The merchants trading wit...
The mercharnts trading with Brazil complain loully of the condluct of the Post-Gffice, in having chargedl the packet . rate of postage on the letters brought by Ilis Majesty's ship Brazern from Rio (le Janeiro. The rule has been fbrmerly not to charge this rate On the letters brought by ships of war, anless there was no packet in port at the Lim. e of sailing; but in this case there wa- a p acket in the hlar- bour of Rio at the timie of the Brazen's departure,and which sailed a few days afterwards. Between thle packet anl the ship rate of charge there is a very material difference, the former being twice or three times the amount of the latter. To levy the full packet-rate, therefore, under the circum- stances described, forms a heavy tax oul the foreigll mer- chant. In thb present case, the packet, when it arrives, will principally bring duplicates of the letters sent by the Brazen. The merchants coeicersed have made applications ior redress to the conductors of the Post-office, whichl are at present under consideration. It mtay be alleged on the part of the Post-office, that. by ilhr early arrival oftthe Brazca, a benefit has heen gained by the merchants, equal to that which a packet could have afflarded; but the rmerchants inay then, with justice, require that the letters which are deliver- ed from the packet when it arrives, shall be redluced in postage to the ship-rate. If in one instance more has been performed, in the other there has been less than the implied contract of the Post-office with the merchants requirel. The postage of a morchant's letters, it should be observed, amlounts generally to a consi(terable sUII ; yet thcy do not so much complain of the present proceeding in the light of a pecuniary loss, as for the evidence they think its affords of a dispositioll to take unfair advantages of them by a public office. It is lioped that the mode in which their application is treated will remove that insinuation, and prevent its being revived on any future occasion. Nothing is more clearly the dluty and interest of a great lpublic esta- blishrment like this, than fixed honourable principles of action, never, on any account, to be deviated from.