Part 14 (1/2)

”If conforming to the standards required by these contracts, their readiness to be used at the shortest notice, their capacity as transports for troops and munitions of war, and their great celerity of motion, enabling them to overhaul merchantmen, and at the same time escape cruisers, would render them terrible as guerrillas of the ocean, if fitted with such armaments as could be readily put upon them in their present condition.”

Post Master General Collamer also said on this subject, June 27, 1850:

”There are three modes which have been mentioned of transporting the mail. The first is by naval steams.h.i.+ps, conducted by the Navy, as a national service. This will occasion so enormous an expense that it is not probable the project will be entertained.

”The next mode suggested is the sending the mails, from time to time, by the fastest steamers which are first going. This has one advantage: it gives occasional aid to the enterprising; but there are many and great objections to it:

”1st. It is entirely inconsistent with fixed periods of departure and arrival.

”2d. It makes all connections on or with the route uncertain.

”3d. A price must be fixed, to prevent undue exactions of the Government; and yet no one would be under obligation to take the mail at the price, so that it would be uncertain of going at all.

”4th. It would be impracticable to send agents with all those mails, to take care of them and make distributions, except at an enormous cost.

”5th. There would be constant difficulty with slow and unsafe boats.

”6th. The great object of obtaining steams.h.i.+ps, so constructed, under the inspection of the Navy Department, as to be suitable for war vessels, and subject to exclusive appropriation and use as such, would be sacrificed.

”The third project is the making of contracts, for a stated term of years, _upon proposals advertised for in the ordinary method adopted for mail-coach service_. This would not answer for ocean steam service, unless provision were made for security, in the strength, capacity, and adaptation of the vessels, with their machinery, etc.”

Regarding our steam service in the Gulf, and in reviewing the contract made by the United States Mail Steams.h.i.+p Company, the Hon. Edwin Croswell, and a.s.sociates, in a letter to the Chairman of the Senate Postal Committee, presented the following important reflections:

”As early as the year 1835, the attention of the British Government was directed to the plan of changing the mode of conveying the mails by the s.h.i.+ps of the East-India Company and the Government, and adopting the contract system with individuals and companies, with a view to combining the essential properties of a naval and commercial steam marine.

”In consequence of the Report of the Commissioners appointed by Parliament to inquire into the management of the English Post Office Department in 1836, the mail steam packet service was transferred to the Admiralty. The Report stated the conviction of the Commissioners of Inquiry that 'the advantages which a System of contract must generally secure to the public over one of the establishment, however well conducted, were such that they wish they could have felt justified in recommending that it should be universally and immediately adopted.'

”The Secretary of the Admiralty stated that, 'in acting upon this opinion, the Admiralty entered into contracts for conveying the mails by steam vessels to and from Spain and Portugal, and subsequently between Alexandria and England, with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Contracts were also entered into for the conveyance of the mails between England and North-America, and England and the West-Indies and Mexico.' That 'the execution of all these contracts, with the exception of the latter, had given general satisfaction. But for this exception, the extent and complication of the plan at its commencement afforded some apology.' That 'the spirit in which the steam contractors had generally executed their contracts merited notice, as they had in almost every instance exceeded the horse-power stipulated in their agreements, and thus insured an accuracy in the delivery of mails which experience has shown, if the letter of the contract had been adhered to by them, would not have been the case.' And that 'the contract system had been generally satisfactory to the Admiralty and the public, and had tended largely to increase the steam tonnage of this country, (England,) to encourage private enterprise in scientific discovery, and the regulation and economical management of steam.'

”Such, certainly, were among the valuable results of the system; but these were not the only considerations that led to its adoption. The English Government, with the forecast for which that far-reaching power is distinguished, saw the advantages which an extended steam marine would give to its commerce over that of every other nation in the world. It saw also the value of connecting this great branch of the national service with the commercial and practical skill of the country. It soon formed and matured its plan, embracing within its scope nearly the entire commercial world. Steam lines, as stated in the preceding extract from the Admiralty Report, were established, radiating from England to all the prominent European ports, to the Mediterranean, to Egypt, the East-Indies and China, the West-India Islands, South-America and Mexico, the ports in the Gulf of Mexico and Havana, the United States and the English colonial possessions in North-America, and to the islands and ports in the Pacific ocean.

This vast chain of intercourse was not only completely established, but it became a matter of national policy to enlarge, strengthen, and maintain it. By it much of the commerce of the world by steam, and nearly all the letter-carrying by steam between this continent and the European ports, and even the distant parts of our own territory, were engrossed by British s.h.i.+ps.”

”Important national considerations, aside from the design to engross for British bottoms and British capital the trade and intercourse of the commercial world, and especially with the American continent and islands, entered into the Government plan.

It was ascertained to be a far less expensive mode of maintaining a naval steam force adapted to the purposes of Government, and to any emergency that might require these s.h.i.+ps for other than mail purposes, than to build, equip, and keep in service national steams.h.i.+ps of war. The experiment has proved its adequacy to the intended object; and it continues not only to receive the approval of the Admiralty and Government of England, but to be continually undergoing enlargement and expansion.”

”The West-India mail steam line was proposed to the British Government in April, 1839, by sundry merchants of London. A charter was granted to the contractors in that year, under the t.i.tle of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. It embraced the following routes:

”1. _Outward Atlantic Route._--From Southampton to Madeira, Barbados and Grenada--steamer, every 15 days.

”2. _Trinidad Route._--From Grenada to Trinidad and Barbados--steamer, every 15 days.

”3. _Demarara Route._--From Grenada to Courland Bay, (Tobago)--steamer, every 15 days.

”4. _Northern Islands Route._--From Grenada to St. Vincent, St.

Lucia, Martinique, Dominique, Guadalupe, Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitt's, Tortola, St. Thomas, and St. John's, (Porto Rico)--steamer, every 15 days.

”5. _Jamaica and Mexican Route._--From Grenada to Jacmel, (Hayti,) Kingston, Havana, Vera Cruz, and Tampico--steamer, every 30 days.

”6. _Jamaica and St. Iago de Cuba Route._--From Grenada to Jacmel, Kingston, St. Iago de Cuba, St. Juan's, (Porto Rico,) and St.