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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
86
We
will
be
pardoned
one
more
quotation.
It
is
a
concession
on
the
score
of
religion,
made
by
the
Postmaster-General
in
a
minute,
dated
October
19,
1790.
It
runs
thus:--"Let
the
Secretary
write
a
civil
letter
to
Mr
Coke,
that
the
Postmaster-General
is
very
willing
to
relinquish,
on
the
part
of
the
King,
the
usual
head
money
of
12
guineas
for
three
persons
at
L4,
4s.
each,
whom
Mr
Coke
represents
to
be
sent
to
the
West
Indies
for
the
purpose
of
instructing
the
negro
slaves
in
the
principles
of
the
Christian
religion."
While
in
the
eighteenth
century
but
trifling
advancement
would
seem
to
have
been
made
in
naval
matters,
what
a
contrast
is
presented
by
the
achievements
of
the
last
eighty
years!
As
compared
with
the
'Etruria'
and
the
'Umbria'
recent
acquisitions
of
the
Cunard
Company,
for
the
conveyance
of
the
mails
between
Liverpool
and
New
York,
each
of
8000
tons
burthen
and
12,500
horse-power,
the
pigmy
vessels
of
the
past
almost
sink
into
nothingness;
and
we
cannot
but
acknowledge
the
rapidity
with
which
such
stupendous
agencies
have
come
under
the
control
of
man
for
the
furtherance
of
his
work
in
the
world.
A
favourite
American
packet
of
our
own
era,
for
travellers
crossing
the
Atlantic,
was
the
'America'
of
the
National
Steamship
Company,
which
has
since
been
purchased
by
the
Italian
Government
for
service
as
a
fast
cruiser.
It
is
a
ship
of
6500
tons
gross
tonnage;
and
is
a
surprising
contrast
to
the
American
packet
of
eighty
years
ago
already
described.
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