.,.-,, 



\1. SERY 



1 mm tulliiiL' into the hands of the O 



Illlt ha> Mil ' Ti'ik I'nll-llliHltll ha- - hallkv 



I .'> churches, li daily ami :i weekly DtWIMpW^gOod pub- 

 lic and pri\ . ll export* lumber, naval -!!. - 

 cotton, and in>n Karly vegetable* an- extensively 

 shipped to Northern ismouth in l v - 

 14>7t> itihaliitant.-. 



I'l iS'l'. TKI MAN MAR. H i.i .-IIM" l*M>).e]ergyman. 

 wasburn at Middlebiiry.Yl ..Inn. ;, l>ln. lie gradu- 

 ated at the college of that town in Is-j'.i and whilestudy 

 ing law was tutor liter.' In iv;-j In- wont to Wushing- 

 t<>n an.) thnut- to St. I/mis an.l settled at Jackson- 

 ville. III., when- lif was made pml. or of languages 

 in Illinois College, ami also in IMn ordained pastor of 

 ngregational Clmroh. In 1>-J7 lie w;us called tu 

 the pastorate of the Third Presbyterian Church of St. 

 Units, and in Ih.'il he funned the HntOwgngBlMM!*] 

 Church there. He exerted great influence and was the 

 prominent representative .if New England views in 

 theology, education, and public affairs. Besides at- 

 tcmling t" his ]ia>iiii-nl dntie> he was professor of history 

 in Washington I 'niversity. St. I/ouis, professor of eccle- 

 siastical hi.-tory in Chicago Theological Seminary, and 

 delivered some lectures in Andover Theological Semi 

 nary. He died Dec, 31, 1886. Me published The 

 >$krvticni Em in Minimi History (1850) and contrib- 

 uted to the Andnvrr Iffrietc and other periodicals. 



POSTAL SF.KVH'K OK THE r.MTKD STATES. 

 Probably the first attempt to establish 

 ,-i , .? postal service within anv part of the 

 Am ED i territory now embraced in the United 



States was made by the General Court 

 of Massachusetts in 1639 just nineteen years niter tin; 

 landing of the Pilgrims, and only four years after the 

 proclamation of the Crown establishing a general postal 

 svstem in England. On the records of the court for 

 that year we find the following entry : "It is ordered 

 that notice be given that Richard Fairbanks his house 

 in Boston is the place appointed for all letters which 

 an- Brought from beyond the seas, or are to be sent 

 thither to be left with him : and he is to take care that 

 they are to be delivered or sent according to the direc- 

 tion. And he is allowed for every letter a penny, and 

 must answer all miscarriages through his own neirlect 

 in this kind." This service was in a short time . \ 

 panded into one for the transmission and delivery of 

 [Mm other than those for or from tmignpaita; 

 though its administration did not give universal satis- 

 faction ; Cor on the records of the < icncral Court in 

 1667 is a petition of citizensof the colony Cor " better 

 arrangements for the sending and receipt of mails " 

 it ion alleging a number of grievances, one a in on ^ 

 them being the frequent loss of letters. 



In 1657 mail service existed also in the colony of 

 Virginia, but of a very primitive character. By act 

 of Assembly March 13, 1057.it was provided "that, 

 all letters superscribed for the public service shall he 

 immediately conveyed from plantation to plantation to 

 the place and person directed, under a penalty of one 

 hogshead of tobacco for each default." Although 

 this system was intended solely for the transmission ol 

 letters on official dn.-iness, it is not unreasonable to as- 

 sume thut private letters were by general consent at 

 times transmitted in the same way ; but of course this 

 could not have accommodated the growing demands ol 

 the Colony, and so we find thai later on. in I 

 act of Assembly was passed providing for the 

 tion and establishment" of a post-office, as a matter 

 of " general concernment and of great advantage for 

 the increase and preservation of trade and eonin 



In 11172 the government of the colony of New 

 established a post to goc monthly from New York 

 to Boston;" and notice was given to " those that bee 

 disposed to send 1. n.-r-. to bring them to the secre- 

 tary's office, where in a lorkt Ix.x they shall bee pre- 

 served till the messenger calls Cor them, all persona 

 paying the post U'Coi. bee scaled up. This 



Monthly di.ip.it.-h was evidently for a long time sufficient 



Cor the want- of the public. Tliirly \ it was 



i to a fortnightly on i- Croiu the Col 



lowing notice published in the 



" By order of the Postmaster) Icneral of North Ameri 

 ca : These arc i. irive notice that on Monday night, the 

 '.til ot (170U), the \. 



Boston and New York sets nut once a fortnight the 

 three winter months of l>eeeml>cr January, and F.-b 

 ruary. and to go alternately, from Boston to Sa\ brook 

 and Hartford, to exehanve the may] of letters with 

 the N.-w York ryder : and .all person- that sends letters 

 from Bosloii to Connecticut after the l:;th in.-t. are 

 hereby notified first to pay the postal-.' on the s. 



In Pennsylvania the tir.-l record of any 

 vice i.- to be found in a law of the pr..\ ineiaf Assembly 

 passed in It'iSii. which required that " even .in- 

 the peace, sheriff, or con.-tablc within th. 

 counties of this province and territories thereof, t.. 

 hands or knowledge any letter or letters shall 

 come directed to or from the governor, shall di.-pateh 

 them three hours at the furthest after the receipt or 

 knowledge thereof, to the next sheriff or constable, 

 and so forwards as the letters direct, uivon the penalty 

 of twenty shillings for every hour's delay." This, like 

 the law of Virginia, was intended for public letters 

 only ; but in 1603 the (ieneral Assembly of the prov- 

 ince passed a " law for erectinir a post-office," where- 

 by authority was given to Andrew Hamilton to estab- 

 lish a "general post-office at Philadelphia, from 

 whence all letters and packets may be with all expedi- 

 tion sent into any of the parts of New KiiL'land and 

 other the adjacent colonies in these parts of America, 

 at which said office all returns and answers may be re- 

 ceived." 



I n Maryland and the two Carolinas there does not 

 appear to have been any postal sen-ice whatever until 

 very much later than the foregoing dates. Even as 

 late as about 17.V>. postal communication between 

 points south of Philadelphia was without any regu- 

 larity, as is seen in the following passage from Dr. 

 Win. Douglass's Hittorioaland /V/V/Vv;/ Summary of 

 lirilluli S<-ttltiii--nt.-i in X'irlli Ami-rim (1755): "From 

 Piseaiaqua or Portsmouth to Philadelphia is a regular 

 postage ; from thence to Williamsburg is uncertain, 

 because the post does not proceed until letters are 

 lodged sufficient to pay the cnarge of the post-riders. 

 From Williarnsbnrg, in Virginia, to Charlestown, in 

 South Carolina, the post-carnage is still more uncer- 

 tain." 



In 1092 the postal service of the colonies was, by 

 authority of the government of Great Britain, placed 

 in charge of an officer of the Crown called the lieputv 

 Postmaster (ieneral for America; but practically each 

 colony exercised the right to govern the service within 

 its own territory, and to fix its own schedule of post- 

 aid this state of things continued until 1710. 

 when by formal act of Parliament ('.I ( v >iic.-n Anne. chap. 

 10) the first organized system Cor the transmission of 

 the mails in the colonies was created By this act the 

 Postmaster (Iciieral was required " to keep his chief 

 office in New York, and other chief offices in some 

 convenient place or places in other of her Majesty's 

 provinces or colonies in America ;" a monopoly was 

 established, not only in the carriage of letters, but of 

 parcels of goods and the transport oC travellers : and a 

 fixed tariff of charge.- therefor was prescribed. Tl:-- 

 following were the rates for lett.i, and parcels 

 fixed by this act. which were without mat. ti:'.l modifica- 

 tion renewed by the act of 170"> ("><Jco. III. .chap, 

 xxv.): 

 All letters and packets from London to New York, in North 



Amri, le, 1.-.; d.nildi', _'*.; tn-lile, 3*.; 



one omicp in weight, I ny jmrl of tin; ^ 



dies lo New York, Kin^li', 4<l. : douldp, frl. : tr.'Me, In.; 



ounce, Ix. \il. 

 From New York to any place wit liin 



or thence back to New York, single, 4d. ; double, Sd.; 



treble, \i. ; ounce, U. 4'/. ; over (JO and not over 100 niilej, 



iiingle, t'ul., etc. 



