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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
152
"Another
potent
reason
for
the
abolition
of
the
franking
privilege,
as
now
exercised,
is
found
in
the
abuses
which
seem
to
be
inseparable
from
its
existence.
These
abuses,
though
constantly
exposed
and
animadverted
upon
for
a
series
of
years,
have
as
constantly
increased.
It
has
been
often
stated
by
my
predecessors,
and
is
a
matter
of
public
notoriety,
that
immense
masses
of
packages
are
transported
under
the
Government
frank
which
neither
the
letter
nor
the
spirit
of
the
statute
creating
the
franking
privilege
would
justify;
and
a
large
number
of
letters,
documents,
and
packages
are
thus
conveyed,
covered
by
the
frank
of
officials,
written
in
violation
of
law,
not
by
themselves,
but
by
some
real
or
pretended
agent;
while
whole
sacks
of
similar
matter,
which
have
never
been
handled
nor
even
seen
by
Government
functionaries,
are
transported
under
franks
which
have
been
forged.
The
extreme
difficulty
of
detecting
such
forgeries
has
greatly
multiplied
this
class
of
offences;
whilst
their
prevalence
has
so
deadened
the
public
sentiment
in
reference
to
them,
that
a
conviction,
however
ample
the
proof,
is
scarcely
possible
to
be
obtained.
The
statute
of
1825,
denouncing
the
counterfeiting
of
an
official
frank
under
a
heavy
penalty,
is
practically
inoperative.
I
refer
you
to
the
case
reported
at
length
by
the
United
States
attorney
for
the
district,
as
strikingly
illustrating
this
vitiated
public
opinion,
reflected
from
the
jury-box.
The
proof
was
complete,
and
the
case
unredeemed
by
a
single
palliation;
and
yet
the
offender
was
discharged,
unrebuked,
to
resume,
if
it
should
please
him,
his
guilty
task.
This
verdict
of
acquittal
is
understood
to
have
been
rendered
on
two
grounds--first,
that
the
accused
said
he
did
not
commit
the
offence
to
avoid
the
payment
of
the
postages;
and
second,
that
the
offence
has
become
so
prevalent
that
it
is
no
longer
proper
to
punish
it.
These
are
startling
propositions,
whether
regarded
in
their
legal,
moral,
or
logical
aspects."
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