The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

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the fact Unfalese
formal demonstration, it would scarcely be possible to be-
lieve that, at this time of day, and amid a people so
thirsting for all kinds of reform, the rank and shameless
abuses which were last night exposed, in the petition of
the newsvenders against the Post-office, should so long
have been allowed to exist. We described a few days
ago the disgraceful attitude which this expensive national
insitution lately presented to foreigners,—we pointed nut
its stationary, or (shall we call them ?) its Conservative
prejudices,—its resistance to all attempts at improvement,
—its total immobility in the midst of a moving world,—
its laziness, and its cupidity. We showed that the direc-
tors of the French posts, who bad felt the inconveniences
of being in communication with such an inert and avari-
cious establishment, had come amongst us with suggestions
of unequivocal amendment, which had been rejected,
merely because the proposed change would have
imposed some moments of additional exertion, or
curtailed the emoluments of some unauthorised
privilege. The activity and vivacity of our neigh.
bours,—their numerous well considered
and that characteristic seal which had induced
them to pass the Straits of Dover at their own
expense and peril, as Post-office plenipotentiaries, could
not rouse our sub-directors from their slumber, or shame
them out of their monopoly. The French functionaries
went away, we have no doubt, in disgust, resolved that
if any future treaty shall he thought necessary or advisable
to improve the Post•office intercourse between the two
countries, the proposition must begin on the part of
England, and the mission be sent to Paris. For the
failure of this well intended negotiation, we lay no blame
on the Noble Duke at the bead of the establishment, who
cannot, we are persuaded, fathom all the mysteries of
its management, or control all the conduct of its sub-
altern agents. But the laziness and selfineas of these
agents, in resisting the proposed amendments, or in
retaining the denounced abuses of their system in rela-
tion to our foreign intercourse, are far less deserving of
censure than the malversation exposed in the petition
of the newsvenders last night. We there see person.,
whose whole time is sold to the public, permitted to
neglect their public duties to attend to their own private
affairs. We there see the officers of a national establish-
ment entering into competition in trade with those
whose interests they are appointed to protect, and whose
orders they are commanded to execute. We there see the
clerks of the Post-office, not only contending for business
with the newsvenders, but ready to prevent their official
influence to get the better of their rivals. We there see
the combination of a great public institution—with every
facility of communication—commanding every road where
there is a mail coach, and spreading into every hamlet,
village, town, or city of the kingdom—ranged against an
individual newsvender, who finds his customers seduced
by their magnificent promises, or his trade crushed by
their overwhelming hostility. The official duties of a clerk
of the roads or of a clerk of the General Post-office,or of a
post-master, would appear to us to be totally incornp iti -
'tie with the trade of a newsvender. His business is to
forward newspapers, not to traffic in them ; and it would
seem nearly as consistent that an exciseman should he
himself a distiller, or that an officer of the customs should
be allowed to keep a shop for the disposal of French
silks, as that a clerk of the Post-office should he a dealer
in journals. This might he inferred from the nature of
the duties required of persons connected with the Post-
office and the trade of a newsman; but the petition
of the newsvenders of London, and that of Mr.
Johnston, of Dublin, allege specific grievances which
deserve public notice. Mr. Johnston last year addressed
to the House of Commons a well-drawn up memo-
rial on this subject, the facts of which he is unfortunately
obliged to embody in his present petition, as he has hitherto
obtained no redress for his wrongs, or rather has since
experienced additional impediments in his business. He
shows that the clerks of the roads in Ireland evade all
postage, either in ordering newspapers, or renewing the
term of those already ordered,—that this evasion of pos-
tage is not confined to their correspondence with post-
m afters, but with every person receiving a newspaper
through their hands, and that such secret or post-free
communications is used by them to forward their interests
in recommending particular journals which they desire to
favour. This sacrifice of revenue to their private pur-
poses turns, of course, most injuriously against their com-
petitors in the traffic of newspapers. But, besides this,
Mr. Johnston shows that ;t even sometimes gives theta
an interest in delaying the mails; that in a such a case,
their particular facilities may be made available in
the delivery of newspapers to their customers before
those of the regular newsmen. Even, therefore, though
the conduct of these " clerks of the roads" had not been
marked by hostility to Mr. Johnston in particular, the
grievances which he alleges deserve a severe scrutiny and
speedy redress, on public grounds. The petition of the
general body of newsvenders in the metropolis contains
similar complaints against the monopoly of the clerks of
the roads, and the General Post-office clerks in England.
One advantage which such public officers have over the
private trader is obvious, namely,—that they can put
newspapers into the mail-bags, addressed to their agents
or customers, to the very moment of their delivery to the
mail, while the newsvender is charged one halfpenny on
every newspaper posted after 6 o'clock, and finds a total
exclusion of his parcel at half-past 7. The regulations of the
Post-office wi h respect to the transmission of English papers
abroad, or the receipt of foreign journals in this country, im-
pose a g sievous restraint on the regular dealer, and entail an
expense on the public for the profit of the t fficiel interloper.
These facts and allegations demand an immediate inquiry
and redress. It is shameful to see an establishment in-
tended solely for the public benefit perverted to the
private advantage of its officers. If the salaries of the
Post-office clerks be too small, let them be raised ; hut
let the public have all the advantage of their services
without incurring any inconvenience by their indolence,
or suffering any loss by their rapacity. " If," said Mr.
Palmer, who was opposed by the subalterns of the day,
in his memorial to Mr. Pitt on the reform of the Post.
office, in 1783 (50 years ago), " upon inquiry the salaries
of the officers are too small for the trust reposed in them,
or the duty required of them, Government ought to ad-
vance them ; but ought no more to keep a negligent or
corrupt servant in the department of the Poet-office
than in that of the Excise." To this sentiment we
heartily subscribe, and, therefore, must insist on cutting off
trout mem all sources of income which place them in op.
position to their duties or to the public interests. From
a statement before us, we find that the clerks of the Gee
neral Post-office in London, derive '7,4961. a year from
the sources of monopoly to which we have alluded—that
is, from above of their office. Is the Duke of Richmond
aware of this fact, or will the public tolerate the continu-
ance of such au illegal or unwarrantable traffic ? We are
sorry to see that Lord Althorp, from the multiplicity,
doubtless, of his other avocations, has been unab e to
bestow that attention on the question of the Post-office, or
to acquire that information respecting its abuses and its
resistance to improvement, which we could have wished
from a Minister of the Crown. In speaking, for instance,
on the difficulty of arrangement with respect to the optional
franking of letters addressed to parties in France, his Lord-
ship is reported to have said that the attempt would lead
to " inextricable confusion." Does his Lordship not know
that the experiment has been already triad on a great scale
in France and over the continent—that it has perfectly
succeeded for a long time—and that it has been the
source oh great public convenience ? Does he not know
that the French post-office has the same tree y with
Prussia, with Belgium, and with every b .rdsring c ,nti •
gent., I State, which the directors of the French post- office
lately proposed with England ? Does he not know that
they proposed to undertake the teaching of our unapt Ad-
ininoor aion, and they would probably have sent over a
clerk to instruct them in the details ? Whether he knows
these
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fleeted upon preseseitione which must oenefieially it ice
affected the revenue of 'he St tie, as well as have pros
rooted the convenience of the pubic. Tto matter, how.
ever, cannot rest here. We must again and again knock
at the gates of this " castle of indolence" and corruptios,
till we rouse its inmates to a feeling of their duties, and a
sense of their dangers.-- Times.