626 



POST-OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



milreis. The movement of shipping, in 1866, 

 was as follows : 



FLAG. Entered. Cleared. 



Portuguese 5,490 5,250 



Foreign 5,258 5,333 



Total 10,748 10,583 



From the official report and accounts for 

 1866 of the Credit Foncier of Lisbon, it appears 

 that this association, which commenced in 1865, 

 loaned during the last six months of 1865 to 41 

 borrowers a sum of 1,300,000 fr., and in 1866 

 the operations amounted to 2,600,000 fr., and 

 the number of clients to 400. In January, 

 186V, the sums loaned were equal to 1,650,000 

 fr., thus showing the rapid progress of the in- 

 stitution. 



The new ministry, which was appointed in 

 January, 1868 (see above), dissolved the Cor- 

 tes, and a new election was ordered, which took 

 place in April, and resulted in a ministerial ma- 

 jority. On the 15th of April the new Cortes 

 were opened by the King, who announced that 

 the Minister of Finance would shortly present 

 bills to the Cortes for improving public credit 

 and reorganizing the financial system of the 

 kingdom, that public instruction was receiving 

 attention, and that measures had been taken to 

 tranquillize the country. 



On the 25th of June a complete amnesty was 

 granted for all political crimes. 



In July a ministerial crisis was caused by 

 the unanimous refusal of the Council of State 

 to agree to the ministerial proposal to close 

 the Chambers until November. The result 

 was the formation of a new ministry (see 

 above). 



POST-OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

 The foundations of the Post-office Department 

 were laid by Congress at Philadelphia, May 10, 

 1775. A committee of six was appointed, 

 Benjamin Franklin chairman, to "consider the 

 best means of establishing posts for conveying 

 letters and intelligence throughout the coun- 

 try." A plan was sketched out by Franklin, 

 and adopted by Congress, that has always been 

 substantially followed. The committee recom- 

 mended "that a Postmaster-General be ap- 

 pointed for the United Colonies, who shall 

 hold his office at Philadelphia, and shall be al- 

 lowed a salary of $1,000 per annum for him- 

 self, and $340 per annum for a Secretary and 

 Comptroller." Dr. Franklin was the first Post- 

 master-General, and the following list givfes 

 the names of all the Postmasters-General, with 

 the dates of their appointment, from the foun- 

 dation of the Government. 



Benjamin Franklin, 1775 ; Eichard Bache, 

 1776; Ebenezer Hazard, 1782; Samuel Osgood, 

 1789 ; Timothy Pickering, 1791 ; Joseph Ha- 

 bersham, 1795 ; Gideon Granger, 1802 ; E. J: 

 Meigs, 1814: John McLean, 1823; W. T. Bar- 

 ry, 1829 ; Amos Kendall, 1835 ; J. M. Niles, 

 1840 ; Francis Granger, March, 1841 ; 0. A. 

 Wickliffe, September, 1841; Cave Johnson, 

 1845; Jacob Collamer, 1849; N. K. Hall, 



1850; S. D.Hubbard, 1852; James Campbell, 

 1853 ; A. Y. Brown, 1857 ; Joseph Holt, 1859 ; 

 Horatio King, 1860 ; Montgomery Blair, 1861 ; 

 William Dennison, 1864; and A. W. Eandall, 

 1866. 



In the early stages of our national history, 

 the growth of the department was slow. In 

 1790 there were but seventy-five offices in the 

 United States, and but 1,875 miles of post- 

 routes. The general post-office in that year 

 was located at New York ; in 1796 it was trans- 

 ferred back to Philadelphia, and in 1800 was 

 fixed at Washington, then just established as 

 the capital. The growth of this service may 

 be traced by the following figures, quinquenni- 

 ally arranged, showing the number of offices, 

 the miles of post-routes, the expenses of trans- 

 portation, the total expenses, and the total re- 

 ceipts. 



The whole amount of postal receipts since 

 1790 has been $284,658,142; the total amount 

 of expenditures, $319,236,096, showing that 

 the income of the department, during the past 

 seventy-eight years, has not equalled its ex- 

 penditures by more than thirty-five millions of 

 dollars, most of which deficiency has accrued in 

 the last fifteen years. England with a penny 

 postage, and paying over four millions of dollars 

 subsidies to mail steamers, nets over seven mil- 

 lion dollars profit per annum on her postal in- 

 come; the United States, with a three-cent 

 postage, and paying but a million of dollars to 

 steam lines, suffers a deficiency of six and a 

 half millions. This deficiency mainly occurs 

 in the Southern and "Western States and Terri- 

 tories. The late war closed over four thousand 

 two hundred offices in the Southern States, but 

 few of which it has been found necessary to 

 reopen. But the year 1868, when there was a 

 deficiency of six and a half millions of dollars, 

 shows a postal profit of three and a half mil- 

 lions of dollars in thirteen States, and a loss of 

 four and a quarter millions in thirty-four 

 States and Territories. The remainder of the 

 deficiency was from foreign mails, route agents, 

 etc., etc., not chargeable to specific States. 

 The following table exhibits the receipts and 

 expenditures of each State and Territory for 

 that year, and the excess of either : 



