UNITED STATES MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY, SIR: In accordance with the understanding had between this company (as assignees of A. G. Sloo) and the department in the month of June, 1852, when the present arrangement for transporting the mails on the route between New York, Havana, New Orleans, and Chagres was made, which understanding was that the arrangement might be discontinued upon either party giving to the other thirty days' notice thereof, and the route named in the contract be resumed, (for the particulars of which arrangement I beg to refer you to the letter of the department of June 18, 1852, to George Law, esq., and to Mr. Edwin Croswell's reply thereto of the 23d of the same month,) I beg leave respectfully to inform the department that that part of the arrangement referred to by which a semi-monthly mail direct between New Orleans and Aspinwall has been carried for the past two years will be discontinued, commencing with the departure from New Orleans of the 20th of September proximo, and the California mails, to and from New Orleans, will thereafter be carried via Havana. The dates of sailing of the steamers running between New York, Havana, and New Orleans will be changed, so as to make the necessary connexions at Havana. I give you below a schedule of the departures, together with the probable dates of arrival. The latter can only be approximately given, as they depend both upon the weather and the time of the arrival of the California mails at Aspinwall, viz: Leave New York for Havana and New Orleans on the 2d and 17th of each month. Leave New Orleans for Havana and New York (with the California mails) on the 5th and 20th of each month. Both the above will arrive and meet at Havana on or about the 8th and 23d of each month, and there transfer to a third steamer, to sail thence immediately for Aspinwall, such California mails and passengers as they may have on board. The steamer leaving Havana for Aspinwall may be expected to arrive at the latter port about the 13th and 28th of each month; and in returning will leave Aspinwall as soon as the California mails for New Orleans are on board, and arrive back at Havana by or before the 8th and 23d of each month, or in time to connect with and transfer to the steamers leaving Havana on the dates named the mails and passengers for New Orleans. This arrangement will enable the New Orleans mails to arrive at and depart from Aspinwall simultaneously with those of New York, and the mails bound into New Orleans will generally reach there about the 11th and 26th of each month. The direct line of steamers between New York and Aspinwall, sailing from here on the 5th and 20th of each month, will, for the present, be continued as heretofore. I have notified the company's agent in New Orleans of the proposed change, and have requested him to inform the postmaster there of it. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your most obedient servant, M. O. ROBERTS, President. Hon. JAMES CAMPBELL, Postmaster General, Washington. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, September 4, 1854. SIR: Your letter of the 8th ultimo was duly received, giving notice of the intention of your company to discontinue, from and after the 20th instant, the present direct line between "New Orleans and Aspinwall," which was provided for in the order of 31st May, 1852; and that the California mails to and from New Orleans will thereafter be conveyed via Havana. The schedule on the "New York, Havana, and New Orleans line" has accordingly been changed as proposed by you, so as to leave New York on the 2d and 17th, instead of the 12th and 27th of each month, and New Orleans on the 5th and 20th, instead of the 11th and 26th of each month, the steamers from each direction to meet at Havana on the 8th and 23d of each month. The following schedule has also been ordered for the direct line between Havana and Aspinwall, viz: Leave Havana on the 8th and 23d of each month, after arrival of steamers from New York and New Orleans. Arrive at Aspinwall on or about the 13th and 28th of each month. Leave Aspinwall on arrival of the Pacific mails for New Orleans, &c. Arrive at Havana on or before the 8th and 23d of each month, in time to connect with the steamers for New Orleans and New York. Your proposition is understood to be that the present semi-monthly lines between "New York and Aspinwall direct," and between "New York and New Orleans, via Havana," will both be continued as heretofore, the only change being to substitute a direct semi-monthly line between Havana and Aspinwall for the present line between New Orleans and Aspinwall direct. I regret deeply that your company contemplates making any change whatever in the present arrangement, and especially that the direct semi-monthly line between New Orleans and Aspinwall is to be abandoned. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, MARSHALL O. ROBERTS, Esq., JAMES CAMPBELL. President of U. S. Mail Steamship Company, New York. UNITED STATES MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 4th instant, recognizing and approving the schedule of running the ships of this company between New York, Havana, and New Orleans, and between Havana and Aspinwall, as advised in my letter of the 8th ultimo. The change, as you suppose, consists solely in the substitution of the line between Havana and Aspinwall for the direct line between New Orleans and Aspinwall; being a return to the original schedule in precise accordance with the terms and conditions of the existing contract. I cannot but participate in your regrets that the company have felt compelled to withdraw the direct line between New Orleans and Aspinwall. That line was established, and the large additional service beyond the requirements of the contract with the government undertaken from a desire to afford all the facilities in our power to the western and southwestern States, not only for a direct intercourse with California, but for the transmission of the mails to and from that section of the Union. The experiment has been fairly made during a period of more than two years, and has resulted in a monthly loss to the company, and will eventuate in a very large aggregate loss, unless Congress shall direct that a reasonable compensation be paid for the extra mail service which, under the circumstances, we have not hesitated to perform, and which we regret to withhold, but which we do not feel justified in continuing at a large pecuniary sacrifice to the company. By a computation made from the company's books, the losses incurred by running the direct line between New Orleans and Aspinwall, during the single year ending the 30th of June last, amount to an aggregate of more than one hundred and five thousand dollars, exclusive of insurance and wear and tear. If these last two items be added to the actual running losses, the aggregate would reach nearly two hundred thousand dollars. The department will readily perceive that the very great sacrifice of money necessary to keep up that line has rendered its withdrawal almost, if not quite, an imperative necessity. Nevertheless, if the department desires its continuance, I think that perhaps an arrangement may be effected with the Nicaragua Transit Company, by which half the service might be performed by one of their steamers and the other half continue to be performed by one of this company's ships, and the losses be thus divided. At any rate, if the suggestion meets the approval of the department, I will, at your request, endeavor to make such an arrangement. I have the pleasure to inform the department that this company have just completed the purchase of the splendid steamship "North Star," of Commodore Vanderbilt, at a cost of $400,000, and that she will sail to Aspinwall with the California mails on the 20th instant. I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant, M. O. ROBERTS, President. Hon. JAMES CAMPBELL, Postmaster General, Washington. |