( A.) No. 29. Extras of a Letter from the Right Honourable the Poftmaftcr General to Edward S. Lees, Efq. T . . Garbally, November 6th, 1809. 1 HAVE very minutely examined the induction of Government upon the fubject of com- pensating the Clerks ot Roads, as conveyed by Mr. Secretary Marfden's letter of the 12th April 1S02, in order to difcover and correct any error which might have crept into the Poft- mafter General's M inute 011 your Report of the 5th ult.; and after the beft attention I can < nVe the matter, I muft own myfelf unable to admit the error to which you allude. The queftion is, whether, in the event of any fuplus having arifen from the general profit of Newspapers upon all the Roads, after payment to each of the Clerks his annual average income, and indemnifying the Public for the payments made out of the Poft Office Revenue under the head of Compenfation, this implus is to be appropriated to the Clerks of Roads, or to remain at the difpofition of Government. As a general principle of equity 1 ffiould think, that unlefs there is fome aCtual ftipula- tion the other way, the party guaranteeing againrt an eventual lots, has the faireft claim to any eventual benefit. Let us fee what has been the arrangement made upon this fubjeet by Mr. Secretary Marf- den's letter. In the firft place, after the annual average income for three years at leaft, received by the Clerks of Roads, ffiould be afcertained, it is directed that the grofs profits fhould be brought into one fund or joint Jiock, and that fo much fliould annually be added thereto, out of the Poft Office Revenue, as Ihould fecuretoeach of the Clerks of Roads this annual average. O a- It is then direCted, that if this Jiock fund ffiould be increafed, the Revenue of the Poft Office fliould be relieved in the fame proportion, and that for this reafon, viz. " that the Clerks Jltould not receive compenj'ation upon the Incidents, and a/ J'o an increafed income in the ordinary uay. Suppofe then that all the Roads had been deficient the firft year in affording the annual average of all the rel'peCtive Clerks of Roads, there is no queftion that here the Public muft have compenfatcd the difference. Suppofe, however, that after fome time, though fome of the Roads fhould ftill have continued deficient in the production of this average, others fliould have fo much increafed, as not only to make up the deficiency to the others, but alfo to produce a confidcrable exceeding ; can there be a doubt, that this exceeding would ftill continue a part of the joint Jiock or fund to meet any eventual defalcation in fucceeding years ? It could not go to the Clerks of the Roads, becaufe this would be in direCt violation of the concluding part of Mr. Secretary Marfden's letter, and an admillion that the Clerks Tiho had received compenfation from the Incidents, J/ ioutd alfo receive an increaj'ed income in the ordinary zcay. Continue this reafoning down to the only period then in contemplation for the termination of this arrangement, viz. the death of the then exifting Clerks of Roads, and fuppofe the joint flock or% nd ftill to retain a furplus, the Reprefentatives of thefe people could found no legitimate claim to it; becaufe the Cierks of Roads had already received each his annual averaged income, and that any additional payment to their Reprefentatives would equally be in contradiction to that part of Mr. Secretary Marfden's letter already ftated, as it it ihould be made to the principal. Thus the furplus muft be at the difpofal of Government, and coufequently ought to be credited to the Public, according to the directions of the Minute. 1 of to beenhi the contemplation of Government at the time it was iramec. ; uui n u mnuiem cou, u- ofevents than thofe which were in contemplation at the moment have taken place, this does not alter the reafoning, or the conclufion drawn from it, and belides the general equitable nnd as 1 Ihould think unquestionable, opinion, that the party guaranteeing agamft eventual S ffiould be entitled to the eventual benefit, where notning is laid to the contrary. I here is in tlhs arrangement, in the three concluding hues of Mr. Secretary Marsden s. letter an excels fhpulafion that the party guaranteed fliall not benefit bv the eventual gain, io that luL in truth, except the Government, there is nobody qualified to take. ^ _