Brady, dated July 26, 1851, (marked, respectively, in Appendix, Nos. 4, 5, 6.) show that the subject of performing the service was introduced first by the department, and that it was not sought by the memorialists. The next important fact relates to the nature of the understanding upon which the service was undertaken. In the letter of June 25, 1851, (marked No. 7, in App.,) from Mr. Law to the department, replying to that letter of June 23, 1851, he says that the mails are duly despatched upon the steamers of the regular line, and explains how it is that the mails are necessarily two days behind the direct line of steamers. He also expresses a willingness to take the mails on the direct steamers if the department desire it. On the 1st of July, 1851, the Postmaster General inquires if he is correct in supposing that Mr. Law consents to take mails on the direct steamers without any additional expense to the government.-(See letter, marked No. 8, in App.) Mr. Law replies by letter, dated July 21, 1851, (App., No. 9,) that he intends at an early day, if it meets the approbation of the department, to arrange the running of his steamers each month as follows, viz: "twice between New York and New Orleans, via Havana, and twice between New Orleans and Chagres direct; making three distinct routes and six passages per month to and from the respective points of destination." And he adds as follows: "In expressing, in my letter of the 28th ultimo, the readiness of this company to instruct the commanders of their steamers, direct as well as by way of Havana, to convey the California mails, if desired by the department, it was not my intention to preclude a claim for reasonable additional compensation for such service. Although we desire to meet fully the requirements of the service and the wishes of the department, it is not expected, I presume, that the the mails can be carried, outward and homeward, six times per month, with the necessary additional clerks or agents, for the same sum for which we contract to carry them twice monthly. Still, desirous of promoting to the utmost the interest and convenience of the public, we are entirely willing to perform the additional service, in the confident expectation that a sense of justice will induce Congress to make such further provision as may be considered a suitable compensation, for it." On the 4th August, the department, without objecting to the terms, asks of Mr. Law the schedules by which he proposes to run in the event "of rearranging the service as contemplated;" to which Mr. Law replies on the 28th August.-(See Appendix, Nos. 10 and 11.) Pending this correspondence between the department and Mr. Law, the following correspondence took place between the postmaster of New York and the department, which, in view of the committee, established the contract under which the service was begun : POST OFFICE, New York, August 7, 1851. SIR: The "Empire City" sails with the California mails at 3 p. m. on the 11th instant, schedule time. The "Georgia" succeeds her on the 13th for Chagres direct, carrying two days' later dates. Shall I make up a supplementary mail for the "Georgia?" Permit me to refer you to the postscript of my letter of the 26th ultimo relative to this subject. Respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. N. K. HALL, W. V. BRADY, Postmaster. Postmaster General, Washington, D. C. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Washington, August 8, 1851. SIR In answer to your letter of the 7th instant, I have to say that you will make up and forward mails by Mr. Law's direct steamers to Chagres, with this understanding, however, that this department does not thereby become responsible for any additional expense. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. V. BRADY, Esq., Postmaster, New York city. N. K. HALL, Postmaster General. POST OFFICE, NEW YORK, SIR: I herewith hand you a letter received from Mr. Roberts, in answer to yours of the 8th instant to me, relative to supplementary California mails per steamers of 13th and 28th. Be kind enough to answer by telegraph, provided you wish a mail sent by the Georgia, in order that I may post my bulletins immediately after the closing of the mails on the 11th. Respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. N. K. HALL, W. V. BRADY, Postmaster. Postmaster General, Washington, D. C. OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES MAIL STEAMSHIP Co., SIR: The mails for Chagres, both direct and via Havana, will be carried by the steamships of this company upon the terms and in the manner heretofore stated to the Post Office Department, viz: Compensation for any extra or additional mail service, to be submitted to Congress, without requiring a prior stipulation to pay from the depart ment. Respectfully, your obedient servant, W. V. BRADY, Esq., Postmaster, New York. M. O. ROBERTS. [Despatch, by telegraph.] August 11, 1851. POSTMASTER, New York, will send mail for California by the direct steamer of the 15th instant. N. K. HALL. The service continued to be performed upon this understanding, and no further correspondence took place until April 9, 1852, when the Postmaster General wrote to Mr. Law, complaining that he did not despatch the direct steamers on the days appointed, and Mr. Roberts, in reply, stated the cause to be an accident which had befallen the Illinois in November preceding, but advised him the steamer would leave on the 26th.-(See Appendix, Nos. 12 and 13.) Then occurred the following correspondence, which was a recognition and continuance of the original understanding: POST OFFICE, NEW YORK, April 14, 1852. SIR The enclosed advertisement is the first that has appeared in three months, in relation to the steamers for Chagres direct. Am I to consider the instructions to make up mails for the steamers of the 11th and 26th still in force? Respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. N. K. HALL, WILLIAM V. BRADY, Postmaster. Postmaster General, Washington, D. C. Suggestion of new schedule, made by M. O. Roberts to the Postmaster General, April 14, 1852. DIRECT.-To sail from New York on the 5th and 20th, and return direct to New York. VIA HAVANA. To sail from New York (as at present) on the 9th and 24th, except when those dates happen to be Sunday, and then to sail on the day following or preceding, as may be agreed. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, April 15, 1852. SIR In answer to your letter of the 14th instant, I have to say that, if the contractors resume their running on the 11th and 26th of the month for Chagres and San Francisco, you will make up and send mails by the direct steamers on said days, as heretofore, under the original order. We have a memorandum from the company, handed in yesterday by Mr. Crosswell, proposing the 5th, 9th, 20th and 24th of each month as the future days of sailing from New York, these ships to connect with the way and direct steamers on the other side, regularly for San Francisco. Will this be a good arrangement? I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, WM. V. BRADY, Esq., Postmaster, New York, N. Y. N. K. HALL. The arrangement continued to work, as understood between the parties, without other correspondence than such as related to schedules, until a correspondence occurred between Mr. Aspinwall, the contractor on the Pacific side, and the department; in the course of which a letter from the Postmaster General, dated 31st May, 1852, and one from the Secretary of the Navy of 2d June, copies of which were sent to Mr. Law, seem to have excited his apprehension that the department abandoned the original terms of the understanding, (by which he was to receive a compensation to be determined by Congress,) when he at once addressed the department declining to continue the arrangement. (See Appendix, Nos. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20.) In that letter, dated June 8, 1852, he says: "Upon the terms and conditions prescribed in the letters from the Post Office and Navy Departments of the 1st and 2d instant, I do not consider it compatible with the interest of the company to carry out the proposed arrangement for increased mail between this port and California. This company is prepared, agreeably to our letter of the 21st of July, 1851, to carry the mail direct between New York and Aspinwall, and between New Orleans and Aspinwall, discontinuing the line between Havana and Chagres, and run the line direct between New York and New Orleans, touching at Havana twice a month, and leave to Congress the compensation for the increased service over the amount paid under the existing contract, the company retaining the right to discontinue such increased service upon giving the department one month's previous notice, and to resume the service as now performed according to the requirements of the contract, viz: twice a month between New York, New Orleans, Havana, and Aspinwall. This is the only portion of the joint letter of the 25th of May last in which this company was interested, and to which its assent was given." Mr. Law occupied the position taken in that letter of a declension to carry on the arrangement until the matter was again opened by a letter from the department to Mr. Aspinwall, followed by a correspondence between Mr. Law and the department, which, as it settled permanently and finally the contract or agreement upon which the direct service was performed, it is thought best to insert here at large: POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, SIR: Your letter of the 12th instant is received. In his letter of the 8th instant, Mr. Law says: "Upon the terms and conditions prescribed in the letters from the Post Office and Navy Departments of the 1st and 2d instant, I do not consider it compatible with the interest of this company to carry out the proposed arrangement," &c. It is not perceived that the order, as made, differs from Mr. Law's proposition essentially in any respect, except it be in the fact that the Secretary of the Navy and Postmaster General decline to be responsible, either directly or indirectly, for any additional expense in the matter; in other words, that they decline to join in submitting the subject to Congress hereafter, upon a question of increased compensation to the company. If the matter must be submitted to Congress, would it not be advisable that it be done at once? I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. ASPINWALL, Esq., W. H. DUNDAS, For the Postmaster General. Pres't Pacific M. S. S. Co., New York, N. Y. OFFICE OF THE U. S. MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY. June 15, 1852. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th instant. The impression of the department that this company declines to carry out the proposition for such increased service as shall be required for direct mails between New York and Aspinwall, New Orleans and Aspinwall, and New York and New Orleans, via Havana, each twice a month, "on the ground that the Secretary of the Navy and the Postmaster General will not hold themselves liable, either directly or indirectly, for any additional expense in the matter," is not, as the case is understood by the company, the actual attitude in which the matter stands. In my letter to the department of the 21st July, 1851, embodying this proposition, it was alluded to as an experiment intended to meet the public wants, and a general demand for increased mail facilities between the Atlantic and Pacific portions of the United States beyond the stipulations of the existing contract, which, being voluntary on our part and requiring the employment of several additional steamers, we claim the right, should it prove too onerous and expensive to the company, to discontinue, and to return to the existing schedule upon giving the department one month's notice. In relation to compensation, I said: "Still, desirous of promoting to the utmost the interest and convenience of the public, we are entirely willing to perform the additional service in the confident expectation that a sense of justice will induce Congress to make such further provision as may be considered a suitable compensation for it." This was the basis of the recent renewal of the proposition in the joint letter of the 25th May last. But the tenor of the letters of the Secretary of the Navy and the Postmaster General of the 1st and 2d instants seems to admit of an interpretation beyond a determination not to hold themselves liable, directly or indirectly, for any additional |