The daily union., 1852-07-04

upon those grounds this claim passed the Senal
years ago The legal question ia this case has now hee
presented Tor the fret time. and for this reason Tbi
matter was placed IN my charge since have been apol
the Committee the Post Office and Post Roads \
rsl Supposed that the old contracts 1884, 1885, an,
1884 were like the new contracts OF 1912, ls43 and 1874
But upon looking into the contract entered INTO by The
department and this contractor found that the powe
which has been exercised did not then and there exist
or IN other words that this power reserved Il
me postmaster General by this contract The contracts
between The government and individuals stand upon the
same loong as contracts between individuals alone The
terms are reduced 10 writing and both parties sign the writ
ten contract and both parties are hound by ii AS il TAX
TWO parties TO makea contract OF takes both par
ues 10 resclnd H. Here contract entered into
port daily mail upon be great route from Boston io
Lake Chanplain, then connecting with the route from
Lake Champlain 10 Montreal The contractor furnished
his horses, harnesses carriages and drivers for the pur
pose OF transporting this daily mall Now what is there
~ thus contract that authorizes the Postmaster General
% interfere with IN any way la the first place, il pro-
yides that ~ Congress "sha discontinue the roueo &c.
that y, Congress makes and establishes the route and
the Postmaster General makes contracts 10 carry the mail
on those routes This route had been established by
Congress- Now says the Postmaster General 10 the con-
tractors Congress should repeal the law establishing this
route, shall then have authority for having the mail
transported over it, and therefore the contract shall moi
be binding upon me. Congress did not discontinue thai
route The contract further provides that if the Post
master General shall come to the conclusion that the
route, or any portion OF it, useless he discontinue
altogether Congress, therefore, must discontinue
the route or any portion OF H. or the Postmaster Gene
raj must become satisfied that the whole any part Of
It, is useless in which he can annu the contract,
discontinue the service altogether upon the whole
any part OF the route, and have mall either daily,
weekly, or Other carried over it. But while the route
continues TO be mail route, the Postmaster General
having contracted for certain amount OF service to be
performed upon II, has no authority TO reduce tha,
service; the contract gives him such authority. It
is only when il is no longer malroute-either be-
ing put an end TO by act OF Congress- as being use
less or during the recess of Congress decided by the
Postmaster General TO be useesstha the contract is
nulled and no mail carried upon it. But the persons who
entered into this contract felt that they haZarded nothing
from these causes. They knew that The great mail route
there would become useless-hai it would never
be discontinued as mail route. Ii has been mail route
for years, and will continue probably for all coming
time
Now, let us see how this matter stands The contract
says 1t is mutually understood by the contracting par.
ties that the route or any part OF IT, herein mentioned
shall be Discontinued by act OF Congress, or in the opn
ion OF the Postmaster General becomes useless"-ihat is
not necessary Tor any mail at all TO be carried it.
"or if line OF stages or steamboats, be established upoL
the whole or any part OF il where the mail is carried un
der this contract then this contract shall no be binding
upon the Postmaster General-he giving notice of the
event, and allowing one months pay" That is ihe
clause in the contract The gentleman from Delaware
has read another but that is the one the Postmaster Gem
eTa gave TO me as the clause under which this power
was exercised. Under the contract it is provided thai
the Postmaster General may alter the time OF arrival and
departure, fixing and altering the order OF service and
serving the Postmaster General the right to annu the
contract provided the do promptly adop
the alterations. There We're alterations made in the order
here, which not adopted and the contract was not
annued at all The question is whether the Pos master
General had the right under this contract 10 make this
order.
This contract was made in the time OF Mr. Barry The
gentleman from Delaware says that il has been The uni
form practice OF the department since the formation OF
this government TO make these changes. Now, beg
leave to say that he is under great mistake Mr. Bar.
ry, as am informed, the first Postmaster General
who attempted to make these constructions. II is
done under the express direction of Congress, The
senator from Delaware Mr. BATARD argues that he bad
has under The new one Under the form OF contract
is expressly declared that the Postmaster General may
discontinue annul the service IN whole or in part
Why, then, the forms OF the contracts allered II
under the old contract the power existed TO discontinue
the service upon the route, why were the new forms
made expressly oonferng that power upon The Posmas
ter General! Evidently for the that before he
had not that power He had exercised doubtful power,
and Congress decided that he had right to exercise
tina, power But says the gentleman, the Attorney Gen.
eai-the highest law officer OF the governmengave his
opinion in favor OF tina, exercise OF power That opin-
ion was read by the senator from Delaware. Now, |
have no desire 10 crihcise that opinion but think the
Attorney General gave IT without sufficient examination
from the fact that he makes no distinction between the
making the mail route and the contracting for the ,ce
10 be performed upon H.
A case has been cited here bearing upon this one
DO not think il applies al all In the hrs place. an Of
der was made 10 reduce tile service The contractor
consented to The reduction, and be did not perform the
service all He claimed some hundred and odl
doll ans under another for services performed The
bill passed both houses of Congress authorizing the
proper accounting officers o the treasury to audit and
setIe with him, and the auditor refused to do it, They
then petoned Congress- setting forth the proceedings
the case-showing that the Postmaster General had no
right TO reduce the service The question came up in
Congress- and in the House OF Representatives the decs
ion OF the Postmaster General was overrued II came
here and the Senate unanimously oyerruIed the decision
Also by passing the bill OF the House II under that
decision tina, he recovered his whole claim This opin
ion OF the Postmaster General therefore, has no binding
force whatever There is not solitary case upon rec.
ord where the services have been performed. that the
claim for those services has not been paid We paid
man in Maine some $1,000 for reduction OF his
services.
II is argued that the contractor in this case went on
with his service without giving the department any no
tce uf his intention 10 do sohat the department did moi
know bal that its order had been faithfully executed
But the department did know that ought to now
that the order should not be given. But says the
ator from Delaware, the contractor consented the
order Now, how did he consent 10 II Did be agree 10
omit the Sunday lripl No. sir he did not And would
ask the senator how that the contractor got the
mail TO carryl The postmaster at Royalton cerhes thai
the order for disseminating The Sunday mail was carrie
into effect. Now, the papers here shown that Il wds
acquiesced IN for single Trip The people upon
this route found out what the order was and protested
against it, upon the ground that caused the great mail
lay some thirty six hours upon OF the gfeates
horoughfares in the State and therefore they insisted
that i should be continued as before. Letters here show
that this order protested against al the time Now
how the gentleman show that the order acqui
esced in How came the Postmaster to deliver The mail
every Sunday ii he did intend 10 have IL transported
The department understood perfectly well that il was car
ed every day in the week, and the afdavs oil the dr-
upon the road show that the mail was transported
during the whole time--not trip lost And still the
that fhara .yaa an the