17 Essays I 
tax. And therefore, in consideration of their dis- 
tresses, our late tax laws do expressly favor those 
counties, excusing the sufferers; and I suppose the 
same 1s done in other governments. 
(Q. Are not you concerned in the management of 
the post-office in America? 
A. Yes. I am deputy-postmaster-general of 
North America. 
Q. Don’t you think the distribution of stamps by 
post to all the inhabitants very practicable, if there 
was no opposition? 
A. The posts only go along the sea-coasts: they 
do not, except in a few instances, go back into the 
country; and, if they did, sending for stamps by post 
would occasion an expense of postage amounting in 
many cases to much more than that of the stamps 
themselves. 
(Q. Are you acquainted with Newfoundland? 
A. I never was there. 
QO. Do you know whether there are any post-roads 
on that island? 
A. Ihave heard that there are no roads at all, but 
that the communication between one settlement and 
another is by sea only. 
Q. Can you disperse the stamps by post in 
Canada? 
A. There is only a post between Montreal and 
Quebec. The inhabitants live so scattered and re- 
mote from each other in that vast country, that posts 
cannot be supported among them, and therefore they 
cannot get stamps per post. The English colonies, 
too, along the frontiers are very thinly settled. 
£60] 7¢