54 A* D. 1784. 



their rate of traveling was nearly in the fame proportion. The natQral 

 confequence of fuch a difference in point of difpatch was, that a very 

 great number of letters were fent by thofe conveyances, the law being 

 eafily evaded by giving them the form of fmall parcels. 



Mr. Palmer, the comptroller-general of the poil-office, obferving that 

 flage coaches were eftablifhed to every part of the kingdom, conceived 

 that a more expeditious and fafer conveyance of the letters than the pre- 

 fent very defedive carriage of them might be obtained, and that even 

 at a fmaller expenfe, by contracting with the proprietors of the coaches 

 for the carriage of the mail, and exempting them from paying any tolls 

 onithe roads, they obliging themfelves to perform the journey punctual- 

 ly in a flipulated time, and carrying a guard all the way, who Ihould be 

 paid by the poft-office. 



Mr. Palmer's fcheme, after encountering the obftruclions ufually 

 thrown in the way of innova*-ions, whether good or bad, was made trial 

 of; and the firft mail coach ftarted from the pofl-office for Briftol on the 

 evening of the 1^ of Auguft. The fuperiority of the conveyance with 

 refped to fafety and difpatch foon became fo evident, that the ufe of 

 mail coaches has lince been extended to every part of the three king- 

 doms ; letters are difpatched to mofl places from the general poft-ofHce 

 every day ; and they are carried in half the time, and to fome places in 

 a quarter of the time, they ufed to be upon the road. The fuperior 

 difpatch alfo enables the poft-office to fend out the letters early in the 

 day, and the office, in confequence of that improvement, is fhut at feven 

 in the evening, inftead of receiving letters till midnight. 



Mr. Palmer was alfo the author of a number of judicious improve- 

 ments in the internal economy of the poft-office, in confequence of 

 which the bufinefs is tranfaded with a degree of regularity and expedi- 

 tion formerly unknown. 



In confequence of thefe important improvements the revenue of the 

 poft-office has been greatly advanced, and the public have been much 

 better ferved. 



A town had been founded for the reception of the American loyalifts 

 at the mouth of the River S'. John on the mainland of Nova Scotia, and 

 on the weft fide of the Bay of Fundy, which was now not inferior to 

 Shelburne (lately ereded on the fouth point of the peninfula of Nova 

 Scotia) in point of population and advancement. It being thought ex- 

 pedient by government to divide Nova Scotia into two provinces, this 

 new foundation was appointed, by the name of the city of S'. John, to 

 be the capital of New Brunfwick, which was the appellation beftowed 

 upon the weftern part of the country, the name of Nova Scotia being 

 henceforth reftrided to the peninfula. 



The ftoppage, or paufe, of the caifle d'efcompte in Paris having excit- 

 ed more of the attention of Europe, than may feem naturally due to the 



