l. xlvi.).

[133] Sir Charles Tupper, Ibid., 13th May 1898.

[134] In 1898, $3,527,810: in 1902, $3,888,126.

[135] "It is 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 to be left with him, and
he is to take care that they are to be delivered or sent according to
the directions; and he is allowed for every letter a penny, and must
answer all miscarriages through his own negligence in this kind."

[136] Stanley I. Slack, _A Brief History of the Postal Service_, Omaha.

[137] M. E. Woolley, _Early History of the Colonial Post Office_,
Providence, R.I., 1894, p. 6.

[138] New York, in 1692, enacted that any persons or body politic or
corporate other than the Postmaster-General presuming to "carry,
re-carry, or deliver letters for hire, or to set up or imploy any
foot-post, horse-post, or pacquet-boat whatsoever" for the carrying of
letters or packets should forfeit [L]100; and the Act of New Hampshire,
passed in 1693, provided that no person or persons whatsoever should
carry letters for hire, "except letters sent by private friend or by any
messenger for or concerning the private affaires of any person."

[139] Preamble of Act (1st April 1693).

[140] "The mail carriers rode through the wilderness in this year of the
beginning."--Stanley I. Slack, _A Brief History of the Postal Service_,
Omaha, p. 11.

[141] See _infra_, Appendix B, pp. 391 ff.

[142] "An Act for establishing a General Post Office for all her
Majesty's Dominions" (9 Anne, cap. 10).

[143] 5 Geo. III, cap. 25. See _supra_, pp. 38-9.

[144] Cf. _supra_, p. 38.

[145] Evidence of Benjamin Franklin before House of Commons Committee,
28th January 1766. The Committee were, of course, most anxious on points
having relation to the taxation of the colonies by the English
Parliament, and Dr. Franklin was asked questions directed to discovering
whether the colonists regarded postage, which was fixed by Act of the
British Parliament, and had been newly fixed by such Act in the previous
year (5 Geo. III, cap. 25), as a tax. On this point Dr. Franklin
emphatically held that the postage paid on a letter was not of the
nature of a tax, but that it was simply payment for service performed;
and, moreover, the payment of postage was not compulsory, since a man
might still, as before the passing of the Act, send his letter by a
ser