same time, a similar establishment was commenced in some parts of the German empire. And gradually every government in Europe established its system of posts, more or less perfect-that is, a system of royal couriers, not for the accommodation of the public, but only for the purposes of the government and the convenience of the court. In England, such government posts seem to have been established simultaneously, or nearly so, with those in France and Germany, a little less than four hundred years ago. But at what period the public at large began to enjoy the benefits of the establishment, is quite uncertain. Less than two hundred and fifty years ago, merchants, manufacturers and professional men throughout England, were compelled either to employ special messengers for the transmission of their correspondence, or to depend on irregular and insecure means of conveyance. The universities and principal cities had their own couriers or letter carriers. There was a private post by which letters were conveyed between England and the continent. But in 1630, Charles I, then looking around him for every means the Parliament, established, in conof raising a revenue independent of nection with the king of France, a public post from London to Paris; and the private establishment for the conveyance of letters between the two kingdoms was abolished. In 1632, he published a proclamation forbidding letters to be sent out of the kingdom, except through the royal post-office. In 1635, he estab lished a new system of posts for England and Scotland, and abolished all private and local posts, claiming the post-office business as a gov ernment monopoly. During the civil wars which followed, these arrangements were of course overturn In the fifteenth century, only a few years before the discovery of America, Louis XI of France, established for his own use in his kingdom a system of posts. That is to say, he made an arrangement for the transmission of despatches between the court and the provinces, of the same nature with that which has already been spoken of as existed; but such an improvement once ing in ancient Persia, and under the adopted, could not be forgotten, and Roman emperors. Not far from the as soon as order was restored under Cromwell, the reëstablishment and maintenance of the post-office system, was immediately recognized as one of the functions of the government. At that time it was, that England was first blessed with a weekly conveyance of letters from the metropolis into all parts of the nation. This was when England was a commonwealth; and the system established by the wise and energetic government of Cromwell, was so far in advance of previous arrangements, and so great and obvious a public benefit, that on the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, it was continued by act of Parliament, without any material modification. These few historical notices, which most readers might perhaps collect for themselves, from the encyclopedias and such like repositories of knowledge, may be summed up in this general view. The post-office system that great element of modern civilization, so essential to commerce, to public intelligence, to the intercourse of friends, to all the interests of society-began in the necessity of a regular communication between the central government, and its subordinate agents. It was gradually expanded into a govern. ment monopoly, for the double purpose of raising a revenue, and of commanding the channels of communication. It is perfected by be coming a great public convenience, maintained by the government, for the equal accommodation of all the members of society. We hear much said, and justly, of the superiority of the modern over the ancient civilization. We hear much of the wonderful impulse given to society as a whole, and of the vast advantages afforded to each individual member of society, by the steam-engine in its various uses, by the innumerable applications of science to the productive and useful arts, by the printing press, by the mariner's compass and the entire art of modern navigation-all which, the ancients had not. But to us it seems, that if an intelligent Greek like Herodotus or Xenophon, or a philosophic Roman like Cicero or Tacitus, could be supposed, after a sleep of some two thousand years in an enchanted cavern, to 'revisit the glimpses of the moon' here, hardly any thing would be more wonderful to him, than the power which every individual in society has, of communicating by letter most expeditiously and unfailingly with every other individual to whom he is related in the way either of friendship or of business. The letters of the humblest member of society go to their destination as swiftly and unfailingly as the despatches of Persian kings and Roman empe. rors. There is a man whom you have never seen, far off in the woods of Michigan, or on the prairies of Wiskonsan. Though you have never seen him, you have heard his name and his place of residence ; and you wish to ask him a question, or to employ him to render you some service there. You make a few marks-not on a cumbrous tablet covered with wax-not on a parch ment almost equally cumbrous-but on a piece of paper, thin, light and flexible,-a material as unknown to the ancients as was the art of printing. ing. You drop that piece of paper into a box in a public office a few rods from your own dwelling, and give yourself no farther care about it. In a few days, without any more ado on your part, you get your answer. The whole operation has cost less than it would have cost you to send a special messenger five miles. We often talk of wonderful machinery, but what machinery is more wonderful than this. It is wonderful no doubt to see "the iron horse," puffing along with dizzy speed upon the railroad. It is wonderful to see the machine which takes a coil of wire and in a few moments gives it out again wrought into pins with firm smooth heads and points. But is it any less wonderful to see this vast machinery of the post-office, taking up the letter which you drop into one of its ten thousand hoppers, carrying it hundreds of miles, with a speed and safety otherwise impracticable, and delivering it into the hands of the individual to whom your will directed it. Why this is a machinery which, in a sense, extends your presence over the whole country, even to the edge of the wilderness, where the last traces of government and of civilized life disappear. And the enjoyment of this machinery has come to be, every where, so completely one of the necessaries of civilized life, that any government in Christendom which should refuse to afford the people this accommodation, would be overturned as intolerable. Such is the progress of society. and hangers on. polished ernment and its privileged favorites Nor is it with us, this day, a government monopoly, as it is in other countries even to clusively, or chiefly, with a view to to be maintained and managed exincrease the revenue of the government. It does not enter into the plans of the American people, to tax the correspondence of the nation for the purpose of supporting the army ment of the public expenditure. It or the navy, or for any other departis not for the sake of making money, or saving money, for the that we maintain this post-office esgovernment, tablishment. It may be assumed then as a first principle, that whatcountries, our post-office system ever may be the policy in other ought to be simply a great public convenience, for the equal accommodation of all the members of society. This idea is the standard by which the merits of the existing sysof every proposed improvement, are tem in all its parts, and the merits establishment answers more comto be measured. In proportion as the pletely this one end of being a great commodation of all the members of public convenience for the equal acsociety, in that proportion does it approach perfection. An institution so essential to our idea of civilization, and so important in its bearings on all the interests of society, cannot but be expected to make farther progress hereafter. It would be quite contrary to our genius as Americans certainly, if we should take it for granted that the system as it now exists with us, is incapable of improvement. may regard it, then, as a fair quesWe tion for consideration, what improvements in our present system of arrangements for the conveyance of letters, are desirable and practicable? At the outset of this inquiry, let us recall distinctly, what is, with us at least in this country, the true conception of a post-office system as it should be. Such a system is not like the posts established in ancient Persia and in the Roman empire, or like the posts as they were established, four centuries ago, in France, Germany and England-a mere arrangement for the conveyance of government despatches, supported at the expense of the government, and for the exclusive use of the gov and let us see what are the qualities Let this idea, then, be expanded; necessarily belonging to that system which is to afford its benefits equally, and as completely as possible, to all the members of society. 1. Most obviously such a system must have, what, for the want of a It must not be confined to a few better word, we may call ubiquity. principal routes-the thoroughfares between the great cities-where the facilities of transportation, and the abundance of letters, may make the establishment profitable. On the as possible to all parts of the councontrary it must be extended as far try, and the profits on those routes where conveyance is easy and correspondence abundant, should be ap plied to sustain those routes which, owing to the increased expense of transportation and the diminished amount of correspondence, are unable to sustain themselves. The only imperious reason why, in such a country as ours, the government should have any thing to do with the conveyance of letters, more than with the conveyance of passengers or of merchandise, lies in the necessity of giving to the system of mails this quality of ubiquity. Leave the whole business to private competition, and on all the principal routes letters would soon be conveyed cheaper and better than they will ever be by the government; but how would it be with other routes? There would be no difficulty about sending a letter at the cheapest rate and with the greatest expedition from Hartford to New York, or from Boston to New Orleans; but what would it cost to send a letter from Hartford to Babylon or Patchogue on Long Island? And what communication would there be between Hartford and a village on lake Memphremagog, or between Hartford and some new outpost of civilization in the west? The end for which a public establishment of this kind exists, is the equal accommodation of every member of the community, and therefore the system must spread its branches over the whole country, those parts of it which are unprofitable being sustained by the reve nues of those parts which are prof. itable. 2. Public accommodation being the end, regularity and precision in all the action of the system are indispensable; and, other things being equal, the system is the more complete in proportion as it is characterized by this quality. Every man who has occasion to send a letter to any part of the country, must be able to rely on its going safely and unfailingly to the place to which he directs it. And not only so, but he should be able to know, as exactly as possible, the hour at which it must be mailed in order to commence its journey, and the time when it will arrive at its destination. The public would not be accommodated if letters from one place to another, were sent only at unknown and irregular intervals, according to the convenience of the postmaster, or when a sufficient number had accumulated in the office. All the arrangements and all the motions of the system should have, as far as possible, the regularity and precision of clock-work. 3. Another quality, of great importance to the end we have in view, is cheapness. The price of conveying letters by the public mails, in other words the rate of postage, should be set as low as possible. This grand accommodation should be afforded to the public at the cheapest rate consistent with other essential qualities. In determining the rate of postage, the question is not what a merchant, or a lawyer, or the proprietor of a great newspaper, can afford to give for a business letter of great importance; it is not, what those who have the means of paying are willing to give for letters rather than not to receive them; nor is it what tariff of taxes on letters will afford to the government the greatest revenue; it is simply, what is the lowest rate of postage at which the establishment, taken as a whole with all its ramifications, will be able to pay its own expenses. Most certain it is that, other things being equal, the lower the price of postage, the greater and more equal will be the public accommodation. 4. The speed with which letters are transmitted, is an important consideration in estimating the completeness of the system. On this point it is not enough to offer the remark that the most rapid conveyence of the mails, consistent with security and cheapness, is the best. There is a certain degree of speed on each route, without which the mail almost ceases to be a public accommodation. It is not necessary that the mails should outstrip every possible conveyance; it is not necessary that the mail should in every instance travel so fast that no express can on any emergency go before it; but it is necessary that the mail go so fast from one point to another that no ordinary rate of traveling, upon that route, shall exceed it. When travelers from New York arrive at New Haven daily by the steamboats, and the mail from New York comes daily, creeping along by land some six or eight hours afterwards, the public whether by the fault of the government or of some body else-is not accommodated. When it took five or six days for a traveler to pass between New York and Boston, that was as fast as a letter could reasonably be expected to travel. The speed of the most rapid ordinary traveling on a given route, is the least with which the public will be satisfied. If a more rapid transmission is attempted, it will be found that cheapness is sacrificed to speed, and the mail instead of affording equal accommodation to all the members of society, is a convenience only to those who can afford to pay high postage. 5. Another quality, of great importance to a perfect system, is security against abuses. Letters entrusted to the public mails should be inviolable; and he who writes to a friend, should feel that though his letter be filled even to the outer edges, no post-office clerk is likely to peep into it. The system should be so arranged as to hold every agent and official, effectually, to a strict responsibility, and to prevent as far as possible all collusion of one with another for fraudulent purposes. No temptations to petty frauds and deceitful tricks, should be allowed to exist where they can possibly be avoided. Those who for the time being are entrusted with the admin istration, should not be permitted, nor even tempted, to use the postoffice department for their own selfish purposes. And no party of politicians-whether administration or opposition should be enabled to use the post-office as an electioneering engine, save at their own expense. Of any two systems, equal in other respects, that which most effectually guards against all such abuses, is the best. That is a base government any where, which voluntarily, and unnecessarily, and perseveringly, puts any sort of temptation in the way of its officials or in the way of those who have dealings with it. We may add, here, without entering into any discussion, that, on the principle just referred to, the entire post-office establishment of a Christian people, ought to respect the Christian sabbath. The govern ment cannot trifle with the religious ideas and sympathies of a Christian people, without producing an effect upon the moral sense and moral habits of the people, that will cost too much in the end. The post-office system now existing in this country, has existed without any essential change, ever since the organization of the Federal government. At the beginning, it was naturally and wisely copied, in its most important features, from the system which then existed in Great Britain. It has been extended and modified from time to time; and it has been so well administered, and its working has been on the whole so beneficial, that there has been little disposition to attempt any material improvement. Of late however, a new system-new in the adoption of sev eral important principles-has been introduced in Great Britain, and in connection with this, the attention of the American people has been directed partially and ineffectually to the subject of post-office reform. The new system which went into operation in Great Britain, on the |