 observer will look once more into the office after these 
 sudden attacks on mail-pouches and bags, he will see the 
 parties sitting quietly down, seemingly well contented with 
 
THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 243 
 
 the result of the strife between time, matter, and motion, 
 the conquerors they. 
 
 Mr. William Lewars, author of " Her Majesty's Mails/ 7 
 thus describes the scenes which daily occur from 5.45 to 
 6 o'clock in the London post-office : 
 
 "It is then that an impetuous crowd enters the hall, 
 and letters and newspapers begin to fall in quite a literary 
 hail-storm. The newspaper-window, ever yawning for 
 more, is presently surrounded and besieged by an array 
 of boys of all ages and costumes, together with children 
 of a larger growth, who are all alike pushing, heaving, 
 and surging in one great mass. The window with tre- 
 mendous gape is assaulted with showers of papers which 
 fly thicker and faster than the driven snow. Now it is 
 that small boys of eleven and twelve years of age, panting, 
 Sinbad-like, under the weight of huge bundles of news- 
 papers, manage somehow to dart about and make rapid 
 sorties into other ranks of boys, utterly disregarding the 
 cries of the official policemen, who vainly endeavor to 
 reduce the tumult into something like post-office order. 
 If the lads cannot quietly and easily disembogue, they 
 will whiz their missiles of intelligence over other people's 
 heads, now and then sweeping off hats and caps with the 
 force of shot. The gathering every moment increases in 
 number and intensifies in purpose; arms, legs, sacks, 
 baskets, heads, bundles, and woollen comforters for who 
 ever saw a veritable newspaper-boy without that append- 
 age? seems to be getting into a state of confusion and 
 disagreeable communism, and 'yet the cry is still they 
 come.' Heaps of papers of widely-opposed political views 
 are thrown in together ; no longer placed carefully in the 
 openings, they are now sent in in sackfuls and basketfuls, 
 while over the heads of the surging crowd come flying 
 back the empty sacks thrown out of the office by the 
 porters inside. Semi-official legends, with a very strong 
 
244 THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 
 
 smack of probability about them, tell of sundry boys being 
 thrown in, seized, emptied, and thrown out again void. 
 As six o'clock approaches still nearer and nearer, the 
 turmoil increases more perceptibly, for the intelligent 
 British public is fully alive to the awful truth that the 
 post-office officials never allow a minute of grace, and that 
 " Newspaper Fair" must be over when the last stroke of 
 six is heard. One, in rush files of laggard boys who have 
 purposely loitered in the hope of a little pleasurable ex- 
 citement; two, and grown men hurry in with their last 
 sacks ; three, the struggle resembles nothing so much as a 
 pantomimic melee ; four, a Babel of tongues vociferating 
 desperately ; five, final and furious showers of papers, sacks, 
 and bags ; and six, when all the windows fall like so many 
 swords of Damocles, and the slits close with such a sudden 
 and simultaneous snap, that we naturally suppose it to be 
 a part of the post-office operations that attempts should 
 be made to guillotine a score of hands ; and then all is 
 over so far as the outsiders are concerned. 
 
 " Among the letter-boxes, scenes somewhat similar have 
 been enacted. Letters of every shape and color, and of 
 all weights, have unceasingly poured in ; tidings of life 
 and death, hope and despair, success and failure, triumph 
 and defeat, joy and sorrow ; letters from friends and notes 
 from lawyers, appeals from children and stern advice from 
 parents, offers from anxious-hearted young gentlemen and 
 c first yeses' or refusals from young maidens, letters con- 
 taining that snug appointment so long promised you, and 
 ' little bills' with requests for immediate payments, ' to- 
 gether with six-and-eightpence ;' cream-colored missives 
 telling of happy consummations, and black-edged enve- 
 lopes telling of death and the grave ; sober-looking advice 
 notes, doubtless telling when 'our Mr. Puffwell' would do 
 himself the honor of calling upon you, and elegant-look- 
 ing billets, in which business is never mentioned, all jostled 
 
THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 245 
 
 each other for a short time ; but the stream of gladness and 
 of woe was stopped, at least for one night, when the last 
 stroke of six was heard. The post-office, like a huge mon- 
 ster, to which one writer has likened it, has swallowed 
 an enormous meal, and, gorged to the full, it must now 
 commence the process of digestion. While laggard boys, 
 to whom cartoons by one i William Hogarth' should be 
 shown, are muttering, 'Too late/ and retiring discomfited, 
 we, having obtained the requisite 'open sesame/ will 
 make our way to the interior of the building. Threading 
 our course through several passages, we soon find our- 
 selves among enormous apartments well lit up, where 
 hundreds of human beings are moving about, lifting, 
 shuffling, stamping, and sorting huge piles of letters, and 
 still more enormous piles of newspapers, in what seems 
 at first sight hopeless confusion, but in what is really the 
 most admirable order. In the newspaper-room, men 
 have been engaged not only in emptying the sacks flung 
 in by strong-armed men and weak -legged boys, but also 
 in raking up the single papers into large baskets and 
 conveying them up and down 'hoists' into various divi- 
 sions of the building. Some estimate of the value of 
 these mechanical appliances, moved, of course, by steam- 
 power, may be formed from the fact that hundreds of 
 tons of paper pass up and down these lifts every week. 
 As many of the newspapers escape from their covers in 
 the excitement of posting, each night two or three officers 
 are busily engaged during the whole time of despatch in 
 endeavoring to restore wrappers to newspapers found 
 without any address. Great as is the 'care exercised 
 in this respect, it will occasionally happen that wrong 
 newspapers will find their way into loose wrappers not 
 belonging to them ; and, under the circumstances, it would 
 be by no means a matter of wonder if as has been more 
 than once pointed out Mr. Bright should, instead of his 
 
 21* 
 
246 THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 
 
 'Morning Star/ receive a copy of the ' Saturday Re- 
 view/ or an evangelical curate the ' Guardian 7 or ( Punch/ 
 in place of his 'Record' paper. 
 
 " In the letter-room the officers are no less busily en- 
 gaged : a number of them are constantly at work, during 
 the hours of the despatch, in the operation of placing 
 each letter with the address and postage-label uppermost, 
 so as to facilitate the process of stamping. In the general 
 post-office the stamping is partly effected by machinery 
 and partly by hand, and consists simply in imprinting 
 upon each letter the date, hour, and place of posting, 
 while at the same time the queen's head with which the 
 letter is ornamented and franked gets disfigured. It will 
 easily be imagined that a letter containing a box of pills 
 stands a very good chance of being damaged under this 
 manipulation, as a good stamper will strike about fifty 
 letters in a minute. Unpaid letters are kept apart, as 
 they require stamping in a different-colored ink and with 
 the double postage. Such letters create much extra labor, 
 and are a source of incessant trouble to the department, 
 inasmuch as from the time of their posting in London to 
 their delivery at the Land's End or John O'Groat's, every 
 officer through whose hands they may pass has to keep 
 a cash account of them. The double postage on such 
 letters is more than earned by the post-office. All unfast- 
 ened and torn letters, too, are picked out and conveyed to 
 another portion of the large room ; and it requires the un- 
 remitting attention of several busy individuals to finish the 
 work left undone by the British public. It is scarcely credi- 
 ble that above two hundred and fifty letters are daily posted 
 open, and bearing not the slightest mark of ever having been 
 fastened in any way ; but such' is the fact. A fruitful 
 source of extra work to this branch of the office arises 
 through the posting of flimsy boxes containing feathers, 
 slippers, and other recherche articles of female dress, pill- 
 
THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 247 
 
 boxes containing jewelry, and even bottles. The latter, 
 however, are detained, glass articles and sharp instruments 
 of any sort, whenever detected, being returned to the 
 senders. These frail things, thrown in and buried under 
 the heaps of correspondence, get crushed and broken : yet 
 all are made up again carefully and resealed. 
 
 "When the letters have been stamped, and those in- 
 sufficiently paid picked out, they are carried away to 
 undergo the process of sorting. In this operation they 
 are very rapidly divided into 'roads/ representing a line 
 of large towns : thus, letters for Derby, Loughborough, 
 Nottingham, Lincoln, etc., might be placed in companion- 
 ship with one division or 'road/ and Bilston, Wednes- 
 bury, Walsall, West Bromwich, etc., in another." 
 
 As we have stated, the immense amount of business 
 transacted in the post-offices of large cities is not unfre- 
 quently lost sight of, business transactions of a nature 
 that few understand or comprehend, and which exercise 
 an influence on men and nations equally as powerful as 
 that of the press. 
 
 Few persons are acquainted with the inner arrange- 
 ments of a post-office. Let any one glance into it as he 
 passes, and he will be struck with the vast pile of mail- 
 matter constantly arriving and departing, as well as the 
 number of hands engaged in their arranging and dis- 
 tributing. Forty mails arrive and depart in: the twenty- 
 four hours, making over three hundred pouches, besides 
 canvas bags containing newspapers, &c. : these are esti- 
 mated more by bulk than numbers. 
 
 Mind, intellect, strength, quickness of action and of 
 thought, are all required here, and found. Without this, 
 confusion worse confounded would ensue, and the pulsa- 
 tion of this little world would cease to throb. 
 
 A post-office is a little world : it is peopled with the 
 thoughts of men that go and come, pass and repass, move 
 
248 THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 
 
 on afar and away over land and water to other cities, and 
 return again, some oppressed, some elated: "so runs 
 the world away !" 
 
 What is the romance of a post-office but its reality ? 
 It is a history of letters. Peep into their contents, and you 
 read a volume far surpassing the wildest flights of the 
 imagination. And yet they are as a sealed book to all 
 except those to whom they are directed. Yet you can 
 read it in the action of the recipients, trace its effects, the 
 moral is there. 
 
 Glance at the ladies 7 window : see that tall female, upon 
 whose face you can trace the dark lines of sorrow. Day 
 after day has she called, asking in a trembling voice for a 
 letter. She had told the clerk a sad story of an absent son, 
 told it for the. purpose of explaining the cause of her fre- 
 quent visits. Did she but know that beneath a blasted 
 tree, scathed by the lightning flash of a thousand rebel mus- 
 kets, he lies buried, deep, deep down in the cold ground, 
 with hundreds of others, both friends and foes, who fell there 
 in bloody strife. But when the startling news did come, 
 her tall form was seen no more at that window. She was 
 alone in the world ! Watch that window : it is an index 
 to a volume of life. Not alone the broken-hearted and 
 the sorrowing, not alone the forsaken wife and the expect- 
 ant maiden, not alone the anxious mother, but the gay, 
 the frivolous, the abandoned, all flock here ; for all are 
 mixed up in the great struggle of life. 
 
 Pass on to the box-window. There you read the history 
 of men in trade and commerce. There you have a com- 
 pendium of that wonderful thing known as and called 
 'Change. There you will observe the various and pecu- 
 liar characteristics of men as they eagerly clutch their 
 letters and rush away. Watch their actions, and you will 
 find that a line or two in a letter convulses the market, 
 and for a while there is a commotion on 'Change. Watch 
 
THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 249 
 
 the politician : by his looks you can read the secret of his 
 heart. If you follow his footsteps and read the name of 
 the publication-office into which he plunges, the chief 
 editorial next day tells its contents. Perhaps it will read, 
 " Reliable Intelligence from Richmond. The Rebel Army 
 well supplied with Ammunition. Probable Recognition 
 by England, &c." Or, perhaps, if the publication-office 
 should be on Fourth or Third Street, it may read, "Glo- 
 rious News from Grant's Army, &c." 
 
 There is another portion of a post-office which adds 
 another page to its romantic history ; and that is the " Car- 
 riers' Department." Many a sad tale has the carrier to 
 tell, many a strange incident connected with his "con- 
 stant round." A glance into this room shows you a 
 number of men busily engaged in assorting or " blocking" 
 the letters on their route. These they receive in bulk 
 from the distributor, which are passed to them from 
 a smaller room through a series of pigeon-holes. And 
 here we have a most remarkable illustration of what the 
 human mind is capable of accomplishing. Let us explain. 
 In 1854 the corporate limits of the city of Philadelphia 
 were made coextensive with those of the county, covering 
 an area of one hundred and twenty square miles, and 
 placing twenty-one towns and villages under the guard- 
 ianship of one Mayor and City Councils. In nearly all 
 of these there were separate post-offices. The bringing of 
 all these rural districts under one general postal head was 
 one of the first suggestions that Mr. C. A. Walborn made 
 to the department shortly after he became postmaster of 
 this city. Postmaster-General Blair entered fully into 
 his views upon this subject, and thus the whole rural 
 district embracing the area named above is under one 
 general postal head. Mr. Walborn established station- 
 offices, engaged carriers ; and letters are distributed within 
 an area of over one hundred miles, .with as much ease 
 
250 THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 
 
 and facility as they were in the limits of the old city 
 proper. 
 
 For the accommodation of persons residing at points 
 remote from the general post-office, in Chestnut Street, 
 stations have been arranged to which four mails are sent 
 daily. In the extreme rural sections, three daily deliveries 
 are considered sufficient by the residents, but four collec- 
 tions are made of matter for delivery or mailing. These 
 stations are located as follows: A, 41 South Eighteenth 
 Street; B, Market Street, west of Thirty-Seventh, West 
 Philadelphia; C, southeast corner of Broad and Coates 
 Streets; D, 1206 North Third Street; E, corner Richmond 
 and William Streets, Port Eichmond; F, 90 Main Street, 
 Frankford; G, Main Street, below Railroad Depot, Ger- 
 mantown; H, Main Street, below Church Lane, Chestnut 
 Hill; I, Main Street, below Grape, Manayunk; K, Wash- 
 ington Street, near Fifth. 
 
 The carriers deliver letters and papers within the fol- 
 lowing bounds: Delaware River on the east; Mont- 
 gomery county line on the west; upper end of Frankford, 
 Chestnut Hill, and Andora on the north ; Delaware county 
 line on the south, including the old districts of Kensing- 
 ton, Port Richmond, Bridesburg, Frankford, Rising Sun, 
 Nicetown, Germantown, Mount Airy, Chestnut Hill, Falls 
 of Schuylkill, Manayunk, Leverington, Andora, Blockley, 
 Haddington, Hestonville, Belmont, and Kingsessing. If 
 thrown into a square, this would form a territory of about 
 ten by fifteen miles. 
 
 Sixty-three carriers are employed, making four deliveries 
 daily, within the following boundaries: Delaware River, 
 Schuylkill River, Canal Street, and York Street. There 
 are thirty-four persons also employed exclusively in col- 
 lecting letters from places of deposit within the same dis- 
 trict. They make five collections daily. The rural dis- 
 tricts, including that territory which is contained within 
 
' . THE LETTER-CARRYING SYSTEM. 251 
 
 the limits of Delaware county line on the south, Mont- 
 gomery county line on the west, Delaware Kiver on the 
 east, and on the north the northern boundary of Chestnut 
 Hill, Germantown, and Frankford, occupy twenty-four 
 persons, making at least three trips per day to collect and 
 deliver letters. There is, therefore, a force of one hundred 
 and twenty-one carriers and collectors employed. 
 
 The number of letters received by mail and delivered 
 by carriers amounted, last quarter, to 1,134,111. They 
 collected and delivered, in the same period, 389,233 local 
 or drop letters, making a total delivery of 1,523,344.* 
 
 The number of papers received by mail and delivered 
 during this period was 117,010; the number of local or 
 drop papers was 35,257, giving a total delivered, -152,267. 
 The number of letters returned from misdirection, removal, 
 refusal to pay postage, and similar reasons, was 8742. 
 The number of letters for the mail collected from lamp- 
 posts and other located boxes of deposit was 744,723; 
 and the number of newspapers similarly obtained, 59,292, 
 total of 804,015. 
 
 THE LETTER-CARRYING SYSTEM. 
 
 But few persons have any adequate idea of the vast 
 number of letters which day after day pass through the 
 post-office into the hands of the carrier, to be delivered 
 at their final destination. The following list gives the 
 number of letters delivered and collected in the four 
 largest cities during the month of June, 1865: 
 
 New York 
 
 Mail Letters 
 Delivered. 
 
 799,389 
 
 Drop Letters 
 Delivered. 
 
 253,434 
 
 Letters 
 Collected. 
 
 785,990 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 . .. 492,004 
 
 168,330 
 
 361 068 
 
 
 118,200 
 
 9,200 
 
 100 591 
 
 Cincinnati 
 
 84,370 
 
 7,714 
 
 47,201 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 , 1,493,963 
 
 438,678 
 
 1,294,850 
 
 
 
 
 
 * February 1, 1864. 
 
252 THE LETTER-CARRYING SYSTEM. 
 
 During the same period there were collected from pillar 
 or lamp-post boxes 1,294,850 letters. 
 
 The annexed statement gives the number of letters 
 delivered in three principal cities : 
 
 Boston 284,440 
 
 Baltimore 152,230 
 
 Chicago 130,819 
 
 Total i 567,489 
 
 Philadelphia 516,836 
 
 So, according to this, the amount of business transacted 
 through the Philadelphia post-office is almost equal to that 
 of Boston, Baltimore, and Chicago combined. Statistics 
 further show that it is nearly equal to the combined busi- 
 ness of Brooklyn, St. Louis, Washington, Cincinnati, and 
 Cleveland. 
 
 From the little room which we have termed the "dis- 
 tribution-room," letters are sent and scattered over the area 
 named above, to the full amount of 18,000 daily, not 
 including those called a city drops." The distributor is to 
 know, or is supposed to know, apart from consulting the 
 directory, the name of every street, lane, and alley, as 
 well as their locality, so that he can place the letters so 
 directed into their separate pigeon-holes, both for the city 
 carriers and the " subs." He has to observe the limits of 
 certain routes, and see that his letters do not go astray, 
 thus causing a delay in the delivery of at least twenty- 
 four hours. Many letters are received without direction, 
 and others, again, so imperfectly given that it requires the 
 exercise of a little of Job's patience, assisted by an imper- 
 fect directory, to find out where they actually belong. The 
 carriers, however, to whom these letters are submitted, 
 being familiar with the names of persons on their routes, 
 select from this debris of letters those that they think 
 belong to the parties to whom they are so carelessly 
 directed. A good carrier never brings back a letter to 
 
THE PRESS. 253 
 
 the office until he is fully satisfied that it is not on his 
 route. Philadelphia can boast of such. 
 
 This retentive quality is also powerfully exercised at 
 the box-windows. There are 2600 boxes, which we may 
 say will average six letters each daily, thus making an 
 aggregate of 15,600. These letters are selected from the 
 "pile" by clerks, who actually know not only the names 
 of the owners of the boxes, but the names of those who 
 are entitled to their use, as, for instance, the clerks and 
 porters of the parties engaging them. This is what we 
 term a wonderful exercise of memory and its practical 
 application. Newspapers are distributed on the same 
 principle as are the letters. 
 
 The newspaper department of a post-office is one that 
 may well be called the "reservoir" of the press: here 
 flows all that makes up that vast institution, here comes 
 the highest standard of our literature, down to the meanest 
 sheet venality produces. A number of men are constantly 
 employed in the newspaper room, or, as we term it, "the 
 rotunda of literature." This is emphatically the wholesale 
 room; for they deal in bulk. Papers coming singly, 
 directed to individuals, pass through the same process as 
 do the letters. The packages directed to neighboring cities 
 find their way through the "rotunda" in canvas bags to 
 their respective places of destination. Let us here say one 
 word of 
 
 THE PRESS. 
 
 It has identified itself with, and forms one of the main 
 features of, our great republic. Its very liberty is essential 
 to the nature of a free state. Its complicity and power 
 claim for it a consideration which no other department of 
 literature and science, however popular, can attain. The 
 press of our country is now the medium, if not, in fact, 
 the very source, of that knowledge of which as a nation 
 we are so justly proud. 
 
 22 
 
254 THE PRESS. 
 
 THE WORK OF THE POST-OFFICE is of such a nature, 
 changing its character with every new incumbent, that it 
 is utterly impossible to reduce it to a system of permanent 
 order during one term of office. Move, however, it must, 
 right or wrong: hence it is that some portion of its ma- 
 chinery may get out of order and thus militate against 
 the probability of reaching perfection. Perfection ! and 
 who seeks perfection in any of the institutions esta- 
 blished by man? Nature alone "is perfect indeed." It 
 was so from the beginning, not only in its elements and 
 principles, but in its members and its organs. 
 
 "The post-office," says a writer in "Fraser's Magazine" 
 for September 2, 1862, "no longer assumes to be perfect, 
 and its conductors have renounced their claims to infalli- 
 bility. Suggested improvements, if they can sustain the 
 indispensable test of rigid scrutiny, are welcomed, and not, 
 as of old, frowned away. The department acts under the 
 conviction that to thrive it must discard the confidence 
 heretofore placed in legal prohibitions, and seek its con- 
 tinuance of prosperity only by deserving it." 
 
 The English post-office has far better opportunities of 
 rendering its system more perfect than it is, from the fact 
 that its clerks are not discharged on every change made in 
 the heads of the department by the government. They 
 are fixtures. But in this country no one engaged in a 
 public office under one administration can calculate being 
 continued under another. 
 
 A clerk in the post-office, being appointed for an espe- 
 cial duty, troubles himself very little about that of any 
 other. He takes no interest in the general business or 
 details of the office, from the fact that his situation is not a 
 permanent one: hence it is that few postmasters are enabled, 
 within four years, to bring the office out of the chaos into 
 which a previous administration had reduced it, so as to 
 congratulate himself upon making one step towards per- 
 
LETTER- CA RRIERS. 255 
 
 fection. He has to study the political elements outside 
 first, and by the time these are reconciled, nearly one-third 
 of his term has expired. In another portion of this work 
 we have alluded to this political clog placed against the 
 wheels of the postal department, and retarding, if not ma- 
 terially impairing, its social, moral, and financial interests. 
 
 LETTER- CARRIERS. 
 
 Letter-carriers are a very important class of men, im- 
 portant, we mean, in their connection with the postal 
 department. We speak of them here because their duties 
 are not generally known to the public, nor their services 
 properly appreciated or rewarded by the department. 
 They are the " walking posts," and carry with them daily 
 thousands of dollars, which rarely are lost on their way 
 to the recipients. The instances are so few of dishonest 
 carriers that we have often been surprised that the fact 
 has not been recorded ere this, so as it might be placed in 
 juxtaposition with those elite rogues in office who are daily 
 robbing the government of millions. Is it because they 
 are generally faithful? or is it because the position of a 
 letter-carrier is one that requires no consideration from 
 the department beyond the annual rather limited sti- 
 pend for their services? The letter-carriers of our country 
 represent a political class: they come forth from their 
 respective wards under, as it were, leading politicians. 
 The postmaster, in fact, has scarcely a voice in making 
 these appointments. We have no objection to this system, 
 as it is one peculiarly allied to the institutions of our 
 country and mode of election; but we do object to good 
 and honest men being discharged simply from the fact 
 that a few politicians outside of an office want to get their 
 particular friends in. This can scarcely be called rotation 
 in office, as it frequently assumes an unjust, if not an 
 intolerant, exercise of power. 
 
256 LETTER-CARRIERS. 
 
 We have alluded to the English post-office as being 
 perhaps the best-ordered and best-conducted in the world, 
 for there changes are not made. 
 
 In England carriers are classified. The lowest class are 
 not so well paid, receiving only from 18 to 25 shillings 
 per week. They are allowed by government, however, to 
 receive presents, and their Christmas boxes and New- Year 
 gifts, thus realizing a nice little sum of money, as well as 
 many useful and ornamental articles.* If the salary of a 
 letter-carrier in England is not high, the position is so 
 identified with the governmental patronage that he be- 
 comes a part and portion of the great institution itself. 
 If he is taken sick, he has medical attendance and medi- 
 cine furnished gratis. When unfitted for work, he may 
 retire upon a pension, for which he has not to pay a 
 farthing ; and during service, if he insure his life for the 
 benefit of his family, the post-office will assist him to pay 
 the premium : this is done by allowing him twenty per 
 cent, on all his payments. Every year the letter-carriers 
 are allowed a fortnight holiday without any deduction 
 from their pay. Many spare hours each day may be 
 devoted to other pursuits; for, if when at work at the 
 office his hours of duty exceed eight hours daily, he is at 
 full liberty to ask for investigation and redress. See p. 
 205, Kendall. 
 
 The higher grade of carriers are distinguished from the 
 lower by wearing a livery of the department and at its 
 expense, viz. : a scarlet coat with a blue collar, and but- 
 tons stamped with an impression of the royal arms. The 
 carriers of the twopenny post wear the common citizens' 
 dress. 
 
 * Other classes of carriers receive higher salaries and other con- 
 siderations from the government, which renders the office one of con- 
 siderable importance, and requiring influence to obtain. 
 
LETTER-CARRIERS. 257 
 
 We have alluded to the general character of the letter- 
 carriers of our city, and, we may justly and proudly say, of 
 our country, being equal in point of moral standard, cor- 
 rect deportment, and honesty of purpose, to any other (pub- 
 lic) class of men in the Union. Of this fact the writer has 
 opportunities of knowing; and when we take into con- 
 sideration the extremely low salaries they receive, 
 scarcely sufficient to support them, the fact impresses 
 itself upon us, as it should on the government, that a 
 "carrier's fidelity, diligence, and experience should be pro- 
 perly rewarded." We quote here nearly every postmaster- 
 general's language, but as yet the words only stand on the 
 record ! 
 
 During the writer's connection with the department, 
 there were but two instances of carriers being detected 
 in opening letters and appropriating their contents to 
 their own use. One of these men died suddenly while 
 under heavy bonds for his appearance at court to answer 
 for his crime; the other is now expiating his crime in 
 the Penitentiary. 
 
 We have spoken more particularly about carriers and 
 their general good character ; but our remarks will apply 
 to those who occupy positions in every department, from 
 the chief clerks down to the wounded soldier who sweeps 
 out the office.* It certainly must be a source of satisfac- 
 tion to postmasters generally, that peculation, fraud, and 
 robbery in their departments are of very rare occurrence. 
 Many losses have been charged to the department, but in 
 nine cases out of ten they have been traced to parties 
 who act as carriers between the post-office and merchants' 
 counting-houses. These are boys and clerks who are 
 authorized by merchants to take letters from their boxes, 
 
 * At this present writing a soldier who lost a leg at the battle of 
 Gettysburg occupies this position. 
 
 22* 
 
258 LETTER-CARRIERS. 
 
 many of which, as we can prove, never reached their 
 employers, but were opened and the money extracted. 
 Under the old State laws this was laid down as simply 
 a breach of trust: it is now made a criminal offence, 
 and subjects the guilty party to imprisonment. Since the 
 passage of this law there have been but few such breaches 
 of trust. 
 
 In another portion of this work we have alluded to 
 the decoy system as being uncalled for and insulting to 
 the employees. It does seem as if the public and even 
 postmasters themselves have an idea that dishonesty is a 
 national calamity, and that it becomes a duty with them 
 to suspect alike all who are in their employ. Suspicion, 
 however, is no proof; and we are inclined to think that 
 many open robberies of the government can be traced to 
 the fact that high positions seem to sanction the deed. 
 The poor wretch who steals a loaf of bread to keep his 
 family from starving finds no mercy at the hands of the 
 law, while the wholesale robber, the thief of millions, is 
 simply required to make the amount stolen good ! Where 
 one public official robber is convicted for appropriating 
 the public funds to his own use, thousands are annually 
 tried and punished for taking a penny loaf! It is no 
 wonder, therefore, that suspicion should haunt the guilty 
 mind, and every man in power judge of others by the 
 example set in high places. 
 
 Some years ago, long before the postal system became 
 the mighty engine of power that it is now, a Philadelphia 
 postmaster, since gathered to his fathers, openly stated 
 that no man should intrust a clerk in the post-office (his 
 own office) with the knowledge that a letter posted con- 
 tained money ! 
 
 How different is the English post-office in this respect 
 from ours ! There the employees are considered a part 
 and portion of its national character, identified with it 
 
IMPORTANT POSTAL TABLES. 259 
 
 by all those ties which protection gives and justice sanctions. 
 The government not only studies the present interest of 
 all connected with the postal department, but amply pro- 
 vides for that of the future. (See p. 147.) Their con- 
 fidence is not easily shaken ; but like Othello, when they 
 doubt, they prove ; and on the proof there is no more but 
 this : Away at once ! 
 
 IMPORTANT POSTAL TABLES. 
 
 The following tables, carefully prepared, fully prove 
 that there is no surer test of the advance of business and 
 commercial enterprise than that which is learned from the 
 increase of postage. A glance at the table from 1790 
 shows a wonderful increase in the short space of eight or 
 ten years, entirely unexampled in the history of the world ; 
 and taken in connection, as we think it may be, with a 
 similar increase in other statistics, it sets all previous ex- 
 amples completely aside. The fact is, the country is igno- 
 rant of the history "of our postal department, a knowledge 
 of which would tend materially to strengthen that love of 
 country which a state of ignorance naturally lessens. The 
 post-office department should no longer be as a sealed 
 book to the nation. 
 
260 
 
 IMPORTANT POSTAL TABLES. 
 
 saaiuipnadxs 
 J3AO sjdioooa jo sso 
 
 8*8? * 
 
 J3AO 
 
 j 
 
 r& U-M 
 
 
 88I5? 
 
 taojotjajnoo 05 pa^ip 
 -8JO pus laaiuABd aoj 
 
 aqj <n pagpaao uoii 
 noray 
 
 IS! 
 
 555&H&& 
 
 J 
 
 saogjo-^sod 
 
 ;o sosuodxo iBiuapioui 
 
 
 
 ! S'gfcf 
 
 ^. - 
 
 a 
 
 s 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 'S 
 
 C3 
 
 B. 
 
 I S.I 11 111 1 31 II ^ K 
 
 
 i 11 
 
 "" I I S2 
 
 lii IIUI I ij It! ? 
 
 I j : j { ; { .a j j i 1 1 Mil iri 
 
 till Jill Mi 111 
 
 J ^ 
 
 !il 
 
 JS2 J: 
 
IMPORTANT POSTAL TABLES. 
 
 261 
 
 JfeS|SS| 
 
 823?o3S3 
 
 fe r 
 
 ^ |S8 S5 
 
 it 
 
 
 
 26,228 15 
 03,143 28 
 
 ,720,5 56 
 "65,'i'43"61 
 
 ,85,714 17 
 1,207,899 58 
 
 26 38 
 
 
 ".Dr-rtClN*r-ro" CO 
 
 942,851 22 
 32,719 33 
 
 CO rH^H 
 
 II 
 
 ' 
 
 
 g 
 
 1 1 
 
 3 
 
 Is. 
 
 S.3 
 
 8S 
 
 S3. 
 
 i 3 
 
 IP Mtj 
 
 Jfl Hi 1 
 
 li 
 
 * E -5 '3 * *3 *S ^ S w o 
 Eso<iSSas5iSSfe 
 
 8S8SS 
 
 as- 1 ^^ 
 
 fs I 
 
 m n 
 
 S"S 
 ^-2^ 
 
 .^^ = 2 
 fe *j *a " Q 
 
 o s fl 3 'S 
 
 ou . . . S2- 2 . t 
 f/sj i | -gs -sag fa g 
 
 il in PI 
 
 : SS2-JS 
 
 1 
 
 S 
 
 ll 
 -33 
 
 [1 
 
 hi 
 
 Hi 
 
 I'S-^JS 
 
 a^rlg 
 
 I 
 
 Eftfll il^a^llil 
 
 *lllll Ss a i&fil"l 
 
 S w< Sn&iSo 
 
262 
 
 IMPORTANT POSTAL TABLES. 
 
 NUMBER OF POST-OFFICES, EXTENT OF POST-ROUTES, AND REVENUE AND EXPENDITURES OF 
 THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT ; WITH THE AMOUNT PAID TO POSTMASTERS AND FOR TRANS- 
 PORTATION OF THE MAIL, SINCE 1790. 
 
 Year. 
 
 No. of 
 Post- 
 Offices. 
 
 Extent of 
 Post-Routes 
 in Miles. 
 
 Revenue 
 of the 
 Department. 
 
 Expenditures 
 of the 
 Department. 
 
 Amount paid for 
 
 Compen. of 
 Postmasters. 
 
 Trans port'n 
 of the Mail. 
 
 1790 
 
 75 
 
 1,875 
 
 $37,935 
 
 $32,140 
 
 $8,198 
 
 $22,081 
 
 1795 
 
 453 
 
 13,207 
 
 160,620 
 
 117,893 
 
 30,272 
 
 75,359 
 
 1800 
 
 903 
 
 20,817 
 
 280,804 
 
 213,994 
 
 69,243 
 
 128,644 
 
 1805 
 
 1,558 
 
 31,076 
 
 421,373 
 
 377,367 
 
 111,552 
 
 239,635 
 
 1810 
 
 2,300 
 
 36,406 
 
 551,684 
 
 495,969 
 
 149,438 
 
 327,966 
 
 1815 
 
 3,000 
 
 43,748 
 
 1,043,065 
 
 748,121 
 
 241,901 
 
 487,779 
 
 1816 
 
 3,260 
 
 48,673 
 
 961,782 
 
 804,422 
 
 265,944 
 
 521,970 
 
 1817 
 
 3,459 
 
 52,089 
 
 1,002,973 
 
 916,515 
 
 303,916 
 
 589,189 
 
 1818 
 
 3,618 
 
 59,473 
 
 1,130,235 
 
 1,035,832 
 
 346,429 
 
 664,611 
 
 1819 
 
 4,000 
 
 67,586 
 
 1,204,737 
 
 1,117,861 
 
 375,828 
 
 717,881 
 
 1820 
 
 4,500 
 
 72,492 
 
 1,111,927 
 
 1,160,926 
 
 352,295 
 
 782,425 
 
 1821 
 
 4,650 
 
 78,808 
 
 1,059,087 
 
 1,184,283 
 
 337,599 
 
 815,681 
 
 1822 
 
 4,709 
 
 82,763 
 
 1,117,490 
 
 1,167,572 
 
 355,299 
 
 788,618 
 
 1823 
 
 5,043 
 
 84,860 
 
 1,130,115 
 
 1,156,995 
 
 360,462 
 
 767,464 
 
 1824 
 
 5,182 
 
 84,860 
 
 1,197,758 
 
 1,188,019 
 
 383,804 
 
 768,939 
 
 1825 
 
 5,677 
 
 94,052 
 
 1,306,525 
 
 1,229,043 
 
 411,183 
 
 785,646 
 
 1826 
 
 6,150 
 
 94,052 
 
 1,447,703 
 
 1,366,712 
 
 447,727 
 
 885,100 
 
 1827 
 
 7,003 
 
 105,336 
 
 1,524,633 
 
 1,468,959 
 
 486,411 
 
 942,335 
 
 1828 
 
 7,530 
 
 105,336 
 
 1,659,915 
 
 1,689,945 
 
 548,049 
 
 1,086,313 
 
 1829 
 
 8,004 
 
 115,000 
 
 1,707,418 
 
 1,782,132 
 
 559,237 
 
 1,153,646 
 
 1830 
 
 8,450 
 
 115,176 
 
 1,850,583 
 
 1,932,708 
 
 595,234 
 
 1,274,009 
 
 1831 
 
 8,686 
 
 115,486 
 
 1,997,811 
 
 1,936,122 
 
 635,028 
 
 1,252,226 
 
 1832 
 
 9,205 
 
 104,466 
 
 2,258,570 
 
 2,266,171 
 
 715,481 
 
 1,482,507 
 
 1833 
 
 10,127 
 
 119,916 
 
 2,617,011 
 
 2,930,414 
 
 826,283 
 
 1,894,638 
 
 1834 
 
 10,693 
 
 119,916 
 
 2,823,749 
 
 2,910,605 
 
 897,317 
 
 1,925,544 
 
 1835 
 
 10,770 
 
 112,774 
 
 2,993,356 
 
 2,757,350 
 
 945,418 
 
 1,719,007 
 
 1836 
 
 11,091 
 
 118,264 
 
 3,408,323 
 
 3,841,766 
 
 812,804 
 
 1,638,052 
 
 1837 
 
 11,767 
 
 141,242 
 
 4,236,779 
 
 3,544,630 
 
 891,353 
 
 1,996,727 
 
 1838 
 
 12,519 
 
 134,818 
 
 4,238,733 
 
 4,430,662 
 
 933.948 
 
 3,131,308 
 
 1839 
 
 12,780 
 
 133,999 
 
 4,484,657 
 
 4,636,536 
 
 980^00 
 
 3,285,622 
 
 1840 
 
 13,468 
 
 155,739 
 
 4,543,522 
 
 4,718,236 
 
 1,028,925 
 
 3,296,876 
 
 1841 
 
 13,778 
 
 155,026 
 
 4,407,726 
 
 4,499,528 
 
 1,018,645 
 
 3,159,375 
 
 1842 
 
 13,733 
 
 149,732 
 
 4,546,849 
 
 5,674,752 
 
 1,147,256 
 
 3,087,796 
 
 1843 
 
 13,814 
 
 142,295 
 
 4,296,225 
 
 4,374,754 
 
 1,426,394 
 
 2,947,319 
 
 1844 
 
 14,103 
 
 144,687 
 
 4,237,288 
 
 4,296,513 
 
 1,358,316 
 
 2,938,551 
 
 1845 
 
 14,183 
 
 143,940 
 
 4,289,841 
 
 4,320,732 
 
 1,409,875 
 
 2,905,504 
 
 *1846 
 
 14,601 
 
 152,865 
 
 3,487,199 
 
 4,084,297 
 
 1,042,079 
 
 2,716,673 
 
 *1847 
 
 15,146 
 
 153,818 
 
 3.955,893 
 
 3,979,570 
 
 1,060,228 
 
 2,476,455 
 
 *1848 
 
 16,159 
 
 163,208 
 
 4,371,077 
 
 4,346,850 
 
 
 2,394,703 
 
 *1849 
 
 16,749 
 
 163,703 
 
 4,905,176 
 
 4,479,049 
 
 1,320,921 
 
 2,577,407 
 
 *1850 
 
 18,417 
 
 178,672 
 
 5,552,971 
 
 5,212,953 
 
 1,549,376 
 
 2,965,786 
 
 *1851 
 
 19,796 
 
 196,290 
 
 6,727,867 
 
 6,278,402 
 
 1,781,686 
 
 3,538,064 
 
 *1852 
 
 20,901 
 
 214,284 
 
 6,925,971 
 
 7,108,459 
 
 1,296,765 
 
 4,225,311 
 
 *1853 
 
 22,320 
 
 217,743 
 
 5,940,725 
 
 7,982,957 
 
 1,406,477 
 
 4,906,308 
 
 *1854 
 
 23,548 
 
 219,935 
 
 6,955,586 
 
 8,577,424 
 
 1,707,708 
 
 5,401,382 
 
 *1855 
 
 24,410 
 
 227,908 
 
 7,342,136 
 
 9,968,342 
 
 2,135,335 
 
 6,076,335 
 
 *1856 
 
 25,565 
 
 239,642 
 
 7,620.822 
 
 10,405,286 
 
 2,102,891 
 
 6,765,639 
 
 *1857 
 
 26,586 
 
 242,601 
 
 8,053,952 
 
 11,508,058 
 
 2,285,610 
 
 7,239,333 
 
 *1858 
 
 27,977 
 
 260,603 
 
 8,186,793 
 
 12,722,470 
 
 2,355,016 
 
 8,246,054 
 
 *1859 
 
 28,539 
 
 260,052 
 
 8,668,484 
 
 15,754,093 
 
 2,453,901 
 
 7,157,629 
 
 *1860 
 
 28,498 
 
 240,594 
 
 8,518,067 
 
 19,170,600 
 
 2,552,868 
 
 14,281,655 
 
 *1861 
 
 28,586 
 
 140,399 
 
 8,349,296 
 
 13,606,759 
 
 2,514,157 
 
 9,173,274 
 
 *1862 
 
 28,875 
 
 134,013 
 
 8,299,820 
 
 11,125,364 
 
 2,340,767 
 
 6,993.613 
 
 *1863 
 
 29,047 
 
 139,598 
 
 11,163,789 
 
 11,314,206 
 
 2,876,983 
 
 6,54i;580 
 
 * The returns from 1846 to 1851 are for the six years under the law 
 of March 3, 1845. Those from 1852 to 1863 are under the reduced 
 rates established by the acts of March 3, 1851, and March 3, 1855. 
 
IMPORTANT POSTAL TABLES. 
 
 263 
 
 COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE VALUE OF STAMPS AND STAMPED ENVELOPES ISSUED 
 DURING THE THREE YEARS 1860-61-62. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Stamps. 
 
 Envelopes. 
 
 Total. 
 
 I860 
 
 $5920939 00 
 
 $949,377 19 
 
 $6,870,316 19 
 
 1861 
 
 5 908 522 60 
 
 781711 13 
 
 6,690233 73 
 
 1862. . 
 
 7,078,188 00 
 
 756,904 00 
 
 7,835,092 00 
 
 
 
 
 
 Increase over the issue of 1860 $964,775 81 
 
 Increase over the issue of 1861 1,144,858 27 
 
 STATEMENT SHOWING POSTAL REVENUE AND EXPENDITURES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN TOTO 
 
 AND PER CAPITA, ACCORDING TO POPULATION, AT EIGHT SUCCESSIVE DECADES, FROM 1790 
 TO 1863, INCLUSIVE. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Expenditures. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Revenue per 
 capita. 
 
 Expenditures 
 per capita. 
 
 1790 
 
 $37,935 
 
 $32,140 
 
 3,929,827 
 
 $ of a cent. 
 
 fa of a cent. 
 
 1800 
 
 280,804 
 
 213,994 
 
 5,305,925 
 
 5A cents. 
 
 4 cents. 
 
 1810 
 
 551,684 
 
 495,969 
 
 7,239,814 
 
 ?1O " 
 
 & ' 
 
 1820 
 
 1,111,927 
 
 1,160,926 
 
 9,638,131 
 
 lli " 
 
 12 
 
 1830 
 
 1,919,300 
 
 1,959,109 
 
 12,866,020 
 
 14? " 4 
 
 15$) ' 
 
 1840 
 
 4,543,522 
 
 4,718,236 
 
 17,069,453 
 
 
 27} 6 o ' 
 
 1850 
 
 5,499,985 
 
 5,212,953 
 
 23,191,876 
 
 23$! " 
 
 22i ** 
 
 1851 
 
 6,410,604 
 
 6,278,402 
 
 23,873,717 
 
 26A " 
 
 26? " 
 
 1852 
 
 5,184,527 
 
 7,108,459 
 
 24,575,604 
 
 2lX | 
 
 98 " 
 ^010 
 
 1853 
 
 5,240,725 
 
 7,982,756 
 
 25,298,126 
 
 20 ]\) 
 
 31& ' 
 
 1854 
 
 6,255,586 
 
 8,577,424 
 
 26,041,890 
 
 24 " 
 
 32? ' 
 
 1855 
 
 6,642,136 
 
 9,968,342 
 
 26,807,521 
 
 24j8 " 
 
 37fl) ' 
 
 1856 
 
 6,920,822 
 
 10,405,286 
 
 27,595,662 
 
 25 " 
 
 37j 7 o ' 
 
 1857 
 
 7,353,952 
 
 11,508,058 
 
 28,406,974 
 
 25 i 9 o " 
 
 40J 
 
 1858 
 
 7,486,793 
 
 12,722,470 
 
 29,242,139 
 
 
 434 
 
 1859 
 
 7,968,484 
 
 15,754,093 
 
 30,101,857 
 
 r " 
 
 52? " 
 
 1860 
 
 8,518,067 
 
 14,874,601 
 
 31,445,089 
 
 27 A " 
 
 47 $ " 
 
 1861 
 
 8,349,296 
 
 13,606,759 
 
 32,577,112 
 
 25$) ' 
 
 } " 
 
 1862 
 
 8,299,821 
 
 11,125,364 
 
 33,749,888 
 
 24A ' 
 
 as " 
 
 1863 
 
 11,163,790 
 
 11,314,207 
 
 34,762,384 
 
 32 ib ' 
 
 S2& ' 
 
 NOTE. The population from 1851 to 1863, excepting the year 1860, is estimated by the 
 standard ratio of increase. 
 
 CHANGES AND REDUCTIONS IN THE RATES OF DO- 
 MESTIC POSTAGE IN FORMER YEARS. 
 
 The following will exhibit the principal changes and 
 reductions in the rates of postage on domestic letters at 
 various dates from 1792 to 1863. The single rate for 
 land transit is referred to in every case. 
 
 Act of February 20, 1792. Rates for a single-sheet letter, 30 miles 
 or under, 6 cents ; 30 to 60 miles, 8 cents ; 60 to 100 miles, 10 cents ; 
 100 to 150 miles, 12 cents ; 150 to 200 miles, 15 cents ; 200 to 250 miles, 
 
264 DOMESTIC POSTAGE. 
 
 17 cents; 250 to 350 miles, 20 cents; 350 to 450 miles, 22 cents; over 
 450 miles, 25 cents. 
 
 Act of 2d March, 1799. Rates for a single-sheet letter, 40 miles or 
 under, 8 cents ; 40 to 90 miles, 10 cents ; 90 to 150 miles, 12 cents ; 
 150 to 300 miles, 17 cents; 300 to 500 miles, 20 cents; over 500 miles, 
 25 cents. 
 
 The revenue act of 23d December, 1814, added 50 per cent, to the 
 rates last above ; but the addition was repealed February 1, 1816, which 
 restored the rates of 1799. 
 
 Act of April 9, 1816. Rates for a single-sheet letter, 30 miles or 
 under, 6 cents ; 30 to 80 miles, 10 cents ; 80 to 150 miles, 12 J cents ; 
 150 to 400 miles, 18J cents ; over 400 miles, 25 cents. 
 
 Act of 3d March, 1845. Rates for a single-sheet letter, 300 miles 
 or under, 5 cents ; over 300 miles, 10 cents. 
 
 Act of 3d March, 1851. Rates for a half-ounce letter, 3000 miles 
 or under, if prepaid, 3 cents, if unpaid, 5 cents ; over 3000 miles, 
 double. 
 
 Act of 3d March, 1855. Rates for a half-ounce letter, 3000 miles 
 or under, 3 cents ; over 3000 miles, 10 cents. 
 
 Under this act prepayment was not compulsory, and after January, 
 1856, prepayment by stamps was required. 
 
 [The issue of postage-stamps was first authorized by an act of 3d 
 March, 1847, and subsequently by the act of 3d March, 1851.] 
 
 Act of 3d March, 1863. Rate for half-ounce letter, 3 cents every- 
 where throughout the United States. 
 
 DOMESTIC POSTAGE. 
 
 The law requires postage on all letters (including those 
 to foreign countries when prepaid), excepting those written 
 by officers of the government, addressed to the depart- 
 ment with which they are connected, and on official busi- 
 ness, to be prepaid by stamps or stamped envelopes, pre- 
 payment in money being prohibited. 
 
 All drop-letters must be prepaid, at the rate of two 
 cents per half-ounce or fraction of a half-ounce, by post- 
 age stamps. If not prepaid, the double rate to be charged. 
 
 The single rate of postage on all domestic mail-letters 
 throughout the United States is three cents per half-ounce, 
 with an additional rate of three cents for each additional 
 
NEWSPAPER POSTAGE. 265 
 
 half-ounce or fraction of a half-ounce. The former ten- 
 cent (Pacific) rate is abolished. 
 
 NEWSPAPER POSTAGE. 
 
 Postage on Daily Papers to subscribers when prepaid 
 quarterly or yearly in advance, either at the mailing-office 
 or office of delivery, per quarter (three months) . . 35 cts. 
 Six times per week, " " 30 " 
 
 For Tri- Weekly, " 15 " 
 
 For Semi-Weekly, " " 10 " 
 
 For Weekly, " " 5 " 
 
 WEEKLY NEWSPAPEKS (one copy only) sent by the 
 publisher to actual subscribers within the county where 
 printed and published, free. 
 
 POSTAGE PER QUARTER (to be paid quarterly or yearly 
 in advance) on NEWSPAPERS and PERIODICALS issued less 
 frequently than once a week, sent to actual subscribers in 
 any part of the United States : 
 
 Semi-monthly, not over 4 oz , 6 cts. 
 
 " over 4 oz. and not over 8 oz 12 " 
 
 " over 8 oz. and not over 12 oz 18 " 
 
 Monthly, not over 4 oz 3 " 
 
 " over 4 oz. and not over 8 oz 6 " 
 
 " over 8 oz. and not over 12 oz 9 " 
 
 Quarterly, not over 4 oz 1 " 
 
 " over 4 oz. and not over 8 oz 2 " 
 
 " over 8 oz. and not over 12 oz 3 " 
 
 PUBLISHERS OF NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS may 
 send to each other from their respective offices of publica- 
 tion, free of postage, one copy of each publication, and 
 may also send to each actual subscriber, enclosed in their 
 publications, bills and receipts for the same, free of post- 
 age. They may also state on their respective publications 
 the date when the subscription expires, to be written or 
 printed. 
 
 23 
 
266 NEWSPAPER POSTAGE. 
 
 Religious, educational, and agricultural newspapers 
 of small size, issued less frequently than once a week, 
 may be sent in packages to one address at the rate of one 
 cent for each package not exceeding four ounces in weight, 
 and an additional charge of one cent is made for each 
 additional four ounces or fraction thereof, the postage to 
 be paid quarterly or yearly in advance. 
 
 NEWSDEALERS may send newspapers and periodicals to 
 regular subscribers at the quarterly rates, in the same 
 manner as publishers, and may also receive them from 
 publishers at subscribers' rates. In both cases the postage 
 
 -L Jr o 
 
 to be prepaid, either at the mailing- or delivery -office. 
 
 Publications issued without disclosing the office of pub- 
 lication, or containing a fictitious statement thereof, must 
 not be forwarded by postmasters unless prepaid at the 
 mailing-office at the rates of transient printed matter. 
 
 A letter over 500 miles cost thirty-seven and one-half 
 cents in 1815; now it is carried to the extreme portion of 
 our country, traversing mountains, passing deep ravines 
 and rivers, for the small sum of three cents ! 
 
 Harpers 7 Magazine, had it been in existence in 1815, 
 would have cost for each one twenty-seven cents, whereas 
 now they only cost three cents to all parts of the country. 
 What an age for literature ! what an era in learning ! 
 
 In 1779, in consequence of the increased nature of the 
 postal business and the necessity for a more extended 
 ramification of the system, the postmaster-general was to 
 receive $5000 per annum, and the comptroller $4000, 
 meaning, of course, Continental money. Besides these 
 two offices in the postal department, there was a secretary 
 who acted as clerk to the postmaster-general. The comp- 
 troller settled the accounts, and was the book-keeper. 
 There were three surveyors, who were to travel and inspect 
 the conduct of the riders, agents, &c. There was also an 
 inspector of dead letters, at a salary of $100 a year. 
 
THE POSTAL DEPARTMENT. 267 
 
 What is now called the post-office department was 
 established in 1789 as the "post-office," and subsequently 
 as the "general post-office," under the power given to 
 Congress by the Constitution "to establish post-offices 
 and post-roads," and the exclusive privilege and control 
 of all postal affairs, &c. 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE POSTAL DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Congress shall have power " to establish post-offices and 
 post-roads." This short, concise, yet embracing sentence 
 sums up the constitutional basis of this department. It 
 is comprehensive enough to all who fully understand the 
 economical and practical workings of our government. 
 Its conciseness is its very history ; and that history becomes 
 a mighty tome in the library of nations. 
 
 The direction and management of the post-office depart- 
 ment are assigned by the Constitution to the postmaster- 
 general. That its business may be the more conveniently 
 arranged and prepared for its final action, it is distributed 
 among several bureaus, as follows : the Appointment- 
 Office, in charge of the First Assistant Postmaster-Gene- 
 ral ; the Contract-Office, in charge of the Second Assistant 
 Postmaster-General ; the Finance-Office, in charge of the 
 Third Assistant Postmaster-General ; and the Inspection- 
 Office, in charge of the Chief Clerk. 
 
 The duties of the several departments named above 
 are thus defined : 
 
 The postmaster-general "is further directed to superin- 
 tend the business of the department in all the duties that 
 are or may be assigned to it, and he is required once in 
 three months to render to the Secretary of the Treasury an 
 account of all the receipts and expenditures in the depart- 
 ment, to be adjusted and settled as other accounts." The 
 postmaster-general may establish post-offices and appoint 
 postmasters on the post-roads which are or may be author- 
 
268 THE POSTAL DEPARTMENT. 
 
 ized by law, at all such places as to him may appear expe- 
 dient. He regulates the number of times the mail shall 
 go from place to place, and he is authorized to contract 
 for carrying the mail, and to establish post-roads. 
 
 APPOINTMENT-OFFICE. 
 
 The Appointment-Office not only has supervision of the 
 appointment and regulation of all postmasters, and the 
 establishment and discontinuance of post-offices, but also 
 the distribution of blanks, wrapping-paper, and twine to 
 all post-offices ; the supervision of pay of clerks in post- 
 offices ; of allowance for furniture of post-offices ; of extra 
 allowances to postmasters under the acts of Congress ; of 
 the appointment and pay of special agents, route-agents, 
 local agents, and blank-agents, and of baggage-masters 
 in charge of mails; of the foreign mail transportation 
 and foreign correspondence ; together with some other mis- 
 cellaneous duties. 
 
 CONTRA CT- OFFICE. 
 
 The Contract-Office is charged with the conduct of mail- 
 lettings, and all contracts and allowances for inland mail 
 transportation, with the mail messenger service ; the su- 
 pervision and regulation of mail-contractors, and the 
 routes of mail-transit, including distributing-offices; and 
 with the increase and diminution of service on mail- 
 routes. 
 
 FINANCE-OFFICE. 
 
 To this office are assigned the issuing of postage-stamps 
 and stamped envelopes for the prepayment of postage and 
 the accounts thereof; the preparation of warrants and 
 drafts in payment of balances reported by the Auditor to 
 be due to mail-contractors and other persons; and the 
 superintendence of the rendition by postmasters of their 
 
THE POSTAL DEPARTMENT. 269 
 
 quarterly returns of postages. It embraces, also, all the 
 operations of the dead-letter office, and the accounts con- 
 nected therewith. 
 
 INSPECTION- OFFICE. 
 
 The Inspection -Office is charged with the observation of 
 failures and delinquencies in the service of contractors 
 and route-agents ; with fines and remissions thereof; with 
 the subject of mail-depredations, and prosecution of vio- 
 lators of postal laws ; with the duty of procuring and dis- 
 tributing mail-bags, locks and keys, and some other duties 
 of detail. 
 
 Perhaps no institution in this or any other country re- 
 quires more enterprise, general knowledge of business, 
 and geography, than does that of the post-office. We 
 have already alluded to the fact of its being considered 
 by many as a "mere workshop" of the general depart- 
 ment, and whose operations are simply mechanical ; but 
 our readers ere this have been undeceived as regards such 
 a construction, and it must loom up before them a promi- 
 nent intellectual branch of our government. 
 
 That England has a high estimate of her post-office 
 department is evident from the encouragement given to 
 every one connected with it, and sustaining alike its lite- 
 rary character in historic publications. We make the 
 following extract from a recent work entitled "Her Ma- 
 jesty's Mails' 7 : 
 
 " There is no postal service in the world so well managed 
 as that of Great Britain. It is now not merely a self- 
 supporting but a productive institution; whereas there 
 was a deficiency of half a million in the post-office of 
 America before the rupture between North and South. 
 Though America for ninety years has been, next to Eng- 
 land, the most commercial country in the world, yet, 
 compared with the population, five times as many letters 
 
 23* 
 
270 THE POSTAL DEPARTMENT. 
 
 pass through the English post as through the American. 
 London and its suburbs alone, with its less than three 
 millions of inhabitants, sends forth a greater number of 
 letters than the whole of America. 
 
 " The next best-managed post-office to our own is that of 
 France; but in France, by the law of 1856, there are 
 five different tariffs of postages. Judged by the revenue 
 produced, the English post-office, notwithstanding its low 
 rate of charges, stands first. 
 
 " The Austrian post-office produces a revenue of 3,7 14,200 
 florins, or .378,000 ; the Belgian, 2,960,000 francs ; the 
 French, 66,452,000 francs ; and the English, 3,800,000 ; 
 being more than a quarter of a million beyond the pro- 
 ceeds of 1862. 
 
 " A comparison of the year 1839 the year immediately 
 preceding the penny postage with the year 1861 gives 
 these results : An increase nearly eightfold in the charge- 
 able letters ; a threefold increase in the receptacles for 
 letters ; a fortyfold increase in the number of money- 
 orders ; a fifty fold increase in the amount of money-orders ; 
 and an increase of the gross revenue in round numbers 
 from 2,390,000 to 3,402,000. The amount of the 
 correspondence of a country will measure, with some 
 approach towards accuracy, as Mr. Matthew Hill says, 
 the height which a people has reached in true civilization. 
 The town of Manchester equals in its number of letters 
 the Empire of all the Russias both in Europe and Asia ; 
 and this fact we owe, as many of the marvels we have 
 stated, to Sir Rowland Hill. The poor and the lowly, 
 the domestic servant and the humble artisan, can now 
 correspond with each other from one end of the kingdom 
 to the other at the trifling expense of Id. ; and for this 
 civilizing, Christianizing, and eminently social good we 
 are indebted to a late post-office secretary, whose merits 
 have been recognized, but who cannot be overpaid in 
 
POST-COACHES AND RAILROADS. 271 
 
 money or money's worth. As Lord Palmerston said on 
 the 10th of June, Sir R. Hill showed, in relation to the 
 post-office, great genius, sagacity, perseverance, and in- 
 dustry, and he was the first to prove that the department 
 was a public institution for the performance of services, 
 rather than for the collection* of revenue. If, as the first 
 minister of the crown stated, and as we believe, the culti- 
 vation of the aifections raises men in their own estimation, 
 improves their morals, and develops their social qualities, 
 Sir R. Hill has been amongst the greatest benefactors of 
 the human race, and he well deserves the vote that was 
 agreed to on the 10th of June without a dissentient 
 
 POST-COACHES, POST-HORSES, AND RAILROADS. 
 
 Postmaster-generals up to the period when railroads 
 superseded that of post-coaches and post-horses had a 
 much harder time in their "vocation" than have their 
 successors since. The difficulties then were to overcome 
 the opposition of parties interested in contracts. Coaches 
 and post-horses, routes and agents, became important 
 items in such contracts ; and the least favoritism on the 
 part of the postmaster-general called forth not only cen- 
 sure from those immediately interested, but not unfre- 
 quently from those high in authority. During the postal 
 administration of W. T. Barry, Esq., considerable politi- 
 cal feeling was mixed up with these complaints. Mails at 
 that period (1835) were carried on horseback from central 
 points, and by four-horse post-coaches from city to city. 
 Lines of stages were established in several sections of our 
 country. The number of post-offices was 10,693. The 
 line of stages extended to the western boundary of Mis- 
 souri ; to St. Augustine, in Florida ; through Indiana, by 
 the seat of government in that State ; through the whole 
 Territory of Michigan and State of Illinois ; from Detroit 
 
272 SOMETHING ABOUT RAILR OADS. 
 
 to Chicago ; and from Chicago to St. Louis, in Missouri ; 
 thence to New Orleans, in half the time which it formerly 
 occupied. This facility, however, was afforded by con- 
 necting the coaches with steamboats in the mail-transport- 
 ation. Lines of post-coaches were also established in this 
 year from Nashville to Memphis, on the Mississippi River, 
 in Tennessee; from Tuscumbia in Alabama to Natchez 
 in Mississippi ; and to Tuscaloosa, the seat of government 
 in Alabama ; and from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery ; com- 
 pleting a direct line from Nashville in Tennessee, and all 
 the other Western States, to the city of New Orleans. 
 
 A semi-weekly line of two-horse stages was added to 
 a tri-weekly line of four-horse- post-coaches from Wash- 
 ington City, through Lynchburg in Virginia, Salisbury, 
 N.C., Yorkville, S.C., and Augusta, to Savannah in 
 Georgia; from thence to the northern part of Georgia, 
 through that State to Tallahassee, and to Pensacola in 
 Florida. 
 
 We have given this statement for the purpose of show- 
 ing the amount of labor essential to the transportation of 
 the mails at that period, compared to what it is now. It 
 is, however, somewhat strange that railroads were not esta- 
 blished in many places, which would have obviated the 
 necessity of coaches. 
 
 SOMETHING ABOUT RAILROADS. 
 
 Railroads, although evidently of ancient origin, were 
 first used near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in 1650. Wooden 
 rails four to eight inches square, resting upon transverse 
 sleepers two feet apart, were in use for many years, when 
 railroads of the same description covered with thin plates 
 of iron were substituted. 
 
 In another part of this work we speak of the lost arts. 
 Proofs of their existence are found in the excavated cities, 
 and even in those vestiges which establish the belief of 
 
SOMETHING ABOUT RAILROADS. 273 
 
 an antediluvian state of society equal to any that has 
 existed since. Egypt abounds with antiquities. Where 
 are the ramparts of Nineveh, the walls of Babylon, the 
 palaces of Persepolis, the temples of Baalbec and Jeru- 
 salem ? Where are the fleets of Tyre, the docks of Arad, 
 the looms of Sidon, and the multitude of sailors, pilots, 
 merchants, and soldiers ? Where are those laborers, those 
 harvests, those flocks, and that crowd of living beings 
 which then covered the face of the earth ?* 
 
 The temples are crumbled down, the palaces are over- 
 thrown, the ports are filled up, the cities are destroyed, 
 all, all. Earth itself is only a desolate place of tombs. 
 Yet specimens of high art remain, and also indications of 
 a classic taste far superior to that which boasts of refine- 
 ment since. We have every reason to believe that railroads 
 were known to the Asiatics long, long before these cities 
 fell in their ruins, carrying along with them the charts by 
 which we could have traced their cause of greatness. The 
 cities of the desert that of Palmyra, for instance could 
 never have been built so far away from " marble-quarries" 
 if railroad facilities had not been known and afforded the 
 means of conveying those vast blocks of marble which 
 formed its pillars. 
 
 The cities of Palmyra and the spot which marks the 
 site of Tadmor present an imposing spectacle in rising 
 from the sands of the desert. It looks like a forest of 
 columns. The great avenue of pillars leading to the 
 Temple of the Sun, and terminated by a grand arch, is 
 1200 feet in length. The temple itself is a magnificent 
 object. The city is a vast collection of ruins, all of white 
 marble. How were these huge columns of marble con- 
 veyed to this city of the desert? 
 
 The sculptures of the Memphite Necropolis say that 
 
 * Volney. 
 
274 SOMETHING ABOUT RAILROADS. 
 
 Memphis once held a palace called the "Abode of 
 Shoopho." Shoopho was the owner of vast copper-mines: 
 he was termed " pure king and sacred priest." Historians 
 doubted the power he exercised over Egypt, and also the 
 amount of labor performed in erecting pyramids and 
 monuments, as, for instance, it is maintained that he 
 employed 100,000 men for twenty years in erecting a 
 monument for which ten preceding years were requisite 
 in preparing the materials and the causeway whereon the 
 stone was to be carried. The monument, as described 
 by historians, was of immense proportions, the base of 
 which was 764 feet each face, the original height 480 feet, 
 containing 89,028,000 cubic feet of solid masonry and 
 6,848,000 tons of stone. The distance these materials 
 were carried was twenty miles from the quarries on the 
 eastern side of the Nile. What sort of a causeway was 
 that which could transport these huge masses of stone a 
 distance of twenty miles? Again, this great pyramid is 
 lined with the most beautiful and massive blocks of 
 sienite, of red granite, not one particle of which exists 
 twenty-five miles below the first cataract of the Nile, at 
 Aswan, distant six hundred and forty miles up the river 
 from the pyramid? Blocks of this sienite are found in 
 this pyramid's chambers and passages of such dimensions, 
 and built in such portions of the masonry that they must 
 evidently have been placed there before the upper limestone 
 masonry was laid above the granite. There not being in its 
 native state a speck of granite within six hundred and forty 
 miles from the pyramid, is a proof that Shoopho did rule 
 from Memphis to Aswan, and from Migdol to the tower 
 of Syene. How he conveyed the material that distance 
 involves the question of the origin of railroads. 
 
 Let us pass on to Alexandria. Pompey's Pillar stands 
 upon a pedestal twelve feet high. The shaft is round, and, 
 with the Corinthian capital, one hundred feet in height; 
 
HOW THE PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT. 275 
 
 the diameter is nine feet. Cleopatra's Needle is of one 
 shaft of granite, covered with hieroglyphics: it is sixty- 
 four feet high, and eight feet square at the base. There 
 are a great number of pyramids scattered over Egypt, but 
 the most remarkable are those of Djizeh, Sakhara, and 
 Dashour. When seven leagues distant from the spectator 
 they seem near at hand, and it is not till after having 
 travelled several miles that he is fully sensible of the size. 
 The largest is ascribed to Cheops. They are on a plat- 
 form of rock situated one hundred and fifty feet above 
 the level of the desert. Ten years were consumed in pre- 
 paring a road whereon to draw the immense blocks of 
 stone, and the labors of 100,000 men were employed, who 
 were relieved once in three months. Herodotus. 
 
 What sort of a road and the manner these blocks were 
 carried are matters of conjecture. We incline to the opinion 
 of railroads. 
 
 HOW THE PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT. 
 
 The stones used in building the pyramids of Egypt, it 
 is supposed, were raised to their places by piling up im- 
 mense inclined planes of sand, up which the blocks were 
 pushed with rollers. If inclined planes were used to raise 
 large blocks to a great height, is it to be supposed that a 
 similar mode, or railroads, were not used to convey them 
 on a level plane? 
 
 The statement, often repeated on high authority, that 
 the pyramids were built before the Egyptians acquired the 
 art of writing hieroglyphics, however, which they do con- 
 tain, do not convey that full knowledge of the state of the 
 arts among them, at the time the pyramids were constructed, 
 which is to be learned from the writings and pictures in 
 their tombs and temples, in regard to the state of their arts 
 at a subsequent period. But we have the less valuable 
 authority of Herodotus that the blocks of stones were 
 
276 RAILROADS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 lifted from one course to the other up the steps of the 
 pyramid. Remains of Cheops' grand causeway, for trans- 
 porting the blocks quarried from the rocks on the east 
 bank, are still seen leading up the great pyramid from the 
 plain, a shapeless ridge of ruinous masonry and sand. 
 According to Herodotus, it was one thousand yards long, 
 sixty feet wide, and forty-eight feet high, was adorned 
 with figures of animals, and was a work of ten years. 
 Some of the stone used for the coping over the passages 
 are seven feet thick and more than seventeen feet long. 
 Lifting these stones up the side of a pyramid four hundred 
 and fifty feet high was certainly a work of great labor; 
 but as a feat of engineering it was mere child's play com- 
 pared with some of the triumphs of modern science and 
 skill, for instance, lifting the Menai bridge on to its 
 piers, or raising on end and placing on its pedestal the 
 monstrous monolith which adorns the city of St. Peters- 
 burg. 
 
 RAILROADS FROM 1760 ENGLAND. 
 
 In 1760, wooden railroads were in pretty general use to 
 facilitate mining operations. Tram-roads, with rails of 
 cast iron, first introduced at the Colebrookdale Works, at 
 the instance of Mr. Reynolds in 1767; at the Sheffield 
 colliery in 1776. Stone props for the support of the rails 
 substituted for timber in 1797, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
 Edge rails were brought into use by Mr. Jessop in 1789, 
 at Loughborough. Malleable iron edge rails adopted at 
 Newcastle in 1805, and at Tinsdale Fell in 1808. The 
 improved malleable edge rail now in use was invented by 
 Mr. Birkinsaw in 1820. A locomotive engine propelled 
 by steam was employed for the first time on the Merthyr- 
 Tydvil Railroad in Wales in 1804. Blenkinsop's loco- 
 motive engine, which operated by means of cog-wheels 
 and rack rails, was invented and applied on the Leeds 
 Railroad in 1811. But the locomotive engine that has 
 
RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 277 
 
 obtained the greatest reputation and been most generally 
 adopted was that invented by Mr. George Stevenson in 
 1814. This engine has undergone a variety of improve- 
 ments up to 1829, and was deemed at that period more 
 efficient than any of its predecessors. 
 
 RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 (Abstract of the Seventh Census.) 
 
 In no other particular can the prosperity of a country 
 be more strikingly manifested than by the perfection of its 
 roads and other means of internal communication. The 
 system of railroads, canals, turnpikes, post-routes, river 
 navigation, and telegraphs possessed by the United States 
 presents an indication of its advancement in power and 
 civilization more wonderful than any other feature of its 
 progress. In truth, our country in this respect occupies 
 the first place among the nations of the world. 
 
 From returns received at this office in reply to special 
 circulars, and other sources of information, it is ascertained 
 that there were, at the commencement of the year 1852, 
 10,814 miles of railroads completed and in use, and that 
 10,898 miles were then in course of construction, with a 
 prospect of being speedily brought into use. While the 
 whole of these 10,898 miles will, beyond reasonable doubt, 
 have been finished within five years, such is the activity 
 with which projects for works of this character are brought 
 forward and carried into effect, that it is not extravagant 
 to assume that there will be completed within the limits 
 of the United States before the year 1860 at least 35,000 
 miles of railroads. 
 
 The Quincy Railroad, for the transportation of granite 
 from the quarries at Quincy to Neponset River, and the 
 Mauch Chunk Railroad, from the coal-mines to the Lehigh 
 River, in Pennsylvania, were the first attempts to intro- 
 duce that mode of transportation in this country; and 
 
278 RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 their construction and opening, in the years 1826 and 1827, 
 are properly considered the commencement of the Ame- 
 rican railroad system. From this period until about the 
 year 1848, the progress of the improvements thus begun 
 was interrupted only by the financial revulsion which fol- 
 lowed the events of 1836 and 1837. Up to 1848, it is 
 stated that about 6000 miles had been finished. Since that 
 date an addition of 5000 miles has been made to the com- 
 pleted roads, and, including the present year, new lines, 
 comprising about 14,000 miles, have been undertaken, 
 surveyed, and mostly placed under contract. 
 
 The usefulness and comparative economy of railroads as 
 channels of commerce and travel have become so evident 
 that they have in some measure superseded canals, and are 
 likely to detract seriously from the importance of navigable 
 rivers for like purposes. In a new country like ours many 
 items of expense which go to swell the cost of railroads 
 in England and on the continent are avoided. Material is 
 cheap, the right of way usually freely granted, and heavy 
 land damages seldom interpose to retard the progress of 
 an important work. It is difficult to arrive at a clear 
 approximation to the average cost of railroad construction 
 in the United States. Probably the first important work 
 of this class undertaken and carried through in the Union 
 was the cheapest, as it has proved one of the most profit- 
 able, ever built. This was the road from Charleston, in 
 South Carolina, to Augusta, on the Savannah River. It 
 was finished and opened for traffic in 1833. The entire 
 expense of building the road and equipping it with engines 
 and cars for passengers and freight was, at the date of its 
 completion, only $6700 per mile; and all expenditures for 
 repairs and improvements, during the eighteen years that 
 the road has been in operation, have raised the aggregate 
 cost of the whole work to only $1,336,615, or less than 
 $10,000 per mile. 
 
RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 279 
 
 It is estimated that the 2870 miles of railroads finished 
 in New England have cost $132,000,000, which gives an 
 average of nearly $46,000 per mile. In the Middle States, 
 where the natural obstacles are somewhat less, the average 
 expense per mile of the railroads already built is not far 
 from $40,000. Those now in course of completion as 
 the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Pennsylvania Central, 
 and other lines, the routes of which cross the Alleghany 
 range of mountains will probably require a larger pro- 
 portionate outlay, owing to the heavy expense of grading, 
 bridging, and tunnelling. In those States where land has 
 become exceedingly valuable, the cost of extinguishing 
 private titles to the real estate requires, and the damages 
 to property along the routes form, a heavy item in the 
 account of general expenses of building railroads. In the 
 South and West the case is reversed : there the proprietors 
 along the proposed line of a road are often willing and 
 anxious to give as much land as may be needed for its 
 purposes, and accord many other advantages in order to 
 secure its location through or in the vicinity of their pos- 
 sessions. In the States lying in the valleys of the Ohio 
 and Mississippi the cost of grading, also, is much less than 
 at the eastward. Where the country is wooded, the timber 
 can be obtained at the mere cost of removing it from the 
 track ; and through prairie districts Nature seems to have 
 prepared the way for these structures by removing every 
 obstacle from the surface; while fine quarries of stone are 
 to be found in almost every region. These favorable cir- 
 cumstances render the estimate of $20,000 per mile in all 
 the new States safe and reliable. 
 
 The primary design of nearly all the great lines of rail- 
 way in the United States has been to connect the sea-coast 
 with the distant interior, to effect which object it was 
 necessary to cross the Alleghanies, which intersect every 
 
280 RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 line of travel diverging to the West from the great com- 
 mercial cities of the seaboard. 
 
 The Eighth Census (1860), continuing the line, makes 
 this addition to that of the Seventh: 
 
 Previous to the commencement of the last decade, only 
 one line of railroad has been completed between tide- 
 water and the great interior basins of the country, the 
 products of which now perform so important a part in our 
 internal and foreign commerce. Even this line, formed 
 by the several links that now compose the New York 
 Central Road, was restricted in the carriage of freight 
 except on the payment of canal tolls in addition to other 
 charges for transportation, which restriction amounted to 
 a virtual prohibition. The commerce resulting from our 
 railroads consequently has been, with comparatively slight 
 exceptions, a creation of the last decade. 
 
 The line next opened, and connecting the Western sys- 
 tem of lakes and rivers with tide-water, was that extending 
 from Boston to Ogdensburg, composed of distinct links, 
 the last of which was completed during 1850. The third 
 was the New York & Erie, which was opened on the 22d 
 of April, 1851. The fourth in geographical order was 
 the Pennsylvania, which was completed in 1852, although 
 its mountain division was not opened till 1854. Previous 
 to this time its summit was overcome by a series of in- 
 clined planes, with stationary engines, constructed by the 
 State. The fifth great line, the Baltimore & Ohio, was 
 opened in 1853 still farther south. The Tennessee River, 
 a tributary of the Mississippi was reached in 1850 by 
 the Western & Atlantic Railroad of Georgia, and the Mis- 
 sissippi itself by the Memphis & Charleston Railroad in 
 1859. In the extreme north the Atlantic & St. Lawrence, 
 now known as the Grand Trunk, was completed early in 
 1853. In 1858 the Virginia system was extended to a 
 
RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 281 
 
 connection with the Memphis & Charleston and with the 
 Nashville & Chattanooga Eailroad. 
 
 The eight great works named, connecting the interior 
 with the seaboard, are the trunks or base-lines upon which 
 is erected the vast system that now overspreads the whole 
 country. They serve as outlets to the interior for its pro- 
 ducts, which would have little or no commercial value 
 without improved highways, the cost of transportation 
 over which does not equal one-tenth that over ordinary 
 roads. The works named, assisted by the Erie Canal, now 
 afford ample means for the expeditious and cheap trans- 
 portation of produce-seeking Eastern markets, and could 
 without being overtaxed transport the entire surplus pro- 
 ducts of the interior. 
 
 Previous to 1850 by far the greater portion of railroads 
 constructed were in the States bordering the Atlantic, and, 
 as before remarked, were for the most part isolated lines, 
 whose limited traffics were altogether local. Up to the 
 date named, the internal commerce of the country was 
 conducted almost entirely through water lines, natural and 
 artificial, and over ordinary highways. The period of 
 the settlement of California marks really the commence- 
 ment of the new era in the physical progress of the United 
 States. The vast quantities of gold it produced imparted 
 new life and activity to every portion of the Union, par 
 ticularly the Western States, the people of which, at the 
 commencement of 1850, were thoroughly aroused as to 
 the value and importance of railroads. Each presented 
 great facilities for the construction of such works which 
 promised to be almost equally productive. Enterprises 
 were undertaken and speedily executed which have lite- 
 rally converted them into a net-work of lines, and secured 
 their advantages to almost every farmer and producer. 
 
 The progress of these works in the aggregate, year by 
 year, will be seen by the tabular statements at the close 
 
 24* 
 
282 RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of the report. The only important line opened in the 
 West, previous to 1850, was the one from Sandusky to 
 Cincinnati, formed by the Mad River and Little Miami 
 Roads. But these pioneer works were rude, unsubstantial 
 structures compared with the finished works of the present 
 day, and were employed almost wholly in the transporta- 
 tion of passengers. 
 
 With the advantages arising from the railroad routes, 
 it is not at all surprising that our postal facilities have in- 
 creased to such an extent that, next to the telegraphic wires, 
 it may rank as one of the most extraordinary operative 
 institutions in this or any other country in the world. 
 
 It will be perceived that in speaking of the department 
 the author has paid little or no attention to the rebellion 
 in connection with its operations. Situated as he is in the 
 department, his opportunities are such that if the business 
 of the office has lessened, as is supposed, in consequence, 
 there is not a man engaged but must truly say that, instead 
 of such being the case, their labors, as well as the business 
 of the office, never presented a more stirring and flourish- 
 ing appearance. In some respects it may have aifected 
 the general income, but upon the whole the vast increase 
 of army letters and newspaper circulation, added to sundry 
 articles of wearing-apparel coming under postal regula- 
 tions, we question if this deficiency has not been partially, 
 if not entirely, overcome. To a certain extent it affected 
 foreign postage. The following statement, however, will 
 convey a better idea of the postal finances than that of 
 any theory established upon " why and whereof." Figures, 
 they say, never lie; but may not the master-hand forming 
 them occasionally err in their formation ? 
 
 The postal revenues for the year ending the 30th of 
 June last were $12,438,233.78, and the expenditures of this 
 department during the same period were $12,644,786.20, 
 showing an excess of the latter of $206,532.42. The ave- 
 
RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 283 
 
 rage annual receipts of this department from 1859 to 1861, 
 inclusive, were $8,745,282.62, and the average annual ex- 
 penditures for the same period were $14,482,008.44, show- 
 ing an average annual excess of expenditures over receipts 
 of $5,736,725.82 ; and the average annual receipts from 
 1862 to 1864, inclusive, were $10,871,530.97, and the ex- 
 penditures, $11,694,785.72, showing an average annual 
 excess of expenditures over receipts of $823,254.75. 
 
 The excess of receipts in 1864 over 1861, the first year 
 of the rebellion, was $4,088,957.38. 
 
 Although the proportion of receipts as against the ex- 
 penditures has doubtless been increased on account of the 
 suspension of the postal service in the insurrectionary 
 States, the above furnishes the evidence of an improving 
 financial condition of the department highly creditable to 
 the administration of my immediate predecessor. 
 
 The estimate of expenditure for 1864 was fixed at 
 $13,000,000, in which was included the sum of $1,000,000 
 specially appropriated for the overland mail-service, being 
 $355,213.80 more than the amount actually expended. 
 
 On the other hand, the revenues of 1864 were estimated 
 at an increase of five per cent, on those of 1862, making 
 $8,714,000, while they actually reached $12,438,253.78, 
 or $3,724,253.73 more than the estimate. This increase 
 equals 42f per cent. 
 
 The increase of expenditures in 1864, compared with 
 those of 1863, is llf per cent., and the increase in the 
 revenues for the same year llf per cent. 
 
 This exhibit promises an increase of the revenues for 
 1865 over the estimate submitted in the report of last 
 year. 
 
 The revenues of this department for the year ending 
 June 30, 1865, were $14,556,158.70, and the expenditures 
 $13,694,728.28, leaving a surplus of $861,430.42. 
 
 The ratio of increase of revenue was 17 per cent., and 
 
284 IMPOMTANT FA CTS. 
 
 of expenditure 8 per cent., compared with the previous 
 year. 
 
 ESTIMATES FOR 1866. 
 
 The expenditures of all kinds for the fiscal year ending 
 June 30, 1866, are estimated at $14,098,500 00 
 
 The gross revenue for the year 1866, including foreign 
 postage and miscellaneous receipts, is estimated at 
 an increase of six per cent, on the revenue of 1864, 
 making 13,184,547 79 
 
 Estimated deficiency of revenue compared with esti- 
 mated expenditures 913,952 21 
 
 From this sum must be deducted the amount of the 
 permanent appropriations to compensate the depart- 
 ment for carrying free mail-matter, under acts of 
 March 3, 1847, and March 3, 1851 700,000 00 
 
 By which the estimated deficiency is reduced to $213,952 21 
 
 The grants for the transportation of free mail-matter 
 for the last two fiscal years have not been expended. 
 Assuming that the amount of $700,000 for the last year 
 is still available, no appropriation for any deficiency in 
 the revenues will be required. 
 
 In making the estimate of probable expenditures for 
 1866, the amounts actually expended under the several 
 heads during the past fiscal year have been taken as a 
 basis ; but an increase in several of the items named has 
 become necessary, particularly in the appropriation for 
 postage-stamps and stamped envelopes, the estimated cost 
 of the latter being increased $140,000 per annum, accord- 
 ing to the terms of a new contract elsewhere referred to 
 in this report. 
 
 IMPORTANT FACTS. 
 
 The maximum annual receipts of the postal depart- 
 ment, previous to the rebellion, from all the States was 
 $8,518,067.40, which was exceeded in the sum of 
 $6,038,091.30 by the receipts of the last year from the 
 
IMPORTANT FACTS. 
 
 285 
 
 loyal States alone. The revenues during the past four 
 years amounted to $46,458,022.97, an average of 
 $11,614,505.74 per annum. Compared with the receipts 
 of the four years immediately preceding, which amounted 
 to $32,322,640.73, the annual average increase of revenue 
 was $3,533,845.56, which has not resulted from any con- 
 siderable additions to the service, the ratio of receipts to 
 expenditures having been larger than, with few exceptions, 
 at any previous period. A proper regard to economy in 
 administration, aided by larger contributions from all the 
 States of the Union, will enable the department to in- 
 crease its usefulness from year to year in all its legitimate 
 functions. But it must not be overlooked that the ability 
 to fully perform its mission as the postal agent of the 
 Government is greatly impaired by the burdens imposed 
 by the franking privilege and expensive service upon 
 routes established for other than postal purposes, the 
 receipts from which are largely unremunerative. How- 
 ever much the establishment of these routes is to be com- 
 mended for national objects, in which regard they com- 
 mand the approval of the country, it is not possible to 
 see upon what principle they are wholly chargeable to the 
 postal fund, which belongs to those by whom it has been 
 contributed, and is pledged to meet the wants of the postal 
 service. 
 
 The subjoined table illustrates the misapplication of the 
 postal funds : 
 
 Routes. 
 
 Pay. 
 
 Receipts. 
 
 Excess of pay. 
 
 Salt Lake City to Folsom 
 
 $385 000 ) 
 
 
 
 
 365,000 / 
 
 $23,934 44 
 
 $726,065 56 
 
 Kansas City to Santa Fe" 
 Lincoln to Portland 
 
 35,743 
 225 000 
 
 6,536 57 
 24 791 67 
 
 29,206 43 
 200 208 33 
 
 The Dalles to Salt Lake 
 
 186,000 ' 
 
 5,660 77 
 
 180,339 23 
 
 Total ... 
 
 1.196.743 
 
 60.923 45 
 
 1.135.819 55 
 
286 THE RAILWAY POSTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 THE RAILWAY POSTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 This system, which was suggested by the celebrated 
 Rowland Hill, originated at a period in English postal 
 history when the requirements of trade and commerce 
 demanded a revisal of the code. Perhaps no man was 
 better qualified for the purpose than was Mr. Hill. In 
 1839 railroad post-offices were in use for mail-bags. Each 
 railway company provided a car, when desired to do so 
 by the postmaster-general, for the exclusive use of the 
 mails. These cars were fitted up with boxes to facilitate 
 the distribution and reception of the mails. On the 
 London and Liverpool Road (1839) it required the con- 
 stant and active employment of two clerks to assort, 
 receive, and hand out the mails : such is the rapidity of 
 travel, and so numerous are the post-offices upon this 
 route. Subsequently these cars were used for the dis- 
 tribution of letters in large cities, by assorting them on 
 the routes. Not only were such distributions made on 
 the cars for all the principal stations on the line of the 
 railroads before the arrival of the cars, but distributions 
 for the offices connected with the stations, and therefore 
 incidentally for the entire district of country through which 
 the lines are in operation. It was some time before our 
 postal department could be made sensible of the necessity 
 of the system in our country. Perhaps no other country 
 in the world possessed a larger amount of railroad travel 
 and postal extent than ours, and yet the spirit of old 
 fogyism was hard to be subdued in the encounter Young 
 America had with it on this subject, nor was it until the 
 cars were almost forced upon the department (experiment- 
 ally) that they were first introduced. These experiments 
 were made on the routes from Chicago, Illinois, to Clinton, 
 Davenport, and Dubuque, Iowa, with the most satisfactory 
 results, as were those between Washington and New York. 
 
THE RAILWAY POSTAL SYSTEM. 287 
 
 The attention of the public was called to this new postal 
 system by the postmaster-general (William Dennison) in 
 his report for the fiscal year 1864, who stated "that cars 
 requisite for the purpose are prepared for one daily line 
 between New York and Washington, and, by means of 
 clerks taken temporarily from the post-offices at Wash- 
 ington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, letters 
 intended for distribution at either of these points are dis- 
 tributed in the cars, and so arranged that they can be 
 despatched without delay on connecting routes." 
 
 Among the railroads upon which these cars are placed 
 are the Pennsylvania Central, between Philadelphia and 
 Pittsburg : in fact, the system is now so fully established 
 that it has become an essential element in the whole 
 organization of the postal department. Those employed 
 in the several post-offices from which the light of order 
 radiates, under this new system, can fully appreciate the 
 advantages resulting from it, as merchants and others 
 already acknowledge 
 
 " This radiated head of the Phoenix," 
 
 as it rises above the ashes of the old fogy system. 
 
 Mail-matter from every direction will reach our citizens 
 much earlier, in most cases several hours sooner. This 
 will show at once how essential to our merchants is this 
 new improvement : nor can we at this early period of its 
 introduction calculate all the advantages likely to result 
 from it. The idea of a post-office performing its dis- 
 tributing duties on a railway, going at the rate of thirty 
 miles an hour, is one of those scintillations of genius which 
 only emits light once in a century, that century the 
 present.* 
 
 * The postal history of Russia, like that of all other countries, is 
 based upon its trade and commerce. Its railroads and canals, running 
 through its vast extent of country, afford equal facility for its mails. 
 
288 THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 
 
 THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 
 
 " I have said so much, that if I had not a frank I must burn my letter and 
 begin again." COWPER. 
 
 It is the abuse of certain privileges, which all govern- 
 ments accord to a portion of its officers, which leads to 
 fraud, crime, and corruption. Among these, that of the 
 franking system may be ranked as a most prominent one. 
 Had it been checked at an earlier period of our postal 
 history, how many evils would have been prevented, and 
 how far more plethoric would have been its treasury ! 
 
 As early as 1782, even in its incipient state, far-seeing 
 men objected to its exercise. In December (6th), 1782, 
 an ordinance extending the privilege of franking letters 
 to the heads of all the departments was reported and 
 taken up. Various ideas were thrown out on the subject 
 at large, some contending for the extension proposed, 
 some for a total abolition of the privilege as well in 
 members of Congress as in others, some for a limitation 
 of the privilege to a definite number or weight of letters. 
 Those who contended for a total abolition represented the 
 privilege as productive of abuses, reducing the profits so 
 low as to prevent the extension of the establishment 
 throughout the United States, and throwing the whole 
 burden of the establishment on the mercantile intercourse. 
 On the other side, it was contended that in case of an 
 
 Russia has her distributing cars for mails, and from its every post they 
 are rapidly carried throughout the kingdom. 
 
 Recently the French Government has introduced mail-cars on the 
 routes from Paris to Brest and from Paris to Calais. Mails to Germany, 
 or at least to certain portions of its postal latitude, are thrown out 
 at a point between Paris and Calais, at what is termed the "Junction 
 Road." To follow up this portion of postal history would furnish a 
 most interesting account of the whole system, and show to the world 
 how insignificant are all other policies of rule, political, scientific, and 
 military, when compared with that of TRADE AND COMMERCE. 
 
THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 289 
 
 abolition the delegates or their constituents would be 
 taxed just in proportion to their distance from the seat of 
 Congress, which was neither just nor politic, considering 
 the many other disadvantages which were inseparable 
 from that distance ; that, as the correspondence of the 
 delegates was the principal channel through which a 
 general knowledge of public affairs was diffused, any 
 abridgment of it would in so far confine this advantage to 
 the States within the neighborhood of Congress, and that 
 as the correspondence at present, however voluminous, did 
 not exclude from the mail any private letters which would 
 be subject to postage, and if postage was extended to letters 
 now franked the number and size of them would be 
 essentially reduced, the revenue was not affected in the 
 manner represented. The ordinance was disagreed to, 
 and the subject recommitted with instructions to the com- 
 mittee, giving them ample latitude for such report as they 
 should think fit. Whether the report was ever made we 
 are not advised ; but its latitude has increased with the 
 introduction of every new State and Territory. Since the 
 above date, almost every postmaster-general has alluded 
 to the franking privilege. Mr. Blair, in his report of 
 1863, says, 
 
 " I renew the recommendation made last year, that the 
 franking privilege of postmasters be abolished, except for 
 correspondence between them and other officers of the 
 department upon official business. 
 
 " It should be abolished also as to the correspondence 
 of all persons addressed to the several departments and 
 executive officers of government, except upon official cor- 
 respondence addressed by an officer of the government. 
 
 " Both these privileges, as they now exist, have been 
 much abused, and have no proper place in a correct postal 
 system." 
 
 Mr. Blair, however, falls into the same error that many 
 
 25 
 
290 THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 
 
 official rulers commit, that of calculating chances of suc- 
 cess, instead of commanding them. In the report alluded 
 to, we find this passage : that *' the postal revenue has 
 nearly equalled the entire expenditures, the latter amount- 
 ing to $11,314,206.84, and the former to $11,163,789.59, 
 leaving a deficiency of but $150,417.25. Good reason, 
 therefore, exists for the expectation that within a brief 
 period this important department of the General Govern- 
 ment will become self-sustaining." 
 
 We do not think so. The postal department is not, nor 
 can it ever be made, a speculative one. It is based on the 
 increase of trade and commerce throughout an extent of 
 country unparalleled in history, as uniting in one system 
 of rule upwards of thirty millions of people. To keep 
 up the routes over such a vast space, connecting State to 
 State, Territory to Territory, passing over lakes, rivers, 
 mountains, even over the land-route to California, through 
 almost impassable sections, contending with difficulties 
 scarcely to be realized in descriptions, the expense is ne- 
 cessarily great. Previous to 1850 many of the routes 
 bordering the Atlantic were for the most part isolated 
 lines, near to which trade and traffic had not approached. 
 The settlement of California, and the opening of a trade 
 which has ultimately proved a second Peru, as regards 
 gold, may be dated as the commencement of a new era 
 in the physical progress of our country. In connect- 
 ing a line of posts, establishing post-offices, and furnishing 
 modes of conveyance, the question of dollars and cents is 
 but a secondary consideration. The word profit was re- 
 pudiated, and the sole purpose of the government was to 
 establish the post, no matter at what cost. The time may 
 come when it shall prove self-sustaining, but never if at 
 the expense of the public interest, nor while the franking 
 system exists. 
 
 We contend that every letter, document, or newspaper, 
 
THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 291 
 
 no matter by whom mailed, or how high the functionary, 
 should be prepaid ; for men in authority are the servants 
 of the people, and have no more claim upon the public 
 treasury than has the lowest worker in any of the depart- 
 ments. Trie postal department, however, in its official cor- 
 respondence, should be the only exception to the rule. 
 
 Nor is it the mere privilege we complain of, but its 
 abuse. Reduce it to an honest and equitable use, and we 
 venture to say the public will endure the act. 
 
 Mr. George Plitt, in his report while a special agent 
 of the post-office department, made February 3, 1841, 
 speaking of the franking privilege, says, "The actual 
 number of franked packages sent from the post-office of 
 Washington City during the week ending on the 7th of 
 July last was 201,534; and the whole number sent 
 during the last session of Congress amounted to the 
 enormous quantity of 4,314,948. All these packages 
 are not only carried by the department into every sec- 
 tion of the country free of charge, but it is actually 
 obliged to pay to every postmaster whose commissions do 
 n.flff amount to $2000 per annum, two cents for the delivery 
 of each one! Supposing all the above to have been de- 
 livered, the department would lose from its revenue for 
 this one item upwards of $80,000, besides paying for the 
 mail-transportation." 
 
 In 1834 the "Washington Globe," speaking upon this 
 subject, used the following language : 
 
 "Particular cases of gross abuse upon the post-office 
 are within our knowledge, and the postmaster-general will 
 be informed of hundreds of others. The opinion of those 
 acquainted with the subject, which we have no doubt is 
 correct, is that the department has lost within the last 
 year, by the extension of the franking privileges of the 
 members of Congress, and by abuses of law, more than 
 one hundred thousand dollars. This revenue would in a 
 
292 THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 
 
 short time pay off the debts of the department, and leave 
 the people all the mails they now have. Who loses this 
 sum? Not the department only, but the people, the 
 honest correspondents by the post, who prefer paying 
 postage on their letters to obtaining franks. In fact, the 
 abuses are growing so rapidly as to justify a fear of their 
 endangering the establishment. The restrictions of the 
 law seem to have been by some men wholly borne down 
 and prostrated, and the franking privilege is rapidly ex- 
 tending itself over, and covering a great part of, the ordi- 
 nary private correspondence of the country." 
 
 The post-office is an establishment of the greatest 
 utility. The law throws it upon its receipts for postage 
 as its sole support. When these fail, the mails must 
 stop ; and every dollar that is taken from them is so much 
 drawn from the service of the public. The duty, there- 
 fore, of protecting the department from the loss of its 
 revenue is imposed upon the postmaster-general not 
 only by the general principle of the law, but by the 
 necessity of saving the establishment from annihilation, 
 total or partial. The sentiment of the people, ever against 
 abuse and the improper use of privilege, will sustain the 
 postmaster-general in his course. 
 
 The "Globe," after alluding to the further abuse of 
 the franking privilege, says, 
 
 " If the government had been placed upon the footing 
 of citizens, and had paid during Mr. Barry's administra- 
 tion one-third even of what these would have paid for 
 the same services, would the department have been in 
 debt ? Strike an account with the executive government 
 only, even for the last year, and we find that the balance 
 due to the department, including the losses by abuses, 
 would more than pay its whole debts. To those, then, 
 who charge that the department is ' insolvent/ we say 
 that its unrequited labors have justly earned for it a 
 
THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 293 
 
 revenue more than sufficient to meet all the demands 
 against it." 
 
 In connection with this subject, and it is one that, when 
 fully exposed, will astonish the country, we annex the 
 following from the "American Merchant," New York, 
 for July, 1859. "There is not the slightest doubt that 
 very extensive frauds may be successfully carried on in 
 the department ; but we incline to the opinion, however, 
 that the most aggravated ( frauds' perpetrated on the 
 department, and which are the more hard to be borne 
 that there is no remedy for them under the existing law, 
 are those which grow out of the franking privilege. It 
 would astonish the world, could the figures be correctly 
 ascertained, to see to what extent this evil is carried. 
 From a statement made by the postmaster of Washing- 
 ton City to the Post-Office Committee of the House of 
 Representatives, in January, 1854, we gather the follow- 
 ing items of ' franked' matter sent during one month 
 from Washington alone : 
 
 Pounds weight. Postage. 
 
 Letters from members of Congress 3,446 $4,664 
 
 Documents " " 693,508 110,961 
 
 Letters from Departments 7,065 6,782 
 
 Newspapers (numberingl, 110,020) 111,002 11,100 
 
 Total for one month 815,021 $133,507 
 
 For twelve months 9,780,242 1,602,087 
 
 Postage for one year, if not prepaid 3,158,390 
 
 "Let it be remembered that this amount of $2,500,000, 
 which is a fair average for one year, is actually taken out 
 of the revenues of the department in one city. Is it 
 strange that our postal system should be non-supporting ? 
 
 " If it be right that the General Government should de- 
 fray the expenses of sending 'pub. docs/ and the public 
 and private correspondence of members of Congress to 
 every part of the country, then a sufficient appropriation 
 
 25* 
 
294 THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 
 
 should be made for that purpose, and there should be 
 some means of fixing a limit to this system of dead-head- 
 ing. And if letters, papers, and public documents were 
 the only commodities transported under this talismanic 
 6 frank/ it would be less a matter of concernment; but 
 when, as has been the case, members of Congress send 
 home their dirty linen to be washed, at the expense of the 
 post-office department, the subject assumes a more serious 
 aspect, and the sovereign people very impudently, perhaps 
 persist in knowing why such things are. From the state- 
 ments of the department for the ten years ending with 
 1856, the total expenses were $68,136,197, and the reve- 
 nue from postages $54,014,652, leaving a deficiency of 
 $14,121,545. The appropriation by government during 
 the same space was $5,626,682, which reduces the actual 
 deficiency to a little more than $9,000,000." 
 
 Many of the packages thus franked, even when re- 
 ceived by the parties, to whom they are sent, are rarely 
 opened, for the simple reason that the newspapers (which 
 also go free) containing the same documents or speeches 
 have already been received, read, and commented upon. 
 For instance : it is well known to every member of Con- 
 gress, and to every one connected with the post-office, that 
 long after the President's message has been published in 
 every newspaper throughout the country, thousands upon 
 thousands are sent daily under frank from Washington. 
 This was our written objection to the privilege in 1841. 
 Now the same thing extends to "Annual Keports" of the 
 respective heads of departments, other reports, and speeches 
 of members of Congress, which are never read in pamphlet 
 form by the masses to whom they are sent. Many of 
 these speeches, which attracted no attention in the House 
 and created little or no sensation out of it, are handsomely 
 gotten up, neatly printed, artistically stitched, and mailed 
 by the members at the expense of the government to their 
 
THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 295 
 
 constituents, to whose literary merit and classical beauties 
 the words of Virgil would most aptly apply : 
 
 "Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademtum." 
 
 There are two meanings to this terrible passage from 
 the Latin poet. The learned reader will apply the less 
 terrible to the subject in question. 
 
 It would present a painful picture were we to sum up 
 by number, bulk, and character the public documents 
 which weigh down the mails passing from Washington 
 City to every other in the country, not cities alone, but 
 towns, villages, hamlets, grog-shops, and places not repu- 
 table, either to the sender or the recipient, to name. Docu- 
 ments, such as valuable books, find their way as per direc- 
 tion to ignorant blacks and foreigners, many of whom can 
 neither read nor write. Wholesale and ponderous as are 
 these costly matters, they are few in comparison to the 
 speeches which members of Congress send to their con- 
 stituents. We refrain from alluding further to these 
 matters, as we feel humiliated as a citizen of the United 
 States when we consider that it is done under the law. 
 
 J. Holt, postmaster-general, in his report (1859), speak- 
 ing of the franking privilege, says, 
 
 " It may be added, if it is proper that the government 
 shall be charged with the expense of conveying the matter 
 now passing free through the mails, justice alike to the 
 public and to the department requires that the amount 
 thus due shall be precisely ascertained, which can best be 
 done by prepayment at the mailing-offices. There can be 
 no enlightened administration of the postal system without 
 a complete knowledge of its financial resources and lia- 
 bilities, which can never be attained while the incubus of 
 the franking privilege is hanging over it. Under the 
 stifling pressure, too, of this incubus, the department is 
 forced to continual efforts to ameliorate its condition, which 
 
296 THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 
 
 must often result in curtailments to be deplored, because 
 they deprive the public of mail-accommodations for which 
 they have fully paid, and which they are, therefore, entitled 
 to enjoy. 
 
 " Another potent reason for the abolition of the franking 
 privilege, as now exercised, is found in the abuses which 
 seem to be inseparable from its existence. These abuses, 
 though constantly exposed and animadverted upon for a 
 series of years, have as constantly increased. It has been 
 often stated by my predecessors, and is a matter of public 
 notoriety, that immense masses of packages are transported 
 under the government frank which neither the letter nor 
 spirit of the statute creating the franking privilege would 
 justify; that a large number of letters, documents, and 
 packages are thus conveyed, covered by the frank of 
 officials, written, in violation of law, not by themselves, 
 but by some real or pretended agent; while whole sacks 
 of similar matter, which have never been handled nor seen 
 even by government functionaries, are transported under 
 franks which have been forged. The extreme difficulty 
 of detecting such forgeries has greatly multiplied this class 
 of offences, whilst their prevalence has so deadened the 
 public sentiment in reference to them that a conviction, 
 however ample the proof, is scarcely possible to be ob- 
 tained. The statute of 1825, denouncing the counterfeiting 
 of an official frank under a heavy penalty, is practically 
 inoperative." 
 
 The French deputies and peers have no franking privi- 
 lege; in England it was abolished for members of Parlia- 
 ment since the establishment of the penny post. For an 
 amusing account of an abuse of the franking privilege in 
 England, see page 66. 
 
 Having expressed our opinion and given that of others 
 on the abuse of the franking privilege and on the propriety, 
 in a national point of view, of doing away with it entirely, 
 
THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 297 
 
 it is by no means implied that a different construction of 
 the right would not do away with our objections, and also 
 those of the many who consider its abuse a growing, if 
 not a dangerous, evil. Whatever may be done to lessen 
 the evil, as well as the heavy expense which it inflicts 
 upon our government, and which will bring about a state 
 of things that will redound to the credit of those who 
 inaugurate a reform in this department of our government, 
 will be cordially endorsed by the people. 
 
 Our members of Congress, it is true, stand politically 
 very differently as regards positions from the representatives 
 of other nations ; but, still, that is no reason why govern- 
 mental privilege should be abused to the extent it is. 
 
 By an act of Congress passed at the Third Session of 
 the Thirty-Seventh Congress, December 1, 1862, to March 
 4, 1863, "The postmaster-general may arrange for the 
 delivery by route-agents of newspaper bundles not taken 
 from, or intended for, any post-office. The postmaster- 
 general may regulate the manner of wrapping mail-matter 
 not paying letter postage, so that it may be easily examined ; 
 and postmasters are allowed to tear off the wrappers to see 
 if letter postage is evaded. Publishers dealing with the 
 post-office must sw r ear to their statements: there is a fine 
 of $50 for each offence in sending papers to other than 
 subscribers at quarterly rates. The franking privilege is 
 limited as follows: first, the President, by himself or his 
 private secretary; second, the Vice-President; third, the 
 chiefs of the several executive departments; fourth, such 
 principal officers, being heads of bureaus or chief clerks, 
 of each executive department, to be used only for official 
 communications, as the postmaster-general shall prescribe; 
 fifth, Senators and Representatives, including delegates 
 from Territories, the Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of 
 the House, to cover correspondence to and from them, and 
 all printed matter issued by authority of Congress, and all 
 
298 THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 
 
 speeches, proceedings, and debates in Congress, and all 
 printed matter sent to them, their franking privilege to 
 commence with the term for which they are elected, and to 
 expire on the first Monday of December following such 
 term of office; sixth, all official communications addressed 
 to either of the executive departments by an officer re- 
 sponsible to that department: in all such cases the en- 
 velope should be marked ' official/ with the signature 
 thereto of the officer; seventh, postmasters have the 
 franking privilege for official communications to other 
 postmasters: in such cases the envelope shall be marked 
 ' official, 7 with the signature of the writer, and for any such 
 endorsement of ' official 7 falsely made, the person making 
 the same shall forfeit $300; eighth, petitions to either 
 branch of Congress shall pass free in the mails ; ninth, all 
 communications addressed to any of the franking officers 
 above described, and not excepted in the foregoing clauses, 
 must be prepaid by postage-stamps. The franking privi- 
 lege shall be limited to packages weighing not exceeding 
 four ounces, except petitions to Congress and congressional 
 or executive documents, and publications published, pro- 
 cured, or purchased by order of either house, which shall 
 be considered as public documents and entitled to be 
 franked as such; and except, also, seeds, cuttings, roots, 
 and scions, the weight of the packages of which may be 
 fixed by regulations of the postmaster-general. Publishers 
 of periodicals, magazines, and newspapers which shall not 
 exceed sixteen ounces in weight shall be allowed to inter- 
 change their publications reciprocally free of postage, such 
 interchange to be confined to a single copy of each publi- 
 cation. 77 
 
 This act took eifect July 1, 1863: all acts inconsistent 
 with it were thereby repealed. 
 
 Here is an extensive pull upon the postal department, 
 yet one that if strictly adhered to would not create such 
 
THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 299 
 
 an opposition to the system as its abuse has caused. 
 Barrels of flour, dirty clothes, and other family matters 
 certainly are not included in the above. If so, then will 
 the postal department have to connect with its legitimate 
 business that of an express. A "National Franking 
 Privilege Express" would not be a bad title. 
 
 Although the idea of the government becoming a com- 
 mon carrier of dirty linen, barrels of flour, immense masses 
 of book-matter and documentary papers, was never enter- 
 tained, yet the franking privilege is gradually preparing 
 the way for its accomplishment. It is, therefore, evident 
 to us that the system is gradually destroying the whole 
 theory on which the post-office is founded, and if carried 
 out still further will cripple its operations materially. It 
 has been suggested that in lieu of the franking privilege 
 now allowed by law to members of Congress and others, 
 they should be furnished with postage-stamps, to be paid 
 for out of the contingent fund of the House. If the privi- 
 lege is to be extended in any shape, let it be under that of 
 the franking system; for the moment stamps are substi- 
 tuted, that very moment a rush for "cash representatives" 
 will be most eagerly sought for, and'the contingent fund, to 
 use a modern phrase, will " be soon swallowed up." There 
 wouM, of course, be less franking of public documents by 
 the use of stamps, but a far more extensive use of them 
 for other purposes. This has been clearly illustrated in 
 some of our States where the stamps have been substituted 
 for franking. If, however, the postage-stamp system 
 should be adopted, let the transmission of books, &c. be 
 forwarded, under the direction of the Secretary of the 
 Senate and Clerk of the House, by the ordinary mode of 
 conveyance. This would be a check on those extravagant 
 members who consider it a duty due their constituents to 
 supply them with books enough to make a library. In 
 one single instance, a member from Utah, in 1858, cost the 
 
300 THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 
 
 government over seven thousand dollars by the transmis- 
 sion of books, &c. 
 
 As a clear and explicit definition of the limits of the 
 franking privilege of members of Congress, the following 
 letter to certain members of Congress who claimed certain 
 (extended) privileges will be found interesting. The 
 members had asked leave to frank certain documents 
 intended to aid a praiseworthy object not strictly entitled 
 to that privilege, as well as other favors not sanctioned by 
 either the letter or the spirit of postal laws, rules, and 
 regulations : 
 
 " POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT, 1865. 
 " APPOINTMENT-OFFICE, WASHINGTON. 
 
 " GENTLEMEN: I am instructed by the postmaster- 
 general to acknowledge the receipt of your joint letter of 
 the 15th instant, and to say that while he fully appreciates 
 the importance of furnishing the public with correct in- 
 formation on the subject of the treatment and sufferings 
 of our brave men who, unfortunately, are prisoners in the 
 hands of the rebels, and would willingly lend all proper 
 aid in his power to accomplish this object, he cannot, with 
 his sense of official duty, direct the postmaster of Boston 
 to respect at his office the franks of members of the 
 Senate or House of Representatives while they are sojourn- 
 ing at the seat of government. Nor can he authorize the 
 use of fae-simile stamps for the purpose of franking 
 matter passing through the mails. 
 
 " The franking privilege to Senators and members of 
 Congress is a personal one, and travels with the party 
 entitled to it, and cannot be exercised in two or more 
 places at the same time. By the terms of the law, it is 
 ' to cover correspondence to and from them, and all printed 
 matter issued by authority of Congress, and all speeches, 
 proceedings, debates in Congress, and all printed matter 
 sent to them/ thus limiting the privilege to the matter 
 
THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 301 
 
 herein named. Consequently, if it come to the knowledge 
 of a postmaster that a package bearing a proper frank is 
 composed of matter not named in the law, it becomes his 
 duty to disregard such frank and charge postage thereon. 
 
 "The standing regulations of the department provide 
 that ' no privileged person can authorize his clerk or any 
 other person to write (or stamp) his name for the purpose 
 of franking any letter or packet/ ' The personal privilege 
 of franking travels with the person possessing it, and can 
 be exercised in but one place at the same time/ 
 
 " ' No privileged person can leave his frank behind him 
 to cover his correspondence in his absence/ 'If letters or 
 papers be put into a post-office bearing the frank of a 
 privileged person who notoriously has not been in that 
 vicinity for several days, ... it is the duty of the 
 postmaster to treat them as unpaid/ l Postmasters are 
 requested to report to the department all violations of the 
 franking privilege/ 
 
 "The use of a fae-simile stamp for franking letters or 
 packets by Senators or members of Congress has never 
 been authorized or approved by this department in any 
 way; but, on the contrary, the postmaster-general has 
 invariably decided against the use of such stamps when- 
 ever the question has been brought to his notice, for the 
 reason, among others, that it affords opportunity to perpe- 
 trate frauds upon the department and its revenues to an 
 almost unlimited extent. 
 
 " From the foregoing you will see that the postmaster- 
 general cannot with consistency or propriety comply with 
 the request contained in your letter. 
 
 "I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obe- 
 dient servant. A. W. RANDALL, 
 
 "First Assistant Postmaster- General. 
 
 ' 1 * ? \ United States Senate." 
 
 26 
 
302 MAILS ON THE SABBATH. 
 
 MAILS ON THE SABBATH. 
 
 " Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy." 
 
 Ever since the postal system was established, an oppo- 
 sition has been made to its operations on the Sabbath. 
 It is not for us to question the moral principle upon which 
 these objections were based. The law for the observance 
 of the Sabbath comes to us in language that cannot be 
 mistaken and from a source not to be denied. But we 
 question whether it applies to the wheels of a government, 
 which, in the same order as that of the spheres, must 
 move on for its maintenance. 
 
 The Rev. Thomas Scott (whose authority we annex, 
 not feeling capable of giving a religious view ourselves) 
 says, speaking upon the subject of the Sabbath, 
 
 " ' Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work/ was 
 merely an allowance, and not an injunction; for the Lord 
 forbade, by other precepts, all labor on some of these days, 
 but they were assigned for the diligent performance of the 
 business which relates to this present life, while the 
 seventh was consecrated to the immediate service of God. 
 The concerns of our souls must indeed be attended to, 
 and God worshipped, every day, that our business may be 
 regulated in subserviency to his will ; but on the other 
 days of the week ' we shall do all our work,' reserving none 
 for the Sabbath, except WORKS OF CHARITY, PIETY, AND 
 NECESSITY ; for these alone consist with the holiness of that 
 sacred day of rest, and are allowable, l because the Sabbath 
 was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath/ All 
 works, therefore, which arise from avarice, distrust, lux- 
 ury, vanity, and self-indulgence, are entirely prohibited. 
 
 "Buying and selling, paying wages, settling accounts, 
 writing letters of business, reading books on ordinary 
 subjects, trifling visits, journeys, excursions, dissipation, 
 or conversation which serves only for amusement, cannot 
 
MAILS ON THE SABBATH. 303 
 
 consist with ' keeping a day holy to the Lord;' and sloth 
 is a carnal, not a spiritual, rest. 
 
 "Servants, and some others, may, however, be under a 
 real necessity of doing things which are not necessary in 
 themselves : though good management might often greatly 
 lessen the evil," &c. 
 
 Speaking of cattle, the learned author says, "The cattle 
 must also be allowed to rest from the hard labor of hus- 
 bandry, journeys, and all employments connected with 
 trade or pleasure ; though doubtless we may employ them 
 too in works of necessity, piety, and charity ; and thus they 
 may properly be used for the gentle service of conveying 
 those to places of public worship who could not otherwise 
 attend or perform the duties to which they are called." 
 
 It will be observed that, indirectly, the author sustains 
 the argument we advanced above, that the wheels of a 
 government, like the works of creation, must necessarily 
 move on "without impediment," and that any labor per- 
 formed on the Sabbath connected with such operations 
 comes under the head of " necessity." 
 
 Governments are formed and their laws based upon 
 those of nature: we imitate and follow them as being 
 essential to sustaining and perpetuating their stability and 
 usefulness. 
 
 Nor do we think our preachers are disposed to interfere 
 with the mails running on the Sabbath ; for they invariably 
 are the most anxious on a Monday morning to receive 
 their letters and newspapers, which, as we all know, are 
 invariably assorted and distributed throughout the office 
 on the Sabbath for an early delivery on Monday. We 
 allude to this important clerical fact because in several in- 
 stances they have threatened to report clerks for neglecting 
 their duties on the Sabbath, simply because that labor was 
 not devoted, as it would appear, for their especial benefit ! 
 This want of consistency on the part of a portion of the 
 
304 MAILS ON THE SABBATH. 
 
 clergy seems more tinctured with hypocrisy than it is 
 with Christianity. 
 
 Return J. Meigs, the postmaster-general under James 
 Madison in 1815, in reply to certain petitions remon- 
 strating against the mails running on the Sabbath, makes 
 use of the following language (we give extracts only) : 
 
 . . . "The usage of transporting the mails on the Sab- 
 bath is coeval with the Constitution of the United States ; 
 and a prohibition of that usage will be first considered." 
 He then gives the various mail-routes on the principal 
 roads, and says, 
 
 " If the mail was not to move on Sunday on the routes 
 enumerated, it would be delayed from three to four days 
 in passing from one extreme of th,e route to the other. 
 From Washington to St. Louis the mail would be delayed 
 two days; from Washington to New Orleans the mail 
 would be delayed three days; from New Orleans to 
 Boston it would be delayed from four to five days ; and, 
 generally y the mails would, on an average, be retarded 
 equal to one-seventh part of the time now employed, if 
 the mails do not move on the Sabbath. 
 
 "On the smaller cross-roads or routes the transporta- 
 tion of the mail has been avoided on the Sabbath, except 
 when necessary to prevent great delays and to preserve 
 connections with different routes." 
 
 In relation to opening the mails on the Sabbath, it may 
 be noticed that the ninth section of the "act regulating 
 the post-office establishment" makes it the duty of the 
 postmaster to attend to the duties of his office "every 
 day" on which a mail shall arrive at his office, and at "all 
 reasonable hours" on every day of the week. When a 
 mail is conveyed on the Sabbath, it must be opened and 
 exchanged at the offices which it may reach in the course 
 of the day. This operation at the smaller offices occupies 
 no more than ten or twelve minutes ; in some of the larger 
 
MAILS ON THE SABBATH. 305 
 
 offices it occupies one hour; and, it is believed, does not 
 greatly interfere with religious exercises as to the post- 
 masters themselves. 
 
 The practice of "delivering letters and newspapers on 
 the Sabbath" is of recent origin, and, under the above- 
 quoted section, commenced in 1810. Prior to that period, 
 no postmaster (except the postmaster at Washington City), 
 was required to deliver letters and newspapers on the 
 Sabbath. The "reasonable hours" were to be determined 
 by the postmaster-general, who established the following 
 regulations, now existing : "At post-offices where the mail 
 arrives on Sunday, the office is to be kept open for the 
 delivery of letters, &c. for one hour after the arrival and 
 assorting of the mail ; but in case that would interfere 
 with the hours of public worship, then the office is to be 
 kept open for one hour after the usual time of dissolving 
 the meetings for that purpose." 
 
 Also, if the mail arrives at an office too late for the 
 delivery of letters on Saturday night, the postmaster is 
 instructed to deliver them on Sunday morning, at such 
 early hour as not to encroach upon the hours devoted to 
 public religious exercises. If these regulations are not 
 strictly attended to, it must be imputable to the urgency 
 of applicants and the complaisance of postmasters. 
 
 After the preceding statement, it is to be observed that 
 public policy, pure morality, and undefiled religion com- 
 bine in favor of a due observance of the Sabbath. 
 
 Nevertheless, a nation owes to itself an exercise of the 
 means adapted to its own preservation and for the con- 
 tinuance of those very blessings which flow from such 
 observance ; and the nation must sometimes operate by a 
 few of its agents, even on the Sabbath ; and such operation 
 may, as in time of war, become indispensable, so that 
 the many may enjoy an uninterrupted exercise of religion 
 in quietude and safety, In the present state of the nation 
 
 26* 
 
306 MAILS ON THE SABBATH. 
 
 it may be supposed necessary daily to convey govern- 
 mental orders, instructions, and regulations, and to com- 
 municate and receive information. If the daily carriage 
 of the mail be as relates to the safety of the nation a 
 matter of necessity, it also becomes a work of mercy. 
 
 When peace is fully established, the necessity will greatly 
 diminish, and it will be at all times a pleasure to this 
 department to prevent any profanation of the Sabbath, 
 as far as relates to its official duty or its official authority. 
 
 In England the postal regulations for the Sabbath are 
 as follows. They differ very little from our own : 
 
 "During the time the office is open on Sunday (viz. 
 from 9 to 10 in the morning, and one other hour), the 
 public are allowed to prepay foreign and colonial letters, 
 to purchase stamps, and to have letters registered ; and all 
 other duties are performed as usual, except money-order 
 and savings-bank business,* which on that day is wholly 
 suspended." 
 
 At no provincial town in England or Ireland is there 
 more than one delivery on Sunday or the sacramental 
 fast-days ; and any person is at liberty to prevent even 
 this delivery, so far as relates to himself, as shown by the 
 following regulations : 
 
 " 1st. Any person can have his letters, &c. retained in 
 the post-office on Sunday, by addressing to the postmaster 
 a written request, duly signed, to that effect; and such 
 request will be held to include newspapers and all other 
 postal matters, even such as may be marked ' immediate/ 
 as no distinction is allowed. 
 
 "2d. No letters, &c. the non-delivery of which by the 
 letter-carrier on Sunday has been directed can be obtained 
 from the post-office window on that day. 
 
 * In connection with the English post-office there is a savings-bank, 
 which is also a money-order office. This bank is open for business 
 during the same hours as for money-orders. 
 
DEAD-LETTERS. 307 
 
 "3d. Private box-holders have the option of applying 
 for letters at the office while it is open for delivery on 
 Sunday, or of abstaining from so doing, as they may 
 think proper ; but no person can be permitted to engage 
 a private box for Sunday only." 
 
 DEAD-LETTERS. 
 
 "And thus there were many dead." GOWER. 
 
 It would fill a volume were we to attempt any thing 
 like a history of this department of the general post- 
 office. One thing, however, would impress itself forcibly 
 upon the minds of our readers, were we to furnish such a 
 history, and that would be to establish the fact beyond the 
 possibility of a doubt that " the fools are not all dead yet." 
 
 As far as the employees of the post-office are concerned, 
 if not irreverent, this would be a "consummation devoutly 
 to be wished/ 
 
 Many of these letters, containing important information 
 and large amounts of money, are so villanously directed 
 that a modern mesmeriser would find himself at fault, or 
 a spiritual medium confounded, if put in connection with 
 the writers, in their endeavor to arrive at the mystery of 
 such superscriptions as it has been our misfortune to en- 
 counter during our connection with the post-office. In 
 another portion of this work we furnish the reader with 
 numerous specimens of such directions. Would we could 
 give specimens of their chirography also ! In connection, 
 however, with "dead-letters," we annex the following su- 
 perscriptions to letters which contained money and drafts, 
 and of course found their way to the "dead-letter office :" 
 
 Miss JEANNIE WUTEREZ, 
 
 Bile. 677 Auen 
 
 N.J. 34 S.A. 
 
 Is it likely that such a direction would carry a letter to 
 Miss Jeannie ? or the following to its direction ? 
 
308 DEAD-LETTERS. 
 
 MlSS S. SORERIE, 
 
 beckie if Hossee if H. 
 grltne et persep Yell 
 oone hundder 45 
 
 Neither town nor State, it will be perceived, is here given. 
 We furnish another : 
 
 To GENITZ DENGKENSON 
 Ap. Risen. Coolkill Kounty, near Genezene. 
 
 A letter was received in this city by John Smith (we 
 will not give the real name), containing a draft for three 
 thousand dollars. The letter simply stated, "Enclosed 
 
 you will find a draft on T D , Washington City, 
 
 for three thousand dollars, being a part of the proceeds of 
 property sold. The balance will be forwarded soon, &c.' 
 Now, this John Smith was anxiously awaiting the proceeds 
 of a sale of property in England, he being one of the heirs 
 expectant, and had been previously notified of the sale in 
 question. As a matter of course, he imagined this to be the 
 first instalment, coming as it did from the very town from 
 which he expected it. The letter was simply directed to 
 " John Smith, Catharine Street, South wark, Philadelphia." 
 The carrier on that route, aware of Smith's anxiety to 
 hear about his property, delivered the letter as directed, 
 at least as near as it was possible without the number of 
 the house. Smith opened the letter in presence of the 
 carrier, and exclaimed, " It is all right, old fellow I" The 
 draft was presented, the money paid, and Smith went on his 
 way rejoicing. By the time he had spent one-third of the 
 money, it was discovered that he was not the John Smith. 
 He returned the two thousand dollars, and the right party 
 was willing to await John Smith the Second's remittance 
 for his thousand dollars. The cause of this could alone 
 be attributed to the carelessness of the remitting party in 
 not giving the particulars or name of the person from 
 whom the legacy came. The names of the expectants 
 
DEAD-LETTERS. 309 
 
 being exactly the same, and living on the same street, no 
 other result could be expected. 
 
 The following report of Postmaster Dennison (1865) 
 furnishes an epitomized view of the dead-letter depart- 
 ment : 
 
 " The number of dead-letters received, examined, and 
 disposed of was 4,368,087, an increase of 856,262 over 
 the previous year. 
 
 " The number containing money and remailed to owners 
 was 42,154, with enclosures amounting to $244,373.97. 
 Of these, 35,268, containing $210,954.90, were delivered, 
 leaving 6886 undelivered, with enclosures to the value of 
 $33,419.07. The number containing sums less than one 
 dollar was 16,709, amounting to $4647.23, of which 12,698, 
 containing $3577.62, were delivered to the writers. 
 
 "The number of registered letters and packages was 
 3966. 
 
 "The number of letters containing checks, bills of ex- 
 change, deeds, and other papers of value was 15,304, with 
 a nominal value of $3,329,888, of which 13,746, contain- 
 ing $3,246,149, were delivered, leaving unclaimed 1558, 
 of the value of $83,739. 
 
 "The number containing photographs, jewelry, and 
 miscellaneous articles was 69,902. Of these, 41,600 were 
 delivered, and 28,302 remain for disposal, or, being worth- 
 less, have been destroyed. The number of valuable letters 
 sent out was 107,979, an increase of 38,792 over the 
 previous year. 
 
 " There were returned to public offices, including franked 
 letters, 28,677. 
 
 "The number containing stamps and articles of small 
 value was 8289, and of unpaid and misdirected letters, 
 166,215. 
 
 " The number of ordinary dead-letters returned to the 
 writers was 1,188,599, and the number not delivered was 
 
310 DEAD-LETTERS. 
 
 297,304, being about 23 per cent, of the whole. Of those 
 not delivered, less than 4 per cent, were refused by the 
 writers. 
 
 "The number of foreign letters returned was 167,449, 
 and the number received from foreign countries was 
 88,361. 
 
 " In the last report the attention of Congress was called 
 to the expediency of restoring prepaid letters to the owners 
 free of postage. The measure is again commended, with 
 the additional suggestion that letters be forwarded at the 
 request of the party addressed from one post-office to 
 another without extra charge. 
 
 "The number of letters conveyed in the mails during 
 1865 is estimated at 467,591,600. Of these, 4,368,087 
 were returned to the dead-letter-office, including 566,097 
 army and navy letters, the non-delivery of which was 
 not chargeable to the postal service, they having passed 
 beyond its control into the custody of the military and 
 naval authorities. Deducting 1,156,401 letters returned 
 to writers or held as valuable, the total number lost or 
 destroyed was 2,352,424, or one in every two hundred 
 mailed for transmission and delivery. Fully three-fourths 
 of the letters returned as dead fail to reach the parties 
 addressed through faults of the writers, so that the actual 
 losses from irregularities of service and casualties, ordinary 
 and incidental to the war, did not exceed one in every 
 eight hundred of the estimated number intrusted to the 
 mails. 
 
 " The returns of dead-letters from cities are largely in 
 excess of proportions based upon population. To them 
 special efforts have been directed to secure the most efficient 
 service, and it is believed improvements in operation, 
 chiefly that of free delivery, will diminish the number 
 of undelivered letters at offices in densely-populated dis- 
 tricts. 
 
DEAD-LETTERS. 311 
 
 "The number of applications for missing letters was 
 8664, an increase of 3552 over the previous year. A 
 misapprehension prevails in regarding the dead-letter-office 
 as a depository for the safe keeping of undelivered letters, 
 and not as the agent for their final disposal, to correct 
 which the regulations are appended. 
 
 " The amount deposited in the treasury under act of 3d 
 of March last were : 
 
 On account of sales of waste paper $9,420 67 
 
 Unclaimed dead-letter money 7,722 70 
 
 $17,143 37 
 
 " Less than twenty-five per cent, of advertised letters 
 are delivered. In some of the larger offices the propor- 
 tion does not exceed fifteen per cent. The payment of 
 two cents for each letter advertised involves a yearly ex- 
 penditure of about $60,000 for letters returned as dead 
 to the department. Measures have been adopted to re- 
 duce the expense, and the advertising is now secured at 
 one-half the rate allowed by law. An obstacle to this 
 economy is found in the law requiring the list of letters 
 to be published in newspapers of largest circulation, which 
 should be repealed, and the mode of advertising left to the 
 discretion of the postmaster-general." 
 
 We have stated that imperfect direction is in nine cases 
 out of ten the cause of the miscarriage of letters. We 
 would here suggest to the department the propriety of 
 having competent clerks to superintend this office, so 
 that the letters returned to the writers should not give 
 the same cause of complaint. Many of the clerks so em- 
 ployed make sad havoc of this portion of postal literature, 
 and exercise little or no judgment in their direction of 
 letters to the parties to whom they are returned, or at 
 least for whom they are intended. Name of street and 
 number of house are alike omitted, and thus a letter comes 
 
312 DEAD-LETTERS. 
 
 from the dead-letter-office as difficult to decipher or make 
 out as it was when sent thither. Haste in that direction 
 seems to be the chief cause of this display of hieroglyphical 
 knowledge. 
 
 In the subjoined extracts from a letter which appeared 
 in the "Chicago Journal" (1864) are some practical hints 
 to letter- writers : 
 
 "I have just seen a letter of three pages, and not a 
 word in it, the work of a poor crazed soldier; not a 
 character of any tongue in Babel, but only a little child's 
 meaningless imitation of writing ; and in that letter were 
 ninety dollars. It came here ; the department discovered 
 the writer, his regiment, and death. The money waits. 
 Letters sometimes have most interesting histories. Thus, 
 an officer here in Washington writing a letter to his wife, 
 who is in New York, simply signed it with his given 
 name, and carelessly subscribed it e Washington/ The 
 letter came hither; and now who and where was the 
 writer ? In the body of the letter was a chance allusion 
 to some brigade : ( upon this hint 7 the department played 
 Othello and ' spake. 7 The brigade was inquired after and 
 of, was found, and it answered : the writer was a major, 
 and was dead. His wife had removed from her old deso- 
 late home, but she was discovered, and the money placed 
 in her hand as if by the hand of the dead. 
 
 "Every letter, no matter what trifles are in it, should 
 begin with the post-office, State, and poor terrestrial date, 
 day, month, and year. It is all very fine to write from 
 ' Clover Lawn/ or ' Willow-Tree/ or ' Sweet Home/ and 
 date it i Sunday Eve/ ' Birthday/ or 'Moonshine/ but 
 suppose the post-mark is dim, and the letter gets into this 
 marble cemetery, what then ? And then as to the super- 
 scription. By the present fashion we have first the name, 
 life-size, and, if the sex will possibly allow it, Esquired; 
 
PANDORA'S MAIL-BOX OPENED. 313 
 
 then the post-office ; last and least, and tucked in a corner 
 like a naughty boy, the State. 
 
 " Now, is not this reversing the order of things, crib- 
 bing the greater and magnifying the less? People, I pre- 
 sume, will not be persuaded to change their mode of 
 address, letters dead or alive; but how would it do to 
 direct a letter thus ? 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS, Boston, 
 
 1 DR. 0. W. HOLMES.' 
 
 " The little traveller would be sure to get into the right 
 State at the first dash, make straight for the post-office, 
 and finding the funny doctor would be an easy business." 
 
 The large number of letters written by persons in the 
 military service of the United States, whose locality could ' 
 not be ascertained, contributed very considerably to the 
 increase of " dead-letters." But the great proportion of or- 
 dinary dead-letters which were returned was decidedly those 
 of the careless order. Many were not even signed, and 
 others so imperfectly directed that it was totally impossible 
 to decipher even the name or residence of the writer. Time 
 after time have postmasters called public attention to this 
 state of things, and, strange as the fact may appear, this 
 very timely (as it was supposed) suggestion had the con- 
 trary effect : the number of ill-spelt and ill-directed letters 
 increased ! 
 
 PANDORA'S MAIL-BOX OPENED. 
 
 Among the " mail-matters" which had accumulated at 
 the dead-letter-office in Washington since 1848, and which 
 were sold to the highest bidder on the 6th of December, 
 1859, were the following articles: coats, hats, socks, 
 drawers, gloves, scarfs, suspenders, patent inhaling-tubes, 
 gold pens, pencils, ladies 7 slippers half worn, all kinds of 
 jewelry, undersleeves, fans, handkerchiefs, box of dis- 
 secting-instruments, pocket-Bibles, religious books, others 
 
 27 
 
314 DECOY-LETTERS. 
 
 not quite so acceptable to the moral portion of the com- 
 munity, shirts, bed-quilts, boots, spurs, gaffs for game- 
 fowls, shawls, gaiters, tobacco, razors, &c. &c. 
 
 ADVERTISED LETTERS. 
 
 Advertised letters, uncalled for and sent to the dead- 
 letter-office, cost the government annually over $60,000 ! 
 This is a dead loss, as, from the very nature of the super- 
 scription and imperfect direction, such letters have no 
 more chance of reaching their places of destination than 
 a sinner has of going to heaven. 
 
 . DECOY-LETTERS. 
 
 Devices employed for the public good, if predicated on 
 the principles that maintain all men dishonest and are them- 
 selves deceptive, both in theory and practice, cannot be 
 considered either honorable or complimentary to our public 
 men. The system, more particularly in its connection 
 with the postal department, originated, we are inclined to 
 think, from some suspicious postmaster or his chief clerk, 
 and thus was established a plan to test the employees, alike 
 unjust and questionable in equity. It is said that these 
 decoy-letters can never injure honest men. Are we to 
 understand from this that men f questionable character 
 and thieving proclivities are employed by the government? 
 Is it customary to appoint rogues to office, and, after ap- 
 pointing them, lay traps for their detection ? If this is 
 the fact, then may we well exclaim, with Cowley, 
 
 " Man is to man all kinds of beasts, a fawning dog, a 
 roaring lion, a thieving fox, a robbing wolf, a dissembling 
 crocodile, a treacherous decoy, a rapacious vulture." 
 
 Once establish the decoy system as a general one, ex- 
 tending it to all branches of the government, trade, and 
 commerce, introduce it into stores and factories, and we 
 shall soon have the flag of suspicion waving over that of 
 
DECOY-LETTERS. 315 
 
 the Stars and Stripes : we will constitute ourselves a nation 
 of rogues, and become in the eyes of the world a huge 
 "DECOY DUCK," instead of the proud heretofore emblem 
 of our country, the glorious Eagle ! 
 
 We care very little about the opinion of Judge Betts, 
 who .on one occasion maintained the principle in a very 
 learned speech, which when summed up amounted simply 
 to this, that all men are rogues and require watching, 
 in fact, in morals as well as honesty they are lame ducks, 
 and a decoy is necessary to watch their actions. The 
 learned judge said, 
 
 "I am persuaded that letters would rarely be inter- 
 cepted in their transmission by post if every person con- 
 cerned in mailing or carrying them could be impressed 
 with the idea that each package enclosing valuables may 
 be but a bait seeking to detect whoever may be dishonest 
 enough to molest, and to become a swift witness for his 
 conviction and punishment." 
 
 If this is logic, it lacks one important principle in 
 theory to establish its practical application, and that is, 
 common sense. We consider the decoy system, at least as 
 a national means to detect rogues, beneath the dignity and 
 character of the nation. Reason and philosophy teach us 
 that God never puts evil into our hearts, or stirs it up 
 there by any positive influence. A man is tempted by 
 his own lust, and enticed into sin by the influence, acts, 
 and example of wicked men. "Lead us not into tempta- 
 tion," is one of those wise and holy lessons which the 
 Saviour of the world instructed his disciples to pray for, 
 so as they might carry it out in their holy mission, 
 strengthened by the Divine blessing resting upon it. Men, 
 however, are not unfrequently placed in situations "as 
 have a tendency," says Scott, "to give our inward cor- 
 ruptions and the temptations of Satan and his agents 
 peculiar advantage against us." 
 
316 DECOY-LETTERS. 
 
 Is it, therefore, to be wondered at that a government 
 like ours should assume a Satanic form, and employ agents 
 for the express purpose of leading men into temptation? 
 We consider the " decoy-letter" system exactly a case in 
 point. It may not be uninteresting to some of our readers 
 to give the origin of this ridiculous and equally sinful 
 manner of testing men's honesty. 
 
 As might be supposed, it never could have originated 
 in an enlightened nation, and yet enlightened nations 
 indorse its antiquity of folly. We trace it to China and 
 as far back as the dimness of its history can carry us. It 
 may surprise some to hear the term unenlightened applied 
 to China, the land of classic works, and the richest and 
 most important in all Asia. Philosophers have made the 
 works called " Kings" the basis of their labors in morality 
 and politics. History has always received the attention 
 of the Chinese, and their annals form the most complete 
 series extant in any language. Poetry, the drama, and 
 romantic prose fictions are among the productions of the 
 Chinese literati, "I/iterce inhumaniores" meaning learning 
 rather of an inhuman or barbarous tendency. 
 
 The Chinese were in possession of three of the most 
 important inventions or discoveries of modern times long 
 before they were known to the nations of the world, besides 
 which they were the inventors of two remarkable manu- 
 factures, silk and porcelain. The art of printing was 
 practised at least as early as the tenth century ; but the use 
 of movable types instead of blocks seems never to have 
 occurred to this ingenious people. The knowledge of 
 gunpowder among them dates at a very early period ; but 
 the application of its use to fire-arms they learned from 
 the Europeans. Finally, the peculiar directive properties 
 of the loadstone were applied to purposes of navigation 
 by the Chinese several centuries before they were employed 
 in Europe. 
 
DECOY-LETTERS. 317 
 
 We have given a sketch of the arts and sciences of 
 China, but it would be totally impossible to give the reader 
 any thing like an idea of the character and morals of its 
 inhabitants. When China was first explored by European 
 travellers it was believed to be a nation that had alone 
 found out the true secret of government, where the virtues 
 were developed by the operation of the laws: indeed, 
 judging from what they had read, an almost perfect people 
 was expected to greet their sight. Alas ! how is history 
 falsified! Few nations, it is now agreed, have so little 
 honor or feeling, or so much duplicity, cunning, and men- 
 dacity. Their affected gravity is as far from wisdom as 
 their ceremonies are from politeness. 
 
 The government of China is one of fear; and it has 
 produced the usual effects, duplicity and meanness. Sus- 
 picion is one of their leading features, and thus every man 
 is not only suspected of .being a rogue, but in reality every 
 one is a rogue. Expert thieving is considered an art, yet 
 if discovered is punished. The merchants cheat each 
 other by rule: hence it is not strange that the DECOY 
 SYSTEM should have originated in that country. 
 
 Laws were enacted to punish those who laid the decoy, 
 as well as those who fell into the trap. These punishments 
 consisted of the bastinado, the pillory, banishment, hard 
 labor, death. These two first are almost constantly in use : 
 indeed, the merchant who is bastinadoed for leading his 
 clerk into crime by the "decoy means," as well as the 
 clerk himself, looks upon it as a " paternal correction," and 
 thanks the judge for the care bestowed upon his morals. 
 And yet although this system was practised some three 
 thousand years ago, it is still followed and, of course, still 
 punished. 
 
 Even in Jewish history we have instances of this system 
 being pursued. . See 1 Kings xiii. 
 
 It was also extensively practised .in France during the 
 
 27* 
 
318 DECOY-LETTERS. 
 
 rebellion. Mechanics and others who followed labor for 
 maintenance were subjected to these "decoys/' which pre- 
 sented themselves in various shapes. An old lady residing 
 in this city told the author that her husband found a 
 doubloon on his work-table, placed there by a nobleman 
 in whose house he was fitting up tapestry. Indignant at 
 the insult offered a Frenchman and a citizen, he nailed 
 the coin to the table, from which not without great diffi- 
 culty the tempter could remove it. 
 
 Is it, we ask, consistent with our form of government 
 and the national character of the people that this relic of 
 barbarism, like that of slavery, should be permitted to 
 exist or be practised by its chief officers? 
 
 Detectives only should adopt the system to aid them in 
 their search for a criminal, but an agent detective has no 
 right to set a decoy to test the honesty of men upon whom, 
 even before and after his appointment, no suspicion rested. 
 We again pronounce it mean and contemptible. 
 
SPECIAL AGENTS. 319 
 
 XIII. 
 
 " The special agents are the eyes and hands of the department to detect 
 and arrest violators of the law, and to render the mails a safe and rapid 
 means of communication. In their selection I have endeavored to secure the 
 qualities of integrity, sagacity, and efficiency." Report of Postmaster-General 
 Montgomery Blair, June 30, 1861. 
 
 IN England " special agents" are considered among the 
 most important adjuncts of the post-office department. 
 In this country they are equally important, and hold the 
 most responsible positions in the general arrangement and 
 organization of its managerial system. 
 
 It was under the administration of Amos Kendall, 
 whose devotion to the interests of the office forms one of 
 the most interesting features of our postal history, that 
 the special-agent system was introduced. As Mr. Blair 
 observes, in the passage quoted above, "special agents are 
 selected for their integrity, sagacity, and efficiency:" it 
 required more than mere political influence for an applicant 
 to obtain an appointment, simply from the fact that party 
 studies its own interest first and leaves the consequence of 
 its intrigues to time and opportunity. But the postal 
 department, aware of the sort of material which generally 
 makes up the political elements of party, very wisely made 
 the selection of special agents a matter of more serious 
 consideration. And yet we are fearful that even this de- 
 partment will, if it has not already, become one of the 
 links which bind and connect it with the spirit of party 
 and to the chain of its political power. As far, however, 
 as we are able to judge of the character of those who now 
 fill these offices, the upas power of party has not been 
 
320 SPECIAL AGENTS. 
 
 exercised to any great extent in procuring their appoint- 
 ments. We do not imply that from the political ranks 
 there cannot be found men in every respect calculated to 
 fulfil any office in the postal department, but we do mean 
 to say that in numerous cases men are selected not for 
 their ability to perform the duties intrusted to them, but 
 for a blustering, roystering reputation they had gained in 
 their respective wards. Every failure in our state depart- 
 ment, the want of energy, the lack of intelligence, the 
 confusion attendant on improper amusements, can inva- 
 riably be traced to these improper political appointments. 
 
 Special agents, apart from those qualities alluded to by 
 Mr. Blair, should be men of intelligence and character, 
 and possess an intuitive knowledge of physiognomy, phre- 
 nology, philosophy, or the ancient Moshical, or, rather, 
 the Mosaical, so as to be able at a glance to read men 
 and become acquainted with their "inward dispositions 
 and with the faculties of their souls," and be enabled to 
 say, with Mr. Evelyn, who studied the science, " that man 
 is all dissimulation." But we contend that there are men 
 who, having made the subject of detection a study, not by 
 examining the features or watching the actions of others, 
 but by analytical observations, are alone capable of ful- 
 filling these positions. 
 
 The system of ferreting out losses, or, rather, its pro- 
 cess, is a science, and one that to succeed must be closely 
 studied. 
 
 Science is knowledge, art, power, and skill in the use of 
 such knowledge: if it be directed to one particular object, 
 exercising caution in such connection, the result will in- 
 evitably be favorable. 
 
 The duties of a special agent are such that these quali- 
 fications are essential to success. And we may say that in 
 the selection of men men who now hold these positions 
 the postal department has not been governed by petty 
 
SPECIAL AGENTS. 321 
 
 political influence, but on the principle involved in our 
 popular maxim, " The right man in the right place" 
 
 The duties of a special agent are, in a measure, " secrets 
 of the office," and his movements are generally so quiet 
 that few persons in and out of the office have the least 
 idea what those duties are : hence the mystery in which 
 all his operations seem involved. Perhaps it would not 
 be proper, or, at least, so far as the interest of the depart- 
 ment is concerned, for us to explain the exact position 
 these special agents hold. They have a wide range of 
 duties, which, however, it is not necessary to particularize 
 and, as stated, explain, except so far as either of them may 
 have a bearing upon the object of this work. All losses 
 of valuable letters or depredations on the mails are sub- 
 mitted to them for investigation. The particular means 
 to be used in discovering the exact locality of a theft from 
 the mails or in ferreting out and arresting the perpe- 
 trators, are left entirely to their intelligence, vigilance, and 
 ingenuity. It is natural that a special agent should be- 
 come reserved, unobtrusive, quiet in all his actions, no 
 hurry or bustle, ever cautious, so that he may be enabled 
 to make discoveries without leading to suspicion and 
 alarming the guilty. Indeed, such an eifect on a man's 
 natural temperament would be the consequence of his 
 peculiar business. His means, however, depend upon his 
 observation : he first learns the amount of loss, the nature 
 of the theft, the character of the money, and the line of 
 postal communications between the sender and the expect- 
 ant recipient. These are his ground-works, upon which 
 he erects his superstructure, theoretical and practical, for 
 the detection of the criminal. 
 
 Were we to give our readers some account of these dis- 
 covered thefts, romance would lose half its charms of 
 enchantment, truth being more powerful and impressive 
 than fiction. To do this would be to betray the secrets of 
 
322 SPECIAL AGENTS. 
 
 the office and to stimulate the rogues to form new plans 
 of avoiding detection, as well as in their system of thieving. 
 These agents, as we have observed, keep themselves 
 aloof from the general business of the office, and not un- 
 frequently mystify those with whom they occasionally 
 come in contact. They are not the tempters of the clerks 
 by meaningly employing the decoy-letter practice, but the 
 silent workers of justice in pursuit of the guilty: hence 
 the honest employees of the office can boldly say with 
 Macbeth, 
 
 "Thou canst not say I did it; never shake 
 Thy gory locks at me." 
 
 or with Hamlet, 
 
 "Let the galled jade wince, 
 Our withers are unwrung." 
 
 WHAT IS EEQUIRED OF A SPECIAL AGENT. 
 
 1. He should have a thorough knowledge of the laws 
 and regulations of the department. 
 
 2. Apart from his special duties, he is to report and 
 make known to the department any unnecessary expendi- 
 ture on the part of those who have control of the mails, 
 and at the same time report where there is any deficiency 
 of agents, &c. 
 
 3. He is intrusted with keys to the several mail-locks 
 in use, and is, by virtue of his commission, authorized to 
 open and examine the mails whenever and wherever. 
 
 4. He is also empowered to enter and examine any post- 
 office which, in his judgment, may lead to the success of 
 his investigations. 
 
 5. He should, when travelling, attract as little attention 
 as possible, and conceal his official character from obser- 
 vation as much as possible. 
 
SPECIAL AGENTS. 323 
 
 6. He jnust make himself acquainted with mail-routes, 
 and their connection with the office of a special agent. 
 
 It is not possible for the department to instruct an 
 agent in the particular means to be employed in discover- 
 ing the exact locality of an ascertained robbery of the 
 mail, or in ferreting out and arresting the perpetrators. 
 These must be as variou,s as the circumstances which sur- 
 round each case, and he must exercise his own ingenuity 
 and acuteness to effect his purpose. 
 
 We have, probably, furnished our readers with sufficient 
 information upon this peculiar branch of the postal de- 
 partment. A writer speaking upon this subject says, 
 
 "From the nature of their employment, special agents 
 are constantly brought in contact with the most intelligent 
 and prominent men in the community, who justly expect 
 to find the post-office department represented by men of 
 gentlemanly bearing, fair education, correct deportment, 
 and sound discretion. The absence of any of these quali- 
 ties, especially of all of them, would lower the standing 
 of the department with those whose good opinion is most 
 valuable, and would naturally cause speculations on the 
 reasons why persons so deficient in the qualities necessary 
 to make them acceptable to people of discernment should 
 have been appointed to such a responsible post/' 
 
 SPECIAL AGENT OF THE LETTER-CARRIERS' 
 DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Since the introduction of the free-delivery letter system 
 the position of a carrier has become one of considerable im- 
 portance, from the fact of his duties being not only 
 doubled, but the amount of responsibility considerably 
 increased. At first there was considerable opposition in 
 some places to having carriers at all ; and even in large 
 cities postmasters opposed it, as a general thing. Mr. C. 
 A. Walborn, postmaster of Philadelphia, was among the 
 
324 SPECIAL AGENTS. 
 
 first to favor the abolishing the one-cent system, and the 
 making four trips a day, instead of two, as heretofore. 
 It is true, this added materially to the labor of a carrier, 
 but by lessening the routes it was soon found as practi- 
 cable as it was beneficial to the community. Perhaps no 
 city in the Union can boast of a better- organized system 
 of the carriers' department than that of Philadelphia. 
 Gradually, as merchants became aware of the facilities it 
 afforded them, and the energetic movements and attention 
 shown by the carriers to their interest, and of letters 
 being delivered free of charge, they hailed the system as 
 an important era in the postal department. In' all large 
 cities and populous towns the system became general, and 
 four deliveries of a letter a day added materially to the 
 confidence it had inspired. 
 
 In view of the importance attached to this department, 
 Postmaster-General Montgomery Blair appointed Joseph 
 W. Briggs, Esq., of Cleveland, Ohio, "special agent" to 
 superintend the operations of the letter-carriers 7 depart- 
 ment throughout the United States. Mr. Briggs in every 
 respect was qualified for the position. His acquaintance 
 with postal matters, and the interest he took in the 
 general delivery of letters, well qualified him to undertake 
 the important duty. We met Mr. Briggs in the Phila- 
 delphia post-office, September, 1865, while on his postal 
 tour ; and it afforded us an opportunity of exchanging 
 opinions upon the subject of the carriers' system, in which 
 he expressed himself in terms of one who had studied it 
 with an eye to the interest both of the carriers and that 
 of the department. 
 
 Apart from his special duties in large cities, he was 
 authorized by the department to establish the system in 
 all places requiring it : hence in a short time the having 
 letters brought to our very doors, even in the rural dis- 
 tricts, will become general. 
 
SPECIAL AGENTS. 325 
 
 Mr. Briggs goes into the philosophy of the subject : he 
 calculates first the amount of labor a carrier has to per- 
 form in the office ; secondly, the amount of physical labor 
 required in the performance of his duty as a carrier of 
 letters. Thus the mental and physical are . properly in- 
 quired into, and their respective duties classified. The 
 result of the latter, as calculated by Mr. Briggs, is as 
 follows : One hundred and twenty-eight carriers of the 
 Philadelphia office travel daily 2652 miles, being an 
 average of over twenty-two miles per day each man. 
 This is no sinecure ! 
 
 Apart from this statement, the author of this work 
 called the attention of the agent to an additional item in 
 this calculation ; and that was the travelling up several 
 pair of stairs, passing through long corridors and galleries 
 of large public and other buildings, to deliver letters to the 
 several occupants, would make up an additional mile or two 
 to the above statistic of figures. Perhaps one good result 
 will arise from the report which Mr. Briggs has made to 
 the department ; and that will be to increase the number 
 of carriers, and add some twenty-five per cent, to their 
 salaries. 
 
 A LEAF FROM A SPECIAL AGENTS NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 In the months of April and May, 1861, a large num- 
 ber of registered letters from points in the State of New 
 York, passing through the New York and Philadelphia 
 offices to Egg Harbor City and other places in that sec- 
 tion of New Jersey, failed to reach their destination. 
 Before Mr. C. A. Walborn took charge of the office at 
 Philadelphia, the attention of special agent Mr. S. B. Row 
 had been drawn to these losses by the late lamented Mr. 
 James Holbrook, who was the oldest special agent in the 
 employ of the post-office department. In June, Mr. 
 Row went to New York City, and had a consultation with 
 
 28 
 
 OF THE 
 UMIVPDQITV 
 
32G SPECIAL AGENTS. 
 
 Mr. Holbrook ; and, although they differed in opinion as 
 to the precise locality where the trouble probably existed, 
 it was determined to put through some decoy-letters. One 
 of these letters " turned up missing," but, for reasons not 
 necessary to repeat here, nothing was said about it then, 
 but Mr. Row was perfectly satisfied that the abstraction 
 of letters took place in the Philadelphia post-office ; and, 
 after an interview with one of the clerks whom he had 
 taken into his confidence, suspicions were directed to 
 Franklin M. Reed. Reed was an old post-office clerk, 
 who, with an intermission of perhaps twelve months, had 
 been in the office for twenty odd years. Efforts were fre- 
 quently made to " trap" Reed, but none of them succeeded, 
 until, on the evening of the 8th of August, a " decoy" was 
 jointly prepared by Mr. Row and Mr. William M. Ire- 
 land, the present chief clerk (1865) of the Philadelphia 
 post-office. 
 
 This decoy had all the appearance of a regular regis- 
 tered letter from New York, and was addressed to an 
 imaginary Mrs. Green, at Atlantic City, from her devoted 
 husband, who enclosed her two dollars to relieve her 
 present wants, and promising to visit her at the end of the 
 week. This letter was, at a favorable moment, slipped 
 into the New York package, which Reed was then about 
 " casing up." Next morning Mr. Ireland examined the 
 Atlantic City mail, and found that the letter for the 
 imaginary Mrs. Green was missing. At 7 A.M. Mr. Reed 
 quit work. A short time previous, Mr. Row had seen 
 Mr. Ireland, who was acting under the instructions of the 
 former, and, on learning the condition of affairs, it was 
 determined to wait for Mr. Reed at the corner of Third 
 and Carter's Streets, when he should make his appearance 
 there on leaving the office. Soon Reed came out, when 
 he was accosted by the special agent, who informed him 
 that he required about five minutes of his time in the 
 
THE YOUTHFUL MAIL-ROBBER. 327 
 
 postmaster's private room. On his way there, Reed drew 
 out his watch several times ; but he was too closely watched 
 to admit of his dropping any thing on his way back. On 
 entering the room, Mr. Row told him that a certain letter 
 was missing, and that, as it had last been in his hands, 
 it became his painful duty to search him. Reed quietly 
 submitted; and in his watch-fob was found the money 
 which had been enclosed in the Green letter. 
 
 Reed was taken before United States Commissioner 
 Hazlitt, and, after a hearing, was committed to prison in 
 default of $3000 bail. On the 20th of August the United 
 States District Court convened, and the grand jury found 
 a true bill on the indictment. On the 27th Reed was 
 tried, and the jury rendered a verdict of "guilty." Reed 
 was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in the Eastern 
 Penitentiary of Pennsylvania. 
 
 THE YOUTHFUL MAIL-ROBBER. 
 
 Some time in the year 1860, a man by the name of 
 Pardon Barrett made his appearance at Jackson Corners, 
 Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania. He was a shoemaker 
 by trade, and opened a shop for business. He had no 
 family, kept bachelor's hall, and associated very little 
 with men, simply confining himself to business relations 
 with them. He, however, seemed to take pleasure in the 
 company of boys, and, by insinuating himself into their 
 good graces, soon succeeded in making his domicile a sort 
 of rendezvous, or place of meeting, for a select few, upon 
 whom he seemed to have some special design. In the 
 winter of 1862-63, Barrett's shop became a sort of pleasure- 
 place for these youngsters, pleasure to eat oyster-suppers, 
 play cards and dice, until he obtained an influence over 
 them that their parents could never have obtained either 
 for good or evil. 
 
 Were we writing an essay on juvenile depravity, one 
 
328 THE YOUTHFUL MAIL-ROBBER. 
 
 of the strongest arguments used would be that of parents 
 losing sight of the vacant hours of their children. Asso- 
 ciations formed at these times have not unfrequently laid 
 the foundation of their ruin. This will be illustrated as 
 we proceed. 
 
 Among the lads who visited Barrett was Henry W. 
 Fletcher, a bright, intelligent boy of thirteen years : he 
 was the son of the village postmaster. Barrett seemed to 
 have a more than ordinary fondness for this boy, associated 
 and talked with him wherever and whenever he met him. 
 It was for the purpose of cementing this friendship still 
 closer, and strengthening the influence he was gradually 
 obtaining over him, that the oyster-suppers and card- 
 playing were inaugurated. No one would have taken 
 such pains with young Fletcher, mastering his timidity, 
 establishing a friendship, and ministering to his youthful 
 pleasures, if he had not something in view, some pur- 
 pose, some object. Those who have read Oliver Twist 
 cannot have forgotten the character of "Old Fagin," and 
 how he gathered around him a number of boys and taught 
 them the art and mystery of stealing. Barrett, no doubt, 
 had read Oliver Twist, and, as we shall see, imitated his 
 plan and followed his example in preparing boys for the 
 gallows. 
 
 On the occasion of one of the oyster-parties, Barrett 
 suggested to young Fletcher that, as our soldiers were 
 sending money home, he might, if he were sharp, get 
 some of it. Fletcher started : he could not at first com- 
 prehend how, honestly, he could hold the soldiers' money. 
 "Easy enough," remarked Barrett; "by taking the letters 
 out of the post-office." An associate of Barrett's, and 
 perhaps the only one he had, was present. For reasons 
 not necessary to give here, we conceal his name. This 
 man urged the boy also to commit this serious offence of 
 robbing the post-office, but stated, as if he possessed the 
 
THE YOUTHFUL MAILROBBER. 329 
 
 power, " that he would see him out of the scrape if he was 
 detected." The imagination of the boy was excited by 
 the programme laid out by these villains, how they would 
 take him with them to Buffalo, then across the lake into 
 Canada, "where," as Barrett remarked, "nobody could 
 find them." Then they would proceed to the Western 
 States, seek a wild, retired place in the forest, build a 
 hut, and pass their time in hunting, fishing, and other 
 wild-wood sports. To a lad naturally sprightly, romantic, 
 and possessing more than ordinary intelligence, such a 
 prospect was quite fascinating. All arch-villains, when- 
 ever they want tools to work with, invariably excite the 
 imagination, which oversteps the bounds of discretion, and 
 carries the victim on to his ruin. When Aaron Burr 
 planned his great scheme of revolutionizing the South, 
 and, no doubt, with an eye to the subjugation of the North, 
 he selected out a wild enthusiast, one Herman Blenner- 
 hassett, for a sort of leader. ' Blennerhassett was an adven- 
 turer, romantic and chivalric : he lived on an island of 
 the Ohio River, still retaining his name. Here he built 
 a splendid mansion, and possessing, it is said, great wealth, 
 he expended vast sums of money in decorating both the 
 mansion and the island. The ruins of the former are still 
 to be seen.* Like the man Barrett, Aaron Burr and 
 Blennerhassett enticed to their island a number of young 
 men, whose imaginations became excited by the descriptive 
 scenes given them by these arch-traitors of Mexico and 
 the South, gardens of beauty and Golconda's of wealth. 
 High commissions were promised them ; but the bubble 
 burst, their plans were detected, the parties arrested and 
 tried for high treason. 
 
 Barrett pictured to young Fletcher the wild sports of 
 
 * The island is situated in the Ohio River, one hundred and eighty- 
 eight miles below Pittsburg, and two and a half miles from the beautiful 
 
 little town of Parkersburg. 
 
 28* 
 
330 THE YOUTHFUL MAIL-ROBBER. 
 
 the far West, and how they would enjoy themselves when 
 once settled in some vast wilderness. Three months, how- 
 ever, elapsed before young Fletcher consented, and it was 
 in the early part of May, while his father, the postmaster, 
 was absent at New York, that he commenced operations. 
 The first step he made in his career of crime yielded 
 twenty dollars. When this was shown to Barrett, he re- 
 marked, with a friendly smile, "Good! you have made a 
 fine beginning ; keep it going, and the wild- wood sports 
 will soon be our pastime." 
 
 Fletcher, now that his hand was in, did keep it going, 
 and in three weeks the fund was increased to two hundred 
 and twenty-five dollars. Barrett had given him certain 
 instructions, which he strictly followed : these were, not 
 to take more than one package of letters at a time, and 
 then only such as were passing through the office; nor 
 was he to take any belonging to the Jackson office ; also, 
 he was to take no letters unless they had Washington 
 City post-mark on them. The understanding between 
 them was that Fletcher was to retain all the money until 
 their final departure; then it was to be divided among 
 them, or a treasurer appointed until they reached their 
 wild-wood destination. Fletcher kept the money hid 
 away, as Barrett told him it was dangerous to carry it 
 about him. On several occasions, however, he tried to 
 get money out of Fletcher, but the latter invariably re- 
 fused to advance a cent, holding the former to the bond, 
 which was not to use any of the money until their general 
 meeting previous to their departure West. It seems, how- 
 ever, that about this time the losses were being looked 
 to by the post-office department, and, for reasons which 
 are foreign to the matter in hand, young Fletcher ex- 
 hibited a more liberal spirit to a boy named Brownson 
 than he did to Barrett, by furnishing him with forty 
 dollars to enable him to run away from home. It was 
 
THE YOUTHFUL MAIL-ROBBER. 331 
 
 not a very difficult matter on the part of the department 
 to trace the robbery as soon as the money from letters was 
 missing. Once on the railroad of suspicion, the detective 
 soon reached the depot, the scene of theft. 
 
 The boy Fletcher was at first supposed to be the only 
 person concerned in the affair; but the investigation de- 
 veloped the facts above stated, and Barrett, who had sud- 
 denly left for New York, was arrested at Genesee on the 
 9th of June. On the 16th he was taken to Williamsport, 
 Pennsylvania, where the United States District Court was 
 held; on the 17th he was put on trial ; on the 18th found 
 guilty ; and on the 20th he was lodged in the Western 
 Penitentiary at Alleghany City, Pennsylvania, the court 
 having sentenced him to three years' imprisonment. Bar- 
 rett's age was fifty-six, which influenced the court in 
 shortening the term of imprisonment. 
 
 The principal witness against Barrett was young Fletcher. 
 A large number of letters was found at a place designated 
 by him. One hundred and sixty dollars and other mail- 
 able matter were found where he said they were concealed. 
 The most important item of testimony, however, was that 
 which related to a silver half-dollar, which Fletcher al- 
 leged he had taken out of a letter, and which he had sold 
 to Barrett for sixty cents in currency. It was ascertained 
 that a drafted man, on leaving for the army, had taken 
 inadvertently with him a half-dollar belonging to his little 
 son. At the time the tampering was going on with letters 
 at the post-office, he had enclosed a half-dollar in a letter 
 to his wife to replace the one he had taken away with him. 
 This letter had to pass through the Jackson office, but it 
 never reached its destination. Doubtless this was the one 
 out of which Fletcher got the half-dollar sold to Barrett. 
 It is a curious fact in the history of criminals that their 
 detection, in nine cases out of ten, is caused by some very 
 
332 THE DISHONEST MERCHANT. 
 
 trifling incident connected with the operations. So it was 
 in this case. 
 
 The 126th section of the act of Congress of March 3, 
 1825, makes the opening, embezzling, or destroying of 
 mail-letters or packages containing articles of value an 
 offence punishable with imprisonment not less than two, 
 nor more than ten, years. The 129th section of the same 
 act provides "That every person who, from and after the 
 passage of this act, shall procure and advise, or assist, in 
 the doing or perpetration of any of the acts or crimes by 
 this act forbidden, shall be subject to the same penalties 
 and punishments as the persons are subject to who shall 
 actually do or perpetrate any of the said acts or crimes, 
 according to the provisions of this act." It was under 
 this clause Barrett was convicted, and it is, perhaps, the 
 only case of the kind on record. 
 
 This interesting case and were all the details given it 
 would prove highly so came under the official manage- 
 ment of S. B. Row, Esq., special agent of the post-office 
 department for the State of Pennsylvania. The moment 
 the first intimation was received of the mails being tam- 
 pered with, hp fixed upon his starting-point, and, with a 
 sure eye to the end, he pursued his course until he arrived 
 at Jackson, and by a little stratagem the whole plot was 
 discovered. He traced it from the first step young Fletcher 
 made into crime, after receiving his lesson from Barrett, 
 up to the loss of the silver half-dollar. The case, if fairly 
 written out, with all the details, would make an invaluable 
 paper for some Sunday-school tract-publishing institution. 
 It is, indeed, a lesson for youth. 
 
 THE DISHONEST MERCHANT. 
 
 Crime in high places has of late become fashionable; 
 law itself has become aristocratic, and maintains its cha- 
 racter for partiality by shielding aristocratical rascals 
 
THE DISHONEST MERCHANT. 333 
 
 beneath its wings. Justice is no longer blind, at least, 
 one of its eyes is open, and the distinguishing marks on a 
 greenback, denoting its value, are readily discerned by the 
 goddess. The poor wretch who steals a loaf of bread to 
 save his children from starvation invariably gets on the 
 blind side of Justice, and, of course, the sense of hearing, 
 and not of seeing, is exercised in his case. Bacon, in his 
 Essay of Judicature, says, "The place of justice is an hal- 
 lowed place, and, therefore, not only the bench, but the 
 foot-pace, and precincts, and purprise thereof, ought to be 
 preserved without scandal and corruption/ 7 The fate of 
 the bread-snatcher is an evidence that the precincts of 
 justice and the foot-pace to its throne must be paved with 
 gold, or his chance, or that of any other poor man, from 
 escape is totally impossible. The man who steals a loaf 
 of bread commits a crime: he should be punished: so 
 should the man who swindles the government, robs the 
 widow, commits forgery, nay, even murder, but whose 
 wealth paves the way for his acquittal. (See records of 
 our courts.) 
 
 In the following case it will be observed that the postal 
 department, having some knowledge of the manner busi- 
 ness is conducted in our courts, took the matter into its 
 own hand, the chief clerk acting as detective, judge, and 
 jury, and who settled the case in a manner, without 
 loss of time or money, highly satisfactory to all, save the 
 guilty party, who, shortly after the scene we are about to 
 describe, was compelled to quit the city and left for parts 
 unknown. 
 
 The gentleman (?) who is the hero of the narrative 
 for he was recognized as a gentleman in society had been 
 in the frequent receipt, by mail, of remittances in large and 
 small sums. Not long since he made his appearance at 
 the desk of the chief clerk in the post-office, and alleged 
 that he had just taken from his box a letter from which a 
 
334 THE DISHONEST MERCHANT. 
 
 draft on a city bank for about one hundred dollars had 
 been fraudulently abstracted, and, as the point from which 
 the letter had been mailed was but a short distance from 
 Philadelphia, he was confident that the draft had been 
 abstracted by some one in the post-office here. This im- 
 putation on the character of the office nettled the chief 
 clerk, and that functionary determined to sift the matter 
 to the bottom and ferret out the criminal, if such there 
 was. He made the necessary inquiries as to the day the 
 letter was due here, closely cross-examined the clerks, and, 
 after a diligent investigation, proceeded to the bank on 
 which the draft was drawn. He found that it had been 
 paid, and bore the indorsement, or seeming indorsement, 
 of the loser. He borrowed the draft and brought it to 
 the office. On comparing the apparently-forged signature 
 of the loser on the back of the document with the hand- 
 writing of a certain night-clerk, a remarkable resemblance 
 was discovered. Several experts were called in, and de- 
 clared that the handwriting of the clerk and the chiro- 
 graphy of the " forger" were one and the same. A clerk in 
 the bank was privately shown the suspected clerk, and he 
 identified him as the man to whom the money had been 
 paid! The network seemed to be closing around the poor 
 night-clerk, and it was determined that he should be ar- 
 rested. The chief clerk, jubilant at his discovery, sent 
 for the merchant who said he had lost the draft. While 
 the chief clerk and the merchant were closeted in the post- 
 master's private office, and the former was detailing his 
 success to the merchant-, he observed, as he proceeded with 
 the recital, that the merchant began to wear a livid hue; 
 his countenance assumed a pallicl aspect, in which a guilty 
 conscience seemed to come to the surface to horrify and 
 disgust the beholder. Trembling lips, too, were seen, and, 
 as the truth in all its damning meanness flashed across the 
 mind of the chief clerk, he at once boldly charged the 
 
LETTERS ADDRESSED TO CITIES ONLY. 335 
 
 merchant with having written his own signature in a 
 feigned hand, so as to secure the spoils of his own guilt 
 and ruin an innocent man. The guilty, miserable creature, 
 overwhelmed with confusion, confessed his guilt and im- 
 plored mercy. He acknowledged his criminality in the 
 whole transaction, a transaction which was about to stain 
 forever the reputation of an honest, hard-working man, 
 whose only capital was his skill as a scrivener and his 
 integrity in his clerical position. The chief clerk, deter- 
 mined that the reputation of the night-clerk should be 
 vindicated, threatened to have the guilty merchant exposed 
 and punished unless he proceeded to a magistrate at once 
 and made an affidavit confessing the crime in all its 
 details. The merchant humiliated himself by signing and 
 swearing to the odious confession, and the matter there 
 rested. 
 
 LETTERS ADDRESSED TO CITIES ONLY. 
 
 Many persons are in the habit of addressing letters and 
 circulars for firms and individuals, simply, "Philadel- 
 phia," "New York," &c. This practice not unfrequently 
 occasions delay in such letters reaching their rightful 
 owners. In all cases, however well the firm may bo 
 known, it is most essential, to insure their correct delivery, 
 that the street or locality in which they reside, and the 
 number of the house, should form a portion of the address. 
 Many of these circulars are prepared with great care and 
 considerable expense : yet they are so carelessly directed that 
 not more than one-half of them ever reach their place of 
 destination, simply because that place is not designated. 
 
 There is another matter to which we would call the 
 attention of merchants and others, and that is, to be very 
 careful in putting postal currency on their letters, and not 
 revenue-stamps. 
 
 This carelessness on the part of those forwarding letters 
 
336 UNMAILABLE LETTERS. 
 
 has led to much loss and inconvenience, and if persisted 
 in they cannot blame the department, which has from 
 time to time called public attention to the fact. Some 
 put on their letters revenue-stamps, others no stamp at 
 all; and in many instances letters of importance have 
 thus lain in the office until the parties have received 
 through the dead -letter office information of their where- 
 abouts. 
 
 UNMAILABLE LETTERS. 
 
 "Letters attempted to be sent with stamps previously 
 used or stamps cut from stamped envelopes. 
 
 "Unpaid letters for foreign countries, on which prepay- 
 ment is required by the regulations. 
 
 " Letters not addressed, or so badly addressed that their 
 destination cannot be known. 
 
 " Letters misdirected to places where there are no post- 
 offices." 
 
 It will be here seen that the government is not respon- 
 sible for the ignorance and stupidity of all epistolarians. 
 
 In some instances, however, postmasters are to blame in 
 not paying more attention to the mode of stamping letters. 
 
 The examination of dead-letters discloses much care- 
 lessness on the part of postmasters in post-marking letters, 
 and also in cancelling postage-stamps. 
 
 The latter clause of the regulations of 1859, section 
 397, is repealed, and the use of the office-rating or post- 
 marking stamp as a cancelling instrument is positively 
 prohibited, inasmuch as the post-mark, when impressed 
 on the postage-stamp, is usually indistinct, and the can- 
 cellation effected thereby is imperfect. The postage-stamp 
 must, therefore, be effectually cancelled with a separate 
 instrument. 
 
 Special attention is directed to the duty imposed upon 
 postmasters by Regulation 396, which is as follows: 
 
 "If the cancelling has been omitted on the mailing 
 
ADDRESSES SHOULD BE LEGIBLE. 337 
 
 of the letter, packet, or parcel, or if the cancellation be 
 incomplete, the postmaster at the office of delivery will 
 cancel the stamp in the manner directed, and forthwith 
 report the delinquent postmaster to the postmaster-gene- 
 ral, as the law requires." 
 
 ADDRESSES SHOULD BE LEGIBLE AND COMPLETE. 
 
 We have under other heads alluded to the carelessness 
 of persons in addressing their letters. To make them 
 legible and complete, give the name of the post-town, and 
 if there be more than one town of that name, or if the 
 post-town is not well known, be careful in giving the name 
 of the county, which in all cases is as essential as that of 
 the State. The number of the house, too, if in a street, 
 is a great assistance. It must not be supposed that be- 
 cause a letter will eventually reach its destination without 
 a number, the omission is not a cause of hesitation and 
 delay in the process of sorting for delivery ; and when 
 such small delays occur again and again, they tend greatly 
 to retard the general distribution. In the case of letters 
 for places abroad, the name of the country, as well as the 
 town or city, should be given in full. Attention to this 
 latter precaution will often assist in deciphering the name 
 of the town or city, and will prevent the letter from being 
 mis-sent when there are towns of the same name in differ- 
 ent countries. 
 
 The following is an expressive lesson : 
 
 A gentleman posted a letter containing drafts, checks, &c., 
 to a well-known New York house. Its failure to arrive 
 at the proper destination, of course, created great anxiety, 
 and all the ordinary and some extraordinary means were 
 employed to head off any attempt by the " mail-robber'' 
 to negotiate the "stolen" remittances. Journeys were 
 made to and fro between the mailing point and the Empire 
 City, the newspapers were liberally patronized with notices 
 
 29 
 
338 A LAW TO BE REPEALED. 
 
 of "stolen from the mail," circulars descriptive of the lost 
 enclosure abounded, all at an aggregate expense, accord- 
 ing to confession, of over one hundred dollars. 
 
 During this short season of precaution and excitement, 
 the letter in question had been making the official ac- 
 quaintance of the worthy postmaster of New Haven, Con- 
 necticut, and that of his clerks, then, under the rule, 
 skipping off to shake hands with our friends of the dead- 
 letter office, and from thence finding its way back to the 
 writer, who says he " never before did such a stupid thing 
 as to write New Haven, Ct., instead of New York, N.Y." 
 
 A LAW TO BE REPEALED. 
 
 It is only necessary to give this section of the postal 
 law to show its inconsistency and the necessity of its repeal 
 (Section 131, Printed Eegulations, 1859) : 
 
 " Bond fide subscribers to weekly newspapers can re- 
 ceive the same free of postage, if they reside in the county 
 in which the paper is printed and published, even if the 
 office to which the paper is sent is without the county, 
 provided it is the office at which they regularly receive 
 their mail-matter." 
 
 In justice, however, to many publishers, who look upon 
 the law as too liberal, they disdain taking advantage of it.* 
 
 * We were told by an officer of the department that the meaning of 
 this section of the postal law is not made sufficiently clear, but it is 
 generally understood by those who have control of an office. This is 
 not the case ; for we know one large newspaper (weekly) proprietor 
 who, taking the section literally, sends a very large edition of his 
 paper through the Philadelphia post-office to all his subscribers, and 
 defends himself under this order from the general post-office: 
 " Weekly newspapers (one copy only) sent by the publisher to actual sub- 
 scribers within the county where printed and published, free." 
 
NEWSPAPERS, EXCHANGES, ETC. 339 
 
 POSTAGE ON TRANSIENT PRINTED MATTER. 
 
 Books not over 4 ounces in weight, to one address 4 cts. 
 
 " over 4 ounces and not over 8 ounces 8 " 
 
 " over 8 ounces and not over 12 ounces 12 " 
 
 " over 12 ounces and not over 16 ounces 16 " 
 
 Circulars not exceeding three in number, to one 
 
 address 2 " 
 
 over three and not over six 4 " 
 
 " over six and not over nine 6 " 
 
 over nine and not exceeding twelve 8 " 
 
 Persons anxious to possess a general knowledge of the 
 post-office laws, rules, and regulations are referred to 
 "Appleton's United States Postal Guide/ 7 published 
 quarterly, by the authority of the postmaster-general, 
 New York. It contains the chief regulations of the post- 
 office, and a complete list of post-offices throughout the 
 United States, &c. The following accompanies each 
 number : 
 
 "WASHINGTON, D.C., , 1865. 
 
 "This volume has been prepared with my sanction, 
 and is an authorized medium of information between the 
 post-office department and the public. 
 
 " POSTMASTER-GENERAL." 
 
 NEWSPAPERS, EXCHANGES, ETC. 
 
 " Gazettes sent gratis down and franked, 
 For which thy patron's weekly thanked." 
 
 The question of the right to send and receive letters 
 and packets through the mail free of postage is not denied, 
 for it is so expressly stated in the " Laws and Regulations 
 of the Post-Office Department," chap, xviii. sect. 228. It 
 is viewed in the light of " personal privileges," or as an 
 official trust for the maintenance of official correspondence, 
 
340 NEWSPAPERS, EXCHANGES, ETC. 
 
 In both its forms the right varies in respect to different 
 classes of officers and individuals, in the kind as well as 
 weight of matters which may be so sent or received. An 
 interchange between publishers of pamphlets, periodicals, 
 magazines, and newspapers of their respective publications 
 is allowed for the purpose of promoting the dissemination 
 of this kind of information, of which they are the vehicles. 
 This is the head and front of the franking privilege, 
 nothing more, but should be considerably less. 
 
 "There are many other channels of knowledge, and of 
 very important knowledge, too, which are not privileged. 
 Newspapers are daily or weekly letters, written to a num- 
 ber of persons at once. They may be good or bad, sound 
 or vicious, as any other letters ; and the intensity of their 
 action is increased by the multiplying process of print- 
 ing. This action may be good or bad : if, therefore, the 
 community is believed to stand in want of newspapers, as 
 we certainly believe it does in a very great variety of 
 ways, it is already going very far to grant them the privi- 
 lege of a greatly-reduced rate of postage [1841]."* 
 
 Since the above was written, these rates have been re- 
 duced to almost a nominal value. Indeed, we cannot see 
 any reasonable objection to be made for such exchange, 
 both as regards the franking privilege and the postage on 
 exchange-newspapers. Patriotism on the part of those 
 claiming the right of the first would induce them to 
 forego it, while those who enjoy the latter should re- 
 member that, as they derive profit from their labor, the 
 government should not be the sufferer in consequence. 
 Upon this subject we consider the following article from 
 the very able report of Postmaster Joseph Holt in 1859 
 as containing the best and the most forcible arguments 
 that can be used to correct what we consider more in the 
 
 * New York Review. 
 
NEWSPAPERS, EXCHANGES, ETC. 341 
 
 light of an error than that of an abuse. The press of our 
 country is too enlightened to persist in claiming a privi- 
 lege that militates against the financial interest of the 
 government ; and we feel assured that, if the subject is 
 properly brought before them, they will readily conform 
 to any law that may be established to correct the error or 
 do away with an abuse. 
 
 (From the Report of the Postmaster-General.) 
 
 " POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT, 1859. 
 
 "The act of 1825 authorized ' every printer of news- 
 papers to send one paper to each and every other printer 
 of newspapers within the United States free of postage/ 
 and such is the existing law. However slight the support 
 which this statute may seem to give to publishers, it im- 
 poses in the aggregate a heavy and unjust burden on the 
 department. The advantage thus conferred inures to the 
 benefit alike of the publisher who sends and of him who 
 receives the paper in exchange. I have in vain sought 
 for any satisfactory explanation of the policy indicated by 
 this provision. It seems far more exceptionable than the 
 franking privilege, since the latter professes to be exercised 
 on behalf of the public, whereas the exemption secured 
 by the former is enjoyed wholly in advancement of a 
 private and personal interest. The newspapers received 
 in exchange by the journalist are, in the parlance of com- 
 merce, his stock in trade. From their columns he gathers 
 materials for his own, and thus makes the same business 
 use of them that the merchant does of his goods, or the 
 mechanic of the raw material which he proposes to manu- 
 facture into fabrics. But as the government transports 
 nothing free of charge to the farmer, the merchant, or the 
 mechanic, to enable them to prosecute successfully and 
 economically their respective pursuits, why shall it do so 
 for the journalist ? If the latter can rightfully claim that 
 
 29* 
 
342 NEWSPAPERS, EXCHANGES, ETC. 
 
 his newspapers shall be thus delivered to him at the 
 public expense, why may he not also claim that his 
 stationery and his type, and indeed every thing which 
 enters into the preparation of the sheets he issues as his 
 means of living, be delivered to him on the same terms ? 
 It has been urged, I am aware, that postage on newspaper 
 exchanges would be a tax on the dissemination of know- 
 ledge ; but so is the postage which the farmer, merchant, 
 and mechanic pay on the neAVSpapers for which they sub- 
 scribe, a tax on the dissemination of knowledge, and yet 
 it is paid by them uncomplainingly. If it be insisted 
 that the publishers of newspapers, as a class, are in such 
 a condition as to entitle them to demand the aid of the 
 public funds, it may be safely answered that such an 
 assumption is wholly unwarranted. Journalism in the 
 United States rests upon the broadest and deepest founda- 
 tions, and is running a career far more brilliant and pros- 
 perous than in any other nation of the world. The ex- 
 ceedingly reduced rates at which its issues pass through 
 the mails secure to it advantages enjoyed under no other 
 government. Under the fostering care of the free spirit 
 of the age, it has now become an institution in itself in 
 this country, and controls the tides of the restless ocean 
 of public opinion with almost resistless sway. It is the 
 avant- courier of the genius of our institutions, and is 
 everywhere the advocate of progress and of the highest 
 and noblest forms of human freedom. Is it not, there- 
 fore, to the last degree unseemly, if not worse, that in its 
 own enterprises, and in furtherance of its own pecuniary 
 interests, it should claim permission to violate habitually 
 a great principle of which it is the constant advocate, and 
 which underlies our whole political system, the principle 
 of equal rights to all and special privileges to none ? If, 
 however, from the grandeur and beneficence of its mission, 
 the press is to be excepted from the operation of this 
 
LETTER ADDRESSES. 343 
 
 wholesome democratic doctrine, and is to be subsidized to 
 the extent of its postages by the government, then unde- 
 niably such subsidy should be contributed from the com- 
 mon treasury, instead of being imposed, as at present, 
 on the oppressed revenues of the post-office department, 
 which, under all circumstances, should be maintained in- 
 violate. 
 
 "Into the same category, but for more cogent reasons, 
 must fall that class of weekly newspapers which the statute 
 of 1852 requires shall be delivered free of postage to all 
 subscribers residing within the limits of the county in 
 which they are published. This requisition is less sound 
 on the score of principle than even the discrimination in 
 favor of the press. There may be something in the cha- 
 racteristics of the latter ennobled as it is as the organ 
 of the intellect and heart of millions of freemen which 
 might induce many to grant to it special and distinguish- 
 ing immunities ; but why a citizen who chances to reside 
 on one side of a county line shall be exempted from a 
 postage on his newspaper, which his neighbor on the other 
 side of that line is obliged to pay on the same paper, sur- 
 passes my comprehension." 
 
 LETTER ADDRESSES* 
 
 To Nathaniel K. Latting this letter I write, 
 
 With the hope that the contents his mind may delight. 
 
 If it don't make him good, it can't do him evil, 
 
 For it comes from a friend, and not from the d 1. 
 
 In Mount Vernon village, New York State, 
 
 He works for his daddy, both early and late. 
 
 To Miss J. E. Peck this letter is sent, 
 
 To be read by herself it only is meant. 
 
 In " Sandy Hook," Conn., she leads a gay life, 
 
 Where Yankees make nutmegs and hams with a knife. 
 
 For a number of these addresses the author is indebted to that ex- 
 cellent paper entitled the "United States Mail." 
 
344 LETTER ADDRESSES. 
 
 P. M., this letter cannot wait, 
 
 To Burlington County send it straight. 
 
 To Jos. Wright this message give, 
 
 Who in Medford, New Jersey, himself doth live ; 
 
 At least he did six months ago,. 
 
 And still does if the draft or the small-pox has not laid him low. 
 
 If he is alive he will read this letter, 
 
 And if he is dead so much the better. 
 
 Over the plain and over the level, 
 Carry this letter like the Devil ; 
 Let it not stop for flood or fire, 
 Until it reaches Bill Crawl, Esquire. 
 
 To Lexington, Sanilac Co., 
 
 Oh, swiftly, swiftly let me go, 
 
 To cheer the heart, or cloud the brow, 
 
 Of Mrs, Anna M. Monro. 
 
 Mich. 
 
 Mr. James Smith, Fort Wayne, 
 
 Antwerp, Ohio, in care of William 
 Herring, Cayuaga Co., N. Y. 
 
 To Mrs. Jane Gleason send this away ; 
 
 Please send it off without delay 
 
 To Ripleyville P. 0., if it goes aright; 
 
 She will surely get it on Thursday night, 
 
 In Huron county, Ohio State : 
 
 There she lives, or did of late. 
 
 Send it in taste, it will give her joy, 
 
 For she wants to hear from her soldier boy. 
 
 To John Gillespiee 
 Camp. Cade. ' 
 Dell. A Ware, Pa. 
 
 Meaning Camp Cadwalader. 
 
 To Peter Smith 
 1209 Cartridge St. 
 
 3. Este. Av. 
 near 3 Esher. 
 
LETTER ADDRESSES. 345 
 
 Mr. Isaac Bakerson 
 Cam. Cal. Walter 
 
 Ner. Filladelphy 
 R. 2 1 N. E. 
 
 To Phil. Monitze 
 
 n care of mister John dick 
 filladelfy. Kensession. America. 
 
 To My Mother- 
 America 
 
 Connected with this letter is the following incident : it 
 fortunately came to Philadelphia, and, of course, from its 
 superscription was placed apart to find its way to the 
 dead-letter-office. One day a poor Irishwoman came to 
 the window and asked for a letter from her son, giving 
 no name. The simplicity of the question struck the clerk, 
 and the letter addressed " To My Mother" flashed upon 
 his mind. He turned to the case and selected the letter. 
 
 "Where does your son reside? what part of Ireland?" 
 
 "Belfast, sir." Belfast was the post-mark. 
 
 "What is his name?" 
 
 "Patrick McLaughlan." 
 
 "Open that letter," handing her the one in question. 
 She did so, and, casting her eyes on the signature, ex- 
 claimed, " From my son ! from my boy !" Sure enough, 
 there was the name, Patrick McLaughlan. 
 
 The clerk gave her some instructions for future corre- 
 spondence which probably proved of advantage to her. 
 
 Somebody sent a newspaper through the mails the other 
 day directed as follows: "To Honest Father Abraham, 
 God bless him, Washington, D. C." 
 
 The following is a literal copy of the superscription of 
 a registered letter received from Ireland, written, strange 
 as it may seem, in a "clerkly hand": 
 
346 LETTER ADDRESSES. 
 
 To this letter I pray attend 
 
 To A lady Late of Ireland 
 
 To the maiden's name ascribe the thing 
 
 To Late miss Eliza King 
 
 To get success in your routes 
 
 Take this to america or thereabouts. 
 
 The Army is the tightest place 
 
 I ever did get into, 
 I cannot pay the freight on this, 
 
 Although I really want to; 
 I've "nary red," but five months due 
 
 Don't think it's "on the level" 
 Postmaster, you may send this through, 
 
 Or chuck it to the d 1. 
 
 To Patrick Larkin who moved to his brothers at Adamsville in haste 
 to the care of Bernard Larkin State of Penlyva. 
 
 To Albert Walker, an awful talker, 
 
 Who lives in Salina you won't find a meaner 
 
 If you travel all day through the State of I-O-A. 
 
 My fair is paid in postel rate, 
 
 To Kingston Township, New^York State, 
 
 To Frederick Johnston, from a friend in Troy, 
 
 'Tis how are you, my conscript boy? 
 
 To a Mr. Service this letter I write, 
 
 And I'll start across the plains to night; 
 
 For the over-land mail is now running through 
 
 Down the South Platte, and across the Big Blue, 
 
 The Sioux, and the Cheyennes, have failed in their plan 
 
 To stop the mail of Old Uncle Sam, 
 
 And over the plains, I now can go straight, 
 
 To the Old Quaker City, and the Keystone State. 
 
 Across the river quickly send me, 
 
 In doing so do not rend me, 
 
 Take me to Gussie Wurderman, 
 
 Carry me quick and do it well, 
 
 Or Corney Walborn will catch rats! 
 
LETTER ADDRESSES. 347 
 
 To Sxl2 Thes. Johnes 
 
 Haile Alley towne. Des. 
 Unetede Stateese. 
 
 Pencil. 
 Deth, in hast. 
 
 We doubt if this letter ever reached its destination. 
 
 It is somewhere along the Jersey shore 
 Thirty miles belong long branch and more, 
 For if this should fail to set you right 
 Its about 28 miles above Barnegets light. 
 To Miss x. 
 
 To Jno. Tripler 
 Kidge avenue 
 
 Deap Pot. 
 Sleep Eaves 
 
 Phila 
 To John Jones, a laboring man 
 
 This letter must go if e'er so lucky 
 He shoes can make, and leather tan 
 In Lexington town, in old Kentucky. 
 
 If the Postmaster knows an alley 
 In the city, called Vandally 
 No 10 this letter, may by chance 
 Reach the sight of Mary Hance. 
 
 To Patric Gonegan 
 
 Pisin road, South Work 
 Knavee yarde, or theire somware 
 filedelphirea 
 
 John Shmeet 
 
 Shermummerbauner Roth 
 began Wester 
 
 And Jamphen St. 
 
 A literal translation, after much study of the dead lan- 
 guages, the following was the result: 
 
348 LETTER ADDRESSES. 
 
 John Smith 
 Germantown Road 
 
 Between Master & Thompson 
 
 Ns Duniel 
 
 lesunt Yost 
 nrpfflen pliladelpha 
 
 Pa in Ceuse ob 
 obed 
 
 Eas make 
 
 All Greek to the clerks. 
 
 Gasnot Hill 
 Hoss Spittall, for 
 
 Mrs. C. Gellengham. 
 
 For Dan, that was 
 
 In Smith's Store. 
 
 No other direction. 
 
 In care of mister John Dick 
 
 filladelfy 
 King's Sessions, mericai 
 
 The "New York Tribune" gives the following amusing 
 addresses, in rhyme and otherwise, that have passed 
 through the post-office in that city : 
 
 To be forwarded to 
 Margaret Flynn 
 and from you Margaret 
 to your brother Jack 
 and Sister Honora 
 Sister Ellen and Michael 
 In care of Mr. Wm. H. Baldwin E. S. K, America. 
 
 Another : 
 
 To John Barry, if living. 
 
 but if not, to his wife, or some of the children if living, and if not to 
 some respectable neighbor. 
 
LETTER ADDRESSES. 349 
 
 Speed on little missive to Marble Head, 
 And find old Joe Sweet either living or dead, 
 If he's living of course he'll read this letter 
 But if he's dead why all the better. 
 
 MASS. 
 
 Swift as the dawn your course pursue 
 
 Let nought your speed restrain 
 
 Until you meet Miss Mary Drew 
 
 In Newfield State of Maine. 
 
 Here is a lucid address, which speaks for itself: 
 
 Thimothe flanigan 
 
 State of Masekeivitts 
 or elswhare. 
 
 The geographical knowledge of the gentleman who 
 penned the following was somewhat extensive : 
 
 To Mr barthol owen 
 
 Kelly, 0' state 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 Connecticut. 
 
 The following reminds us of the innocent country-girl 
 who said she had an uncle living between the Battery and 
 Central Park: 
 
 Bridget Ware 
 
 New York, 29 
 
 New York City 
 
 22 America. 
 
 Who can tell of the whereabouts of Miss Foster? 
 
 Miss Louise Foster 36th street some 
 wheres Penny Post please deliver. 
 
 The following is encouraging to the postman : 
 
 To Mike Donovan 
 
 or to his cousin Eliza Mac Farrelly. 
 
 Postman will find him by findin Betsy Brennen who was engaged to 
 Mike before they left Ireland and may be married. 
 
 80 
 
350 THE MONEY-ORDER SYSTEM. 
 
 Mr. Ford must be a well-known individual in Maine, 
 else he never received the following letter : 
 
 Mr. Henry Ford 
 
 who lives in the same place in the 
 
 State of Maine. 
 
 An amusing postscript to a postmaster: 
 
 P. S. Please give this letter to the man what's got a sow in my barn, 
 as he wants to get away. 
 
 In Byberry Township, near the mill 
 And in a house upon the hill, 
 Lives a young lady in the same 
 
 Miss x she calls her name 
 
 Below the House on Comly's lot 
 
 A son of Vulcan has a shop 
 
 Now Ross, I know, you'll oblige the fair 
 
 Just have the kindness to send it there. 
 
 To Leughellyn Weintz 
 Pass, yhunk Rode 
 Below Tom Pitchers bar Room 
 who selles most infurnell bad 
 whiskee Southwerke, 
 
 Philadelphy. 
 
 THE MONET-ORDER SYSTEM. 
 
 The money-order system, which in England is so popu- 
 lar, has partly failed here. It went into operation on the 
 1st of November, 1864, under circumstances which pro- 
 mised a decided success. The amount to which the law 
 limited the order-system was not less than one dollar, and 
 not more than thirty dollars. This was to accommodate a 
 certain class of people, and at the same time test the utility 
 of the system for the purpose of hereafter creating a more 
 extensive operation of the principle and also increasing the 
 amount of money sent. 
 
 That it is an important step in postal progress its opera- 
 
THE MONEY-ORDER SYSTEM. 351 
 
 tion in Europe is sufficient proof; but here we started 
 wrong. What should have been a plain, simple transac- 
 tion between the parties the paying money and receiving 
 an order has become perfectly mystified by the ambiguity 
 of the language of the law, as well as the numerous tech- 
 nicalities thrown around it. A poor woman applies to the 
 window for a postal order on New York for ten dollars : 
 she expects the order made payable to herself or to the 
 party to whom she sends it, which on presentation would be 
 immediately paid. It will be observed, upon reading the 
 " General Principles of the Money-Order System" and the 
 "Instructions to Postmasters at Money-Order Offices/' 
 that if this poor woman was requested to read the "laws 
 and regulations" it would be to her "all Greek." Were 
 the amounts named thousands of dollars instead of pen- 
 nies, those interested would be of a class whose education 
 and business knowledge would enable them to comprehend 
 it: as it is, we know several instances of pooi; persons 
 resorting to the old custom of forwarding their money 
 rather than undergo the ordeal of a clerk's explanation of 
 the law. 
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE MONEY-ORDER SYSTEM. 
 
 I. Money-order offices are divided into two classes. 
 Offices of the first class are depositories, in which those of 
 the second class deposit their surplus money-order funds. 
 
 II. Any office in either class may draw upon any other 
 office in the list of money-order offices for a sum, upon 
 one order, from one dollar to thirty dollars. But when a 
 larger sum than the latter is required, additional orders to 
 make it up must be obtained. 
 
 III. When money-orders exceeding one hundred and 
 fifty dollars in aggregate amount are issued in one day, 
 and to the same person, by one or more offices, upon a 
 second-class office, the postmaster at the office so drawn 
 
352 THE MONEY-ORDER SYSTEM. 
 
 upon will be permitted to delay the payment of such orders 
 for five days. 
 
 IV. The money-orders shall be made out upon printed 
 forms supplied by the post-office department, and no order 
 will be valid or payable unless given upon one of such 
 forms. 
 
 V. Any person applying for a money-order will be 
 required to state the particulars upon a form of application 
 which will be furnished to him for that purpose by the 
 postmaster. 
 
 VI. If the purchaser of a money-order, from having 
 made an error in stating the name of the office of payment, 
 or for other reasons, desires to have the said money-order 
 changed, the issuing postmaster will take back the first 
 order and issue another in lieu thereof, for which an addi- 
 tional fee shall be charged and exacted as for a new trans- 
 action. The order so taken back must be cancelled by the 
 postmaster and entered in his books and returns, in its 
 proper numerical order, as "cancelled." 
 
 VII. Parties procuring money-orders should examine 
 them carefully, to see that they are properly filled up and 
 stamped. This caution will appear the more necessary 
 when it is understood that any defect in this respect will 
 throw difficulties in the way of payment. 
 
 VIII. When a money-order is presented for payment 
 at the office upon which it is drawn, the postmaster or 
 authorized clerk will use all proper means to assure him- 
 self that the applicant is the person named and intended 
 in the advice; and upon payment of the order care must 
 be taken to obtain the signature of the payee (or of the 
 person authorized by him to receive payment) to the re- 
 ceipt on the face of the order. 
 
 IX. When, for any reason, the payee of a money-order does 
 not desire, or is unable, to present the same in person, he is 
 legally empowered, by his written indorsement thereon, to 
 
THE MONEY-ORDER SYSTEM. 353 
 
 direct payment to be made to any other person ; and it is 
 the duty of the postmaster upon whom the order is drawn 
 to pay the amount thereof to the person thus designated : 
 provided the postmaster is satisfied that such indorsement 
 is genuine, and that the second party shall give correct 
 information as to the name and address of the person who 
 originally obtained the order. MORE THAN ONE INDORSE- 
 MENT IS PROHIBITED BY LAW, AND WILL RENDER AN 
 ORDER INVALID AND NOT PAYABLE. 
 
 X. Any money-order office may repay an order issued 
 by itself if repayment is applied for on the day of such 
 issue, but then only to the person who obtained it, except 
 in special cases. The fee or charge shall not in any case 
 be refunded. If, however, repayment of an order is de- 
 sired later than one day after its issue, the postmaster must 
 refer the application to the money-order office of the post- 
 office department. 
 
 XI. The fees or charges for money-orders will be as 
 follows : 
 
 For an order of $1 or more, but not exceeding $10, 
 10 cents. 
 
 For an order of $10 or more, but not exceeding $20, 
 15 cents. 
 
 For an order of $20 or more, but not exceeding $30, 
 20 cents. 
 
 Fractions of cents must not be introduced into any 
 order. 
 
 XII. When a money-order has been lost by either re- 
 mitter or payee, a duplicate thereof will be issued to the 
 party losing the original, provided he shall furnish a 
 statement, under oath or affirmation, setting forth the 
 loss or destruction thereof, and a certificate from the post- 
 master by whom it was payable, that the said order had 
 not been paid, and would not thereafter be paid if pre- 
 
 30* 
 
354 THE MONEY-ORDER SYSTEM. 
 
 sented. A second fee will be charged and exacted for the 
 issue of duplicate orders. 
 
 "The Instructions to Postmasters at Money-Order 
 Offices" take up too much space for our book : indeed, we omit 
 even a synopsis of them, as we feel perfectly satisfied that 
 our readers would have to study law before they could fully 
 comprehend their mysteries. We call the attention, how- 
 ever, of the public to the following rules to be observed 
 as a cautionary measure : 
 
 "1. To take all means to prevent the loss of a money- 
 order. 
 
 "2. Never to send the order in the same letter with the 
 information required on payment thereof. 
 
 " 3. To be careful, on taking out a money-order, to state 
 correctly the Christian name, as well as the surname, of 
 the person in whose favor it is to be drawn 
 
 "4. To see that the name and address of the person 
 taking out the money-order are correctly made known to 
 the person in whose favor it is to be drawn. 
 
 " Neglect of these instructions will risk the loss of the 
 money, besides leading to delay and trouble in obtaining 
 payment. 
 
 "Under no circumstances can payment of an order be 
 demanded on the day of its issue." 
 
 If the money is not called for within ninety days after 
 the date of the order, there will be difficulty in obtaining 
 it. The regular form of the order must not be clipped or 
 mutilated. When the payee of an order desires the same 
 to be paid to any other person, he must fill up and sign 
 a form of indorsement, and furnish such second party 
 with the information required to obtain payment of his 
 order, who upon receiving payment must sign his name 
 upon the face of the order. More than one indorsement 
 is prohibited by law, and will render the order invalid 
 and not payable. 
 
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. 355 
 
 It is to be regretted that the system had not been laid 
 down so as to come within the comprehension of all, and 
 so simplified that the explanations from the clerks would 
 not tend to involve it in a greater mystery. It reminds 
 us strongly of a passage in Haddock's Chancery Practice, 
 vol. 1, p. 125, intended as a definition of law : 
 
 " When a person is bound to do a thing, and he does 
 what may enable him to do the thing, he is supposed in 
 equity to do it with the view of doing what he is bound 
 to do." 
 
 FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. 
 
 The freedom of the press, as understood and secured 
 by high constitutional authority, consists in its identifica- 
 tion with every principle which is involved in our Decla- 
 ration of Independence. It dare not aim its shafts at the 
 existence of the government, the Constitution, and the 
 Union. And yet has not the press a portion of it, we 
 mean aimed to do so during this rebellion, and that, too, 
 at a time while claiming that government's protection ? 
 A press devoted to the cause of traitors is as much a traitor 
 to the government as are those who are arrayed in arms 
 for its destruction. It ceases to be considered the palla- 
 dium of liberty, and assumes at once the character of a 
 rebel and a spy, the moment it strikes at the root of the 
 tree whose fruit is freedom ! 
 
 Our government, unfortunately, at the outbreak of the 
 rebellion did not claim the power to suppress such trea- 
 sonable publications, but actually left them free to publish 
 what they pleased. The consequence was, and is, that 
 that portion of the press is as hostile to the administration 
 now as it was'in the beginning, silence giving them consent 
 to commit crime. Nor was this all : our very postal de- 
 partment assisted in disseminating their papers by allowing 
 them to go and come with impunity. Thus the mails 
 
356 FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. 
 
 established by the United States Government were and, 
 we are afraid, are still used for its own destruction. Is 
 there any principle of law or of justice to sanction such 
 leniency on our part ? 
 
 Judge Story, of the Supreme Court, on one occasion, 
 commenting on that clause of the Constitution securing 
 the freedom of the press, says, 
 
 "That this amendment was intended to secure to every 
 citizen an absolute right to speak or write or print what- 
 soever he might please, without any responsibility, public 
 or private, therefor, is a supposition too wild to be in- 
 dulged in by any rational man. This would be to allow 
 to every citizen the right to destroy at his pleasure the 
 reputation, the peace, the property, and even the personal 
 safety of every other citizen. A man might, out of mere 
 malice or revenge, accuse another of the most infamous 
 crimes, might excite against him the indignation of all 
 his fellow-citizens by the most atrocious calumnies, might 
 disturb, nay, overturn all his domestic peace, and embitter 
 his parental affections, might inflict the most distressing 
 punishments upon the weak, the timid, and the innocent, 
 might prejudice all a man's civil and political and private 
 rights, and might stir up sedition, rebellion, and treason, 
 even against the government itself, in the wantonness 
 of his passions or the corruption of his heart. Civil 
 society could not go on under such circumstances. Men 
 would then be obliged to resort to private vengeance to 
 make up the deficiency of the law ; and assassinations and 
 savage cruelties would be perpetrated with all the fre- 
 quency belonging to barbarous and cruel communities. 
 It is plain, then, that the language of this amendment 
 imports no more than that every man has a right to speak, 
 write, and print his opinions upon any subject whatever, 
 without any prior restraint, so always that he does not 
 injure any other person in his rights, person, property, or 
 
POST-OFFICE CURIOSITIES. 357 
 
 reputation, and so always that he does not thereby disturb 
 the public peace or attempt to subvert the government." 
 
 POST-OFFICE CURIOSITIES. 
 
 There are many curious things daily occurring in the 
 post-office under this head. In "Chambers's Journal" 
 we find the following : 
 
 "A formal but most essential rule makes letters once 
 posted the property of the postmaster-general until they 
 are delivered as addressed, and they must not be given up 
 to the writers on any pretence whatever. One or two re- 
 quests of this kind related to us we are not likely soon to 
 forget. On one occasion a commercial traveller called at 
 an office and expressed a fear that he had enclosed two 
 letters in wrong envelopes, the addresses of which he fur- 
 nished. It appeared from the account which he reluctantly 
 gave, after a refusal to grant his request, that his position 
 and prospects depended upon his getting his letters and 
 correcting the mistakes, inasmuch as they revealed plans 
 which he had adopted to serve two mercantile houses in 
 the same line of business, whose interests clashed at every 
 point. Another case occurred in which a fast young gen- 
 tleman confessed to carrying on a confidential correspond- 
 ence with two young ladies at the same time, and that he 
 had, or feared he had, crossed two letters which he had 
 written at the same sitting. Writing of this, we are 
 reminded of a case in which a country postmaster had 
 a letter put into his hand through the office-window, to- 
 gether with the following message, delivered with great 
 emphasis : ' Here's a letter ; she wants it to go along as 
 fast as it can, 'cause there's a feller wants to have her here, 
 and she's courted by another feller that's not here, and she 
 wants to know whether he's going to have her or not.' '' 
 
 THE FATAL LETTER. A tradesman's daughter, who 
 had been for some time engaged to a prosperous young 
 
358 NEWSPAPERS, 
 
 draper in a neighboring town, heard, from one whom she 
 and her parents considered a creditable authority, that he 
 was on the verge of bankruptcy. Not a day was to be 
 lost in breaking the bond by which she and her small for- 
 tune were linked to penury. A letter, strong and conclu- 
 sive in its language, was at once written and posted, when 
 the same informant called upon the young lady's friends 
 to contradict and explain his former statement, which had 
 arisen out of some misunderstanding. They rushed at 
 once to the post-office ; and no words can describe the 
 scene, the reiterated appeals, the tears, the wringing of 
 hands, the united entreaties of father, mother, and daughter, 
 for the restoration of the fatal letter. But the rule ad- 
 mitted of no exception, and the young lady had to repent 
 at leisure of her inordinate haste. 
 
 In this country we are not so strict, as any person post- 
 ing a letter can have it restored to him by simply signing 
 his name to the fact of its being by him written. We 
 would, however, suggest to the department the propriety 
 of establishing the English system ; for we feel confident 
 that the moment rogues turn their attention to the post- 
 office for the purpose of plunder, taking advantage of this 
 loose way of doing business will be the consequence. 
 Another thing : it will make men more careful, and thus 
 save the department an immense deal of trouble. 
 
 NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 Although we have strict laws upon the subject of trifling 
 with newspapers, our postmasters do not enforce them to 
 the extent they should. The following is a provision of 
 the English law which does not remain, as with us, a 
 "dead letter:" 
 
 "Newspapers are always to be considered of equal im- 
 portance with letters; and postmasters are forbidden to 
 
NEWSPAPERS. 359 
 
 open them for any other purpose than that required by 
 law, and are also forbidden to lend them to any person." 
 
 (From the " English Postal.") 
 
 "BY WEIGHT. If the weight be exceeded to the small- 
 est extent, even though the balance be merely turned, the 
 book or printed paper becomes liable to a higher postage. 
 To provide, therefore, for errors in scales, &c., it is well 
 to allow a little margin, or to pay the postage of the next 
 greater weight. It should be remembered that a news- 
 paper when wet weighs more than when dry. Forgetful- 
 ness on this point sometimes causes groundless complaints 
 about charges for newspapers, the complainant erroneously 
 supposing, on weighing the newspaper on its arrival, and 
 when it had had time to dry, that he had been overcharged. 
 The foregoing observations apply also to books, &c. sent 
 abroad. 
 
 " INFORMATION. No information can be given respect- 
 ing letters which pass through a post-office, except to the 
 persons to whom they are addressed; and in no other 
 way is official information of a private character allowed 
 to be made public. 
 
 "RETURN LETTERS. Postmasters are not allowed to 
 return any letter to the writer, or sender, or to any one 
 else, or to delay forwarding it to its destination according 
 to the address, even though a request to such effect be 
 written thereon ; as every letter must be delivered to the 
 person to whom it is directed (and to him alone) at the 
 address it bears. 
 
 " FORBIDDEN ARTICLES. The rule which forbids the 
 transmission through the post of any article likely to in- 
 jure the contents of the mail-bags or the person of any 
 officer of the post-office is, of course, applicable to the 
 pattern-post ; and a packet containing any thing of the 
 kind will be stopped and not sent to its destination. 
 
360 WATCH YOUR LETTER-BOXES. 
 
 Articles such as the following have been occasionally 
 posted as patterns, and have been detained as unfit for the 
 post, viz., metal boxes, porcelain and china, fruit, vege- 
 tables, bunches of flowers, cuttings of plants, spurs, knives, 
 scissors, needles, pins, pieces of machinery, watch-ma- 
 chinery, sharp-pointed instruments, samples of metals, 
 samples of ore, samples in glass bottles, pieces of glass, 
 acids of various kinds, curry-combs, copper and steel en- 
 graving-plates, and confectionery of various kinds." 
 
 WATCH YOUR LETTER-BOXES. 
 
 In many of our large post-offices postmasters have 
 baskets placed inside for the reception of letters. These 
 are invariably too small, and it not unfrequently occurs 
 that the aperture through which letters pass gets choked 
 up, the basket being full to its mouth. Any person could 
 from the outside take a handful of letters without any one 
 being aware of it. Honest men, however, making the 
 discovery, notify the clerks of the situation of the letters, 
 but not until it is very natural to suppose some letters 
 may have been stolen. This will account in some measure 
 for the mysterious disappearance of letters which have 
 caused many an innocent person to be suspected and the 
 business operations of an office justly censured. These 
 baskets, instead of being wide and shallow, are deep and 
 narrow. If properly constructed and arranged, there would 
 be no necessity for clerks shouting out, " Swamp on the 
 baskets." This is very much like locking the stable-door 
 after the horse has been stolen. 
 
 We would suggest, therefore, that when dropping a 
 letter, newspaper, &c. into a letter-box, always to see that 
 the packet falls into the basket or box, and does not stick 
 in its passage. 
 
SUGGESTIONS TO THE PUBLIC, ETC. 361 
 
 SUGGESTIONS TO THE PUBLIC, ETC. 
 
 The following sensible suggestions are taken from ''The 
 British Postal Guide :" let us advise our readers to pay 
 some little attention to them : 
 
 "To see that every letter, newspaper, or other packet 
 sent by post is securely folded and sealed, and that, when 
 postage-stamps are remitted, they are enclosed in paper 
 sufficiently thick to prevent them from being seen or felt 
 through the cover. It should be remembered that every 
 such packet has to be several times handled, and that even 
 when in the mail-bag it is exposed to pressure and friction. 
 Unless, therefore, the article be light and pliant, it should 
 be enclosed in strong paper, linen, parchment, or some 
 other material which will not readily tear or break. The 
 observance of this precaution is especially necessary when- 
 ever any fragile articles of value are forwarded by post. 
 These should always be enclosed in a wooden or tin box. 
 Owing to neglect of these precautions many postal packets 
 burst open, causing much trouble to the department and 
 risk to the owners, it being sometimes impossible to deter- 
 mine to what packet a particular article belongs. 
 
 "To fasten the covers of newspapers firmly, so as to 
 prevent the contents from slipping out. When, for ad- 
 ditional security, the address is written on the newspaper 
 itself, such address (if the newspaper be franked by an 
 impressed stamp) must in case of re-transmission be cut 
 off; otherwise the newspaper will become subject to a 
 postage of 2d. It is not sufficient that the old address be 
 obliterated, as the rules forbid writing or marks of any 
 kind in addition to the true address. 
 
 "In affixing stamps, to wet slightly the corner of the 
 envelope and the gummed side of the stamp, and then 
 gently to press the stamp till it is firmly fixed. The 
 practice of dipping the stamp in water is objectionable, 
 
 31 
 
362 FORBIDDEN ARTICLES. 
 
 because, unless the stamp be immediately withdrawn, and 
 care be taken by the use of blotting-paper or some other 
 absorbent to remove any excess of moisture, the gum may 
 be washed off, or the stamp may be rubbed off the letter. 
 By the use of envelopes bearing an embossed stamp (which 
 can be purchased at any post-office), all risk of the stamp 
 being detached may be avoided. 
 
 "Never to send money or any other article of value 
 through the post, except either by means of a money- 
 order or in a registered letter. Any person who sends 
 money or jewelry in an unregistered letter not only runs 
 a risk of losing his property, but exposes to temptation 
 every one through whose hands his letter passes, and may 
 be the means of ultimately bringing some clerk or letter- 
 carrier to moral ruin. Every letter which contains money 
 or other valuable article, even when registered, ought to 
 be securely sealed. 
 
 FORBIDDEN ARTICLES. 
 
 "Postmasters are instructed not to receive any letter, 
 &c. which there is good reason to believe contains any 
 thing likely to injure the contents of the mail-bag or the 
 person of any officer of the post-office. If such a packet 
 be posted without the postmaster's knowledge, or if at any 
 time before its despatch he should discover any such 
 packet, he is directed not to forward it, but to report the 
 case, with the address of the packet, to the secretary. The 
 following are examples of the articles referred to : 
 
 " A glass bottle, or glass in any form ; razors, scissors, 
 needles, knives, forks, or other sharp instruments ; leeches, 
 game, fish, meat, fruit, or vegetables; bladders or other 
 vessels containing liquids ; gunpowder, lucifer matches, or 
 any thing which is explosive or combustible." 
 
LETTER- CARRIERS ONE- CENT S YSTEM. 363 
 
 LETTER-CARRIERS, THEIR COMPENSATION, ETC. 
 
 "Letter-carriers shall be employed as the postmaster- 
 general shall direct, at a compensation not exceeding $800 
 a year, which may be increased to $1000 at offices where 
 the income will allow, on proof of the carrier's fidelity, 
 diligence, and experience. Carriers must give bond. De- 
 liveries shall be made as frequently as the public interest 
 may require. No carrier's fee or extra postage shall be 
 charged on letters delivered or collected by carriers. 
 Separate accounts must be kept of the expenses of the 
 carrier-service and of the receipts from local mail-matter ; 
 and all such expenses must be paid from the income of 
 the office employing the carriers. Letter-carriers may be 
 employed, under contract between postmaster and pub- 
 lishers, to deliver newspapers, periodicals, circulars, &c., 
 but such contracts must be first approved by the post- 
 master-general ; and the postmaster-general may also pro- 
 vide for delivery by such carriers of small packets, not 
 exceeding four pounds each, at the rate of two cents for 
 each four ounces." 
 
 Attempts were made subsequent to the passage of this 
 law (1862) to have the salaries increased to $1000, urged 
 by the applicants in consequence of the high price of pro- 
 visions. In 1864 they were coolly informed that there 
 were plenty of people outside ready to step inside at the 
 same salary. The post-office would present a strange 
 appearance if this system was adopted, for the duties of 
 the office are not learned in a day. Under former admi- 
 nistrations it was the chief object of men in power to pay 
 their employees living wages and reward honesty, sobriety, 
 and attention to business by preferment. It is not so now. 
 
 ONE-CENT SYSTEM. 
 
 The law authorizing the free delivery of mail-letters 
 and all other mail-matter by carriers took effect on the 
 
364 DISTRIBUTION OF LETTERS IN EUROPE. 
 
 first day of July, 1863. We much question if the change 
 has benefited the treasury of the department. 
 
 THE DISTRIBUTION OF LETTERS IN EUROPE. 
 
 Although we have expressed a doubt in relation to this 
 system with us, it may not apply to other countries. Here 
 it is expected that the income of an office will sustain its 
 owji expenses, and hence every postmaster is anxious to 
 make his report to the department favorably to this 
 system. Carriers now receive a regular salary; before, 
 they depended in a great measure on the one-cent system, 
 which lessened the department's expense for carriers' pay 
 more than one-third what it is now. The one cent was 
 received from the recipients of letters and papers, which 
 they paid freely, and not unfrequently made it two when 
 they came to settle with the carriers. Merchants and 
 others still consider the old plan the best, having an idea 
 that they are better served. 
 
 AUSTRIA. Brought to the door. In all larger places, 
 without carrier's fee; in smaller places (villages and farms), 
 a fee of two kreutzers (one cent) is charged. 
 
 BELGIUM. Brought to the door throughout the king 
 dom. 
 
 ENGLAND. By carriers without fee. 
 
 FRANCE. By carriers without fee (to the door) in both 
 city and country. Poste restante exists for letters so ad- 
 dressed, and when the person's address is not found. 
 
 HANSEATIC CITIES BREMEN. By letter-carriers to 
 the door. 
 
 ITALY. To the door by carriers without fee. 
 
 THE NETHERLANDS. By carriers without fee. 
 
 PRUSSIA. By carriers. In larger cities the fee will 
 soon be abolished entirely ; in the rural districts it is six 
 pfennige (about one and a quarter cent) per letter. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. By carriers without fee. 
 
THE ANDERSONVILLE POST- OFFICE. 365 
 
 XIV. 
 
 THE ANDERSONVILLE POST-OFFICE. 
 
 THE following touching lines, by George H. Hoi lister, 
 Esq., of Litchfield, Connecticut, are descriptive of an in- 
 cident in the pen of the Union prisoners at Anderson ville, 
 Georgia. The war has elicited nothing more beautiful in 
 description or of sadder interest : 
 
 "No blanket round his wasted limbs, 
 
 Under the rainy sky he slept, 
 While, pointing his envenom' d shafts 
 
 Around him Death, the archer, crept. 
 He dream'd of hunger, and held out 
 
 His hand to clutch a little bread, 
 That a white angel with a torch, 
 
 Among the living and the dead, 
 Seem'd bearing, smiling as he went : 
 
 The vision waked him, as he spied 
 The post-boy follow'd by a crowd 
 
 Of famish' d prisoners, who cried 
 For letters letters from their friends. 
 
 Crawling upon his hands and knees, 
 He hears his own name call'd, and, lo 1 
 
 A letter from his wife he sees ! 
 
 "Gasping for breath, he shriek'd aloud, 
 
 And, lost in nature's blind eclipse, 
 Faltering amid the suppliant crowd, 
 Caught it and press'd it to his lips. 
 A guard who follow'd, red and wroth, 
 
 And flourishing a rusty brand, 
 Reviled him with a taunting oath, 
 And snatch'd the letter from his hand. 
 31* 
 
366 A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS. 
 
 1 First pay the postage, whining wretch !' 
 
 Despair had made the prisoner brave : 
 'Then give me back my money, sir ! 
 
 I am a captive, not a slave. 
 You took my money and my clothes ; 
 
 Take my life, too, but let me know 
 How Mary and the children are, 
 
 And I will bless you ere I go.' 
 
 "The very moonlight through his hands, 
 
 As he stood supplicating, shone, 
 And his sharp features shaped themselves 
 
 Into a prayer, and such a tone 
 Of anguish there was in his cry 
 
 For wife and children, that the guard 
 Thinking upon his own pass'd by 
 
 And left him swooning on the sward. 
 Beyond the ' dead-line' fell his head : 
 
 The eager sentry knew his mark, 
 And with a crash the bullet sped 
 
 Into his brain, and all was dark. 
 But when they turn'd his livid cheek 
 
 Up toward the light, the pale lips smiled, 
 Kissing a picture fair and meek 
 
 That held in either hand a child." 
 
 A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS. 
 
 "The Wheeling Intelligencer" (1865) gives the follow- 
 ing " chapter of accidents :" it says, 
 
 "We received a letter several days ago from a gentle- 
 man, enclosing an announcement of his marriage, and 
 stating that he had also enclosed the sum of seventy-five 
 cents to pay for it. The letter did not enclose the money ; 
 but the next day we got another letter from the same 
 gentleman, stating that it had occurred to him, after he 
 had mailed the first note, that he had not enclosed the 
 money; 'and I therefore/ says the second epistle, ' enclose 
 to you the amount ;' but, instead of seventy-five cents, the 
 letter only contained twenty-five. A day or two after- 
 wards we received two more letters from the same person, 
 
THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 367 
 
 each enclosing fifty cents. The first of the two letters 
 stated that the writer, having discovered his mistake, 
 enclosed fifty cents more to make up the amount. In the 
 second letter the gentleman says, that ' having learned that 
 the mail containing my last letter was destroyed by fire, I 
 enclose now another fifty cents/ Our friend's singular 
 confusion is no doubt attributable to the fact which in 
 his original note he requested us to announce." 
 
 A SCENE AT THE PHILADELPHIA POST-OFFICE. 
 
 DIDN'T LIKE THE IDEA. A single female, apparently 
 forty-five years of age, with a very scraggy neck and 
 weazened features, made her appearance yesterday after- 
 noon at the ladies' window in the post-office. 
 
 "I want to get back a letter." 
 
 "What for, madam?" 
 
 " Why, I dropped it in the box over yonder. I want 
 to take it back again." 
 
 " That's against our rules, ma'am ; I am not allowed to 
 give back a letter unless I know all about it." 
 
 "Well, then, there'll be a fuss here, that's all: I want 
 my letter again." 
 
 " I'll call the chief clerk, then, ma'am. You can make 
 the fuss with him, if you must have one." 
 
 Mr. Booth was summoned. With his usual blandness 
 he asked the lady how the letter was directed, and to 
 whom. He obtained a prompt reply. He found that 
 the lady had dropped the letter into the box under the 
 general delivery- window. He produced it from the basket 
 after a little search, and returned it to her. She appeared 
 considerably pleased, brushed off the letter with her hand- 
 kerchief, and at once dropped it into the basket under 
 the ladies' window, before which she was standing. 
 
 " Why, I thought you wanted to take out the letter !" 
 
368 THE POST COMES IN. 
 
 said Mr. Booth, in some surprise. "Here you've mailed 
 it again." 
 
 "That's all right now," said the woman. "That's what 
 I wanted. I dropped the letter in the wrong place fust, 
 among the men's letters. I hate the men, so I do. I 
 hain't goin' to have my letter mixed up with men's letters, 
 nohow." 
 
 "You dislike the male sex then, madam?" 
 
 "I don't hate you mail folk, as I know on, wuss than 
 the rest on 'em." 
 
 "I mean the men, madam; you dislike them?" said Mr. 
 Booth, emphasizing the title of masculinity. 
 
 " Oh, the men ! Of course I hate 'em. I wouldn't 
 trust one of 'em anigh me. They're a deceiving 
 l y in> 
 
 How the sentence would have been completed is more 
 than we can say. At this moment somebody trod upon 
 the tail of a vixenish-looking dog that followed the lady, 
 and, as she rushed out, others took her place at the 
 window. Mr. Booth feels nattered that, while hating 
 the male sex in general, she doesn't hate the mail folks 
 in particular. 
 
 THE POST COMES IN. 
 
 BY WILLIAM COWPER. 
 
 "Hark! 'tis the twanging horn o'er yonder bridge, 
 That with its wearisome but needful length 
 Bestrides the wintry flood; in which the moon 
 Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright. 
 He comes, the herald of a noisy world, 
 With spatter'd boots, strapp'd waist, and frozen locks, 
 News from all nations lumb'ring at his back. 
 True to his charge, the close-pack'd load behind. 
 Yet careless what he brings, his one concern 
 Is to conduct it to the destined inn, 
 And, having dropp'd the expected bag, pass on. 
 He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch, 
 
WATCH THE WASTE PAPER. 369 
 
 Cold, and yet cheerful; messenger of grief 
 
 Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some; 
 
 To him indiff'rent whether grief or joy. 
 
 Houses in ashes, and the fall of stocks, 
 
 Births, deaths, and marriages, epistles wet 
 
 With tears, that trickled down the writer's cheeks 
 
 Fast as the periods from his fluent quill, 
 
 Or charged with amorous sighs of absent swains 
 
 Or nymphs responsive, equally affect 
 
 His horse and him, unconscious of them all." 
 
 Tak, Book IV. 
 
 WATCH THE WASTE PAPER. 
 
 One of the postal regulations (sect. 217) is as follows: 
 "The postmaster, or one of his assistants, in all cases, 
 immediately before the office is swept or otherwise cleared 
 of rubbish, is to collect and examine the waste paper 
 which has accumulated therein, in order to guard against 
 the possibility of loss of letters or other mail-matter 
 which may have fallen on the floor or have been inter- 
 mingled with such waste paper during the transaction of 
 business. The observance of this rule is strictly enjoined 
 upon all postmasters, and its violation will constitute a 
 grave offence. Postmasters should be careful to use, in 
 mailing letters or packets, all wrapping-paper fit to be 
 used again; and the sale of any such paper is strictly for- 
 bidden." 
 
 A neglect of this section might lead to serious conse- 
 quences, inasmuch as letters are continually falling from 
 the tables and trays to the floor, and, unless looked after, 
 would unquestionably find their way to the "waste-bags." 
 The proprietor of a paper-mill informed us that one 
 of the girls employed by him in separating the waste 
 paper purchased from postmasters had found several 
 letters, one of which contained $30 in Treasury notes, and 
 another contained a note for $500 and an order to cancel 
 stamp placed upon a note since it was signed, as stamps 
 
370 COMPLAINTS ABOUT MISTAKES. 
 
 could not be obtained at the place where the note was 
 signed. 
 
 The above letters had been thrown into the waste paper 
 by some careless postmaster or clerks, and sold at two and 
 a half cents per pound; and some other postmaster or 
 clerks have been under suspicion of committing a depre- 
 dation upon those letters ; and had this girl been dishonest 
 they might never have been able to convince the parties 
 interested of their innocence. 
 
 This is inexcusable carelessness; and postmasters who 
 read this article should see that they or their clerks are 
 not caught in this way. 
 
 SEALING-WAX. 
 
 Under no circumstances use sealing-wax for postal pur- 
 poses. Wax should only be used for letters or documents 
 when a person is anxious to display his seal or coat of 
 arms, or where it may be required for a legal purpose, and 
 only then when they are more effectually secured. 
 
 The practice of sealing letters passing more particularly 
 through warm climates with wax is attended with much in- 
 convenience, and frequently with serious injury, not only 
 to the letters so sealed, but to the other letters in the mail, 
 from the melting of the wax and adhesion of the letters 
 to each other. The public are, therefore, recommended in 
 all such cases to use either wafers or gum, and to advise 
 their correspondents in the countries referred to to do the 
 same. 
 
 English newspapers indeed, nearly all European printed 
 matter come to us sealed with bad wax; and if many of 
 them were not secured by thread, few would, ever reach 
 the parties to whom they are addressed. 
 
 COMPLAINTS ABOUT MISTAKES. 
 
 When complaint is made of letters or newspapers lost, 
 
A LAW CASK 371 
 
 miscarried, or delayed, to furnish information as precise as 
 possible regarding all the facts of the case, and to enclose 
 whatever documents may throw light upon it. The day 
 and hour at which the letter or newspaper was posted, as 
 well as the office at which and the person by whom this 
 was done, should always be stated, and, when possible, the 
 cover or wrapper, in an entire state, should be sent, in order 
 that the place of delay may be ascertained by an examina- 
 tion of the stamps. Cases frequently occur in which com- 
 plaint is made against the post-office and redress expected, 
 although little or no means of tracing the error and of 
 guarding against a repetition of it is supplied by those 
 who alone are able to do so. 
 
 A LAW CASE. 
 
 In 1806 a case was tried in the District Court of Mary- 
 land, "United States vs. Barney," which we deem essen- 
 tial to the nature of our work. 
 
 " WINCHESTER, J. The indictment in this case, which 
 charges the defendant with having wilfully obstructed the 
 passage of the public mail at Susquehanna River, is 
 founded on the act of Congress of March, 1799. 
 
 "The defendant sets up as a defence and justification of 
 this obstruction of the mail that he had fed the horses 
 employed in carrying the mail for a considerable time, and 
 that a sum of money was due to him for food furnished 
 at and before the time of their arrest and detention. 
 
 "On this state of the facts, two questions have been 
 agitated : 
 
 "1st, Whether the right of an innkeeper to detain a 
 horse for his food extends to horses owned by individuals 
 and employed in the transportation of the public mail. 
 And, 
 
 " 2d, Whether such right extends to horses belonging to 
 the United States, employed in that service. 
 
372 A LAW CASE. 
 
 " The first question involves the consideration of prin- 
 ciples of some extent, and to decide correctly on the second 
 it may be necessary to state them generally. 
 
 "Lien is generally defined to be a tie, hold, or security 
 upon goods or other things which a man has in his cus- 
 tody, till he is paid what is due to him. From this defi- 
 nition it is apparent that there can be no lien where the 
 property is annihilated or the possession parted with 
 voluntarily and without fraud. 2 Vern. 117; 1 Atk. 234. 
 
 "The claim of a lien otherwise well founded cannot be 
 supported if there is 
 
 "1st, A particular agreement made and relied on. 
 Bayer's Rep. 224; 2 R. A. 92. Or, 
 
 " 2d, Where the particular transaction shows that there 
 was no intention that there should be a lien, but some 
 other security is looked to and relied upon. 4 Burr. 2223. 
 
 " If, therefore, in this case the agreement between the de- 
 fendant and the public agent actually was that he should be 
 paid for feeding the public horses on as low terms as any 
 other person on the road would supply them, he could not 
 justify detaining the horses; for the particular agreement 
 thus made, and under which the food was furnished, is the 
 foundation of the remedy of the defendant, and it can be 
 pursued in no other manner than upon that agreement. 
 Or, if there was no particular agreement, this case is such 
 that between the defendant and a private owner of horses 
 and carriages employed in transporting the mail I incline 
 to think it could not legally be presumed a lien was ever 
 intended or contemplated. A carrier of the mail is bound 
 not to delay its delivery, under severe penalties ; and it can 
 scarcely be supposed that he would expose himself to the 
 penalty for such delay by leaving his horses subject to 
 the arrest of every innkeeper on the road for their food, 
 or that in such case the innkeeper could look to any other 
 security than the personal credit of the owner of the horses 
 
POSTAGE-STAMPS. 373 
 
 for reimbursement. But the law on such a case could be 
 only declared on facts admitted by the parties or found by 
 the jury, and is not now before the court. 
 
 " 3d, The great question in this case rests on a discrimi- 
 nation between the property of the government and indi- 
 viduals." 
 
 After defining the constitutional rights of the govern- 
 ment and its general power to lay and collect taxes, duties, 
 imposts, and excise, to pay the debts and provide for the 
 common defence and general welfare of the United States, 
 and quoting numerous authorities, the judge concludes 
 with the following: 
 
 "A stolen horse found in the mail-stage. The owner 
 cannot seize him. 
 
 "The driver being in debt, or even committing an 
 offence, can only be arrested in such way as does not 
 obstruct the passage of the mail. 
 
 "These examples are as strong as any which are likely 
 to occur; but even these are not excepted by the statute; 
 and probably considerations of the extreme importance to 
 the government and individuals of the regular transmis- 
 sion of public despatches and private communications may 
 have excluded these exceptions. But whatever may have 
 been the policy which led to the adoption of the law, 
 which the court will not inquire into, it totally prohibits 
 any obstruction to the passage of the mail. It is the duty 
 of the court to expound and execute the law, and there- 
 fore I am of opinion and decide that the defendant is not 
 justified." 
 
 POST A GE-STAMPS. 
 
 Connected with stamps, whether used as a currency or 
 for the increase of revenue, there are many curious and 
 interesting circumstances. The idea of producing a reve- 
 nue by the sale of stamps and stamped paper in America 
 was promulgated almost forty years before its final develop- 
 
 32 
 
374 POSTAGE-STAMPS. 
 
 ment in legislative enactment in 1765. Sir William Keith 
 advised the policy as early as 1728. In 1739 the London 
 merchants advised the ministry to adopt the measure, and 
 public writers from time to time suggested various schemes 
 predicated upon the same idea. In 1770, Douglas, in his 
 work on "British America/ 7 recommended the levying of 
 a stamp duty upon all legal writings and instruments. 
 Dr. Franklin regarded the plan favorably, and Governor 
 Sharpe, of Maryland, was confident in 1754 that Par- 
 liament would speedily make a statute for raising money 
 by means of stamp duties. Lieutenant-Governor Delan- 
 cey spoke in favor of it in the New York Assembly in 
 1755, and the following year Governor Shirley, of Mas- 
 sachusetts, urged Parliament to adopt a stamp tax. The 
 British press urged the measure in 1757, and it was 
 confidently stated that at least three hundred thousand 
 dollars annually might thus be drawn from the colonies 
 without the tax being sensibly felt. The tax bill became 
 a law in 1765 and was repealed in 1766. Had not minis- 
 ters been deceived by the representations of the stupid and 
 selfish governors in America, it probably would never 
 have been enacted. Those men were frequently too indo- 
 lent or indifferent to make themselves acquainted with the 
 real temper of the people. Regarding the mass as equally 
 servile as their flatterers, they readily commended that 
 fatal measure which proved the spark that lighted the 
 flame of the Revolution and severed forever the political 
 connection between Great Britain and the thirteen Ame- 
 rican colonies. The stamp so carefully and so artistically 
 prepared, bearing upon its imposing front the crown and its 
 motto, " Honi soil qui mat y pense" and intended to enhance 
 the power and might of kingly rule, sealed the doom of 
 monarchy in the colonies forever! 
 
 The use of stamps, however, apart from tax purposes, 
 is not of modern invention, but for postal purposes they 
 
POSTA GE- STA MPS. 375 
 
 bear date quite recent. Stamps of one penny and twopence 
 each were first introduced in England on the 6th of May, 
 1840. 
 
 When Victoria succeeded to the British crown mid- 
 summer, 1837 there were eleven thousand parishes in 
 England and Wales, and only three thousand post-offices. 
 A fourth of the population were entirely destitute of 
 postal accommodation. Four hundred of the registration 
 districts, the average extent of which was nearly twenty 
 square miles, were without a post-office. In 1839 the 
 number of chargeable letters was in the proportion of four 
 a year to each person of the population of England and 
 Wales, three in Scotland, and one in Ireland. In 1864 
 the proportion of letters is twenty-four a year to each of 
 the population of England and Wales, nineteen in Scot- 
 land, and nine to Ireland. The increase from 76,000,000 
 letters in 1849 to 600,000,000 in 1864 is really an increase 
 of nearly seven hundred per cent. A stamped envelope was 
 used at first (consisting of a very absurd allegorical group, 
 said to have been improved by Mulready, the eminent 
 painter, from a drawing by Queen Victoria herself!) ; but 
 this was superseded, in a few months, by a stamp called 
 pulsory prepayment, which was begun in England, has 
 become the rule in the many countries which have adopted 
 HilFs postal reform. This reform, which went into ope- 
 ration in England on January 10, 1840, was not adopted 
 in the United States until July 1, 1845. 
 
 Perhaps no country in the world has ever yet produced 
 such a number of stamps as the United States of America. 
 Foreign nations limit their postal stamps; we issue them 
 in quantity and variety to meet the demands of the public 
 without stint or hindrance. The denominations of postal 
 stamps in the United States are 1 cent, 2 cent, 3 cent, 5 
 cent, 10 cent, 12 cent, 24 cent, 30 cent, and 90 cent. 
 
376 POSTAGE-STAMPS. 
 
 The amount of stamps and stamp-envelopes 
 issued during the year 1860, ending June 30, 
 
 was $6,870,316 19 
 
 Total amount for 1861 6,690,233 70 
 
 1862 7,078,18800 
 
 " 1863 9,683,38400 
 
 "1864 10,974,32950 
 
 The postage-stamp system has been adopted in all parts 
 of the world, by over ninety different kingdoms, states, 
 provinces, colonies, islands, and free cities, in fifty different 
 parts of Europe, in over a dozen parts of Asia, including 
 China, in some twenty parts of the New World, in every 
 province of British North America, in seven parts of 
 Africa, and even in St. Helena on one side and the Sand- 
 wich Islands on the other. There are postage-stamps used 
 in Ceylon ; but the Japanese have not as yet arrived at 
 that period in perfection which would lead them towards 
 its attainment. 
 
 The stamps of the secessionists command a high price 
 in foreign markets, probably as much for their having 
 the head of "Jeff Davis" on them than for any artistic 
 skill or beauty attached to them. When the rebellion 
 broke out, of course a line was drawn between the two 
 sections of our country, leaving the South in possession 
 of slavery and its fruits, and the North, with its vast 
 amount of wealth, intellect, and artistic power, to contend 
 against the world. Of course the South, heretofore de- 
 pendent on the North for every thing genius, art, and 
 skill produced, found they could not have a stamp cut 
 that would even do credit to their bogus government. 
 The first ones produced presented a most counterfeit-like 
 appearance of something once belonging to art: even Jeff 
 Davis became ashamed of them, and he applied to his 
 good friend and secret ally, Napoleon of France, for 
 assistance. Something better was produced by a French 
 artist; and thus the stamps came over with a variety of 
 
POSTA GE- STAMPS. 377 
 
 other things to strengthen the Southern Confederacy and 
 assist her in maintaining something of the appearance of 
 a people who could claim some consideration among other 
 advanced nations of the world. 
 
 Connected with the issue of postal stamps is that strange 
 mania which seizes upon a certain class to collect and 
 treasure up every thing that is termed unique or new in 
 art or science. These stamps in time will become relics, 
 and possess an interest for the antiquarian equal to that 
 of old coins. 
 
 To such ah extent is this passion carried, that in Europe 
 cabinets are formed and albums invented wherein these 
 stamps are fancifully arranged. In many instances men 
 make such collections a matter of business, and these re- 
 ceptacles for stamps bring very high prices, in fact, like 
 old coins, many of them command fabulous prices. The 
 collection of these miniature paper currency circulating 
 mediums is decidedly a British institution. Periodicals 
 devoted to the interest of dealers are established in various 
 parts of the kingdom, and agents employed, not only to 
 furnish information upon the subject of new issues, but to 
 procure various stamps for orders. The demand in Eng- 
 land for American stamps is greaf, and they command 
 more particularly those of the Southern Confederacy 
 very high prices. 
 
 We have no objection to this, although a strange fancy 
 on the part of those who are seized with the mania, be- 
 cause it opens a new trade for the enterprising speculator 
 on the infirmity of human nature. A house in New York 
 advertises for "correspondents all over the world," for 
 furnishing and supplying it with stamp news. Another 
 in Montreal advertises " stamps cheaper than ever :" these 
 consist of foreign, British colonial, and European stamps 
 of all kinds. The number of North American is enu- 
 merated at fifty varieties. 
 
 32* 
 
378 POSTAGE-STAMPS. 
 
 Connected, however, with the various stamps now in 
 use in this country is the necessity of teaching to our 
 youth their use and application to banks, custom-houses, 
 railroads, post-offices, pawnbrokers, and, in fact, as stamp 
 tax to every trade, business, and department of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 In several of our commercial colleges an actual stamp 
 department is invented, and mock-banks, custom-houses, 
 steamboat-offices, post-offices, &c., are fitted up for the pur- 
 pose of familiarizing youth with their use in the various 
 mercantile and governmental departments of the country. 
 This is what we term the best and most useful knowledge 
 that the stamps can impart to those who are so anxious to 
 treasure them up in albums and cabinets.* 
 
 We annex the following article from Appleton's " United 
 States Postal Guide" [1864]: 
 
 "By the Sonora, a few days since, says a Californian 
 correspondent, some two hundred of Uncle Sam's orphans 
 arrived, and were distributed around. Some were sent to 
 Fort Alcastra, some to the barracks at the Presidio, and 
 the remainder were quartered at Benicia barracks, pre- 
 paratory to being assigned to the different companies of 
 the regiments in this department. They will soon be 
 scattered from Oregon to that most delightful post, Fort 
 Yuma, in Arizona, a place where they have to put rocks 
 on the roofs to keep the ends of the boards from curling 
 over like little dogs 7 tails. It is a wretched place to live 
 at, and to be ordered there is enough to make any officer 
 resign, unless a Catholic, who acknowledges the justice of 
 being sent to purgatory. They have a little fun even in 
 that awful place sometimes, and an officer was telling me 
 
 * There is a small paper published in Albany, New York, entitled 
 the "Stamp Collector's Record." It is entirely devoted to the cause 
 of stamps and their collectors. It furnishes also considerable informa- 
 tion upon the subject in connection with foreign stamps. 
 
POSTAGE-STAMPS. 379 
 
 the other day of how he lost his postage-stamps. He had 
 sent up here for some twenty dollars' worth, and had left 
 them on his table. Now, the habits, manners, and cus- 
 toms thereabouts are considerably on the free-and-easy 
 style, and the Indians are allowed to roam around the 
 garrison ad libitum, if they behave themselves and do not 
 steal. On this occasion a young squaw, who had the run 
 of the quarters, and was very much at home anywhere 
 and everywhere, happened to stray into my friend's room, 
 and, seeing the postage-stamps, began to examine them 
 with great curiosity. She discovered they would stick if 
 wet, and forthwith a happy idea struck her. Now, the 
 fashionable dress of the ladies of her class in that warm 
 climate is of the briefest description. She was ambitious 
 to dress up and excite the envy of the other Pocahontases. 
 So she went in on the postal currency, and, much to the 
 astonishment of the garrison, made her appearance pre- 
 sently on the parade-ground entirely covered over with 
 postage-stamps. She was stuck all over with Benjamin 
 Franklin, and the Father of his Country was plastered 
 all over her ladyship's glossy skin indiscriminately, regard- 
 less of dignity and decency. The 'roar' that greeted her, 
 from the commanding officer down to the drummer-boys, 
 was loud enough to be heard nearly at head-quarters in 
 San Francisco ; but, Indian-like, she preserved her equa- 
 nimity, and did not seem at all disconcerted, but sailed off 
 with the air and step of a genuine princess, while my 
 friend rushed into his quarters to discover himself minus 
 his twenty dollars' worth of postage-stamps, and that what 
 was intended for the mail had been appropriated to the 
 female. She might have been put in the overland coach 
 and gone through : she certainly could not have been 
 stopped for want of being prepaid." 
 
380 REPORT OF MR. GEORGE PLITT. 
 
 REPORT OF MR. GEORGE PLITT. 
 
 Amos Kendall, postmaster-general from 1835 to 1840, 
 anxious to have the postal department as perfect as human 
 efforts can avail towards such a state of things, sent the 
 gentleman whose name heads this article to Europe for 
 the purpose of adding to our store of knowledge on postal 
 matters. Mr. Plitt was well calculated for this mission, 
 having served seven years in the New York post-office, 
 and was familiar with its operations. He left New York 
 in the month of June, 1839, and returned in August, 1840, 
 after having visited "the post-office departments of Eng- 
 land, Scotland, France, Belgium, Saxony, Prussia, Austria, 
 Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Baden, and the free Hanseatic cities 
 of Frankfort, Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck." 
 
 Among other reforms and suggestions made in Mr. 
 Plitt's report are the abolition of the franking privilege, 
 the prepayment of all letters, as well as of newspapers 
 and all printed matter. He strongly urges the reduction 
 of postage, and quotes the English postal law as an evi- 
 dence of its pecuniary advantages. As many of the re- 
 forms suggested, based on the European system, have been 
 introduced into ours, and nearly every other improvement 
 carried into the department, it is not necessary for us here 
 to name them ; but, at the same time, it is due to Mr. 
 Plitt to state that his report met with a cordial response 
 from the department, whose instructions he had so ably 
 carried out, and whose ideas on and about foreign mail 
 arrangements afforded it an opportunity to improve those 
 of our own. 
 
 He also suggested the establishing special agents and 
 mail-guards. In Europe they form a prominent feature 
 in their system ; but as regards the necessity of the latter 
 in this country, we doubt if their services would be re- 
 quired, unless in time of war, frontier insurrections, or 
 
REPORT OF MR. GEORGE PLITT. 381 
 
 disgraceful rebellions, such as a vile portion of the land 
 had inaugurated, and over whose downfall and ruin our 
 nation's flag is now proudly uprising. It will float again, 
 float in its might and power over every foot of land 
 that Columbia calls her own ; but not until 
 
 " Bold rebellion's blood has all been drain'd." 
 
 The subject of the reduction of postage had been agi- 
 tated in Congress before Mr, Plitt's visit to Europe. In 
 1836, Edward Everett proposed measures for that pur- 
 pose, but no well-digested plan was brought forward. 
 There was no Benjamin Franklin there to propose one. In 
 1843, three years after Mr. Plitt's return from Europe, 
 the general discontent of the people on the subject of 
 postage was expressed in the form of resolutions by the 
 legislatures of several States, instructing their Senators 
 and requesting their Representatives in Congress to take 
 some measures for a reduction. Mr. C. A. Wickliffe, at 
 that time postmaster-general, made some investigation in 
 regard to the English system, and in an elaborate report 
 advocated some reduction, but not a radical one, on the 
 ground that the department would become a heavy charge 
 upon the government if large reductions were made. Sub- 
 sequent reductions far greater than those proposed at that 
 period show how much the postmaster-general and those 
 who sustained him in this idea were mistaken. It was 
 not until 1845 that Congress was enabled to pass a bill for 
 a reduction. March 3, 1845, a bill was passed, which went 
 into operation July 1, 1845. Its rates were as follows : 
 for a letter not exceeding a half-ounce in weight, whether 
 of one or more pieces of paper, under three hundred miles, 
 five cents; over three hundred miles, ten cents, and an 
 additional rate for every additional half-ounce or fraction 
 of a half-ounce. Advertised letters, two cents ; pamphlets, 
 magazines, &c., per ounce, two cents, and each additional 
 
382 ENGLISH POST-OFFICE. 
 
 ounce, one cent. Newspapers, under thirty miles, free; 
 over thirty and under one hundred, or any distance within 
 the State where published, one cent; over one hundred 
 and out of the State, one and a half cent. At various 
 periods since, changes have been made, until it is now 
 reduced to a system based on the lowest rates, which 
 under proper and efficient management must, and no 
 doubt will, result in self-sustaining the department: cer- 
 *tain abuses have of course to be corrected. 
 
 ENGLISH POST-OFFICE. 
 
 Mr. Plitt states in his report that the number of persons 
 employed in the English post-office, London, is one thou- 
 sand nine hundred and. three.* This number comprises 
 all the letter-carriers and receivers employed within a 
 circle of twelve miles from the post-office. In this circle 
 letters are delivered at the residence of the person ad- 
 dressed and taken up from the receiving-houses five times 
 per day. There is besides an inner circle of three miles 
 from the post-office, within which there are seven deliver- 
 ies per day, and also seven collections from the receiving- 
 houses, to go by the general post, as late as five o'clock p. M.f 
 
 * The number of individuals employed in the English post-office is 
 very considerable. On the 31st of December, 1857, it gave employment 
 to twenty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty-one persons, while 
 the number has been since considerably increased. More than two 
 thousand of these clerks are employed in the chief office in London. 
 The number of persons employed in the post-office of France amounts 
 to twenty-six thousand and seventy-one ; but then it should be remem- 
 bered that the extent and population of France are greater than the 
 extent and population of Great Britain. 
 
 j- It may be added here that these deliveries are distinct from what 
 is termed the "general delivery." As all the principal mails arrive in 
 L'ondon in the morning, there are but three deliveries a day by the 
 carriers of the general post. These carriers are distinguished from 
 those belonging to the two-penny post or city delivery by wearing the 
 livery of the department, viz.: a scarlet coat with a blue collar, and 
 buttons stamped with an impression of the royal arms. 
 
INDECENT POSTAL MATTER. 383 
 
 FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 
 
 " This privilege is entirely abolished under the late new 
 law. Members of Parliament, even before the law was 
 passed, were restricted as to the number of letters they 
 were allowed to frank, and were, besides, obliged to put 
 the day of the month .upon each letter franked by them." 
 The privilege, however, was not entirely abolished, inas- 
 much as it was granted to the Minister of Finance and 
 some of his agents. 
 
 PENNY POSTAGE. 
 
 Stamps of one penny and twopence each were first in- 
 troduced on the 6th of May, 1840, and since that period 
 there has been an increase of nearly three hundred thou- 
 sand letters. Mr. Plitt strongly advocates the cheap 
 postage system. 
 
 LETTER-CARRIERS IN PA RIS. ' 
 
 In Paris, where there are six deliveries of the "Petite 
 Poste"* per day, the carriers of the General and "Petite 
 Poste" letters are the same. In a report made by Row- 
 land Hill on the French post-office, in October, 1839, 
 speaking of this plan, he says, "The plan of employing 
 one set of letter-carriers for the delivery of all letters 
 appears to work exceedingly well in Paris. All that I 
 heard and saw in Paris tends to confirm the opinion I 
 have already expressed, that great convenience and economy 
 would result from the union of the two bodies in London." 
 
 INDECENT POSTAL MATTER. 
 
 "SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That no obscene 
 book, pamphlet, picture, print, or other publication of a 
 vulgar and indecent character shall be admitted into the 
 mails of the United States; and any person or persons 
 who shall deposit or cause to be deposited in any post- 
 
384 INDECENT POSTAL MATTER. 
 
 office or branch post-office of the United States, for mail- 
 ing or for delivery, an obscene book, pamphlet, picture, 
 print, or other publication, knowing the same to be of a 
 vulgar and indecent character, shall be deemed guilty of a 
 misdemeanor, and, being duly convicted thereof, shall for 
 every such offence be fined not more than five hundred 
 dollars, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, 
 according to the circumstances and aggravations of the 
 offence. 7 ' 
 
 Apart from this act, there is an understanding between 
 the postmaster-general and postmasters generally relative 
 to obscene and vulgar postal matter. So far as the secrets 
 of the office are concerned, that understanding is "contra- 
 band." But this is not sufficient. If the post-office is to 
 be used as the medium through which .the vilest works of 
 art pass so readily, and calculated to corrupt the innocent 
 and excite the passions of youth by high-colored pictures, 
 the public, at least, should know how and why so many 
 reach the persons to whom they are directed, and to what 
 extent this espionage extends. It would require no breach 
 of the observance of postal rules to ascertain almost at a 
 glance the nature of the book or picture which comes 
 under the head of "indecent postal matter." These pub- 
 lications, varying in accordance to the artistic taste of the 
 originators, pass through the office in the shape of splendid 
 photograph albums, handsomely-bound books, embossed 
 prints, transparent cards, and "yellow-cover pamphlets," 
 d la Dr. Young, and photograph cards of a most indecent 
 character. At other times they are posted as letters, ad- 
 dressed chiefly to young ladies, containing a card and 
 making the most dishonorable proposals. In several 
 instances the parents have shown the author these letters, 
 and upon a close examination he feels satisfied that the 
 only motive the writer had was to corrupt and demoralize, 
 without the most distant idea of ever reaping the fruits 
 
INDECENT POSTAL MATTER. 385 
 
 of his villany. The imagination cannot conceive or pencil 
 paint a more hideous picture of a fiend than one who 
 would thus attempt to corrupt the young and innocent by 
 such means. The idea could only have been suggested by 
 the devil, and as readily carried out by his agent. Artists 
 of well-known reputation lend themselves to this work 
 of destruction; and specimens denote the highest order of 
 talent, as well as the most exquisite workmanship of 
 art, art devoted to the production of the most vulgar 
 and disgusting subjects the human mind ever conceived 
 or a diseased imagination conjured. That very intellect 
 which should have shed a halo over the pure things of 
 earth is here devoted to the production of things evil. 
 
 A tendency to sap the foundation upon which rest the 
 pillars of morality, and to poison the minds of youth, 
 seems to be a prevailing vice. High literary attainments, 
 great mental powers, have been brought into the arena to 
 battle for crime, lasciviousness, and vice. In all ages the 
 vile corruption of man's nature, aided by genius and 
 talent, has been manifested in the production of things 
 evil. The rapid and, we may say, alarming increase of 
 crime, the callousness manifested at the recital of human 
 suffering, the want, or, rather, the absence, of a correct 
 moral standard in every thing appertaining to social life, 
 the sneering at the tenets of our holy religion, the assump- 
 tion as it were of omniscient powers on the part of sinful 
 men, have led to a state of things which will require 
 stronger measures than that of mere reasoning to remedy. 
 
 Our streets of a night are flooded with the daughters 
 of vice ; temples are dedicated to licentiousness, sanctioned 
 by the authorities, who grant them "license" as it were 
 to corrupt youth and demoralize the masses. Intempe- 
 rance and pauperism are the results of the " law's license" 
 to common crime. Thus the dark shadow of vice ex- 
 tends its fatal power over that portion of the human 
 
 33 
 
386 ESPIONAGE OVER THE POST-OFFICE. 
 
 family from whose domestic circle the voice of prayer 
 never ascends. There instead is heard the sound of rat- 
 tling glasses: loud oaths, the bacchanalian song, there 
 throw around the circle of which they form the nucleus 
 an atmosphere to poison and destroy. Much of all this 
 can be traced to the estimate men place upon the modern 
 mode of education. If genius invents something that 
 places vice in a brilliant light, in and through which all 
 that is startling in picture-view or description presents 
 new features to the novice in licentiousness, it becomes at 
 once an institution from whence flows a stream that poisons 
 a city. In an instant these productions take miniature 
 shapes : art combines with the genius of the originators, 
 and, lo! they go forth through the post, spreading ruin 
 and desolation everywhere. It is that very facility which 
 the post affords that gives power and influence to these 
 fiends; and, alas! how many, dazzled by the "refinement 
 of vice," refined by the touch of art, fall into the snare 
 by the very excitement they produce! Many of these 
 photographs of the more vile character reach "young 
 ladies' seminaries." Many books of a similar character 
 find their way hither, and thus corruption works its way 
 to the ruin of their inmates. 
 
 We would have what under no other circumstance 
 would we suggest to the department an espionage over 
 all suspicious postal matter. 
 
 ESPIONAGE OVER THE POST-OFFICE IN FRANCE. 
 
 That country must be in a bad way where the heads of 
 the several departments find it necessary to resort to the 
 most infamous means of tracing out suspected traitors. 
 Thus, in the pdQal department, every letter is subject to 
 the system of espionage, and the innocent as well as the 
 guilty alike suspected and their private correspondence 
 betrayed. In time of rebellion, insurrection, or an at- 
 
THE POST-OFFICE SOLVENT. 387 
 
 tempt to assassinate a king or an emperor, there might be 
 some excuse for the exercise of such precaution; but in 
 the absence of such startling causes the system is both 
 mean and cowardly. In France, at the present time 
 (1865), private letters, newspapers, and pamphlets are 
 subjected to the most anxious scrutiny. A large portion 
 of every day is devoted to such examinations by a skilful 
 and energetic body of men. Between the time when 
 letters are received at the chief office from the district-offices 
 and the time they are sent out again, two hours elapse. 
 During this period they are in the hands of the police. The 
 police have a list of certain addresses, and are furnished 
 with examples of the handwriting of every one in whose 
 correspondence the government is interested. With these 
 and practised eyes the officials set to work, carrying all 
 suspected letters into the Cabinet froir, where they are 
 read, copied, delayed, stopped at discretion ; and the police 
 are very discreet about seizing letters : it is done as seldom 
 as possible. The system is so perfect, it works so well, 
 that the only chance of evading it is to correspond under 
 assumed names, changed with every letter; and this is 
 actually done by people who are not more treasonable 
 than the majority of Frenchmen, but who, being eminent 
 and powerful, are condemned to the degradation of shifts 
 like these, or every letter they write would be read by the 
 police. Governments maintained thus are never safe in 
 power. 
 
 THE POST-OFFICE SOLVENT. 
 
 The following article we take from the "Philadelphia 
 North American and United States Gazette" of the 13th 
 July, 1865. The view the editor takes is simply, how- 
 ever, from a hastily-arranged statement nade shortly after 
 the appointment of Mr. Dennison as postmaster-general. 
 We have our doubts about its accuracy, inasmuch as the 
 short time for reductions of salary and other expenses 
 
388 THE POST-OFFICE SOLVENT. 
 
 would not lessen the debt against the postal department 
 and yield a surplus of seven hundred thousand dollars. 
 Well . may the editor say, " How long this is likely to con- 
 tinue we cannot say" 
 
 "For the first time in many years the United States 
 Post-Office Department has become a paying institution, 
 the revenues of the last six months having yielded a sur- 
 plus of more than seven hundred thousand dollars above 
 the expenses, and the ensuing six months will tell still 
 better. How long this is likely to continue we cannot say. 
 During Mr. Blair's administration of this department he 
 reduced the expenditures to such an extent as to aiford an 
 astonishing contrast with the old Buchanan dynasty, when 
 the annual deficit of the department was five millions of 
 dollars. We thought Mr. Blair's management unprece- 
 dently good ; but still he could not bring the department 
 to a paying standard, which his successor has now done 
 very handsomely. Mr. Dennison has done this by means 
 of a system of the most stringent and searching economy, 
 reducing the force of employees everywhere, cutting down 
 salaries and allowances, examining carefully into items of 
 expenditure, the management and compensation of con- 
 tractors, &c. 
 
 " In fact, Governor Dennison brought to the conduct of 
 our postal affairs the excellent training he had received in 
 the executive government of Ohio, like his predecessor in 
 that office, Mr. Chase, and he has looked carefully into 
 every thing under his charge with an eye to economy and 
 efficiency, and the service, instead of suffering by this 
 scrutiny, has been largely benefited. But with the re- 
 newal of our authority in the South comes back a region 
 wherein before 1860 the postal service was always carried 
 on at a heavy loss to the National Government. It hardly 
 admits of a doubt that this deficit was owing solely to the 
 running of great numbers of useless mails to gratify local 
 
THE POST-OFFICE SOLVENT. 389 
 
 influences. This was consequent upon the predominance 
 of Southern politicians at Washington. Their demands 
 for favors of this kind were incessant, and, as they were 
 generally with the ruling element in Congress, they got 
 whatever they asked for. It may be inferred that modesty 
 was not one of their faults, and that they did not lose 
 any thing for the want of asking. 
 
 "In places where a weekly mail would have answered, 
 a daily, semi-weekly, or tri-weekly mail was run, and so 
 where a place of somewhat more consequence needed a 
 semi- weekly mail a daily mail would be run. Instead of 
 making every post-office a paying one, by making it the 
 depot for a sufficient population, swarms of unnecessary 
 offices were created to gratify local politicians, the effect 
 of which was that none were remunerative. We are sorry 
 to say that this evil afflicts the service in many parts of 
 the North, and that there is great need of discontinuing 
 offices now in existence. Sometimes the ambition or the 
 jealousy of villages led to this multiplication of useless 
 offices, but generally it was caused by the Congressmen 
 catering for their political supporters. Since the year 
 1860 the necessities of the government have compelled 
 the department to reduce both the number of these offices 
 and of the mails run. The deficiency always visible in 
 the postal revenues at the South, aside from the causes we 
 have referred to, arose also from the evil policy of the 
 slaveholding oligarchy. Four millions of the Southern 
 population were prohibited from a knowledge of reading 
 and writing, and of course the post-office was not needed 
 for them. The planter had no right to complain of being 
 reduced to a weekly mail; for in a region of six square 
 miles there might not be more than three families using 
 the post-office, the rest being all slaves, or illiterate 'poor 
 white trash/ 
 
 "Yet these planters would make a vast deal of fuss 
 
 33* 
 
390 THE POST-OFFICE SOLVENT. 
 
 about their mail facilities, and to satisfy them the National 
 Government sustained an annual loss of millions of dollars. 
 It was not only the prohibition of letters toward the slaves 
 that caused the loss, for the poor whites labored under no 
 such prohibition, and yet were as ignorant as the slaves; 
 but it was the total absence of all provision for the edu- 
 cation of the masses of the population throughout the 
 South. The poor whites could not read newspapers if 
 they received them; they could not write letters, nor 
 could they read them. Moreover, the mail-matter was 
 still further reduced by the refusal to allow anti-slavery 
 newspapers to circulate at all in the South. A merchant 
 could not receive the commercial papers of the North, 
 because of their sentiments about slavery; a clergyman 
 could not receive the religious papers of the North, for 
 the same reason. If a man in any of the interior dis- 
 tricts received frequent letters from the North, he would 
 be sure to find them a matter of inquisitorial questioning, 
 and would be obliged to give an idea of the nature of his 
 correspondence. 
 
 "The question how the postal service can be rendered 
 permanently remunerative at the South involves three dis- 
 tinct and very important considerations : 
 
 "How can the ignorant masses of the Southern popu- 
 lation be educated in a knowledge of reading, writing, and 
 arithmetic, and insured hereafter the benefits of a well- 
 established common free-school system for their children? 
 
 " How can we relieve the national mails of that infamous 
 espionage which, down to the present time, has been rigidly 
 enforced in every hole and corner of the South, sometimes 
 by the post-office itself, but generally by outside parties, 
 though always in the interest of the plantation aristocracy 
 and their political agents and domination ? 
 
 "How can we prevent the renewal of the old evil of 
 supernumerary post-offices and superfluous mails all over 
 
SALARIES OF POSTMASTERS. 391 
 
 the South, and so gauge the service that each office shall 
 pay expenses and each mail be well filled with paying 
 matter? 
 
 "These are the problems to be solved, and it behooves 
 us all to reflect upon their exceeding difficulty when we 
 complain that our postal department is not better managed. 
 Although the franking system is bad enough in all con- 
 science, it is not responsible for the bulk of the postal 
 loss. From what we have said above, it must be plain 
 that the despotic social system, established for the benefit 
 of the plantation aristocracy, has been annually paid for 
 largely out of our pockets. We have paid five millions 
 of dollars annually as a premium upon Southern igno- 
 rance. We have helped the planter to keep his slaves 
 and his poor white neighbors in ignorance and degrada- 
 tion, and, in order the better to enable him to enforce his 
 cruel and abominable despotism, we have given him the 
 surveillance of our mails, and allowed him to terrorize 
 over them as he saw fit. Mr. Dennison, we can readily 
 believe, is not the man to put up with this hereafter ; but 
 it requires vigilance to prevent it altogether, and the ex- 
 ercise of other powers than his to remedy the great evil, 
 Southern ignorance." . 
 
 SALARIES OF POSTMASTERS. 
 
 Under the old postal arrangement, the salary of post- 
 masters of the principal cities was limited to $2000. This 
 compensation was derived from a commission out of their 
 receipts, which could not exceed the amount named. This 
 would appear at first as small pay for such an important 
 position, more particularly as under the administration of 
 Postmaster Blair the salary was raised to $4000 : yet there 
 is not a postmaster but would willingly go back to the 
 old system. Under the former provision of the postal 
 law postmasters were allowed the amount arising from 
 
392 THE PENNY POST. 
 
 the rent of letter-boxes in their respective offices as a 
 perquisite, and also certain other matters, which shrewd 
 men knew well how to place under this head. During 
 the existence of this system the desire for the office far 
 exceeded that which was and is likely to be manifested 
 under the latter, inasmuch as $4000 per annum and no 
 perquisites is scarcely a desirable position for an ambitious 
 and popular politician. Many a business-man, outside of 
 the political ring, would consider it quite sufficient, how- 
 ever : business-men are not cormorants. It is true, even 
 under the old law, by an act passed March 3, 1847, the 
 rent of boxes to be credited to the postmaster was limited, 
 restricting the amount so received to $2000, consequently 
 limiting his salary to $4000: for all over and above that 
 amount he had to account to the department. Under 
 some administrations postmasters became rich, whether by 
 husbanding their actual income or the perquisites are ques- 
 tions simply of conjecture. 
 
 THE PENNY POST. 
 
 The first attempt to establish the penny post in the 
 United States was in the years 183940. It was simply 
 a speculation, and resulted at first, in almost total failure, 
 but revived again under more enterprising parties. Pre- 
 vious to this, however, contrary to the laws of Congress, 
 particularly the law of 1825, sect. 19, which enacts that 
 no stage or other vehicle which regularly performs trips 
 on a post-road or on a road parallel to it, and no packet, 
 war, or other vessel which regularly plies on a water 
 declared a post-road, shall convey letters, certain persons, 
 actually availing themselves of these modes of convey- 
 ance, constituted themselves "private posts," travelling 
 as passengers, and carried packages containing valuable let- 
 ters, documents, and other available matter : these were, 
 of course, transported as baggage or freight. The con- 
 
THE PENNY POST. 393 
 
 veyances used by these men passed regularly over post- 
 roads, and thus they travelled in company with their 
 powerful opponent, " the post-office department." It was 
 also well known to the department ; but as they were not 
 special posts, the law of 1825 did not reach them. Still 
 their system was a secret one, and hard to be detected. 
 The law, however, of 1827, sect. 3, enacts that no person 
 other than the postmaster-general or his authorized agents 
 shall set up any foot- or horse-posts for the conveyance of 
 letters and packets upon any post-road which is or may 
 be established as such by law. 
 
 This law paved the way for the establishing penny 
 posts by individuals in cities and even in rural districts. 
 At first they were called expresses, but soon they assumed 
 a more postal shape. The postmaster-general's annual re- 
 port of December 2, 1843, stated that "numerous private 
 posts, under the name of expresses, had sprung within a 
 few years into existence, extending themselves over the 
 mail-routes between the cities and towns, and transporting 
 letters and other mailable matter for pay to a great ex- 
 tent." Suits were commenced against parties residing in 
 New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland. It appears 
 from the postmaster-general's report of November 25, 
 1844, that the government had been unable to suppress 
 the private expresses, which were still continued " upon 
 the leading post-routes." In this and in the former annual 
 report he recommended legislation by Congress for their 
 suppression. There is yet no law of Congress to suppress 
 these expresses. - Governments, more particularly that of 
 ours, cannot enact laws that will interfere with the com- 
 mercial interests of the people. It may facilitate every 
 movement by such laws as are legitimate; but taking 
 out of the hands of individuals their legitimate business, 
 connected with no department of the government, becomes 
 at oynce not only a monopoly, but assumes the complexion 
 
394 THE PENNY POST. 
 
 of tyranny. The decision of the judges in the cases re- 
 ferred to settled the question, until compromise stepped in 
 and the government came down to the " penny system," 
 and thus satisfied the public. 
 
 In 1860 Mr. Holt, the postmaster-general, by virtue 
 of the act of March 3, 1851, by a formal order declared 
 all the streets, lanes, avenues, &c. within the corporate 
 limits of the cities of Boston, New York, and Philadel- 
 phia, to be post-roads, and notified all engaged in the 
 transportation and delivery of letters for compensation in 
 said cities, that they would expose themselves to the 
 penalties imposed by the third section of the act of 
 March, 1827. The private expresses in the cities named 
 acquiesced in the legality of the step, with the exception 
 of one in Philadelphia long and familiarly known as 
 "Blood's Express," and subsequently, "Despatch." In 
 despite of the act of 1851, or the penalty imposed under 
 that of 1827, Blood's Express continued its regular de- 
 livery of letters in defiance of the department. A bill in 
 equity was filed with a view of restraining the company 
 from this habitual and persistent violation of the postal 
 laws ; but, upon full argument and consideration had on 
 the questions involved, the injunction was denied. 
 
 The mere existence of a postal department of the gov- 
 ernment is not an establishment of monopoly. No gov- 
 ernment has ever organized a system of posts without 
 securing to itself a monopoly of the carriage of letters 
 and mailable matter; but this was never intended to 
 control individual enterprise in the express line. Judge 
 Grier, who indorses the decision of this case, says,* "The 
 business of private carriers of letters and mailable packets, 
 
 * Persons anxious to examine more closely into this subject, which, 
 however, is now settled, no doubt finally, by a compromise with the 
 parties, are referred to the opinion of the court, " United States vs. 
 Kochersperger," in report of the postmaster-general for the year i860. 
 
THE PENNY POST. 395 
 
 even on principal mail-routes, is lawful unless legis- 
 latively prohibited. A private monopoly, secured by 
 prohibitory legislation, cannot require the suppression 
 of a rival business of competitors who do not infringe 
 the prohibition, merely because the continuance of their 
 business would lessen or destroy the profits of his mo- 
 nopoly. A like rule applies in determining the effect 
 of a government's legislative prohibitions to secure its 
 own postal monopoly. The monopoly cannot be extended 
 beyond the legislative prohibitions, merely because the 
 continuance of a specific business which has not been 
 prohibited would reduce the postal earnings of the gov- 
 ernment, or even frustrate the purposes of its exclusive 
 policy." Streets, lanes, alleys, and avenues were not, in 
 the opinion of the judge, " post-routes." Public streets 
 intersecting a municipal town are as highways distin- 
 guishable specifically from the general public highways 
 of a State beyond the town limits. The streets are, in- 
 deed, as thoroughfares, general public highways of the 
 State ; but, independently of this character of thorough- 
 fares, the streets are specially local highways of the town. 
 Internal affairs of municipal towns affecting their local 
 interests alone are always regulated more or less by their 
 local governments. So far as these streets over which the 
 mail may be carried are entitled to be termed " post-roads 
 for the passage of the mail," there is no question; but 
 whether Congress has the right to declare the streets of a 
 city post-roads for any purpose is questionable. 
 
 When Blood's Express was first established, its main 
 object was to accommodate merchants, mechanics, and 
 professional men generally, by furnishing a medium of 
 communication with their customers, clients, &c., which 
 would anticipate the slow movements of the old postal 
 mode of delivery. If this continued to be its legitimate 
 object, it is very probable the commercial community 
 
396 THE PENNY POST. 
 
 would have taken a much greater interest in it than they 
 did; but, unfortunately for this new postal system, it 
 assumed the character of a "Parisian Bureau," for the 
 reception and delivery of small documents, wherein " love, 
 courtship, and marriage" were all treated with an eye to 
 excitement rather than as a virtuous incentive to their study 
 and moral consequences. Young and inexperienced girls 
 were gradually led into (initial) correspondence with "fast 
 young men ;" foolish widows and old maids to advertise 
 for husbands, and equally silly, weak-minded elderly 
 gentlemen to imitate their example. Added to this, 
 many made this penny system the medium to originate 
 practical jokes, and thus the "express" became a sort of 
 Pandora's (postal] box for "all sorts of people" to try 
 experiments with fickle fortune, either by marriage or 
 swindling. Both in some instances succeeded. 
 
 The same was attempted when the government took 
 charge of the "express;" but the department soon put a 
 stop to this nonsensical practice by ignoring as legitimate 
 matter every thing of an initial character. Young girls, 
 foolish widows, old maids, and weak-minded men, who 
 could without much publicity send and receive communi- 
 cations through "Blood's Express," found a post-office 
 somewhat too dignified an institution for their childish in- 
 tellects. 
 
 Still, this class of people, and it takes all kinds to make 
 up a world, added to another class who make of crime a 
 pastime and licentiousness a pleasure, adopted other modes 
 of carrying on their "vocation," which we here allude to 
 under the head of " Indecent postal matter." 
 
THE VICTIM OF LOVE. 397 
 
 XV. 
 
 THE VICTIM OF LOVE. 
 
 " Oh, grief beyond all other griefs, when fate 
 First leaves the young heart lone and desolate 
 In the wide world, without that only tie 
 For which it loved to live or feared to die !" 
 
 I WAS seated at my desk ; the index-box was filled with 
 letters, the great Southern mail having just arrived. 
 " Are there any letters for me, sir, Henry Middleton ?" 
 I glanced my eyes at the applicant : there was something 
 in his voice, look, and manner which for a moment riveted 
 my attention. He appeared by no means annoyed at my 
 scrutiny of his person, no doubt ascribing it to the nature 
 of our situation. He was apparently about twenty-three 
 years of age ; eyes dark and penetrating ; a shade of melan- 
 choly passed over his countenance and withered the sun- 
 shine of hope; a mouth of the most marked character 
 conveyed to the observer a knowledge of his ; the lower 
 lip firmly compressed, and the curl of the upper denoted 
 strong and agitated feeling, and an irritable temperament. 
 Having gathered this much from Henry Middleton's per- 
 sonal appearance, I took out from the box M a handful 
 of letters. One was addressed to him : the handwriting 
 was evidently that of a female. He seized it with a 
 nervous grasp, a momentary gleam of hope lighted up 
 his shadowy countenance, and he rushed out of the office. 
 For the first time in my life I felt a degree of curiosity to 
 know the contents of another's letter: it was a strange 
 and to me a new feeling. In vain I battled with the 
 
 34 
 
398 THE VICTIM OF LOVE. 
 
 demon which seemed rising within me ; in vain I turned 
 over letter after letter to withdraw my mind from this 
 dangerous focus of thought : it was utterly useless. That 
 night I dreamed of being condemned for breaking open 
 letters intrusted to my charge. 
 
 Towards evening on the day following, to my extreme 
 joy Henry Middleton stood at the window. 
 
 "I wish to pay the postage of this letter, sir." 
 
 Twenty-five cents I informed him was the charge. The 
 letter was in my hand : Middleton had departed. The 
 address, Miss Amelia Templeton, a small seal with the 
 impression M upon it, was the padlock to my curiosity. 
 My brain grew giddy with the intensity of desire. I held 
 the epistle up to the light, the paper was coarse and 
 thick. I peeped into the folds : ah ! what is that ? part 
 of a sentence visible : 
 
 " Love, Amelia, acknowledges no tie but that of its own 
 creation." 
 
 What a sentence ! In vain I tried to follow it up ; not 
 a word beyond this could I make out. Here I was left 
 in the dark: then my imagination completed a volume 
 of surmises. He, Middleton, was endeavoring to per- 
 suade Amelia to elope with him, or rather to follow him 
 here, and the above line constituted a portion of the 
 argument used by him to effect this object. 
 
 Such were my conjectures relating to the affair, derived 
 from such evidence as the reader is now acquainted with. 
 
 A month passed over, and my note-book contained 
 several incidents of an interesting nature ; but the lovers, 
 as I concluded them to be, occupied so much of my 
 thoughts that I could pay but very little attention to the 
 rest. I awaited impatiently the return of the mail which 
 should bring the answer from Amelia. At length it came. 
 To Henry Middleton. I instinctively caught it up. I 
 felt as if I were an interested person, and had a right to 
 
THE VICTIM OF LOVE. 399 
 
 see that is, without breaking the seal as much of the 
 letter as I could ; but Amelia had folded it so carefully 
 that it defied all attempts to gather any connected sen- 
 tence. Gracious heavens ! what do I see ? By turning 
 up a portion of the inner fold with the blade of my knife, 
 I read, 
 
 Yours, affectionately, 
 
 AMELIA SINCLAIR. 
 
 It was now certain that Amelia was lost to Henry. 
 She had proved faithless by marrying another. How 
 would he bear up against the thunderbolt aimed direct at 
 his heart ? I again endeavored to penetrate further into 
 this letter : another fold was carefully raised ; the words, 
 "a parent's curse," "cruel necessity," "your absence," 
 "forced into marriage," burst upon my sight. I had 
 actually worked myself into a fever, and had partly de- 
 termined to keep the letter from Middleton, feeling assured 
 that its contents would prove a death-blow to his hopes. 
 While debating the subject with myself, he appeared at 
 the window. I held the letter in my hand. A tremor 
 of almost conscious guilt passed over me, and, if he had 
 watched my countenance, he could not have failed to 
 detect something indicative of my crime. I handed him 
 the letter : he gazed upon the well-known hand, a smile 
 of joy irradiated his visage ; he tore it open, hastily de- 
 vouring its contents; a sudden and awful change came 
 over his face ; the exclamation of " oh, God !" escaped 
 him : he raised his right arm, pressing the distended 
 fingers against his forehead, and fell upon the floor in 
 horrid convulsions ! 
 
 ******* 
 
 He lay upon the bed of death, his eyes partly closed, 
 
 and his hands clasped together in convulsive agony. I 
 
 stood beside him > awaiting the result of the paroxysm. In 
 
 a few moments he regained consciousness : he gazed Ian- 
 
400 THE VICTIM OF LOVE. 
 
 guidly around the room, exclaiming, "Where am I? 
 Who did this?" 
 
 " One," I replied, " who is willing to serve you." 
 
 " Oh, then, as you are my friend, burn that fatal letter ! 
 While it exists, I am wretched : it is the curse of the few 
 short moments I have yet to live. I have read it until 
 each word, nay, each letter, seemed as a coal of fire con- 
 suming my very heart-strings. It is chained to my brain, 
 and each thought I bestow upon it acts as an electric 
 shock to heighten my misery. I essayed to destroy it; 
 but dared not, cannot." 
 
 I took the letter and deliberately burned it: he watched 
 its disappearance with a maddening glare, and, when it 
 was entirely burned to ashes, he burst into a hysterical 
 laugh, and fell back upon the bed. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to inform the reader that, after 
 the scene at the post-office, I caused him to be conveyed 
 to my room, and he had continued in a state of delirium 
 during the whole of that time. On recovering from the 
 hysterical affection caused by the excitement of destroying 
 the letter, he became more calm. 
 
 " I thank you," he muttered ; " I remember it all, and 
 you have been my true friend. Heaven will bless you for 
 it: my prayers they are all I have to offer shall be 
 breathed for thee and thine." 
 
 "Compose yourself," I answered; "think of nothing 
 now but your recovery and return to your friends." 
 
 " Friends ! ha, ha, ha ! Who talks of friends ? Ah ! 
 yes ; you that are a real one, and never felt the venomed 
 tooth of a smiling hypocrite in your flesh. No, I will 
 speak ; bear with me a while. Think, only ! he was my 
 chum at college, the companion of my youth, the friend 
 of my more matured age, and we lived in the hope of 
 ending our days beneath the same roof; but now the 
 broad canopy of heaven cannot shelter both of us alive. 
 
THE VICTIM OF LOVE. 401 
 
 One or the other should must die, and fate accords it 
 to me." 
 
 " You distress yourself. Do not speak of these things." 
 " I speak of them, my dear sir, to drive away the curse 
 of recollection. Left alone to dwell upon them, I would 
 go mad. I will relate to you something of my short but 
 eventful history. It is simple ; there is no romance in it : 
 it is one "of those incidents which occur in every life among 
 men of the world. I was not suited for the world : it has 
 crushed me. Amelia has wounded the heart that loved 
 her. But no more of that. We were cousins, destined at 
 an early age by our parents for each other. We grew up 
 in the perfect knowledge of the happiness which awaited 
 us : we were young, we were lovers. There is not a 
 stream, there is not a mountain of our native home, but 
 could tell a tale of our early loves. We have wandered 
 over the one and sat beside the other, when the moon 
 shed her pale and silvery light upon its waters. There 
 nature smiled upon us, and we in return rejoiced that she 
 was so good. Pardon my folly, sir ; but those were mo- 
 ments of pure, unalloyed bliss. There came one among 
 us, who, in my dreams and my waking hours of madness, 
 I have cursed. It was Sinclair, my friend. I will not 
 enter further into the details of my history. I will not 
 relate to you the causes which induced me to quit home : 
 suffice it, however, to say that I was unfortunate. I wrote 
 to Amelia. The fatal answer and the result of it you are 
 already acquainted with, and it is to your kindness that I 
 am indebted for those few days added to a life of insup- 
 portable wretchedness. My nervous system, susceptible 
 of the slightest shock, my mind weakened by the heredi- 
 tary disease of our family, consumption, could not battle 
 against the accumulation of domestic misfortunes, and a 
 jealous feeling which I harbored of Amelia. I left home: 
 my misery is now complete ; my former suspicions have 
 
 32* 
 
402 THE WIDOWED MOTHER. 
 
 proved true. She is faithless ! This, sir, is all : bear with 
 me but a short time, and then I will tell you the rest. I 
 feel myself sinking; listen. Oh, God! oh, God! I 
 I - " He gasped for breath ; the muscles of his face 
 worked as if struggling to retain life ; his eyes became 
 fixed ; his lips muttered sounds, they were unmeaning. 
 I took his hand : it was cold and stiff. I gazed upon his 
 face : Death's seal was set forever ! 
 
 ******* 
 In the Episcopal churchyard, near C - Street, is to be 
 seen a neat marble slab, with the following inscription : 
 
 Sacred 
 
 to the 
 Memory of 
 
 aged 2& years. 
 Sic transit ffloria mundi. 
 
 THE WIDOWED MOTHER. 
 
 "Though grief may blight, or sin deface 
 
 Our youth's fair promise, or disgrace 
 
 May brand with infamy and shame. 
 ****** 
 
 A mother, though her heart may break, 
 
 From that fond heart will never tear 
 
 The child whose last retreat is there." 
 
 ELLEN FITZARTHUR. 
 
 It was a cold, dreary morning in the month of Decem- 
 ber, a heavy snow lay upon the ground, and the wind 
 whistled around the northeast corner of the post-office; the 
 streets were nearly deserted; none ventured out but those 
 whose business rendered it absolutely necessary. I sat at 
 the window watching the flakes of snow as they peeled 
 from the roofs of the opposite houses and scattered their 
 whitened particles on the pavement beneath. 
 
THE WIDOWED MOTHER. 403 
 
 The Southern mail had arrived, and all the business- 
 letters were delivered; a drowsy feeling crept over me, and 
 I was just falling into the Lethean lake of forgetfulness, 
 that dreamy portion of our life, without which this para- 
 dise, this glorious world, with its riches and its charms, 
 would be as a howling desert. 
 
 "Sleep, sweet restorer, balmy sleep." 
 
 But I am digressing. I was awakened from my slumber 
 by a slight touch upon the elbow and a tremulous voice 
 uttering the words, " Sir ! sir !' 
 
 "Madam!" cried I, starting up. 
 
 "I am sorry to disturb you, sir, but I wish to know if 
 there are any letters from my son?" 
 
 Honest creature: she looked the picture of distress; the 
 widow of hope as well as kin, her age apparently about 
 fifty, her dress neat but indicating poverty, the hand of 
 Time had furrowed her cheek and left his impress there. 
 
 "From your son, madam?" 
 
 "Yes, sir, my only son: a good, brave boy, and my 
 only dependence; he lives in New Orleans, and sends me 
 my little allowance every month. Is there any, sir?" 
 
 "What is your name?" 
 
 "Williams, sir, Mary Williams." 
 
 "Here are two letters, ma'am, for Mary Williams." 
 
 "That is me, sir; and that is his handwriting, dear, 
 good boy ! he never will forget his aged mother." 
 
 "Fifty cents, ma'am." 
 
 "Fifty cents, sir! my William always pays for the 
 letters." 
 
 " In this instance he has failed to do so." 
 
 "What shall I do?" 
 
 "I think you said, ma'am, that your son sends you a 
 monthly allowance : so probably one of these letters con- 
 tains it." 
 
404 THE WIDOWED MOTHER. 
 
 The letter was opened, and, as I anticipated, a ten- 
 dollar bill was enclosed. 
 
 After the departure of the old lady I began to weave 
 an imaginary tale from the simple incident attending her 
 appearance. Her son was in New Orleans: it was true, 
 the season was healthy, the winter there being in point 
 of salubrity the very antipodes of the summer, still, an 
 undefined presentiment of a something yet in embryo 
 glided across my brain. I noted down the facts that had 
 already occurred, and in the mean time gathered materials 
 for other tales. 
 
 Two months passed away, and a letter remained in the 
 post-office for Mrs. Mary Williams. In taking it up I 
 accidentally noticed the careless manner in which it was 
 folded. The following scraps of sentences were distinct 
 and legible: 
 
 " Business very dull but two dollars a day sickness 
 doctor's bill I never go to the gambling-house what 
 made you think so ? send money next week." 
 
 It was evident from this that William had got into bad 
 company, and although he denied frequenting the gam- 
 bling-houses, those sinks of iniquity, those common sewers 
 for draining from the weak and dissipated their hard 
 earnings, yet I felt assured that he was lost, and his 
 mother left in her old days poor and destitute, relying 
 upon the cold charity of the world for the common means 
 of subsistence. Her brave and noble boy, as she had 
 fondly called him, was now drawn into the vortex of vice, 
 from whose baneful and impetuous influence the tears, 
 the cries, the agonizing grief of her who doated upon 
 him, to whose existence her whole soul seemed linked, 
 could not rescue him. The spark of filial aifection was 
 extinguished, and the love of pleasures, the gratification 
 of passions, dissipation, and debauchery, had usurped its 
 place. The winter was now passed away with its wrath : 
 
THE WIDOWED MOTHER. 405 
 
 storms and tempests with their hail, rain, and snow were 
 rushing down the tide of time, and spring was seen smiling 
 in the dim perspective. It was, I think, in the early part 
 of March, when Mrs. Williams stood at the window. Her 
 whole appearance was changed. I forgot to mention she 
 had previously sent for and received the letter to which I 
 have above alluded. Sickness and sorrow had done their 
 work. Her eyes were sunken, her cheeks more furrowed, 
 and poverty still more strikingly displayed in her person. 
 To her question, "Are there any letters for me?" that 
 powerful monosyllable "No!" was another shock to the 
 poor mother. She stood a while in silence, the tears rolled 
 down her cheeks, she struggled a while to restrain her 
 feelings, then fast flowed the sorrowing waters from a 
 heart surcharged with grief. She turned to depart, but 
 faltered, and at length overcome, she sat down upon the 
 steps of the post-office and wept aloud. 
 
 There is something unnatural in the weeping of the 
 aged. Youth is the seed-time of the harvest, and hath 
 its sunshine and clouds. But age is the garnered fruit, 
 the sere and the yellow leaf of all that was beautiful. 
 When age weeps, 'tis for youth, not for itself. I gazed on 
 the heart-broken woman before me, and thought of her 
 many nights and days of anguish. I thought of all her 
 bright visions of hope and joy which shone through her 
 son and lighted the path of her future. They were all 
 vanished, and here she lay in utter darkness and desolation. 
 
 I spoke to her : she looked up. I told her if she would 
 leave her address I would send a letter, as soon as it came, 
 to her home. 
 
 "Home!" she exclaimed; "I have none! Yes, yes, I 
 have !" Reader, it was the poor-house ! 
 
 Week after week elapsed : no letter came for the aged 
 widow. One day I accidentally took up a New Orleans 
 paper. Curiosity prompted me to read it more carefully 
 
406 THE SIREN. 
 
 than usual : the paper fell from my hand ; my worst ap- 
 prehensions for Mary Williams were realized. 
 
 ******* 
 I stood at the bedside of the widow, she lay on one 
 of straw, beside which stood a table containing sundry 
 bottles of medicine, and near her a Bible, upon which 
 were a pair of common steel spectacles, black and rusted 
 with age. She instantly recognized me. 
 
 "Ah! you have brought me a letter from my dear boy. 
 I knew he would not, could not, desert his poor mother. 
 How is he? where is he?" 
 
 ******* 
 
 Reader, here I close my sketch, the remembrance of 
 which haunts me still, and the last sigh, the last pang of 
 the heart-broken widow will be as the monitor to prompt 
 me to deeds of charity, with a heart alive to the cries of 
 the suffering, and a feeling of joy at their alleviation which 
 I could not previously have experienced. 
 
 THE SIREN. 
 
 The morning was one in May, the first of the month. 
 All nature was smiling and putting forth, like the gay 
 daughters of earth, her ever-beauteous charms. I had 
 just returned from a long ramble in the country, and re- 
 luctantly seated myself a,t the window to distribute the 
 thoughts, the opinions, the love, the hatred, the wisdom, 
 and the follies of mankind through the medium of letters. 
 
 Passing over several commonplace, every-day appli- 
 cants, I was at last struck with the interesting appearance 
 of a young lady who could not have attained the age of 
 eighteen. There was, however, a certain expression of the 
 countenance, a lurking devil if I may use the expression 
 in her eye, denoting alike ungovernable passions and 
 a reckless disregard of the consequences attending their 
 gratification. The study of human nature for years, and 
 
THE SIREN. 407 
 
 a close observation of all its wire-workings and mappings 
 of the face, which my position had a tendency to improve, 
 have made me conversant with many of those signs which 
 the bad passions of the human heart cannot keep in its 
 deep recess, but send forth as warnings to the young and 
 unwary to shun them as they would a pestilence. She 
 gave her name as Caroline Somerville. There were four- 
 teen letters to her address, the postage of which amounted 
 to nearly three dollars. Her correspondence seemed to 
 embrace the four quarters of the globe: for amongst them 
 were two ship letters, one from Bordeaux, the other from 
 a small .town in Scotland; I immediately set her down as 
 one of our best female customers. 
 
 I think it was on the third day from her first applica- 
 tion at the office that I noticed in her handwriting a note 
 addressed to a merchant of this city, a man of family 
 and reputed a model of his sex, and a pattern for hus- 
 bands. This excited an unusual excitement within me. 
 
 What could she have to do with Middleton? There 
 was nothing in common between them. His situation in 
 life, his moral character and standing in society were all 
 opposed to the bare supposition of such a thing. 
 
 In the mean time, by the usual method, I deciphered 
 the following words: "Pardon the freedom" "No. 26 
 Gaskill Street" "alone, seven o'clock" "drop a note": 
 these were all I could make out; but they were sufficient. 
 The character and plots of the siren were no longer a 
 subject of doubt. I knew her as well from those uncon- 
 nected sentences as if her whole history had been written 
 out before me. She was, in the literal sense of the word, 
 
 A FEMALE SEDUCER. 
 
 The next question that presented itself to my mind was, 
 would Middleton pay any attention to her? That he 
 would not admitted scarcely a shadow of doubt : he might 
 probably reply to her note, but only to refuse and remon- 
 
408 THE SIREN. 
 
 strate with her upon the folly and imprudence, if not 
 guilt, of her conduct. 
 
 I handed him the letter myself: he remarked imme- 
 diately that it was not one of business. The seal was 
 broken and the letter was read with an eagerness that 
 surprised me. He placed it carefully in his pocket-book 
 and departed. Towards evening Caroline received through 
 me an answer from Mr. Middleton, in which I discovered 
 he promised to meet her. From that period there came a 
 change over his dream of life : I could not but mark the 
 wasted form and haggard looks which others w r ould at- 
 tribute to different causes. I possessed the key to unlock 
 the truth, but that formed no part of my vocation. 
 
 Weeks, nay, months, elapsed, and I was only reminded 
 of this circumstance by the daily appearance of Middleton. 
 The few short months were as years upon the calendar of 
 his face, while the curse of memory was dragging him 
 with an iron grasp to an early tomb. One day he told 
 me, in a manner evidently intended to convey the request 
 more as a matter of business than otherwise, to deliver 
 his letters to no person but himself: "remember," he 
 repeated, "to no one, if you please, sir." I promised to 
 follow his instructions strictly. He had his reasons, and 
 I knew it. 
 
 As I had anticipated, his wife, a lovely woman, in the 
 fulness of life's bloom, rich in accomplishments, the 06- 
 served of all observers, called at the office ; I could detect 
 beneath the bland smile the canker-worm of domestic 
 sorrow ; the seeds of misery were sown, the harvest was 
 ripening. 
 
 " Are there any letters here for Mr. Middleton ?" 
 
 If I detest any thing in the world, it is the telling of a 
 white lie; it soon leads to a black one. I replied thai 
 there were, but orders had been given to deliver them to 
 no person but himself. 
 
THE SIREN. 409 
 
 " Orders, sir ? did he leave such orders ?" 
 
 "He did, madam." 
 
 She struggled with passion ; it was, however, in vain. 
 The words, " perjured villain," escaped her, and she left 
 the office. 
 
 I could now imagine their domestic scenes, conscious 
 guilt on the one side, injured and insulted innocence on 
 the other. But even this was doomed to have an end. 
 
 A report ran through the city that a murder had been 
 committed at No. 26 Gaskill Street. Good heavens ! The 
 dwelling of Caroline ! I hurried to the scene of blood, and 
 there lay the dead body of Middleton, and beside him, in 
 the custody of two officers, his murderer, a youthful 
 paramour of this modern Jezebel. 
 
 He forfeited his life upon the gallows, and Caroline 
 Somerville died of mania a potu in the alms-house. 
 
 What became of the wife of the unfortunate Middleton? 
 the reader may inquire. Do you see that little red frame- 
 house which stands alone ; that one with the neat little 
 garden connected with it ? There resides Mrs. Middleton, 
 the once happy wife, together with her four small children : 
 to maintain them she takes in washing. Yes, reader, such, 
 alas ! is her destiny. 
 
 The tide of public opinion rolls from crime, even while 
 it carries upon its bosom many a bark freighted with the 
 unhallowed cargo, and involves many an innocent victim 
 in its reckless and overwhelming course. She is now alone 
 in the world, with none to sympathize, none to alleviate 
 her anguish. Her little ones are the peopled world in 
 which she moves ; beyond that all is chaos. 
 
 35 
 
410 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 WE had written this portion of our work with feelings 
 of gratitude to the brave men who achieved the glorious 
 victory over the rebellious armies of the South, and looked 
 forward to the time when Abraham Lincoln in triumph 
 could repeat his words, uttered long before the surrender 
 of Lee's army : " When the rebellion is crushed, my work is 
 done." That work was done, and four millions of people 
 were rescued from slavery ; not alone from the fact of any 
 determined opposition to the institution as it was and ex- 
 isted under the Constitution, but the effect of the rebellion 
 itself. 
 
 Freedom under the administration of Abraham Lincoln 
 became a reality, what before was but a name, a shadow ! 
 He had just reached that point : his labor was nearly done, 
 armies had surrendered, and the power of the government 
 fully sustained. The shout of gratitude went up from the 
 four points of our country, North, South, East, and West, 
 and was carried to other nations with a rapidity unequalled 
 in telegraphic or steam history. In the midst of this re- 
 joicing, at a time when every heart throbbed with plea- 
 surable emotions and a nation's gratitude was about being 
 manifested by brilliant illuminations and rejoicings, the 
 demon of hell sent a fiend forth to destroy the life which 
 had given a new one to our nation. 
 
 Our country was an Eden on the morning of the fatal 
 day whose evening shrouded it in the deepest gloom. All 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 411 
 
 nature was joyous, all men happy save those who in- 
 augurated the rebellion and looked upon the downfall of 
 slavery as the end of an institution upon which they 
 sinned and grew rich, vampire-like living on the blood 
 of their fellow-creatures ! Abraham Lincoln stood in the 
 garden, the Eden of our country, the Adam of a new 
 order of things, a re-created world ! The tree of liberty 
 had been planted, its apples had been eaten eighty years 
 before, and the curse of slavery followed. But now the 
 tree was clear of its " Dead Sea fruit/' which had withered 
 its branches ; anew it blossomed, anew the rich, ripe fruit 
 of freedom loaded its stems, and hung suspended, bright 
 jewels on a living tree. It was, is, and ever will be the 
 tree of knowledge to a free and independent people, the 
 golden fruit of all that is good, whose roots were watered 
 by the tears of the grateful, and whose soil was enriched 
 by the blood of those who died in defending it. Abraham 
 Lincoln stood in this garden, the man of the people, as 
 was the first man of God. There came up from the four 
 corners of our land in lightning flashes the congratulations 
 of twenty-five millions of free people. Proudly there he 
 stood ; the smile on his face was lighted up by the sun- 
 shine of his heart. Then it was that a wretch, whose 
 vocation and associations had totally demoralized him, 
 crept into this Eden, wherein all was joy and happiness, 
 his vile nature, envying a nation's return to peace, aimed 
 to destroy it. The name of this serpent was J. Wilkes 
 Booth, the tool of Southern chivalry, the assassin by 
 whose hand Abraham Lincoln fell. The moment that 
 the spirit of this martyr passed from earth to heaven, the 
 chains fell from the limbs of four millions of people, and 
 the doom of slavery was sealed forever! The 14th of 
 April, 1865, may be dated as an era in our country's 
 history long to be remembered, for Abraham Lincoln died 
 in carrying out his great work of emancipation. He lived 
 
412 OUR NATIONAL GRLEF. 
 
 to see the last battle fought, lived till the power of the 
 rebellion was broken, and then, having finished the work 
 for which God had sent him, he passed away from this 
 world to that high and glorious realm where the patriot 
 and the good shall live forever. 
 
 "For the stars on our banner grown suddenly dim, 
 Let us weep in our sorrow, but weep not for him ; 
 Not for him who departing leaves millions in tears, 
 Not for him who has died full of honors and years, 
 Not for him who ascended fame's ladder so high, 
 From the round at the top he has stepped to the sky : 
 It is blessed to go when so ready to die." 
 
 OUR NATIONAL GRIEF. 
 
 The murder of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, on the 14th of 
 April, 1865. 
 
 WRITTEN BY LAURA L. REES. 
 
 The drapery of death enshrouds, 
 
 In its dark, funereal pall, 
 Each quiet home. Its gloomy shade 
 
 Reveals the grief of all. 
 A country mourns. The moaning winds 
 
 Sigh requiems of woe ; 
 E'en from the shifting clouds the tears 
 
 In crystal showers flow. 
 
 Our Father's dead! from our sad hearts 
 
 Goes up one burden'd strain, 
 Till every trait of his great life 
 
 As monuments remain. 
 We fondly, thro' the vista dim, 
 
 Our tearful visions cast, 
 And live in memory o'er again 
 
 Each history of the past. 
 
 We watch him in the ship of state, 
 
 On a treacherous, bloody tide : 
 'Neath his firm hand the nation's bark 
 
 In triumph on shall ride. 
 
OUR NATIONAL GRIEF. 413 
 
 His eagle eye, through shadows dark, 
 
 Still saw the beacon light; 
 His heart, unwavering, placed its trust 
 
 In God and freedom's right. 
 
 Now came the promised shore in view, 
 
 Now dawned the glorious day ; 
 The darksome river brighter grew, 
 
 Reflecting victory's ray 
 Rebellion falls a bleeding form 
 
 Upon the crimson deck; 
 While Slavery sinks beneath the stream, 
 
 A black, dismantled wreck. 
 
 A peaceful rainbow bends its hues 
 
 Across the mighty strand; 
 It faded soon: a ruler loved 
 
 Fell 'neath a traitor's hand. 
 Mid festive scenes the assassin comes 
 
 To act the dastard deed : 
 The nation's heart was wounded 
 
 When she saw the patriot bleed. 
 
 The stripes that deck Columbia's flag 
 
 Grew pallid at the sight ; 
 The brilliant galaxy of stars 
 
 Flashed with a vivid light. 
 The unseen spirit of our land 
 
 Seem'd living in her wrath, 
 And threw the starry banner's folds 
 
 Across the murderer's path. 
 But from her clasp the assassin fled, 
 
 Like all the rebel horde, 
 Who spurn our colors with their heel, 
 
 And grasp the traitor's sword. 
 
 Centuries ago, that day, 
 
 A saddening act was done, 
 That rocked the earth in horror 
 
 And dimmed the radiant sun. 
 The Anointed One was crucified, 
 
 Mid agony and shame. 
 "Father, forgive them!" still he prayed, 
 
 Whilst they reviled his name. 
 35* 
 
414 OUR NATIONAL GRIEF. 
 
 Towards the mount of Calvary 
 
 The heavy cross was borne 
 By one of Afric's sons, a race 
 
 Now abject and forlorn. 
 The cruel yoke was on their life, 
 
 Its curse upon their head, 
 Till another raised its ponderous weight 
 
 For it his blood was shed. 
 
 Upon Good Friday's holy eve 
 
 The stalwart Roman band 
 Removed the cross, lest its dread form 
 
 Pollute the Jewish land. 
 Upon Good Friday's holy eve 
 
 Columbia's noblest son 
 Laid down the weighty cross he bore: 
 
 The martyr crown was won. 
 
 When in the capital to him 
 
 A monument shall rise, 
 The record of a nation's love, 
 
 The tribute of her sighs, 
 We'll vow that traitorous deeds no more 
 
 Shall desecrate our fame ; 
 No more the blot of slavery 
 
 Shall stain Columbia's name. 
 PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 1865. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A Chapter of Accidents, 366. 
 Abolition Papers in the South, 195. 
 Addenda, 410. 
 Addresses on Letters should be 
 
 legible, 337. 
 Advertised Letters, 314. 
 African Post, 88. 
 
 Alphabets of Different Nations, 30. 
 American Flag, 173. 
 Ancient Writing-Materials, 35. 
 
 Ink, 41. 
 
 Ruins, 19. 
 
 Andersonville Post-Office, 365. 
 Appointment-Office, Postal, 268. 
 Appleton's Postal Guide, 339. 
 Augustus Caesar, 14, 20. 
 Austria, the Carrier System, 364. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bache, Richard, 146. 
 Barry, William T., Postmaster- 
 General, 190. 
 Bells, Christ Church, 97. 
 Biographies of Postmaster-Gene- 
 rals, 187. 
 
 Samuel Osgood (1789), 187. 
 
 Timothy Pickering (1794), 188. 
 
 Jos. Habersham (1795), 189. 
 
 Gideon Granger (1802), 189. 
 
 Return J. Meigs (1814), 189. 
 
 John McLean (1823), 190. 
 
 William T. Barry (1829), 190. 
 
 Amos Kendall (1835), 193. 
 
 John M. Niles (1840), 207. 
 
 Francis Granger (1841), 207. 
 
 Chas. A. Wickliffe (1841), 210. 
 
 Cave Johnson (1845), 211. 
 
 Jacob Collamer (1849), 212. 
 
 N. K. Hall (1850), 212. 
 
 Samuel Dickinson Hubbard 
 (1852), 213. 
 
 James Campbell (1853), 213. 
 
 Aaron Vail Brown (1857), 214. 
 
 Joseph Holt (1858), 215. 
 
 Horatio King (1861), 217. 
 
 Montgomery Blair (1861), 217. 
 
 William Dennison (1864), 224. 
 Blair, Montgomery, Postmaster- 
 General, 217. 
 
 Extract from his Report, 220. 
 Blood's Despatch, 394. 
 
 Legal Opinion on, 394. 
 Books, Ancient, 40. 
 Boston Post, 94. 
 
 Bradford, William, Colonial Post- 
 master, 118. 
 Brintnall, David, 96. 
 Brown, Aaron Vail, 214. 
 
 C. 
 
 Campbell, James, Postmaster-Gene- 
 ral, 213 
 
 Carrier-Pigeons, 50. 
 Carriers, Letter, 255. 
 Charles I., Postal System under, 61. 
 415 
 
416 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Charlemagne, Postal System un- 
 der, 21, 58. 
 Chinese Post, 58. 
 
 Decoy System, 317. 
 Collamer, Jacob, Postmaster-Gene- 
 ral, 212. 
 
 Colonial Post, 90. 
 Colonies, the, 90. 
 Commerce, 21. 
 Commercial League, 21. 
 Complaints about Mistakes, 370. 
 Confusion of Tongues, 47. 
 Congress, Colonial, 176. 
 
 Places held, 175. 
 
 under the Constitution, 177. 
 Contract-Office, Postal, 268. 
 Curiosities of the Post-Office, 357. 
 Curious Cartridge-Paper, 163. 
 
 Inscription on Letters, 343. 
 Cyrus, King of Egypt, his Postal 
 System, 19. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dead-Letters, 307. 
 
 Account of, 309. 
 
 Curiosities of, 313. 
 Declaration of Independence, 98, 
 
 162. 
 Decoy-Letter System, 314. 
 
 in China, 317. 
 
 Dennison, William, Postmaster- 
 General, 224. 
 Dishonest Merchant, 332. 
 Distribution of Letters in Europe, 
 
 364. 
 
 Domestic Postage, 264. 
 Dove, Noah's, 49. 
 
 the Carrier, 50. 
 
 E. 
 
 Early Posts, 98. 
 Egypt, 19. 
 
 Egyptian Pyramids, 19. 
 Elements of the American System, 
 206. 
 
 Elements of the British Postal 
 
 System, 205. 
 Employees in the English Post- 
 
 Office, 382. 
 English Post-Office History, 57, 382. 
 
 Charles I., 61. 
 
 Elizabeth, 60. 
 
 Postal System, 58. 
 
 Post-Office, Inside View, 243. 
 
 under Edward IV., 59. 
 Espionage over Letters in France, 
 386. 
 
 in the Southern States, 196. 
 European Postal History, 57. 
 
 Posts, Summary of, 81. 
 
 P. 
 
 Fanaticism in the Colonies, 91. 
 Fatal Letter, the, 357. 
 Finance-Office, Postal, 268. 
 First Regular Post, 18. 
 
 Riding-Post, 18. 
 
 Stage from Philadelphia to 
 
 New York, 115. 
 Forbidden Articles, 362. 
 Franking Privilege, 288, 383. 
 
 curious account of, 297. 
 
 in England, 296. 
 
 in France, 296. 
 
 its Abuse, 293. 
 
 who are entitled to it, 297. 
 Franklin, Benjamin, in Philadel- 
 phia, 143. 
 
 Death of, 153. 
 
 Epitaph on, 154. 
 
 Letter from, 147. 
 
 Mrs., Letter to her Husband, 
 142. 
 
 Postmaster (1737), 118. 
 
 Postmaster (1753), 140. 
 
 Postmaster (1775), 142. 
 
 Printer and Editor, 149. 
 
 G. 
 
 German Post, 24. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 417 
 
 Glance over the Postal System at 
 the Philadelphia Post-Office, 236. 
 
 Gliddon, George R., on Ancient 
 Egypt, 27. 
 
 Government of Pennsylvania, 102. 
 
 Governors of Pennsylvania from 
 1682 to 1863, 183. 
 
 Granger, Francis, Postmaster- 
 General, 207. 
 
 Granger, Gideon, Postmaster- 
 General, 189. 
 
 H. 
 
 Habersham, Joseph, Postmaster- 
 General, 189. 
 
 Hail Columbia, 172. 
 
 Hall, N. K., Postmaster-General, 
 212. 
 
 Hamilton's, Col. J., Colonial Postal 
 Scheme, 94. 
 
 Hanseatic League, 21. 
 
 Hazard, Ebenezer, Postmaster- 
 General, 187. 
 
 Herodotus, 18. 
 
 Hieroglyphical Writing, 42. 
 among Indians, 46. 
 
 Hill, Rowland, 73. 
 
 Hiram, King, his Letter to Solo- 
 mon, 55. 
 
 Holt, John, Printer, 101. 
 
 Joseph, Postmaster-General, 
 215. 
 
 Hubbard, Samuel Dickinson, 213. 
 
 I. 
 
 Important Postal Tables, 259. 
 
 Facts, 284. 
 
 Indecent Postal Matter, 383. 
 Independent Post-Office, 100. 
 Indian Hieroglyphics, 45. 
 Ink, Ancient, 41. 
 Ink-Horns, 41. 
 Inspection-Office, Postal, 269. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jemmy the Rover, 156. 
 Jezebel the First Letter- Writer, 54. 
 Johnson, Cave, Postmaster-Gene- 
 ral, 211. 
 July 4, 1776, 161, 163. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kendall, Amos, Postmaster-Gene- 
 ral, 193. 
 
 about Abolition Papers, 196. 
 his Strict Postal Rules, 201. 
 Letter to Southern Postmaster, 
 
 196. 
 
 Southern Tyranny, 197. 
 the Press, 200. 
 
 King, Horatio, Postmaster-Gene- 
 ral, 217. 
 
 Language, Origin of, 30. 
 Languages, Various, 30. 
 Lawsuit, a Curious One, 371. 
 
 Law-Definition of, 338. 
 
 to be repealed, 338. 
 Leaves from the Note-Book of 
 
 Special Agent, 325, 327, 332. 
 Letter-Boxes, 360. 
 Letter-Carriers, 255. 
 
 as a Class, 255. 
 
 Belgian, 364. 
 
 in Italy, 364. 
 
 in London, 256. 
 
 in Paris, 383. 
 
 in Prussia, 364. 
 
 their Compensation, 363. 
 Letter-Carrying System, 251. 
 Letters, 53. 
 
 curious directions on, 343. 
 
 improperly directed, 335. 
 
 in Ancient Times, 53. 
 Letter-Sealing, 370. 
 Letter- Writers, the First, 54. 
 
 from Solomon to Hiram, 55. 
 
 Hiram's Answer, 56. 
 
418 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Liberty-Tree, 166. 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 219, 410. 
 Literature in the United States 
 
 125. 
 Locality of Old Post-Offices, 231. 
 
 of Old Houses, 96. 
 Lockett, Lydia, 169. 
 
 M. 
 
 Mails in England, 306. 
 
 on the Sabbath, 302. 
 
 the Early, 99. 
 
 to China and Japan, 227. 
 Makin, Thomas, Colonial School 
 
 master, 113. 
 
 Market-Days in Philadelphia, 97. 
 McLean, John, Postmaster-Gene 
 
 ral, 190. 
 
 Meigs, Return J., Postmaster 
 General, 189. 
 
 on the Sabbath, 304. 
 Messengers in the Olden Time, 49. 
 Mint, the First, 188. 
 Miscellaneous, 365. 
 Money-Order System, 350. 
 
 New Post-Office, Philadelphia, 236. 
 New York Post-Office, 99. 
 
 an Act relative to (1785), 115. 
 
 Early History of, 99. 
 Newspaper Postage, 265. 
 
 Abuse of, 356. 
 
 English Estimate of, 358. 
 
 Exchanges, 339 
 
 Postmaster-General's Report 
 on, 341. 
 
 Press, 253, 355. 
 
 Value of, 340. 
 Niles, John M., Postmaster-Gene- 
 
 ral, 207. 
 
 Noah's Dove, 49. 
 Number of Post-Offices, 206. 
 
 O. 
 
 Olden Time, Philadelphia, 122. 
 Old Riding-Post, 18. 
 
 Coffee-House, 120. 
 
 Houses, 96. 
 
 Hunting-Club, 116. 
 
 Post-Rider, 92. 
 One-Cent System, 363. 
 Organization of the Postal Sys- 
 tem, 267. 
 Origin of Posts, Post-Offices, &c., 
 13. 
 
 Languages, 30. 
 
 Writing-Materials, 35. 
 Osgood, Samuel, Postmaster-Gene- 
 ral, 187. 
 Our National Grief, 412. 
 
 P. 
 
 Palmer, John, 67. 
 
 Pandora's Box, Dead-Letter Office, 
 
 313. 
 Paper, 37. 
 Papyrus, 37. 
 Pastoral Life, 28. 
 
 Labor, 29. 
 Pencils, 39. 
 
 Penn, William, 102, 104, 113, 117. 
 Pennsylvania in the Olden Time, 
 102. 
 
 History of, 102. 
 'enny Post first established, 63. 
 
 in America, 392. 
 
 in England, 383. 
 Philadelphia Post-Office, 110. 
 
 Architectural View, 237. 
 
 in 1793, 230. 
 
 in the Olden Time, 122. 
 
 Postmasters, 234. 
 
 Post-Office, Inside View, 241. 
 
 Post-Office, Outside View, 239. 
 
 Stage-Wagons, 115. 
 ickering, Thomas, Postmaster- 
 General, 188. 
 Ian of Philadelphia, 117. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 419 
 
 Plitt, George, his Report on Fo- 
 reign Post-Offices, 380. 
 Post-Coaches, 271. 
 
 Horses, 20, 93, 271. 
 
 Riders, 19. 
 Postage on Printed Matter, 339. 
 
 Domestic, 340. 
 
 Stamp Collectors, 377. 
 
 Stamps, History of, 373. 
 
 curious use of, 378. 
 Postal Department, 267. 
 
 Revenue, 282. 
 
 Statistics, 262. 
 
 Tables, Important, 260. 
 Postmaster-Generals, a List of, 187. 
 
 a Royal One, 18. 
 
 under the Constitution, 188. 
 
 under the Crown, 94. 
 
 under the Proprietary Gov- 
 ernment, 187. 
 
 Postmasters in Philadelphia, 234. 
 Post-Office, Philadelphia, 110, 230. 
 
 a Political Institution, 16, 203. 
 
 Boston, 94. 
 
 Curiosities, 357. 
 
 England, 57, 382. 
 
 New York, 95, 99. 
 
 solvent, 387. 
 
 Statistics, 260. 
 
 Post-Offices, Ancient and Modern, 
 13. 
 
 Number of, 206. 
 Posts, Early, 98. 
 
 in China, 58. 
 
 in Greece, 14. 
 
 in Rome, 14. 
 
 in the Tyrol, 17. 
 
 under King Cyrus, 18. . 
 Pratt, Henry, Post-Rider (1738), 
 
 121. 
 
 Presidents of Congress, Colonial, 
 176. 
 
 under the Constitution, 177. 
 Press, Abuse of the Freedom of, 
 356. 
 
 Press, Freedom of the, 355. 
 
 Importance of, 253. 
 Prophecy, a Strange One, 157. 
 Pyramids of Egypt, 19, 275. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, 60. 
 Quills, 39. 
 
 R. 
 
 Railroad Postal System, 286. 
 Railroads, Ancient, 273. 
 
 in America, 277. 
 
 in England, 276. 
 Rates of Postage, 339. 
 Rebellion, 194. 
 Regulators in the South, 197. 
 Reminiscences, 139. 
 Report of Mr. George Plitt, 380. 
 Riding-Post, 18. 
 Roger, Count of Thurn, 17. 
 Romance of the Post-Office, 111. 
 Rosetta Stone, 43, 44. 
 Ruins of Ancient Cities, 273. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sabbath Day, 302. 
 Salaries of Postmasters, 391. 
 Scenes at the Post-Office, 367. 
 Scribe, 40. 
 
 Scriptural Allusions to Writing- 
 Materials, &c., 35. 
 Sealing-Wax, 370. 
 Society Hill, 122. 
 Sons of Liberty, 101. 
 Special Agents, 319. 
 
 Agent, Carrier's Department, 
 
 323. 
 
 Stage-Wagons, 96. 
 Stamps, Collectors of, 377. 
 
 Curious Use of, 378. 
 
 History of, 373. 
 Star-Spangled Banner, 173. 
 Style, 38. 
 
 Suggestions, Postal, 361. 
 Summary of English Posts, 84. 
 
420 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tables, Important Postal, 262. 
 
 Tablets, 37. 
 
 Tales of the Post-Office, 397. 
 
 The Post comes in, 368. 
 
 The Siren, 406. 
 
 The Victim of Love, 397. 
 
 The Widowed Mother, 402. 
 
 Theatres in Philadelphia, 124. 
 
 Tower of Babel, 47. 
 
 Trades and Professions, 27. 
 
 U. 
 
 Unmailable Letters, &c., 336. 
 
 V. 
 
 Virginia Postal System before the 
 devolution, 120. 
 
 W. 
 
 Walborn, C. A., 249. 
 Waldy, Henry, 113. 
 Waste Paper, 369. 
 
 Curious Incident connected 
 
 with, 369. 
 
 Watch your Letter-Boxes, 360. 
 Wax, Sealing, 370. 
 Wayne, Anthony, 156. 
 Wharton, Robert, 117. 
 Wickliffe, Charles A., Postmaster- 
 General, 210. 
 
 Work of the Post-Office, 254. 
 Writing-Materials, Origin of, 35. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yankee Doodle, Origin of, 167. 
 
 the Words, 170, 171. 
 Yellow Fever (1793), 221. 
 Youthful Mail-Robber, 327. 
 
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