Whereas the inland postage on a letter throughout the United States
is three cents, while the ocean postage on a similar letter to
Great Britain, under a recent convention, is twelve cents, and on a
letter to France is thirty cents, being a burdensome tax, amounting
often to a prohibition of foreign correspondence, yet letters can be
carried at less cost on sea than on land; and whereas, by increasing
correspondence, and also by bringing into the mails mailable matter
often now clandestinely conveyed, cheap ocean postage would become
self-supporting; and whereas cheap ocean postage would tend to quicken
commerce, to diffuse knowledge, to promote the intercourse of families
and friends separated by the ocean, to multiply the bonds of peace and
good-will among men and nations, to advance the progress of liberal
ideas, and thus, while important to every citizen, it would become the
active ally of the merchant, the emigrant, the philanthropist, and the
friend of liberty: Therefore
_Be it resolved_, That the President of the United States be requested
to open negotiations with the European powers, particularly with Great
Britain, France, and Germany, for the establishment of cheap ocean
postage.