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 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, " 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. OFTHE UNIVERSITY OF THE END. 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