The Sun.
London, England, 1840-11-12 00:00:00

POST-OFFICE REGULATIONS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
KELLY, SATURDAY EVENING, Nov. 7, 1840,
(Being about Four Hundred and Twenty
Miles from London.)
SIR,—Now that we have got penny postage, from the
Queen's Ministers, let us try to get our foreign letters
and newspapers sent direct through London on Sun-
days, in place of lying thirty-six hours there, as they
often do. This letter will be with you on Monday
morning, the course of post being now about thirty'
hours, during which very same thirty hours the whole
news of Europe—and very likely that from China—will
be lying snug at S:. Martin's-le-Grand ; for everything
which reaches Landoll on Saturday evening, and during
all of Sunday, and up to six o'clock on Monday mornings
is laid on the shelf there, according to the old-fashioned
notions of Sir Francis Freeling. If this were really to serve
any good purpose,it might be submitted to with patience ;
but knowing, as I well do, from indisputable evidence, as
well as from Parliamentary Returns made to motions of
my own, that it is not so, I mean here to show the people
of England, Ireland, and Scotland, whose letters pass
through London, as the immense proportion do, how
they are hoaxed and hunabug4ed by those who rule the
roast at the General Post-office in London. For it is not
to be overlooked that foreign letters and newspapers
for the district of England whose mails do not run
through London, get their correspondence without am
stop of hindrance whatever, on Sundays the same as on
other days. Further, I be'4 to repeat, that lam speak.
ing of foreign mails only being detained in London.
The ostensible reason is the prevention of Sunday
desecration. The truth is, that the whole desecration,
whatever it be, is regularly incurred in London now,
and very highly and specially paid for ; and yet
our foreign mails are kept in London from
six o'clock nn Saturday night, if they arrive
about or later than that hour, until Monday
morning at 8 o'clock, when they arc sent off by the
morning mails; while the mail coaches and other con-
veyances of Sunday morning and Sunday evening, all in
full array, have been sent off empty—literally empty, from
London. But it will be alleged that receiving the mail
bags, and sorting the letters and newspapers has been
avoided ; and thus that all the public servants in the
General Post-office have had a day of rest, and Church
attending, should they choose so to spend it. Nothing
is further from fact, because foreign mails are forwarded
on Sunday, and received at any hour of the day or
night, of Saturday or Sunday ; and a special force is
kept constantly in attendance at St. Martin's-le-Grand,
for the express purpose of not only sorting the contents
of the foreign mail bags, but also for delivering them
about and around London on Sundays, to the Ministers
of State, and every public office. Nay, more, this is
done by special messengers, who of course lose their
Sunday devotions as the clerks and sorters in the Post-
office do. One of my Parliamentary returns shows all
this. Well, but why are the mails not sent forward
from London, seeing that the conveyances, with guard
and coachman, proceed as formerly, and as regularly
on the Sunday mornings and evenings as if the bags
were in the boots, and keeping in mind that every thing
had been sorted, and made all ready during the day for
chucking into the coaches? The why is the crambo—
the Post-office secret—the something the big wigs at
St. Martin's-lc-Grand hate to hear mentioned ; because,
by a mere possibility, it might endanger, as they chose
to fancy, their Sunday jollifications in town and
country. The contents of the foreign mails, I repeat,
are all ready made up on Sunday for being chucked
up to the guard, sitting with a coachman on a
coach with empty boot, and the roof unloaded, and
all highly paid for to contractors out of the people's
pockets ; but such is the love and respect for beef and
plum-pudding on Sundays in London, as to bear away
the bell against the inhabitants of all England, Ireland,
and Scotland, who do not get their foreign correspon-
dence and news on the Dover side of London. Sunday
desecration, mind, is of no account on the Dover side
of London. The fate of Europe will proably be slum-
bering in St. 'Martin's-le-Grand, while this is en route
to you ; and the philanthropist, the politician, and
trader of every degree, must wait patiently for the dis-
closure until the door creaks there on Monday morn-
ing, " big with the fate of empires," rather than disturb
the Champagne, or accelerate the bees-wing in the claret
of the joyous sons of the coach and horn department.
So be it, said old Freeling—so be it, his successors say,
—and so be it, say 1, so long as the people of these
kin,donas will suffer themselves to be so monstrously
imposed upon under the veil of religion ; while not a
particle of piety, morality, or true veneration for holy
things can have' any share in the matter, just becauseli
is impossible as respects the foreign mails. If the poo
mail-horses bad tongues which could speak, they would
tell the difference between the accumulated weight on
Monday and that of the usual collection ; but as they
cannot do this, I will just in their behalf say that send-
ing forward the foreign mails for the north of England,
Ireland, and Scotland, would be merciful to them.
Sir, your obedient servant,
ROBERT WALLACE.

A LEARNED HORSE.—For some weeks past a
most extraordinary horse has been publicly exhibited at the
rooms in Windsor, by its owner, Mr. King, late of Ips-
wich. Several of the members of the Royal Household
have, at various times, honoured the public rooms with
their presence, amongst whom were the Earl of Erroll,
the Earl of Uxbridge, Lord Alfred Paget, the Hon. C.
A. Murray, Colonel Wylde, Mr. G. E. Anson, Colonel
Cavendish, &c. The fame of the horse having reached
the ears of the Queen and Prince Albert, her Majesty
commanded the owner to attend with the horse on Tuesday
morning at the Castle. Amongst the performances of the
horse, at the command of the Queen, was his spelling the
word " Albert," by selecting the letters, which were
printed on cards, and placed amongst several others on
the table before him. Each letter, as he took up the card
in his mouth, was placed in the hands of the Queen. The
horse next spelt " Victoria" in the same manner. The
horse, after having drawn a cork from a bottle with his
teeth, which required the exercise of considerable force,
next picked up from the floor a hen's egg with his lips, and
afterwards managed to place it in his mouth without break-
ing, or even bruislting, the shell. At the conclusion of
the performances (which lasted upwards of an hour) her
Majesty passed a high encomium on the animal's skill and
sagacity.
The Brighton Rail-road Company having just
called in all their money, for the purpose of completing the
line forthwith, a great number of additional men arc in
full employ at every part, and we have reason to believe
the 'hole will be complete by next summer. The weather
at present is certainly very favourable.