The Committee on the subject of the Post Office and Post Roads, to whom was referred a resolution of the 2d ultimo, directing them to inquire by what means the mail may be conveyed with greater security and dispatch than at present, between the City of Washington and Natchez and New Orleans, report:
That the late cession of Louisiana by France to the United States renders it an object of primary importance to have the nearest and most expeditious mode of communication established between the city of Washington and the city of New Orleans, the capital of that province; not only for the convenience of Government, but to accommodate the citizens of the several commercial towns in the Union.
That at present the mail is conveyed on a circuitous route from this place to Knoxville and Nashville in Tennessee, and from thence through the wilderness by Natchez to New Orleans, a distance of more than 1500 miles.
That, by establishing a post route as nigh on a direct line between those two cities, as the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains will admit of, it will not only lessen the distance about 500 miles; but as this route will pass almost the whole way through a country inhabited either by citizens of the United States or friendly Indians, the mail will be more secure, and the persons employed in transporting it better furnished with the means of subsistence.
The committee flatter themselves that the views of the General Government, in effecting this important object, will be seconded by the governments and citizens of those States through which this road will pass, by laying out, straightening, and improving the same, as soon as the most proper course shall be sufficiently ascertained; but as this has not heretofore been used for conveying the mail between those places, they presume that the best route will be better known after it has been used for this purpose, than it can be at present; and with this view of the subject, they deem it improper at this time to designate intermediate points; they are, therefore, of opinion—
That a post road ought to be established from the city of Washington, on the most direct and convenient route to the Tombigbee settlement in the Mississippi Territory, and from thence to New Orleans.
And further, that a post road ought also to be established from the said Tombigbee settlement to the Natchez. This road will not only afford the inhabitants of that place a direct mode of communication with the seat of the Territorial Government, who at present are destitute of any, but will shorten the distance between this city and Natchez nearly three hundred miles. And for the consideration of the House, the committee submit the following resolution:
Resolved, That a post road ought to be established from the city of Washington, on the most direct and convenient route, to pass through or near the Tuckabachee settlement to the Tombigbee settlement in the Mississippi Territory, and from thence to New Orleans; and also from the said Tombigbee settlement to Natchez.
Mr. Stanford moved the insertion of the following words:
“And Carter’s Ferry on James river, Cole’s Ferry on Stanton, Dansville on Dan river, in Virginia; Salisbury, Beatty’s Ford, on Catawba, in North Carolina; Spartanburg, Greenville Courthouse, and Pendleton Courthouse, in South Carolina; and Jackson Courthouse in Georgia:”