in Upper Canada-Irritating restrictions imposed by general

man of some literary ability, his history of Canada which was published in 1801 being a high-priced item in catalogues of Americana. Of Heriot's zeal and int

ncial authorities at this time were so difficult that the utmost tact on the part of the deputy postmaster general would scarcely gai

st right to give him instructions. Although the postal service was indispensable to the conduct of the official and commercial transactions of the colony, and its maintenance in a state of efficienc

nce might have been largely relieved by an appreciative regard, on the part of the post office, for the wants of the

strict injunctions not to enter upon any scheme for the extension or improvement of the postal service, unless he was fully satisfied that the r

less favourably situated. On one occasion, where the needs in some new districts in course of settlement appeared to Heriot to demand special consideration, he directed that for a time the whole of the surplus revenu

nities, and the man on whom devolved the duty of carrying on a postal service under these conditions had no easy task. Finlay had c

mands were made upon him which his instructions forbade him to grant, he could always depend on the good will of his associates in the council to relieve him from unreason

him of his provincial appointments, which he held until his death at the end of 1801. Heriot then lost no time in applying to be

deference from the persons about them. Heriot seems to have accepted the decision as respects the council as final. But he made a strong effort to force the hand of li

de poste from the office of the deputy postmaster general, as these officials declined to continue to

were habitants who possessed, each of them, a small property which rendered them quite independent. Their service, which was to carry passengers on the king's road, was an onerous one,

anaged to obtain the conveyance of the mails at sixpence a league, which was only half the charge made to the public for the same service. For some time before hi

r of the post office. Although he endeavoured to obtain a favourable arrangement for the mail couriers, he considered i

ny increased the two-wheeled calèches drawn by a single horse and barely holding two persons would no longer do. The changes at the post houses, every hour or little more,

The mode of travel, he said, would not bear comparison with that in England, and the inns were very far from clean, but he found many things to lighten the hardships of travel i

, he was obliged to carry his own luggage into the inn at which he had arrived and see, himself, that it was put in a place of safety. But in Canada he was charmed with the polit

Je n'en ai point. J'en suis mortifié." "You saw it was their poverty that refused you, not their will. Then if there was no inn to be had, you were never at a loss for shelter. There was not a f

unfortunate, as it prevented the mutual understanding between the colonial authorities and the post office which must have been

horities during the many months when navigation was closed was absurdly inadequate to the needs of the rapidly increasing province. The courier set out from Montreal in January of each year, travelling on foot or snow-shoe

Heriot laid the lieutenant governor's proposition before the postmaster general with his warm commendation. He pointed out that the rapid increase in the population, the salub

would allow of easy travel by any of the common conveyances of the country. More, his excellency when informed of the views held by the post office on p

ions Heriot should have in mind in dealing with a proposition of that kind. He sent extracts of letters addressed to Finlay on the question of establishing new posts, point

board as a board of revenue be justified in so doing when the amount of the revenue was so trifling. However, he directed Heriot to report fully on the several aspects of

incial treasury, Heriot set about improving the service-but cautiously. At that time he contented himself with providing monthly instead of yearly trips

table couriers for the winter trips, the lieutenant governor directed the commandan

chers which constituted the greater part of their correspondence, than to utilize the services of the post office. When it was pointed out to the lieutenant governor that by his failure to employ the post office, he

he western end of lake Erie, and over two hundred miles beyond Niagara, there were a military post a

ned all the advantages of a regular postal service, with the charges so much less than the ordinary postage ra

e to time as one of the vessels on the lake happened to be going to fort Erie, at the eastern end of

ra river. Between Chippewa, Queenstown and Niagara, on the Niagara portage, there were stage coaches running, and the bag was taken to

n carried the same distance within the authorized system. The ordinary postage on a letter from Amherstburg to fort Erie by land would be tenpence. Heriot did not conside

inister the oath of office to the courier, who effected the transportation of the mails from Amherstburg to Niagara. There would be none but trustworthy men employed to look after the mails, and the couriers were under effe

respects but one, and that one was purely formal. Heriot's scruples would l

that date there had been some agitation for improvements. In 1808, the legislative assembly requested t

oughout the year between Montreal and Kingston, but owing to the badness of the road beyond Kingston, he was unable to give a reg

es or which were held by speculators. These absentee holders were not bound by the obligation which lay on the residents to make and maintain good roads through their property, and

their best such roads were little more than bridle paths through the woods. In the autumn of 1811 Heriot yielded another step and placed couriers fortnightly on

postmaster at York to hold the surplus revenue from the western part of the province instead of sending it to Q

roving the service, and intimated that approval of his action should be held for the postmaster general. Shortly after, Heriot was inf

meted out to him for his unwillingness to provide the country with a system of communication adequate to its requirements. In yielding

te return equal to or greater than the outlay, the country was growing too rapidly to permit of any great delay in providing increased facilities f

istrator of Canada, directed Heriot to arrange for two trips a week between Montreal and Kingston, Heriot invited tenders

whole route between Montreal and Niagara and arranged for fortnightly trips to Amherstburg from Dundas, a village on the grand route between York and Niagara.[160] The mails were c

military expresses had been discontinued, and it became necessary to provide additional accommodation to the

o that notices might be sent to jurors and others having business with the courts.[161] In concluding his letter to the general post office recommending the application of the lieutenant governor

y for Upper Canada. He agreed with Heriot that there would be advantages in having an official residing in Upper Canada with a wider authority than that ordinarily exercised by

813 in the Niagara peninsula, the officers of the right division, which was quartered at Stoney Creek, presented a memorial to the governor general laying before him their hard case, and praying for relief.[162] They des

as York, nearly fifty miles away, and as they had no acquaintance there or at Montreal or Quebec, who might pay the postage for them, they were without the means of relieving the anxiety of their parents, wives and others who could not learn w

left each place on Monday and Thursday mornings, and meeting at Three Rivers, exchanged their mails, and returned, reaching their points of departure two days later. The mails between Quebec and

ontreal and one of the towns of the United States near the Canadian boundary. In 1810, the place of

ral, complained of the slowness of the communication with the United States and with the Maritime provinces.[163] Letters from New York

, by a little exertion, Heriot could do much to remedy the defects. As for the movement of the couriers between Quebec and Halifax, the governor had been informed by certain London me

hundred and thirty-three miles, three hundred and sixty-eight of which could not be travelled by horse and carriage, he regarded the trip as an extraordinary per

hing two hundred pounds on his back, for a distance of forty miles, after having rowed and poled up rivers and across lakes for two hundred miles. If the c

and the Maritime provinces was so trifling that it was all carried on by three or four small coasting vessels. Indeed, were it not for the correspondence between the military es

and New York, offering to pay the United States just as if their couriers had done the service within their territory, but the United States department would not entertain the proposition. He had also endeavoured, without success, to have the B

Halifax had to be safeguarded against attack on the part of hostile parties from across the borde

wild and uninhabited, and it would have been an easy matter for the enemy to waylay the courier if he travelled unprotected. When he reached the St. John river his course la

the country was so mountainous, sterile and inhospitable, that no man could derive a subsistence from the soil. The couriers on entering the portage were, also, accompanied by an escort of two sold

h place the couriers were taken across the bay of Fundy to Annapolis, in a small sloop. In order to avoid the chances of capture on the water stretches or

met the couriers on the main route at Sussexvale. The travel on the new route was at first very bad, but the lieutenant governors of the two Maritim

master general was taking a measure in the direction of safety, but those who had a particular interest in the transmission of their correspond

sped eagerly at a suggestion thrown out that the courier from Halifax should not go to Fredericton at all, but on leaving Amherst should pursue a north-westerly course till he r

ntains is probably intersected by rugged defiles, by swamps and by deep and impracticable gullies. A region so inhospitable and desolate as from its interior aspect, and its latitude as this may without exaggeration be conceived to be, can scarcely be visited by savages. Suppose a

atened to cut off communications, it might be necessary to establish two additional military po

. The enemy would scarcely incur the trouble and expense of marching one or two hundred men from an immense distance to take or destroy these forts with the

d follow the northern shore of New Brunswick, was not carried into effect at once, bu

to daily.[165] Sir George Prevost having pointed out to Heriot the necessity for more frequent communication on account of the war, the latter expressed his willingn

litary duties on post office employees. On the conclusion of the war, the couriers' trip

pper Canada adopted an address pointing out that the postal arrangements were very defective, and expressing the opinion that the revenue from Upper Canada was ample to meet the additional expense necessary to pu

tmaster general was not free from doubts as to the legality of the proceedings of the post office in taking postage in Canada, and he did not wish to raise the question by the enactment of a speci

omings in the service, expressing his conviction that the necessary improvements would lead to enhanced revenues, and concluding with an intimation that unless he

he memory of Canadians, but he did not appear at his best in his controversy with Heriot. He exhibited too much

ngston, and that the offers he received were quite beyond any possible revenue to be derived from the service. He had, however, acceler

tmaster at Amherstburg to replace the former incumbent, who had resigned. Heriot wound up his letter by stating that he would have been particularly gratified

ath rose at the appearance of opposition. In repeating his views that increased revenue would follow upon improvements in the service, he declared that the existing arrangements were sl

cupied at Quebec with the ordinary duties of his office, a fact of which Drummond could not have been ignorant; and to order him to leave these duties, and make a journey to the western end of the province, involving a travel of scarcely less than twelve hundr

ole of the revenue from Upper Canada should be expended on extensions and improvements had been disapproved, and the arrangements founded upon these suggestions had to be cancelled. As for his employment

revenue. Every governor on coming to Canada assailed Heriot with his particular scheme for improvement. Prevost, who had come from the governorship of Nova Scotia, insisted on a large expenditure on the service in t

eriors. The official silence left him in uncertainty and suspense. Heriot concluded by a

e reply that the deputy postmaster general in Canada was governed by several acts of parliament, and by instructions from the general post office, and he was not subject

tter before the colonial secretary, condemning Heriot for his incapacity, insubordination and insolence, and declaring tha

l as respect for the governor's office to the winds. The governor had demanded to see the postmaster general'

nce, and for the satisfaction of all persons desiring to see them. This Drummond insisted on reading as a direction to the deputy postmaster general to make all his communic

tion for Heriot's zeal and alacrity. He always considered Heriot a judicious, active and efficient officer. Governors, he affirmed, too commonly entertain the idea that the whole revenue of the post office should be de

issal, Drummond was told that he had been sixteen years in the service, and had on many occasions received the thanks of the board. It might be sufficient to e

ted requests to be relieved, Heriot declared that no motive of interest or advantage could induce him to stay in the

TNO

, Br. P.O. Trans

Letters from Cana

Arch., C. 2

Arch., C.

, Br. P.O. Trans

Arch., C. 2

Br. P.O. Tran

Arch., C. 2

. 115, pp. 112

h., Br. P.O. T

Arch., C. 2

Br. P.O. Tran