_This article of contract_, made the fifteenth day of February, in the
year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, between the United
States (acting in this behalf by their Postmaster General) and Albert C.
Ramsey and Edward H. Carmick, William H. Aspinwall and Edwin Bartlett, of
the city of New York; Silas C. Herring, Elihu Townsend, Simeon Draper,
and R. B. Coleman, of the same place, _witnesseth_: That whereas, by an
act of Congress, passed March 3, 1845, entitled “An act to provide for
the transportation of the mail between the United States and foreign
countries, and for other purposes,” the Postmaster General is authorized
to contract for the transportation of the United States mail between any
of the ports of the United States and a port or ports of any foreign
power whenever, in his opinion, the public interests will thereby be
promoted; and whereas, by another act of Congress, passed March 3, 1851,
entitled “An act to establish certain post-roads in the United States and
the Territories thereof,” the Postmaster General is authorized to enter
into contracts, for a period not longer than four years, for transporting
through any foreign country the mails of the United States, and that in
making such contracts, the Postmaster General shall be bound to select
the speediest, safest, and most economical route; and whereas notice has
been given by advertising, in accordance with the directions of said
act, for inviting proposals for mail contracts, under and by virtue of
the acts aforesaid; and whereas Albert C. Ramsey and Edward H. Carmick
have been accepted, according to law, as contractors for transporting the
mail on route No. 9, from Vera Cruz, via Acapulco, to San Francisco and
back, twice a month, according to the schedule hereinafter mentioned, in
thirteen days each way, being an extension of two of the trips on the New
Orleans and Vera Cruz line through Mexico, for the purpose of conveying
the mail, and thus making one through-line in sixteen days between
New Orleans and San Francisco, at and for the sum of four hundred and
twenty-four thousand dollars per year, for and during the term commencing
from the time Congress shall ratify this contract, and ending four years
from that date, with the right reserved to the Postmaster General to
continue it one year longer, at the same terms:
Now, therefore, the said Albert C. Ramsey and Edward H. Carmick,
contractors, and Silas C. Herring, Elihu Townsend, Simeon Draper, Robert
B. Coleman, William H. Aspinwall, and Edwin Bartlett, their sureties,
do jointly and severally undertake, covenant, and agree with the United
States, and do bind themselves:
1st. To carry said mail within the times fixed in the annexed schedule
of departures and arrivals, and so carry until said schedule is altered
by the authority of the Postmaster General of the United States, as
hereinafter provided, and then to carry according to said altered
schedule.
2d. To carry said mail in a safe and secure manner, free from wet
or other injury, in weather-proof bags and vehicles on the land
route, and in a separate and convenient apartment on shipboard, to be
suitably fitted up under order of the department, at the expense of the
contractors, for the assorting and safe-keeping of the mails, and for the
sole and exclusive occupation, use, and accommodation of the Post Office
Department and its mail-agent, if the Postmaster General shall require
it for the use and accommodation of the mail and mail-agent, and such
mail-agent is to be conveyed without further charge.
In case the contractors fail to furnish such suitable accommodations,
the department shall have the right to provide the bags, vehicles, or
apartments, or other suitable accommodations, at the expense of the
contractors.
3d. To take the mail and every part of it from, and deliver it and every
part of it into, the post office at San Francisco, and to and from
the mail steamers at Vera Cruz on the New Orleans and Vera Cruz line,
and also to deliver and receive the mails at San Diego and Monterey,
regularly by each trip going and returning, as is now done by the
“Pacific Mail Steamship Company.”
They also undertake, covenant, and agree with the United States, and do
bind themselves, jointly and severally, as aforesaid, to be answerable
for the person to whom the said contractors shall commit the care and
transportation of the mail, and accountable to the United States for
any damages which may be sustained by the United States through his
unfaithfulness or want of care; and that the said contractors will
discharge any carrier of said mail whenever required to do so by the
Postmaster General; also, that they will not transmit by themselves or
their agent, or be concerned in transmitting, commercial intelligence
more rapidly than by mail, and they will not carry out of the mail
letters or newspapers which should go by post; and that they will not,
knowingly, convey any person carrying on the business of transporting
letters or other mail matter without the consent of the department;
and further, that the said contractors will convey, without additional
charge, post-office blanks, mail bags, and the special agents of the
department, on the exhibition of their credentials.
They further undertake, covenant, and agree with the United States,
that the said contractors will collect quarterly, if required by the
Postmaster General, of postmasters on said route, the balances due from
them to the General Post Office, and faithfully render an account thereof
to the Postmaster General in the settlement of quarterly accounts, and
will pay over to the General Post Office all balances remaining in their
hands.
For which services, when performed, the said Albert C. Ramsey and Edward
H. Carmick, contractors, are to be paid by the said United States
the sum of four hundred and twenty-four thousand dollars a year, to
wit: quarterly, in the months of May, August, November, and February,
through the postmasters on the route, or otherwise, at the option of the
Postmaster General of the United States; said pay to be subject, however,
to be reduced or discontinued by the Postmaster General, as hereinafter
stipulated, or to be suspended in case of delinquency.
It is hereby stipulated and agreed by the said contractors and their
sureties, that the Postmaster General may increase the service or change
the schedule, he allowing a pro rata increase of compensation within the
restrictions imposed by law for the additional service required; but the
contractors may, in case of increased service or change of schedule,
relinquish the contract, on timely notice, if they prefer it to the
change.
It is hereby also stipulated and agreed by the said contractors and their
sureties, that in all cases there is to be a forfeiture of the pay of a
trip when the trip is not performed, and of not more than three times
the pay of a trip when the trip is not duly performed and no sufficient
excuse for the failure is furnished; a forfeiture of at least one-fourth
part of it when the running is so far behind time as to lose connexion
with a depending mail, unless it is shown that the same was not caused
by neglect, or want of proper skill or misconduct, and a forfeiture of
a due proportion of it when a grade of service is rendered inferior
to the mode of conveyance above stipulated; and that these forfeitures
may be increased into penalties of a higher amount, according to the
nature or frequency of the failure, and the importance of the mail; also
that fines may be imposed upon the contractors, unless the delinquency
be satisfactorily explained to the Postmaster General in due time, for
failing to take from or deliver at a post office, or a steam-vessel,
the mail, or any part of it; for suffering it to be wet, injured, lost,
or destroyed; for carrying it in a place or manner that exposes it to
depredation, loss or injury, by being wet, or otherwise; for refusing,
after demand, to carry a mail by any vessel or other vehicle which the
contractors run or are concerned in running on the route beyond the
number of trips above specified; or for not arriving at the time set in
the schedule, unless not caused by neglect or want of proper skill, or by
misconduct. And for setting up or running an express to transmit letters
or commercial intelligence in advance of the mail, or for transporting
knowingly, or after being informed, any one engaged in transporting
letters or mail matter in violation of the laws of the United States, a
penalty of five hundred dollars may be exacted for each offence, and for
each article so carried.
And it is hereby further stipulated and agreed by the said contractors
and their sureties that the Postmaster General may annul the contract for
repeated failures; for violating the post office laws; for disobeying
the instructions of the department; for refusing to discharge a carrier,
or any other person having charge of the mail by his direction, when
required by the department; for assigning the contract without the
consent of the Postmaster General; for setting up or running an express
as aforesaid, or for transporting persons, conveying mail matter out of
the mail as aforesaid; or whenever the contractors or either of them
shall become a postmaster, assistant postmaster, or member of Congress;
and this contract shall in all its parts be subject to the terms and
requisitions of an act of Congress passed on the twenty-first day of
April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight,
entitled “An act concerning public contracts.”
And it is hereby further stipulated and agreed by the said contractors,
that the steam-vessels for the service between San Francisco and Acapulco
shall be of a class contemplated by the act of Congress, passed March
3, 1845, entitled “An act to provide for the transportation of the mail
between the United States and foreign countries, and for other purposes;”
and that the same shall be delivered to the United States, or their
proper officer, on demand made, for the purpose of being converted into
vessels of war, according to the tenor and terms of the said act.
And it is hereby further expressly understood that this contract is to
have no force or validity until it shall have received the sanction of
the Congress of the United States, by the passage of an appropriation to
carry it into effect.
In witness whereof, the said Postmaster General has caused the seal of
the Post Office Department to be hereto affixed, and has attested the
same by his signature; and the said contractors and their sureties have
hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year set opposite their
names, respectively.
S. D. HUBBARD, _Postmaster General_. [SEAL.] March 3, 1853.
WM. H. ASPINWALL, [SEAL.] March 3, 1853.
EDWIN BARTLETT, [SEAL.] March 3, 1853.
_By Wm. H. Davidge, their Att’y_.
ALBERT C. RAMSEY. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
EDWARD H. CARMICK. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
SILAS C. HERRING. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
ELIHU TOWNSEND. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
SIMEON DRAPER. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
R. B. COLEMAN. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
THE MEXICAN OCEAN MAIL AND INLAND COMPANY, [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
_By Robert G. Rankin, President_.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the Postmaster General in the presence
of—
JAMES LAWRENSON.
R. T. MCLAIN.