The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1849-11-23

that they shall be carried out And we would be
willing to GO even sillfdrher, and say that auniform
rate of tco cents on letters would cover all the ex
penses of the transportation OF the mails, but for
the present we will be content with THREE GEMS
to which point, we think, Congress will be obliged
to reduce 1t during the next session. We think it
would be advisable for public meetings to be held
on this subject, in the large commercial cities, aud
memorials prepared, calling upon the members of
the next Congress to act promptly in this matter;
as our readers know too well, that body moves
very slowly in legislation, and few expressions Of
public opinion might quicken their pace and bring
about this reform, and the benefits that would GER
tainy flow from it, at an earlier day than # Con-
gress were left to itself, and not logged on or hur-
ried in the matter.
There is another branch of this subject, to which
we wish to call the attention of the President. the
Postmaster General, the public, and members Of
Congress. We allude to the rate of postage on
letters between the United States and Europe
BY the treaty recently entered into between the
United States and England the rate is fixed at
t,centy foy cents, independently ofnternal postage
This is entirely too much. 1t is serious tax on
the mercantile community on each side OF the At
lanhc, and is positive grievance to hundreds and
thousands, and, we might say, millions of people
in each country. The emigration to the United
States from the old world has been so great within
the lasA few years. that there is scarcely family in
Europe that has not one or more members or rela-
tives in the United States. AS general thing,
this class of people are poor-ln many instances,
exceedingly poor-to whom rate of twenty-four
cents, with the internal postage of each country
4 l,~ III ptTatI hon hui LOTT
Let the rate be reduced to free trade point-say
ten cents, even fce cents, instead OF twenty-four
and the postofiices of each country, as well as the
contractors for carrying the mails across the
ocean, will be just as much benefited as
the people Will be. For every letter that
now passes between the two countries under
the present system, there would be twenty,
If the rate were reduced. The United States, es-
peclally, ought to lose no time in taking this mat
ter in hand. We are the freest people under the
canopy of heaven. We are self-governed peo-
pie, and we preach sef-government to the rest Of
the world. But self-government can never be OBJ
tanned IN Europe, until the despotsms which exist
there are undermined and thrown down. The
most eliectual way of accomplishing such work,
is to promote the interchange Of views between
the TWO hemispheres AS it is, every letter which
an emigrant in this country writes to his family
or friends in Europe, is revolutionary document
an attack on despotism 1t is our duty then, apart
from other considerations, to increase and multi
ply the number of those misslves. But without
this we are satisfied i, is for the interest of both
England and the United States to make the reduce
ton, IN pecuniary point OF view:
We hope Congress will act on this sube ct at an
early dsv. Now is the appropriate time for agitat-
ing it. Let the friends of cheap postage through
out the country bestir themselves, and If the pro-
per exertions be made, the letter postage will be
reduced to three cents before SIX months, the rate
for newspapers TO a cent and half cent, and our
government will propose to Great Britain to reduce
The rate Of ocean postage to a much lower point
than II fixed at by the treaty now in force be-
tween the two counties.