By 1774, however, Franklin, then in England as the Representative of the Colonies, had become obnoxious to the British Government, and on January 31st of that year was removed from his office. After the Declaration of Independence, Mr. Hugh Finlay, who had previously been postmaster at Quebec, received the appointment of "Deputy Postmaster-General of His Majesty's Province of Canada." He had in 1791 eleven post-offices under his management, one as far west as Mackinaw and one as far east as the Baie des Chaleurs. There was a weekly mail between Quebec and Montreal and a monthly mail for the Western country. From a Quebec almanac of 1796 it appears that there were seven post-offices in Upper Canada and five in Lower Canada. At that time mails were despatched monthly to England, and semi-weekly between Quebec and Montreal, or Halifax. At the Baie des Chaleurs the visits of the postman must have been few and far between, as they were only favored with a mail "as occasion offered."
In 1800 Mr. George Heriot succeeded Mr. Finlay. At this time New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island were all under the authority of the Canadian administration. The number of post-offices was increased to twenty-six.
The following is taken from the advertising column of the Upper Canada Gazette in 1807:—
The mail for Upper Canada will be despatched from the post-office at Montreal, on the following days, to wit:
Monday, 14th January.
Monday, 12th February.
Monday, 10th March.
Monday, 7th April—the last trip.
A courier from Kingston may be looked for here in 14 or 15 days from the above periods, where he will remain 2 or 3 days, and then return to Kingston.