POSTS. 



665 



pxtra post, must be authorized by a particular 

 pass or order. Any one travelling with an extra 

 post in any part of the country, will find a great 

 convenience in wearing a uniform. In Denmark, 

 the post is managed very much with a view to reve- 

 nue, but is distinguished by no particular arrange- 

 ment. The postage in Sweden and Norway is more 

 moderate, and hence the income is much less than 

 in the neighbouring state. In the Netherlands, 

 posts were established by the ancestors of the prince- 

 Jy Taxis house, and Leonard von Taxis held, even 

 in 1543, the station of postmaster-general of the 

 Netherlands. After the revolt of the Netherlands 

 from the house of Austria, the post system of 

 Britain appears to have been taken as a model. 

 The French post system was introduced into Hol- 

 land immediately after its incorporation with the 

 French empire. So it still continues, and with 

 very little alteration, since the change of Holland 

 into the kingdom of the Netherlands. Italy ap- 

 pears to have been the cradle of the system of 

 posts. Even under the emperor Augustus, it was 

 in the most flourishing condition that it had enjoyed 

 in ancient times. It was then constituted princi- 

 pally with a view to obtain intelligence from the 

 army. Messengers and couriers were employed, 

 the last of extraordinary swiftness. Thus, for ex- 

 ample, the emperor Augustus several times received 

 dispatches from Sclavonia in four days ; and Tibe- 

 rius was so much accustomed to this expedition, 

 that he indignantly threw away his dispatches if 

 they were more than twenty days from Asia, fifteen 

 from Europe, ten from Africa, five from Sclavonia, 

 and three from any part of Italy. Under him, and 

 also under the succeeding emperors, extra posts 

 were used. The head of the post department was 

 the commander of the pretorian guards. From a 

 manuscript in the library of the king of France, it 

 appears that the German emperor Charles V. paid 

 the postmasters in Italy. Simon von Taxis was 

 general post director at Milan, and resided in the 

 imperial palace, where every thing was kept in 

 readiness for the post service. In Milan and the 

 neighbouring places a foot post was established, 

 which seems to have been the occasion and the 

 model of the small post now established in Paris. 

 Until the union of the kingdom of Italy with the 

 old French empire, the Italian post establishments 

 were well ordered ; but they attained, from time to 

 time, a higher degree of perfection, by being formed 

 on the French plan. Since 1815, the post system 

 in the Lombardo- Venetian kingdom, in Tuscany, 

 Parma, and Modena, has been instituted more ac- 

 cording to the Austrian model, still retaining, 

 however, the French basis. In the other states of 

 Italy, the posts, with some modifications, continued 

 as before. The letter and extra posts are well 

 organised in Italy. The privacy of letters was 

 even so much respected, that, by the criminal code 

 of Milan, the breaking of a seal was punished with 

 death. In Switzerland, each canton has, according 

 to the ordinances of the diet of 1803, the regula- 

 tion of tlie post; consequently, it has its own post 

 establishment They are variously managed, and 

 of various merit. A general system might make 

 the postage cheaper, but it cannot, even at present, 

 be called dear, as it has never been made an ob- 

 ject of financial speculation. The absence of a 

 general system for all the cantons has been, in some 

 degree, compensated by agreements which have 

 introduced some uniformity in the management of 

 the post systems. There are no extra posts any 

 where in Switzerland, and as all the regulations 

 which have hitherto been made on this subject, 

 have remained ineffectual, it has been supposed that 



the interest of inn-keepers and keepers of carriages 

 for hire, has prevented their success. In Spain 

 and Portugal, the post establishments are still in a 

 very low condition, although a correo mayor pre- 

 sides over them as director-general. Only in 

 European Turkey are they entirely in their infancy. 

 For centuries, no change has been made, excepting 

 that the grand signior maintains mounted Tartars for 

 the public service, who mustforward with celerity his 

 dispatches, and those of all the public authorities. In 

 earlier times, there were public messengers who tra- 

 velled on foot, but had the privilege of commanding 

 those on horseback, whom they met, to dismount, in 

 the name of the grand signior, and to use their horsea 

 to the place of destination, ortoexchange them if they 

 met others farther on, with less tired horses. 



In the English colonies in North America, a 

 post-office was projected as early as 1692. A pa- 

 tent was laid before the Virginia assembly for mak- 

 ing Mr Neal post-master-general of Virginia and 

 other parts of America. The assssembly passed 

 an act in its favour, but it had no effect. It was 

 impossible to carry it into execution on account of 

 the dispersed situation of the inhabitants. The first 

 office in the colonies was established in 1710, by an 

 act of parliament, " for establishing a general post- 

 office for all her majesty's dominions." The post- 

 master-general was to be " at liberty to keep one 

 chief letter-office in New York, and other chief 

 offices at some convenient place or places in each 

 of her majesty's provinces or colonies in America." 

 After the breaking out of the revolution, this de- 

 partment came of course under the control of the 

 congress of the confederacy. The constitution of 

 the United States, adopted in 1789, gave the exclu- 

 sive power of establishing post-offices and post- 

 roads to congress, thus preventing the difficulties 

 which would have resulted from leaving this de- 

 partment to the several states. There is at the 

 seat of government of the United States a general 

 post-office under the direction of the postmaster- 

 general, who is appointed by the president, and 

 appoints two assistants, and such clerks ss may 

 be necessary for the performance of the business of 

 his office. He establishes post-offices, and appoints 

 postmasters at all such places as appear to him 

 expedient on post-roads established by law. He 

 instructs the postmasters, provides for the carriage 

 of the mail, and directs the routes. 



Rates of Postage in the United States of America. On 

 a single letter, composed of one piece of paper, for 

 any Distance not exceeding 30 miles, 6 c. 

 above 30 and not exceeding 80 ,,10 

 80 150 12$ 



150 400 18| 



400 25 



A letter composed of two pieces of paper is charged 

 with double these rates ; of three pieces, with tri- 

 ple ; and of four pieces, with quadruple. One or 

 more pieces of paper, mailed as a letter, and 

 weighing one ounce, shall be charged with qua- 

 druple postage, and at the same rate, should the 

 weight be greater. For every letter lodged at the 

 post-office to be delivered at the place where it is 

 so lodged, one cent is charged. Newspaper Post- 

 age. For each newspaper, not carried out of the 

 state in which it is published, or if carried out of 

 the state, but not carried over 100 miles, one cent ; 

 over 100 miles, and out of the state in which it is 

 published, one and a half cent. For magazines and 

 pamphlets, if published periodically, distance not 

 exceeding 100 miles, one and a half cent per sheet ; 

 distance over 100 miles, two and a half cents per 

 sheet ; if not published periodically, distance not 

 exceeding 100 miles, four cents per sheet ; distance 



