Ramsey & Carmick, contract.

LETTER FROM THE POSTMASTER GENERAL ***

33d CONGRESS, _2d Session_. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. EX. DOC. NO. 47.

RAMSEY & CARMICK—CONTRACT.

LETTER FROM THE POSTMASTER GENERAL, TRANSMITTING _Copy of a conditional mail contract; also copies of correspondence relative to the same_.

FEBRUARY 1, 1855.—Referred to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, and ordered to be printed.

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, _Washington, January 31, 1855_.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith, in compliance with the resolution of the House of the 2d of January instant, a copy of the conditional contract made by my predecessor, Mr. Hubbard, with Messrs. Ramsey & Carmick, on the 3d of March, 1853, for the extension of two of the trips on the New Orleans and Vera Cruz line, from Vera Cruz, Mexico, via Acapulco, to San Francisco in California; also copies of all the correspondence relative to the same, and also relative to the change of schedule proposed on the line from New Orleans to Vera Cruz.

My views in regard to this contract were fully stated in my annual report to Congress of December 1, 1853, and are also contained in the correspondence herewith communicated. It was not deemed necessary to answer the letter of Robert G. Rankin, president of the Mexican Ocean Mail and Inland Company, dated November 23, 1853, and received at the department on the 30th of January, 1854. That they were not prepared to fulfil their conditional contract on the 23d of November, 1853, nine months after its execution, is therein conceded, and the department had neither the time nor desire to enter into a discussion of the irrelevant matters introduced into the body of that letter.

The objections which I entertained to the change of schedule on the New Orleans and Vera Cruz route, proposed, by Messrs. Harris & Morgan in their letter of the 26th October, 1853, were two-fold:

1st. That by authorizing the change proposed the original intent and object of my predecessor, Mr. Hubbard, in entering into the conditional contract with Messrs. Ramsey and Carmick—which was, to secure an additional semi-monthly mail between the Atlantic States and California by alternating at regular intervals with the present semi-monthly line via Panama—would have been entirely frustrated; and thus, instead of having a weekly mail between the Atlantic and Pacific, there would have been, as heretofore, only a semi-monthly communication.

2d. By changing the schedule so as to make connections at Acapulco with the steamers of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, that company would receive not only their regular compensation under their contract with the government, but extra pay under the contract of Ramsey & Carmick, although no additional service was really rendered by them to the department or the public.

Authority having been given by Mr. Hubbard on the 7th of March, 1853, to the postmasters of New Orleans, San Diego, Monterey and San Francisco, to make up and send mails by the Vera Cruz and Acapulco line, containing such matter as was expressly directed to go by that line, I took the precaution to withhold from those officers the authority to send mails without first consulting the department, by instructing them, on the 23d of September following, to report to the department before delivering such mails, for further instructions, should the proprietors apply for them. My object in issuing those instructions was simply to enable the department to be fully satisfied that all mails forwarded by that route were committed to the care and custody of competent and proper persons, and would be safely transported through Mexico. It does not appear, however, that any application has ever been made by Messrs. Ramsey & Carmick for a mail to be conveyed by that route, as no report from any postmaster to that effect has been received at this department.

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES CAMPBELL.

Hon. LINN BOYD, _Speaker of House of Representatives_.

NO. 9—$424,000 PER ANNUM.

_This article of contract_, made the fifteenth day of February, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, between the United States (acting in this behalf by their Postmaster General) and Albert C. Ramsey and Edward H. Carmick, William H. Aspinwall and Edwin Bartlett, of the city of New York; Silas C. Herring, Elihu Townsend, Simeon Draper, and R. B. Coleman, of the same place, _witnesseth_: That whereas, by an act of Congress, passed March 3, 1845, entitled “An act to provide for the transportation of the mail between the United States and foreign countries, and for other purposes,” the Postmaster General is authorized to contract for the transportation of the United States mail between any of the ports of the United States and a port or ports of any foreign power whenever, in his opinion, the public interests will thereby be promoted; and whereas, by another act of Congress, passed March 3, 1851, entitled “An act to establish certain post-roads in the United States and the Territories thereof,” the Postmaster General is authorized to enter into contracts, for a period not longer than four years, for transporting through any foreign country the mails of the United States, and that in making such contracts, the Postmaster General shall be bound to select the speediest, safest, and most economical route; and whereas notice has been given by advertising, in accordance with the directions of said act, for inviting proposals for mail contracts, under and by virtue of the acts aforesaid; and whereas Albert C. Ramsey and Edward H. Carmick have been accepted, according to law, as contractors for transporting the mail on route No. 9, from Vera Cruz, via Acapulco, to San Francisco and back, twice a month, according to the schedule hereinafter mentioned, in thirteen days each way, being an extension of two of the trips on the New Orleans and Vera Cruz line through Mexico, for the purpose of conveying the mail, and thus making one through-line in sixteen days between New Orleans and San Francisco, at and for the sum of four hundred and twenty-four thousand dollars per year, for and during the term commencing from the time Congress shall ratify this contract, and ending four years from that date, with the right reserved to the Postmaster General to continue it one year longer, at the same terms:

Now, therefore, the said Albert C. Ramsey and Edward H. Carmick, contractors, and Silas C. Herring, Elihu Townsend, Simeon Draper, Robert B. Coleman, William H. Aspinwall, and Edwin Bartlett, their sureties, do jointly and severally undertake, covenant, and agree with the United States, and do bind themselves:

1st. To carry said mail within the times fixed in the annexed schedule of departures and arrivals, and so carry until said schedule is altered by the authority of the Postmaster General of the United States, as hereinafter provided, and then to carry according to said altered schedule.

2d. To carry said mail in a safe and secure manner, free from wet or other injury, in weather-proof bags and vehicles on the land route, and in a separate and convenient apartment on shipboard, to be suitably fitted up under order of the department, at the expense of the contractors, for the assorting and safe-keeping of the mails, and for the sole and exclusive occupation, use, and accommodation of the Post Office Department and its mail-agent, if the Postmaster General shall require it for the use and accommodation of the mail and mail-agent, and such mail-agent is to be conveyed without further charge.

In case the contractors fail to furnish such suitable accommodations, the department shall have the right to provide the bags, vehicles, or apartments, or other suitable accommodations, at the expense of the contractors.

3d. To take the mail and every part of it from, and deliver it and every part of it into, the post office at San Francisco, and to and from the mail steamers at Vera Cruz on the New Orleans and Vera Cruz line, and also to deliver and receive the mails at San Diego and Monterey, regularly by each trip going and returning, as is now done by the “Pacific Mail Steamship Company.”

They also undertake, covenant, and agree with the United States, and do bind themselves, jointly and severally, as aforesaid, to be answerable for the person to whom the said contractors shall commit the care and transportation of the mail, and accountable to the United States for any damages which may be sustained by the United States through his unfaithfulness or want of care; and that the said contractors will discharge any carrier of said mail whenever required to do so by the Postmaster General; also, that they will not transmit by themselves or their agent, or be concerned in transmitting, commercial intelligence more rapidly than by mail, and they will not carry out of the mail letters or newspapers which should go by post; and that they will not, knowingly, convey any person carrying on the business of transporting letters or other mail matter without the consent of the department; and further, that the said contractors will convey, without additional charge, post-office blanks, mail bags, and the special agents of the department, on the exhibition of their credentials.

They further undertake, covenant, and agree with the United States, that the said contractors will collect quarterly, if required by the Postmaster General, of postmasters on said route, the balances due from them to the General Post Office, and faithfully render an account thereof to the Postmaster General in the settlement of quarterly accounts, and will pay over to the General Post Office all balances remaining in their hands.

For which services, when performed, the said Albert C. Ramsey and Edward H. Carmick, contractors, are to be paid by the said United States the sum of four hundred and twenty-four thousand dollars a year, to wit: quarterly, in the months of May, August, November, and February, through the postmasters on the route, or otherwise, at the option of the Postmaster General of the United States; said pay to be subject, however, to be reduced or discontinued by the Postmaster General, as hereinafter stipulated, or to be suspended in case of delinquency.

It is hereby stipulated and agreed by the said contractors and their sureties, that the Postmaster General may increase the service or change the schedule, he allowing a pro rata increase of compensation within the restrictions imposed by law for the additional service required; but the contractors may, in case of increased service or change of schedule, relinquish the contract, on timely notice, if they prefer it to the change.

It is hereby also stipulated and agreed by the said contractors and their sureties, that in all cases there is to be a forfeiture of the pay of a trip when the trip is not performed, and of not more than three times the pay of a trip when the trip is not duly performed and no sufficient excuse for the failure is furnished; a forfeiture of at least one-fourth part of it when the running is so far behind time as to lose connexion with a depending mail, unless it is shown that the same was not caused by neglect, or want of proper skill or misconduct, and a forfeiture of a due proportion of it when a grade of service is rendered inferior to the mode of conveyance above stipulated; and that these forfeitures may be increased into penalties of a higher amount, according to the nature or frequency of the failure, and the importance of the mail; also that fines may be imposed upon the contractors, unless the delinquency be satisfactorily explained to the Postmaster General in due time, for failing to take from or deliver at a post office, or a steam-vessel, the mail, or any part of it; for suffering it to be wet, injured, lost, or destroyed; for carrying it in a place or manner that exposes it to depredation, loss or injury, by being wet, or otherwise; for refusing, after demand, to carry a mail by any vessel or other vehicle which the contractors run or are concerned in running on the route beyond the number of trips above specified; or for not arriving at the time set in the schedule, unless not caused by neglect or want of proper skill, or by misconduct. And for setting up or running an express to transmit letters or commercial intelligence in advance of the mail, or for transporting knowingly, or after being informed, any one engaged in transporting letters or mail matter in violation of the laws of the United States, a penalty of five hundred dollars may be exacted for each offence, and for each article so carried.

And it is hereby further stipulated and agreed by the said contractors and their sureties that the Postmaster General may annul the contract for repeated failures; for violating the post office laws; for disobeying the instructions of the department; for refusing to discharge a carrier, or any other person having charge of the mail by his direction, when required by the department; for assigning the contract without the consent of the Postmaster General; for setting up or running an express as aforesaid, or for transporting persons, conveying mail matter out of the mail as aforesaid; or whenever the contractors or either of them shall become a postmaster, assistant postmaster, or member of Congress; and this contract shall in all its parts be subject to the terms and requisitions of an act of Congress passed on the twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight, entitled “An act concerning public contracts.”

And it is hereby further stipulated and agreed by the said contractors, that the steam-vessels for the service between San Francisco and Acapulco shall be of a class contemplated by the act of Congress, passed March 3, 1845, entitled “An act to provide for the transportation of the mail between the United States and foreign countries, and for other purposes;” and that the same shall be delivered to the United States, or their proper officer, on demand made, for the purpose of being converted into vessels of war, according to the tenor and terms of the said act.

And it is hereby further expressly understood that this contract is to have no force or validity until it shall have received the sanction of the Congress of the United States, by the passage of an appropriation to carry it into effect.

In witness whereof, the said Postmaster General has caused the seal of the Post Office Department to be hereto affixed, and has attested the same by his signature; and the said contractors and their sureties have hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year set opposite their names, respectively.

S. D. HUBBARD, _Postmaster General_. [SEAL.] March 3, 1853. WM. H. ASPINWALL, [SEAL.] March 3, 1853. EDWIN BARTLETT, [SEAL.] March 3, 1853. _By Wm. H. Davidge, their Att’y_. ALBERT C. RAMSEY. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853. EDWARD H. CARMICK. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853. SILAS C. HERRING. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853. ELIHU TOWNSEND. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853. SIMEON DRAPER. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853. R. B. COLEMAN. [SEAL.] February 25, 1853. THE MEXICAN OCEAN MAIL AND INLAND COMPANY, [SEAL.] February 25, 1853. _By Robert G. Rankin, President_.

Signed, sealed, and delivered by the Postmaster General in the presence of—

JAMES LAWRENSON. R. T. MCLAIN.

And by the other parties hereto in the presence of—

J. B. NOTT, witness for A. C. Ramsey, S. Draper, and R. B. Coleman, and Edward H. Carmick. EDWARD S. GOULD, witness to S. C. Herring.

Witness to Wm. H. Davidge’s signature, as attorney of Wm. H. Aspinwall and Edwin Bartlett—

JAMES LAWRENSON. R. T. MCLAIN.

Witness to R. G. Rankin’s signature—

JNO. T. HOWARD.

I hereby certify that I am well acquainted with Albert C. Ramsey, and Edward H. Carmick, and Silas C. Herring, Elihu Townsend, Simeon Draper, and R. B. Coleman, and the condition of their property; and that, after full investigation and inquiry, I am well satisfied that they are good and sufficient sureties for the amount in the foregoing contract.

WM. V. BRADY, _Postmaster at New York_.

_The schedule of Departures and Arrivals._

Leave Vera Cruz on the 4th and 17th of each month. Arrive at Acapulco by the 9th and 22d of each month.

Leave Acapulco on the 9th and 22d of each month. Arrive at San Francisco by the 17th and 30th of each month.

Leave San Francisco on the 8th and 24th of each month. Arrive at Acapulco by the 16th and 1st of each month.

Leave Acapulco on the 16th and 1st of each month. Arrive at Vera Cruz by the 21st and 6th of each month.

* * * * *

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, _March 7, 1853_.

GENTLEMEN: The postmasters of New Orleans, San Francisco, Monterey and San Diego, will be authorized to send a mail by the Vera Cruz and Acapulco line, containing letters or papers expressly directed to go by that line, when said communication is open, and you are prepared to carry a mail, with the express understanding that neither this department nor the government is to be in any way holden for any expenses attending such service; but, as provided in the contract, it is left for Congress to determine whether the contract is to be sanctioned by an appropriation to carry it into effect—the pay, if any, for said service commencing only in accordance with the terms of the contract made February 15, 1853.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. D. HUBBARD, _Postmaster General_.

MESSRS. RAMSEY & CARMICK, _New York_.

* * * * *

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, _March 7, 1853_.

SIR: You are hereby authorized to make up and send a mail by the Vera Cruz and Acapulco line, containing letters or papers expressly directed to go by that line, when said communication is open, and the contractors are prepared to carry a mail on the terms of their contract of February 15, 1853. You would do well, perhaps, to advertise to the above effect, adding that all letters, &c., not marked as above indicated, will be forwarded by the Panama route.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. D. HUBBARD, _Postmaster General_.

POSTMASTER, _San Francisco, California_.

[Same to postmasters of New Orleans, San Diego, and Monterey.]

* * * * *

OFFICE OF THE MEXICAN OCEAN MAIL AND INLAND CO., _New York, June 15, 1853_.

MY DEAR SIR: The position that our company sustains to the government, (as the real parties by contract,) to execute the mail contracts with Messrs. Ramsey & Carmick, renders it proper that the Post Office Department should be advised of the state of forwardness on the part of the contractors to fulfil the contracts.