POST-OFFICE REGULATIONS.

(1863.)

ABSTRACT OF THE NEW POSTAL LAW (JUNE 30, 1863.) THERE are but three classes of mailable matters, namely, letters, regular or periodical printed matter, and miscellaneous matter.

The first class embraces correspondence, wholly or partly in writing, except that mentioned in the third class.

The second class embraces all mailable matter exclusively in print, and issued at stated periods, without addition by writing, mark, or sign.

The third class embraces all other matter declared mailable, such as pamphlets, occasional publications, books, book manuscripts, proof-sheets, maps, prints, engravings, blanks, flexible patterns, samples and sample cards, phonographic paper, letter envelopes, postal envelopes or wrappers, cards, paper photographic representations of seeds, cuttings, bulbs, roots and scions.

Letters.-The maximum standard weight for the single rate of letter postage is one half ounce avoirdupois. The rate of postage on all domestic letters not exceeding one half oz. shall be uniform at three cents; and for each half oz., or fractional thereof, of additional weight, an additional rate of three cents, to be in all cases prepaid by postage stamps. DROP or LOCAL LETTERS, two cents per half oz., prepaid by stamps; and no further fee can be charged for delivery, or for taking from street boxes to the mails. IRREGULAR MATTER. — Letter rates are to be charged on irregular matter, part writing and part print, except that publishers may send and receive proof-sheets and advise patrons, by writing on papers, when their subscription is up, at printed matter rates. On unclassified matter, where no specific rate is set down, letter postage is charged. When mail matter that should be prepaid goes forward unpaid, double rates are charged at the delivery office. SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' LETTERS are exempt from this extra charge, and may go unpaid. On returned DEAD LETTERS, if valuable, double rates to be paid; if not valuable, three cents only. Foreign dead letters subject to conventional stipulations with the respective governments. Letters not finding owners at the office named must be forwarded, when the place is known, with extra charge. The Postmaster General may pay not more than two cents for carrying letters in vessels not carrying mails, such letters to be put in postoffice on arrival in port; if for local delivery, another two cents should be affixed. No fees are allowed for letters collected by a carrier on a mail route.

Newspapers, Magazines, &c.-Newspaper, or second class postage, is, for papers not over four ounces each, per quarter, once a week, 5 cts.; twice, 10 cts.; three times, 15 cts.; six times, 30 cts.; seven times, 35 cts., and so on, adding one rate for each issue more than once per week, to be prepaid for not less than three months nor more than a year, at the office of reception. Publishers of weekly newspapers may send within their county free. On magazines issued less often than once a week, one cent for four ounces to regular subscribers. Special bargains may be made by the Postmaster General for transporting packages of newspapers, &c. Publishers must be notified when papers are not taken out for one month, which notice may be sent free. BILLS AND RECEIPTS for subscriptions may be enclosed in papers and go free; any other written enclosure imposes letter postage. Publishers may exchange papers free, not exceeding sixteen ounces in weight.

Maximum Weight-Books. - The maximum weight for single postage on printed matter is four ounces, and the same for miscellaneous or third class matter; and the postage on such is two cents, always prepaid by stamps. Double these rates for books. Three unsealed circulars, two cents; two cents for each additional three, prepaid. No charge for cards or advertisements stamped or printed on envelopes. Franking.-Franking is restricted to the president, his private secretary, the vice-president, heads of executive departments, heads of bureaus and chief clerks, to be designated by the Postmaster General, senators and representatives, secretary of senate and clerk of house- but this only to cover matter sent to them, and that dispatched in the way of business, except documents issued by Congress. DOCUMENTS from officers to their several departments, marked official, also go free; also PETITIONS to Congress. The weight of franked matter must not exceed four ounces per package, save Congress books, &c.

Registry System. -This remains as worthless as ever. The government will take any sum, not more than twenty cents, for registering a letter, but will be in no way responsible for loss or miscarriage.

The business of local delivery and collection of letters is to be regulated by the Postmaster General; but carriers are to be paid a salary and give bonds. The Postmaster General may establish branch post-offices and letter-boxes in cities; all accounts for local business to be kept separate. Contracts may be made with publishers for delivery, by local carriers, of papers, &c., coming through the mails. The Postmaster General may also provide for the delivery of small packets, other than letters and papers, if prepaid (for delivery) at the rate of two cents for each four ounces. No package weighing over four pounds shall go through the mail, except books eirculated by order of Congress. Postage must be prepaid by stamps on domestic letters, whether for mail or local delivery, on transient printed matter, and everything else,

NEW ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLANDERS.

WASHINGTON'S OPINION OF NEW ENGLAND SOLDIERS.-At the present time, when so much discussion is going on as to the relative merits of the Northern and Southern soldiery, as well as of those from the different sections of the North, we have thought that it might be of some interest to our readers to learn the estimate in which the troops of New England were held by the Father of his Country. For this reason we have copied the following extract from a letter written by Gen. Washington to Mr. Lund Washington, dated New York, July 22, 1776:

"We have lately had a general review, and I have much pleasure in informing you that we made a better appearance, and went through our exercises more like soldiers, than I had expected. The Southern States are rash and blamable in the judgment they generally form of their brethren of the four New England States. I do assure you, with all my partiality for my own countrymen, and prejudice against them, I cannot but consider them the flower of the American Army. They are a strong, vigorous, and hardy people, inured to labor and toil, which our people seldom are. And though our hot and eager spirits may, perhaps, suit better in a sudden and desperate enterprise, yet, in the way in which wars are now carried on, you must look for permanent advantages only from that patient and persevering temper which is the result of a life of labor. The New Englanders are cool, considerate and sensible, whilst we are all fire and fury. Like their climate, they maintain an equal temperature, whereas we cannot shine but we burn. They have a uniformity and stability of character, to which the people of no other States have any pretensions; hence they must and will always preserve their influence in this great empire.

"Were it not for the drawbacks which the influence of their popular opinions on the subject of government have on their army, they soon might, and probably would, give law to it."

A more keenly perceptive and truthful comparison of Northern and Southern character never was drawn, and it is a comparison which holds good to this day.

NEW ENGLAND THEN And Now. -Those at the North who, in obedience to the suggestion of Gen. Beauregard, cry out against the "abolitionists" of Massachusetts and the other New England States, conceal the fact that those States have furnished most readily more than their full quota of soldiers in this war.

The men of New England were the first to rush to the defence of the capital when it was threatened by rebels and traitors. They are true to their traditions, for they were foremost, too, in that war which gained our liberties and Union. Those who sneer at New England will do well to look a little at her record in the Revolutionary war. The whole number of men enlisted in the Continental service, from the beginning to the close of that war, was 231,959. Of these, Lorenzo Sabine says, in the historical essay prefixed to his " American Loyalists," that 67,907 were from Massachusetts; and all the States south of Pennsylvania provided but 59,493, or 8414 less than the gallant Bay State alone. New England equipped and maintained 118,350 menmore than one-half the total number placed at the service of Congress during the war. The great State of Virginia sent to the war but 752 more men than little Rhode Island; she sent "only a fifth of the number contributed by Connecticut; only one half as many as New Hampshire, then an almost unbroken wilderness."

LEAVING NEW ENGLAND OUT.-The Chicago Times having proposed to enter upon the discussion of the question whether it would not be best to have a Union leaving New England out, the Louisville Journal asks: “Would n't that question have been an interesting one in the Revolutionary war? How would the proposition have sounded to exclude New England privateers and New England sailors and New England soldiers from the last war with Great Britain?"

THE REPRESENTATION OF NEW ENGLAND IN THE SENATE. — It is not true that the six New England States have been especially favored in Senatorial representation. True they are small in territorial area, but they average a much larger population than the eleven Confederate States. By the census of 1860, the combined white population of the former was 3,110,692, averaging 518,448 to each State; while the combined white population of the latter, including Virginia undivided, was 4,449,463, averaging only 404,496 to each State." Yet the former had 12 Senators at Washington, the latter 22. Rhode Island, the smallest of the New England States in population, showed more than twice the white population of Florida; Vermont, the next smallest, 23,000 more than South Carolina; and Massachusetts, the largest, showed 164,000 more than Virginia, the largest Southern State, and 88,000 more than Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas combined. In the face of such figures, the pretence, by Southern men and Southern sympathizers, that New England has an undue advantage in the Senate, is the extreme of absurdity. New England actually sustains as much disadvantage, relatively to the Southern States, from the State equality representation in the Senate, as from the three-fifths slave representation in the House and Electoral College.

LIST OF STATE AND COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES In New England, with the Name and Address of the Secretaries, 1863.

Penobscot and Aroostook Union, L. Rog-Hampshire Franklin and Hampden, H. K. ers, Patten.

Piscataquis Central, E. B. Averill, Dover.
Sagadahoc, John H. Thompson, Topsham.
Somerset Central, Isaac Dyer, Skowhegan.
Waldo, Timothy Thorndike, Belfast.
Washington, William D. Dana, Perry.
West Oxford, G. B. Barrows, Fryeburg.
West Penobscot, T. P. Batchelder, Ken-Housatonic, Samuel B. Sumner, Great

CHOSEN BY THE COUNTY SOCIETIES.

1865| Highland,
1866 Hampden,
1864 Hampd. E.,
1865 Franklin,

T. Motley, Jr., Ja. Plain, Geo. B. Loring, Salem, John B. Moore, Concord, Asa Clement, Dracut, Elias Grout, Ashland, 1866 Berkshire, Worcester, John Brooks, Princeton, 1886 Hoosac Val., Worces. W., Hollis Tidd, N.Braintree, 1866 Housatonie, S. H. Bushnell, Sheffield, 1864

Worces. N., A. F. Adams, Fitchburg, 1866 Norfolk, Chs. C. Sewall, Medfield, 1865
Worces. S., S. Hartwell, Southbridge, 1865 Bristol, Sam. L. Crocker, Taunton, 1806
Wore. S.E., Henry Chapin, Milford, 1864 Plymouth, Chs. G. Davis, Plymouth, 1866
Hampshire
Barnstable, S.B. Phinney, Barnstable, 1865
1864 Nantucket, J. Thompson, Nantucket, 1866
Mar. Viney., Dan. A. Cleaveland, Tis-

1,854 Royal Quarto Pages.

1,000 Superb Wood-Cut Illustrations.

20,000 New Words and Definitions.

1,100 Excellent Articles on Synonymes.

WORCESTER'S QUARTO DICTIONARY has, from its first publication, been steadily gaining in public favor. It is the standard Dictionary among scholars and literary men, and among all those who use the English language with even a moderate degree of attention to its purity. Dr. Worcester has kept firmly and steadily to the lexicographer's true path, remembering that his chief duty is to record accurately and honestly the result of his researches.

Those competent to judge say that the

DEFINITIONS

are more thorough, scholarly, terse, and simple than those given in, any other Dictionary.

The following is from the distinguished American philologist and writer upon the English language, who, by the extent of his learning, is probably better qualified than any other man in America to judge of the merits of an English Dictionary.

From HON. GEORGE P. MARSH, LL. D.

"The principal points to be aimed at in a hand-dictionary are accuracy in orthography and orthoepy the written and spoken forms of words; precision and distinctness in definition; fulness in vocabulary; and truth in historical etymology.

"The work of Dr. Worcester is unquestionably much superior to any other general Dictionary of the language in every one of these particulars."

The following is from the author of the most complete Anglo-Saxon Dictionary published. As Anglo-Saxon forms the foundation of the English language, Dr. Bosworth may be considered a most competent authority.

From Rav. JosHPH BOSWORTH, D.D., F.R.S., Professor of Anglo-Saxon in Oxford University, Eng.

"The whole work is the most comprehensive and useful that I have yet seen. It is the most complete and practical, the very best, as well as the cheapest, English Dictionary that I know."

From C. C. FELTON, LL. D., late President of Harvard College.

"I find it not only rich beyond example in its vocabulary, but carefully elaborated in all its details, and thoroughly trustworthy as a guide to the most eorrect and elegant usage of the language."

From HERBERT COLERIDGE, Sec'y of the London Philological Soc., London. "As a work of practical utility, your book appears to me to be nearly perfect, and I expect to derive immense assistance from it."

THE ORTHOGRAPHY of Worcester's Dictionary is in accordance with the best usage. A vast majority of the standard works published in this country carefully follow Worcester as authority. As an example, in the new American Cyclopædia, the most important work published by Appleton & Co., publishers of Webster's Spelling-Book, the spelling of Worcester's Dictionary is adopted. In fact, we believe that there is not an author, either in this country or in England, having any claim to literary eminence, who has adopted Webster's orthography in any of his published works. Bryant, Bancroft, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Holmes, Everett, Emerson, Ticknor, Motley, follow Worcester. So did Presoott, Cooper, Felton, Mann, Daniel Webster.

Probably no preceding lexicographer has paid so careful attention as Dr. Worcester to the subject of

PRONUNCIATION.

He not only gives the learner his own pronunciation, but exhibits, at one view, the modes in which the word is pronounced by Smart, Sheridan, Walker, Perry, Jones, Enfield, Fulton and Knight, Jameson, Wright, Knowles, Reid, and other English authorities.

Deep research has been given to the subject of

ETYMOLOGY;

and in words of disputed origin the opinions of the most eminent philologists are given.

BREWER & TILESTON,