History of Letter Post Communication Between the United States and Europe, 1845-1875

Abstract

It is the purpose of this book not only to describe the postal services between the United States and Europe, but also to explain their development. The period considered begins with the subsidization of United States steam mail-packets in 1845, and ends on 1 January 1876, when France, the last of nineteen European countries to do so, placed in force the provisions of the treaty of Berne and became an active member of the General Postal Union. In order to keep the size of this work within reasonable bounds, it was necessary that its scope be in some way limited. Rather than narrow the limits of the period covered, it was decided to consider only letter post communication. Interesting as are the arrangements for the exchange of newspapers, printed circulars, and registered mail, they are not included in this work.<br/>A table of United States postal rates to foreign countries is presented in the appendix. While this book confines itself to letter post communication between the United States and Europe, the scope of the appendix is broadened to include rates to all parts of the world. Since information regarding the broadened scope was available, it was felt that it would be of value to collectors to include it.<br/>An attempt has been made in the book to retain the language of the sources from which information has been drawn. This is particularly true in regard to the names of countries and places of which mention is made. Many of the names are subject to a variety of spellings, especially those of the Turkish towns. Places in the appendix follow the spellings given in the tables of postages to foreign countries presented in the <I>U. S. Mail and Post Office Assistant,</I> and the names are sometimes misspelled in that source. The difficulties the Americans had when dealing with foreign languages are occasionally brought to the fore. For example, the port of Rivière-du-Loup on the St. Lawrence River is spelled, in the English version of the United States-French postal convention of 1861, as the Americans pronounced it, "River du Loup."<br/>While I have largely drawn from primary sources for information relating to mail arrangements, the history of the steam-packet lines has been authoritatively presented in seveal works, and I have, therefore, relied upon these secondary sources for this information. Individual ship sailing and arrival dates have been taken from original sources.<br/>It must be recognized, however, that much original source material that should be available no longer exists. The letterbooks of the Post Office Department in the National Archives contain copies of outgoing letters only. Nine of these letterbooks were examined in 1963, and not one letter relating to the foreign-mail service was found. Fortunately, many matters were referred by the Post Office Department to the Department of State, and correspondence on these matters exists. Congress occasionally requested that correspondence relating to certain matters be published, and postmasters general sometimes published correspondence to Congress in support of their requests for legislation. These letters are found in the House and Senate <I>Executive Documents.</I> While many changes in the original postal conventions were made by signing additional articles, changes were also effected through correspondence between the post offices of the countries concerned. Postmasters general sometimes made reference to these changes in their annual reports, but some that are known to have taken place cannot be supported by documentary evidence. The cover is to the postal historian what the artifact is to the archeologist, and in the absence of other evidence, the cover has been relied upon to supply the missing information.<br/>Postal markings are considered only in relation to the function they performed. No attempt is made to present various types of markings performing the same function. This subject has been definitively covered for Boston in <I>Boston Postal Markings to 1890,</I> by Maurice C. Blake and Wilbur W. Davis, and, for the United States in <I>United States Postal Markings, 1851-1861,</I> by Tracy W. Simpson. Some postal markings, however, domestic or foreign, that are unique to a particular mail service, are illustrated and described.