The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1845-02-11
NEW YORK HERALD.
Reform In the Post once Laws.

HI Eost oihSc LhNss
BY referring n our iatelligence from Washing
ton, full particulars viii be learned OF the recent
enactment of the Senate, securing a system of
cheap postage TO this nation, whose benefits will be
felt, ia short time, universally. 1t can hardly be
doubted tha when submitted to the House of
Representatives, it will meet with their approba-
ton; for, nothing short OF blind and criminal in
sensibty TO the real interests of the country could
prompt them to reject It, The principal provisions
OF this bill may be enumerated as follows;-
l. All single letters without regard to distance, shall
pay the uniform rate of postage OF five cents
Every letter weighing not more than halt an ounce
shall be deemed single letter, matter how many
pieces may contain, and if weighing ounce shall
Members OF Congress to receive and send letters
nswsp psrs. packages, &c not exceeding two
and after. Tne excess of postage on packages. &c
weighing than two to be paid the con.
tngsnt fund Members to send letters from themselves
No else to frank. except sx Presidents and their
All letters and packets SC, which pass free through
ae ms1 and all Government postage to be paid for out
the senders or carriers 10 any penalty.
Private POSTS tor carrying newspapers to be allowed
ment and the expenses, Qimted four and half mil
hons) to be paid out of the public Treasury.
II may be necessary evil 10 retain the ranking
privilege in those few cases in which it is reserved,
and so II must be tolerated; but it is satisfactory
In great degree that the numberless abuses aris-
Ing out OF the extension of this privilege to post
masters and swarms of official subs, is efectually
put down. For the future, they will have to &C.
count to the public for The transmission of letters
the public, through their officers, accounting to them
IN return, tor whatever moneys they expended on
bus ness, and not on their " own hook" Indeed
It may be fairly calculated that termination beng
thu.n 10 haf Sea- L. oc ,no
practlsed under the old regime, it will put an i'm
portant sum into the treasury Of The department.
Although the vote Of thirty-sevsn to twelve, by
which the Bill passed in the Senate, indicates that
this branch OF the Legislature are wide awake TO
the Importance of this enactment, and like men OF
common sense, sensible of the urgent wants
for post Office reform which have too long existed,
il is still curious that twelve men could be found in
that respectable body benishted as to cast their
votes against one the most valuable ameliorations
which has yet taken place in the affairs of this pro-
gresslve nation and worth all the rest of their e-
gslaton put together, in the present session. But
what completely puzzles one, is the speech of Mr.
McDuthe. in which he opposes, with the utmost
hostility, the whole measure. Some men, it seems,
have very little notion OF even-handed jus
tice-very little capacity to more than
one side of a question All this is mere
ly lnDoxious Stiffness in itinerant epouters
and stump orators, and pot-house politicians;
but II assumes another hue inside the halls of lie
gislation. The man who goes there TOR the pur
pose OF special pleading, and induging in ex parts
TRADES, is totally incompetent and unworthy ofthe
station, What, then, shall we say of Mr. McDuf
he's war to the knife against cheap postage? What
can we say but that he either cannot or would no
see the question in its true ligh-as great nation
al one, in which every man, from north to south,
from east to west, is alike concerned? Very likely
Mr.. McDuffie was carried away by his ultra
Southern predictions, to fire the broad side
of his WRATH not against the thing itself, but
against the North which, unhappily for the
orator, is in existence to enjoy its share of
the benefit. And should il participate even to
greater extent than the sunny South In
this excellent boon, is that good reason for Mr..
McDuhie's speenl Does that take away the sell
hshness of his desire to sit down in a corner, and
eat a solitary crust, rather than be seated at
bountful board with an imaginary rival 1t is not
true, although Mr.. McDufie says SO, that of ali
taxes upon the people, that of postage was the least
felt. The direct reverse is the fact. 1t was
clog in the wheels of business. 1t was
special visitation upon the industry, activity, and
intelligence of this great country. 1t was an
breathe, is ransfused for the use of all-not mono
polized by those who took the trouble to procure it
As to his cry out on account Of the assumed de.
felt in the revenue, by the. operation of the new
law, It is deserving of little regard. The same
was urged when Rowland Hill first agitated the
same question in England, but experience
has shown it was totally unfounded for
such an enormous increase in the number of letters
ensued, that in a short time after the introduc
ton of the penny postage law, there was cons
derabe surplus revenue, after paying all the charges
OF the deparment-just as will be the case here in
short period, or all experience is at fault.
As to the other sad consequences, which, accord
ing to MI. McDuie, are to follow this measure, they
will be found to exist only in his own imagination
with one exceptlon-and that is the revolution
that will follow, as he says in the department. In
this we entirely coincide with him; for a revolu-
ton, indeed, will be the result, which, instead Of
dePloring, as he does we regard as a most auspi.
cious event. it will be of those rare, peaceful,
revolutions in which the good is certain, and the
evil problematcaI, and Of which every individual
will in common participate.
NEw YORK PILOT LAw-WAR ON THE New
YoRK Pnors.-We have been very much astonsh
ed in observing the virulence and perseverance,
with which the Wall street journals are following
up the attack first made in an Albany paper on The
New York Pilots. These attacks upon these hard
working, merltorious and valuable class of men,
are malignant In the extreme. The Pilots OF New
York only want te be placed In the same position
that other pilots on the are under the laws of
Congress. The alteration in the law suggested
under The sanction Of Governor Wright is no more
than what they have right to expect from an
honorable and intelligent legislature But how
singular is to the journals which affect to re.
present those inte rests who are under incaculabe
obligations 10 this noble class OF men thus assalng
them and attempting to run them down for mere
political reasons, and the qualification If the mag-
MINT nassians ri a nissrahl. cLss.e Wa chill 4aI