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Title: Ramsey & Carmick, contract. Letter from the Postmaster General
Author: Various
Language: English
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LETTER FROM THE POSTMASTER GENERAL ***
33d CONGRESS, _2d Session_. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. EX. DOC. NO. 47.
RAMSEY & CARMICK—CONTRACT.
LETTER
FROM
THE POSTMASTER GENERAL,
TRANSMITTING
_Copy of a conditional mail contract; also copies of
correspondence relative to the same_.
FEBRUARY 1, 1855.—Referred to the Committee on the Post Office
and Post Roads, and ordered to be printed.
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
_Washington, January 31, 1855_.
SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith, in compliance with the
resolution of the House of the 2d of January instant, a copy of the
conditional contract made by my predecessor, Mr. Hubbard, with Messrs.
Ramsey & Carmick, on the 3d of March, 1853, for the extension of two of
the trips on the New Orleans and Vera Cruz line, from Vera Cruz, Mexico,
via Acapulco, to San Francisco in California; also copies of all the
correspondence relative to the same, and also relative to the change of
schedule proposed on the line from New Orleans to Vera Cruz.
My views in regard to this contract were fully stated in my annual
report to Congress of December 1, 1853, and are also contained in the
correspondence herewith communicated. It was not deemed necessary to
answer the letter of Robert G. Rankin, president of the Mexican Ocean
Mail and Inland Company, dated November 23, 1853, and received at the
department on the 30th of January, 1854. That they were not prepared to
fulfil their conditional contract on the 23d of November, 1853, nine
months after its execution, is therein conceded, and the department had
neither the time nor desire to enter into a discussion of the irrelevant
matters introduced into the body of that letter.
The objections which I entertained to the change of schedule on the New
Orleans and Vera Cruz route, proposed, by Messrs. Harris & Morgan in
their letter of the 26th October, 1853, were two-fold:
1st. That by authorizing the change proposed the original intent and
object of my predecessor, Mr. Hubbard, in entering into the conditional
contract with Messrs. Ramsey and Carmick—which was, to secure an
additional semi-monthly mail between the Atlantic States and California
by alternating at regular intervals with the present semi-monthly line
via Panama—would have been entirely frustrated; and thus, instead of
having a weekly mail between the Atlantic and Pacific, there would have
been, as heretofore, only a semi-monthly communication.
2d. By changing the schedule so as to make connections at Acapulco with
the steamers of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, that company would
receive not only their regular compensation under their contract with
the government, but extra pay under the contract of Ramsey & Carmick,
although no additional service was really rendered by them to the
department or the public.
Authority having been given by Mr. Hubbard on the 7th of March, 1853, to
the postmasters of New Orleans, San Diego, Monterey and San Francisco,
to make up and send mails by the Vera Cruz and Acapulco line, containing
such matter as was expressly directed to go by that line, I took the
precaution to withhold from those officers the authority to send mails
without first consulting the department, by instructing them, on the 23d
of September following, to report to the department before delivering
such mails, for further instructions, should the proprietors apply for
them. My object in issuing those instructions was simply to enable the
department to be fully satisfied that all mails forwarded by that route
were committed to the care and custody of competent and proper persons,
and would be safely transported through Mexico. It does not appear,
however, that any application has ever been made by Messrs. Ramsey &
Carmick for a mail to be conveyed by that route, as no report from any
postmaster to that effect has been received at this department.
I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JAMES CAMPBELL.
Hon. LINN BOYD, _Speaker of House of Representatives_.
NO. 9—$424,000 PER ANNUM.
_This article of contract_, made the fifteenth day of February, in the
year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, between the United
States (acting in this behalf by their Postmaster General) and Albert C.
Ramsey and Edward H. Carmick, William H. Aspinwall and Edwin Bartlett, of
the city of New York; Silas C. Herring, Elihu Townsend, Simeon Draper,
and R. B. Coleman, of the same place, _witnesseth_: That whereas, by an
act of Congress, passed March 3, 1845, entitled “An act to provide for
the transportation of the mail between the United States and foreign
countries, and for other purposes,” the Postmaster General is authorized
to contract for the transportation of the United States mail between any
of the ports of the United States and a port or ports of any foreign
power whenever, in his opinion, the public interests will thereby be
promoted; and whereas, by another act of Congress, passed March 3, 1851,
entitled “An act to establish certain post-roads in the United States and
the Territories thereof,” the Postmaster General is authorized to enter
into contracts, for a period not longer than four years, for transporting
through any foreign country the mails of the United States, and that in
making such contracts, the Postmaster General shall be bound to select
the speediest, safest, and most economical route; and whereas notice has
been given by advertising, in accordance with the directions of said
act, for inviting proposals for mail contracts, under and by virtue of
the acts aforesaid; and whereas Albert C. Ramsey and Edward H. Carmick
have been accepted, according to law, as contractors for transporting the
mail on route No. 9, from Vera Cruz, via Acapulco, to San Francisco and
back, twice a month, according to the schedule hereinafter mentioned, in
thirteen days each way, being an extension of two of the trips on the New
Orleans and Vera Cruz line through Mexico, for the purpose of conveying
the mail, and thus making one through-line in sixteen days between
New Orleans and San Francisco, at and for the sum of four hundred and
twenty-four thousand dollars per year, for and during the term commencing
from the time Congress shall ratify this contract, and ending four years
from that date, with the right reserved to the Postmaster General to
continue it one year longer, at the same terms:
Now, therefore, the said Albert C. Ramsey and Edward H. Carmick,
contractors, and Silas C. Herring, Elihu Townsend, Simeon Draper, Robert
B. Coleman, William H. Aspinwall, and Edwin Bartlett, their sureties,
do jointly and severally undertake, covenant, and agree with the United
States, and do bind themselves:
1st. To carry said mail within the times fixed in the annexed schedule
of departures and arrivals, and so carry until said schedule is altered
by the authority of the Postmaster General of the United States, as
hereinafter provided, and then to carry according to said altered
schedule.
2d. To carry said mail in a safe and secure manner, free from wet
or other injury, in weather-proof bags and vehicles on the land
route, and in a separate and convenient apartment on shipboard, to be
suitably fitted up under order of the department, at the expense of the
contractors, for the assorting and safe-keeping of the mails, and for the
sole and exclusive occupation, use, and accommodation of the Post Office
Department and its mail-agent, if the Postmaster General shall require
it for the use and accommodation of the mail and mail-agent, and such
mail-agent is to be conveyed without further charge.
In case the contractors fail to furnish such suitable accommodations,
the department shall have the right to provide the bags, vehicles, or
apartments, or other suitable accommodations, at the expense of the
contractors.
3d. To take the mail and every part of it from, and deliver it and every
part of it into, the post office at San Francisco, and to and from
the mail steamers at Vera Cruz on the New Orleans and Vera Cruz line,
and also to deliver and receive the mails at San Diego and Monterey,
regularly by each trip going and returning, as is now done by the
“Pacific Mail Steamship Company.”
They also undertake, covenant, and agree with the United States, and do
bind themselves, jointly and severally, as aforesaid, to be answerable
for the person to whom the said contractors shall commit the care and
transportation of the mail, and accountable to the United States for
any damages which may be sustained by the United States through his
unfaithfulness or want of care; and that the said contractors will
discharge any carrier of said mail whenever required to do so by the
Postmaster General; also, that they will not transmit by themselves or
their agent, or be concerned in transmitting, commercial intelligence
more rapidly than by mail, and they will not carry out of the mail
letters or newspapers which should go by post; and that they will not,
knowingly, convey any person carrying on the business of transporting
letters or other mail matter without the consent of the department;
and further, that the said contractors will convey, without additional
charge, post-office blanks, mail bags, and the special agents of the
department, on the exhibition of their credentials.
They further undertake, covenant, and agree with the United States,
that the said contractors will collect quarterly, if required by the
Postmaster General, of postmasters on said route, the balances due from
them to the General Post Office, and faithfully render an account thereof
to the Postmaster General in the settlement of quarterly accounts, and
will pay over to the General Post Office all balances remaining in their
hands.
For which services, when performed, the said Albert C. Ramsey and Edward
H. Carmick, contractors, are to be paid by the said United States
the sum of four hundred and twenty-four thousand dollars a year, to
wit: quarterly, in the months of May, August, November, and February,
through the postmasters on the route, or otherwise, at the option of the
Postmaster General of the United States; said pay to be subject, however,
to be reduced or discontinued by the Postmaster General, as hereinafter
stipulated, or to be suspended in case of delinquency.
It is hereby stipulated and agreed by the said contractors and their
sureties, that the Postmaster General may increase the service or change
the schedule, he allowing a pro rata increase of compensation within the
restrictions imposed by law for the additional service required; but the
contractors may, in case of increased service or change of schedule,
relinquish the contract, on timely notice, if they prefer it to the
change.
It is hereby also stipulated and agreed by the said contractors and their
sureties, that in all cases there is to be a forfeiture of the pay of a
trip when the trip is not performed, and of not more than three times
the pay of a trip when the trip is not duly performed and no sufficient
excuse for the failure is furnished; a forfeiture of at least one-fourth
part of it when the running is so far behind time as to lose connexion
with a depending mail, unless it is shown that the same was not caused
by neglect, or want of proper skill or misconduct, and a forfeiture of
a due proportion of it when a grade of service is rendered inferior
to the mode of conveyance above stipulated; and that these forfeitures
may be increased into penalties of a higher amount, according to the
nature or frequency of the failure, and the importance of the mail; also
that fines may be imposed upon the contractors, unless the delinquency
be satisfactorily explained to the Postmaster General in due time, for
failing to take from or deliver at a post office, or a steam-vessel,
the mail, or any part of it; for suffering it to be wet, injured, lost,
or destroyed; for carrying it in a place or manner that exposes it to
depredation, loss or injury, by being wet, or otherwise; for refusing,
after demand, to carry a mail by any vessel or other vehicle which the
contractors run or are concerned in running on the route beyond the
number of trips above specified; or for not arriving at the time set in
the schedule, unless not caused by neglect or want of proper skill, or by
misconduct. And for setting up or running an express to transmit letters
or commercial intelligence in advance of the mail, or for transporting
knowingly, or after being informed, any one engaged in transporting
letters or mail matter in violation of the laws of the United States, a
penalty of five hundred dollars may be exacted for each offence, and for
each article so carried.
And it is hereby further stipulated and agreed by the said contractors
and their sureties that the Postmaster General may annul the contract for
repeated failures; for violating the post office laws; for disobeying
the instructions of the department; for refusing to discharge a carrier,
or any other person having charge of the mail by his direction, when
required by the department; for assigning the contract without the
consent of the Postmaster General; for setting up or running an express
as aforesaid, or for transporting persons, conveying mail matter out of
the mail as aforesaid; or whenever the contractors or either of them
shall become a postmaster, assistant postmaster, or member of Congress;
and this contract shall in all its parts be subject to the terms and
requisitions of an act of Congress passed on the twenty-first day of
April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight,
entitled “An act concerning public contracts.”
And it is hereby further stipulated and agreed by the said contractors,
that the steam-vessels for the service between San Francisco and Acapulco
shall be of a class contemplated by the act of Congress, passed March
3, 1845, entitled “An act to provide for the transportation of the mail
between the United States and foreign countries, and for other purposes;”
and that the same shall be delivered to the United States, or their
proper officer, on demand made, for the purpose of being converted into
vessels of war, according to the tenor and terms of the said act.
And it is hereby further expressly understood that this contract is to
have no force or validity until it shall have received the sanction of
the Congress of the United States, by the passage of an appropriation to
carry it into effect.
In witness whereof, the said Postmaster General has caused the seal of
the Post Office Department to be hereto affixed, and has attested the
same by his signature; and the said contractors and their sureties have
hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year set opposite their
names, respectively.
S. D. HUBBARD, _Postmaster General_. [SEAL.] March 3, 1853.
WM. H. ASPINWALL, [SEAL.] March 3, 1853.
EDWIN BARTLETT, [SEAL.] March 3, 1853.
_By Wm. H. Davidge, their Att’y_.
ALBERT C. RAMSEY. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
EDWARD H. CARMICK. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
SILAS C. HERRING. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
ELIHU TOWNSEND. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
SIMEON DRAPER. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
R. B. COLEMAN. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
THE MEXICAN OCEAN MAIL AND INLAND COMPANY, [SEAL.] February 25, 1853.
_By Robert G. Rankin, President_.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the Postmaster General in the presence
of—
JAMES LAWRENSON.
R. T. MCLAIN.
And by the other parties hereto in the presence of—
J. B. NOTT, witness for A. C. Ramsey, S. Draper, and R. B. Coleman,
and Edward H. Carmick.
EDWARD S. GOULD, witness to S. C. Herring.
Witness to Wm. H. Davidge’s signature, as attorney of Wm. H. Aspinwall
and Edwin Bartlett—
JAMES LAWRENSON.
R. T. MCLAIN.
Witness to R. G. Rankin’s signature—
JNO. T. HOWARD.
I hereby certify that I am well acquainted with Albert C. Ramsey, and
Edward H. Carmick, and Silas C. Herring, Elihu Townsend, Simeon Draper,
and R. B. Coleman, and the condition of their property; and that, after
full investigation and inquiry, I am well satisfied that they are good
and sufficient sureties for the amount in the foregoing contract.
WM. V. BRADY,
_Postmaster at New York_.
_The schedule of Departures and Arrivals._
Leave Vera Cruz on the 4th and 17th of each month. Arrive at Acapulco by
the 9th and 22d of each month.
Leave Acapulco on the 9th and 22d of each month. Arrive at San Francisco
by the 17th and 30th of each month.
Leave San Francisco on the 8th and 24th of each month. Arrive at Acapulco
by the 16th and 1st of each month.
Leave Acapulco on the 16th and 1st of each month. Arrive at Vera Cruz by
the 21st and 6th of each month.
* * * * *
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
_March 7, 1853_.
GENTLEMEN: The postmasters of New Orleans, San Francisco, Monterey
and San Diego, will be authorized to send a mail by the Vera Cruz and
Acapulco line, containing letters or papers expressly directed to go by
that line, when said communication is open, and you are prepared to carry
a mail, with the express understanding that neither this department nor
the government is to be in any way holden for any expenses attending such
service; but, as provided in the contract, it is left for Congress to
determine whether the contract is to be sanctioned by an appropriation to
carry it into effect—the pay, if any, for said service commencing only in
accordance with the terms of the contract made February 15, 1853.
I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
S. D. HUBBARD,
_Postmaster General_.
MESSRS. RAMSEY & CARMICK, _New York_.
* * * * *
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
_March 7, 1853_.
SIR: You are hereby authorized to make up and send a mail by the Vera
Cruz and Acapulco line, containing letters or papers expressly directed
to go by that line, when said communication is open, and the contractors
are prepared to carry a mail on the terms of their contract of February
15, 1853. You would do well, perhaps, to advertise to the above effect,
adding that all letters, &c., not marked as above indicated, will be
forwarded by the Panama route.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
S. D. HUBBARD,
_Postmaster General_.
POSTMASTER, _San Francisco, California_.
[Same to postmasters of New Orleans, San Diego, and Monterey.]
* * * * *
OFFICE OF THE MEXICAN OCEAN MAIL AND INLAND CO.,
_New York, June 15, 1853_.
MY DEAR SIR: The position that our company sustains to the government,
(as the real parties by contract,) to execute the mail contracts
with Messrs. Ramsey & Carmick, renders it proper that the Post Office
Department should be advised of the state of forwardness on the part of
the contractors to fulfil the contracts.
Our vice president, Colonel Albert C. Ramsey, is now in Mexico assigning
the stations. In all this month and next month, the coaches, wagons, and
literas will be in Mexico—portions of them being on their way now. By
August 10 the mules and horses (1,000) will be down from Coahuila, and we
then expect to make the regular transit across.
Although the contracts only require a bi-monthly mail, we are making all
our arrangements for a _daily line_ of transit across Mexico, feeling
justified by the assurances we have from Mexico. We shall also establish
a weekly line of steamers from New Orleans to Vera Cruz, (one steamer is
now running there, and another now building;) and with the use of the new
_envelopes_,(when they appear,) we shall actually afford a weekly line
from New Orleans to San Francisco; and if the steamers on the Pacific
could be arranged, we could make a daily line to San Francisco in sixteen
days. Our land route will be daily, in any case, on account of our
Mexican facilities.
We have purchased and ordered the whole of the rolling stock for the
transit, and parties are now in Mexico clearing obstructions, and we
shall not, I think, require the full time allowed by the contract for the
transit, although trial only will verify our expectations.
We already have a margin in our favor in the gulf service, as our
steamer, the “Texas,” has performed the duty in sixty hours; and the
Pacific service has been done in twenty-four and thirty hours less
than schedule time. Our recent reports from Mexico justify us in the
expectation of carrying the mails in fourteen days from New Orleans to
San Francisco, and six months of experimental operation will, I think,
show the feasibility of doing the regular service in within fifteen days.
In conclusion, I would add that we are exerting every energy in pushing
the thing up, and shall spare neither time nor money in proving the
truthfulness of all our positions.
An estafette mail will be carried from Vera Cruz and New Orleans to San
Francisco next month, until the service becomes regular.
I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,
ROBT. G. RANKIN,
_President_.
We have the _highest_ assurance of _our_ favorable position in Mexico.
Hon. JAMES CAMPBELL, _Postmaster General U. S., &c._
* * * * *
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, _July 9, 1853_.
SIR: Your letter of the 15th ultimo came duly to hand. My attention
having been specially called to the circumstances connected with the
contemplated line to the Pacific via Vera Cruz and Acapulco, I feel it
my duty, after due deliberation, to inform you that the conditional
contract entered into between my predecessor, Mr. Hubbard, and Messrs.
Ramsey and Carmick, for the conveyance of the mails over this line to San
Francisco, does not meet with my approbation.
In the first place, as at present advised, I consider the route
impracticable for mail purposes.
In the second place, the sums of money yearly drawn from the treasury
for contracts, which have for several years been, and are still in
force, for the transportation of the mails between the Atlantic and the
Pacific, are very considerable, amounting to about $731,868. In view of
this fact, and of the many sections and neighborhoods, in the different
States, which are either greatly restricted in, or deprived altogether of
mail facilities, it appears to me both inexpedient and unjust to go into
the expenditure of a still further sum of $424,000 for the service in
question.
Moreover, I disapprove of the principle upon which this contract is
made. In my opinion, if the Postmaster General has the right to make
such a contract at all, it ought to be made without the restriction or
limitation contained in yours, by which its force or validity is made
to depend upon the passage of an appropriation by Congress to carry
it into effect. I am unwilling to recognise any contingency of this
kind, because, although the contractors may, under such conditional
arrangement, establish no legal claim for compensation, they may,
nevertheless, go on and incur expenses, in the expectation that they will
be paid, and Congress, more from private sympathy than from public policy
or right, be at length induced to yield to a measure to which its prior
sanction never could have been obtained.
I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
JAMES CAMPBELL,
_Postmaster General_.
ROBT. G. RANKIN, Esq., _Pres’t of the Mexican Ocean Mail and Inland Co.,
N. Y._
* * * * *
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, _September 23, 1853_.
SIR: Should the proprietors of the Vera Cruz, Acapulco, and San Francisco
line apply for mail to take over their route, under the conditional order
of the late Postmaster General, dated 7th March, 1853, before delivering
such mail to them, you will report to department for further instructions.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JAMES CAMPBELL,
_Postmaster General_.
POSTMASTER, _New Orleans, Louisiana_.
To Postmaster at San Diego, California: Same.
J. C.
To Postmaster at Monterey, California: Same.
J. C.
To Thos. J. Henley, Esq., San Francisco, California: Same.
J. C.
* * * * *
WASHINGTON, _October 26, 1853_.
DEAR SIR: The Mexican Ocean Mail and Inland Company, and Charles Morgan,
of New York, (through the agency of the undersigned,) present the
following facts, and ask such decision as an impartial consideration
of this memorial may produce. The company (having obtained from the
government of Mexico peculiar and well-authenticated privileges, whereby
they were enabled to present to the United States Post Office Department
a schedule of mail service which should insure the transmission of mails
between New Orleans and San Francisco in the short space of sixteen
days) urged the department for a mail contract authorizing the service,
which was granted, subject to an appropriation by Congress for payment.
Thereupon the company commenced proceedings for putting the route into
active operation. Proper agents were despatched to Mexico, and have been
actively engaged in overcoming such obstacles as, unremoved, would have
impeded rapid transit across that country. Roads were improved, others
made; coaches, harness, mules, and horses have been purchased, and a
large portion of them are already on the route, ready to commence the
carrying of the mails. In connexion with, and forming a portion of, this
through-route, a mail service from New Orleans to Vera Cruz has been
put into operation, the schedule for which was so arranged as to meet
at Acapulco with the mail steamers on the Pacific, insuring a proper
connexion on that end of the line. Thus nothing stood in the way of
the successful operation of the route, save the obstacles on the land,
which, being overcome, would enable us at once to perform our contract
in the specified time; but now that arrangements are completed for this
portion on the service, your memorialists find that an alteration in
the running on the Pacific has thrown out of gear this well-arranged
system. By the present schedule between New Orleans and Vera Cruz,
it is impossible to meet the Pacific steamers, as they now run, at
Acapulco, without suffering long delays at the latter point, entirely
ruining the efficacy of this otherwise desirable medium of transit. The
undersigned, C. Morgan, now urges that a knowledge of the existence of
a through-service to San Francisco was the inducement for his accepting
the portion of service between New Orleans and Vera Cruz; as, upon the
successful working of the through-route, he depended for any profits that
might inure to his ships from his connexion therewith. He has already
put upon the route a first-class steamship of over 1,100 tons burden,
and is building another of about 1,500 tons burden for the same purpose;
which two vessels will embrace an investment of nearly $300,000 for this
first portion of the enterprise. The company depend upon appropriations
by Congress for the means of remuneration; and as such appropriations can
only be secured by proofs of the practicability of the through-route,
as per schedule, they, together, ask your consideration of the efforts
they have made, and the moneys they have expended, under inducements
the Post Office Department held out to them, for such efforts and
expenditures, _by granting a through-service and arranging schedule
for connexion_; and respectfully petition that you will so alter the
schedule between New Orleans and Vera Cruz for the two trips per month,
now being performed, as will give them an opportunity of proving to
Congress that this is by far the most expeditious route yet opened to the
rich commerce of California; which proofs, they feel, must necessarily
insure the appropriations that shall furnish the means to enable them
eventually to carry the mails between the two great points in the short
space of thirteen days! Believing that your sense of justice, and desire
for advancing the mails in accordance with the progressive ideas of this
essentially progressive age, will induce an assent to their prayer, they
have the honor herewith to submit such _temporary_ schedule, for the
said two trips per month, as shall furnish the desired proofs; and, with
sentiments of regard and esteem, subscribe, respectfully, yours,
The MEXICAN OCEAN MAIL AND INLAND CO.;
and CHARLES MORGAN,
per HARRIS & MORGAN, _of New Orleans_.
Hon. JAMES CAMPBELL, _Postmaster General United States_.
_Schedule._
Leave New Orleans 7th and 22d;
Arrive at Vera Cruz 10th and 25th.
Leave Vera Cruz 14th and 29th;
Arrive at New Orleans 17th and 2d.
* * * * *
OFFICE OF THE MEXICAN OCEAN MAIL AND INLAND CO.,
_New York, October 29, 1853_.
DEAR SIR: Herewith please find a letter addressed to our firm from the
president of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, explaining why the
schedule of running on the Pacific has been changed, (thus rendering
_useless_ the _present schedule_ between New Orleans and Vera Cruz;) and,
further, approving the schedule which we had the honor of submitting
for your consideration in our memorial, dated in Washington, D. C.
Trusting the views of our case, to which your attention has been called,
will induce a favorable decision, we have the honor to subscribe, with
sentiments of regard and respect,
Your obedient servants,
HARRIS & MORGAN.
Hon. JAMES CAMPBELL, _Postmaster General United States_.
* * * * *
[For the Commercial Advertiser.]
OFFICE OF THE MEXICAN OCEAN MAIL AND INLAND CO.,
_New York, October 27, 1853_.
In your issue of Wednesday evening, in the postscript of telegraphic news
from Mexico, an important error occurred in relation to the transmission
of San Francisco news by our route. Your correspondent says: “The news
came over the New Mexico or Ramsey route, and occupied about twenty-four
days in its transmission.” The facts are as follows: The news left San
Francisco on the 1st of October by the Nicaragua steamer Pacific; it
arrived at Acapulco on the 8th, crossed Mexico, and arrived at Vera Cruz
on the 12th, where the news remained from the 12th until the 22d, the
regular sailing day of the Texas, (the steamer that carried the news,
instead of the Mexico, as stated in your article.) If our steamer had
left Vera Cruz on the arrival of the news from Acapulco, our merchants
would have had the market prices in fifteen days from San Francisco via
New Orleans. If it should be asked why the Texas did not sail until the
22d, the only reply we have to offer is, that she was running on schedule
time appointed by the Post Office Department, and until that schedule is
altered the delay is likely to recur. With a proper connexion, our line
can deliver mails from San Francisco, into New Orleans weekly, in less
than sixteen days.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
ROBERT G. RANKIN, _President_.
Be pleased to observe, by extract from Commercial Advertiser, the
transmission of California news from California, by our route, in
fourteen days!
H. & M.
* * * * *
PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY,
_New York, October 28, 1853_.
GENTLEMEN: Having examined carefully the schedule proposed by you for
running on the route between New Orleans and Vera Cruz, so as to connect
at Acapulco with our steamers between Panama and San Francisco, I beg
leave to inform you that it meets our approval.
When our company commenced to run weekly boats, the schedule of the
Texas was arranged to conform to the movements of those extra boats.
It happened, however, that the United States Mail Steamship Company,
although willing to perform extra service, and to let that service speak
for itself to Congress, was not willing to bind itself as the government
required, so as to shut out all prospect of extra remuneration by a
liberal legislature for extra duty; and, consequently, the steamers, on
intermediate weeks, on this side, were withdrawn. The connexion being
thus cut off, our company was obliged to discontinue its weekly trips,
after the schedule of the Vera Cruz and Acapulco route had been arranged
to conform to those trips.
My understanding with Mr. Rankin is, that when the route is fairly
opened, we will run steamers in the Pacific in due connexion; and I am
prepared to assign this duty to two of our smaller first-class steamers
the moment I am justified in so doing. Until then, the merits of the
route can be tested by arranging a schedule to conform to the arrivals
at Acapulco, and, as far as possible, to the departures thence for
San Francisco of our steamers now running; and the interests of the
government and of the public unite in recommending such a course.
Very truly, yours,
WM. H. ASPINWALL, _President_.
Messrs. HARRIS & MORGAN.
* * * * *
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
_November 3, 1853_.
GENTLEMEN: In answer to your letter of the 26th ultimo, I have to
state that, at the request of Mr. Carmick, the contractor, the present
schedule of the New Orleans and Vera Cruz route was arranged to connect
with the contemplated route across from Vera Cruz to Acapulco, which
it was proposed to run in due connexion with an independent line of
steamers between Acapulco and San Francisco—thus, with the route via
Panama, giving a mail four times, instead of twice a month, between the
Atlantic States and California. It was not the intention to connect at
Acapulco with the steamers of the Panama line, but, as above remarked,
to establish an additional semi-monthly mail to run, via Vera Cruz and
Acapulco, alternately at regular intervals with the line via Panama.
This arrangement was made with my predecessor, Mr. Hubbard, with whom,
as Postmaster General, also a conditional contract was entered into
for the part of the service between Vera Cruz and San Francisco, which
contract was to take effect _only from the time it should be ratified
by Congress_; nor was it to have any force or validity whatever until
it should receive the sanction of Congress by the passage of an
appropriation to carry it into effect. No such sanction has as yet been
given by Congress; but, apart from this, and without troubling you with
my views on the whole subject, it is simply necessary for me to say that
there can be no recognition by this department of any arrangement by
which the additional semi-monthly mail, clearly contemplated by the then
Postmaster General, can be dispensed with.
The application, therefore, for a change of schedule on the route from
New Orleans to Vera Cruz, must now be considered without reference to
any trips it may be proposed to run in connexion therewith beyond. The
contract requires three trips a month; you propose but two, and it is
unnecessary for me to say that the number of trips stipulated for in the
contract will be required.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JAMES CAMPBELL.
Messrs. HARRIS & MORGAN, _New Orleans, La._
* * * * *
WASHINGTON, _November 12, 1853_.
DEAR SIR: It is with great reluctance that I encroach upon your time at
this particular season of your official duties; but what I have to say
can be read at your leisure, without much inconvenience.
After my interview with you, yesterday, I was impressed with the idea
that you had received from some quarter erroneous and unfavorable
views in regard to this great national enterprise that I am so deeply
interested in. I trust, however, that you will not permit any such
influence to operate in your mind without affording us an opportunity
to be heard. I consider it a duty I owe you and your high position to
explain, in a frank and upright way, the true object we have in view
in regard to this project; it is to test the merits of this route for
a mail communication, the benefit of which will accrue to the country,
the government, and those engaged in perfecting it. We have asked no
remuneration from the government while pursuing this enterprise, but have
gone to work, at our own expense, and proved the entire feasibility of
this rapid communication, without the least hope or expectation that the
department should in any way be subjected, either directly or indirectly,
to an acknowledgment of responsibility for future remuneration. We
desire to establish a great national highway from ocean to ocean, over
a route in which there is a saving of 1,800 miles, between New Orleans
and San Francisco; and the day is not far distant when all the present
routes will only be secondary to it. This opinion is based on reasonable
grounds: first, the saving of time; and, second, the beauty of the
country, and the salubrious climate over which the route passes. There
is but one opinion on this subject among all Californians. We have
conceived that, in offering to our government the facilities of a rapid
mail communication on so important a route, we have a right to expect
from that government a liberal encouragement, at least by an expression
favorable to an enterprise where so much energy and capital is invested.
Our project has been fully investigated by the late cabinet, and, after
their mature consideration, it was acted upon. The contract was sustained
by an appeal of one-half of the United States Senate in a memorial to
the department, and by the personal solicitation of the representatives
from the South and West; also, by a memorial from the most influential
citizens of Louisiana—the same being now on file in the department.
General Rusk, who framed the law under which the contract was made, also
urged the advantages of this communication on the department; among
others were Senators Gwin and Soulé. This communication must depend
entirely on its merits, and by its advantages for the public welfare. If
it cannot offer greater inducements to the government than the present
routes, it cannot expect to succeed; but if it can be proved that this
is the speediest route, the law seems not to be violated while offering
facilities on the part of the government to test so important an object.
We have, however, proved beyond a doubt that the transit can be made from
sea to sea in from three to four days, and I hope you may offer us your
liberal co-operation, without involving in the least a compromise of the
public interest; it is no more than we have a right to expect from the
department. Governor Marcy, without looking into details, has expressed
to me similar views, and says that our communication seems to hold out
great national advantages, and he did not doubt but that you would look
on it in a proper light. I feel confident that Congress will support any
measure that can be proved of public utility for the South and West;
and this is a southwestern measure, without any demands from the public
treasury, to build steam-ships or railroads. I know the feeling that
existed last Congress on this subject, and I feel confident that it will
be supported by the South and West.
I have spent several years of intense labor and a large amount of money
in bringing this enterprise to its present position. I have passed
through many deep and almost impenetrable barriers, and no impediment
shall stop the consummation of this great national work, save that of
the hand of Providence. I am sustained by capital and energy, and I
know no fail where perseverance can do the work. My future reputation
and welfare is largely involved in the success of this project, and I
sincerely beg that you will form no premature opinion on this subject
against my interest. I do not, however, believe that you would do so,
without an honest conviction of your judgment; but I do know that all
enterprises must expect opposition from various causes. Envy is no small
feature to contend with; and we have had to combat against it, solely
upon the ground that we have not been disposed to divide our interest
with others. The late administration was made aware of these facts, and
they received with great caution any information coming from doubtful
sources.
I most respectfully ask that you will give an order, permitting me, as
one of the contractors, to carry a mail over this route from California,
leaving it optional with persons to send by this way, and to designate
the same on the letter; and in giving such an order, I wish you
particularly to state that the department will in _no way be bound for
any future remuneration for the service_.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
E. H. CARMICK.
Hon. JAMES CAMPBELL.
* * * * *
OFFICE OF THE MEXICAN OCEAN MAIL AND INLAND CO.,
_November 23, 1853_.
SIR: In accordance with a request from Messrs. Ramsey and Carmick, the
contractors named in the contract hereinafter mentioned, I have the honor
of reporting to your department _the real character of the relations this
company sustains to the contract; the obstacles to the non-fulfilment of
it by a date as early as was anticipated; and a few remarks explanatory
of the route_.
On the 15th day of February, 1853, a contract was made by the United
States government, acting by the Postmaster General, with Albert C.
Ramsey and Edward H. Carmick, of Pennsylvania, to carry the United States
mails between San Francisco and Vera Cruz, at certain definite and
specific periods mentioned in the schedule of the contract, for the sum
of $424,000 per year, for the period of four years, with the privilege
of extending it one year if the Post Office Department thought proper.
This contract was not of that liberal form heretofore characteristic of
all the other ocean mail contracts, but was in a form of that specific
and detailed character peculiar to any short land service, where time
might be insured to a minute. The contract was, in fact, so stringent
as to be incompatible with any but an honest intention to fulfil its
spirit and letter, in which spirit it was, in fact, assumed by the
parties associated in its performance. This contract was printed and
sent to the Senate at its last session, and is now on its files. By the
5th section of the law of 1848 it is illegal for contractors to assign
their contracts; and although aware that the department is not bound to
recognise any but the contractors, yet, frankness enforces the propriety
of saying that, by specific covenants, this company have agreed with
Messrs. Ramsey and Carmick to fulfil all the conditions of the contract
on their part, to be kept and performed in relation to the land service
between Vera Cruz and Acapulco, and that similar covenants have been
made with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company (William H. Aspinwall,
esq., president) for the sea service between Acapulco and San Francisco.
The contract distinctly specified that its schedule time (and in fact
the spirit of the contract) was to the intent that it should form part
and parcel of the contract for the gulf service, being an extension
of two of the trips between New Orleans and Vera Cruz, made (under a
specific law, August 30, 1852) with Mr. Carmick, so as to form, in its
own language, “_one through-line in sixteen days between New Orleans
and San Francisco_.” The gulf contract is without any condition as to
an appropriation; but the larger or Pacific contract is made contingent
upon an appropriation by Congress for its approval. The question might
be gravely raised, in looking at one contract as an integral part of
the other, whether the appropriation by Congress of $70,000 (a trifle
more than it was bid for and taken by Mr. Carmick, viz: $69,750) for the
gulf service, was not an approval in terms of the Pacific contract, and
discharged the condition of approval contained in it. But inasmuch as the
parties associated in the enterprise have no covert policy to pursue,
and have not yet been able to carry the mails in contract schedule time
between Acapulco and San Francisco, (although they have carried it
repeatedly in six days, or two days less than schedule time, between New
Orleans and Acapulco,) they have no disposition to raise issues or ask
for unearned appropriations. They presented their claims to the last
administration on the sole integrity, feasibility, and celerity of their
route; the proposals for the service were regularly advertised, and the
contract awarded to the parties as the lowest bidders, but not until
the most critical, searching, and minute examination was made of the
practicability of the whole route. The investigation was pursued by the
late Postmaster General Hubbard with a critical acumen that must have
detected any imperfection. The grants made to this company by the Mexican
government, and authenticated according to the highest forms known to
the Mexican laws, were not only critically examined, but verified at
Washington by the Mexican legation. These grants, instead of interfering
with treaty stipulations, will, if honestly developed, prove most
conservative elements in sustaining such stipulations by the promotion
of commercial, social, and domestic intercourse, and by the infusion of
fraternal comity in political and civil relations.
_The obstacles to the non-fulfilment of the Pacific service._—As before
stated, the contractors, this company, and the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company, entered into mutual covenants, by which the latter company
obligated themselves to carry the mails between San Francisco and
Acapulco according to the contract and schedule time as therein set forth
by the department. At the date of the contract the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company were running a weekly line of steamers between Panama and San
Francisco, in the weeks intervening with their semi-monthly mail; and the
late administration intended, by this weekly line and the Vera Cruz and
Acapulco route, to send a weekly instead of semi-monthly mail to San
Francisco, and in sixteen days from New Orleans instead of twenty-eight
days (the average at that time of the semi-monthly mails) from New York.
The Pacific Mail Steamship Company withdrew their weekly line, which of
course prevented the execution of the Pacific service in contract time
until steamers could be placed on the line between Acapulco and San
Francisco, and which this company are making arrangements to effect, not
only in reference to the line from New Orleans, but from New York, so
as to carry passengers in sixteen or eighteen days from New York to San
Francisco. In consequence, however, of the (early) non-performance of the
Pacific service in schedule time, it is understood that your department
rescinded the order made by the late Postmaster General Hubbard for the
postmasters at New Orleans, San Francisco, San Diego, Monterey, and to
forward letters by this route. The disappointment of the contractors
by the withdrawal of the weekly line was great and embarrassing,
and disordered the whole arrangements of this company; and while we
respectfully defer to the abstract correctness of the position taken by
the Post Office Department on account of it, we yet hope that a great
enterprise, so eminently calculated to benefit our commerce, and one so
earnestly demanded by our southern and western citizens, as intimately
connected with their interests, might have a little further time to place
itself right before Congress and the department.
It is respectfully suggested, in this connexion, that the Gulf service
is punctually performed twice a month, and will be three times a month
as soon as the steamer “Vera Cruz,” now nearly ready, can be finished;
that the land-service, _as will be hereafter shown_, (see appendix,) has
been performed, carrying an independent mail in sixty hours, (instead
of one hundred and twenty hours, schedule time;) that this company have
not asked for any special favors from the department—no advance on the
appropriations—as other ocean mail companies have done; that no pay is
asked for until the service is performed, and the money honestly and
equitably earned; and that the 2d section of the law of March 3, 1851,
is applicable to our case, viz: that the Postmaster General by this law
“_shall be bound to select the speediest, safest, and most economical
route_.”
We deprecate a negation of the contract by the department until further
time is allowed us; and it is believed, in view of these facts and the
spirit of the law last referred to, that our enterprise may receive an
impartial consideration and presentation in your annual report on the
Post Office Department. An official condemnation, emanating from the
department under your administration, would be a serious obstacle in
the development of the Mexican grants. _It is believed by many that the
department had full power under the law to make the contract without
the intervention of Congress for its approval_; but having been made
with that contingency, it is now only asked that this enterprise may go
before Congress on its own merits and integrity. A spirit of frank and
honorable dealing renders it necessary for the undersigned to say, that a
difference exists among the associated parties as to the real value and
bearing of a government contract on this enterprise, and this difference
may have reached the ears of the department.
Some of the parties believe that a government contract nationalizes the
route, and gives it an importance superior to mere individual enterprise,
and that the imperative necessity of “_making time_” insures more
despatch. Others of the parties believe that a line of fast steamers
from New Orleans to Vera Cruz, for the increasing southern and western
travel from the valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, (composing
the source of nearly seven-tenths of the whole resident population of
California out of the city of San Francisco,) and another fast line of
steamers from New York to Vera Cruz in six or seven days, by steamers
built expressly for mail and passenger service, (and not naval service,)
of about one thousand tons, in connexion with similar steamers from
Acapulco to San Francisco in six days, would form a line that would take
precedence of all others for celerity and certainty. Experience has
exploded the idea that the mail and naval service can be performed by the
same steamers, and an examination of the steamers now in the employ of
the United States and mail-service department verifies the position that
steamers suitable for a marine battery are too slow for “mail-service,”
and that the light and fast steamer which can be propelled three
hundred and fifty miles in twenty-four hours is not suitable for a
battery corresponding with her tonnage or power adequate to such speed.
They believe that such a line, by this overland route, in sixteen, or
eighteen, or twenty days, with an independent mail, would seriously
diminish the postage receipts of the government, if not virtually
supersede them, and render the present mail contracts a sinecure in the
hands of the parties holding them. If offices should be opened in proper
places for the receipt of mail-matter by advertisements, and the company
should enclose that mail-matter in government-stamped envelopes, and
guaranty the delivery of the mail by this route in six, eight, or ten
days earlier than by the present government route, it is evident that the
great bulk of the mail-matter would go by the quickest route, even at
double, triple, or perhaps quadruple the present charge for postage. Such
an independent mail (_clearly within the law_) would, it is confidently
believed, measurably supersede the government mail, and reduce the
postage to a pittance. Moreover, such an independent line, not being
trammeled by government time, might connect with it English, West India,
Australian, and Asiatic mails, all of which are specifically allowed by
the several Mexican grants held by this company; and it is believed that
the time is not far distant when an English express independent mail
in forty-seven days, with Australia, will be in operation. It is also
thought by some, that this company should be entirely disembarrassed in
order to give an exclusive right to certain foreign interests.
Having frankly stated the difference of opinion on this subject among
the associates in this enterprise, it is proper to say that a route
nationalized by a public contract is the true official expression of the
company’s opinion, and the one which is now before the department. In
conclusion on this point, it is respectfully suggested that this route
is to be one of the great inter-oceanic routes of Atlantic, California,
and Asiatic travel; that this enterprise may be fully developed by the
present administration of our government without expense in its initial
operations, but mainly by a prudent forbearance and official approbation,
and by an order to carry such mail matter as our citizens may choose to
send by it.
The enterprise is emphatically a southern and western one; although
originated by Pennsylvanians, yet its vitality is due to New Orleans and
southern influence, as the very numerous memorials on the files of the
department or Congress, and signed by southern and western senators and
members, will attest. The steamer Texas, which has been performing the
Gulf service during the last summer, has carried a large amount of specie
into New Orleans, (at the rate of one million and a quarter per annum;)
and soon as the specie and express wagons of this company are fully at
work, millions of dollars will flow into the New Orleans mint from the
gold placers and silver mines of Mexico now being worked by American and
Mexican combined skill.
_Of the practicability of the route._—The direct mail route runs from
Vera Cruz, by the way of Orizava, Cordova, Puebla, Matamoras, Chietla,
Mitapec, Kalcozotitlan, Chilapa, Tixtla, to Acapulco, with branches from
Puebla up to Mexico and via Cuernavaca.
This road was called by Humboldt the “_Asiatic road_,” as indicative of
the maritime commerce of Spain; _and is the oldest road on the continent
of America_. This route is no new thing, as many suppose, but the whole
enterprise is but a recast of one developed long before our country had
its name or a place among the nations of the earth.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been received by the government of
Old Spain, transported over this road, in the interchange of productions
between the flotas of Spain and the galleons of the Indies, and millions
of American commerce are yet to be rolled over it in the progress of
American enterprise. The distance direct (as will be seen by the annexed
itinerary) from Vera Cruz to Acapulco is 404 miles, and via the city of
Mexico 517. Colonel Ramsey has since shortened this distance to under 390
miles, and it will be reduced to less than 350.
Over this road the materials and machinery for the vast coffee and sugar
plantations of Mexico have to be transported, and these plantations for
magnitude and productions are almost unequalled.
From the fact that the current of foreign travel has been turned towards
the capital of Mexico, by the way of Jalapa and Perote, and also from
the further fact that the very _limited amount of American_ knowledge of
Mexico is associated with the line of operations of the American army
during the late war, less is publicly or _correctly_ known of our lower,
or more southern route, than of the upper or northern route. The lower
and shorter route presents the facilities of being six hours shorter
to Puebla, and of having lower grades, and a climate unequalled for
healthfulness, salubrity, and intertropical luxuriance of productions.
There are features about the roads of Mexico generally that distinguish
them from our northern roads; they are not muddy, having no frosts to
produce periodic deterioration; they are only slightly disturbed during
the rainy months of June, July, and August. The rains during these rainy
months are not continuous, all-day rains, but fall in showers seldom
longer than an hour, generally in the afternoons and at night, and the
intervals between these showers are unclouded and salubrious. The whole
geological formation of Mexico is eccentric, and the soil generally
composed of the debris of matter of volcanic origin. Such materials
form the best roads, and with an exemption from frosts, dust, mud, and
rain, except in the rainy seasons, and with no fences to obstruct the
facilities for turnpike, road-making, and travelling, presented in this
part of Mexico, are unequalled.
It should be remembered that this company are not encumbered with the
necessity of enormous expenditures for making canals, building railroads
and plank-roads, to develop their resources; they have only to expend
under $50,000 to make one of the finest roads in the finest climate of
North America, to travel smoothly and pleasantly, at the rate of seven
and ten miles per hour, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean.
From the certificate of Mr. Blumenkron, (see Appendix A,) a gentleman
intimately acquainted with the whole route from personal observation,
it will be seen that the facilities for the transportation of mails
and passengers across the republic is the work of but little effort
and expense; and from the extracts of Colonel Ramsey’s letter, (see
Appendix B,) it will be seen what has actually been done. From these
statements—and they are daily corroborated by Americans and Mexicans who
have passed over the route—it appears that the mails have been carried
over (at the worst of all seasons, the rainy ones) in 50, 60, 70, 80,
and 81 hours; that the letter of Mr. Tyler announces their arrival at
Acapulco in six days from New Orleans, and that the mail time across may
be reduced to 48 hours, and passenger time to 54.
The difficulties, dangers, and expense of mail transportation over this
route are not comparable with the Panama route, as it formerly was, or
even as it now is, as to the 17 miles yet uncovered by railroad; and this
company confidently believe that they will be able to carry the mails
over this route for a sum 50 per cent. per mile less than by the Panama
route, and in a time under three days.
The company have placed a portion of their rolling stock upon the road,
at present equal to the transportation of fifty passengers per week
from ocean to ocean. This rolling stock consists of the very best built
Albany and Troy post-coaches, Concord (New Hampshire) passenger, baggage,
express and specie wagons, and about 500 horses and mules, (at the last
report 493.)
It is hoped the next advices from Colonel Ramsey will give information
that this rolling stock is in operation. It is intended to increase the
rolling stock with the increase of travel. The local travel and business
in Mexico will alone pay a large interest on the investment; and were
there no connexion with steamers on either side, and as a mere stage
route, the profits will be large, especially when that portion of the
route through the State of Guerrero is properly worked and widened, and
over a portion of the route the company hold the exclusive right of
passage, ferries, tolls, &c., for fifty years.
This company apprehend no difficulty in transporting any mails on account
of the weight, inasmuch as the company will be prepared to transport the
English mails, between England and Australia, in under 47 days; and those
mails, it is said, weigh 11 and 12 tons.
The remarkable feature in this route is, that it passes through a
constant succession of cities, villages, ranches, &c., (few scarce ten
miles apart,) and through a population as dense as might have been found
on the old turnpike mail road from Albany to Buffalo before the age of
railroads, or on any of the great leading mail routes of New York and
Pennsylvania of a ratable distance; and the annexed itinerary, taken from
official Mexican documents, verifies the position.
Fears have been expressed that robberies might endanger the mail,
passengers, or property. This difficulty has been wondrously magnified,
and is provided against, as the vehicles of this company are all armed
with blunderbusses and revolvers; and small, but strong, light, iron
boxes for specie, jewelry, and valuables, are securely attached as
fixtures in each coach. The material fact, however, on this point is,
that this line of route is seldom visited by robbers, owing to the more
peaceful, permanent, and dense character of the population, and the
consequent exposure to detection. General Santa Ana has, moreover, made a
decree that the inhabitants of each district shall be responsible for the
damages by such depredations.
Much more might be said in relation to this route, but this memorial has
already become too long. Reiterating our former assertion, that we only
ask the opportunity of placing ourselves honorably before Congress, on
our own integrity, we hope that our enterprise may receive such official
sanction from the Post Office Department as may be most compatible with
the interests of the government and the benefit of the community.
With great respect, your obedient servant,
ROBERT G. RANKIN,
_President M. O. M. & I. Co._
Hon. JAMES CAMPBELL, _Postmaster General_.
APPENDIX A.
I hereby certify that I am intimately acquainted with the road between
Vera Cruz and Puebla, and thence to Acapulco.
Having been engaged in mercantile business at Puebla for the last seven
years, I am intimately acquainted with every mile of this road, having,
from the nature of my business, been compelled often to travel over the
whole route, and am therefore free to say that the whole distance can be
travelled in stage-coaches without any impediment—this road being free
from robbers—and will require only an expenditure of from $25,000 to
$30,000, to make it equal to any stage route in the United States; and
at this time, without the expenditure of even a single dollar, the whole
distance can be travelled in stage-coaches, with the exception of about
thirteen leagues, with the utmost facility and expedition. The mail is
now taken from Vera Cruz to Acapulco in sixty hours, which time will
be shortly reduced to fifty hours; and this distance can be regularly
travelled with the mail coaches in that space of time the whole year
round.
J. BLUMENKRON.
CITY OF NEW YORK, _November 22, 1853_.
APPENDIX B.
_Extracts from letters received from Colonel Ramsey, in Mexico, of the
dates following._
“AUGUST 29, 1853.
“I have received a letter from Mr. Markoe, an agent at Vera Cruz, dated
August 22, in which he says: ‘The Texas left this morning at 8 o’clock
a. m. The express arrived last night at 8. It left Acapulco on the 17th
at 4 p. m.’ Mr. Tyler writes me: ‘The riders have done nobly in getting
through in the time they did, considering the state of the roads, (in
the height of the rainy season.)’ Mr. Denman, at Acapulco, writes me
from Acapulco, August 23: ‘Your express which left Vera Cruz on the 17th
instant at 4 p. m., arrived here on the 22d at 4½ a. m.’”
* * * * *
“SEPTEMBER 15, 1853.
“I only returned last evening from a trip I have been making over some
distance of our route. The express mail is not working to my entire
satisfaction, as too much time (80 hours) is too long, and I am anxious
to improve this important service.”
“By the time that the rains are over, all our animals will be in prime
condition—say by the 1st November—and then our agents assure me they
can easily make the distance under 60 hours. This season has been
unprecedented for heavy rains and bad roads. We have now passed through
the worst of it, making the experiment under every possible disadvantage,
and proving that we can always run from port to port in 80 hours at the
farthest.”
“I have a letter from Señor Gernez, the Secretary of State of Guerrero,
dated the 7th instant, in which he says: ‘The courier left Acapulco on
the 4th instant, at 4 p. m., and arrived here, (Tixtla,) in this city, on
the 5th, at 2 o’clock p. m.’ Now, by looking at the distance, you will
perceive that it is over the worst part of the road, and more than one
hundred[1] miles, at the very worst season of the year.”
[1] The distance has since been reduced.
* * * * *
“OCTOBER 3, 1853.
“I have been informed by the agent of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company
at Acapulco that the steamers will not hereafter touch at that port. If
this be the fact, it will be grave matter for the consideration of our
company. In that event, we will be cut off from receiving or forwarding
any California mails until we establish a connexion of our own.”
“The careful examination I have directed to be made recently of the whole
length of our route, has dispelled many of the obstacles and difficulties
which we had supposed would have to be encountered. I always supposed
that, as we became more familiar with the route, and with the country on
both sides of it, difficulties would vanish.”
“Our express mail has not only demonstrated the time in which we can run
over the route, but also the obstacles in the very worst season of the
very worst year.”
“My last reports received of the time of the couriers from Vera Cruz, on
the 17th September, 4 p. m., were as follows: Arrived at Puebla 4 p. m.
on the 18th; arrived at Mitapec 11 a. m. on the 19th; arrived at Draper
3½ p. m. on the 19th; arrived at Papagallos river 10 a. m. of the 20th;
arrived at Acapulco at 6 p. m. of the 20th—the whole time three days and
two hours. At least four hours were lost by the courier going through
Chilpanzingo, which was out of the way.”
* * * * *
“OCTOBER 15, 1853.
“Since writing the above, I have thought it best to finish the subject of
the gold-placers on the Mescala river. The existence of these mines have
long been known. You will find them mentioned in my notes on this valley,
under the article on ‘Mines;’ but recently gold has been found in such
abundance as to cause a sensation; people rush in crowds.
“Since then other more extensive placers have been discovered on the
Papagallos river, in the line of our route. These have created a still
greater sensation, as you will see by the papers. My notes on the mines
are almost incredible; but it is gratifying to find every day new
confirmation of all that I described of the astonishing mineral wealth of
that country.
“If I can leave the city in order to attend more closely to this express
line, I could soon convince you that eighty hours is slow travelling. The
last reports I sent you show an improvement on this, by reducing the time
to seventy hours. My orders will now, I trust, be obeyed, as it is pretty
evident I will take no excuses. I have now ordered the mail to be carried
in sixty hours, which is only a beginning. If my orders are carried
out, in six weeks time _I will have it done in forty-eight hours, which
will be at about seven miles per hour. This is no great feat in such a
country, in such a climate, and on such roads._ Were the horses now in
the proper condition, which they would be, had they been properly fed and
attended to, I could now perform it in forty-eight hours. You remark,
‘the route being feasible for an express mail under all the difficulties
incident to such an enterprise, why not feasible for heavy mails and
passengers?’ To this let me answer that the route, beyond all question,
is feasible for heavy mails, as much so as for light mails; we will gain
vastly in time as soon as we can put on our stages.
“You must have been in mind that between Rincon and the crossing of the
Papagallos there are no mountains; and, to make the road practicable for
stages, it only requires some widening at the most trifling expense. Our
Concord wagons will suit admirably for this purpose.
“I am ashamed of our contract to carry the California mail to New Orleans
in sixteen days, when I know we can carry it even to New York in a less
number of days. It has actually placed us in a false position, from which
we ought to relieve ourselves by a practical demonstration.
“I regret extremely that the steamers have not joined us at the ends of
our route, so that we could demonstrate the few hours in which we can
make the distance across Mexico. All that I may report to you—all the
certificates of speed—will not satisfy the public; they must have the
letters and news from California. It is your affair to require them to
make the connexion.”
* * * * *
ACAPULCO, _September 23, 1853_.
DEAR SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 16th
September. In reference to your metallic-boat, it is in good order,
excepting that the air-chambers have been cut open for the purpose of
stowing baggage.
It is with much gratification that I received correspondence from New
Orleans in six days, by your last mail, which arrived here on the 20th
instant at 7¼ o’clock p. m.; and I am now satisfied that, at present,
this route presents facilities for the most rapid mail communication
between California and the United States.
Yours, truly,
S. TYLER, _Agent_.
ALBERT C. RAMSEY, Esq., _Vice President and Agent, Mexico_.
* * * * *
OFFICE P. M. S. S. CO.,
_Acapulco, September 21, 1853_.
DEAR SIR: Your mail was received last night at 6 o’clock, bringing dates
from New Orleans to the 14th inst., which is very satisfactory, being as
yet, I think, the quickest time from the United States.
The down boat from San Francisco I have advised you will not touch, for
which I am very sorry; but your mail matter will receive quick despatch
for San Francisco.
Yours, truly,
S. TYLER, _Agent_.
ALBERT C. RAMSEY, Esq., _Mexico_.
* * * * *
[From the Universal, September 19, 1853.]
_Improvements in the State of Puebla._
The Eco del Comercio of Vera Cruz, in its number of the 14th inst.,
(September, 1853,) has the following paragraphs:
“The Prefectura of Matamoras, in the State of Puebla, have under their
charge the repairing of the road which connects that State with the State
of Guerrero, and the work has been under the direction of Señor José
Maria Pavon since last January, with 70 presidential soldiers, afterwards
increased 80, provided with plenty of tools, rations, and clothes from
the municipal funds. In the first three months of that year, 15,000 yards
of road were opened near Mitapec to the State line of Guerrero; and
to the last dates, the 31st July last, 3,563 yards were repaired near
Chietta; and near Tepeojiema, (S. Juan Espanthan,) 8,529 yards.”
* * * * *
_Order of the Mexican government to facilitate our mails.—General direction
of mails._
MEXICO, _July 18, 1853_.
In a supreme order of the 6th inst., which I received on the 16th, his
excellency the Minister of Hacienda (Treasury) writes to me as follows:
“His excellency the President is informed, by your official despatch
No. 95, dated the 22d of June last, of the improvements introduced by
Mr. Albert C. Ramsey in the line of steamers between Acapulco and San
Francisco, in California, and between New Orleans and Vera Cruz, and
in that of mails from that port to Acapulco, whose days of arrival and
departure are stated in the copy which accompanies yours; and you ask to
be authorized to publish the same. His excellency has been pleased to
accord this permission, which I communicate to you in answer for that
purpose. To the same effect, their excellencies the governors of the
States of Vera Cruz, Puebla, Mexico, and Guerrero have been written to,
to place no obstacle in the way of the fixing the posts of Señor Ramsey,
but, on the contrary, to afford every facility in placing these very
useful establishments.”
I have the honor of transmitting this to you for your information, and in
answer to your communications of the 16th June last and the 12th inst.,
assuring you of my consideration and particular esteem.
God and liberty.
P. M. ANAYA.
To Mr. ALBERT C. RAMSEY.
* * * * *
_General direction of mails._
MEXICO, _July 18, 1853_.
By virtue of the contract (by supreme approbation) made with Don Alberte
C. Ramsey, with this general direction, to transport through the
territory of the republic the mails coming from foreign places, and going
also to foreign ports, by means of the ocean line of steamers between
Vera Cruz and New Orleans, and between Acapulco and San Francisco, in
California, the said Mr. Ramsey has arranged the trips of the said mails
in the following manner:
_Line of steamers between Vera Cruz and New Orleans._—Leave New Orleans
every month the 1st, 14th, and 25th; arrive at Vera Cruz the 4th, 17th,
and 28th. Leave Vera Cruz the 1st, 8th, and 22d; arrive at New Orleans
the 4th, 11th, and 25th.
_Line of steamers between Acapulco and San Francisco, connecting with the
express from Vera Cruz to Acapulco._—Leave Vera Cruz every month the 4th
and 17th; arrive at Acapulco the 9th and 22d. Leave Acapulco the 9th and
22d; arrive at San Francisco the 17th and 30th. Leave San Francisco the
8th and 24th; arrive at Acapulco the 16th and 1st. Leave Acapulco the
16th and 1st; arrive at Vera Cruz the 21st and 6th.
All of which is, by supreme order, published for information.
P. M. ANAYA.
* * * * *
NEW YORK, _November 28, 1854_.
SIR: The undersigned would respectfully call your attention to their
contract of the 3d of March, 1852, with the department, for the
transportation of the United States mails between Vera Cruz, in Mexico,
and Acapulco, San Diego, Monterey, and San Francisco. By this contract it
was stipulated and intended to transport the mails semi-monthly between
New Orleans and San Francisco in sixteen days, (consecutively,) and
surety for a large amount was given for the faithful performance of the
service. By the terms of this contract it was subject to the approval of
Congress, and also to an appropriation by the same.
The undersigned immediately prepared to perform the service in order
to satisfy the requirements of the department, and also to save their
surety harmless from their heavy obligation. Steamers were provided for
the service on the Pacific ocean, and one of the undersigned proceeded
to Mexico to take charge of the line between Vera Cruz and Acapulco.
Horses, mules, harness, stages, wagons, and other materiel, were rapidly
collected to furnish all that was required for the 384 miles of land
conveyance across Mexico. At the same time a small letter mail was
established, which commenced operations in July of the same year. By
this method it was designed to transmit, rapidly, intelligence between
the Atlantic and Pacific cities of the Union until the stages and
other materiel, were properly placed on the line. Under this temporary
arrangement, newspapers and letters were carried between California and
New Orleans in fourteen, thirteen, and twelve-and-a-half days. Had the
arrangement been completed for connecting with the steamers at Vera
Cruz and Acapulco, in no instance would the time have exceeded thirteen
days, as the distance by land across Mexico, from sea to sea, was
performed with great ease and security in less than three days. Frequent
experiments were made on parts of the Mexican road to test the time
required for the transportation of the mails when the stages were placed
on the route, and it was found that as soon as the mails were transported
in the vehicles prepared for that purpose, the time would not exceed
forty-eight consecutive hours between Vera Cruz and Acapulco.
It was the intention of the undersigned to have commenced with the mail
stages in the month of December, as they were all ready prepared and on
the ground for that purpose. The expenses incurred under the contract
at that time, amounted to the sum of ninety-eight thousand dollars,
($98,000,) of which $56,000 have been paid, and the balance remains
unliquidated. But the department having at this time expressed, in an
annual report to Congress, a disapprobation of the contract on the ground
of the impolicy of conditional contracts, the undersigned ceased their
operations, and, consequently, have sustained serious damages from the
action of the department. It is to be regretted that the department
should have interposed to break up this enterprise, which, by the terms
of the contract, was to be exclusively in the power of Congress. It is
also to be regretted that this route, the shortest and best for the rapid
transmission of the mails, should thus remain unoccupied at the present
time. The undersigned are still ready and willing to perform the service
in the time and mode specified, and would further suggest that if they
were not required to touch at Monterey and San Diego, they would further
stipulate to carry the mails, at all times, so as to make each trip
between San Francisco and New Orleans in less than thirteen days. By the
other routes the time now required is some nine or ten days more. Thus an
important saving of time would be effected, and a corresponding benefit
to the public.
Very respectfully, your obedient servants,
ALBERT C. RAMSEY.
EDWARD H. CARMICK.
Hon. JAMES CAMPBELL, _Postmaster General_.
* * * * *
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
_November 30, 1854_.
GENTLEMEN: Your letter of the 28th instant has been received. The
conditional contract for service between San Francisco and Vera Cruz, to
which you refer, was executed on the 3d of March, 1853, just before I
came into office. My attention was called to the subject of Mr. Rankin’s
letter of the 16th of June, 1853. In my letter of the 9th July following,
I gave my views at length in regard to this contract; and if sums of
money were expended by you after that time, it was done with a full
knowledge of my views, which remain unchanged.
I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
JAMES CAMPBELL,
_Postmaster General_.
Messrs. RAMSEY & CARMICK, _New York, N. Y._
* * * * *
NEW YORK, _December 20, 1854_.
SIR: Your letter of the 30th ultimo was duly received. In referring to
the contract between the department and ourselves, you say that, on the
9th of July, 1853, you made known your disapproval of the contract in a
communication in answer to a letter from R. G. Rankin; and if we have
expended money after that time, on account of the contract, we have done
so with a full knowledge of your views.
We were not informed, by your letter of the 9th of July, that you had
any intention of annulling our contract. We had completed all our
arrangements for stocking the road across Mexico prior to the receipt
of your letter; and, on account of the same, have expended the sum of
ninety-eight thousand dollars, ($98,000;) and our surety for the faithful
performance of the contract had been given, and we were bound to be ready
to carry the mails.
Your letter certainly did not annul the contract; for then our sureties
would have been released from all responsibility on our account, and we
absolved from all reproach for the failure of the enterprise. On the
contrary, the department still considered the contract binding upon us,
as is apparent from the subsequent correspondence with Messrs. Harris
& Morgan. The steamers belonging to these gentlemen were carrying the
United States mail between that city and Vera Cruz. They had addressed
you on the subject of a change in the days of departure from each port,
so as to connect, by means of our line across Mexico, with the Panama
steamers, at Acapulco, running to San Francisco; and thus supplying
additional facilities for a more rapid and frequent transmission of
intelligence to and from California. The advantage of this arrangement
would have been immense to the Atlantic and Pacific cities, without any
inconvenience to the department, and moreover without one dollar expense
to it; of course, this arrangement was intended to continue only until
the appropriation should be made under our contract, when steamers were
to be placed on the line between Acapulco and San Francisco.
The wishes of Messrs. Harris & Morgan, as well as those of the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company, desiring this temporary change in the schedule
time between New Orleans and Vera Cruz, were fully communicated in
writing to the department. But in your letter to Messrs. Harris & Morgan
of the 3d of November, 1853, you refused to accede to this request;
predicating your refusal on our contract made with your predecessor,
Mr. Hubbard, for the transmission of a semi-monthly California mail, in
which it was not contemplated that the mails sent from New Orleans, via
Vera Cruz and Acapulco, should go forward to California by the Panama
steamers, but by another line running only between Acapulco and San
Francisco; and which contract was awaiting the sanction of Congress.
You add: “No such sanction has yet been given by Congress; but apart
from this, and without troubling you with my views on the subject, it
is simply necessary for me to say, that there can be no recognition by
the department of any arrangement by which the additional semi-monthly
mail, clearly contemplated by the then Postmaster General, can be
dispensed with.” In this there is a positive recognition of our contract
or arrangement with Mr. Hubbard as still existing, which the department
would not “dispense with,” although it would, while our appropriation was
pending, have shortened the time some ten days to and from California by
connecting with the Panama steamers touching at Acapulco.
When the annual report of the Post Office Department, in December, 1853,
was transmitted to Congress, we were led to believe, for the first time,
that you had decided virtually to annul our contract, as the estimate for
an appropriation under the contract was not sent in by you, but another
route for a semi-monthly mail was recommended. You will thus perceive we
were not apprized of the intentions of the department until the close
of the year 1853, when all our expenses had been incurred, and when, in
consequence of the official report, our operations ceased.
In conclusion, the department, by its action, having virtually annulled
the contract, and having assumed to do that which, by the terms of the
contract, was left to Congress, we therefore deem ourselves grievously
damaged, and have more than an equitable claim for redress.
Very respectfully, your obedient servants,
ALBERT C. RAMSEY.
E. H. CARMICK.
Hon. JAMES CAMPBELL, _Postmaster General_.
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