Republican principles require that the less should yield to the greater--individual convenience to public good. And an excellent illustration of the practical application of these principles by the wisdom of Congress, is found in the provisions which that body has made to secure the uninterrupted transmission of the mails. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon the vast importance of punctuality in this branch of the public service. Time, as an element in business transactions, is increasing in value in proportion to the multiplication of devices for obtaining the greatest results possible from each passing moment. An hour in the present year, represents more--more business--more planning--more results of various kinds, than did an hour thirty years since. To take, for instance, the matter of traveling. The state of things no longer exists which will permit public conveyances to take pretty much their own time in starting and in arriving at their destinations. That was a distressingly "slow" period, when horses were in their glory, and wayside taverns afforded comforts and luxuries which are poorly replaced by the eating, or rather devouring department of a rail road depot, where ravenous passengers, like the Israelites of old, are obliged to dispatch their repast, girded up for flight, at a moment's notice, instead of comfortably and deliberately sitting down under the auspices of "mine host," to a meal which deserved more respectful attention than could be given it in a less space of time than half an hour; the driver, meanwhile, being easy in his mind on the subject of "connecting," inasmuch as he, the _connector_, felt quite certain that the _connectee_ would not leave him in the lurch, as "lee-way" of an hour or two was allowed, and often required, by the exigencies of traveling. But since, by the agency of steam, an hour swallows up thirty miles instead of four or five, minutes become correspondingly precious, and the locomotive infuses somewhat of its own energy into every mode of progression. The inexorable hand of the rail-way clock waits not for dilatory drivers, and makes no allowances for detention, unavoidable or otherwise. Here comes in the application of our republican principle. If it were in the power of any one to delay the progress of the vehicle containing the mail, to suit his whim or convenience, the public interests would often be seriously interfered with; and, in order to prevent such contingencies, the following law was enacted by Congress:--