We hear of no more complaints of the bad management of the post-office, under the reigning prince of Thurn and Taxis, for a long period afterward. Perhaps if similar means were employed at the present day to silence the clamors of the disaffected, modern post-masters-general would live in a more quiet atmosphere!

A glance at the history of the English post-office will show that fourteen years of good management, aided by liberal and enlightened legislation, has increased the accommodations and business of the department more than three hundred years had accomplished previously. Bryan Tuke, the first English postmaster-general, was appointed to the office by Henry VIII., in 1516. His salary was £66 13s. 4d. The number of letters sent by mail at that time was probably less than 10,000 in a year. In 1839 the number of letters mailed in Great Britain was 82,000,000, and the next year, penny postage being established, the number was more than dou bled. The salary of the present post-master-general is £2,500, and the gross revenue of the department more than £2,400,000. In 1619, James I. created a new office, that of postmaster-general for foreign correspondence; but the office conflicting with that of domestic post-master-general, the two were united in one under the direction of Matthew de Quester. In addition to the government post-office, two companies, the "Merchants of London," and the "Merchant Adventurers," employed their own couriers for the transmission of correspondence, bills of exchange, and money. During the reign of Charles I. the government took measures to secure the business of transporting all correspondence as an independent monopoly of the government. In 1636, fixed rates of postage were established, and horse posts substituted for foot posts. We are told that these horse posts travelled one hundred and twenty miles in a day, and made the journey from London to Edinburgh and back in six days. The rate of postage between England and Scotland was 8d. sterling. In 1640, the Long Parliament growing jealous of power in single hands, removed the post-master-general for restraining private carriers from conveying letters. Two years afterward, however, they revoked their decision, and declared all transmission of correspondence by private persons or companies illegal. In 1649, the Common Council of London attempted to set up a separate post-office, but the House of Commons stopped the proceedings, and declared all postal affairs to be under the exclusive control of Parliament. At this time, the mail was only conveyed between London and the provincial towns once a week. As in later times, the wishes of the people were not

always met by government; a semi-weekly mail was asked for between London and Edinburgh, but it was refused. In postal affairs, as in many other things, Cromwell accomplished. more than all his predecessors. In 1656, an act was passed establishing a general post-office, "for the speedy carrying and recarrying of letters by post to and from all places within England, Scotland, and Ireland, and into several parts beyond the seas.' The chief officer was styled "Post-master-General of England, and Comptroller of the Post-Office." It was made a complete monopoly of government, and all persons forbidden to "set up or employ any foot-posts, horse-posts, or pacquet-boats." The postage on letters was rated by weight. At this time the posts were farmed out or rented, the contractor paying government £10,000 a year and all the expenses of the post-office, and receiving all the postages. Four years later, in 1660, on the restoration of Charles II., the post-office was rented for £21,000 a year, and in 1663 all the profits of the post-office were settled by law on the king's brother, the Duke of York, (afterward king James II.,) and his heirs male. We hear of no more important changes in the management of the post-office or the rates of postage, till the reign of queen Anne. In 1683, a Metropolitan penny post was established for the delivery of letters at the houses throughout the city, and the environs of London. At this time an attempt was made to set up a separate postoffice for Scotland; but it was a failure, the contractor, Sir Robert Sinclair, losing money, and throwing up his contract. In 1784, a great improvement was introduced by Mr. Palmer, who established mail-coaches, greatly increasing the speed, safety, and efficiency of the mails. This improvement, like a more memorable one at a later day, met with the most bitter and determined opposition of the government officers, particu larly the post-office authorities. It was, however, successful; triumphantly so. On the introduction of mail coaches, the net revenue of the department was £150,000 per annum, and in ten years it was £400,000; in twenty years, £700,000. The transfer of the mail from coaches to railroads on all the main routes, in the time of William IV., came as a matter of course, and the introduction of the penny postage, principally through the efforts of Mr. Rowland Hill, in 1840, is familiar to every one. Many are under the impression that the receipts of the British post-office, under the universal penny postage, have never equalled the sum received under the former higher rates of 4d. and 7d. a letter. This is a mistake. The largest sum received under the old rates, was in 1839, and amounted to £2,396,763 10s. 14d., while in 1851 the gross revenue was £2,422,168 1s. 14d., with a constant increase to the present time. The cost

of management of the British post-office is greater now than it was fourteen years ago, while the amount of business and the accommodations to the public are increased more than fivefold, and yet the clear profit to the government for several years, has amounted annually to more than five million dollars.

The history of the post-office of the United States is exceedingly interesting, but we have only room for a brief sketch. The first mention that we find of postal affairs in the Colonies, is in the record of the General Court of Massachusetts, September 5th, 1639. It was then "ordered that notice be given that Richard Fairbanks his house in Boston, is the place appointed for all letters which are brought from beyond the seas, or are to be sent thither." It was also ordered that this Richard Fairbanks "must answer all miscarriages through his own neglect." In 1657 a law was enacted in the colony of Virginia, requiring each planter to take the government dispatches when they arrived at his place, and convey them to the next plantation on the route, and thus from one to another till the dispatches reached their destination. The penalty for neglecting this duty was a hogshead of tobacco. In 1667, a petition was gotten up in Boston requesting the general court to "depute some mete person to take in and convey letters according to directions." The court hereupon appointed "John Hayward the Scrivener" to the office of post-master. The first official action. that provided for the regular transportation of the mails was in the colony of New-York in 1672, when Governor Lovelace established "a post to go monthly between New York and Boston." In this postal arrangement it was stipulated, with a wise forecast, that "all persons pay the post before the bagg bee sealed up."

In 1683, William Penn established a post-office in Pennsylvania, and appointed Henry Waddy post-master. The mails were sent to different towns in Pennsylvania, and the neighboring colonies, once a week, and the times of departure were regularly published, "on the meeting-house door, and other public places." The colonial mails, and a prospect of profit therefrom, attracted the attention of the Home Government, and in 1685, by an order in Council, a post-office was established, "for the better correspondence between the colonies of America." In 1686, an order was made in New-York, that all letters coming from beyond sea should be delivered at the custom-house. The postage was "four pence half penny for a single letter, and nine pence for every packett or double letter," one half of the money to be given to the poor, under the direction of the Captain-General and Council, and the other half to the

officer of the custom-house. In 1691, Thomas Neal received a patent as post-master-general, with authority to erect postoffices in the American colonies. He seems not to have acted on it himself, but appointed to the office, Col. Andrew Hamilton, of New-Jersey. The post-office, however, did not sustain itself; and in 1710, Post-Master Hamilton sold out to the Crown, and by the 9th of Queen Anne, the American postoffice was incorporated with that of Great Britain and Ireland. Under Col. Hamilton, the post went east from New-York, as far as Boston; and west, to Philadelphia. Lord Cornbury wrote home, in 1704, stating there was "no other post on all this continent. If I have any letters to send to Virginia, or to Maryland, I must either send an express, who is often retarded, for want of boats, to cross those great rivers they must go over; or else, for want of horses, I must send them by some passengers who are going thither. The least time I have known any express take from hence to Virginia, has been three weeks." At this period, the mail was carried "in stage-coaches," twice a month, between New-York and Boston, and New-York and Philadelphia; and from New-York to Albany, a foot-post once a month. In 1732, a general post-office was established in Virginia, with a post-office in each county. About the same time, a post-office was established in New-York, separate from the custom-house. It was located in Broadway, opposite the end of Beaver street. In 1736, there was a weekly mail from NewYork to Philadelphia and Boston. In 1737, Col. Spottswood, formerly Governor of Virginia, and at that time Post-Master General, appointed Benjamin Franklin post-master at Philadelphia. The following is an advertisement from Franklin's

newspaper:

"Oct. 27, 1737.-Notice is hereby given, that the Post-Office of Philadelphia is now kept at B. FRANKLIN's, in Market street, and that Henry Pratt is appointed Riding Post-Master for all stages between Philadelphia and Newport, in Virginia, who sets out about the beginning of each month, and returns in twenty-four days, by whom gentlemen, merchants, and others, may have their letters carefully conveyed, and business faithfully transacted, he having given good security for the same, to the Honorable Colonel Spottswood, Post-Master General of all His Majesty's dominions in America."

Col. Spottswood died in 1753, and the Home Government appointed Franklin as his successor, and associated with him Mr. William Hunter. They were to have six hundred pounds a year between them, provided they could get it! Franklin

says:

"The American post-office had hitherto never paid any thing to that of Britain. We were to have six hundred pounds a year between us, if we

could make that sum out of the profits of the office. To do this, a variety of improvements were necessary; some of these were inevitably, in the beginning, expensive; so that, in the first four years, the office became above nine hundred pounds in debt to us. But it soon after began to repay us; and before I was displaced by a freak of the Minister's, we had brought it to yield three times as much clear revenue to the Crown as the post-office in Ireland. Since that imprudent transaction, they have received from it— not one farthing!"

Franklin was thus turned out of the office of Post-Master General for the Colonies, in 1774, after having held it for twenty-one years. His equanimity was probably not much disturbed by this "freak of the minister's," for, though he suf fered official decapitation, the next year he was reinstated by a higher power, being unanimously appointed Post-Master General of the United Colonies, by the Continental Congress. The next year, he was sent as Ambassador to France, and vacated the office of post-master-general; and on the 7th of November, 1776, Richard Bache was appointed. The next, and last post-master-general chosen by Congress, under the Confederacy, was Ebenezer Hazard, who went into office January 28th, 1782, and remained seven years. Since the election of the first President, the post-masters-general, and the years of their appointment to office, have been as follows:

Samuel Osgood, appointed in 1789; Timothy Pickering, in 1791; Joseph Habersham, 1795; Gideon Granger, 1802; Return J. Meigs, 1814; John McLean, 1823; William T. Barry, 1829; Amos Kendall, 1835; John M. Niles, 1840; Francis Granger, March, 1841; Charles A. Wickliffe, September, 1841; Cave Johnson, 1845; Jacob Collamer, 1849; Nathan K. Hall, 1850; Samuel D. Hubbard, 1852; and James Campbell, in 1853.

The rates of postage from the time of the Confederation, when Mr. Bache was post-master-general, to the year 1816, were from 7 to 33 cents, according to distance. In 1816, the rates were fixed by Act of Congress, at 6, 10, 121, 18, and 25 cents, and thus remained till the Postal Act of 1845, when the rates were reduced to five and ten cents. The last alteration of postal rates was by the Act of 1851, making letter postage three cents for all distances under three thousand miles, if pre-paid; and when not pre-paid, five cents; and double that sum for all distances over three thousand miles; the weight allowed for a single letter, being half an ounce.

The following table shows the number of post-offices, the miles of post-roads in operation, and the receipts and expenditures of the United States Post-Office department, every fifth year from 1790 to 1840, and every year from 1840 to 1853: