Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1841-10-09

thlng) to prove his innocence. no" 'he
matter will end no one can yet tell; but
let the event be what il may, wo see no
other means to prevent q conflict between
the U. States and England, than for the
latter to make due PREPARATIONS for the
destruction of the Caroline-a thing she
has thus far positively declined to do.
The Postmaster AT NEw-ORLEANs.-
We invite the special attention Of our citizens
and the inhabitants generally Of the banks Of
the Mississippi between Bayou Sara and
| New Orleans, to the following circular:
POST OFFICE,
N. ORLEANS September 10, lS4l.
To Captains and Managers Of SteamboGts.
W All Captains and Managers OF Steam
boats, are hereby requested to comply strictly
with the following section of the Act OF Con-
rress in 1925, regulating the Post Office De-
partment, under the penalty mentioned
therein. ;,
Section 9th. Be il enacted, That it shall
be the duty of every Master or Manager OF
any steamboat which shall pass from one port
or place to another port or place IN the UNI
! ted States, where a Post Office is established
to deliver, within three hours after his arrival,
if in the day time, and within two hours alter
the next sunrise, if the arrival be i'll the night
all Letters and Packets addressed t, or des-
tined for, such port or place, to the Postnlas-
| ter there, for which he shall be entitled to
receive, of such Postmaster, two cents Tor
every letter or packet SO delivered, unless the
same shall be carried or conveyed under a
| contract with the Postmaster-G General, and IT
any Master or Manager of a shall
fail so to deliver any Letter or Packet which
shall have been brought by him or shall have
been in his care, or within his power, he shall
incur a penalty of THIRTY DOLLARS for every
such failure. And every person employed on
board any steamboat, shall deliver every Let
ter, and Packet of Letters, entrusted to such
person, to the Master or Manager of such
steamboat, and before the said vessel shall
touch at any other Port or place; and for eve
ry failure or neglect soto deliver, a penalty
of Ten DOLLARS shall be incurred for each
Letter or Packet.
WIN. DE BUYS, Postmaster.
Within the last six months the I" 5. mail
upon the River has been.so extremely irregu-
la=, that inhabitants on the coast have depend
ed mainly, for communication with New Or
leans, on the Bayou Sara packets, the Persian
and the Clipper; and the citizens OF New
Orleans, in like manner, have looked to these
boats as the only medium to be relied on for
communication with theircorrespondents in the
country. This is a notorious fact, and we re-
fer to it here only with the view Of demonstra-
ting the injustice and tyranny of the above or
der, and the gross abuse Of authority resort
ed to by the New Orleans postmaster in at
tempting to enforce, at this jaacture, the Sec
ton quoted.
Let us not be misunderstood. We do not
object to the justice of the above section un-
der regular, consistent administr alton OF the
posts at such times, the law is wholesome,
and beneficial, We believe, to all pariies-as
much SO as the laws against smuggling while
all other revenue laws continue to be web and
faithfully executed. But would there be either
common justice or common sense in %continu.
ing to execute rigidly the law against snug
glers, when every other revenue law had been
abolished, or was de facto null, from the neg
lect and recklessness of the revenue officers!
Most certainly not and the collector who
should attend solely to the execution of said
law. while the laws it was intended to protect
imperative, would be laughed at as
a fool, or denounced as a knayc.
Now, such is really the case respecting the
administration of the posts along the coast
The laws regulating the transportation of the
mails, are virtually null and void, from the
mutual failure of the government and the con-
tractors to discharge their obligations towards
each other. The consequence is, that the
against smuggling letters, and to ensure
the post-office department the largest possible
revenue, is likewise a nudity, because the
United States no longer furnish us a mail by
which to transport our communications from
$500 @"H w. ~ uEPCiuCAS VI pllVdlc
citizens for this favor, and not on the govern
ment; and yet here is a public funetionary
who has the impertinence{to threaten US with
the penalties of a law against transmitting
letters otherwise than by mail, when there
no mail through which to transmit our
Verify, the man must be either -
We cannot speak of him with respect.
For the information of those to whom the
above order is addressed, we will state that
here is no occasion for paying it the slightest
attention, until the government shall have
for a regular and punctual delivery
the New-Orleans mail on the coast, and
he coast mail at Newt rleans nor is any
justitiable in exacting postage On
way letters left by steamboats, or individuals
1t his Office, until the post-ofice department
uIflls its obligations to the public.
1t was well known to the postmaster at
wv OrleaHs, when he issued the above Or |
Ter, that government had mo carriage either
y land Or water, on the Mississippi for the |