To the Kings most Excellent Ma^{ty}.
The humble Pet.i.tion of Andrew Hamilton, and Robert West.
SHEWETH
That your Maj^{tie}. and the late Queen of Blessed Memory in the fourth Year of your Raigne, by Letters Patent granted to Thomas Neale Esq^{r}.
full power and Authority to Erect a Post, and Post office in North America, To hold for one and Twenty yeares without any Account, And by the same Letters Patent directed the Post Master Generall of England to Issue Deputations from time to time to such Persons as Mr. Neale or his a.s.signes should Nominate, to Execute the same power.
In pursuance of which Grant, the Post Master Generall at Mr. Neales nomination, Deputed Your Peticoner Hamilton, who hath Setled a Post from New Yorke Southward as far as Virginia, and Eastward Seventy Miles beyond Boston in New England, which proves of great Advantage to the Trade of those Coloneys, and of no lesse Service to your Maj^{tys}.
Governm^{t}. there.
In the Setling and Supporting w^{ch} Post, your Pet^{r}. West, above seven yeares agoe upon the request and Credit of Mr. Neale, advanced Two hundred pounds, and your Pet.i.tioner Hamilton hath since disbursed Eleven Hundred Pounds more, and brought it to such Perfection, that it allready defrays Its own Charge, and will in time be a Considerable Revenue.
That Mr. Neale being unable to pay your Pet^{rs}. or to give them other Satisfaction, in August 1699 a.s.signed all his Interest in the said Post to your Pet.i.tioner West for secureing all the Monys due to both your Pet.i.tioners and all such other sumes as your Pet^{r}. Hamilton should expend in further enlarging the said Post, with Common Interest for the whole Moneys.
That Mr. Neale Dying before payment of any part of the said Debts, and all persons declining to Act either as his Executor, or Administrator, Your Pet^{rs}. will be necessitated to dispose of the said Post for Satisfaction of their Debts, but being Sensible It is more for your Maj^{ties}. Interest and Service, to have such Post Under the management and Controll of some Officer to be appointed by your Ma^{tys}. than of any Private Person.
Your Pet.i.tioners humbly tender the same to your Maj^{tie}. and if your Maj^{tie}. shall not thinke fit to Accept It, They humbly pray that your Maj^{tie}. will Gratiously encourage the Continuance and Enlargement of the said Post, by granting them a further terme of years therein, and such additional Priviledges as are necessary for the Improvement of it.
And your Pet.i.tioners shall ever pray &c^{a}.
At the Court.
No. 2.
LONDON _Feb^{ry}. 8th 1779._
SIR,
My present disagreable Situation as an Officer under the Crown without Employment, and without a Salary, occasioned by the Rebellion in America, induces me to give you the Trouble of this Adress, and to request your advice and a.s.sistance in procuring that Relief which my present Circ.u.mstances require.
You are not a Stranger to my Appointment to the Office of Deputy Postmaster of Philadelphia in the year 1776 by the Deputy postmasters General of North America, and that I continued to act in that Office, and as I trust to the entire Satisfaction of all concerned, until the Confusion and Sedition in that Country rendered it impossible for me to be of any kind of service.
In the Spring 1775 having good Reason to believe from a variety of Information that there was a Danger of breaking up the Post Office at Philadelphia under the Crown, and seizing upon all the Monies in my Custody, I immediately made up my Accounts, and remitted the Balance in my Hands to the Comptroller in New York up to the 5^{th} April of the same year.
About this time the disaffected Merchants in Philadelphia set up by Subscription a post Office in opposition to Government, appointed William Bradford Postmaster and compelled many of the well effected Merchants and others to send their Letters to it for Conveyance; and in May following the Mail was seized in New England under a public Avowel of the Rebels.
Under these Circ.u.mstances finding not only my person was in danger, but that I could be of no further service to the Crown by my continuing in Philadelphia, I left it and came into New York where my Conduct being approved, I procured leave of Absence, and returned to London in order to represent the true State of the Offices in America, which on my arrival I did. You will also recollect that as soon as possible after hearing that the City of Philadelphia was in possession of the Kings Troops I again embarked under an Expectation that the War would be settled by the Commissioners, and to take care of the post Office Affairs in that City. But on my arrival finding that All Letters by the packets &c^{a}. were taken up by the Commander in Chief, and delivered not only to the Army and Navy but even to the Merchants, the City being evacuated soon after, I was obliged to return again to this place for safety. When in the Execution of my Office my Salary amounted to Two Hundred and Twenty five pounds Sterl^{g}. p. Ann. out of which I paid Clerks Wages and Office Rent. This I received up to the 5 of April 1775.
Since that time I have subsisted on my own means (except Two Hundred pounds at the Post Office by Warrant from the Treasury) without receiving any other part of my Salary from Government.
In these Circ.u.mstances it is with reluctance I find myself under the necessity of applying for the same Allowance from the Crown, which has been made to other persons in Office under it, in the like Situation.
I am Sir &^{ca}.
THOS. FOXCROFT.
Anth. Todd, Esq^{r}.
Treasury authorized 100 a year from 5th April, 1775, "until he may be reinstated in the office or otherwise provided for."
No. 3.
GENERAL POST OFFICE, _February 15th, 1793._
SIR,
In your letter dated the 1st instant which we did not receive till the 8th, We have the honor to inform you that after much difficulty We have but lately obtained Mr. Finlay"s accounts as Deputy Post Master General in America the first Statement of which was for the period between the 5th of April 1786 and the 10th of October 1790 and exhibited a balance due to the Office up to that date of 1809.19.4 Sterling but the Account was inadmissible in point of form for reasons hereafter mentioned.
We are satisfied Sir that you will form no Opinion without having read the full state of the question on both sides and the proofs and doc.u.ments by which Our Conduct towards Mr. Finlay may be judged and that you will form no hasty conclusion from his statement of his own case, which you will find to be greatly misrepresented.
In support of this a.s.sertion We have ordered Copies of the letters that We have lately written to Mr. Finlay upon the Subject of his Debt to be laid before you, And We shall if you will permit us Order our Deputy Accountant General and desire Mr. Callender to wait upon you and to explain the particulars of all that have pa.s.sed.
Mr. Callender is Mr. Finlay"s Agent without whose knowledge and concurrence, We have taken no one step of late in this business, nor sent out any dispatch to Mr. Finlay that Mr. Callender has not previously seen and approved.
He will be able to satisfy you Sir, whether our conduct towards Mr.
Finlay has been grounded upon severity or upon forbearance, more than perhaps our duty strictly speaking, would justify.
In the mean time that we may do away any erroneous impression, which Mr.
Finlay"s letters may have made upon your mind, as well as upon Gov^{r}: Clarke"s, We shall shortly put together the points which Our correspondence will prove, and We shall rely upon your justice to transmit copy of that correspondence to Gov^{r}: Clarke, that He may have full and correct information upon the subject.
There is and has long been a considerable balance due from Mr. Finlay, to this Revenue, for the payment of which he has given no security, which balance We have repeatedly but in Vain called upon him to pay.
He is in possession from us not as He tells Governor Clarke, of a Salary of 300 per Annum, but of a Pension of 150 p. Annum, a Salary of 150 more, and a Commission of 20 per Cent on the net produce of letters within the province of Canada, which he a.s.sured us in May 1789 produced to Him a nett receipt of 130 p. Annum, but previous to his receiving any net produce, all charges, dead letters, under Deputies Salaries, and other allowances are by the Words of his Commission, to be first deducted.
Instead of this he has charged the Office 20 per Cent upon the Gross, the dead letters only deducted, and not upon the net produce and claimed to be allowed for sundry of those Articles of Management, which by His Commission on the Articles which are to be deducted before the Net Produce is paid to him.
He also charges his Pension for several quarters, which he must know, was paid to his Agent in this Country during a part of the time he claims it in Canada.
In an account amounting to several Thousand Pounds and for several Years, He has sent us home the particulars of no one Article of expenditure whatever, & one Voucher only which is but for 27.
His accounts from the length of time and the manner in which they have at different periods been stated, are in a confused and contradictory state, and radically wrong, from his having taken considerable credit for Money received by his Agent here on Account of his Pension, and the whole of the Articles of his disburs.e.m.e.nts being dest.i.tute of Vouchers, up to the Period of the 10th of October 1792, without which they cannot pa.s.s this, or the Auditors" Office, together with his having taken a Credit for his 20 p. Cent on false principles, and contrary to the words of His Commission, which says it shall be on the Net and not on the Gross Produce. The Accountant General therefore thought it more adviseable, and Mr. Finlay"s own Agent strongly recommended the measure, of Mr. Finlay"s coming to England to adjust in person, the whole, and render an Account capable of being incorporated in the Annual Accounts of this Office, for the Auditors in which the true balance must be ascertained.
As far as depends upon us We have given him the option to come or not, just as He pleases, provided We have an intelligible Account and his Balance paid.
His letter to Governor Clarke of 28th October contains one misrepresentation which is too strong not to be observed upon; For He says We are about to reduce his Income from 500 a year to 200, though We have often told him that We would allow him, and our proposal for doing so is now before the Privy Council, an income of 400 p. Annum net, besides 50 per Annum for his Clerk. He will also receive 100 p.
Year from the Province as Maitre des Postes, but which in fact is paid ultimately by this Country, being allowed in the Governor General"s Accounts: however independent of that 100 p. Annum, he will then be in the receipt of 400 p. Annum from us net Money, free of all deductions for managing an Internal Revenue in America which will not produce to this Country at the end of the Year a single shilling after paying the expence of the Post between Halifax, through the King"s Colonies, and Quebec, besides which this Office pays the expence of four Packet boats which cost upon the present Peace Establishment about 8000 p. Annum, though the correspondence between Great Britain and America does not yield above 3000 per Annum.
The Commissioners of Enquiry recommend that Mr. Finlay"s pension of 150 a Year should cease, which however We have continued to Him, And that his Salary only of 150 p. Annum should remain and they do not appear to have known that exclusive of this Pension and Salary he enjoyed a former Commission from the Year 1774 of 20 per Cent upon the net postage of all Money received in Canada, for which however in our calculation We had allowed Him 150 per Annum though He in his own dispatches a.s.sured us it produced him only 130 per Annum.
We have shewn this letter to Mr. Church and Mr. Callender before it was copied out fair, they have altered and approved of it, So that We are now Sir communicating to you, not only our own sentiments, but those of the deputy Accountant General and Mr. Finlay"s own Agent.
We are, Sir, WALSINGHAM, CHESTERFIELD.
The Right Hon^{le}. Henry Dunda.s.s.
(viii) THE CLERKS OF THE ROAD AND THE TRANSMISSION OF NEWSPAPERS.[762]