The Committee on the subject of the Post Office and Post Roads, to whom was re-committed their report* relative to a post route from the city of Washington to Natchez and New Orleans, with instructions to inquire and report what is the most convenient, safe, and proper route, for carrying the mail between the city of Washington and New Orleans, therein designating the principal settlements and towns through which, in the opinion of the committee, the same ought to pass, report:

That, as this route must pass through the Mississippi Territory, a distance of nearly four hundred miles, wholly to uninhabited by citizens of the United States, except on the Tombigbee river, without this country being first explored, it is not in the power of your committee to designate the most proper route through it, with any degree of precision; equal difficulty occurs, for the rame reason, in determining whether it ought to pass on the east, or on the west side of the Alleghany mountains; because, until this unimproved territory has been explored for the purpose of laying out a road, it is uncertain at what place it ought to intersect the frontier settlement of Tennessee or Georgia. However, as the result of the best information which the committee have been able to obtain, pursuant to the instructions of the House, they submit as their opinion the following resolution:

Resolved, That the mail ought to be carried on the present route, as established by law, from the city of Washington to Knoxville, in Tennessee, (this route is represented to pass by Culpeper Court House, Orange Court House, through Charlottesville, Waynesborough, Lexington, Pattonsburgh, Fincastle, by Montgomery Court House, Wythe Court House, through Abington, Jonesborough, and by Hawkins Court House, to Knoxville) from thence by Tellico Block House, and through the Cherokee nation of Indians, and the settlement on the Tombigbee river, to New And further, that a post route ought to be established from the said settlement on the Tombigbee to Natchez,

Orleans.

See No. 11.

8th CONGRESS.]

SIR:

No. 14.

RECEIPTS FROM POSTAGE FOR THREE YEARS.

COMMUNICATED to the house OF REPRESENTATIVES, ON THE 1ST DAY OF MARCH, 1804.

[1st SESSION.

GENERAL POST OFFICE, March 1, 1804.

I have the honor herewith to transmit a detailed report of the amount of postage in each State, for three successive years, commencing with the 1st of October, 1800, and ending on the last day of September, 1803, together with the expense of transporting the mails on all roads in each State, and the amount of commissions of Postmasters, as well as the other expenses in relation to the Post Offices, in three books, marked A, B, C,* together with a summary report of the same, marked D, all in obedience to the resolution of the House of Representatives, passed on the 5th of December last.

I have the honor to be, with great esteem and respect, your most humble servant,

The Honorable NATHANIEL MACON,

GIDEON GRANGER.

Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States.

The statements A, B, and C, are not to be found.

D.

SIR:

GENERAL POST OFFICE, March 1, 1804.

The mails between the cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore, for nearly five years, have been and are transported in public carriages, established by and under the direction of the Postmaster General. There has been advanced from the funds of this Department, to effect and support this establishment, twenty-seven thousand seven hundred and sixty-three dollars and forty-six cents, of which sum five thousand and forty-three dollars and fifty-nine cents have been advanced between the 1st of October, 1800, and the first of October, 1803.

In this report, no charge for the transportation of the mails between those cities is made against either Maryland, Delaware, or Pennsylvania.

In addition to the contingent expenses, which are charged to the several States, from the funds of the Department, there has been paid for incidental expenses, such as purchasing blanks and post bills for the Postmasters, mail portmanteaux, bags &c. the following sums, that is to say:

From the first of October, 1800, to the first of October, 1801,
From the first of October, 1801, to the first of October, 1802,
And from the first of October, 1802, to the first of October, 1803,

$4,140 26

7,002 84

5,586 44

$16,729 54

There are no data by which to distinguish what proportion of these sums is chargeable to any individual State. The expenditures of the Department have greatly increased within the two last years. But it is to be remembered that, while there are not more than three hundred and eighty post roads in the United States, the expense of transporting the mails commenced on forty-two of them in October, 1801, and on sixty in October, 1802, and it is believed that, by a reference to the detailed view of the several post roads, as well as by the report of the Postmaster General, of the 24th of January 1803, it will appear that the increased mileage of transportation equals the increased expenditure for that service, without any allowance for the acceleration of the mails.

The Postmaster General begs leave further to state, that. at and before the time of establishing the line of stages from Petersburg, in Virginia, by Raleigh, Fayetteville, and Georgetown, to Charleston, South Carolina, the expense of transporting the mail, on the post roads from Petersburg to Fayetteville, from Fayetteville, by Georgetown, to Charleston, from Charleston to Savannah, from Fayetteville, by Camden, to Charleston,and from Camden to Augusta, was twenty thousand seven hundred and fifty-three dollars and thirty-two cents a year. Under the present arrangements the annual expense of transporting the mails on the same road, including the allowance to encourage the line of stages, and a third mail from Charleston to Savannah, is twenty thousand and eighty-two dollars twenty-six cents. In order to establish this line of stages he was under the necessity of buying in several of the existing contracts, for which he paid two thousand and eighty-three dollars and thirty-three cents, of which sum one hundred and seventy-four dollars and two cents is charged to Virginia, five hundred and eighty-four dollars and seventeen cents to North Carolina, and one thousand three hundred and twenty-five dollars and fourteen cents to South Car olina, in the estimate of the expenses for transporting the mails in each State, from the first of October, 1802, to the first of October, 1803. All which is respectfully submitted.

GIDEON GRANGER, Postmaster General.

The Hon. the SPEAKER of the House of Representatives of the United States.

8th CONGRESS.]

*See No. 10.

No. 15.

[2d SESSION.

ADDITIONAL ALLOWANCE RECOMMENDED TO A MAIL CONTRACTOR. COMMUNICATED TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 7, 1805.

GENERAL POST OFFICE, January 5, 1805.

The Postmaster General, to whom was referred by the House of Representatives the memorial of Robert Henderson, relative to a contract for carrying the mail in stages between Fayetteville, in North Carolina, and Charleston, in South Carolina, respectfully submits the following report:

That a contract was made with the memorialists for carrying the mail within the body of a stage carriage, from Fayetteville by Lumberton, Nolands, Barefield's Mills, Port's Ferry, Willtown, and Georgetown, to Charleston, and from Charleston, by the same route, to Fayetteville, three times a week, from the 1st day of February, 1803, to the 31st day of December, 1807, for which he was to be paid at the rate of five thousand eight hundred dollars a year. And that the mail has been hitherto carried conformable to the contract.

The whole length of the route from Fayetteville to Charleston is estimated at one hundred and ninety miles. It appears that there is considerable travelling between Georgetown and Charleston, and that the fare of the passengers, with one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one dollars a year, (the proportional part of five thousand eight hundred dollars) supports the establishment for that part of the route, which is sixty miles.

On the remainder of the route, Fayetteville to Georgetown, eight teams, of five horses each, are employed, which, from the best estimate that can be made, occasion an annual expense of twelve thousand eight hundred dollars. And that the passengers average only one each stage, whose fare for a year is estimated at The proportional part of the contract pay is

Hence there appears to be an annual loss of

$3,200

3,969

7,169

$5,631

The memorialist is of opinion that, with four thousand two hundred dollars a year additional, he could support the establishment, on the supposition that, if the line was put into proper order, there would be an increase of passengers, and it appears that, without that addition, it will be impossible for him to continue it, his funds being exhausted. Lines of stages for the conveyance of the mail and passengers are now in operation through the whole route from Wiscassett, in Maine, to Saint Mary's, in Georgia, and are evidently of much use to the public as well as this Department: and it would seem that the chain ought not to be broken for one hundred and thirty miles, through want of the sum stated. But as that sum would make the contract pay much greater than has hitherto been given for carrying the mail, the Postmaster General does not feel himself warranted in making it without the direction of Congress.

Previous to the establishment of this line of stages, the mail was carried, between Fayetteville and Charleston, in sulkies and on led horses, by a circuitous route, and was often interrupted by the impassability of water courses. On this route it has been conveyed dry, within the body of the stage, and with great regularity.