Administration of Daniel Sutherland--Postal service on the
Ottawa river, and to eastern townships--Ocean mails.
On Heriot's retirement, a number of London merchants who traded to
Canada, recommended that the postmaster of Montreal, Daniel Sutherland,
be appointed as his successor, and the appointment was made in April
1816.[167] Sutherland entered upon his duties with full knowledge of the
postal service in Canada, as he had been postmaster of Montreal since
1807.
An effort was made at this time to remove the headquarters of the
department from Quebec to Montreal, but it was not encouraged. The
postmaster general was of opinion that, although there were no direct
official relations between the governor general and the head of the
postal service, it would be inadvisable to diminish in any way the
opportunities that then existed of enlisting the good will of the
governor towards the post office by the pursuit of a more tactful course
than had been taken by Sutherland's predecessor. If, while relations
between the chief executive and the deputy postmaster general were thus
strained, the office of the latter had been removed to Montreal, the
chances of establishing a more cordial feeling on the part of the
governor towards the post office would have greatly lessened.
The wisdom of the postmaster general in this matter was soon shown. It
was not long before the post office incurred the hostility of the
legislatures in both Upper and Lower Canada and its case would have been
hard indeed, if it had not obtained the steady support of the governors
and the executive councils in the two provinces.
A notable feature of Sutherland's administration was the extension of
the service into settlements, which lay far off the beaten lines. The
first of these to be provided with a post office was the settlement of
Perth. In the summer of 1815, a number of Scotch artisans and peasants
sailed from Greenock, attracted by the inducements held out to settlers
in British North America, and of these about sixty families spent the
winter in Brockville on the St. Lawrence. When spring opened, they
proceeded inland till they reached the Rideau river, and took up homes
about the site of the present town of Perth.
The new settlement was almost immediately joined by a large number of
disbanded troops, who were set free on the conclusion of peace with the
United States. By October 1816, there were over sixteen hundred settlers
in the district. They were fortunate in securing the interest of Sir
John Sherbrooke, the governor general, at whose instance a post office
was opened, and fortnightly trips were made with the mails from
Brockville.[168]
A road was broken between the two places, but little could be said for
it for some time. Dr. Mountain, the son of the first Anglican bishop of
Quebec, and himself afterwards third bishop of Quebec, accompanied his
father on an episcopal trip into Upper Canada in 1820. Among the places
he visited was Perth. Of the road he said: "All the roads I have
described before were turnpike and bowling green to this."[169] The road
was divided into three stages of seven miles each, and the best the
party could do was three hours for each stage.
In 1818, another settlement was formed in the same part of the country
about thirty miles north of Perth. It was a military settlement, being
made up of officers and men of the 99th and 100th regiments. This group
did not enter upon its lands by way of the St. Lawrence, but is notable
as the first considerable body to come into Upper Canada by way of the
Ottawa river. They landed on the site of the present city of Ottawa, but
did not stop there longer than was necessary to break a road through to
their lands, which were situated about twenty miles to the westward. The
settlement was called Richmond, in honour of the Duke of Richmond, the
governor general, and this circumstance gave Ottawa its first
name--Richmond Landing.
It was at Richmond that the duke came to his melancholy end that same
summer, as the result of the bite of a fox. The duke had shown his
interest in the settlement which bore his name in a number of ways, and
shortly before his death he induced the deputy postmaster general to
open a post office there. In order to provide it with mails, a blazed
trail was made between the new settlement and Perth.[170]
The settlement at Richmond was not the first, however, in the Upper
Ottawa district. In 1800, Philemon Wright, a New Englander, who had made
one or two exploratory tours into the country, determined to form a
settlement at Hull, on the Lower Canadian side of the river, and in that
year he brought with him a group of his neighbours from Malden,
Massachusetts.
These settlers were thrifty and intelligent, and by 1815, they had
brought their settlement to a pitch of prosperity, which won special
mention from Bouchette, the surveyor general. At that time there were
about thirty families in the district, whose farms were in a respectable
state of cultivation; and a large trade in timber, pot and pearl ashes
was carried on.
The little settlement was so far from Montreal--one hundred and twenty
miles--that it was at first impracticable to give it the benefit of the
postal service. The isolation did not last long. Little bodies of
settlers were taking up land at different points, both above and below
the Long Sault rapids; and for some time before 1819, there had been a
steamer running between Lachine and Carillon, at the foot of the Long
Sault.[171]
In 1819, a steamer was put on the Upper Ottawa, running between the head
of the Long Sault and Hull, and the Duke of Richmond appealed to
Sutherland to open post offices on the river route. The deputy
postmaster general at first demurred on the ground of expense, but he
withdrew his objections on a guarantee being given by a number of
gentlemen interested in the district, that the post office should be
saved against any loss which might ensue. Offices were accordingly
opened at St. Eustache and St. Andrews on the lower Ottawa, and at
Grenville, Hawkesbury and Hull on the upper part of the river.[172]
Another part of the country to which the postal system was extended
during this period was the eastern townships in Lower Canada. These
townships lie along the northern border of eastern New York, Vermont and
New Hampshire. Owing to their contiguity to the United States, the
settlement of these townships gave the British Government much concern.
Lord North, at the close of the war of the Revolution, desired to settle
this border country with old soldiers. Haldimand, the governor general,
was of another opinion, believing that the interests of peace would be
best served by keeping the country uncultivated, that it might serve as
a barrier to the restless spirits from the south. Some effort was made
to give effect to this view but without much success. Indeed the
governors who followed Haldimand made grants in the townships freely;
and in 1812, it was estimated that there were not less than 17,000
people settled there.
Lord Bathurst, the colonial secretary, on learning in 1816 the state of
affairs, was highly displeased that the policy of the government had
been disregarded in this manner, and directed the governor to do what he
could to discourage further settlement, and wherever possible to restore
the cultivated country to a state of nature.
Mentioning particularly the townships at the western end of the
province, the colonial secretary directed that no new roads were to be
run into them, and advantage was to be taken of any circumstances that
presented themselves of letting the roads already made fall into disuse.
For five years this desolating policy was carried into execution.
In 1821, Lord Dalhousie, the governor general reported that the result
was an utter failure. "These townships," he says "are the resort of all
the felons escaping from justice within His Majesty's province or from
the United States. Forgery, coining, and every crime is committed there
with impunity. American lumbermen are cutting everywhere the best
timber, and sit down where they please, and move about where they find
it convenient."
A reversal of the mistaken policy resulted from the Dalhousie report.
The first post office opened in the townships was at Stanstead,[173] the
centre of a comfortable, well-settled population of about 2500. The
village lay on the main stage route from Quebec into the state of
Vermont. The post office at Stanstead was opened in 1817, and with three
other offices opened at the same time had a weekly exchange of mails
with Quebec by way of Three Rivers.
During Sutherland's administration, there were a considerable number of
post offices opened, and many of them established at this period
afterwards attained great importance. In 1816, when he became deputy
postmaster general, there were only ten offices in Lower Canada and nine
in Upper Canada. When he retired in 1827, there were forty-nine in Lower
Canada and sixty-five in Upper Canada. In 1816, Belleville post office
was opened under the name of bay of Quinte: in 1825, Hamilton, London,
Brantford, and St. Thomas were provided with post offices.
In Lower Canada, besides those already mentioned, a post office was
opened at Sherbrooke in 1819, replacing an office established in Aston
township in 1817.
A curious fact appears in the post office list of 1819. At this date
Toronto was still called York, and Hamilton was without a post office
altogether. Nevertheless a post office called Toronto was on the list of
1819 as having been opened in 1817, with Charles Fothergill as
postmaster, and another called Hamilton was opened in 1819 with James
Bethune as postmaster. There was nothing to indicate where these post
offices were situated until changes were made in the names, and Toronto
was converted into Port Hope and Hamilton into Cobourg.
Fothergill, who had the post office established at Port Hope, appears
more than once in the course of post office history. He was member of
the house of assembly and king's printer, as well as postmaster. About
this time the house began to express dissatisfaction with the service
provided by the post office, and to demand information as to its
affairs, which the deputy postmaster general was not prepared to
furnish. Among the critics was Fothergill, who was speedily punished for
his independence. He was dismissed from the office of king's printer by
the governor.[174]
* * * * *
The conveyance of the mails between Canada and Great Britain occupied
much attention during Sutherland's term. The packets, that is the
vessels employed expressly for the conveyance of the mails, had at this
date almost ceased to be employed for the transmission of any but
official correspondence. The interests of the governors and other
officials in British North America and Bermuda, and of the British
minister at Washington and consuls in the United States, were the only
interests considered in the arrangements for this service.
Speedy transmission was sacrificed without a thought, to provide against
imagined dangers to safe transmission. When the packet service was
established, the vessels made monthly trips during the summer from
Falmouth, in England, to Halifax and thence to New York, returning by
the same route. The mails for Bermuda were landed at Halifax, and taken
to their destination in a war vessel.
During the winter, the vessels from Falmouth did not run to Halifax, but
proceeded directly to New York. In 1806, at the instance of the
admiralty, orders were given that, whenever possible during the winter,
the packets should touch at Bermuda on their way to New York.[175] On
the eve of the war of 1812, Prevost, the governor general, who was
fearful for the safety of the mails, begged that this course might be
adopted as the regular winter course, and that mails for Canada and
other parts of British North America should be put off at Bermuda, and
conveyed from there to Halifax.
To make the mails for Canada go as far south as Bermuda seems
outrageous, but Prevost was willing to put up with any slowness in
transmission rather than have his despatches touch United States soil.
This course was pursued until the war ended in 1815, and continued for
many winters after that time.
But it was too bad to escape criticism from officials themselves. At the
end of the summer of 1816, when the packets were about to be taken off
the Halifax route, the rear-admiral on the North American station asked
that the packets should continue to call at Halifax during the winter,
and, by way of satisfying the post office of the feasibility of his
suggestion, furnished a list of some seventy vessels which had entered
Halifax during the previous winter, which was allowed to be the severest
for many years, and found no more trouble in making this port than the
port of New York.[176]
The suggestion aroused great opposition--an opposition which would be
quite incomprehensible to-day. The agent of the packet service at
Falmouth assembled all commanders who happened to be in port, and asked
them their opinion. They were unanimous in the belief that the only safe
course to Halifax would be to go first to Bermuda, thence to New York,
and finally to Halifax.[177] The prevalence of north-westerly winds
during the winter would make a direct sailing from Falmouth to Halifax
impracticable.
The commanders did not consider it advisable, however, to adopt this
course, as it would lengthen the trip by from two to three weeks, and as
the voyages would be much rougher, there would be few passengers. The
wear and tear on the packets would be greater, and besides the men would
require great coats and spirits. During the late war each packet took
sixty gallons of rum each way.
Lord Dalhousie became governor general in 1819 and he made bitter
complaint of the length of time taken in the delivery of his winter
despatches.[178] The despatches leaving England in November 1821 and
1822, did not reach him until the following February, and his February
despatches arrived in Quebec in May. He asked that the mails containing
his correspondence should not be put off the packet at Bermuda, but that
they be carried to New York, where he would have his messenger on hand
to receive them.
It is difficult to see why this should not have been done. Ever since
the establishment of peace in 1783, there had been a British packet
agent at New York, whose sole duty it was to act as intermediary for the
despatch by the outgoing British packet boat, of all correspondence
reaching him from the governors or other officials in British North
America, or from the ambassadors or consuls in the United States.[179]
Dalhousie's messenger took his outgoing despatches to the packet agent,
and the governor could not understand the objections to allowing the
same messenger to carry the incoming despatches back with him. The
packet agent at New York strongly supported the governor's request, and
pointed out how his own office might be made of much greater utility, if
he were employed freely, not only for the transmission of official
correspondence, but for the interchange of general correspondence
between Canada and Great Britain. He declared that the United States
government had shown the utmost courtesy to the governor's messengers.
They had not been molested in any way, and for some time past, the
earlier practice of requiring the couriers to be provided with passports
had been allowed to drop.[180]
The agent proposed that during the winter the English exchange office
should make up separate bags for Upper and Lower Canada, which on
arrival at New York would be delivered to his office. He would then see
that the bags were forwarded by special messenger without delay.
His plan, however, was open to strong objection, and the British post
office, which was averse to making any change in the direction proposed,
was quick to seize upon it. While acknowledging the good will of the
United States government regarding the conveyance of official despatches
through their territory by British messengers, the secretary stated that
the conveyance of ordinary mails by the same means was a very different
matter, which would give rise to a justifiable claim on the part of the
United States department, and if the charges which would have to be paid
to the United States department were added to the other postage rates,
the total postage to be collected from the recipients of the letters
would be very large.
But the argument of the secretary was based on the supposition that the
mails would be carried as the despatches were, by Canadian messengers
from New York, and that the letters they carried would be subject to a
double charge, viz:--the expenses of the messenger, and the sum which
the United States might exact for the mere transit over its territory.
If the British mails arriving at New York by the packet were handed over
to the United States post office for transmission, as had been the case
before the war of 1812, there would have been no such excessive charge.
This was what was desired on all sides in Canada. The service would have
been much faster, and for Montreal and all places in Upper Canada the
postage would have been lower. Since the spring of 1817, steamboats were
employed to carry the mails between New York and Albany twice a week,
and with other improvements on the route, the time between New York and
Montreal was shortened to three days in summer and five in winter.
From New York to York took from nine to eleven days by way of Montreal,
and a day less if the mails were carried from New York along the Mohawk
valley route to Queenston on the Niagara river, and thence to York.
Compare this with the time occupied between Halifax and Quebec. A month
was the average, and to that had to be added two days to Montreal and
eight days to York. No advantage enjoyed by Halifax over New York on the
sea trip could compensate for the disparity from which the land route
between Halifax and Montreal suffered in comparison with the route from
New York to Montreal, and as Montreal was the gateway to Upper Canada,
the whole of the new province suffered in equal measure with that city.
The gain in time by the New York route was submitted to the general post
office, but the proposition to land the mails at that port was opposed
by the secretary. He found that there would be eightpence less postage
on each letter to Quebec, if it were sent through the United States
instead of through the Maritime provinces, and, besides, he was doubtful
as to the propriety of sanctioning any scheme which would permit private
and mercantile letters to reach Quebec before the government despatches,
which in any case must come by way of Halifax.
But though the comings and the goings of the packets were a matter of
much concern to Lord Dalhousie and to others, whose correspondence had
to be carried by this means, they were of little moment to the general
public, who had found a very satisfactory means for the conveyance of
their correspondence.
In 1826, the treasury set on foot inquiries as to the arrangements for
the conveyance of correspondence across the Atlantic, and the
information they obtained must have surprised them.[181] There were
three modes of sending letters to Canada from Great Britain. The first
was by the official sailing packets. The usefulness of the packets,
however, was limited to the conveyance of official despatches.
The high charges and the slowness of the service abundantly account for
the failure of the public to employ this means of transmission. The
postage on a single letter, that is a single sheet of paper weighing
less than an ounce, was two shillings and twopence sterling from London
to Halifax by way of Falmouth. To this must be added the postage from
Halifax to points in Canada, which was one shilling and eightpence to
Quebec; one shilling and tenpence to Montreal; two shillings and
twopence to Kingston; two shillings and sixpence to York; and three
shillings to Amherstburg.
Thus, employing the more familiar decimal currency, the postage on a
single sheet, weighing less than one ounce, posted in London and sent by
packet to Halifax and thence to its destination in Canada was, to Quebec
ninety-two cents; to Montreal ninety-six cents; to Kingston one dollar
and four cents; to York one dollar and twelve cents; and to Amherstburg
one dollar and twenty-four cents. Remembering Dalhousie's complaint that
it took upwards of seventy days for one of these precious letters to
reach him, the unpopularity of the packet service can be appreciated.
The second agency for conveying letters from England to Canada, was by
private ship, but through the medium of the post office. A person
desiring to send a letter from London to a post office in Canada would
write on the cover a direction that the letter was to be sent by a ship
which he would name, and post it in the ordinary way.
The post office would accept the direction, and would charge just one
half the packet postage for the conveyance to Halifax or Quebec, that
is, instead of two shillings and twopence for the sea conveyance, the
letter would only be charged one shilling and one penny. But the high
charges between the port of arrival in British North America and the
offices in inland Canada prevented the extensive use of this means of
conveyance.
The third mode of conveyance was irregular, but it was universally
employed. There were lines of sailing vessels, called American packets,
running between Liverpool and New York, which were fast sailers, and
which would carry letters from England to the United States for twopence
a letter, without regard to its weight or the number of enclosures it
contained.
The agents of these lines kept bags in their offices in London and
Liverpool, and when the vessels were due to sail, the bags were sealed
and placed on board. The conveyance of the letter bags from London to
Liverpool by the messengers of the sailing lines was illegal, as the
postmaster general had the exclusive right to convey letters within the
United Kingdom. There could have been no possibility of carrying on the
traffic in a clandestine manner, as it was wholesale in character, and
comprised the correspondence of the most eminent merchants in London. On
inquiry it was learned that one merchant alone sent one thousand letters
by this means, and not one by the official packets, and the practice was
universal.[182]
On the arrival of the American packets at New York, the letters for
Canada were deposited in the New York post office, and forwarded to the
Canadian border office in the United States mails, and thence to their
destination. The postage by this course was very much less than by
either of the other routes.
It was made up of three factors: the ocean postage of four cents, the
United States postage of nineteen or twenty-five cents--according to the
point at which the Canadian border was reached--and the inland Canadian
postage. The charge on a single letter to Quebec was forty-seven cents
instead of ninety-two cents, which would be due if sent by the packet
route. To Montreal, Kingston, York and Amherstburg, the postage on a
letter from London or Liverpool was thirty-one cents, forty-seven cents,
forty-one cents and sixty-one cents, as against ninety-six cents, one
dollar and four cents, one dollar and twelve cents and one dollar and
twenty-four cents respectively.
Letters to York coming from New York had the advantage of a daily
conveyance to Lewiston, where the transfer to the Canadian border
office at Queenstown was made, and of the lower charges which the United
States post office imposed for long distances. These figures, the lowest
then attainable, inevitably suggest comparisons.
It is only a few years since good citizens were rejoicing that the
postage rate between the mother country and Canada was brought down from
five cents to two cents a letter. Here was a link of empire of daily
utility. Communication could be kept up between the British immigrant
and his friends at home without too heavy a draft on slender purses. His
heart would remain British, and as he prospered he would induce others
of his friends and neighbours to come over and settle.
A glance backward will show how little these agencies of empire were
able to effect in our grandfather's time. The lowest possible postage
charge from London to York fifty years ago was forty-one cents, and that
would carry no more than one sheet of paper weighing less than an ounce.
If within the folds of this sheet were found another piece of paper no
larger than a postage stamp, the charge of conveyance from New York to
York was doubled, and with the ocean postage of four cents, the poor
immigrant would have to pay seventy-eight cents for his letter.
If the letter weighed an ounce, that is, if it were such a letter as
would pass anywhere within the British Empire for four cents, the charge
for it coming from London to York would be one dollar and fifty-two
cents. Finally, if this ounce letter were sent by the All-Red route,
that is by the British packet to Halifax and thence over British soil to
York, the postage charge would be four dollars and forty-eight cents.
Imperial sentiment must have rivalled wit in economy of expression in
those days.
While the British post office was unwilling to encourage the use of the
United States mails for the conveyance of letters between Canada and
Great Britain, it was anxious to put the British packet service on a
better footing. But the service had been going from bad to worse, and it
had reached a stage where it satisfied nobody.
Of the three points to which mails were carried--Halifax, New York and
Bermuda--the last named always held the position of advantage during the
winter. Until the winter of 1826 the packet called first at Bermuda,
leaving Canadian mails there, and continuing on to New York. At the
beginning of the winter of 1826 a change was made.[183] The packet
sailed to Bermuda, put off the United States mails there, and sailed
northward to Halifax, omitting New York. The United States mails were
conveyed by mail boat from Bermuda to Annapolis, Maryland.
This scheme remedied none of the defects of its predecessor, and brought
with it the additional disadvantage that it cut off all direct
connection between the British minister at Washington, and the governors
of the British colonies.
The secretary of the post office in explaining the arrangements to the
postmaster general washed his hands of all responsibility for them. He
declared that the plan originated with the admiralty, and was sanctioned
by the foreign and colonial secretaries as a practical measure. The
postmaster general on reviewing the correspondence was not surprised at
the general dissatisfaction, and was glad that the arrangements could
not be laid at the door of the post office.
The ocean mail service was beyond the control of the deputy postmaster
general of Canada. The postal relations with the United States were not,
and he exerted himself to improve these. A hardship under which Canadian
merchants doing business with the United States laboured was that they
had to pay the postage on all their letters as far as the United States
border.
It will be difficult to-day to see wherein the grievance of the early
Canadian merchants lay. But at that time the postage was a considerable
item in every transaction, and the merchant could not afford to
disregard it. When he sold a bill of goods to a customer in the United
States, he was obliged to throw on the customer the burden of the
postage on the correspondence relating to the goods, and the only sure
way of doing this was to post the letters unpaid, and leave the customer
to pay the postage on the delivery of the letters. If he had to pay from
eight to twenty cents which were required to take each single letter as
far as the border, he was apt to lose this sum.
To protect themselves the Canadian merchants used to employ private
messengers to carry their letters as far as the nearest post office in
the United States, and post them there. From this United States office
the letters would go to their destination without pre-payment.
Sutherland informed the postmaster general that some of the leading
mercantile houses in Canada sent hundreds of letters into the United
States by private hand.[184]
The United States merchant selling goods in Canada stood in a better
position as regards his correspondence. He was able to post his letters
for Canada unpaid, and the letter came into Canada and went to its
destination, where the person addressed paid the postage on delivery of
the letter. This was made possible by an arrangement between the deputy
postmaster general of Canada, and the post office department at
Washington, by which the former undertook to collect and pay over to the
latter the share of the postage which was due to the United States
department, receiving twenty per cent. for his trouble.
The arrangement was a purely private one, for which Sutherland did not
feel called upon to account to the general post office. What he desired
was that there should be some postmaster in the United States who would
act as agent for the collection of Canadian postage on letters entering
the United States from Canada, and he found the postmaster of Swanton,
Vermont, quite willing to act in this capacity.
As Swanton was the United States post office through which all
correspondence passed from Lower Canada into the United States, the
postmaster was well situated for this duty. The only difficulty was
about the commission of twenty per cent., which would have to be paid to
the postmaster as compensation. It was necessary to obtain the consent
of the British post office to this arrangement, as the deputy postmaster
general had no power to make abatements in the postage due to Canada,
without the authority of the postmaster general.
But this consent the postmaster general was not disposed to give.[185]
Besides the objection that the Canadian post office would receive only
eighty per cent. of the postage due on letters going to the United
States, the secretary suggested to the postmaster general that it would
seem inadvisable, politically, to encourage unlimited correspondence
between all sorts of persons in the two countries, without possibility
of restriction or of learning (should it be necessary) with whom any
particular person was in correspondence.
Indeed, the secretary had his doubts as to the legality of the
arrangement by which Sutherland acted as agent for the collection of the
United States postage on letters coming from that country into Canada.
The rates of postage, said he, are distinctly specified in various acts
of parliament, and the Canadian post office had no power to demand more
than the sum required by the statutes. If it were thought advisable to
have Canadian postmasters collect United States postage, a new
legislative provision would have to be made, which would lead to
similar applications from other countries, and the result would be
confusion and loss of revenue.
Whatever might have been the consequence of a strict interpretation of
the law, as intimated by the postmaster general, the deputy postmaster
general did not discontinue the convenient, and, to him, profitable
practice of providing for the transmission of unpaid letters from the
United States addressed to Canada.
So far from that, Sutherland improved on this arrangement. At the
solicitation of Canadian merchants, he obtained the consent of the
United States department to having British mails, landed at New York,
passed on to Canada without being held for the United States postage.
The postage due for the conveyance of the letters through the United
States was collected by the deputy postmaster general, and transmitted
by him to Washington, and the delays incident to having this work done
in the United States were avoided.[186]
On the 15th of February, 1825, a memorial[187] was addressed to the
British government by the Marquess of Ormonde, the Knight of Kerry and
Simon McGillivray, proposing to establish communication between Great
Britain and the British North American colonies by steam vessels, and
asking for the exclusive privilege of providing such a service for
fourteen years.
At this time steamboats were in pretty general use in the inland and
coastal waters of Great Britain, United States and Canada, but nothing
had up to this time been done to demonstrate that it would be
practicable to cross the Atlantic by a steamboat.
In 1819, a sailing vessel, the "Savannah," fitted up with a boiler and
engine and provided with a pair of paddles which could be hauled on deck
at will, started from Savannah, Georgia, for Liverpool. The voyage
occupied twenty-seven days. Only for three days and eight hours was the
"Savannah" under steam.
There was nothing in this experiment to induce the conviction that steam
could be successfully employed as a means of propulsion on the
transatlantic service, and as a matter of fact the machinery was removed
from the "Savannah" on her return to her American port, and she spent
the rest of a short existence as an ordinary sailing vessel between New
York and Savannah.
Lord Ormonde and his associates were convinced of the practicability of
steam navigation across the Atlantic, but to make an enterprise of that
kind a success, they would have to satisfy the public on the point, and
this would involve a large outlay. In asking for a fourteen years'
monopoly, they argued that their proposition would not produce the
ordinary ill-effects of a monopoly, as any tendency they might exhibit
towards excessive charges would be held in check by sailing vessels, and
by steamships, which would inevitably be run between the United States
and ports on the continent of Europe.
The proposed line was to consist of six vessels, three of 1000 tons, and
three of 600 tons, which would make their way across the Atlantic in
pairs, one large and one small steamer. The vessels would sail together
between Valentia, Ireland, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. On arrival at
Halifax, the vessels would separate, one going to New York and the other
to Quebec. When the two vessels reached Valentia on the voyage home, one
would proceed to Glasgow, and the other to Bristol. The memorial was not
entertained, and the project dropped.
Sutherland, in his personal relations, showed much more tact than
Heriot; and in the controversies which arose between him and the
colonial legislatures, Sutherland contrived to range himself on the side
of the governors, thus making the post office one of the matters of
which the ultra-British parties undertook the defence against the
attacks of the Radicals.
But the situation of the deputy postmaster general was too difficult for
him to secure unalloyed success. The various interests he had to serve,
and, as far as possible, to reconcile, were too antagonistic for
complete success. On the one side was a country being settled rapidly
and clamouring for postal service in all directions. On the other stood
the general post office fixed in its determination that its profits
should not be diminished, and scanning anxiously every fresh item of
expenditure.
Any serious inclination in one direction was sure to arouse resentment
in the other. A curious instance of this occurred in 1819, three years
after Sutherland had taken office. A number of merchants and others in
Montreal appointed a committee to wait on the deputy postmaster general
with a memorial containing an expression of their opinions and desires
respecting the postal service in Canada.
The post office in Montreal it was urged had become unsuitable as
regards site and space for the accommodation of the public, and the
assistance employed by the postmaster was unequal to the requirements of
an efficient service. The communications with the United States, Upper
Canada and within the province, should be increased in frequency, and an
interchange of mails should be opened with the Genesee and other
settlements in New York state by way of Prescott and Ogdensburg. The
memorialists also desired that letters might be sent to the United
States without prepayment of postage.
Sutherland, in his reply to the memorial, dealt with the committee with
an engaging frankness.[188] He was well aware, he said, that the
accommodation in Montreal post office was inadequate, but what was to be
done? The postmaster had only L300 a year salary, and out of that he had
to pay office rent and stationery. It was not to be wondered at, that
the postmaster endeavoured to economize in every way possible. He,
himself, had on more than one occasion advised the postmaster general of
the necessity for greater clerical help, but so far without the desired
effect.
Only the year before, Sutherland told the memorialists, he had submitted
to the postmaster general with his strongest recommendation, a petition
from the postmaster of Montreal for increased salary and assistance, but
the petition was refused. As for the increase in the frequency of the
communications it was beyond his power to authorize such an expenditure.
He had done his best on two recent occasions to induce the postmaster
general to allow letters to go into the United States without the
prepayment of postage, but was told that British postage must be paid on
letters going into foreign states.
The memorial and Sutherland's reply were transmitted to the general post
office. There they excited much indignation. Freeling, the secretary, in
a minute to the postmaster general, professed his inability to
understand whether this unreserved disclosure of Sutherland's proceeded
merely from indiscretion or from some other motive. The postmaster
general was, in effect, accused of inattention and supineness in the
discharge of his duties. His decisions were placed in the most invidious
light before the inhabitants of Montreal.
Indeed the whole circumstance had to Freeling the air of an
understanding between Sutherland and the committee. The postmaster
general was equally indignant, and ordered Sutherland's dismissal. But,
as so often happened, Freeling changed his attitude, urging a number of
countervailing circumstances against this extreme measure, and the
postmaster general, who appeared to do little more than to convert the
opinions and suggestions which Freeling so humbly submitted into
departmental decisions, concurred in this recommendation.[189]
In 1824, Sutherland met with a serious financial loss. The postmaster at
Montreal became a defaulter to the extent of L1706. Sutherland took
action against the postmaster's sureties, but owing to informalities his
suit was thrown out. He appealed to the general post office, alleging
that the reason of his non-suit was its failure to answer certain
questions which he had put to the postmaster general. The appeal was not
allowed. In 1827, Sutherland retired owing to ill-health, and was
succeeded by his son-in-law, Thomas Allen Stayner, the last and, in some
respects, the most distinguished of the representatives of the British
post office in Canada.
FOOTNOTES:
[167] _Can. Arch._, Br. P.O. Transcripts, III.
[168] _Can. Arch._, C. 284, p. 211.
[169] _Memoir of G. J. Mountain, D.D._, Montreal, 1866, p. 53.
[170] _Can. Arch._, Br. P.O. Transcripts, III.
[171] C. F. Grece, _Facts and Observations respecting Canada_, London,
1819, p. 52.
[172] _Can. Arch._, Br. P.O. Transcripts, III.
[173] _Quebec Almanac_, 1818, and _Can. Arch._, Br. P.O. Transcripts,
II.
[174] _Quebec Gazette_, July 17, 1826.
[175] Record Office, _Admiralty-Secretary In Letters_, Bundle 4073.
[176] _Can. Arch._, Br. P.O. Transcripts, III.
[177] _Ibid._
[178] _Can. Arch._, Q. 166, p. 371.
[179] _Ibid._, C. 285, p. 63.
[180] _Ibid._, Br. P.O. Transcripts, III.
[181] _Memorandum of W.B. Felton_, October 1826 (_Can. Arch._, Br. P.O.
Transcripts, II.).
[182] At the inquiry respecting Hill's proposition for penny postage,
the assistant secretary of the general post office stated that the
American packet, which sailed from England every ten days, carried 4000
letters each voyage, which did not pass through the post office (_Life
of Sir Rowland Hill_, by George Birkbeck Hill, I. 303).
[183] _Can. Arch._, G.P.O., Br. P.O. Transcripts, II.
[184] _Can. Arch._, Br. P.O. Transcripts, III.
[185] _Can. Arch._, Br. P.O. Transcripts, III.
[186] _Can. Arch._, Br. P.O. Transcripts, III.
[187] _Ibid._, Q. 173, p. 372.
[188] _Can. Arch._, Br. P.O. Transcripts, III.
[189] _Ibid._, II.