No more the blot of slavery
Shall stain Columbia’s name.
Philadelphia, April 19, 1865.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In 1516 a regular line of posts was established in the Tyrol, connecting Germany and Italy, by Roger, Count of Thurn and Taxis. His successors received from the Emperor of Germany repeated enfeoffments of the imperial post, and extended it over the greatest part of Germany and Italy. Venice, Genoa, Leghorn, and Naples were thus connected with Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck, and Frankfort-on-the-Main; and the active commerce which had sprung up between these cities became facilitated by such postal advantages as the system afforded. The Counts of Thurn and Taxis retained their postal monopoly till the fall of the German Empire.
[2] Ambassadors and heralds—those sacred ministers of the kings of Greece in that primitive age of civilization and the cultivation of the arts—were the “posts” by which demands were made by one power from another, and redresses and grievances settled. These heralds were equally respected by friends and foes. They travelled in safety through the midst of embattled hosts, proclaimed to the silent warriors the commissions with which they were intrusted, or demanded, in return, truce, or time to consult and settle disputes, &c.
[3] “And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus’ name, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries.”—Esther viii. 10.
“There is no doubt every available means of conveyance were adopted to carry these important letters throughout the kingdom, as the greatest speed was needful in the emergency. He sent men on horseback, and upon other creatures as swift as horses, and upon mules, both young and old, according as the places were nearer or farther off. So he ordered the letters to be sent by post.”—Bp. Patrick.
[4] The ruins of the palace of Persepolis are still to be seen near Istaker, on the right bank of the united waters of the Medus and the Araxes. Travellers speak of them with admiration, not unmixed with awe. Many pillars still remain standing,—a melancholy monument of the wealth, taste, and civilization of the Persians, and, in this instance, of the barbarian vengeance of the Greeks.