o be noted that, from our insular situation, and the multitude of our
frigates disposable for the rapid transmission of intelligence, rarely
did any unauthorized rumor steal away a prelibation from the aroma of the
regular dispatches. The government official news was generally the first
news.

From eight, P.M. to fifteen or twenty minutes later, imagine the mails
assembled on parade in Lombard Street, where, at that time, was seated the
General Post-Office. In what exact strength we mustered I do not remember;
but, from the length of each separate _attelage_, we filled the street,
though a long one, and though we were drawn up in double file. On _any_
night the spectacle was beautiful. The absolute perfection of all the
appointments about the carriages and the harness, and the magnificence of
the horses, were what might first have fixed the attention. Every
carriage, on every morning in the year, was taken down to an inspector
for examination--wheels, axles, linch-pins, pole, glasses, &c., were
all critically probed and tested. Every part of every carriage had been
cleaned, every horse had been groomed, with as much rigor as if they
belonged to a private gentleman; and that part of the spectacle offered
itself always. But the night before us is a night of victory; and behold!
to the ordinary display, what a heart-shaking addition!--horses, men,
carriages--all are dressed in laurels and flowers, oak leaves and ribbons.
The guards, who are his majesty's servants, and the coachmen, who are
within the privilege of the post-office, wear the royal liveries of course;
and as it is summer (for all the _land_ victories were won in summer,) they
wear, on this fine evening, these liveries exposed to view, without any
covering of upper coats. Such a costume, and the elaborate arrangement of
the laurels in their hats, dilated their hearts, by giving to them openly
an _official_ connection with the great news, in which already they have
the general interest of patriotism. That great national sentiment surmounts
and quells all sense of ordinary distinctions. Those passengers who happen
to be gentlemen are now hardly to be distinguished as such except by dress.
The usual reserve of their manner in speaking to the attendants has on this
night melted away. One heart, one pride, one glory, connects every man
by the transcendent bond of his English blood. The spectators, who are
numerous beyond precedent, express their sympathy with these fe