POSTAL SERVICE. 



231 



From Xew York to Perth Amhor, "the chief town in East 



it was 9'/. ; ounce, 3s. ; to Newport, lioston, Portsmouth, 

 and Annapolis, " the chief town in Maryland," it was la. ; 

 ounce, 4s. ; to Williamsburg, "the chief town in Virginia," 

 it was Is. 'id.; ounce, 5. ; and to Charleston, S. C., it was 

 \s. G'l. ; ounce, 6*. 



The system thus begun in 1710 was not successfully 

 managed ; it yielded no revenue to the government, 

 and. as we have seen above, in some parts of the coun 

 try it furnished scarcely any mail service whatever. 

 K\en near Philadelphia, then the most populous city 

 in the colonies, the meagreiiess of the mails is calcu- 

 lated at this day to excite a smile ; for example, it was 

 eiistomary, down to \1M. for letters intended for per- 

 sons residing in Newtown. Bristol, and (.'hosier, in Penn- 

 sylvania, and even in Newcastle. Delaware, to remain 

 in the Philadelphia post -office until called for. Bristol 

 i miles from Philadelphia in one direction, and 



Neweastle 40 miles in an opposite direction, making a 

 distance of 60 miles with but one post-office. In 1753, 

 however, on the death of the Deputy Postmaster-Gen- 

 eral for America, the celebrated Benjamin Franklin 

 who had been postmaster at Philadelphia for sixteen 

 . Vl> ''led to the office by a commission from 



the Postmaster-General of England. He was to have 

 for himself and an axM.eiate. Ci>0<> per annum, to be 

 made nut of the profits of the service ; and to do tliis. 

 many improvements were undertaken. For example, 

 in the year of his appointment a penny-post, for 

 the delivery of letters to the residences of addr. 

 of tin- mail, was established at Philadelphia; in the 

 following year a tri-weekly mail between Philadelphia 

 Mid New York, in spring, summer, and fall, wasestab 

 I; in the next year (17.15) notice was given that 

 i" assist trade, arrangements hail been made by whieli 

 winter mail from Philadelphia to New England, 

 whieli before had set out but onec a fortnight, would 

 thereafter set out .-k. as in Mimmer ; in 17.V, 



t lie tii-st stage probably that was started in the colonies, 

 i to carry the math between Philadelphia ami New 

 ^ ork ; in 17.JS newspapers, which previously bad been 

 earned in the mails free, were charged with postage. 

 Other reforms and improvements, far in advance of 

 any thing before attempted, were begun, so that in 1771. 

 the last of Franklin's administration under the Crown, 

 mir of the postal service was over 3000. 

 < )n January 30 of that yoiir this great man was re- 

 moved from office, as he himself calls it, " by 

 of the ministers," due to his pronounced advo 



>f the colonies in the troubles with' the 

 mother country just then near their culmination ; and 

 from then until the middle of the following year, when 

 the Second Congress of the colonies took upon itself 

 the management of public affairs, the postal establish- 

 ment wi. > almost without control. 



On July 2o. 1775, nearly a year before the Declara- 

 tion o! Independence, a resolution was passed by the 

 Continental Connn-.-s creating a post-office department 

 With head quarters at Philadelphia, continuing the rates 

 '>f postage then in force, appointing Benjamin Frank- 

 lin PoStmaBter-Genenl at a ^\\ry of $1000 a year, 

 and giving him authority to appoint an assi.-tant and 

 comptroller of accounts, and as many post masters as 

 '> bun might seem proper their salaries in t>.< 



1 20 per cent, of the i t ],,. ,>., 



office. On Nov. 7, 177i,. Jtr Franklin beini: then in 

 ranee engaged in busmen of a diplomatic chi 

 Ins son-in-law, Richard Baehe. Has app,,:nN .1 I 1 ,, r 

 master-General by Congress, and he remained in office 

 until Jan. 28, 17si>. when Kb. n Deeded 



From 177.-. t.. I7s<i a vigilant suj.ervi.sion of the 

 - of the POM oHie,- department wa exercised by 

 < 'ongress ; but owing to the existence of war during a 

 part of that period, t" thi iiion of (lie mi 



and to in inistra 



tion, the sen-ice was a constant burden upon the public 

 treasury repeated appropriations of money having to 

 be made for its support and it was otherwise unsatis 

 factory. _ [t may naturally be supposed that the dis- 

 patch of the mails was irregular, and that their secur- 

 ity could never be absolutely assured ; besides which 

 the rates of postage were exorbitant and varying not 

 less than eight radical changes having been made in 

 about as many years. The last of these was in 1 787, 

 reducing by 20 per cent, the rates fixed by resolution 

 of Oct. 1 S. 1 782. which were as follows (the standard 

 of value being the pennyweight of silver, rated at five- 

 ninetieths of a dollar) : 



For Mngle letter, sent any distance under 60 miles, 1 dwt. 

 S grs. or 7.4 cents ; over 60 and under 100 miles, 2 dwt. 

 or 11. 1 cents ; over 100 and under '-'GO miles, 2 dwt. 16 grs., 

 or 1-4.8 cents; and au advance of 16 grs. for every addi- 

 tional 100 miles. 



For a single letter by packet to Europe, 4 dwt., or 22.2 cent*. 



Double rates for double letters, triple rates for triple letters, 

 -ingle, double, and triple letters were those composed 

 nt inie, two, or three sheets of paper, respectively desig- 

 nations that had previously been used, and continued to 

 be used until the weight standard was adopted.) 



During the foregoing period the period of the 

 ( 'onlederation three very noticeable provisions of law 

 concerning the post were enacted, which deserve 

 especial mention : The first was a provision in the 

 Articles of Confederation (Par. 4 of Art. IX.), which, 

 in giving the power to Congress to establish post-offices 

 and to hx the rates of postage, coupled with the latter 

 the condition that such rates should be sufficient "to 

 defray the expenses of the said office" a condition 

 that seems to establish the fact that then, at any rate, 

 the postal sen-ice was intended to be self-supporting. 

 1 he second was a provision in the act of Oct. 18, 1782 

 after hostilities with (ireat Britain had ceased which 

 gave to the commander -in -chief of the army, to the 

 President of Confess, and to the governors of the 

 several Slates, the right to open or to authorize the 

 opoiiin- of private letters in the mails. The third was 

 a resolution of Congress passed in seeret session Oct. 

 23, 1786 three years alter the treaty of peace with 

 hngland was signed which ga\e a similar power to 

 the Secretary of State for Foreign Affaire. These two 

 latter laws remained in force until 1792. At present 

 it is a penal offence for any officer of the government 

 to invade the privacy of letters. 



When the control of postal affairs was transferred, 

 in 17X9, from the government of the Confederation to 

 that of the Constitution, the number of post-offices in 

 the thirteen Stales then composing the Federal Union 

 WM len than inn. scattered along a line of post-routes 

 extending from Wiscasset, in the province of iMaine, 

 i . Savannah, in the State of Georgia, on which line 

 not a single daily mail anywhere existed. The pre- 

 vailinir method of carrying the mails was thatpnmi 

 live one, tin- horse and rider, which furnished the 

 post-office department with the then appropriate em- 

 blem of its seal : the rales of postage, as is shown 

 above, were exorbitant ; and the entire postal revenue 

 for a whole year was le.ss than double that of but one 

 i/r.-at post-office now lor a single day. For the first 

 full year after the organization of the post-office de- ' 

 Pertinent the gross receipts if the whole service did 

 not exceed $25,000, -.rising, too, it seems "principally 

 Ironi letters passing from one seaport to another;" 

 and for several years thereafter the annual revenue did 

 not reach 150,000. The revenue of the ten principal 

 iliiees in 1790-91 was for one year as follows : 



