The following curious fact was stated by a witness from Liverpool, Mr. Maury, president of the “American Chamber of Commerce.” When arrangements had been completed for the establishment of regular steam navigation between that town and New York, the postmaster, expecting to have a large despatch of letters to provide for, was careful to furnish himself with a bag of ample dimensions, but, “to his astonishment, received only five letters in all,” though “by the first steamer at least ten thousand letters were in fact sent, all in one bag, which was opened at the office of the consignee of the ship. Mr. Maury himself sent at least two hundred letters by that ship, which went free.”[180] These extraordinary statements were strongly supported by the evidence of Mr. Lawrence, Assistant Secretary to the London Office, who “states that, from what the Post Office have learnt, the American packet, which leaves London every ten days, carries 4,000 letters, each voyage, which do not pass through the Post Office; that he is aware of the existence in London of receiving-houses for letters, to be forwarded otherwise than by the Post; the Jerusalem Coffee-house, for instance, receives letters for the East Indies; the North and South American Coffee-house, for South America, the United States, and British America; that almost every ship-broker in London has a bag hanging up for letters to be forwarded by the ship to which he is broker; and that the number of letters for North America so collected for several ships in the office of one ship-broker have been enough to load a cab.” In short, the committee came “to the conclusion that, with regard to large classes of the community, those principally to whom it is a matter of necessity to correspond on matters of business, and to whom, also, it is a matter of importance to save the expense of postage, the Post Office, instead of being viewed as it ought to be, and would be, under a wise administration of it, as an institution of ready and universal access, distributing equally to all, and with an open hand, the blessing of commerce and civilization, is regarded by them as an establishment too expensive to be made use of, and as one with the employment of which they endeavour to dispense by every means in their power.”[181] They also became convinced that if it were possible, by increased rigour, to put a stop to the illicit transmission of letters, a vast diminution must take place in the number of letters written; and that the suppression of correspondence already caused by high rates would be greatly magnified. One witness had “made a calculation some time ago among the poor manufacturers, and found that, when one of them in full work could earn forty shillings a week, he would receive, on an average, thirty orders, which, at fourpence a piece, if they went through the Post Office, would be twenty-five per cent. on his earnings.”[182]