There are few institutions in this or in any other country the history
of which is so little known as is that of the post-office. The very
name, in the opinion of the masses, is sufficient to enlighten them; and
beyond this little or no interest is manifested. Yet the history, if
fairly written, would surprise that very portion who consider the name
alone an index to its unwritten pages.
Indeed, it seems strange that so important a branch of our government
should have been so slighted by those who constituted themselves
historic writers. Our school-books contain no allusion to it, nor are
its officers mentioned with any marks of commendation in any of our
national works. And yet there are names identified with this department,
both as regards mind, intellect, and character, unequalled by those of
any other in the country.
Perhaps it is looked upon as being merely an appliance to the wheels of
government and not essential to its general movements. Is this so? is
the department a mere workshop and its officers and employees simply
workers?
We have endeavored in this work—perhaps feebly—to place the “post”
before our readers as one of the most important branches of the General
Government. We have thrown around its social and political history an
interest by connecting with it incidents, facts, and local matter more
immediately identified with events which have marked our country’s
history from its earliest period to that of the present.
Much has transpired during all these years to render such a work both
instructive and interesting; and although we do not claim for ours any
such pretension, yet we may safely term it _a pioneer in the cause of
our postal history_.
We have also endeavored, without any aid from the postal department at
Washington, to furnish a somewhat desultory history of the post in this
country, while at the same time we have given some account of those of
other nations. Ours is not a mere statistic history, but one that blends
with it a certain amount of information upon every subject more or less
connected with it. Aiming at no high literary attainments, or attempting
to excel others in language, beauty of sentiment, or construction of
sentences, he has written a work in his own style, and in a manner which
he flatters himself will be received favorably by the masses. The
American language given in its plainest style will be far more
appreciated by them than if clothed in the classic garb scholastic and
academical _tailoring_ has thrown around it.
The primitive style in which our forefathers wrote has been materially
changed by the introduction of foreign and learned words. This, it is
true, as Blair says, “gives an appearance of elevation and dignity to
style;” but often, also, they render it stiff and forced; and, in
general, a plain native style, as it is more intelligible to all
readers, so, by a proper management of words, “it may be made equally
strong and expressive with this Latinized English.” Barren languages may
need such assistance, but ours is not one of these.
The author is also aware that in the general arrangement of his subject
there may seem a want of connection; but, as the postal chain is linked
to dates, he may be excused if other portions of the work fly off in
tangents. This, however, is owing more to the variety of postal matter
introduced than to any neglect on his part to bring them into harmonic
action.
The post-office, dry and uninteresting as its name alone implies,
possesses an interest few people are aware. It is not a mere commercial
affair, but one that connects itself with the interest of every man,
woman, and child in the country whose business and sympathies are alike
linked to its operations. There is not a country or a spot of ground on
the habitable globe where civilization, with its handmaid, intellect,
treads, but is identified with this vast postal chain. Touch the wire at
one end, and its vibration may tend to enlighten even the land of the
heathen. The wire _has_ been touched; for
“From Greenland’s icy mountains,
From India’s coral strand,
Where Afric’s sunny fountains
Roll down their golden sand,
From many an ancient river,
From many a palmy plain,”
come messages from our missionaries, who are endeavoring to extend the
cause of Christianity, and which postal facility, the enterprise of
civilized nations, affords.
The author in a great measure had to rely upon his own resources for all
the postal information incorporated in this work. The department at
Washington and post-offices throughout the country seem to consider the
records of the institution not of sufficient importance to be preserved
in such a manner as to make a reference to them an easy matter.
To M. Hall Stanton, Esq., and Thomas H. Shoemaker, Esq., the author
feels highly indebted, not only for the interest they have taken in the
work, but for placing at his disposal their valuable libraries and the
loan of old and rare works.
For the valuable statistical tables so carefully and so well arranged,
giving at a glance the _Ledger_ account of the financial postal
department, the author is indebted to William V. McKean, Esq., the able
and talented editor of “The National Almanac and Annual Record,”—a work,
to use the language of a distinguished public character, “which is a
little library in itself, and one which answers nearly all questions on
public affairs in a most satisfactory manner.”
To “the press” of our country, which has become its historian, is the
author indebted for much valuable matter connected with the subject of
the post. If from these sources he has compiled a work calculated to
place the postal department in its proper light and render it in the
least instructive or interesting, he will be fully repaid for the labor
bestowed upon it.