The History of the Post Office in British North America

ring the Revolutio

it went into operation, the trouble it aroused was not allayed. The gratitude of the colonists which followed upon the repeal gave way to renewed irritation when it was found that the mi

we have seen, the ministry endeavoured to convict the colonists of, at least, inconsistency when they objected to the stamp act, while toler

y finally agreed that the ministry might be right in insisting that the post office charges were a tax, and refused to use the institution any

place, and before he reached New York on his return home, Franklin

y means still unrevealed, of a number of private letters written by Hutchinson, governor of Massachusetts, and Oliver, the lieutenant governor, to a friend in England.

litary force to support the government. When these letters were brought to Franklin, he saw the advantage that a knowledge of them would give the colonists in the struggle then going on, and as the agent for Massac

sembly adopted resolutions strongly condemnatory of Hutchinson and Oliver, as sowers of discord between the mother country and the colonies, declared

ransaction, was a duel between a brother of the person to whom the letters were written, and a gentleman whom he accused of disclosing them to the

the officials of the post office to understand the state of mind of the ministry, that in spite of his

official associate, in rendering the accounts. When the balance due by Franklin was paid, his relations with the post office did not entirely cease; for he o

was, by the terms of the act of 1710, made the official headquarters of the service, it had not been so up till this time. There seems to have been no fixed official residence. In 1749, the deputy postmas

ffice was to be established, a general secretary appointed, and suitable clerical assistance provided for the carrying on of the work o

a short time deprived the post office of its business in America. In March 1774, the colonists be

ts of government carried on their work, wrote to the committee in Salem introducing Will

t. The post office was being used as a precedent against the colonies when they contested the right of parliament to tax them, and furthermore, was now being employed to prevent the dissemination of popular inte

had been himself for two years postmaster of Providence, and in this way was quite familiar with the details of work in a post office. Mor

sity usually gives. His grievance was that the post office charged rates so excessive on the newspa

there was no doubt that the charge might be true, without the post office exceeding its lega

iament at the time the law was being framed. Consequently no express provision was made for them in the act. If newspapers were to be carried by the post office under the au

h less than an ounce, and an ounce letter passing between New York and Philadelphia called for a postal charge of three shillings or se

vantage of not being subject to the postmaster general's monopoly. Publishers were free to turn to account any means of conveyance that happened to be available, for the distributi

and the possibility appeared through one of those curious devices, which are the derision of logical foreigners,

n through the mails was conferred upon certain officials of the post office, called clerks of the road. Clothed with this privilege the clerks

ere being used for the conveyance of newspapers, from which it received no revenue, and it congratulated itself that

rs general in America, and colonial newspapers were distributed by the post office under arrangements similar to those described. While th

tage on letters for the conveyance of newspapers. With this power in its hands the post office had complete control over the fortunes of newspaper publishers. If for any reason it desired to suppress a newspaper, all

t no newspapers were sent by the post office which contained reflections on the government,[87] and to assure themselves on the point, they were to send no newspapers into the country at all, except such as wer

, declared that the act of the British parliament establishing the post office in America, was dangerous in principle and demanded peremptory o

osition was that the colonial post office should be established and maintained by subscription, and that its control should be vested in a committee to be appointed annually by the subscribers. This committee would appoint pos

meantime, however, events were taking place which brought into being a body of more authority than t

legates of the colonies assembled in congress at Philadelphia, and by degrees took upon themselves all the functions of government. On the 29th of May, 1775, the question of providing f

ice would be at Philadelphia, and who was empowered to appoint a secretary and as many postmasters as seemed to him proper and nece

nds then made an effort to secure to him the secretaryship. In this, also, he was disappointed, as Franklin sele

considerable amount.[92] As the loss from Goddard's defalcation fell partly upon Franklin, as joint deputy postmaster general, the latter would be reluctant to place him a second time in a position of r

ued that the ministerial posts were no longer necessary to the people; that they merely subserved the interests of the enemy, and that the postmasters held their offices by an illegal tenure. On t

stood. All that the colonies desired, they declared, was a return to the conditions which prevailed in 1763, when the conquest of Canada removed the last of the obstacles which impeded their progress, and the relations of the colonies with the mother

post office in the colonies. As early as March 1775, the home office advised its deputies in America that all that was to be expected from the postmasters

he post office was doing but little business, as the rebels were opening and rifling the mails, a

s should be done on one of the war vessels in New York harbour.[96] At last, on Christmas day 1775, the secretary of the post office at New York gave public notice that on account of the interruptions

o and from Canada was in a very efficient state. Two couriers travelled each week between Montreal and New York, one passing by way of lake

m Montreal, despatched a letter to the merchants of that place, expressing their strong desire that the intercourse existing between New York and Canada should be maintained.[98] They di

ish a postal courier between New York and either Ticonderoga or Crown Point, leaving it to Canadia

fterwards entered the American service.[99] In the ledger kept by Franklin, as postmaster general of the United Colonies, the account of the postmaster of Montreal appe

he fact that he and Dashwood, the departmental secretary, were held prisoners at New York.[101] While the British were bei

, Franklin was directed to arrange a system of communications whereby post riders were placed at intervals of twenty-five or thirty miles over the whole s

an was necessary to pass the mails from one rider to the other. Three advice boats, also, were employed to

k received and opened the mails on board the ship, and all letters were advertised, so that they might be obtained either directly or through friends. The

nlay reported that he was on board the ship "King Fisher," and that a vessel manned by sixty resolute fellows

vince of Massachusetts Bay; and in the following March, the continental congress sanctioned the fitting out of private armed vessels to pr

war, and placed at the orders of the war office. The movements of the packets were clothed with secrecy, and it was only when the vessels were bound for

ry at that time. A steady murmur of discontent was kept up against the war office. Remonstrance after remonstrance was directed against the commander-in-chief

clash between the British and American vessels. The correspondence, however, reveals a state of great anxiety for the safety of the despat

assage from Falmouth to New York, he saw at four o'clock in the morning of that day a ship and a brig three or four leagues distant. They spoke to one another, and then gave chase to the packet.

t, and without more ado poured into the packet a broadside from eight carriage guns, and a number of swivels and small arms. The packet returning the fire, a warm engagement followed for an hour and a half

n which it appeared that the plan of the schooner was to keep in the wake of the packet outside the range of the latter's guns, but near enough to take advantage of the superior weight of her own guns, the packet manag

n. The packet, which was armed and equipped in the same manner as the other packets on this station, had twelve guns, but only forty-five men. Of these five were killed, including the cap

sters of packets to avoid a fight, if possible, captured the American vessel "Sea Nymph," of one hundred and tw

ting on land in America. The arrival of assistance from England in May enabled Carleton to attack the American force which had held Quebec in s

s of the conditions of the city during the siege, at once prepared to resume his duties as deputy postmaster general. New York, also, f

postmaster of New York, had taken up quarters in one of the war vessels in the harbour. Antill lost no time in returning to t

ails were not taken to the post office, although the statute laid it upon shipmasters as their duty to deliver the mails at the post office before they broke bulk.[109] On the arrival of the vessels, the

sloyalty among the citizens, there were infinite possibilities of harm in the unguarded utterances, which are constantly occurring in familiar letters. Matters, which it is of the highe

pect that in Quebec, as well as in New York, there was a considerable proportion of English speaking people who were by no means well aff

necessity for caution against allowing their letters to become the means of conveying information to the enemy, and direct

ver the channel through which correspondence must ordinarily pass. In this way, he would discover many of the d

ffice work, nor the sense of the importance of mercantile correspondence necessary to assure the merchants of the safety of their letters, when these passed out of the accustomed courses. The me

hey acquiesced for a time, hoping that the governor's surveillance over their correspondence would be relaxed, but the governor co

a, who had retired to England when the British office was closed in 1775, returned on hearing that the city was again in the king's hands, but only to find that the letters

ery of them was effected, and when, as during the war of the Revolution, the mails were diverted from t

t as a whole, and could not be imputed to any failure on its own part, but, at that time, it viewed the situation as a private institution would. The loss of revenue seemed to affect it alo

e in Canada to grant exemption to postmasters from the billeting of the troops upon them. The barracks which had been erected in Montreal were destroyed by fire, and it was necessary that the soldiers should be pr

ntinental congress relieved its postmasters from all military duties. In Canada the advantages the post office was able to offer

ervant had been quartered upon him and he demanded their removal. Finlay, nothing doubting, laid the postmaster's letter before the governor, who, to Fin

office merely to oblige Finlay. Finlay laid these facts before the governor and pleaded for a reconsideration, but the governor was inexorab

st vigilance on their part, much correspondence was passing backward and forward of which they could know nothing, and

hostile force in the province, affairs were still unsettled, and a mail courier whose movements were known in every detail could easily be waylaid by the marauding parties which infested the long route

rivateers was greatly increased; and while none of the packets on the New York station were taken, the "Swallow" on its way to Lisbon in February was captured by the war vessel which had carried Franklin to Franc

ws of neutrality to the utmost in her effort to assist the Americans. Cruisers bearing American names, but armed with French guns, and manned by Fr

broken with England; and it was not until the alliance between the Americans and the

packet "Le Despencer" on her way from Falmouth to New York, was set upon by two privateers, the "Nancy" with sixteen guns and one hundred and twenty men, and another having fourt

same month, the "Harriott" and the "Eagle," the one bound for New York, and the other for Carolina, both fell as prizes to the "Vengeance

during the war of the Revolution may be gathered from the fact that of the five vessels on the New York station in 1777, four were taken and one damaged. Of the six on the West Indian station, four were taken a

TNO

apers, vol. 39 (

Document in

ring Paper

bid.,

Continental C

bid.,

to Todd, C.

., fourth ser

Continental Con

ican Letter-Book,

O. 5,

., fourth ser

id., II

h., fifth se

Franklin, Papers Cont.

O. 5, v

Continental Co

to Todd, C. O

Revolution, by C.

O. 5, v

O. 5, v

, Treasury,

S. Com., 1904,

37; also Can. Arch., B. 43, p.

h., M. 230, p.

., Treasury

Arch., B. s

O. 5, v

Ibid

O. 5, v

O., Treasu

7]

Ibid.,