(ACT of April 9th, 1816.)

reports on subjects of a general nature made to congress, or either house thereof, by any committee, respectively; for each of the judges of the supreme court, and of the district courts, and of the territories of the United States, to any post office within the United States, they may, respectively, designate.

ACT of February 27, 1815. 4 Bioren, 816.

39. SEC. I. The postmaster general shall be authorised to have the mail carried in any steam boat, or other vessel, which shall be used as a packet, in any of the waters of the United States, on such terms and conditions as shall be considered expedient: Provided, That he do not pay more than three cents for each letter, and each packet, and more than one half cent for each newspaper, conveyed in such mail.

SEC. IV. It shall be the duty of every master or manager of any steam boat, packet, or other vessel, which shall pass from one part or place to another part or place, in the United States, where a post office is established, to deliver, within three hours after his arrival, if in the day time, and within two hours after the next sunrise, if the arrival be in the night, all letters and packets addressed to, or destined for, such port or place, to the postmaster there, for which he shall be entitled to receive of such postmaster two cents for every letter or packet so delivered, unless the same shall be carried or conveyed under a contract with the postmaster general; and if any master or manager of a steam boat, or other vessel, shall fail so to deliver any letter, or packet, which shall have been brought by him, or shall have been in his care, or within his power, he shall incur a penalty of thirty dollars for every such failure.

SEC. v. Every person employed on board any steam boat, or other vessel employed as a packet, shall deliver every letter, and packet of letters, intrusted to such person, to the master or manager of such steam boat, or other vessel, and before the said vessel shall touch at any other port or place; and for every failure, or neglect so to deliver, a penalty of ten dollars shall be incurred for each letter and packet.

ACT of April 9, 1816. Pamphlet edit. 26.

An act in addition to an act to regulate the post office establishment. 40. SEC. 1. From and after the first day of May next, the following rates of postage shall be charged upon all letters and packets, (excepting such as are now excepted by law) conveyed by the posts of the United States, viz:

For every letter composed of a single sheet of paper, conveyed not exceeding thirty miles, six cents; over thirty and not exceed ing eighty, ten cents; over eighty and not exceeding one hundred and fifty, twelve and a half cents; over one hundred and fifty and not exceeding four hundred, eighteen and a half cents; over four hundred miles, twenty-five cents; and for every double letter, or

(ACT of April 10th, 1812.)

letter composed of two pieces of paper, double those rates; and for every triple letter, or one composed of three pieces of paper, triple those rates; and for every packet composed of four or more pieces of paper, or one or more other articles, and weighing one ounce avoirdupois, quadruple those rates: and in that proportion for all greater weights: Provided, That no packet of letters conveyed by the water mails shall be charged with more than quadruple postage, unless the same shall contain more than four distinct letters.

No postmaster shall be obliged to receive, to be conveyed by the mail, any packet which shall weigh more than three pounds; and the postage marked on any letter or packet, and charged in the post bill which may accompany the same, shall be conclusive evidence, in favour of the postmaster who delivers the same, of the lawful postage thereon, unless such letter or packet shall be opened in presence of the postmaster or his clerk.

Every four folio pages, or eight quarto pages, or sixteen octavo pages, of a pamphlet or magazine, shall be considered a sheet, and the surplus pages of any pamphlet or magazine shall also be considered a sheet; and the journals of the legislatures of the several states, not being stitched or bound, shall be liable to the same postage as pamphlets. Any memorandum which shall be written on a newspaper, or other printed paper, and transmitted by mail, shall be charged letter postage; and any person who shall deposit such memorandum in any office for the purpose of defrauding the revenue, shall forfeit, for every such offence, the sum of five dollars.

41. SEC. II. The postmaster general is hereby authorised, to allow to each postmaster such commission on the postages by him collected, as shall be adequate to his services: Provided, That his commission shall not exceed the following several rates on the amount received in one quarter; that is to say:

On a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, thirty per cent. On any sum over and above the first hundred dollars, and not exceeding four hundred dollars, twenty-five per cent.

On any sum over and above the first four hundred dollars, and not exceeding two thousand four hundred dollars, twenty per

cent.

On any sum over and above the first two thousand four hundred dollars, eight per cent.

Except to the postmasters who may be employed in receiving and despatching foreign mails, whose compensation may be augmented not exceeding twenty-five dollars in one quarter; and excepting to the postmasters at offices where the mail is regularly to arrive between the hours of nine o'clock at night and five o'clock in the morning, whose commission, on the first hundred dollars collected in one quarter, may be increased to a sum not exceeding fifty per cent.

(ACT of March 2d, 1819.)

The postmaster general may allow to the postmasters, respectively, a commission of fifty per cent. on the moneys arising from the postage of newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets; and to the postmaster whose compensation shall not exceed five hundred dollars in one quarter, two cents for every free letter delivered out of the office, excepting such as are for the postmaster himself; and each postmaster who shall be required to keep a register of the arrival and departure of the mails, shall be allowed ten cents for each monthly return which he makes thereof to the general post office.

The postmaster general may allow to the postmaster at New Orleans, at the rate of eight hundred dollars, and to the postmaster at Warrenton, in North Carolina, at the rate of two hundred dollars, and to the postmaster at Wheeling, in Virginia, at the rate of two hundred dollars dollars a year, in addition to their ordinary commissions. The postmaster general is hereby authorised to allow to the postmaster at the city of Washington, in addition to the allowance made by this act for postage collected, and for free letters received by him for delivery, a commission of five per centum on the amount of mails distributed at his office: Provided, nevertheless, That the whole annual emoluments of the said postmaster, including the extra compensation heretofore allowed to him by law, shall always be subject to the restriction imposed by the fortieth section of the act of congress approved the thirtieth of April, one thousand eight hundred and ten, to which this act is in addition.

42. SEC. III. Letters and packets to and from any member of the senate, or member or delegate of the house of representatives of the United States, the secretary of the senate, and clerk of the house of representatives, shall be conveyed free of postage, for thirty days previous to each session of congress, and for thirty days after the termination thereof: Provided always, That no letter or packet shall exceed two ounces in weight, and in case of excess of weight, that excess alone shall be paid for.

ACT of March 1, 1817. Pamphlet edit. 211. All letters and packets to and from James Madison, now president of the United States, after the expiration of his term of office, and during his life, shall be carried by the mail free of postage.

ACT of February 20, 1819. Pamphlet edit. 23.

43. [Fixes the salaries of the postmaster general, assistant postmaster general, and additional assistant postmaster general. See title SALARIES, 15.]

ACT of March 2, 1819. Pamphlet edit. 48. 44. SEC. 1. The postmaster general may, and he is hereby authorised to contract for the transportation of the mail in steam boats, between New Orleans, in the state of Louisiana, and Louis

(ACT of March 1st, 1792.)

ville, in the state of Kentucky, for any term of time, not exceeding four years in any one contract, in the same way and manner as he lawfully may, for the carriage of it, by land; but the whole expense of sending the mail in steam boats, shall not exceed that of transmitting the same by land.

ACT of December 14, 1819. Pamphlet edit. 4.

The members of congress, the delegates from territories, the secretary of the senate, and the clerk of the house of representatives, are hereby authorised to transmit, free of postage, to any post office within the United States, or the territories thereof, any documents which have been, or may be, printed by order of either house, during the present congress.

ACT of March 13, 1820. Pamphlet edit. 22.

45. During the present and every subsequent session of congress, all letters and packets to and from the president of the senate pro tempore, and the speaker of the house of representatives, for the time being, shall be received and conveyed by mail, free of postage, under the same restrictions as are provided by law, with respect to letters and packets to and from the vice president of the United States.

ACT of March 1, 1792. 2 Bioren, 253.

1. SEC. 1. Except in case of an election of a president and vice president of the United States, prior to the ordinary period, as hereinafter specified, electors shall be appointed in each state for the election of a president and vice president of the United States, within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and within thirtyfour days preceding the first Wednesday in December in every fourth year succeeding the last election, which electors shall be equal to the number of senators and representatives to which the several states may, by law, be entitled at the time when the president and vice president, thus to be chosen, should come into office. Provided always, That where no apportionment of representatives shall have been made after any enumeration, at the time of choosing electors, then the number of electors shall be according to the existing apportionment of senators and representatives.

(ACT of March 1st, 1792.)

2. SEC. 11. The electors shall meet and give their votes on the said first Wednesday in December, at such place, in each state, as shall be directed by the legislature thereof; and the electors in each state shall make and sign three certificates of all the votes by them given, and shall seal up the same, certifying, on each, that a list of the votes of such state, for president and vice president, is contained therein, and shall, by writing, under their hands, or under the hands of a majority of them, appoint a person to take charge of, and deliver to the president of the senate, at the seat of government, before the first Wednesday in January then next ensuing, one of the said certificates; and the said electors shall forthwith forward, by the post office, to the president of the senate, at the seat of government, one other of the said certificates; and shall, forthwith, cause the other of the said certificates to be delivered to the judge of that district in which the said electors shall assemble.

3. SEC. III. The executive authority of each state shall cause three lists of the names of the electors of such state to be made, and certified, and to be delivered to the electors on or before the said first Wednesday in December; and the said electors shall annex one of the said lists to each of the lists of their votes.

SEC. IV. If a list of votes from any state shall not have been received at the seat of government, on the said first Wednesday in January, then the secretary of state shall send a special messenger to the district judge in whose custody such list shall have been lodged, who shall forthwith transmit the same to the seat of government.

4. SEC. v. Congress shall be in session on the second Wednesday in February, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, and on the second Wednesday in February succeeding every meeting of the electors, and the said certificates, or so many of them as shall have been received, shall then be opened, the votes counted, and the persons who shall fill the offices of president and vice president ascertained and declared, agreeably to the constitution.

SEC. VI. In case there shall be no president of the senate at the seat of government on the arrival of the persons intrusted with the lists of the votes of the electors, then such persons shall deliver the lists of votes in their custody into the office of the secretary of state, to be safely kept and delivered over, as soon as may be, to the president of the senate.

SEC. VII. The persons appointed by the electors to deliver the lists of votes to the president of the senate, shall be allowed, on the delivery of the said lists, twenty-five cents for every mile of the estimated distance, by the most usual road, from the place of meeting of the electors to the seat of government of the United States.

5. SEC. VII. If any person, appointed to deliver the votes of the electors to the president of the senate, shall, after accepting