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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ecec3e5 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #55467 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55467) diff --git a/old/55467-0.txt b/old/55467-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1a4057e..0000000 --- a/old/55467-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12209 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sir Rowland Hill, by Eleanor C. Smyth - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Sir Rowland Hill - The Story of a Great Reform - -Author: Eleanor C. Smyth - -Release Date: August 31, 2017 [EBook #55467] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR ROWLAND HILL *** - - - - -Produced by WebRover, Christian Boissonnas, Adrian -Mastronardi, The Philatelic Digital Library Project at -http://www.tpdlp.net and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet -Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - -SIR ROWLAND HILL - - - - -COBDEN AS A CITIZEN - -A Chapter in Manchester History. Containing a facsimile of Cobden's -pamphlet, “Incorporate your Borough,” with an Introduction and -a complete Cobden Bibliography, by William E. A. Oxon. With 7 -Photogravure Plates, and 3 other Illustrations. Demy 8vo, half -parchment, 21s. net. - - -COILLARD OF THE ZAMBESI - -The Lives of Francois and Christina Coillard, of the Paris Missionary -Society, 1834-1904. By C. W. Mackintosh. With a Photogravure -Frontispiece, a Map, and 64 other Illustrations. Second Edition. Demy -8vo, 15s. net. - - -THE LIFE OF RICHARD COBDEN - -By the Right Hon. John Morley, M.P. With Photogravure Portrait from -the Original Drawing by Lowes Dickinson. 2 vols. Large Crown 8vo, 7s. -the set. Also a “Popular” Edition. 1 vol. Large Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net. - - -LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN. - - - - -[Illustration: SIR ROWLAND HILL, K.C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.R.A.S. - - _By permission of Messrs. De La Rue._] - - - - - SIR ROWLAND HILL - - THE STORY OF A GREAT REFORM - - TOLD BY HIS DAUGHTER - - - [Illustration: FACSIMILE OF THE - ORIGINAL SKETCH FOR - THE POSTAGE STAMP] - - - LONDON - - T. FISHER UNWIN - - ADELPHI TERRACE - - MCMVII - - - - -[_All rights reserved._] - - - - - IN LOVING MEMORY OF - - ROWLAND HILL AND CAROLINE PEARSON - - (Born December 3, 1795, (Born November 25, 1796, - Died August 27, 1879) Died May 27, 1881) - - THIS BOOK IS WRITTEN - - BY - - THEIR LAST REMAINING IMMEDIATE DESCENDANT - - ELEANOR C. SMYTH - - - “A fond desire to preserve the memory of those we love from - oblivion is an almost universal sentiment.” - - —(Lord Dufferin on his mother—_Songs, Poems, and - Verses_. By HELEN, LADY DUFFERIN.) - - “Reform does not spell ruin, lads—remember Rowland Hill!” - - —(_Punch_ on the Postal Reform Jubilee, 1890.) - - - - -PREFACE - - -In Gladstone's “'musings for the good of man,'” writes John Morley -in his Life of the dead statesman (ii. 56, 57), the “Liberation of -Intercourse, to borrow his own larger name for Free Trade, figured -in his mind's eye as one of the promoting conditions of abundant -employment.... He recalled the days when our predecessors thought -it must be for man's good to have 'most of the avenues by which -the mind and also the hand of man conveyed and exchanged their -respective products' blocked or narrowed by regulation and taxation. -Dissemination of news, travelling, letters, transit of goods, were -all made as costly and difficult as the legislation could make them. -'I rank,' he said, 'the introduction of cheap postage for letters, -documents, patterns, and printed matter, and the abolition of all -taxes on printed matter, in the catalogue of free legislation. These -great measures may well take their place beside the abolition of -prohibitions and protective duties, the simplifying of revenue laws, -and the repeal of the Navigation Act, as forming together the great -code of industrial emancipation.'” To the above the biographer adds -that in Gladstone's article in the _Nineteenth Century_ on Free Trade, -Railways, and Commerce, he divided the credit of our material progress -between the two great factors, the Liberation of Intercourse and the -Improvement of Locomotion. - -In view of the occasional attempts to revive the pernicious franking -privilege, and of the frequently recurring warfare between Free Trade -and the rival system, whose epitaph we owe to Disraeli, but whose -unquiet spirit apparently declines to rest within its tomb, the -present seems a fitting time to write the story of the old reform -to which Gladstone alluded—“the introduction of cheap postage for -letters,” etc., the narrative being prefaced by a notice of the -reformer, his family, and some of his friends who are not mentioned in -later pages. - -My cousin, Dr Birkbeck Hill's “Life of Sir Rowland Hill and History -of Penny Postage” is an elaborate work, and therefore valuable as -a source of information to be drawn upon by any future historian -of that reform and of the period, now so far removed from our own, -which the reformer's long life covered. Before Dr Hill's death he -gave me permission to take from his pages such material as I cared -to incorporate with my own shorter, more anecdotal story. This has -been done, but my narrative also contains much that has not appeared -elsewhere, because, as the one of my father's children most intimately -associated with his home life, unto me were given opportunities of -acquiring knowledge which were not accessible to my cousin. - -Before my brother, Mr Pearson Hill, died, he read through the greater -portion of my work; and although since then much has been remodelled, -omitted, and added, the narrative ought to be substantially correct. -He supplied sundry details, and more than one anecdote, and is -responsible for the story of Lord Canning's curious revelation which -has appeared in no previous work. In all that my brother wrote his -actual words have been, as far as possible, retained. The tribute to -his memory in the first chapter on the Post Office was written after -his decease. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAP. PAGE - - PREFACE ix - - INTRODUCTORY 1 - - I. THE OLD POSTAL SYSTEM 39 - - II. SOME EARLY POSTAL REFORMERS 70 - - III. THE PLAN 92 - - IV. EXIT THE OLD SYSTEM 119 - - V. AT THE TREASURY 148 - - VI. THE STAMPS 185 - - VII. AT THE POST OFFICE 211 - - VIII. AT THE POST OFFICE (_Continued_) 245 - - IX. THE SUNSET OF LIFE 286 - - APPENDIX—RESULTS OF POSTAL REFORM 306 - - INDEX 311 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - SIR ROWLAND HILL (_Portrait by Rajon_) _Frontispiece_ - - FIRST SKETCH OF POSTAGE STAMP _Title-page_ - - ROWLAND HILL'S BIRTHPLACE, KIDDERMINSTER 7 - - BRUCE CASTLE SCHOOL 15 - - THOMAS WRIGHT HILL 17 - - JOSEPH PEARSON (_Bust by Chantrey_) 26 - - SIR ROWLAND HILL (_Photo by the London Stereoscopic Co._) 49 - - FACSIMILE OF ROWLAND HILL'S WRITING 97 - - NO. 2 BURTON CRESCENT 109 - - CAROLINE PEARSON, LADY HILL 141 - - NO. 1 ORME SQUARE 149 - - AN OLD POST OFFICE 157 - - THE MULREADY ENVELOPE 205 - - SIR ROWLAND HILL (_Photo by Maull & Polyblank_) 209 - - EARLY TRAVELLING POST OFFICE WITH MAIL-BAGS EXCHANGE APPARATUS 240 - - PEARSON HILL 244 - - SIR ROWLAND HILL (_“Graphic” portrait_) 286 - - THE STATUE, KIDDERMINSTER 301 - - - - -INTRODUCTORY - - -The earliest of the postal reformer's forefathers to achieve fame -that outlives him was Sir Rowland Hill, mercer, and Lord Mayor -of London in 1549, a native of Hodnet, Shropshire, who founded a -Grammar School at Drayton, benefited the London Blue Coat School, -was a builder of bridges, and is mentioned by John Stowe. From his -brother are descended the three Rowland Hills famous in more modern -times—the preacher, the warrior, and the author of Penny Postage. -Some of the preacher's witticisms are still remembered, though they -are often attributed to his brother cleric, Sydney Smith; Napier, in -his “Peninsular War,” speaks very highly of the warrior, who, had -Wellington fallen at Waterloo, would have taken the Duke's place, and -who succeeded him as Commander-in-Chief when, in 1828, Wellington -became Prime Minister. A later common ancestor of the three, a landed -proprietor, married twice, and the first wife's children were thrown -upon the world to fight their way as best as they could, my paternal -grandfather's great-grandfather being one of the dispossessed. But -even the blackest cloud has its silver lining; and the fall, by -teaching the young people self-help, probably brought out the latent -good stuff that was in them. At any rate, family tradition preserves -memory of not a few men and women—Hills, or of the stocks with which -they married—of whom their descendants have reason to be proud. - -There was, for example, John Hill, who served among “the twelve -good men and true” on a certain trial, was the only one of them -who declined to accept a bribe, and, the fact becoming known, was -handsomely complimented by the presiding judge. Thenceforth, whenever -the Assizes in that part of the country came round again, John used -to be asked after as “the honest juror.” At least two of my father's -forebears, a Symonds and a Hill, refused to cast their political votes -to order, and were punished for their sturdy independence. The one -lived to see a hospital erected in Shrewsbury out of the large fortune -for some two hundred years ago of £30,000 which should have come to -his wife, the testator's sister; the other, a baker and corn merchant, -son to “the honest juror,” saw his supply of fuel required to bake his -bread cut off by the local squire, a candidate for Parliament, for -whom the worthy baker had dared to refuse to vote. Ovens then were -heated by wood, which in this case came from the squire's estate. When -next James Hill made the usual application, the faggots were not to be -had. He was not discouraged. Wood, he reflected, was dear; coal—much -seldomer used then than now—was cheap. He mixed the two, and found the -plan succeed, lessened the proportion of wood, and finally dispensed -with it altogether. His example was followed by other people: the -demand for the squire's firewood languished, and the boycotted voter -was presently requested to purchase afresh. “An instance,” says Dr -Birkbeck Hill, “of a new kind of faggot vote.” - -Another son of “the honest juror” was the first person to grow -potatoes in Kidderminster. Some two centuries earlier “the useful -tuber” was brought to England; but even in times much nearer our -own, so slowly did information travel, that till about 1750 the only -denizen of that town who seems to have known of its existence was -this second John Hill. When the seeds he sowed came up, blossomed, -and turned to berries, these last were cooked and brought to table. -Happily no one could eat them; and so the finger of scorn was pointed -at the luckless innovator. The plants withered unheeded; but later, -the ground being wanted for other crops, was dug up, when, to the -amazement of all beholders and hearers, a plentiful supply of fine -potatoes was revealed. - -On the spindle side also Rowland Hill's family could boast ancestors -of whom none need feel ashamed. Among these was the high-spirited, -well-dowered orphan girl who, like Clarissa Harlowe, fled from home -to escape wedlock with the detested suitor her guardians sought -to force upon her. But, unlike Richardson's hapless heroine, this -fugitive lived into middle age, maintained herself by her own -handiwork—spinning—never sought even to recover her lost fortune, -married, left descendants, and fatally risked her life while preparing -for burial the pestilence-smitten neighbour whose poor remains his -own craven relatives had abandoned. Though she perished untimely, -recollection of her married name was preserved to reappear in that -of a great-grandson, Matthew _Davenport_ Hill. The husband of Mrs -Davenport's only daughter, William Lea, was a man little swayed by the -superstitions of his time, as he showed when he broke through a mob of -ignorant boors engaged in hounding into a pond a terrified old woman -they declared to be a witch, strode into the water, lifted her in his -arms, and, heedless of hostile demonstration, bore her to his own home -to be nursed back into such strength and sanity as were recoverable. -A son of William Lea, during the dreadful cholera visitation of 1832, -played, as Provost of Haddington, a part as fearlessly unselfish as -that of his grandmother in earlier days, but without losing his life, -for his days were long in the land. His sister was Rowland Hill's -mother. - -On both sides the stocks seem to have been of stern Puritan -extraction, theologically narrow, inflexibly honest, terribly -in earnest, of healthy life, fine physique—nonagenarians not -infrequently. John Symonds, son to him whose wife forfeited succession -to her brother, Mr Millington's fortune, because both men were -sturdily obstinate in the matter of political creed, was, though a -layman, great at extempore prayer and sermon-making. When any young -man came a-wooing to one of his bonnie daughters, the father would -take the suitor to an inner sanctum, there to be tested as to his -ability to get through the like devotional exercises. If the young man -failed to come up to the requisite standard he was dismissed, and the -damsel reserved for some more proficient rival—James Hill being one of -the latter sort. How many suitors of the present day would creditably -emerge from that ordeal? - -Through this sturdy old Puritan we claim kinship with the -Somersetshire family, of whom John Addington Symonds was one, -and therefore with the Stracheys; while from other sources comes -a collateral descent from “Hudibras” Butler, who seems to have -endowed with some of his own genuine wit certain later Hills; as -also a relationship with that line of distinguished medical men, the -Mackenzies, and with the Rev. Morell Mackenzie, who played a hero's -part at the long-ago wreck of the _Pegasus_. - -A neighbour of James Hill was a recluse, who, perhaps, not finding -the society of a small provincial town so companionable as the books -he loved, forbore “to herd with narrow foreheads,” but made of -James a congenial friend. When this man died, the task fell to his -executors, James Hill and another, to divide his modest estate. Among -the few bequests were two books to young Tom, James's son, a boy -with a passion for reading, but possessed of few books, one being a -much-mutilated copy of “Robinson Crusoe,” which tantalisingly began -with the thrilling words, “more than thirty dancing round a fire.” -The fellow executor, knowing well the reputation for uncanny ways -with which local gossip had endowed the deceased, earnestly advised -his colleague to destroy the volumes, and not permit them to sully -young Tom's mind. “Oh, let the boy have the books,” said James Hill, -and straightway the legacy was placed in the youthful hands. It -consisted of a “Manual of Geography” and Euclid's “Elements.” The -effect of their perusal was not to send the reader to perdition, but -to call forth an innate love for mathematics, and, through them, a -lifelong devotion to astronomy, tastes he was destined to pass on in -undiminished ardour to his third son, the postal reformer. - -Thomas Wright Hill was brought up in the straitest-laced of Puritan -sects, and he has left a graphic description of the mode in which, -as a small boy of seven, he passed each Sunday. The windows of the -house, darkened by their closed outside shutters, made mirrors in -which he saw his melancholy little face reflected; his toys were -put away; there were three chapel services, occupying in all some -five and a half hours, to which he was taken, and the intervals -between each were filled by long extempore prayers and sermon-reading -at home, all week-day conversation being rigidly ruled out. The -sabbatical observance commenced on Saturday night and terminated on -Sunday evening with “a cheerful supper,” as though literally “the -evening and the morning were the first day”—an arrangement which, -coupled with the habit of bestowing not Christian but Hebrew names -upon the children, gives colour to the oft-made allegation that our -Puritan ancestors drew their inspiration from the Old rather than -from the New Testament. The only portion of these Sunday theological -exercises which the poor little fellow really understood was the -simple Bible teaching that the tenderly-loved mother gave to him and -to his younger brother. While as a young man residing in Birmingham, -however, he passed under the influence of Priestley, and became one -of his most devoted disciples, several of whom, at the time of the -disgraceful “Church and King” riots of 1791, volunteered to defend -the learned doctor's house.[1] But Priestley declined all defence, -and the volunteers retired, leaving only young Tom, who would not -desert his beloved master's threatened dwelling. The Priestley family -had found refuge elsewhere, but his disciple stayed alone in the -twilight of the barred and shuttered house, which speedily fell a prey -to its assailants. Our grandfather used often to tell us children -of the events of those terrible days when the mob held the town at -their mercy, and were seriously opposed only when, having destroyed -so much property belonging to Nonconformity, they next turned their -tireless energy towards Conformity's possessions. His affianced wife -was as courageous as he, for when while driving in a friend's carriage -through Birmingham's streets some of the rioters stopped the horses, -and bade her utter the cry “Church and King,” she refused, and was -suffered to pass on unmolested. Was it her bravery or her comeliness, -or both, that won for her immunity from harm? - -[Illustration: - - By permission of the Proprietors of the “_Illustrated London - News_.” - -ROWLAND HILL'S BIRTHPLACE, KIDDERMINSTER.] - -The third son of this young couple, Rowland, the future postal -reformer, first saw the light in a house at Kidderminster wherein -his father was born, which had already sheltered some generations -of Hills, and whose garden was the scene of the potato story. The -child was weakly, and, being threatened with spinal trouble, passed -much of his infancy in a recumbent position. But the fragile form -held a dauntless little soul, and the almost abnormally large brain -behind the too pallid forehead was a very active one. As he lay prone, -playing with the toys his mother suspended to a cord stretched within -easy reach above him; and, later, working out mental arithmetical -problems, in which exercise he found delight, and to the weaving of -alluring daydreams, he presently fell to longing for some career—what -it should be he knew not—that should leave his country the better -for his having lived in it. The thoughts of boys are often, the poet -tells us, “long, long thoughts,” but it is not given to every one to -see those daydreams realised. Though what is boy (or girl) worth who -has not at times entertained healthily ambitious longings for a great -future? - -As he grew stronger he presently came to help his father in the school -the latter had established at Birmingham, in which his two elder -brothers, aged fifteen and fourteen, were already at work. The family -was far from affluent, and its young members were well aware that on -their own exertions depended their future success. For them there was -no royal road to learning or to anything else; and even as children -they learned to be self-reliant. From the age of twelve onwards, my -father, indeed, was self-supporting. Like Chaucer's poor parson, the -young Hill brothers learned while they taught, even sometimes while on -their way to give a lesson, as did my father when on a several miles -long walk to teach an equally ignorant boy the art of Navigation; -and perhaps because life had to be taken so seriously, they valued -the hardly-acquired knowledge all the more highly. Their father early -accustomed his children to discuss with him and with each other the -questions of the time—a time which must always loom large in the -history of our land. Though he mingled in the talk, “it was,” my Uncle -Matthew said, “a match of mind against mind, in which the rules of -fair play were duly observed; and we put forth our little strength -without fear. The sword of authority was not thrown into the scale.... -We were,” added the writer, “born to a burning hatred of tyranny.”[2] -And no wonder, for in the early years of the last century tyranny was -a living, active force. - -If, to quote Blackstone, “punishment of unreasonable severity” -with a view to “preventing crimes and amending the manners of a -people” constitute a specific form of tyranny, the fact that in -1795, the year of Rowland Hill's birth, the pillory, the stocks, -and the whipping-post were still in use sufficiently attests this -“unreasonable severity.” In March 1789, less than seven years before -his birth, a yet more terrible punishment was still in force. A -woman—the last thus “judicially murdered”—was burnt at the stake; and -a writer in _Notes and Queries_, of 21st September 1851, tells its -readers that he was present on the occasion. Her offence was coining, -and she was mercifully strangled before being executed. Women were -burnt at the stake long after that awful death penalty was abolished -in the case of the more favoured sex. The savage cruelty of the -criminal code at this time and later is also indicated by the fact -that over 150 offences were punishable by death. Even in 1822, a date -within the recollection of persons still living, and notwithstanding -the efforts made by Sir Samuel Romilly and others to humanise that -code, capital punishment was still terribly common. In that year, -on two consecutive Monday mornings, my father, arriving by coach -in London from Birmingham, passed within sight of Newgate. Outside -its walls, on the first occasion, the horrified passengers counted -nineteen bodies hanging in a row; on the second, twenty-one. - -During my father's childhood and youth this country was almost -constantly engaged in war. Within half a mile of my grandfather's -house the forging of gun barrels went on all but incessantly, the -work beginning before dawn and lasting till long after nightfall. The -scarcely-ending din of the hammers was varied only by the occasional -rattle from the proof shed; and the shocks and jars had disastrous -effect upon my grandmother's brewings of beer. Meanwhile “The Great -Shadow,” graphically depicted by Sir A. Conan Doyle, was an actual -dread that darkened our land for years. And the shadow of press-gang -raids was a yet greater dread alike to the men who encountered them, -sometimes to disappear for ever, and to the women who were frequently -bereft of their bread-winners. It is, however, pleasant to remember -that sometimes the would-be captors became the captured. A merchant -vessel lying in quarantine in Southampton Water, her yellow flag -duly displayed, but hanging in the calm weather so limply that it was -hardly observable, was boarded by a press-gang who thought to do a -clever thing by impressing some of the sailors. These, seeing what -was the invaders' errand, let them come peaceably on deck, when the -quarantine officer took possession of boat and gang, and detained both -for six weeks. - -For those whose means were small—a numerous class at that time—there -was scant patronage of public conveyances, such as they were. Thus the -young Hill brothers had to depend on their own walking powers when -minded to visit the world that lay beyond their narrow horizon. And to -walking tours, often of great length, they were much given in holiday -time, tours which took them to distant places of historic interest, of -which Rowland brought back memorials in his sketch book. Beautiful, -indeed, were the then green lanes of the Midlands, though here and -there they were disfigured by the presence of some lonely gibbet, -the chains holding its dismal “fruit” clanking mournfully in windy -weather. Whenever it was possible, the wayfarer made a round to avoid -passing the gruesome object. - -One part of the country, lying between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, -a lonely heath long since covered with factories and houses, known -as the “Lie Waste,” was also not pleasant to traverse, though the -lads occasionally had to do so. A small collection of huts of -mud-and-wattle construction sheltered some of our native savages—for -they were nothing else—whose like has happily long been “improved off -the face” of the land. These uncouth beings habitually and literally -went “on all fours.” Whether the attitude was assumed in consequence -of the low roofs of their dwellings, or the outcasts chose that mode -of progression in imitation of the animals which were their ordinary -companions, history does not say, but they moved with wonderful -celerity both in and out of doors. At sight of any passer-by they -were apt to “rear,” and then oaths, obscene language, and missiles of -whatever sort was handy would be their mildest greeting, while more -formidable attack was likely to be the lot of those who ventured too -near their lairs. Among these people the Hill boys often noticed a -remarkably handsome girl, as great a savage as the rest. - -As the three elder brothers grew well into their teens, much of -the school government fell to their lot, always with the parental -sanction, and ere long it was changed in character, and became -a miniature republic.[3] Trial by jury for serious offences was -instituted, the judge being my grandfather or one of his sons, and the -jury the culprit's fellow-pupils. Corporal punishment, then perhaps -universal in schools, was abolished, and the lads, being treated as -reasonable creatures, early learned to be a self-respecting because a -self-governing community. The system, which in this restricted space -cannot be described in detail, was pre-eminently a success, since it -turned out pupils who did it and themselves credit. “All the good I -ever learned was learned at Hazelwood,” I once heard say a cheery old -clergy-man, probably one of the last surviving “boys.” The teaching -was efficiently carried on, and the development of individual talent -was wisely encouraged, the pupils out of school hours being allowed to -exercise the vocation to which each was inclined, or which, owing to -this practice, was discovered in each. Thus in boyhood Follet Osler, -the inventor of the anemometer and other scientific instruments, was -enabled to bring to light those mechanical abilities which, till he -exhibited their promise during his hours of voluntary work, were -unsuspected even by his nearest of kin. Again, Thomas Creswick, R.A., -found an outlet for his love of art in drawing, though, being a very -little fellow when he began, some of these studies—of public buildings -in Birmingham—were very funny, the perspective generally having the -“Anglo-Saxon” peculiarities, and each edifice being afflicted with -a “list” out of the perpendicular as pronounced as that of Pisa's -leaning tower—or nearly so. - -The fame of the “Hazelwood system” spread afar, and many of our then -most distinguished fellow-countrymen visited the school. Among the -rest, Bentham gave it his hearty approval; and Captain Basil Hall, the -writer of once popular books for boys, spoke of the evident existence -of friendly terms between masters and pupils, declared the system to -be “a curious epitome of real life,” and added that the boys were not -converted into little men, but remained boys, only with heads and -hands fully employed on topics they liked. - -Visitors also came from foreign lands. Bernadotte's son, Prince -Oscar, afterwards first king of Sweden of that name, travelled to -Hazelwood, examined the novel system, and, later, established at -Stockholm a “Hillska Scola.” From France, among other people, came M. -Jullien, once secretary to Robespierre—what thrilling tales of the -Great Revolution must he not have been able to tell!—and afterwards -a wise philanthropist and eminent writer on education. He sent a son -to Hazelwood. President Jefferson, when organising the University -of Virginia, asked for a copy of “Public Education,”[4] the work -describing the system and the joint production of Rowland, who found -the ideas, Matthew, who supplied the composition, and, as regards a -few suggestions, of a younger brother, Arthur. Greece, Spain, far-off -Mexico even, in course of time sent pupils either to Hazelwood or to -Bruce Castle, Tottenham, to which then picturesque and somewhat remote -London suburb the school was ultimately transferred. “His Excellency, -the Tripolitan Ambassador,” wrote my father in his diary of 1823, “has -informed us that he has sent to Tripoli for six young Africans; and -the Algerine Ambassador, not to be outdone by his piratical brother, -has sent for a dozen from Algiers.”[5] Happily, neither contingent -put in an appearance. In both cases the enthusiasm evoked seems to -have been short-lived. - -[Illustration: - - By permission of Messrs. De La Rue. - -BRUCE CASTLE SCHOOL, TOTTENHAM.] - -An old Hazelwood pupil, Mr E. Edwards, in his written sketch of “Sir -Rowland Hill,” said of the school that no similar establishment “in -the world, probably at that time, contained such an array of costly -models, instruments, apparatus, and books. There was an observatory -upon the top of the house fitted with powerful astronomical -instruments. The best microscopes obtainable were at hand. Models -of steam and other engines were all over the place. Air-pumps and -electrical machines were familiar objects. Maps, then comparatively -rare, lined the walls. Drawing and mathematical instruments were -provided in profusion. Etching was taught, and a copper press was -there for printing the pupils' efforts in that way. A lithographic -press and stones of various sizes were provided, so that the young -artists might print copies of their drawings to send to their admiring -relatives. Finally, a complete printing press with ample founts of -type was set up to enable the boys themselves to print a monthly -magazine connected with the school and its doings.” Other attractions -were a well fitted-up carpenter's shop; a band, the musicians being -the pupils; the training of the boys in vocal music; a theatre in -which the manager, elocution teacher, scene painter, etc., were -the young Hill brothers, the _costumière_ their sister Caroline, -and the actors the pupils; the control of a sum of money for school -purposes; and the use of a metallic coinage received as payment for -the voluntary work already mentioned, and by which certain privileges -could be purchased.[6] - -My grandfather inspired his sons and pupils with a longing to acquire -knowledge, at the same time so completely winning their hearts by -his good comradeship, that they readily joined him in the long and -frequent walks of which he was fond, and in the course of which his -walking stick was wont to serve to make rough drawings of problems, -etc., in road or pathway. “His mathematical explanations,” wrote -another old pupil in the “Essays of a Birmingham Manufacturer” (W. L. -Sargent), “were very clear; and he looked at the bearings of every -subject irrespective of its conventionalities. His definition of a -straight line has been said to be the best in existence.”[7] - -[Illustration: - - By permission of Messrs. Thos. De La Rue. - -THOMAS WRIGHT HILL.] - -In my father's “Life,” Dr Birkbeck Hill, when writing of his -recollections of our grandfather, said that it seemed “as if the -aged man were always seated in perpetual sunshine. How much of -the brightness and warmth must have come from his own cheerful -temperament?... His Sunday morning breakfasts live in the memory -like a landscape of Claude's.” At these entertainments the old man -would sit in his easy-chair, at the head of the largest table the -house could boast, in a circle of small, adoring grandchildren, the -intervening, severe generation being absent; and of all the joyous -crowd his perhaps was the youngest heart. There were other feasts, -those of reason and the flow of soul, with which he also delighted -his young descendants: stories of the long struggle in the revolted -“American Colonies,” of the Great French Revolution, and of other -interesting historical dramas which he could well remember, and -equally well describe. - -His old pupils would come long distances to see him; and on one -occasion several of them subscribed to present him with a large -telescope, bearing on it a graven tribute of their affectionate -regard. This greatly prized gift was in use till within a short time -of his last illness. - -Young Rowland had a strong bent towards art, as he showed when, at -the age of thirteen, he won the prize, a handsome box of water-colour -paints, offered by the proprietor of the _London School Magazine_ for -“the best original landscape drawing by the youth of all England, -under the age of sixteen.” He painted the scenery for the school -theatre, and made many water-colour sketches in different parts of -our island, his style much resembling that of David Cox. He was an -admirer of Turner long before Ruskin “discovered” that great painter; -and, as his diary shows, marvelled at the wondrous rendering of -atmospheric effects exhibited in his idol's pictures. Nearly all my -father's scenery and sketches perished in a fire which partially burnt -down Hazelwood School; and few are now in existence. After the age -of seventeen he gave up painting, being far too busy to devote time -to art, but he remained a picture-lover to the end of his days. Once -during the long war with France he had an adventure which might have -proved serious. He was sketching Dover Castle, when a soldier came -out of the fortress and told him to cease work. Not liking the man's -manner, the youthful artist went on painting unconcernedly. Presently -a file of soldiers, headed by a corporal, appeared, and he was -peremptorily ordered to withdraw. Then the reason for the interference -was revealed: he was taken for a spy. My father at once laid aside his -brush; he had no wish to be shot. - -In 1835 Rowland Hill resigned to a younger brother, Arthur,[8] the -head-mastership of Bruce Castle School, and accepted the post of -secretary to the Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia, -whose chairman was Colonel Torrens.[9] Another commissioner was John -Shaw Lefevre, later a famous speaker of the House of Commons, who, as -Lord Eversley, lived to a patriarchal age. But the prime mover in the -scheme for colonising this portion of the “Island Continent” was that -public-spirited man, Edward Gibbon Wakefield. William IV. took much -interest in the project, and stipulated that the chief city should -bear the name of his consort—Adelaide. - -The Commissioners were capable men, and were ably assisted by -the South Australian Company, which much about the same time was -started mainly through the exertions of Mr G. F. Angas. Among the -many excellent rules laid down by the Commissioners was one which -insisted on the making of a regular and efficient survey both of -the emigrant ships and of the food they carried. As sailing vessels -were then the only transports, the voyage lasted several months, and -the comfort of the passengers was of no small importance. “When,” -said my father in his diary, “defects and blemishes were brought to -light by the accuracy of the survey, and the stipulated consequences -enforced, an outcry arose as if the connection between promise and -performance were an unheard-of and most unwarrantable innovation. -After a time, however, as our practice became recognised, evasive -attempts grew rare, the first expense being found to be the least.” -He often visited the port of departure, and witnessed the shipping -off of the emigrants—always an interesting occasion, and one which -gave opportunities of personal supervision of matters. Being once at -Plymouth, my mother and he boarded a vessel about to sail for the new -colony. Among the passengers was a bright young Devonian, apparently -an agriculturist; and my father, observing him, said to my mother: -“I feel sure that man will do well.” The remark was overheard, but -the Devonian made no sign. He went to Australia poor, and returned -wealthy, bought an estate close to his birth-place which was in the -market, and there settled. But before sailing hither, he bought at one -of the Adelaide banks the finest one of several gold nuggets there -displayed, and, armed with this, presented himself at my father's -house, placed his gift in my mother's hand, and told how the casual -remark made forty years before had helped to spur him on to success. - -The story of Rowland Hill and a mysteriously vanished rotatory -printing press may be told here. - -In 1790 Mr William Nicholson devised a scheme for applying to ordinary -type printing the already established process of printing calico by -revolving cylinders. The impressions were to be taken from his press -upon successive sheets of paper, as no means of producing continuous -rolls had as yet been invented; but the machine worked far from -satisfactorily, and practically came to nothing. A quarter of a -century later Mr Edward Cowper applied Nicholson's idea to stereotype -plates bent to a cylindrical surface. But till the advent of “Hill's -machine” (described at the Patent Office as “A.D. 1835, No. 6762”) -all plans for fixing movable types on a cylinder had failed. It is -therefore incontestable that the first practical scheme of printing on -a continuous roll of paper by revolving cylinders was invented and set -to work by Rowland Hill in the year named. The machine was intended -mainly for the rapid printing of newspapers, but the refusal of the -Treasury to allow an arrangement by which the Government stamp could -be affixed by an ingenious mechanical device as the scroll passed -through the press—a refusal withdrawn later—deferred for many years -the introduction of any rotatory printing machine. - -The apparatus was kept at my Uncle Matthew's chambers in Chancery -Lane, and was often shown to members of the trade and others. Although -driven by hand only, it threw off impressions at the rate of 7,000 or -8,000 an hour, a much higher speed than that hitherto attained by any -other machine. But from 1836 onwards my father's attention was almost -wholly taken up with his postal reform, and it was only after his -retirement from the Post Office in 1864 that his mind reverted to the -subject of the printing press. Several years before the latter date -his brother had left London; but of the rotatory printing machine, -bulky and ponderous as it was, a few small odds and ends—afterwards -exhibited at the Caxton Exhibition in 1877—alone remained. - -In 1866 the once well-known “Walter Press” was first used in the -_Times_ office. Of this machine my father has said that “except as -regards the apparatus for cutting and distributing the printed sheets, -and excepting further that the 'Walter Press' (entered at the Patent -Office as “A.D. 1866, No. 3222”) is only adapted for printing from -stereotype plates, while mine would not only print from stereotype -plates, but, what is more difficult, from movable types also, the two -machines are almost identical.” He added that “the enormous difficulty -of bringing a complex machine into practical use—a difficulty familiar -to every inventor—has been most successfully overcome by Messrs -Calverley and Macdonald, the patentees.” - -By whom and through what agency the machine patented in 1835 was -apparently transported from Chancery Lane to Printing House Square is -a mystery which at this distant date is hardly likely to be made clear. - -It has always been a tradition in our family that the courtship -between Rowland Hill and Caroline Pearson began when their united -ages amounted to eleven years only, the boy being by twelve months the -elder. The families on both sides lived at the time at Wolverhampton, -and the first kiss is said to have been exchanged inside a large -culvert which crossed beneath the Tettenhall Road in the neighbourhood -of the Hills' house, and served to conduct a tiny rivulet, apt in -wet weather to become a swollen stream, into its chosen channel -on the other side the way. The boy delighted to creep within this -shelter—often dry in summer—and listen to the rumbling overhead of -the passing vehicles. Noisy, ponderous wains some of these were, -with wheels of great width and strength, and other timbers in like -proportion; but to the small listener the noisier the more enjoyable. -These wains have long vanished from the roads they helped to wear -out, the railway goods trains having superseded them, although of -late years the heavy traction engines, often drawing large trucks -after them, seem likely to occupy the place filled by their forgotten -predecessors. Little Rowland naturally wished to share the enchanting -treat with “Car,” as he generally called his new friend, and hand in -hand the “wee things” set off one day to the Tettenhall Road. Many -years later the elderly husband made a sentimental journey to the -spot, and was amazed at the culvert's apparent shrinkage in size. -Surely, a most prosaic spot for the beginning of a courtship! - -The father of this little girl was Joseph Pearson, a man held in such -high esteem by his fellow-citizens that after the passing of the great -Reform Bill in 1832 he was asked to become one of Wolverhampton's -first two members.[10] He was, however, too old for the wear and tear -of Parliamentary life, though when the General Election came on he -threw himself with all his accustomed zeal into the struggle, and was, -as a consequence, presently laid up with a temporary ailment, which -caused one of his political foes to declare that “If Mr Pearson's gout -would only last three weeks longer we might get our man in.” These -words coming to Mr Pearson's ears, he rose from his sick-bed, gout or -no gout, and plunged afresh into the fray, with so much energy that -“we” did _not_ “get our man in,” but the other side did. - -“He was,” once said a many years old friend, “conspicuous for his -breadth of mind, kindness of heart, and public spirit.” He hated the -cruel sports common in his time, and sought unceasingly to put them -down. One day, while passing the local bull-ring, he saw a crowd of -rough miners and others preparing to bait a bull. He at once strode -into their midst, liberated the animal, pulled up or broke off the -stake, and carried it away on his shoulder. Was it his pluck, or his -widespread popularity that won the forbearance of the semi-savage -by-standers? At any rate, not a hostile finger was laid upon him. -Meanwhile, he remembered that if brutalising pastimes are put down, -it is but right that better things should be set in their place. Thus -the local Mechanics' Institute, British Schools, Dispensary, and -other beneficent undertakings, including rational sports for every -class, owed their origin chiefly to him; and, aided by his friend John -Mander, and by the Rev. John Carter, a poor, hard-working Catholic -priest, he founded the Wolverhampton Free Library. - -Joseph Pearson was one of the most hospitable and genial of men, -and, for his time, a person of some culture. He detested cliques and -coteries, those paralysing products of small provincial towns, and -would have naught to do with them. Men of great variety of views -met round his dinner-table, and whenever it seemed necessary he -would preface the repast with the request that theology and politics -should be avoided. With his Catholic neighbours—Staffordshire was a -stronghold of the “Old Religion”—the sturdy Nonconformist was on the -happiest of terms, and to listen to the conversation of the often -well-travelled, well-educated priests was to him a never-failing -pleasure. For Catholic Emancipation he strove heartily and long. With -all sects he was friendly, but chiefly his heart went out to those who -in any way had suffered for their faith. One effect of this then not -too common breadth of view was seen when, after his death, men of all -denominations followed him to his grave, and the handsomest of the -several journalistic tributes to his memory appeared in the columns -of his inveterate political and theological opponent, the local Tory -paper. A ward in the Hospital and a street were called after the -whilom “king of Wolverhampton.”[11] - -[Illustration: - - _From a Photograph by Messrs. Whiteley & Co._ - -_The bust was the last work of Sir Francis Chantry._ - -JOSEPH PEARSON.] - -He had three daughters, of whom my mother was the eldest. His wife -died young, and before her sixteenth year Caroline became mistress -of his house, and thus acquired the ease of manner and knowledge of -social duties which made of her the charming hostess who, in later -years, presided over her husband's London house. She will make a brief -reappearance in other pages of this work. - -Joseph Pearson's youngest daughter, Clara, was a beautiful girl, -a frequent “toast” at social gatherings in the three counties of -Stafford, Warwick, and Worcester—for toasts in honour of reigning -belles were still drunk at festivities in provincial Assembly Rooms -and elsewhere, what time the nineteenth century was in its teens. -When very young she became engaged to her cousin, Lieutenant -(afterwards Captain) Alexander Pearson, R.N., who at the time of -Napoleon's sojourn at St Helena was stationed there, being attached -to the man-of-war commanded by Admiral Plampin. One gift which -Lieutenant Pearson gave my aunt she kept to the end of her life—a lock -of Napoleon's hair. Lieutenant Pearson often saw the ex-Emperor, and, -many years after, described him to us children—how, for instance, he -would stand, silent and with folded arms, gazing long and fixedly -seaward as though waiting for the rescue which never came. The -lieutenant was one of the several young naval officers who worshipped -at the shrine of the somewhat hoydenish Miss “Betsy” Balcombe, who -comes into most stories of St. Helena of that time. Wholly unabashed -by consideration of the illustrious captive's former greatness, she -made of him a playmate—perhaps a willing one, for life must have -been terribly dreary to one whose occupation, like that of Othello, -was gone. Occasionally she shocked her hearers by addressing the -ex-Emperor as “Boney,” though it is possible that the appellation -so frequently heard in the mouths of his British enemies had no -osseous association in his own ears, but was accepted as an endearing -diminutive. One day, in the presence of several witnesses, our cousin -being among them, she possessed herself of a sword, flourished it -playfully before her, hemmed Napoleon into a corner, and, holding -the blade above his head, laughingly exclaimed: “Maintenant j'ai -vaincu le vanqueur du monde!” But there was no answering laugh; the -superstitious Corsican turned pale, made some short, unintelligible -reply, left the room, and was depressed and taciturn for the rest of -the day. It was surmised that he took the somewhat tactless jest for -an omen that a chief who had been beaten by a woman would never again -lead an army of men. - -During Rowland Hill's prime, and until the final breakdown of his -health, our house was a favourite haunt of the more intimate of his -many clever friends. Scientific, medical, legal, artistic, literary, -and other prominent men met, exchanged views, indulged in deep talk, -bandied repartee, and told good stories at breakfast and dinner -parties; the economists mustering in force, and plainly testifying by -their bearing and conversation that, whatever ignorant people may say -of the science they never study, its professors are often the very -reverse of dismal. If Dr Southwood Smith[12] and Mr (later Sir Edwin) -Chadwick's talk at times ran gruesomely on details of “intramural -interment,” the former, at least, had much quaint humour, and was -deservedly popular; while Dr Neil Arnott, whose chief hobbies were -fabled to be those sadly prosaic things, stoves, water-beds, and -ventilation, but who was actually a distinguished physician, natural -philosopher, author, and traveller, was even, when long past sixty, -one of the gayest and youngest of our guests: a mimic, but never an -ill-natured one, a spinner of amusing yarns, and frankly idolised by -the juvenile members of the family whose minds he mercifully never -attempted to improve. - -Charles Wentworth Dilke,[13] founder of the _Athenæum_ newspaper, -a famous journalist and influential man of letters, at whose house -one met every writer, to say nothing of other men and women, worth -knowing, was another charming old man, to listen to whose talk was a -liberal education. Did we walk with him on Hampstead Heath, where once -he had a country house, he became an animated guide-book guiltless of -a dull page, telling us of older times than our own, and of dead and -gone worthies who had been guests at “Wentworth House.” On this much -worn, initial-carven, wooden seat used often to sit Keats listening -to the nightingales, and, maybe, thinking of Fanny Brawne. At another -spot the weakly-framed poet had soundly thrashed a British rough -who was beating his wife. Across yonder footpath used to come from -Highgate “the archangel a little damaged,” as Charles Lamb called -Coleridge. At that road corner, in a previous century, were wont -to gather the visitors returning from the Well Walk “pump-room,” -chalybeate spring, and promenade, till they were in sufficient force -to be safe from highwaymen or footpads who frequented the then lonely -road to London. In a yet earlier century certain gallant Spanish -gentlemen attached to Philip and Mary's court, rescued some English -ladies from molestation by English ruffians; and memorials of this -episode live in the still traceable circle of trees whose predecessors -were planted by the grateful ladies, and in the name of the once -quaint old hostelry hard by, and of the road known as the Spaniards. - -Another wanderer about Hampstead's hills and dales was the great -Thackeray, who was often accompanied by some of the family of Mr -Crowe, a former editor of the _Daily News_, and father to Eyre Crowe, -R.A., and Sir Joseph Archer Crowe. These wanderings seem to have -suggested a few of the names bestowed by Thackeray on the characters -in his novels, such as “Jack Belsize” and “Lord Highgate,” while the -title of “Marquess of Steyne” is reminiscent of another Thackerayan -haunt—“Dr” Brighton. Hampstead still better knew Dickens, who is -mentioned later in these pages. The two writers are often called -rivals; yet novels and men were wholly unlike. Each was a peerless -genius in his own line, and each adorned any company in which he -moved. Yet, while Dickens was the life and soul of every circle, -Thackeray—perhaps the only male novelist who could draw a woman -absolutely true to life[14]—always struck us as rather silent and -self-absorbed, like one who is studying the people around him with a -view to their reproduction in as yet unwritten pages. His six feet -of height and proportionate breadth, his wealth of grey hair, and -the spectacles he was said never to be seen without, made of him a -notable figure everywhere. Yet, however outwardly awe-inspiring, he -was the kindliest of satirists, the truest of friends, and has been -fitly described as “the man who had the heart of a woman.”[15] At the -Athenæum Club he was often seen writing by the hour together in some -quiet corner, evidently unconscious of his surroundings, at times -enjoying a voiceless laugh, or again, perhaps when telling of Colonel -Newcome's death, with “a moisture upon his cheek which was not dew.” - -Another literary friend—we had many—was William Henry Wills, also -mentioned later: a kind friend to struggling authors, who did not a -little to start Miss Mulock on her career as authoress, and who made -her known to us. He once told us a curious story about an old uncle -with whom as a lad he used to stay in the days before the invasion of -the west country by railways with their tendency to modernisation of -out-of-the-way places. This ancient man lived in a large ancestral -mansion, and literally “dined in hall” with his entire household. -There was a sanded floor—formerly, no doubt, rush-strewn—and the -family and their “retainers” sat down together at a very long table -to the midday repast, the servants taking their place literally -“below the salt,” which was represented by a large bowl filled with -that necessary concomitant. In how many other country houses did -this mediæval custom last into the first third of the nineteenth -century?[16] Mrs Wills—only sister to the Chambers brothers, William -and Robert, who, together with our other publisher friend, Charles -Knight, did so much to cheapen the cost and in every way to raise -the tone of literature—was, in addition to possessing great charm of -manner, an admirable amateur actress, and an unrivalled singer of -Scottish songs. - -Hampstead, midway in the nineteenth century, was still a picturesque -little town, possessed of several stately old houses—one known as Sir -Harry Vane's—whose gardens were in some cases entered through tall, -wide, iron gates of elaborate design which now would be accounted -priceless. It was still the resort of artists, many of whom visited -the pleasant house of Edwin Wilkins Field, conspicuous among the -public-spirited men who rescued from the builder-fiend the Heath, and -made of it a London “lung” and a joy for ever; himself a lawyer, the -inspirer of the Limited Liability Act, and an accomplished amateur -water-colour painter. His first wife was a niece of Rogers, the -banker-poet, famous for his breakfast parties and table talk. At Mr -Field's house we came first to know Clarkson Stanfield, R.A., the -famous sea-scape painter, and his family, who were musical as well as -artistic, and gave delightful parties. It was said that Stanfield was -familiar with the build and rig of a ship down to its minutest detail, -because he and his lifelong friend and fellow Royal Academician, -David Roberts, ran away from school together to sea at a time when -life on the ocean wave seemed to most boys the ideal existence. -To the last, Stanfield looked like an old sea-dog, and was bluff, -hearty and genial. Hampstead still remembers him with pride; and -“Stanfield House,” wherein the first really good local Free Library -was sheltered, is so called because for nearly twenty years it was his -dwelling. - -At the Fields' house, among other celebrities, artistic, literary and -legal, we also met Turner; and it was to “Squire's Mount,” and at a -crowded evening party there that a characteristic anecdote of this -eccentric, gifted painter belongs. The taciturn, gloomy-looking guest -had taken an early farewell of host and hostess, and disappeared, -only to return some minutes later, wonderfully and fearfully -apparelled, and silently commence a search about the drawing-room. -Suddenly he seemed to recollect, approached a sofa on which sat three -handsomely-attired ladies, whose indignant countenances were a sight -for gods and men when the abruptly-mannered artist called on them to -rise. He then half dived beneath the seat, drew forth a dreadfully -shabby umbrella of the “Gamp” species, and, taking no more notice of -the irate three than if they had been so many chairs, withdrew—this -time for good. Turner had a hearty contempt for the Claude worship, -and was resolved to expose its hollowness. He bequeathed to the nation -two of his finest oil paintings on condition that they were placed -in the Trafalgar Square Gallery beside two of Claude's which already -hung there, and to this day act as foils. A custodian of the Gallery -once told me that he was present when Turner visited the room in which -were the two Claudes, took a foot-rule from his pocket and measured -their frames, doubtless in order that his own should be of like -dimensions. - -Other artists whom we knew were Mulready, Cooke—as famous for his -splendid collection of old Venetian glass as for his pictures—Creswick -and Elmore; but much as Rowland Hill loved art, the men of science, -such as Airy, the Astronomer Royal; Smyth, the “Astronomical Admiral”; -Wheatstone, Lyell; Graham, the Master of the Mint; Sabine, the -Herschels, and others were to him the most congenial company. After -them were counted in his regard the medical men, philosophers and -economists, such as Harley, Coulson, Fergusson, the Clarkes, Sir Henry -Thompson—the last to die of his old friends—and Bentham, Robert Owen, -James and John Stuart Mill—these last four being among the earliest -great men he knew, and counting in some ways as his mentors. - -Of his literary friends no two held a higher place in his esteem -than Maria Edgeworth and Harriet Martineau. Of the latter and of her -able, untiring help in promoting the cause of Penny Postage, mention -will appear later. The former, my father, and his brother Arthur, as -young men, visited at her Irish home, making the pilgrimage thither -which Scott and many other literary adorers had made or were destined -to make, one of the most interesting being that of Mrs. Richmond -Ritchie, Thackeray's daughter, of which she tells us in her editorial -preface to a recent edition of “Castle Rackrent.” The two brothers -had looked forward to meet a charming woman, but she exceeded their -expectations, and the visit remained in the memory of both as a -red-letter day.[17] - -Among literary men, besides those already mentioned, or to be named -later, were Leigh Hunt, De Quincey—who when under the influence of -opium did the strangest things, being one day discovered by my father -and a friend hiding in some East End slum under the wholly erroneous -impression that “enemies” were seeking to molest him—Sir John Bowring, -Dr Roget, author of “The Thesaurus,” and the Kinglakes. “Eothen,” as -the writer of that once famous book of travels and of “The Invasion of -the Crimea,” was habitually called by his friends, was a delightful -talker; and his brother, the doctor, was equally gifted, if less -fluent, while his sister was declared by Thackeray to be the cleverest -woman he ever met. - -Dr Roget was a most cultivated man, with the exquisite polish and -stately bearing of that now wholly extinct species, the gentlemen of -the old school. He was one of the many tourists from England who, -happening to be in France after the break-up of the short-lived -Peace of Amiens, were detained in that country by Napoleon. Though a -foreigner, Dr Roget had lived so long in England, and, as his book -proves, knew our language so well, that he could easily have passed -for a native of these isles; and thus readily fell a victim to the -Corsican's unjustifiable action. Happily for himself, Dr Roget -remembered that Napoleon had recently annexed Geneva to France; and -he therefore, as a Genevese, protested against his detention on the -ground that the annexation had made of him a French subject. The plea -was allowed; he returned to England, and finally settled here; but the -friend who had accompanied him on the tour, together with the many -other _détenus_, remained in France for several years. - -Political friends were also numerous, some of whom will be mentioned -in later pages. Of others, our most frequent visitors were the -brilliant talker Roebuck, once known as “Dog Tear 'Em” of the House -of Commons; the two Forsters, father and son, who, in turn and for -many years, represented Berwick-upon-Tweed; J. B. Smith (Stockport); -and Benjamin Smith (Norwich), at whose house we met some of the -arctic explorers of the mid-nineteenth century, congenial friends -of a descendant of the discoverer of Smith's Sound, and with whose -clever daughters, Madame Bodichon being the eldest, we of the younger -generation were intimate. At one time we saw a good deal also of Sir -Benjamin Hawes, who, when appointed Under-Secretary to the Colonies -in Lord John Russell's Administration of 1846, said to my parents: -“Heaven help the Colonies, for I know nothing at all about them!”—an -ignorance shared by many other people in those days of seldom distant -travel. - -My father's legal friends included Denman, Wilde, Mellor, Manning, -Brougham, and others; and racy was the talk when some of these -gathered round “the mahogany tree,” for the extremely small jokes -which to-day produce “roars of laughter” in Court were then little in -favour, or failed to reach the honour of reproduction in print. - -Quite as interesting as any of the other people we mingled with were -the foreign political exiles who became honoured guests in many -households; and some of these terrible revolutionists were in reality -the mildest mannered and most estimable of men. Herr Jansa, the great -violinist, was paying a visit to this country in 1849, and out of -pure kindness of heart volunteered to play at a concert at Willis's -rooms got up for the benefit of the many Hungarian refugees recently -landed here. For this “crime” the then young Emperor Francis Joseph -caused the old man to be banished; though what was Austria's loss was -Britain's gain, as he spent some years among us respected and beloved -by all who knew him. We met him oftenest at the house of Sir Joshua -Walmsley, where, as Miss Walmsley was an accomplished pianist, very -enjoyable musical parties were given. The Hungarian refugees, several -of whom were wonderful musicians, were long with us; and some, like -Dr Zerffi, remained here altogether. The Italian exiles, Mazzini, -Rufini, Gallenga, Panizzi—afterwards Sir Antonio, Principal Librarian -at the British Museum, and planner of the Reading Room there—and -others came to speak and write English better than many English -people. Poerio, Settembrini, and other victims of King “Bomba”—whose -sufferings inspired Gladstone to write his famous “Two Letters”—were -not here long; Garibaldi was an infrequent bird of passage, as was -also Kossuth. Kinkel, the German journalist, a man of fine presence, -had been sentenced to lifelong incarceration at Spandau after the -Berlin massacre—from which Dr Oswald and his sister with difficulty -escaped—but cleverly broke prison and took refuge in England; Louis -Blanc, historian and most diminutive of men, made his home for some -years among us; and there were many more. Quite a variety of languages -was heard in the London drawing-rooms of that time, conversation was -anything but commonplace; and what thrillingly interesting days those -were! - -The story of my father's connection with the London, Brighton, and -South Coast Railway, and of that portion of his life which followed -his retirement from the Post Office, will be alluded to later in this -work. - -As it is well not to overburden the narrative with notes, those of -mere reference to volume and page of Dr Hill's “Life” of my father -are generally omitted from the present story; though if verification -of statements made be required, the index to my cousin's book should -render the task easy, at least as regards all matter taken from that -“Life.” - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Another volunteer was a young man named Clark, one of whose sons -afterwards married T. W. Hill's elder daughter. An acquaintance -of Clark's, politically a foe, sought to save his friend's house -from destruction by writing upon it the shibboleth, “Church and -King.” But like Millais' Huguenot knight, Clark scorned to shelter -himself or property under a false badge, and promptly effaced the -kindly-intentioned inscription. - -[2] “Remains of T. W. Hill.” By M. D. Hill, p. 124. - -[3] “Six years have now elapsed,” wrote my father in 1823, “since we -placed a great part of the government of the school in the hands of -the boys themselves; and during the whole of that time the headmaster -has never once exercised his right of veto upon their proceedings.” - -[4] Its full title was “Plans for the Government and Liberal Education -of Boys in Large Numbers,” and the work speedily went into a second -edition. - -[5] Algeria was not conquered by France till 1830; and until the -beginning of the nineteenth century our shores were still liable -to piratical raids. One such (in Norway) is introduced in Miss -Martineau's story, “Feats on the Fiords.” The pirates, during hundreds -of years, periodically swept the European coasts, and carried off -people into slavery, penetrating at times even so far north as -Iceland. What was the condition of these North African pirate States -prior to the French conquest is told by Mr S. L. Poole in “The Barbery -Corsairs” (“Story of the Nations” series). - -[6] It was a visit paid to Bruce Castle School which caused De -Quincey, in that chapter of his “Autobiographic Sketches” entitled -“My Brother,” to write: “Different, O Rowland Hill, are the laws of -thy establishment, for other are the echoes heard amid the ancient -halls of Bruce. There it is possible for the timid child to be happy, -for the child destined to an early grave to reap his brief harvest -in peace. Wherefore were there no such asylums in those days? Man -flourished then as now. Wherefore did he not put forth his power upon -establishments that might cultivate happiness as well as knowledge.” -The stories of brutalities inflicted upon weakly boys in some of our -large schools of to-day might tempt not a few parents to echo De -Quincey's pathetic lament, though perhaps in less archaic language. - -[7] It is as follows:—“A straight line is a line in which, if any two -points be taken, the part intercepted shall be less than any other -line in which these points can be found.” - -[8] He was an ideal schoolmaster and an enthusiastic Shakespearean, -his readings from the bard being much in the same cultured style as -those of the late Mr Brandram. Whenever it was bruited about the -house that “Uncle Arthur was going 'to do' Shakespeare,” there always -trooped into the room a crowd of eager nieces, nephews, and others, -just as in a larger house members troop in when a favourite orator is -“up.” At his own request, a monetary testimonial raised by his old -pupils to do him honour was devoted to the purchase of a lifeboat -(called by his name) to be stationed at one of our coast resorts. - -[9] Colonel Torrens, after whom a river and a lake in South Australia -were named, had a distinguished career. For his spirited defence in -1811 of the island of Anholt he was awarded a sword of honour. But -he was much more than a soldier, however valorous and able. He was a -writer on economics and other important problems of the day; was one -of the founders of the Political Economy Club, and of the _Globe_ -newspaper, then an advocate of somewhat advanced views; and interested -himself in several philanthropic movements. His son, Sir Robert -Torrens, sometime M.P. for Cambridge, lived for many years in South -Australia, and was its first Premier. While there he drew up the plan -of “The Transfer of Land by Registration,” which became an Act bearing -his name, and is one of the measures sometimes cited as proof that -the Daughter States are in sundry ways well ahead of their Mother. In -consequence of the good work the plan has accomplished in the land of -its origin, it has been adopted by other colonies, and is a standard -work on the list of Cobden Club publications. Colonel Torrens's eldest -granddaughter married Rowland Hill's only son. - -[10] The candidates ultimately chosen were the Hon. Charles Pelham -Villiers, who represented the constituency for sixty-three years—from -January 1835 till his death in January 1898—and Mr Thomas Thornley of -Liverpool. Both men, as we shall see, served on that select Committee -on Postage which sat to enquire as to the merits of my father's plan -of postal reform, and helped to cause its adoption. The two men were -long known locally as “Mr Pearson's members.” Mr Villiers will be -remembered as the man who, for several years in succession, brought in -an Annual Motion on behalf of Free Trade, and as being for a longer -while, perhaps, than any other Parliamentarian, “the Father of the -House”; but the fact is not so well known that he came near to not -representing Wolverhampton at all. The election agent who “discovered” -him in London described him in a letter to my grandfather (who was -chairman of the local Liberal Association) as “a young gentleman -named Villiers, a thorough free-trader, of good connexions, and good -address.” Thus his advent was eagerly looked for. Always given to -procrastination, the candidate, however, was so long in making his -appearance or communicating with the constituents, that his place -was about to be taken by a more energetic person who went so far as -to issue his address and begin his canvass. Only just in time for -nomination did Mr Villiers drive into Wolverhampton. Whereupon Mr -Throckmorton gracefully retired. - -[11] He died in July 1838, in the midst of the agitation for the -postal reform, in which he took an enthusiastic interest. - -[12] Grandfather to Miss Octavia Hill. - -[13] His son was one of the Commissioners who aided Prince Albert to -inaugurate the Great Exhibition of 1851, and was created a baronet in -recognition of his services. - -[14] What other man ever depicted a Becky Sharpe, a Beatrix Esmond, a -Mrs Bute Crawley, or a Lady Kew—to say nothing of minor characters? - -[15] “Thackeray's London.” By W. H. Rideing. - -[16] Less than half a century before the time described by Mr Wills, -the mother of Sir Humphrey Davy left the fact on record that in -Penzance, a town of 2,000 inhabitants, there were but one cart, one -carpet, no such thing as a silver fork, no merchandise brought to the -place save that carried by pack-horses, and every one who travelled -went on horseback. On this state of things Palmer's mail coaches had a -most rousing effect. - -[17] When Miss Edgeworth's father in 1804 wrote the preface to her -“Popular Tales,” he quoted Burke as saying that in the United Kingdom -one person in every hundred could read, and added that he hoped -his daughter's works would attract the attention of a good many -“thousands.” Millions of readers were probably undreamed of. The -schoolmaster has made some progress since those days. - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE OLD POSTAL SYSTEM - - “Postage is one of the worst of our taxes. Few taxes, if any, - have so injurious a tendency as the tax upon the communication - by letters. I cannot doubt that a taxation upon communication - by letters must bear heavily upon commerce; it is, in fact, - taxing the conversation of people who live at a distance from - each other. The communication of letters by persons living at a - distance is the same as a communication by word of mouth between - persons living in the same town. You might as well tax words - spoken upon the Royal Exchange as the communications of various - persons living in Manchester, Liverpool, and London.”—Lord - ASHBURTON, a conservative peer. - - “We build National Galleries, and furnish them with pictures; - we propose to create public walks for the air and health and - exercise of the community at the general cost of the country. - I do not think that either of these, useful and valuable as - they are to the community, and fit as they are for Government - to sanction, are more conducive to the moral and social - advancement of the community than the facility of intercourse by - post.”—SAMUEL JONES LOYD (Lord OVERSTONE), banker and financier. - - “It is commercial suicide to restrict the free transmission of - letters.”—(Sir) WILLIAM BROWN, a Liverpool merchant. - - “We are cut off from our relatives by the high rates of - postage.”—G. HENSON, a working hosier of Nottingham. - - -In a short sketch of the postal reform written by my brother,[18] -in the year of the late Queen's first jubilee—which was also the -jubilee of the publication of our father's “Post Office Reform,” the -pamphlet that swept away the old system—the following passage from -Miss Martineau's “History of the Thirty Years' Peace, 1815-1845” is -quoted with excellent effect. From a novel point of view, and in -somewhat startling colours, it presents us with a picture of the -state of things which, under that old system, existed in our country -through four-tenths (less one year) of the nineteenth century, and is -therefore within the recollection of people still living. - -We look back now, Miss Martineau says,[19] with a sort of amazed -compassion to the old crusading days when warrior husbands and their -wives, grey-headed parents and their brave sons parted, with the -knowledge that it must be months or years before they could hear -even of one another's existence. We wonder how they bore the depth -of silence, and we feel the same now about the families of polar -voyagers;[20] but till the commencement of Her Majesty's reign it did -not occur to many of us how like to this was the fate of the largest -classes in our own country. The fact is that there was no full and -free epistolary intercourse in the country except for those who, -like Members of Parliament, had the command of franks. There were -few families in the wide middle class who did not feel the cost of -postage to be a heavy item in their expenditure; and if the young -people sent letters home only once a fortnight, the amount at the -year's end was a rather serious matter. But it was the vast multitude -of the poorer classes who suffered, like the crusading families of -old, and the geographical discoverers of all time. When the young -people went out into the world the separation between them and those -left behind was almost like that of death. The hundreds of thousands -of apprentices, of shopmen, of governesses, of domestic servants, were -cut off from family relations as effectually as if seas or deserts -divided them (vol. iv. p. 11). - -Yet it was not so much the number of miles of severance or the -paucity of means of communication that raised walls of oblivion -between members of those poorer families which form the large -majority of our race; for by 1840—the year when the postal reform was -established—communication between even distant places was becoming -comparatively easy. Separation was mainly caused by dear postal -charges. Fourpence carried a letter 15 miles only; the average rate, -even taking into account the many penny letters circulated by the -local town-posts—which, it is said, numbered some two hundred, the -greater part being very profitable undertakings—was 6-1/4d.[21] Mr -Brewin of Cirencester, in his evidence before the Parliamentary -Committee of 1838 (Third Report), put the case with startling effect -when he said: “Sixpence is a third of a poor man's daily income. If -a gentleman whose fortune is a thousand a year, or £3 a day, had to -pay one-third of his daily income—a sovereign—for a letter, how often -would he write letters of friendship?” - -But Mr Brewin's illustration, admirable as it is, did not cover the -entire case. And, first, it is worth pointing out that the “poor man's -daily income” was not only actually smaller, but, generally speaking, -it had also smaller purchasing power in the 'thirties than it came -to have later in the century when freer trade and lighter taxation -prevailed. The real hardship, however, was that too often the man -“whose fortune is a thousand a year”—and sometimes much more—was, -unlike his poorer brother on 1s. 6d. a day, exempt altogether from -postal charges. - -For the franking system is a hoary iniquity. It dates back -considerably more than two hundred years. To such an extent was the -practice, legally or illegally, carried, that, as Mr Joyce, in his -“History of the Post Office,” tells us: “In Great Britain alone the -postage represented by the franked letters, excluding those which -were, or which purported to be, 'On His Majesty's Service,' amounted -in 1716 to what was, for that time relatively to the total Post Office -revenue, the enormous sum of £17,500 a year” (p. 142). By 1838 the -number of franked missives was some 7,000,000 a year. Of these, rather -less that 5,000,000 were “double” letters, about 2,000,000 eight-fold -letters, and some 77,000 thirteen-fold letters, free carriage of -which caused a loss to the revenue during the twelvemonths of about -£1,065,000. - -The franking privilege—which enabled its possessor to write his name -outside a letter, thereby rendering it exempt from postal charge—was -in vogue long before it received formal recognition by Parliament, and -is indeed said to have been given by way of bribe to the Commons what -time the Post Office became a Crown monopoly. The first intention was -that franking should be enjoyed only by Members during each session; -but later it was practised in and out of session. When the measure -came before the House, a few Members condemned it as “shabby,” “a -poor mendicant proviso,” etc. But the Bill was passed. The Upper -House rejected it. Then the Commons, with a knowledge of human nature -creditable to their understanding if to nothing else, inserted a -clause providing that the Lords' letters should also be franked; -whereupon the Bill became an Act. - -The old system worked with great tenderness towards the “haves,” and -with corresponding harshness towards the “have nots.” It enabled -some members of the favoured classes to send by post free of charge -such things as fifteen couples of hounds, two maid servants, a cow, -two bales of stockings, a deal case containing flitches of bacon, a -huge feather-bed, and other bulky products, animate and inanimate. -“The 'Ambassador's bag,'” said Mr Roebuck one night in the House of -Commons, “was often unduly weighted. Coats, lace, boots, and other -articles were sent by it; even a pianoforte, and a horse!”[22] - -On the other hand, the unfavoured many were heavily taxed for the -transmission of missives often smaller, easier of carriage, and -lighter of weight; and were so taxed to make up for the immunity -enjoyed by the favoured few, since the revenue, at all costs, -must be maintained. Thus to Rowland Hill's parents, and to many -thousands more, in those days of slender income and heavy taxation, -the postman's knock was a sound of dread. The accepted letter might -prove to be a worthless circular or other useless sheet, on which the -too-trusting recipient had thrown away the money needed for necessary -things whose purchase must be deferred. - -Incredibly high the postal rates sometimes were. A packet weighing -32 oz. was once sent from Deal to London. The postage was over £6, -being, as Rowland Hill's informant remarked, four times as much as -the charge for an inside place by the coach.[23] Again, a parcel of -official papers, small enough to slip inside an ordinary pocket, was -sent from Dublin to another Irish town addressed to Sir John Burgogne. -By mistake it was charged as a letter instead of as a parcel, and -cost £11! For that amount the whole mail-coach plying between the two -towns, with places for seven passengers and their luggage, might have -been hired. Extreme cases these perhaps, but that they could and did -happen argued something rotten in the state of—the old system. - -The peers of the realm and the Members of Parliament could not only -frank their own letters, but those also of their friends, who, -perhaps, in nine cases out of ten could well afford to do without -such help. The number of franks which privileged people could write -was limited by law,[24] but was frequently exceeded if a donor hated -to say “No,” or found that compliance with requests enhanced his -popularity, or was to his advantage. Members of Parliament sometimes -signed franks by the packet, and gave them to constituents and -friends. It was an easy, inexpensive way of making a present, or of -practising a little bribery and corruption. The chief offenders were -said to be the banker Members, who, in one day (of 1794), sent 103,000 -franked letters through the London Post Office alone. No wonder a -“banker's frank” came to be a byword. Franks were also sometimes given -to servants instead of, or to eke out, their wages; and the servants, -being then as a rule illiterate, sold the franks again. - -Forgery of franks was extensively practised, since to imitate a -man's writing is not difficult. Mr Joyce tells us that, under the -old system, the proportion of counterfeit to genuine franks varied -from half to three-quarters of the entire number. Why forgery should -be resorted to is easy to understand. The _un_privileged nursed a -natural grudge against the privileged, and saw no harm in occasionally -enjoying a like immunity from postal charges. Prosecutions availed -little as deterrents. Even the fate of the Rev. Dr Dodd, hanged at -Tyburn in 1771 for the offence, could not check the practice. - -The strictness of the rules against forging the frank on a letter, so -long a capital offence, contrasted strangely with the extraordinary -laxity of those relating to the franking of newspapers. To pass freely -through the post, a newspaper, like a letter, had to be franked by a -peer or a Member of Parliament. But no pretence was ever made that -the signatures were genuine; and not only was anybody at liberty to -write the name of peer or Member, but the publishers themselves were -accustomed to issue the newspapers with their customer's name and -address, and the franking signature already _printed_ on each cover! -Indeed, were this useless form to be disregarded, the paper was -counted as an unpaid letter, and became liable to a charge of perhaps -several shillings. - -The cost of conveying newspapers by post was practically covered by -the duty stamp. Yet “No newspaper could be posted in any provincial -town for delivery within the same, nor anywhere within the London -District (a circle of 12 miles radius from the General Post Office) -for delivery within the same circle, unless a postage of 1d., in -addition to the impressed newspaper stamp, were paid upon it—a -regulation which, however, was constantly evaded by large numbers of -newspapers intended for delivery in London being sent by newsagents -down the river to be posted at Gravesend, the Post Office then having -the trouble of bringing them back, and of delivering them without -charge.”[25] - -The newspaper duty at its lowest charge was 1d., and at its highest -4d., and varied with the varying burden of taxation. Thus during the -long period of George III.'s almost incessant wars it rose from the -lower to the higher figure. Before a word could be printed on any -newspaper the blank sheet had to be taken to the Stamp Office to -receive the impress of the duty stamp, and therefore prepayment of -newspaper postage was secured. It may be that when the stamp duty -rose to 3d. and 4d., the official conscience was satisfied that -sufficient payment had been made; and thus the franking signature -became an unnecessary survival, a mere process of lily-painting and -refined gold-gilding, which at some future time might be quietly got -rid of. If so, the reason becomes evident why the forgery of franks on -newspapers was viewed with leniency, the authorities having, by means -of the stamp, secured their “pound of flesh.” But no duty stamp was -ever impressed on letters which were treated altogether differently, -prepayment in their case being, if not actually out of the question, -so rare as to be practically non-existent. - -The duty on newspapers was an odious “tax on knowledge,” and rendered -a cheap Press impossible. Only the well-to-do could indulge in the -luxury of a daily paper; and recollection of childish days brings back -a vision of the sheet passing through a succession of households till -its contents had become “ancient history,” and it ended its existence -in tatters. The repeal of the stamp duty and of that other “tax -unwise,” the paper duty, changed all this, and gave rise to the penny -and halfpenny Press of modern times and the cheap and good books that -are now within the reach of all. The fact is worth recording that yet -another—perhaps more than one other—article of daily use did duty in a -plurality of households during those far-off days of general dearness. -This was tea, then so costly that it was a common practice for poor -people to call at the houses of the well-to-do, and ask for the used -leaves, though not to cleanse carpets and glassware as we do at the -present day, but to infuse afresh. - -The making of exemptions is a huge mistake; and, according to the -cynic, a mistake is more reprehensible than a crime. Exemptions create -discontent, and justly so. Peel, inimical as he was to the postal -reform, was well aware of the evils of the franking system, and said -that “were each Government Department required to pay its own postage, -much would be done towards checking the abuse.”[26] - -It was Rowland Hill's wish that franking should be totally abolished. -But vested interests—that worst bar to all social progress—proved -stronger than the reformer; and his plan, in that and some other -details, was not carried out in its entirety. Franking was enormously -curtailed, but it was a scotching rather than a killing process; and -after his retirement the evil thing slowly but steadily increased. -Nor does the tendency at the present day give sign of abatement. - -[Illustration: _From a Photograph by the London Stereoscopic Co._ - -Yours very affectionately Rowland Hill] - -As some of that increasingly large portion of the public which knows -nothing of the old postal system are under the erroneous impression -that others than Rowland Hill suggested the use of postage stamps for -letters, it is well to point out that the employment of such stamps -before 1840, so far from cheapening or rendering easier the payment of -postal charges, must have made them considerably dearer, and have yet -further complicated the process of letter-“taxing.”[27] - -Postage stamps, like railway tickets, are mere tokens of prepayment, -and, however mentally hazy on the subject of the origin of postage -stamps some of us may be, we can all easily understand how absurd, -indeed impossible, introduction of the tickets would have been in -the dark ages before railway trains began to run. Equally impossible -would have been the employment, or even the suggestion, of stamps when -letters were posted unpaid. Under the old system the letters of the -unprivileged classes were rated, primarily, according to the distance -travelled, though not necessarily the distance actually separating -writer and recipient, because, although before 1840 railways existed, -no close network of lines covered our land, providing, as it does -to-day, direct and plentiful means of inter-communication; and -therefore the Post Office, to suit its own convenience, often obliged -some of its mail matter to perform very circuitous routes, thereby -not only retarding delivery, but rendering still greater the already -great variability of rates. “Thus, for example, letters from Loughton -to Epping (places only 2 or 3 miles apart) were carried into London -and out again, and charged a postage of 7d.—that being the rate under -the old system for letters between post towns ranging from 30 to 50 -miles apart.”[28] That this circumambulatory practice was responsible -for waste of time as well as increase of cost is shown by the fact -that of two letters, the one addressed to Highgate, and the other -to Wolverhampton (120 miles further along the same coach road), and -both posted in London at the same hour, the Highgate letter would be -delivered last. As regards cost, an anomaly quite as absurd as the -two foregoing existed in the case of letters between Wolverhampton -and Brierley Hill which were carried by a cross-post passing through -Dudley. If a letter went the whole way, the postage was 1d.; but if -it stopped short at Dudley, 4d. was charged. Of the letters which -performed circuitous routes, Scott, in the fortieth chapter of “Guy -Mannering,” humorously remarks that, “There was a custom, not yet -wholly obsolete, of causing a letter from one town to another, perhaps -within the distance of 30 miles, to perform a circuit of 200 miles -before delivery; which had the combined advantage of airing the -epistle thoroughly, of adding some pence to the revenue of the Post -Office, and of exercising the patience of the correspondents.” - -The question of charge was still further complicated, because, -secondarily, there existed “single,” “double,” “treble,” and yet -heavier rates of postage; as when the treble rate was passed, further -increase was reckoned by weight, the charge being quadrupled when the -letter weighed an ounce, rising afterwards by a “single” postage for -every additional quarter ounce. It was as well, perhaps, that the -people who lived before the 'forties did not lead the feverish life of -to-day. Otherwise, how would the post officials, to say nothing of the -public, have remembered these positively bewildering details? - -A “single” letter had to be written on a single sheet of paper, whose -use probably gave rise to the practice of that now obsolete “cross” -writing which often made an epistle all but illegible, but to which in -those days of dear postage recourse was unavoidable when much matter -had to be crammed into the limited compass of that single sheet. If a -second sheet, or even the smallest piece of paper, were added to the -first, the postage was doubled. The effect of fastening an adhesive -stamp on to a single letter would therefore have been to subject -the missive to a double charge; while to have affixed a stamp to an -envelope containing a letter would have trebled the postage. In other -words, a man living, say, 400 miles from his correspondent, would have -to pay something like 4s. for the privilege of receiving from him a -single sheet of paper carried in a wholly unnecessary cover bearing -an equally unnecessary, because entirely useless, adornment in the -shape of an adhesive stamp. For obvious reasons, therefore neither -“the little bags called envelopes,” as in his pamphlet Rowland Hill -quaintly described these novel adjuncts, nor the stamps, were, or -could be, in use.[29] - -One veracious anecdote will suffice to show what came of evasion, -wilful or unintentional, of a hard and fast postal rule. A letter was -once sent from London to Wolverhampton, containing an enclosure to -which a small piece of paper had been fastened. The process called -“candling” showed that the letter consisted of three parts; and the -single postage being 10d., a charge was made of 2s. 6d.[30] - -It will thus be seen that in reckoning the postage on a letter, -distance, the number of enclosures (if any), and, finally, weight -had to be taken into consideration. Nor should it be forgotten that -of single inland letters the variations of charge amounted to over -forty. Under so complicated a system, it was, save in very exceptional -circumstances, far easier to collect the postage at the end of the -letter's journey than at its beginning; and, in the absence of -prepayment, of what possible use could stamps have been, or what man -in his senses would have proposed them?[31] Had later-day ignorance -of the actual state of things under the old postal system been less -widespread than it is, any claim to authorship of postage stamps -before reform of that system was attempted or achieved would, for -lack of the credulous element among the public, scarcely have been -hazarded. - -The “candling” of letters was practised to ascertain whether single, -double, treble, or still heavier postage should be charged. The -missive was carried into a darkened room, and held up against a strong -artificial light. This process not only gave the examining official -some idea of the number of enclosures, if any, but often revealed -their character. It was to defeat temptation to dishonesty caused by -this scrutiny that the practice, not yet obsolete, was adopted of -cutting a banknote in two before posting it, and keeping back the -second half till receipt of the first had been acknowledged. - -Single letter postage between London and Edinburgh or Glasgow cost -1s. 3-1/2d., between London and Aberdeen 1s. 4-1/2d., and between -London and Thurso 1s. 5-1/2d., the odd halfpenny being the duty -exacted in protectionist days to enable the epistle to cross the -Scottish border. A letter to Ireland _via_ Holyhead paid, in addition -to ordinary postage, steamer rates and toll for using the Menai and -Conway bridges. Or, if a letter took the southerly route to Ireland, -the extra charge was levied at Milford. Single letter postage to -Londonderry was 1s. 5d. To the many other more distant Irish towns it -was still heavier. - -These single charges—enforced, too, at a time when the nation, wearied -out with many years of almost incessant war, was poorer far than it -is now—seem to us exorbitant. When, therefore, we think of them as -doubled, trebled, quadrupled, and so forth, it is easy to understand -why to all but the rich letter-writing became an almost lost art; and -we realise more clearly the truth of Miss Martineau's word-picture -which a superficial reader might be inclined to pronounce overdrawn. - -The rates had been oppressive enough in 1801 when, in order to swell -the war-tax, a further contribution to the Exchequer of £150,000 -was enforced. But in 1812 a yet further contribution of £200,000 -was required; and these higher rates—the highest ever reached—were -maintained for a quarter of a century after the peace of 1815: that -is, till Rowland Hill's reform swept the old system away. - -In order to increase the postal revenue, the screw had been tightened -in a variety of ways, even to the arresting of further progress in -Ralph Allen's much-needed “cross-posts” reform.[32] As Mr Joyce puts -it: “In 1695 a circuitous post would be converted into a direct one, -even though the shorter distance carried less postage; in 1813 a -direct post in place of a circuitous one was constantly being refused -on the plea that a loss of postage would result.”[33] In the latter -year all sorts of oppressive and even bewildering new regulations were -enforced whose tendency was to make of the Post Office a yet harsher -tax-raising machine. One new charge was of “an additional penny on -each letter for the privilege of the mail-coach passing through”[34] -certain towns; and other rules were equally vexatious. - -The lowest single postage to Paris was 1s. 8d.; and in the case of -foreign letters partial prepayment was the rule. For instance, when -a letter travelled from London to Paris, the writer paid 10d., which -freed it as far as Calais only, its recipient paying the other 10d. on -its delivery in the French capital. Collection of postage at the end -of the entire journey would have been contrary to regulation. - -The lowest single postage to Gibraltar was 2s. 10d.; and to Egypt, 3s. -2d. When a letter crossed the Atlantic to Canada or the United States -an inland rate at each end of the transit was charged in addition to -the heavy ocean postage. A packet of manuscript to either of those -countries cost £5 under the old system. But at this “reduced” (!) rate -only a 3-lb. packet could be sent. Did one weigh the merest fraction -of a pound over the permitted three, it could not go except as a -letter, the postage upon which would have been £22, 0s. 8d.[35] One -can hardly expect the public of to-day to believe that rates such as -these were ever in force. They sufficiently explain why it was that -the ill-to-do relatives of equally ill-to-do people who emigrated to -the Colonies or foreign countries often lost all trace of them. - -In the _Morning Chronicle_ of 22nd August 1837, appeared an -announcement that, “Henceforth postage on letters to the Mediterranean -will be at the rate of only 10s. an ounce”—showing that even as -regards countries nearer home than America postal charges rendered -letter-writing an expensive occupation even to the well-to-do if they -had a large foreign correspondence. To-day “a letter can be sent from -London westward to San Francisco or eastward to Constantinople or -Siberia for a less amount of postage than was charged in 1836 on one -going from Charing Cross to Brompton.”[36] And in the future the cost -is likely to become less. - -The old postal rates being so burdensome, it was inevitable that -tricks and evasions of many sorts should be practised, notwithstanding -the merciless penalties that were inflicted on delinquents detected in -the act. - -It is probably no exaggeration to say that hundreds, if not thousands, -of newspapers were annually posted which no one particularly cared -to read. Yet it is certain that many a recipient eagerly welcomed -the paper sent him even though he might rarely unfold its pages. As -newspapers went free—or nominally did so, for after all the postage -was indirectly taken out of the pocket of the man who invested 5d. -in every copy of his “daily”—and letters, except those which passed -between members of the privileged classes, did not, the newspaper -came to be a frequent bearer of well-disguised messages from one -member of the unprivileged classes to another. The employment of -inks of different colours, of variations in modes of writing names, -callings, and addresses, and even peculiar flourishes executed by -the pen, conveyed valuable information to him who received the paper, -and enabled many tradesmen to keep up a brisk correspondence without -contributing a farthing to the revenue. - -How, for example, should the uninitiated postal authorities know that -the innocent-looking superscription on a newspaper sent from London to -“Mr John Smith, Grocer, Tea-dealer, etc, No. 1 High Street Edinburgh,” -conveyed to Mr Smith the assurance that on Tuesday the price of sugar -was falling, and that the remittances he had sent in discharge of his -indebtedness had been received? Yet so it was, for however fictitious -the name and address, the case is genuine, the conspiring pair of -correspondents having come forward during the agitation for penny -postage as voluntary witnesses to the necessity for the reform, their -evidence being the revelation of their fraud made on condition that -they should be held exempt from prosecution. There were six different -modes of writing Mr Smith's name, one for each working day of the -week; and the wording of his trade varied still oftener, and served to -give him the latest news of the market. If Mr Smith's fellow-tradesman -(and fellow-conspirator) in London wrote the address immediately after -the name, omitting all mention of Mr Smith's calling, the latter knew -that the goods he had sent had reached their destination. Variations -rung upon the locality name, such as High Street (without the number), -High St., 1 High Street, 1 High St., No. 1 High Street, or No. 1 -High St., related to pecuniary matters. For while we have seen how -satisfactory was the news conveyed in “No. 1 High Street,” “High -St.,” on the contrary, told Mr Smith that the bills he sent had been -dishonoured. - -But Mr Smith and colleague were by no means the only correspondents -who deliberately plotted to defraud the revenue; for, under the old -system, it seemed to be each person's aim to extract the cost of -postage on his own letters out of the pocket of some other person. In -this achievement, however, there can be little doubt that, as a rule, -the well-to-do made the most successful score. - -The story told by Mr Bertram in “Some Memories of Books” about the -apprentice to a printing firm is another instance of evasion. The -young man was frequently in want of clothing, and made known his need -to those at home with as little outlay as though he had been a member -of Parliament or peer of the realm. He printed small slips of paper -bearing such legends as “want trousers,” “send new coat,” etc., pasted -them into newspapers, and sent these to his parents. - -At the present day indulgence in a practice of this sort would seem -contemptible, a fraud to which only the meanest of mankind would -resort. But had we too lived when postage was charged on a fourth part -only of the entire mail, and when the writers of the letters forming -that fourth part, and we among them, were taxed to make up the loss on -the franked three-quarters, perhaps even we, immaculate as we believe -ourselves to be, might have been tempted to put our scruples into our -pocket to keep company with our slender purse, and have taken to -“ways that are dark,” though, if less astute than Mr John Smith and -his London correspondent, possibly also to “tricks that are vain”—with -unpleasant consequences to ourselves. - -There is an oft-quoted story about Coleridge, who, one day while -wandering through the Lake District, saw a poor woman refuse a letter -which the postman offered her. The kindly poet, in spite of the -woman's evident reluctance to accept the gift, paid the money she -could not raise; but when the letter was opened, it was seen to be a -blank sheet of paper not intended for acceptance, but sent by her son -according to preconcerted agreement as a sign that he was well.[37] -This, then, is not only yet another illustration of the frauds to -which the “have nots” were driven to resort, but, further, shows how -profitless, even costly, was the labour imposed upon the Post Office -by the system to which the authorities clung with so unaccountable -an affection. For an unaccepted sheet of paper does not travel from -London to the Lake District for nothing; and when we multiply one -unaccepted letter by many thousands, one may form some idea of the -amount of fruitless trouble as well as fruitless outlay which was -incurred by the Department. - -The enforced silence between severed relations and friends was -therefore rendered yet more painful when the letters—genuine letters -too, not dummies—got as far as the post office nearest to their -intended destination, or even to the door of the poor dwellings to -which they were addressed, yet failed to cross the threshold because -their should-be recipients were too poverty-stricken to “take them -up.” In many instances mothers yearning to hear from absent children -would pawn clothing or household necessaries rather than be deprived -of the letters which, but for that sacrifice, must be carried back -to the nearest post office to await payment. One poor woman, after -striving for several weeks to make up the money to redeem a longed-for -letter from her granddaughter in London, went at last to the local -office with the shilling which a pitying lady gave her, only to find -that the letter had been returned to town. She never received it. -Another poor woman begged a local postmaster's daughter to accept -a spoon by way of pledge till the ninepence charged upon a letter -awaiting payment at the office could be raised. A labouring man -declined an eightpenny letter though it came from a far-off daughter -because the price meant one loaf the less for his other children. It -was much harder for the poorest classes to find pence enough to lavish -on postage in those yet earlier and often hungrier nineteenth century -decades than even the “Hungry Forties”; during which years a man had -sometimes to spend more than eightpence—more occasionally than double -that sum—on his children's loaf. - -The refused missives, after waiting a while at the local office -for the chance of redemption, went back to the chief office, were -consigned to the “dead” department, and were there destroyed, thus -costing the Service—meaning, of course, the public—the useless double -journey and the wasted labour of not a few officials. - -Sometimes a kind-hearted postmaster would advance the sum due for -a letter out of his own pocket, taking his chance of being repaid. -But not every postmaster could afford to take such risks, nor was it -desirable that they should be laid upon the wrong shoulders. - -In 1837 the Finance Account showed a profitless expenditure of -£122,000 for letters “refused, mis-sent, re-directed, and so forth.” -This loss of revenue was, of course, quite distinct from that already -mentioned as caused by the use of franks fictitious and genuine. -Truly, the unprivileged paid somewhat dearly for the advantages -enjoyed by the privileged, since it lay with the former both to make -good the loss and to provide the required profit. - -Under the old system the postman would often be detained, sometimes as -much as five minutes, at each house at which he called while he handed -in his letters, and received the money due upon them. In business -quarters this sort of thing had long been found intolerable, and -therefore, by private arrangement with the merchants, the postman, on -the first, and by far the heaviest, delivery of the day, did not wait -for his money. But after the second delivery he had to call at every -house where he had left letters earlier in the day and collect the -postage: a process which often made the second delivery lengthy and -wearisome. A test case showed that while it took a man an hour and a -half to deliver 67 letters for which he waited to receive payment, -half an hour sufficed for the delivery of 570 letters for which he did -not wait to be paid.[38] - -Another evil of the old system was the temptation to fraud which it -put in the way of the letter-carriers. When a weak or unscrupulous man -found a supply of loose cash in his pocket at the end of his delivery, -his fingers would itch—and not always in vain—to keep it there. Again, -an honest man, on his way back to the office with the proceeds of his -round upon him, was not safe from attack if his road was lonely or the -streets ill-lighted or deserted. The old foot and horse posts were -often robbed. Murders even, Mr Joyce reminds us, were not infrequent, -and executions failed to check them. - -The system of account-keeping was “an exceedingly tedious, -inconvenient, and, consequently, expensive process.”[39] The money -which the recipient of a letter paid to the postman passed to the -local postmaster, who sent it on to the head office. It went through -many hands, and peculation was rife. “The deputy postmasters could -not be held to effectual responsibility as regards the amounts due -from them to the General Office; and as many instances of deficit came -at times to light, sometimes following each other week after week in -the same office, there can be no doubt that the total annual loss must -have reached a serious amount.”[40] - -On the arrival of the mails at the General Post Office, the clerks -were required to see that the charge entered upon every letter had -been correctly made, and that each deputy postmaster had debited -himself with the correct amount of postage; to stamp the letters—that -is, to impress on them the date when they were posted; to assort them -for delivery, in which work the letter-carriers assisted; to ascertain -the amount of postage to be collected by each letter-carrier, and to -charge him therewith. In addition to all this, another detail must not -be forgotten—that in the London Office alone there were daily many -thousands of letters which had to undergo the “candling” process. - -For the outgoing mails the duties were somewhat similar, and quite -as complicated, and some seven hundred accounts had to be made out -against as many deputy postmasters. - -Simplification of account-keeping under the old system, however much -needed, seemed hopeless of attainment. - -Even in England, the most prosperous “partner” of the United Kingdom, -there were at the time of the late Queen's accession, districts larger -than Middlesex, within whose borders the postman never set foot. Of -the 2,100 Registrar's districts into which England and Wales were -divided, 400 districts, each containing on the average about 20 square -miles and some 4,000 inhabitants—making in all a population of about -a million and a half—had no post office whatever. The chief places in -these districts, containing about 1,400 inhabitants each, were on the -average some 5 miles, and in several instances as much as 16 miles, -from the nearest post office.[41] - -The 50,000 Irish, or immediate descendants of Irish in Manchester, -said Cobden in his evidence before the Parliamentary Committee of -1838, were almost as completely cut off from communication with their -relatives in Ireland as though they were in New South Wales.[42] And -when he drew this comparison, it counted for much more than it would -do to-day. Great Britain and Australia were then practically much -further asunder than they are now, sailing vessels at that time taking -from four to six months to do the single, and sometimes nearly twelve -the double voyage. A good many years had yet to elapse before the -Indian Ocean was bridged by the fast steamships which have reduced -that several months' journey to one of a few weeks only. - -The great free-trader's calico printing works were situated at a -little town or village, of some 1,200 inhabitants, called Sabden, 28 -miles from Manchester. Although a manufacturing centre, it had no post -office, and nothing that did duty for one. - -In the opening paragraph of the twenty-seventh chapter of “The Heart -of Midlothian,” Scott says that in 1737 “So slight and infrequent was -the intercourse betwixt London and Edinburgh, that upon one occasion -the mail from the former city arrived at the General Post Office in -Scotland with only one letter in it. The fact is certain. The single -epistle was addressed to the principal director of the British Linen -Company.” - -In “Her Majesty's Mails” Mr Lewins says that: “About the same time the -Edinburgh mail is said to have arrived in London containing but one -letter addressed to Sir William Pulteney, the banker” (p. 85). - -The old system being at once clumsy, irrational, irritating, and -unjust, little wonder need be felt that when Queen Victoria's reign -began, each inhabitant of England and Wales received on an average one -letter in three months, of Scotland one in four months, and of Ireland -one a year.[43] - -Until 1748 there were but three posts a week between London and -Birmingham. In that year the number was doubled. The notice making -known this improvement contains denunciations of the people who were -in “any way concerned in the illegal collecting or delivery of Letters -or Packets of Letters.” The fines for the offence were “£5 for every -letter, and £100 for every week this practice is continued.” But fines -could not arrest the smuggling, because the practice was remunerative -to the smugglers, and popular among those who employed them, and who -thus enjoyed cheap rates of postage. Therefore the illegal traffic -went on growing, till by the time the old system came to an end it had -assumed vast proportions. - -Publishers and other business men wrote letters on one large sheet of -paper for different people living in the same district. On reaching -its destination the sheet was divided into its separate parts, each -of which being then delivered by hand or local post. A similar -practice in respect of money payments prevailed.[44] One publisher and -bookseller said he was “not caught” till he had thus distributed some -20,000 letters. Several carriers made the collection and distribution -of letters their only business, and in the collecting process women -and children were employed. In one district the illegal practice was -more than fifty years old, and in at least another, as we see by the -notice quoted in the preceding paragraph, its age must have exceeded -a century. In one then small town the daily average of smuggled -letters amounted to more than 50, and on one occasion rose above -150. The Mr Brewin of Cirencester already mentioned said he knew two -carriers who conveyed four times as many letters as did the mail.[45] -One carrier confessed to having smuggled about 60 letters a day. On -another carrier's premises a bag was seized containing 1,100 letters. -Twelve walking carriers between Birmingham and Walsall were employed -exclusively in conveying letters at a charge of a penny apiece. Five -Glasgow merchants illegally transmitted letters at the rate severally -of three, eighteen, sixteen, eight, and fifteen to one that went -legally. Five-sixths of the Manchester letters contributed nothing -whatever to the postal revenue.[46] Nor does the list of delinquencies -end here. - -Letters were also smuggled in warehousemen's bales and parcels; among -manufacturers' patterns and other things which coach proprietors, on -payment of a trifle for booking, carried free of charge; in weavers' -bags, in farmers' “family boxes,” and in other ways.[1] - -Even the mail-coach drivers and guards engaged in the unlawful -traffic, though in many instances letters were sent in coach parcels -not so much to save postage as to facilitate transmission and ensure -early delivery. - -Mr Maury, of the American Chamber of Commerce, assured the Select -Committee that when regular steam communication between Liverpool and -New York was established, the first steamer carried _five_ letters -in the large bag provided in expectation of a heavy dispatch. Ten -thousand letters were, however, placed in another bag sent to the -care of the consignee of the same vessel; and Mr Maury himself -contributed some 200 free letters to this second bag. Every ten days -a steamer left this country for America each carrying some 4,000 -smuggled letters—a fact of which the postal authorities were well -aware; and almost every shipbroker hung a bag in his office for the -convenience of those who sent letters otherwise than through the post. -Letters so collected by one broker for different ships in which he -was interested were said to be sometimes “enough to load a cab.” In -111 packages containing 822 newspapers sent in the course of five -months to America, 648 letters were found concealed. The postmaster -of Margate reported that in the visitors' season the increase of -population there made no proportionate increase of postage, a fact -which he attributed to the illegal conveyance of letters by steamers. -The growing facilities for travel caused a corresponding growth of -letter-smuggling. At the same time, the more general establishment -of local penny posts tended to secure to the Post Office the -conveyance of letters between neighbouring towns and villages;[47] and -undoubtedly did much to recoup that extensively swindled Department -for its loss of revenue caused by franking, evasions like those of Mr -John Smith and others, and letter-smuggling. - -As usual, the people who practised the deception were scarcely so much -to blame as those who, spite of every effort at reform, persisted -in maintaining a system which created favouritism, hampered trade, -severed family ties, and practically created the smuggling offence -which scandalised the official conscience. Had the rates been less -exorbitant, and had they fallen impartially on rich and poor, these -dishonest practices might have had little or no existence. They ceased -only when at last the old order changed, and, happily, gave place to -new. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[18] “The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago.” By Pearson Hill. Cassell & -Co. (1887). - -[19] As the passage is slightly condensed, quotation marks are not -employed. The words generally—whole sentences sometimes—are, however, -Miss Martineau's own. - -[20] Written while yet the fate of the Franklin Expedition was an -unsolved mystery. - -[21] The two sorts of post were kept quite distinct, the business -of the general post and that of the local posts being carried on in -separate buildings and by different staffs. It was not till the postal -reform had been established some years that Rowland Hill was able to -persuade the authorities of the wisdom of that amalgamation of the two -which formed an important feature of his plan. - -[22] “Hansard,” cxlvi. 189. - -[23] Travelling as well as postage has cheapened. A fourth part of £6 -is 30s.—the price of each “inside place.” To-day a first-class railway -_return_ ticket between Deal and London costs less than half 30s. - -[24] Fourteen franks a day was the number each M.P. could issue. - -[25] “The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago,” p. 6. - -[26] “Life,” i. 135. Peel voted against the Penny Postage Bill; -and even that kindly friend to the poorer classes, the “good” Lord -Shaftesbury—then Lord Ashley—followed Sir Robert's example. - -[27] That is, of calculating the amount of postage to be levied on -each letter. - -[28] “The Origin of Postage Stamps,” p. 17. By Pearson Hill. - -[29] A recent discussion in _Notes and Queries_ (Tenth Series, vol. -i.) has shown that envelopes are mentioned by Swift and later writers -of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. They are sometimes -called “envelopes” and sometimes “covers.” Their use must have been -exceedingly limited, and still more limited, perhaps, is the number of -people who have actually seen them. They were probably square sheets -of paper used to enclose a number of missives addressed to one person -or several persons living in the same neighbourhood; and were, most -likely, better known to the race of letter smugglers (about whom see -further) than to any one else. An obituary notice in the _Liverpool -Daily Post and Mercury_ of 23rd May, 1906, on the late Mr J. D. Tyson, -“a notable Liverpool insurance broker,” shows how new the use of -envelopes as we now understand them was more than half a century ago. -The writer says: “Even the introduction of the envelope was greatly -opposed by most of the old firms; and for fear the envelope would -be thrown away and all traces of posting be lost, the juniors were -instructed to pin the envelope to the letter. This had soon to give -way when the usefulness of the envelope became so pronounced.” - -[30] The neat and rapid folding of the large sheets of paper on which -single letters were written was regarded as one of the fine arts; -and lessons in it were sometimes given to boys at school. I have a -distinct recollection of seeing a number of people seated round a -table and practising letter-folding, and of my begging to be allowed -to join the circle and try my diminutive 'prentice hand at the game. A -dignified and elaborate process was the sealing of the folded letter, -impressing much the juniors of the family, who looked on admiringly, -while the head thereof performed the ceremony, the only drawback being -the odious smell of the unnecessarily large, old-fashioned “lucifer” -match employed to light the candle. When one of the seals hanging to -the broad silken strap showing below the paternal or grand-paternal -waistcoat was pressed upon the bountifully spread, hot wax till a -perfect impression was left, the letter thus completed would be held -up for all to see. What would those stately, leisurely-mannered -gentlemen of the olden time, who, perhaps, took five or more minutes -over the fastening of a letter, have said to our present style of -doing things—especially to the far from elegant mode of moistening the -gummed envelope flap which has superseded the cleanly spreading of the -scented wax and application of the handsome seal of armorial bearings -carved on a precious stone and set in a golden shield? - -[31] According to an extract taken from the “New Annual Directory for -1800,” in the Guildhall Library, prepayment might be made in the case -of the local “penny” (afterwards “twopenny”) post. That this fact -should need an advertisement seems to argue that, even as regards the -local posts, prepayment was not a common practice. - -[32] This was he who did “good by stealth, and blush[ed] to find it -fame.” Out of his contract with the Post Office he made the large -income, for that time, of £12,000 a year, and spent the greater part -of it in those acts of beneficence which, aided by Pope's famous -lines, have preserved for him well-deserved, lasting fame. - -[33] “History of the Post Office,” p. 357. - -[34] “History of the Post Office,” p. 357. - -[35] “The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago,” p. 13. - -[36] “The Jubilee of the Uniform Penny Postage,” p. 22. By Pearson -Hill. - -[37] “Letters, Conversations, and Recollections of S. T. Coleridge,” -ii. 114. In different versions of the story the absent relative is -described as father, husband, or brother; and in not a few cases the -hero's action, through a mistake made by Miss Martineau when writing -the History already alluded to, has been claimed for Rowland Hill, -who is further supposed—quite erroneously—to have been then and there -inspired with the resolve to undertake postal reformation. - -[38] “Eighteenth Report of the Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry,” pp. -621, 622. Now, if 570 letters, payment for which had not to be waited -for, could be delivered in half an hour, it follows that in the hour -and half consumed in delivering those 67 other letters, three times -570, or 1710, _prepaid_ letters might have been distributed. This one -small fact alone furnishes proof of the necessity for prepayment, for -this test delivery was made in the heart of the city of London, where -prompt delivery and common-sense postal regulations are of paramount -importance to business men. - -[39] “Post Office Reform,” p. 29. - -[40] “Post Office Reform,” p. 29. - -[41] “The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago,” p. 12. - -[42] “Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage,” p. 22. - -[43] “The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago,” p. 14. - -[44] “Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage,” p. 12. - -[45] _Ibid._ pp. 13, 14. - -[46] “Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage,” pp. 13, 14. - -[47] “Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage,” pp. 15-30. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -SOME EARLY POSTAL REFORMERS - - -In Mr Joyce's already quoted and exhaustive work upon the Post -Office as it existed before 1840 an interesting account is given of -the reformers who, long before Rowland Hill's time, did so much to -render the service efficient, and therefore to benefit the nation. -As pioneers in a good cause, they deserve mention in another volume -dealing with the same public Department; and their story is perhaps -the better worth repeating because it shows how curiously similar is -the treatment meted out to those who are rash enough to meddle with -a long-established monopoly, no matter how greatly it may stand in -need of reform. In every instance the reformer struggled hard for -recognition of the soundness of his views, toiled manfully when once -he had acquired the position he deserved to hold, was more or less -thwarted and harassed while he filled it, and, precisely as if he -had been a mischievous innovator instead of a public benefactor, was -eventually got rid of. - -As regards the Post Office, each of the best-known reformers was -handicapped by the fact that, with one notable exception, he was that -unwelcome thing, an outsider. Murray was an upholsterer, or, according -to another account, a clerk in the Assize Office; Dockwra was a -sub-searcher at the Custom House; and Palmer was the proprietor of the -Bath theatre. My father, as has been shown, had been a schoolmaster, a -rotatory printing press inventor, and a member of the South Australian -Commission. Even when his plan was accepted by the Government, he -had yet to set foot within the Post Office, though not for want of -trying to enter, because while collecting material for his pamphlet in -1836 he had applied to the authorities for permission to inspect the -working of the Department, only to meet with a refusal. - -The one notable exception was Ralph Allen, Pope's “humble Allen,” and, -as mentioned in the previous chapter, the author of the cross-posts. -The original of Fielding's “Squire Allworthy” had, Mr Joyce tells us, -“been cradled and nursed in the Post Office,” and his grandmother -was postmistress at St Columb, Cornwall. Here he kept the official -accounts in so neat and regular a manner that he attracted the -attention of the district surveyor, and, later, was given a situation -in the Bath Post Office, eventually becoming its chief official.[48] - -Mr Joyce's narrative, as we have seen, is brought down only to the end -of the old postal system. To that which superseded it he makes but -brief allusion, because the subject had already been dealt with in the -two volumes edited and added to by Dr Birkbeck Hill. - -In the present work the story will be carried less than thirty years -beyond the time at which Mr Joyce's narrative ends—that is, so far as -postal reform is concerned. The later history of the Post Office, -which would easily make a volume as large as Mr Joyce's, has yet to -find an author, and to rank worthily beside his should be written with -a corresponding care and accuracy of detail. - -One chapter only need be devoted here to the most prominent early -postal reformers, and their story shall begin with Witherings (1635). -Speaking of his work, Mr Joyce says, “This was the introduction of -postage.”[49] To Witherings, therefore, must be awarded the merit -of having furnished cause for a new meaning of the word “post,” -whose earlier usage still survives in some provincial hotel notices -announcing “posting in all its branches.”[50] - -In Witherings' time the postal rates were, for single letters, “under -80 miles, 2d.; under 140 miles, 4d.; over 140 miles, 6d.—for until -1840 the charges were calculated according to distance. For double -letters double rates were, of course, exacted. If “bigger” than -double, the postage became 6d., 9d. and 1s. Single postage to and from -Scotland was 8d., to and from Ireland 9d. These were heavy rates at a -time when the country was far less wealthy and the relative value of -money higher than is now the case. But at least service was rendered -for the heavy rates, as “Henceforth the posts were to be equally open -to all; all would be at liberty to use them; all would be welcome.”[51] - -Witherings especially distinguished himself in the management of the -foreign postal service, which he accelerated and made more efficient. -In 1637 he was appointed “Master of the Posts,” and was thus the only -reformer from outside who, withinside, rose to become supreme head -of the Department. The office was given to enable him to undertake, -unhindered, the improvements he proposed to make in the inland posts. -Three years later he was dismissed, and an end put to “the career of -one who had the sagacity to project and the energy to carry out a -system, the main features of which endure to the present day.”[52] - -In 1643 the postal revenue amounted to some £5,000 a year only. By -1677 the Department's profits were farmed at £43,000 a year, and -the officials consisted of one Postmaster-General and seventy-five -employees. A writer of the day tells us that “the number of letter -missives is now prodigiously great.” - -In 1658 John Hill, a Yorkshire attorney, did good work, and tried -to accomplish more. He already supplied post horses between York -and London, undertook the conveyance, at cheap rates, of parcels -and letters, and established agencies about the country for the -furtherance of a scheme to greatly reduce the postal charges -throughout the kingdom; his proposal being a penny rate for England -and Wales, a twopenny rate for Scotland, and a fourpenny rate for -Ireland. But the Government declined to consider the merits of the -plan. - -When Dockwra—who gave practical shape to the scheme which Murray had -assigned to him—established his reform of a penny post, London had -no other post office than the general one in Lombard Street,[53] and -there was no such thing as a delivery of letters between one part of -London and another. Thus, if any Londoner wished to write to any other -Londoner, he was obliged to employ a messenger to convey his missive -to its destination; and as the houses then had no numbers, but were -distinguished only by signs, the amateur letter-carrier must have been -often puzzled at which door to knock. - -Dockwra soon put his great scheme into working order. He divided city -and suburbs into districts—in that respect forestalling a feature -of Rowland Hill's plan—seven in number, each with a sorting office; -and in one day opened over four hundred receiving offices. In the -city letters were delivered for 1d., in the suburbs for 2d. It must -have been quite as epoch-making a reform to the Londoners of the -seventeenth century, as was the far wider-reaching, completer scheme -established a hundred and sixty years later to the entire nation. For -Dockwra's, though for its time a wonderful advance, was but a local -institution, the area served being “from Hackney in the north to -Lambeth in the south, and from Blackwall in the east to Westminster in -the west.”[54] He also introduced a parcel post. - -The local penny posts—for they were afterwards extended to many other -towns—have given some people the erroneous impression that Rowland -Hill's plan of penny postage was simply an elaboration and a widening -of Dockwra's older system. Things called by a similar name are not -necessarily identical. Indeed, as we have seen, the word “postage” had -formerly quite a different meaning from that it now has; and, although -Dockwra's “penny post” and Rowland Hill's “penny postage” related -equally to postage in its modern interpretation of the word, that the -system established in 1840 materially differed from preceding systems -will be shown in the succeeding chapter.[55] - -Dockwra's reform was inaugurated in 1680, proved of immense benefit -to the public, was intended to last for ever, and did last for a -hundred and twenty-one years. In 1801 the charges on the local—to -say nothing of those on the general—post were raised from 1d. and -2d. to 2d. and 3d., while its area, which in Queen Anne's reign had -been extended to from 18 to 20 miles beyond London, shrank into much -narrower limits.[56] The increase of charge was due to that augmented -contribution, on the part of the Post Office, to the war-tax which -has been already mentioned. During the last twenty-five of the years -1801-1840 the country was at peace, but the tendency of “temporary” -war-taxes is to become permanent, or to die a very lingering death; -and, as has been shown, no diminution was made in postal rates; and -letter-writing in thousands of homes practically ceased to be. - -In 1663 the entire profits of the Post Office had been settled -on James, Duke of York; and Dockwra's reform, like other large -measures, being costly to establish, he had to seek financial help -outside the Department, the requisite money being furnished by a few -public-spirited citizens of London. The undertaking was a losing -speculation at first, but presently began to prosper; and the Duke's -jealousy was at once roused. “So long,” says Mr Joyce, “as the -outgoings exceeded the receipts, Dockwra remained unmolested; but no -sooner had the balance turned than the Duke complained of his monopoly -being infringed, and the Courts of Law decided in his favour. Not only -was Dockwra cast in damages, but the undertaking was wrested out of -his hands.”[57] - -During James's reign this eminent public servant met with no -recognition of his valuable work; but under William and Mary he was -granted a pension, and after some delay was reinstated as comptroller -of the penny post. But in 1700 both situation and pension came to -an end; and the man who had conferred so signal a benefit upon his -fellow-citizens was finally dismissed. - -In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the posts in Ireland were -few and far between. Carrick-on-Shannon was the only town in County -Leitrim which received a mail, and that not oftener than twice a week. -Several districts in Ireland were served only at the cost of their -inhabitants. - -Besides London, Bath alone—favoured by its two distinguished -citizens, Ralph Allen and John Palmer—had, before 1792, more than -one letter-carrier; and many important centres of population, such -as Norwich, York, Derby, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Plymouth, had none -at all—the postmaster, and in some instances a single assistant, -constituting the entire staff, no sort of duty outside the official -walls being undertaken. The Channel Islands were treated as though -they had been in another planet. Before 1794 they had no postal -communication with the rest of the United Kingdom, though for some -years local enterprise had provided them with an inter-insular -service. When Palmer appeared on the scene, the number of towns in -the British Isles which received mails increased rapidly, while those -already served two or three times a week began to receive a post -daily. - -In no respect, perhaps, has greater progress been made than in the -matter of mail conveyance, both as regards acceleration and safety, -and in other ways. In Witherings' time about two months were required -for a letter and its answer to pass between London and Scotland or -London and Ireland. Exchange of correspondence between the three -kingdoms was, strange to say, far less expeditiously carried on -than that between London and Madrid. But when it is remembered how -direful was the condition of our thoroughfares in the seventeenth -and eighteenth centuries, the impossibility of anything like swift -progress becomes evident. Ruts there were, says Arthur Young, which -measured 3 feet in depth, and in wet weather were filled to the -brim with water; while in “Guy Mannering” Scott speaks of districts -“only accessible through a succession of tremendous morasses.” In -“Waverley” (_temp._ 1745) is described the “Northern Diligence, a -huge, old-fashioned tub drawn by three horses, which completed the -journey from Edinburgh to London ('God willing,' as the advertisement -expressed it) in three weeks.” Twenty years later, even, the coaches -spent from twelve to fourteen days upon the journey, and went once a -month only. In some places the roads were so bad that it was necessary -to erect beacons alongside them to keep the travelling public after -dark from falling into the ponds and bogs which lined the highways and -sometimes encroached upon them. Elsewhere, the ponderous “machines” -groaned or clattered over rocky and precipitous ways, rolling and -pitching like a vessel on an angry sea. Not even by the more -lightly-freighted men on foot and boys mounted on the wretched steeds -provided for the Post Office service could swifter progress be made. -No wonder that letter and answer should travel but slowly. - -In 1784, when Palmer proposed the abolition of these slow-moving -and far from trustworthy mail-carriers,[58] and the substitution -in their place of the existing stage-coaches,[59] great were the -scorn and indignation of the postal authorities. Seven miles an hour -instead of three and a half! And coaches instead of post-boys! Were -ever such mad proposals heard of! The officials were “amazed that -any dissatisfaction, any desire for change should exist.” Not so -very long before, they had plumed themselves on the gratifying fact -that “in five days an answer to a letter might be had from a place -distant 200 miles from the writer.” And now, even in face of that -notable advance, the public wanted further concessions! One prominent -official “could not see why the post should be the swiftest conveyance -in England.” Another was sure that if travelling were made quicker, -the correspondence of the country would be thrown into the utmost -confusion. But he thought—and perhaps the parentage of the thought -was not far to seek—that to expedite the mails was simply impossible. -The officials, indeed, were “unanimously of opinion that the thing -is totally impracticable.”[60] And, doubtless, Palmer was set down -as “a visionary” and “a revolutionist”—names to be bestowed, some -fifty-three years later, upon another persistent reformer. A second -Committee, formed to consider Palmer's proposals, reported that it -had “examined the oldest and ablest officers of the Post Office, and -they had no confidence whatever in the plan.” “It is always,” said -Brougham, when, in the Upper House, he was advocating adoption of the -later reform, “the oldest and ablest, for the Committee considered the -terms synonymous.”[61] - -Thus does history repeat itself. As it was with Palmer, so, before -him, it was with Witherings and Dockwra; and, after him, with Rowland -Hill. The unforgivable offence is to be wiser than one's opponents, -and to achieve success when failure has been predicted. - -But worse things than prophecy of failure accompany reforms, attempted -or accomplished, and act like a discordant chorus striving to drown -sweet music. Prophecy of dire results, such as ruin of society, -disruption of the Empire, etc., are sometimes raised, and carry dismay -into the hearts of the timid. My father, who was born less than -forty-three years after “the change of style,” as a child often heard -old people, in all seriousness, lament the loss of “our eleven days,” -and declare that since it was made everything in this country had gone -wrong.[62] I too, when young, have heard aged lips attribute the awful -cholera visitation of 1832 to our sinfulness in passing the Catholic -Emancipation Bill; and the potato disease and consequent Irish famine -in the mid 'forties to interference with the sacred Corn Laws. We -laugh at this sort of thing to-day, but are we much wiser than our -forebears? - -Although these great reforms differ widely in character, the gloomy -predictions concerning them are substantially alike. The terrible -things prophesied never come to pass; and of the reforms when once -established no sane person wishes to get rid. - -When at last Palmer had borne down opposition and been placed in -authority, he set to work in a far-reaching, statesmanlike manner. -The old, worthless vehicles which, owing to their frequent habit of -breaking down on the road, had become a constant source of complaint, -were gradually got rid of; and by 1792 all his mail-coaches were -new. He was a born organiser, and insisted on the introduction and -maintenance of business-like methods. Unnecessary stoppages along -the road were put an end to, and necessary stoppages shortened; the -mail-bags to be taken on were made up before the coaches appeared, the -mail-bags to be taken off were ready to the guard's hand; and strict -punctuality was enforced. The guards and coachmen were armed, and no -one unskilled in the use of firearms was employed in either capacity. -The harness and other accoutrements were kept in good repair, the -coaches were well-horsed, and the relays were made with reasonable -frequency.[63] - -Palmer had calculated that sixteen hours ought to suffice for the -London and Bath coach when covering the distance between the two -cities. The time usually spent on the road was thirty-eight hours. The -first mail-coach which started from Bath to London under his auspices -in 1784 performed the journey in seventeen hours, proving with what -nearness to absolute accuracy he had made his calculations. For a -while seventeen hours became the customary time-limit. Not long after -this date mail-coaches were plying on all the principal roads. - -Before the first of Palmer's coaches went to Liverpool, that seaport -was served by one letter-carrier. Ten years later, six were needed. -One postman had sufficed for Edinburgh; now four were required. -Manchester till 1792 had but one letter-carrier, and its postal staff -consisted of an aged widow and her daughter. Previous to 1794 the Isle -of Wight was served by one postmaster and one letter-carrier only. - -Before Palmer took over the management of the coaches they were -robbed, along one road or another, at least once a week. It was not -till his rule was ten years old that a coach was stopped or robbed; -and then it was not a highwayman, but a passenger who did the looting. -Before 1784 the annual expenditure incurred through prosecution of the -thieves had been a heavy charge on the service, one trial alone—that -of the brothers Weston, who figure in Thackeray's “Denis Duval”—having -cost £4,000. This burden on the Post Office revenue henceforth shrank -into comparatively insignificant dimensions. - -Palmer traversed the entire kingdom along its coach routes, making -notes of the length of time consumed on each journey, calculating in -how much less time it could be performed by the newer vehicles, and -always keeping an observant eye on other possible improvements. - -Before the end of the eighteenth century Dockwra's London penny -post[64] had fallen upon evil days. Neglect and mismanagement had -been its lot for many years; there was a steady diminution of its -area, and no accounts were kept of its gains. Palmer looked into the -condition of the local post, as, in addition to the mail conveyance, -he had already looked into the condition of the newspaper post and -other things which stood in need of rectification; and, later, the old -penny post, now transformed into a twopenny post, was taken in hand -by Johnson, who, from the position of letter-carrier, rose, by sheer -ability, to the office of “Deputy Comptroller of the Penny Post.” - -As a rule, Palmer was fortunate in choosing subordinates, of -whom several not only accomplished useful work long after their -chief had been dismissed, but who introduced reforms on their own -account. Hasker, the head superintendent of the mail-coaches, kept -the vehicles, horses, accoutrements, etc., to say nothing of the -officials, quite up to Palmer's level. But in another chosen man the -great reformer was fatally deceived, for Bonner intrigued against his -benefactor, and helped to bring about his downfall. - -One reform paves the way for succeeding reforms. Palmer's improved -coaches caused a marked increase of travelling; and the establishment -of yet better and more numerous vehicles led to the making of better -roads. By this time people were beginning to get over the ground at -such a rate that the late Lord Campbell, when a young man, was once, -in all seriousness, advised to avoid using Palmer's coaches, which, -it was said, owing to the speed at which they travelled between -London and Edinburgh, and elsewhere, had caused the death of several -passengers from apoplexy! “The pace that killed” was 8 miles an hour. -By the time the iron horse had beaten the flesh-and-blood quadruped -out of the field, or rather road, the coaches were running at the rate -of 12 miles an hour. - -Everywhere the mails were being accelerated and increased in number. -For now the science of engineering was making giant strides; and -Telford and his contemporary MacAdam—whose name has enriched our -language with a verb, while the man himself endowed our thoroughfares -with a solid foundation—were covering Great Britain with highways the -like of which had not been seen since the days of the Roman Conquest. - -And then arrived the late 'twenties of the nineteenth century, -bringing with them talk of railways and of steam-propelled locomotives -whose speed, it was prophesied by sanguine enthusiasts, might some day -even rival that of a horse at full gallop. The threatened mail-coaches -lived on for many a year, but from each long country highway they -disappeared one after another, some of them, it is said, carrying, on -their last journey, the Union Jack at half-mast; and, ere long, the -once busy roadside inn-keepers put up their shutters, and closed the -doors of their empty stables. More than half a century had to elapse -before the hostelries opened again to the cyclists and motorists who -have given to them fresh life and energy. - -And thus passed away the outward and visible witnesses to Palmer's -great reform, not as many things pass because they have reached the -period of senile decay, but when his work was at the high water-mark -of efficiency and fame. Perhaps that singular fact is suggestive -of the reason why the disappearance of the once familiar pageant -gave rise to a widespread regret that was far from being mere -sentimentality. - -When they were in their prime, the “royal mail-coaches” made a brave -display. Ruddy were they with paint and varnish, and golden with -Majesty's coat-of-arms, initials, etc. The driver and guard were -clad in scarlet uniforms, and the four fine horses—often increased -in a “difficult” country to six or more—were harnessed two abreast, -and went at a good, swinging pace. Once upon a time a little child -was taken for a stroll along a suburban highroad to watch for the -passing of the mail-coaches on their way from London to the north—a -literally everyday pageant, but one unstaled by custom. In the -growing dusk could be distinguished a rapidly-moving procession of -dark crimson and gold vehicles in single file, each with its load of -comfortably wrapped-up passengers sitting outside, and each drawn by -four galloping steeds, whose quick footfalls made a pleasant, rhythmic -sound. One heard the long, silvern horns of the guards, every now -and then, give notice in peremptory tones to the drivers of ordinary -conveyances to scatter to right and left, and one noted the heavy -cloud of dust which rolled with and after the striking picture. A -spectacle it was beside which the modern railway train is ugly, the -motor-car hideous: which rarely failed to draw onlookers to doorways -and windows, and to give pedestrians pause; and which always swept -out of sight much too quickly. The elderly cousin accompanying the -child drew her attention to the passing procession, and said that her -father was doing something in connection with those coaches—meaning, -of course, their mails—something that would make his country more -prosperous and his own name long remembered. The child listened in -perplexity, not understanding. In many noble arts—above all, in the -fashioning of large, square kites warranted, unlike those bought at -shops, to fly and not to come to pieces—she knew him to be the first -of men. Yet how even he could improve upon the gorgeous moving picture -that had just flashed past it was not easy to understand. - -In the days when railways and telegraphs were not, the coach was -the most frequent, because the fastest, medium of communication. It -was therefore the chief purveyor of news. On the occurrence of any -event of absorbing interest, such as the most stirring episodes of -the twenty-years-long war with France, or the trial of Queen-Consort -Caroline, people lined the roads in crowds, and as the coach swept -past, the passengers shouted out the latest intelligence. Even from -afar the waiting throngs in war time could always tell when the news -was of victories gained, or, better still, of peace, such as the -short-lived pact of Amiens, and the one of long duration after June -1815. On these occasions the vehicle was made gay with flags, ribbons, -green boughs, and floral trophies; and the passengers shouted and -cheered madly, the roadside public speedily becoming equally excited. -It fell one day to Rowland Hill's lot, as a lad of nineteen, to meet -near Birmingham an especially gaily-decked coach, and to hurry home -with the joyful intelligence of the “crowning mercy”—at one stage of -the battle, 'tis said, not far from becoming a defeat—of Waterloo. - -The once celebrated Bianconi was known as “the Palmer of Ireland.” -Early in the nineteenth century he covered the roads of his adopted -country with an admirably managed service of swift cars carrying mails -and passengers; and thus did much to remedy postal deficiencies there, -and to render imperative the maintenance in good order of the public -highways. Once, if not oftener, during his useful career, he came to -the Post Office on official business, and “interviewed” Rowland Hill, -who found him an interesting and original-minded man, his fluent -English, naturally, being redolent of the Hibernian brogue. Bianconi's -daughter, who married a son of the great O'Connell, wrote her father's -“Life”; and, among other experiences, told how on one occasion he was -amazed to see a Catholic gentleman, while driving a pair of horses -along the main street of an Irish town, stopped by a Protestant who -coolly detached the animals from the carriage, and walked off with -them. No resistance could be offered, and redress there was none. The -horses were each clearly of higher value than the permitted £5 apiece, -and could therefore legally become the property of any Protestant mean -enough, as this one was, to tender that price, and (mis)appropriate -them. When Catholic Emancipation—long promised and long deferred—was -at last conceded, this iniquitous law, together with other laws as bad -or worse, was swept away.[65] - -With the advent of railways the “bians” gradually disappeared, doing -so when, like the mail-coaches, they had reached a high level of -excellence, and had been of almost incalculable public benefit. - -The mail-coach, leisurely and tedious as it seems in these days of -hurry, had a charm of its own in that it enabled its passengers to -enjoy the fresh air—since most of them, by preference, travelled -outside—and the beauties of our then comparatively unspoiled country -and of our then picturesque old towns, mostly sleepy or only slowly -awakening, it is true, and, doubtless, deplorably dull to live in. -The journey was at least never varied by interludes of damp and -evil-smelling tunnels, and the travelling ruffian of the day had less -opportunity for outrage on his fellowman or woman. The coach also, -perhaps, lent itself more kindly to romance than does the modern, -noisy railway train; at any rate, a rather pretty story, long current -in our family, and strictly authentic, belongs to the ante-railway -portion of the nineteenth century. One of my mother's girl-friends, -pretty, lively, clever, and frankly coquettish, was once returning -alone by coach to London after a visit to the country. She was the -only inside passenger, but was assured that the other three places -would be filled on arrival at the next stage. When, therefore, the -coach halted again, she looked with some curiosity to see who were -to be her travelling companions. But the expected three resolved -themselves into the person of one smiling young man whose face she -recognised, and who at once sat down on the seat opposite to hers, -ere long confessing that, hearing she was to come to town by that -coach, he had taken all the vacant places in order to make sure of -a _tête-à-tête_. He was one of several swains with whom she was -accustomed to flirt, but whom she systematically kept at arm's-length -until she could make up her mind whether to say “yes” or “no.” But he -had come resolved to be played with no longer, and to win from her a -definite answer. Whether his eloquent pleading left her no heart to -falter “no,” or whether, woman-like, she said “yes” by way of getting -rid of him, is not recorded. But that they were married is certain; -and it may as well be taken for granted that, in accordance with the -time-honoured ending of all romantic love stories, “they lived happy -ever after.” - -No eminent postal reformer rose during the first thirty-seven years -of the nineteenth century unless we except that doughty Parliamentary -free lance, Robert Wallace of Kelly, of whom more anon. But the -chilling treatment meted out by officials within the postal sanctuary -to those reform-loving persons sojourning outside it, or even to those -who, sooner or later, penetrated to its inner walls, was scarcely -likely to tempt sane men to make excursions into so inhospitable a -field. - -Yet it was high time that a new reformer appeared, for the Department -was lagging far behind the Post Offices of other countries—especially, -perhaps, that of France—and the wonderful nineteenth “century of -progress” had now reached maturity. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[48] “History of the Post Office,” p. 146. - -[49] “History of the Post Office,” p. 18. - -[50] The word “postage,” we are told, was originally applied to -the hire of a horse for “posting,” and was extended to letters in -comparatively recent times only. It is therefore well when meeting -with the word in other than modern documents not to conclude too -hastily that it relates to epistolary correspondence. An Act of 1764 -is said to be the first in which was used “postage” in the sense of -a charge upon letters. But in 1659 the item, “By postage of letters -in farm, £14,000,” appears in a “Report on the Public Revenue in the -Journals of the House of Commons,” vii. 627. The fact likewise seems -well worth recalling that in the translation of the Bible of 1611 the -words “post” and “letters” are connected, notably in “2 Chronicles,” -xxx. 6, and in “Esther.” Chapter xvii. of Marco Polo's travels, by the -by, contains an interesting description of the horse and foot posts -in the dominions of Kubla Khan, which were so admirably organised -that the journeys over which ordinary travellers spent ten days were -accomplished by the posts in two. - -[51] “History of the Post Office,” p. 18. - -[52] _Ibid._ p. 21. - -[53] In George I.'s reign, besides London, Chester is said to have -been the only town in England which possessed two post offices. - -[54] “History of the Post Office,” p. 37. - -[55] “The ancient penny post resembled the modern penny post only in -name,” says Justin M'Carthy in “A History of Our Own Times,” chap. iv. -p. 99. - -[56] The “New Annual Directory for 1800” (see Guildhall Library), -speaking of the “Penny Post,” defines its area as “the cities of -London [and] Westminster, the borough of Southwark and their suburbs.” - -[57] “History of the Post Office,” pp. 37-40. - -[58] Or, in his own words, mails trusted to “some idle boy without a -character, mounted on a worn-out hack, who, so far from being able -to defend himself against a robber, was more likely to be in league -with one.” Apparently, the people of this class had no better name -in France, and probably other countries, to judge by a fragment -of conversation taken from Augier, and chronicled in Larousse's -“_Dictionnaire du XIXe Siècle_,” xii. 1497:—“La poste est en retard.” -“Oui, d'une heure à peu près. Le piéton prend courage à tous les -cabarets.” - -[59] As a contemporary of Palmer, Scott was never guilty of an -anachronism not unknown to present-day authors who sometimes cause the -puppet men and women of their romances to travel before 1784 in _mail_ -when they really mean _stage_ coaches. The terms are too often taken -to be synonymous. - -[60] “Report of the Committee of Inquiry (1788).” - -[61] “Hansard,” xxxix. 1201, etc. - -[62] For nearly two centuries the change was opposed here, partly -perhaps chiefly, because it was inaugurated on the Continent by a -Pope, Gregory XIII. Common-sense and the noblest of all sciences were -on the side of His Holiness; but religious bigotry was too strong even -for that combination; and for those many years religious bigotry held -the field. Opposition did not cease even when the correction was made; -and grave divines preached against the wickedness of an Act which, -they said, brought many millions of sinners eleven days nearer to -their graves; and in one of Hogarth's series of Election Pictures, a -man is seen bearing a placard on which is inscribed the words, “Give -us back our eleven days.” Most of us, too, are familiar with the cruel -story of the witch mania which was shared by men as excellent as Sir -Matthew Hale and John Wesley. To-day, we are glad that old, friendless -men and women, to say nothing of their harmless, necessary cats, are -permitted to die peacefully. Are there any now among us who would -restore the Act, _De Comburendo Heretico_, expunged from the Statute -Book in William's III.'s reign—a removal which doubtless scandalised -not a few sincerely devout persons? - -[63] In the oldest days of coaching, the horses which started with the -vehicle drew it to the journey's end. Relays of horses were a happy -afterthought. - -[64] Dublin became possessed of a local penny post before 1793; -but not until that date, or a hundred and thirteen years after the -establishment of Dockwra's reform in London, was it considered worth -while to extend the boon to Manchester—which had now displaced Bristol -as the second town in the kingdom—or to the last-named city and to -Birmingham. At this time, too, it was still customary to address -letters bound for the centre of the cutlery industry to “Sheffield, -near Rotherham”, the latter being the more important town. - -[65] For a graphically described contrast between the treatment meted -out in those “good old times” to Catholics and that to Protestants, -see Sydney Smith's too-seldom read “Peter Plymley's Letters.” - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE PLAN - - “If in 1834 only a moderate reduction had been made in the - extortionate rates of postage which were then in force, Rowland - Hill might not have embarked upon his plan; and, even if he had - done so, that plan might have failed to evoke from the public - sufficient force to overcome opposition in high quarters. - In proportion to the extent of the evil did men welcome the - remedy.”—JOYCE'S “History of the Post Office,” p. 420. - - The postal reform “perhaps represents the greatest social - improvement brought about by legislation in modern times.”—JUSTIN - M'CARTHY in “A History of Our Own Times,” chap. iv. p. 89. - - -For many years my father's attention had been turned towards the -question of postal reform; although in that respect he was far from -standing alone. The defects of the old system were so obvious that -with many people they formed a common subject of conversation; and -plans of improvement were repeatedly discussed. So far back as 1826 -Rowland Hill's thoughts had outgrown the first stage on the road to -“betterment”—that of mere fault-finding with the things that are. He -had drawn up a scheme for a travelling post office. The fact that, -whereas the mails from all parts as a rule reached London at 6 A.M., -while the distribution of letters only began three hours later, struck -him as a defect in need of urgent remedy. If, he argued, the inside -of the mail-coach, or “an additional body thereto, were to be fitted -with shelves and other appliances, the guard might sort and [date] -stamp the letters, etc., on the journey. By so doing, time would be -saved: the mails would either leave the provincial towns three hours -later, giving more time for correspondence, or the letters could be -delivered in London three hours earlier.” In January 1830 he suggested -the dispatch of mail matter by means of pneumatic tubes. But neither -project went beyond the stage of written memoranda; nor, in face of -the never-failing hostility manifested by the post officials towards -all reforms, especially those emanating from outsiders, was likely to -do more. - -Early in the 'thirties reductions in certain departments of taxation -had been made; and my father's mind being still turned towards the -Post Office, he fell into the habit of discussing with his family and -others the advisability of extending similar reductions to postal -rates. - -And this seems a fitting place to mention that while from every member -of his family he received the heartiest sympathy and help throughout -the long struggle to introduce his reform, it was his eldest brother, -Matthew, who, more than any other, did him yeoman service; and, after -Matthew, the second brother, Edwin.[66] Of the five Hill brothers -who reached old age, it has been claimed for the eldest that, -intellectually, he was the greatest. He had not, perhaps, the special -ability which enabled my father to plan the postal reform, a measure -which probably none of his brothers, gifted as in various ways all -were, could have thought out, and brought to concrete form; neither -had the eldest the mathematical power which distinguished Rowland. -But in all other respects Matthew stood first; and that he was one of -the wittiest, wisest, most cultivated, and, at the same time, most -tender-hearted of men in an age especially rich in the type there can -be no doubt. He was the first Birmingham man to go to the Bar, and for -twenty-eight years was his native city's first recorder. - -The second brother, Edwin, was also an unusually clever man, and had -a genius for mechanics which placed him head and shoulders above his -brethren. His help in furthering the postal reform, as well as in -other ways, was given “constantly and ably,” said my father. Out of a -very busy brain Edwin could evolve any machine or other contrivance -required to meet the exigencies of the hour, as when, to make life -less hard to one who was lame and rheumatic, he devised certain -easily-swinging doors; and when in 1840 he was appointed Supervisor -of stamps at Somerset House he was quite in his element. Among other -things, he invented an ingenious method, said the First Report of -the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, by which the unwieldy, blank -newspaper sheets which, as we have seen, were obliged, before being -printed, to go to Somerset House to receive the impress of the duty -stamp, were separated, turned over, and stamped with a speed and -accuracy which had previously been considered unattainable.[67] He -was also the inventor of the envelope-folding machine known as De -La Rue's, and shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851. The process of -embossing the Queen's head on the postal envelopes was likewise his -invention; and, further, he published two once well-known works—the -one on “Principles of Currency,” the other on “Criminal Capitalists.” -He applied the latter title to those proprietors of houses and shops -who knowingly let them out as shelters for criminals or depots for the -sale of stolen goods; and he proposed that, in order to check crime, -these landlords should first be struck at.[68] - -Matthew it was who, after many conversations with Rowland on the -subject so frequently in the latter's thoughts, advised him to draw up -his plan in pamphlet form. The advice was followed, and the detailed -scheme laid before the adviser, who approved of it so highly that he -suggested its publication by their mutual friend, Charles Knight. This -was done, with what far-reaching effect we know. But my uncle's help -did not end here. For him, who, self-aided, had won an influential -position both at the Bar and in the brilliant, intellectual society -of his day, it was easier than for his lesser known junior to have -access to men likely to prove powerful advocates of the scheme and -good friends to its author. Henceforth, as his biographers remind us, -the eldest brother devoted to the proposed reform all the time and -labour he could spare from his own work.[69] He introduced Rowland to -men of influence in both Houses of Parliament, to several of the chief -journalists, and other leaders of public opinion. Their sympathy was -soon enlisted, as was also that of many of my father's own friends, -and, ere long, that of the great majority of the nation when once the -merits of the plan came to be understood. - -[Illustration: Facsimile of Manuscript Page (in Sir ROWLAND HILL'S -handwriting) of the Draft of his Pamphlet on Post Office Reform. See -3rd Edition (1837) page 49.] - -When, in 1834, Rowland Hill joined the Association formed for the -total abolition of the odious “taxes on knowledge” there was a duty -of 1s. 6d. on every advertisement; a paper duty at 1-1/2d. the -lb.; and the newspaper stamp duty was at its highest—4d. This last -burden—undoubtedly a war-tax—was reduced once more to 1d. only in -1835, when we had been at peace for twenty years. So easy is it to lay -a war-tax on the nation: so difficult to take it off again. Weighted -after this fashion, how could journalistic enterprise prosper? The -Association was of opinion that if the Press could be cheapened -newspapers would increase, and advertisements multiply, while the -fiscal produce of journalism would be as large as ever. In estimating -this probable expansion Rowland Hill applied a principle on which he -subsequently relied in reference to postal reform, namely, that the -increased consumption of a cheapened article in general use makes up -for the diminished price. - -The Revenue for the financial year which ended with March 1836 had -yielded a large surplus; and a reduction of taxation was confidently -looked for. Thus the time seemed ripe for the publication of my -father's views upon the postal question; and he set to work to write -that slighter, briefer edition of his pamphlet which was intended for -private circulation only. - -It was in this year also that he made the acquaintance of one of the -greatest of all those—many in number—who helped to carry his proposed -scheme into accomplished fact—Robert Wallace of Kelly, Greenock's -first Member of Parliament and the pioneer postal reformer of the -nineteenth century. From the time Mr Wallace entered Parliament, at -the General Election which followed the passing of the great Reform -Bill of 1832, he took the deepest interest in postal matters, and -strove to reform the Department with a persistency which neither -ridicule could weary nor opposition defeat. He was in the field two -years before Rowland Hill; and while thus unconsciously preparing the -way for another man, was able to accomplish several useful reforms on -his own account. - -In 1833 Mr Wallace proposed that postage should be charged by weight -instead of by number of enclosures, thereby anticipating my father -as regards that one suggestion. But nothing came of the proposal. -He was more fortunate when moving for leave to throw open to public -competition the contract for the construction of mail-coaches, which, -when adopted, led to an annual saving of over £17,000. He also secured -the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry into the management of the -Post Office. The Commission was established in 1835, continued to -work till 1838, issued ten Reports,[70] and by its untiring efforts -was, as my father always maintained, justly entitled to much of the -credit of his own later success. Mr Wallace was, of course, to the -fore in the Commission, and gave valuable evidence in favour of the -establishment of day mails, which subsequently formed a feature of -Rowland Hill's plan, and was eventually carried into effect with great -advantage to the public and to the Revenue. To Mr Wallace we also -owe the boon of registration of letters. He likewise pleaded for a -reduction of postal rates, and of more frequent communication between -different centres of population. In Parliament, during the session of -1836, and in the last speech he made there before the publication of -Rowland Hill's pamphlet, he urged the abandonment of the manifestly -unjust rule of charging postage not according to the geographical -distance between one place and another, but according to the length of -the course a letter was compelled to take.[71] As regards the question -of reduced postal rates, he said: “It would be proper not to charge -more than 3d. for any letter sent a distance of 50 miles; for 100 -miles, 4d.; 200 miles, 6d.; and the highest rate of postage ought not -to be more than 8d. or 9d. at most.”[72] - -A detailed plan of wholesale reform (as was my father's) Mr Wallace -never had, and he no more dreamed of postage stamps—though the -suggestion of these has been sometimes attributed to him as well as -to other men—or of prepayment than he did of uniformity of rate. He -was an older man than Rowland Hill, and of higher social standing; yet -was he so incapable of jealousy or other petty meanness, that when the -younger man, on completion of his scheme, laid it before the veteran -Scotsman, the latter threw aside all other plans and suggestions, took -up the only practicable reform, and worked for it as heartily as if it -had been his own. - -To Mr Wallace every would-be postal reformer turned with unerring -instinct as to his best friend; and it was through the instrumentality -of this public benefactor that Rowland Hill had been furnished with -sundry Parliamentary Blue Books containing those statistics and other -valuable facts, mastery of which was essential to the completion of -his pamphlet, since it was necessary to understand the old system -thoroughly before destroying it. - -“As I had never yet been within the walls of any post office,” -wrote my father of Mr Wallace's friendly act, “my only sources of -information for the time consisted of those heavy Blue Books, in which -invaluable matter too often lies hidden amidst heaps of rubbish. Into -some of these [books] I had already dipped; but Mr Wallace, having -supplied me by post with an additional half-hundred-weight of raw -material,[73] I now commenced that systematic study, analysis, and -comparison which the difficulty of my self-imposed task rendered -necessary.” - -Basing his calculations on the information drawn from these and other -volumes, Rowland Hill found that, after the reduction of taxation -in 1823, the price of soap fell by an eighth, tea by a sixth, silk -goods by a fifth, and coffee by a fourth. The reduction in price was -followed by a great increase of consumption, the sale of soap rising -by a third, and that of tea by almost half. Of silk goods the sale had -more than doubled, and of coffee more than tripled. Cotton goods had -declined in cost during the previous twenty years by nearly a half, -and their sale was quadrupled.[74] - -In his pamphlet Rowland Hill dwelt upon this fact of increased -consumption following on decreased price. It was clear, then, that the -taxes for remission should be those affording the greatest relief to -the public accompanied with the least loss to the Revenue; and that -scrutiny should be made into the subject in order to discover which -tax, or taxes, had failed to grow in productiveness with increase of -population and prosperity. The test showed that, whereas between 1815 -and 1835 the nation had added six millions to its numbers, and that -trade had largely increased, the postal revenue was rather smaller in -the later than in the earlier year. During the same period the revenue -from the stage-coaches had grown by 128 per cent. In France, where the -postal charges were more reasonable, the revenue of the Department -had, in the same twenty years, increased by 80 per cent. - -Reform in our own postal system was obviously a necessity. - -But the fiscal loss to the country, as shown in the state of our -postal revenue, serious as it was, seemed to Rowland Hill a lesser -evil than the bar, artificial and harmful, raised by the high charges -on correspondence, to the moral and intellectual progress of the -people. If put upon a sound basis, the Post Office, instead of being -an engine for the imposition of an unbearable tax, would become a -powerful stimulus to civilisation. - -Still delving among the Parliamentary Blue Books, he further gathered -that the cost of the service rendered—that is, of the receipt, -conveyance, and distribution of each ordinary missive sent from post -town to post town within the United Kingdom—averaged 84/100ths of -a penny only; 28/100ths going to conveyance, and 56/100ths to the -receipt and delivery, collection of postage, etc. Also that the -cost of conveyance for a given distance being generally in direct -proportion to the weight carried, and a newspaper or franked letter -weighing about as much as several ordinary letters, the average -expense of conveying a letter chargeable with postage must be still -lower, probably some 9/100ths of a penny: a conclusion supported by -the well-known fact, already alluded to,[75] that the chargeable -letters weighed, on an average, one fourth only of the entire mail. - -He also found that the whole cost of the mail-coach service for -one journey between London and Edinburgh was only £5 a day.[76] -The average load of the mail diurnally carried being some six -hundred-weight, the cost of each hundred-weight was therefore 16s. -8d. Taking the average weight of a letter at a quarter of an ounce, -its cost of carriage for the 400 miles was but 1/36th part of a -penny—in the light of Rowland Hill's amended estimate actually less. -Yet the postage exacted for even the lightest “single” letter was -1s. 3-1/2d. The ninth part of a farthing—the approximate cost of -conveyance—is a sum too small to be appreciable, and impossible to -collect. Therefore, “if the charge for postage be made proportionate -to the whole expense incurred in the receipt, transit, and delivery -of the letter, and in the collection of its postage, it must be made -uniformly the same from every post town to every other post town in -the United Kingdom.”[1] In other words, “As it would take a ninefold -weight to make the expense of transit amount to one farthing, it -follows that, taxation apart, the charge ought to be precisely the -same for every packet of moderate weight, without reference to the -number of its enclosures.”[77] - -The custom of charge by distance seemed self-condemned when a simpler -mode was not only practicable but actually fairer. Now, with increase -of the number of letters the cost of each was bound to diminish; and -with reduction of postage, especially the great reduction which seemed -easy of attainment, increase of number could not fail to follow. - -The simple incident of the falling apple is said to have suggested -to Newton the theory of gravitation. So also the discovery that the -length of a letter's journey makes no appreciable difference to the -cost of that journey led Rowland Hill to think of uniformity of rate; -and in that portion of his “Life” which is autobiographic he said that -the “discovery” that such a rate would approach nearer to absolute -justice than any other that could be fixed upon was “as startling to -myself as it could be to any one else, and was the basis of the plan -which has made so great a change in postal affairs” (i. 250). - -Mention has already been made of the time-wasting and costly mode in -which, during or after delivery of the letters, the postage had to be -collected, necessarily in coin of the realm. In rural districts the -postman's journey, when twofold, doubled the cost of its delivery, -its distance, and its time-duration. The accounts, as we have seen, -were most complicated, and complication is only too apt to spell -mismanagement, waste, and fraud. Simplicity of arrangement was -imperative. But simplicity could only be attained by getting rid of -the complications. The work must be _changed_. Time must be saved, -and unprofitable labour be done away with. But how? By abolishing the -tiresome operations of “candling” and of making the “calculations” -(of postal charge) now inscribed on every letter; by expediting the -deliveries, and by other devices. Above all, the public should learn -to undertake its due share of work, the share non-performance of which -necessitated the complications, and swelled the expenses. That is, -the _sender_ of the letter should pay for its transit before the Post -Office incurred any cost in connection with it, only, as under the -existing system and in numberless cases, to meet with a refusal on -the part of the should-be receiver to accept it. - -In other words, prepayment must be made the rule. Prepayment would -have the effect of “simplifying and accelerating the proceedings of -the Post Office throughout the kingdom, and rendering them less liable -to error and fraud. In the central Metropolitan Office there would be -no letters to be taxed, no examination of those taxed by others; no -accounts to be made out against the deputy postmasters for letters -transmitted to them, nor against the letter-carriers. There would be -no need of checks, no necessity to submit to frauds and numberless -errors for want of means to prevent or correct them. In short, the -whole of the financial proceedings would be reduced to a single, -accurate, and satisfactory account, consisting of a single item per -day, with each receiver and each deputy postmaster.”[78] - -Distribution would thenceforth be the letter-carriers' only function; -and thus the first step towards the acceleration of postal deliveries -would be secured. And while considering this last point, there came -into Rowland Hill's mind the idea of that now common adjunct to -everybody's hall-door—the letter-box. If the postman could slip his -letters through a slit in the woodwork, he need not wait while the -bell or knocker summoned the dilatory man or maid; and his round -being accomplished more expeditiously, the letters would be received -earlier.[79] The shortening of the time consumed on the round would -unquestionably facilitate the introduction of those hourly deliveries -in thickly populated and business districts which formed part of the -plan of postal reform. - -How best to collect the prepaid postage had next to be decided; and -among other things, Rowland Hill bethought him of the stamped cover -for newspapers proposed by his friend Charles Knight three years -before, but never adopted; and, finally, of the loose adhesive stamp -which was his own device. The description he gave of this now familiar -object reads quaintly at the present day. “Perhaps this difficulty”—of -making coin payments at a post office—“might be obviated by using a -bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp, and covered at the -back with a glutinous wash which, by applying a little moisture, might -be attached to the letter.”[80] - -The disuse of franks and the abandonment of illicit conveyance, the -breaking up of one long letter into several shorter ones, and the -certain future use to be made of the post for the distribution of -those circulars and other documents which either went by different -channels or were altogether withheld,[81] should cause the number -of missives to increase enormously. Although, were the public, in -accordance with its practice in other cases, to expend no more in -postage than before, the loss to the nett Revenue should be but -small. Even were it to be large, the powerful stimulus given by easy -communication and low-priced postage to the productive power of the -country, and the consequent increase of revenue in other departments, -would more than make up for the deficiency. On all these grounds, -then, the adoption of the plan must be of incalculable benefit. - -The uniform rate of a penny the half-ounce ought to defray the cost -of letter-carriage, and produce some 200 per cent. profit. My father -originally proposed a penny the ounce; and thirty-three years later, -being then in retirement, he privately advised the Government of the -day to revert to the ounce limit. His suggestion was adopted; but the -limit has since been brought up to four ounces—a reduction which, had -it been proposed in 1837, must inevitably have ensured the defeat of -the postal reform. - -As regards the speedy recovery of the nett Revenue appearances seem to -indicate that he was over-sanguine; the gross Revenue not reaching -its former amount till 1851, the nett till 1862.[82] The reasons were -several, but among them can hardly be counted faulty calculations -on Rowland Hill's part. We shall read more about this matter in a -later chapter. Meanwhile, one cause, and that a main one, shall be -mentioned. As railways multiplied, and mail-coaches ceased to ply, the -expenses of conveyance grew apace.[83] - -[Illustration: - - _From a Photograph by Messrs. Whiteley & Co._ - -No. 2, BURTON CRESCENT, - -Where “Post Office Reform” was written. A group of people stand -opposite the house.] - -Under the increased burden the old system, had it endured much longer, -must have collapsed. The railway charges for carrying the mails, -unlike the charges for carrying passengers and goods, have been -higher, weight for weight, than the charges by the mail-coaches, and -the tendency in later years has by no means made towards decrease. - -The pamphlet was entitled “Post Office Reform: Its Importance and -Practicability.”[84] Use of the words “Penny Postage” was carefully -avoided, because a reformer, when seeking to convert to his own way -of thinking a too-often slow-witted public, is forced to employ the -wisdom of the serpent in conjunction, not only with the gentleness of -the dove, but also with something of the cunning of the fox or weasel. -Thus canny George Stephenson, when pleading for railways, forbore to -talk of locomotives running at the tremendous rate of 12 miles an -hour lest his hearers should think he was qualifying for admission to -a lunatic asylum. He therefore modestly hinted at a lower speed, the -quicker being supposed to be exceptional. So also Rowland Hill, by -stating the arguments for his case clearly, yet cautiously, sought to -lead his readers on, step by step, till the seeming midsummer madness -of a uniform postal rate irrespective of distance should cease to -startle, and, instead, be accepted as absolutely sane. - -In this way he engaged the attention, among others, of the once -famous Francis Place, tailor and politician, to whom he sent a copy -of “Post Office Reform.” Mr Place began its perusal with an audible -running accompaniment of “Pish!” and “Pshaw!” varied by an occasional -remark that the “hitch” which must inevitably destroy the case would -presently appear. But as he read, the audible monosyllabic marginal -notes ceased, and when he turned the last page, he exclaimed in the -needlessly strong language of the day: “I'll be damned if there -_is_ a hitch after all!” and forthwith became a convert. Leigh Hunt -expressed his own sentiments in happier form when he declared that -the pamphlet's reasoning “carries us all along with it as smoothly as -wheel on railroad.” - -Through the kindness of Mr Villiers, the long-time senior Member -for Wolverhampton, the pamphlet, while still in manuscript, was -confidentially submitted to the Government. The author, through his -friend, expressed his willingness to let them have the entire credit -of introducing the plan if they would accept it. Otherwise he reserved -the right to lay it before the public. Many years after, Mr Villiers -wrote of the satisfaction he felt that the measure was left to the -unbiassed judgment of the people, for, after all, the Government -had not the courage to accept the offer, and the only outcome of a -rather pleasant interview, in January 1837, with the Chancellor of -the Exchequer, Mr Spring Rice, was the suggestion made by him and -adopted by Rowland Hill, that the penny rate should be charged not on -an ounce, but on half an ounce—to the cautious keeper of the national -purse seemingly a less startling innovation. - -That the plan should be treated, not as a party question, but strictly -on its merits, was its author's earnest, oft-repeated desire. Nor -could it be properly regarded from a political aspect, since it -counted among its advocates in the two Houses, and outside them, -members of both parties. Yet, notwithstanding this support, and the -fact that the friends of the proposed reform daily grew more numerous, -the best part of three years was consumed in converting to recognition -of its merits not only a fairly large portion of the official world, -but the Prime Minister himself. However, the same Prime Minister, Lord -Melbourne, it was who declared that it was madness to contemplate as -possible the abolition of the Corn Laws. - -“Post Office Reform” made no small sensation. It was widely read -and discussed, as indeed was but natural, seeing how thoroughly -dissatisfied with the old system nearly every one outside the official -circle was. The proposed reform was, as a rule, heartily approved, -although by some would-be clever people it was mercilessly ridiculed; -and a writer in the _Quarterly Review_ assailed it, declaring, among -other things, that “prepayment by means of a stamp or stamped cover is -universally admitted to be quite the reverse of convenient, foreign -to the habits of the people,” etc.—yet another illustration of the -folly of indulging in prophecy unaccompanied by knowledge. He further -professed to see in the proposal “only a means of making sedition -easy.”![85] - -To this attack Matthew Hill made a scathing reply in the _Edinburgh -Review_, using, to flagelate the foe, the ready wit and unanswerable -logic of which he was a master. Then passing to the financial side -of the question, he pointed out that the temporary diminution of -income ought to be regarded as an outlay. The loss, he argued, would -be slight in comparison with the object in view. Even if the annual -deficit were one million during ten years, that would be but half what -the country had paid for the abolition of slavery; and _that_ payment -was made with no prospect of _money_ return. Should hope of ultimate -profit fail, a substituted tax might be imposed; and were it asked, -what tax? the answer should be, _any_—certain that none could operate -so fatally on all other sources of revenue as the present postal tax. - -Time was on the side of the reformer, and before long the public, -having digested both the pamphlet and the debates thereon, took up the -question with enthusiasm. In the largest city in the kingdom as in the -smallest hamlet, meetings were convened in support and furtherance of -the proposed reform. Within twelve months two thousand petitions were -presented to Parliament, causing, on one occasion, a curious scene. -Mr Scholefield, having laid on the table a petition from Birmingham, -praying for adoption of the penny postage plan, the Speaker called on -all members who had charge of similar petitions to bring them up. At -once a “crowd” rose to present them amid cheering on all sides. - -The number of signatures reached a quarter of a million; and as many -of the petitions proceeded from Town Councils, Chambers of Commerce, -and other such Corporations, a single signature in many instances -represented a considerable number of persons. - -Grote, the historian of Greece, and an earnest worker for the -reform, presented a petition. One from the city contained over -12,500 signatures, bore the names of the Lord Mayor and many London -merchants, and was filled in twelve hours. In the Upper House, the -Lord Radnor of the time, an earnest friend to reforms of many sorts, -presented no fewer than forty petitions. The signatures were of many -classes, all sects, and both political parties. - -In the City, on the proposal of Mr Moffatt, afterwards Member for -Southampton, the “Mercantile Committee” was formed. Its founder, whom -Rowland Hill has described as “one of my most zealous, steady, and -efficient supporters,” threw himself with great earnestness into the -formation of this Committee, raising funds, and gathering together the -able men, London merchants and others, who became its members. Its -principal aim was to collect evidence in favour of the plan; and to -its ceaseless energy much of the success of the movement was due. Mr -Ashurst, father to a late Solicitor to the Post Office, was requested -to become Solicitor to the Committee. He accepted the invitation, -declined to receive remuneration for his services, and worked with -unflagging industry.[86] Mr Bates, of the house of Baring Brothers, -acted as Chairman; Mr Cole as Secretary. In addition to the above, and -to Mr Moffatt, may be mentioned the names of Messrs William Ellis, -James Pattison, L. P. Wilson, John Dillon,[87] John Travers, J. H. -Gladstanes, and W. A. Wilkinson—all warm supporters of the plan from -the beginning. - -Mr Cole excelled in the invention of pictorial devices of the sort -which are far more likely to convert the average citizen to faith -in a newly propounded reform than all the arguments, however able, -that were ever spoken or written; and are therefore most valuable. -He drew, for instance, a mail-coach with a large amount of postal -matter piled, by artistic licence, on the roof instead of inside -“the boot.” Six huge sacks contained between them 2,296 newspapers -weighing 273 lbs.; a seventh sack, as large as any of its fellows, -held 484 franked letters, and weighed 47 lbs.; while a moderate-sized -parcel was filled with Stamp Office documents. They were all labelled -“go free.” A bag of insignificant dimensions leant up against one of -the sacks. It held 1,565 ordinary letters, weighed 34 lbs., and was -marked “pay £93.” This tiny packet paid for all the rest! Cole was too -sensible a man to make use of an illustration which, if untrue, could -only have inspired ridicule. His figures were absolutely correct, and -represented the actual proportions of the mail matter carried from -London to Edinburgh on 2nd March 1838. His Brobdingnagian “single” -and Lilliputian “double” letters, whose names are indicative of their -relative size, were one evening handed round the House of Commons with -telling effect. They were, of course, designed to satirise the old -system practice of “taxing” letters according to number of enclosures. -Both had passed through the post that day, the giant having been -charged just half what was paid on the dwarf. - -In all the large centres of population the great mercantile houses -were foremost among those who took up the good cause, and the Press -also threw itself into the struggle with much heartiness except in -those cases where the cue given was—attack! Happily these dissentients -were soon outnumbered and outvoiced. A few journals, indeed, achieved -marvellously sudden conversions—behaviour which even in the present -more enlightened days is not absolutely unknown. Twenty-five London -and eighty-seven provincial papers—there were far fewer papers -then than there are now—supported the proposed reform, and their -championship found an echo in some of the foreign Press. In London -the _Times_ (after a while), the now defunct _Morning Chronicle_, -and the _Spectator_ were pre-eminent. Mr Rintoul, founder and first -editor of the _Spectator_, not only championed the reform long before -its establishment, but continued to give the reformer constant -support through trials and triumphs till 1858, when, to the great -loss of journalism and of all good causes, death severed Mr Rintoul's -connection with that paper.[88] - -Outside London, the _Scotsman_—then renowned for its advanced -views—the _Manchester Guardian_, the _Liverpool Mercury_, and -the _Leeds Mercury_—then in the hands of the well-known Baines -family—were, perhaps, especially active. Their support and that of -other ably conducted provincial papers never varied, and to the end of -his life Rowland Hill spoke gratefully of the enlightened and powerful -aid thus given. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[66] “All the members of his family,” says Mr John C. Francis in -_Notes and Queries_, 10th Series, No. 141, 8th September 1906, “were -proud of Rowland and his scheme. There was no jealousy: each worked in -harmony. The brothers looked at all times to each other for counsel; -it was a perfect home, with the good old father as its head. Truly -have his words been verified: 'The union of my children has proved -their strength.'” ... “Never did a family so unite in working for the -common good.” - -[67] “By his inventive mechanical skill,” says Mr Francis, “he greatly -improved the machinery [at Somerset House]. My father frequently -had occasion to see him, and always found him ready to consider -any suggestion made. Especially was this the case when he obtained -permission for a stamp to be made with the sender's name round the -rim. This was designed for him by Edwin Hill.” - -[68] Of Edwin's kindness of heart many instances are remembered. Of -these, two, characteristic of the man, shall be selected. The head -gardener at Bruce Castle lived in the (then) village of Tottenham -down a narrow entry at a corner of which stood one of the inevitable -drink-traps which in this civilised country are permitted to be set -up wherever the poor most do congregate. John simply could not pass -that public-house. He was too good a man to be allowed to sink into a -sot; and eventually my uncle bethought him of building a gardener's -cottage in a corner of the Castle grounds. The plan succeeded: John -lived to a hale old age, and some of his children did well in the -world. One afternoon, when my uncle was walking along the Strand on -his way home from Somerset House after an arduous day's work, he saw -a shabbily-dressed child sobbing bitterly. Now, Edwin Hill could -never pass a little one in distress, and therefore stopped to ask -what was the matter. The child had wandered from home, and was lost. -The address it gave was at some distance, and in quite an opposite -direction from that in which my uncle was bound. Most men would have -made over the small waif to the first policeman who came in sight. But -not this man. He took the wearied mite in his arms, carried it home, -and placed it in its anxious mother's arm. - -[69] “Matthew Davenport Hill,” p. 142. By his daughters, R. and F. -Hill. - -[70] In the Ninth of which was embodied the Commissioners' examination -of Rowland Hill made in February 1837. It is curious that even these -able men, when discussing the plan with its author, spoke with most -hesitation of that detail of whose wisdom so many officials were more -than doubtful, yet which, from the first, never presented any real -difficulty—the practicability of prepayment—“Life,” i. 274. - -[71] As we have seen, in the chapter on “The Old Postal System,” Sir -Walter Scott has made a somewhat biting remark upon the “few pence” -which the Post Office added to its revenue on letters which were sent -a long round in order to meet Departmental convenience. - -[72] “Hansard,” xxxv. (2nd Series), 422. - -[73] “Raw material by the half-hundred-weight” and “by post” in -non-prepayment days is suggestive of heavy demands upon my father's -purse. But no demand was made. Mr Wallace's frank as an M.P. would -cause the packages he sent to be carried free of charge. It was -literally a _cabful_ of books which arrived, thus adding yet another -item to the oft-quoted list of huge things which could “go free” when -sent by a member of the privileged classes. One trembles to think what -would have been the charge to one of the _un_privileged. - -[74] After the adoption of free trade the prices of foreign produce -fell still further, and their consumption since Rowland Hill drew -up his estimates has grown enormously. With increase of business -following on increase of consumption, came necessarily increase of -employment and of national prosperity. So also when the old postal -system was abolished, and the business of the Department advanced -by leaps and bounds, a very large addition had to be made to the -number of employees. That fact is obvious, but another, perhaps -because it is less obvious, is but little known. “The introduction of -penny postage,” wrote my father in 1869, “was really followed by a -reduction in the hours, and an increase in the remuneration to nearly -every man in the Department, save only the Postmaster-General and -the Secretary”—himself. In some quarters the reverse was erroneously -believed to be the case.—“Life,” ii. 345. - -[75] Chap. i. p. 50. - -[76] “When at length I obtained precise information, I found that -in taking care not to make my estimate too low, I had made it -considerably too high; and I think the history of this rectification -too curious and characteristic to be omitted. Two years later, the -Parliamentary Committee appointed to consider my plan ordered, at -my suggestion, a Return on the subject, when, to my surprise and -amusement, the Report of the Post Office gave as the cost of the mail -the exact sum estimated by me—viz., £5. Struck with this coincidence, -the more so as I had intentionally allowed for possible omission, I -suggested the call for a Return in detail, and, this being given, -brought down the cost to £4, 8s. 7-3/4d. In the Return, however, I -discovered an error, viz., that the charge for guards' wages was that -for the double journey instead of the single; and when this point was -adjusted in a third Return, the cost sank to £3, 19s. 7-3/4d. When -explanation of the anomaly was asked for, it was acknowledged by the -Post Office authorities that my estimate had been adopted wholesale.” -(Rowland Hill in the “Appendix to the Second Report of the Select -Committee on Postage, 1838,” pp. 257-259.) In estimating the real -cost of a letter between London and Edinburgh we must therefore seek -for a fraction still smaller than the one indicated by my father's -calculations. - -[77] “Post Office Reform,” p. 19. - -[78] “Post Office Reform,” pp. 24, 25. - -[79] This proposal was by no means received at the outset with -universal favour. When the public was notified, after Government's -acceptance of the plan of postal reform, of the advisability of -setting up letter-boxes, many people—the majority, no doubt—adopted -the suggestion as a matter of course. But others objected, some of -them strongly; and one noble lord wrote in high indignation to the -Postmaster-General to ask if he actually expected him, Lord Blank, “to -cut a hole in his mahogany door.” - -[80] “Post Office Reform,” pp. 45, 94-96. - -[81] Among these he included small orders, letters of advice, -remittances, policies of insurance, letters enclosing patterns, -letters between country attorneys and their London agents, documents -connected with magisterial and county jurisdiction, and with local -trusts and commissions for the management of sewers, harbours, roads, -schools, charities, etc., notices of meetings, of elections, etc., -prices current, catalogues of sales, prospectuses, and other things -which, at the present time, are sent by post as a matter of course. - -[82] Cobden was even more optimistic. In a letter to Rowland Hill he -said: “I am prepared to find that the revenue from the penny postage -_exceeds_, the first year, any former income of the Post Office.” - -[83] It was in 1838 that the mails began to go by rail. - -[84] This was not my father's first pamphlet. In 1832 he published -“Home Colonies: Sketch of a Plan for the Gradual Extinction of -Pauperism and for the Diminution of Crime.” The pamphlet advocated the -settlement of able-bodied paupers on waste lands—a proposal frequently -revived by different writers—by the cultivation of which the men would -be made self-supporting, and the State be saved their charge. The -successful working of similar experiments in Belgium and Holland was -instanced as proof that the theory was not mere Utopianism. - -[85] No. 128, p. 531. The author of the diatribe was John Wilson -Croker, whose name is preserved from oblivion by Macaulay's fierce -criticism in one of his famous “Essays,” that on Croker's edition of -Boswell's “Life of Johnson”—criticism which in severity rivals that -on the poet Montgomery in the same series. Many years later Gladstone -said to Dr Hill: “You have succeeded in doing what Macaulay attempted -to do, and failed—you have suppressed Croker.”—(Mrs Lucy Crump's -“Letters of George Birkbeck Hill.”) - -[86] Mr Ashurst, as we are reminded in Mr Bolton King's “Mazzini” -(pp. 88 and 104), was a solicitor who had been a friend of Robert -Owen, and who made Mazzini's acquaintance at the time of the once -famous Governmental letter-opening scandal which agitated the far-off -'forties, and caused Carlyle, Duncombe, Shiel, Macaulay, and many -more people both in the House of Commons and out of it to denounce -a practice which, as was only too truly said, through sending “a -warning to the Bourbons, helped to entrap hapless patriots,” meaning -the brothers Bandiera. The agitation led to the abolition of the -custom of opening private letters entrusted for conveyance to the Post -Office; or did so for a while. It is a custom that is very old, and -has not lacked for apologists, as what evil custom ever did? During -Bishop Atterbury's trial in 1723, a Post Office clerk deposed on oath -that some letters which were offered in evidence were facsimiles made -of actual documents stopped, opened, and copied in the office “by -direction”; and on Atterbury's asking if the witness had received -warrant for the act, the Lords put in the plea of public expediency, -and the enquiry came to an end. - -[87] Mr John Dillon, of the once famous old firm of Morrison, Dillon, -& Co., was probably one of the last wealthy London merchants who lived -above their place of business. The Dillons were hospitable people, -and their dwelling was commodious and beautifully furnished; but not -many merchant princes of the present day would choose as a residential -quarter—Fore Street, E.C. - -[88] Mr Rintoul was fortunate in being father to a devoted daughter -who, from an early age, gave him valuable assistance in his editorial -work. While still a young girl, and for the space of some few weeks -when he was suffering from severe illness, she filled the editorial -chair herself, and did so with ability. At the present day we are -frequently assured by people who did not live in the times they -criticise so freely that the “early Victorian” women were inferior -to those of the present day. The assertion is devoid of truth. The -women of half a century and more ago were bright, witty, unaffected, -better mannered and perhaps better read than their descendants, often -highly cultivated. They dressed simply, not extravagantly—happily -for the bread-winning members of their family—did not gamble, were -self-reliant, original-minded, and _not_, as has been asserted, -absurdly deferential to their male relations. Indeed, it is probable -that there were, proportionately, quite as many henpecked husbands -in the land as there are now. If in some ways the Victorian women -had less liberty than have the women of to-day and travelled less, -may it not, as regards the former case, have been partly because the -community was not so rich as it is at the present time, and because -the facilities for travel were fewer and the conditions harder? In -intellectual power and noble aims the women of half a century ago were -not inferior to those of to-day. Certain it is that the former gave -less time to pleasure and more to self-culture, etc. There are to-day -many women who lead noble, useful lives, but their generation does -not enjoy a monopoly of all the virtues. To take but a few instances -from the past: has any woman of the present time excelled in true -nobility of character or usefulness of career Elizabeth Fry, first -among female prison reformers; Florence Nightingale, pioneer of the -nursing sisterhood, and indefatigable setter to rights of muddle in -Crimean War hospitals and stores; Caroline Herschel, distinguished -astronomer; Mary Somerville, author and scientist—though three of -these belong to a yet earlier generation—and Barbara L. S. Bodichon, -artist, foundress of Girton College, and originator of the Married -Women's Property Act? The modern woman is in many ways delightful, -and is, as a rule, deservedly independent; but it is not necessary to -accompany insistence on that fact by cheap and unmerited sneers at -former generations of the sex. It is also not amiss to ask if it was -not the women of the past age who won for the women of the present the -liberties these latter enjoy. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -EXIT THE OLD SYSTEM - - -By the early summer of 1837 the agitation in favour of the postal -reform was in full movement, and in the midst of it the old king, -William IV., died. His youthful successor was speedily deluged -with petitions in favour of penny postage. One of the first acts -of her first Parliament was to appoint the Select Committee for -which Mr Wallace had asked—“To enquire into the present rates and -mode of charging postage, with a view to such a reduction thereof -as may be made without injury to the revenue; and for this purpose -to examine especially into the mode recommended for charging and -collecting postage in a pamphlet published by Mr Rowland Hill.” Of -this Committee, which did so much to help forward the postal reform, -the doughty Member for Greenock was, of course, chosen as Chairman. -The Committee sat for sixty-three days; and in addition to the postal -officials and those of the Board of Stamps and Taxes (Inland Revenue), -examined Rowland Hill and over eighty other witnesses of various -occupations and from different parts of the country. - -The story of their arduous labours is told at great length in Dr -Birkbeck Hill's edition of my father's Autobiography. There is -therefore no need to elaborate it here. The evidence told heavily -against the existing postal system—whose anomalies, absurdities, and -gross injustice have been described in the first chapter of this -work—and, with corresponding force, demonstrated the necessity for its -reform.[89] - -It might have been supposed that the Committee's careful and -elaborate examination of Rowland Hill's plan, supported as it was -by an unanswerable array of facts, would have sufficed to ensure -its adoption. “He had yet to learn the vast amount of _vis inertia_ -existing in some Government Departments. The minds of those who -sit in high places are sometimes wonderfully and fearfully made, -and 'outsiders,' as he was destined to find, must be prepared to -knock long and loudly at the outer door before they can obtain much -attention.”[90] - -That the Post Office authorities would oppose the plan was a foregone -conclusion. They fought against it in the strenuous fashion known -metaphorically as “tooth and nail.” The Postmaster-General of the -day—he who said that “of all the wild and visionary schemes which -he had ever heard or read of it was the most extraordinary”[91]—gave -it as his opinion that if twelve times the number of letters were -carried, the expenses of conveyance would become twelve times -heavier—a strange argument for an educated man to use. He also -declared that with increase of correspondence the walls of the Post -Office would burst—a premonition which, not unnaturally, provoked -Rowland Hill into asking whether the size of the building should -be regulated by the amount of correspondence, or the amount of -correspondence by the size of the building. - -The Secretary to the Post Office, Colonel Maberly, was apparently free -from the dread of the possible effect of increased correspondence -which exercised the minds of other post officials besides the -Postmaster-General. The Secretary told the Committee he was sure that -even if no charge were made people would not write more frequently -than they did under the existing system; and he predicted that the -public would object to prepayment. He approved of a uniform rate, -but apparently in theory only, as he added that he thought it quite -impracticable. He doubted whether letter-smuggling—to which practice -Mr Peacock, Solicitor to the Post Office, and other officials made -allusion as an evil on a very large scale—would be much affected by -the proposed reduction of postage, since “it cannot be reduced to -that price that smugglers will not compete with the Post Office at -an immense profit.” He pronounced the scheme to be “fallacious, -preposterous, utterly unsupported by facts, and resting entirely on -assumption”; prophesied its certain failure, if adopted, and said the -revenue would not recover for forty or fifty years.[92] - -Some of the officials made the rather humiliating confession that -they should not know how to deal with the multitude of letters likely -to follow a change of system, and a “breakdown” was so frequently -predicted, that it was hard to avoid the suspicion that the wish -was father to the thought. The dread expressed of this increase of -correspondence is, in the light of these later days, unaccountable. -“Has any one,” pertinently asked my father, “ever heard of a -commercial company _afraid_ of an expected growth in its business?” - -It was maintained that a fivefold increase of letters would -necessitate a fivefold number of mail-coaches, and Rowland Hill -was accused of having omitted this “fact” in his calculations. The -objection was absurd. The coaches were by no means fully laden, many -having very little to carry, and the chargeable letters, as we have -seen, formed only a small portion of the entire mail. Twenty-four -coaches left London every evening, each bearing its share of that -small portion; but had the whole of it been conveyed in one coach, its -bulk would not have displaced a single passenger. - -Colonel (afterwards General) Colby,[93] indeed, told the Committee -that his attention was first drawn to the desirability of cheapening -postage while travelling all over the kingdom, when he had “observed -that the mails and carriages which contained the letters formed a -very stupendous machinery for the conveyance of a very small weight; -that, in fact, if the correspondence had been doubled, trebled, or -quadrupled, it could not have affected the expense of conveyance.”[94] - -To determine this question of the weight of the mails, the Committee -caused a return to be made in the case of the coaches leaving London. -The average was found to be only 463 lbs.—a little over a quarter of -the weight which, according to Post Official estimates, a mail-coach -would be capable of carrying.[95] - -In the chapter on the old system we have seen the straits to which -the poor were reduced when having to “take up” a letter which had -come from distant relative or friend. Yet how eager was this class to -enjoy the privilege possessed by those better off than themselves, -was shown during the examination of Mr Emery, Deputy-Lieutenant for -Somerset, and a Commissioner of Taxes, when he told the Committee that -the poor people near Bristol had signed a petition for the reduction -of postage, and that he “never saw greater enthusiasm.” Testimony to a -similar effect abounds in the Committee's Reports. - -That some, at least, of the public were not so alarmed at the prospect -of prepayment as were the officials generally, is seen by the evidence -of several witnesses who advised that it should be made compulsory. -The public were also quick to appreciate the advantage of payment by -stamps instead of money. Sir (then Mr) William Brown of Liverpool, -said he had seen the demoralising effect arising from entrusting -young men with money to pay for postage, which, under the existing -arrangement, his house [of business] was frequently obliged to do. His -view was corroborated by other witnesses.[96] - -Mr Samuel Jones Loyd (afterwards Lord Overstone) greatly regretted -“that the post was ever taken as a field for taxation, and should be -very glad to find that, consistently with the general interests of the -revenue, which the Government has to watch over, they can effect any -reduction in the total amount so received, or any reduction in the -charges without diminishing the total amount.”[97] - -Lord Ashburton was of much the same opinion. - -Rowland Hill himself dissented from the view generally—and indeed -still—held that so long as the Department as a whole thrives, its -funds may justly be applied to maintain special services which do not -repay their own costs. On the contrary, he thought that every division -of the service should be at least self-supporting, though he allowed -that, for the sake of simplicity, extensions might be made where -there was no immediate expectation of absolute profit. All beyond -this he regarded as contrary to the true principles of free trade—of -the “Liberation of Intercourse,” to use the later-day, and in this -case more appropriate, phrase. Whenever, therefore, the nett revenue -from the Post Office is too high for the interests of the public, the -surplus, he maintained, should be applied to the multiplication of -facilities in those districts in which, through the extent of their -correspondence, such revenue is produced.[98] - -Most of the Post Office chiefs examined by the Committee viewed with -disfavour the proposal to “tax” letters by weight. An experiment had -been made at the Office from which it was inferred that a greater -number could be taxed in a given time on the plan in use than by -charging them in proportion to the weight of each letter. The test, -however, was of little value because the weighing had not been made by -the proposed half-ounce, but by the quarter-ounce scale; and, further, -because it was already the custom to put nearly every letter into the -balance unless its weight was palpable to the hand.[99] - -While some of the officials objected to uniformity of rate as -“unfair in principle,” others thought well of it on the score that -uniformity “would very much facilitate all the operations of the Post -Office.”[100] - -But, admissions apart, the hostility to the plan was, on the part -of the Post Office, unmistakable. This opposition rendered Rowland -Hill's work all the harder. “My own examination,” he says, “occupied -a considerable portion of six days, my task being not only to state -and enforce my own views, but to reply to objections raised by such of -the Post Office authorities as were against the proposed reform. This -list comprised—with the exception of Mr Peacock, the Solicitor—all -the highest officials in the chief office; and, however unfortunate -their opposition, and however galling I felt it at the time, I must -admit on retrospect that, passing over the question of means employed, -their resistance to my bold innovation was very natural. Its adoption -must have been dreaded by men of routine, as involving, or seeming to -involve, a total derangement of proceeding—an overthrow of established -order; while the immediate loss of revenue—inevitable from the manner -in which alone the change could then be introduced (all gradual or -limited reform having by that time been condemned by the public -voice)—a loss, moreover, greatly exaggerated in the minds of those -who could not, of did not, see the means direct and indirect of its -recuperation, must naturally have alarmed the appointed guardians of -this branch of the national income.”[101] - -Some members even of the Committee were opposed to essential features -of the reform, so that it barely escaped, if not actual wreckage, -serious maiming at their hands. “The divisions on the two most -important of the divisions submitted to the Committee,” wrote Rowland -Hill, “and, indeed, the ultimate result of their deliberations, show -that the efforts that had been made had all been needed.”[102] - -A resolution moved by Mr Warburton recommending the establishment of -a uniform rate of inland postage between one post town and another -resulted in a tie, and was only carried by the casting vote of the -chairman, Mr Wallace. Mr Warburton further moving that in view of “any -large reduction being made in the rates of inland postage, it would be -expedient to adopt a uniform rate of one penny per half-ounce without -regard to distance,” the motion was rejected by six to three, the -“aye” stalwarts being the mover, and Messrs Raikes Currie[103] and M. -J. O'Connell. Then Mr Warburton, still manfully striving, moved to -recommend a uniform rate of three halfpence: the motion being again -lost. The following day Mr Warburton returned to the charge, and urged -the adoption of a twopenny uniform rate, rising by a penny for each -additional half-ounce. This motion was not directly negatived like its -predecessors, but was met by an amendment which was tantamount to a -negative. Again the votes were equal; and again the motion was carried -by the casting vote of the chairman. - -The rejected amendment was moved by Mr Thomson, who proposed that -a draft report originating with Lord Seymour should be adopted, the -chief recommendations of which were the maintenance of the charge by -distance, such rate to vary from 1d. (for under 15 miles) to 1s. (for -above 200 miles), or of some similar scale. Had the Seymour amendment -been adopted, “not only the recommendations for uniformity and decided -reduction of postage would have been set aside, but also those for -increased facilities, for the general use of stamps, and for charge -by weight instead of by the number of enclosures.”[104] In fact, the -old postal system would have been simply scotched, not killed—and very -mildly scotched, many of its worst features being retained. Yet this -amendment would have gone forth as the recommendation of the Committee -but for the casting vote of Mr Wallace. - -It is but fair to Lord Seymour to say that, however “erroneous in -its reasonings on many points,” the amendment yet contained passages -justifying the reformer's views, “particularly as regards the evils -which high rates of postage brought upon the poor, the vast extent -of illicit conveyance, the evils of the frank system, and even many -of the advantages of a uniform charge.” Had the recommendations in -the Seymour Report been prepared “two years before, almost every -one of them would have been received as a grace; but it was now -too late, their sum total being altogether too slight to make any -approach towards satisfying the expectations which had subsequently -arisen.”[105] - -The adoption of a twopenny rate was not only contrary to Rowland -Hill's plan, but actually rendered “strict uniformity impracticable, -since reservation would have to be made in favour of the local penny -rates then in existence which could not be raised without exciting -overpowering dissatisfaction.”[106] - -“Seldom, I believe, has any committee worked harder,” wrote my father, -in after years. “Mr Wallace's exertions were unsparing, his toil -incessant, and his zeal unflagging.” The _Times_ spoke but the truth -when in its issue of 31st May 1839, it said that the Post Office -Inquiry was “one conducted with more honesty and more industry than -any ever brought before a Committee of the House of Commons.”[107] - -Yet how near it came to destroying the reform outright. - -The third and concluding Report of the proceedings of this memorable -Committee was entrusted for revision to the competent hands of Mr -Warburton, who made of it a model Blue Book. “On all important -points,” wrote Rowland Hill, “it gave to my statements and conclusions -the sanction of its powerful authority. Nevertheless, as the Committee -had determined on the recommendation of a twopenny rate, the Report -had to be framed in at least formal accordance with this fact; -though both Mr Wallace, in whose name it went to the Committee, and -Mr Warburton, its author, were strongly in favour of the penny rate. -A careful perusal of the document, however, will show that, though -the twopenny rate is formally recommended, the penny rate is the one -really suggested for adoption. In this sense it was understood by -the public; and, to my knowledge, it was wished that it should be so -understood.”[108] - -Outside the official circle, opinion, though mainly favourable, was -still a good deal divided; and the dismal prophecies which always -precede the passing into law of any great reform had by no means -ceased to be heard. It is therefore not altogether surprising that -even so clear-sighted a man as Sydney Smith—whose wisdom is too seldom -remembered by those who think of him only as a wit—should have laughed -at “this nonsense of a penny post.” But when the “nonsense” had had -three years of trial he wrote to its author, uninvited, a letter of -generous appreciation. - -Miss Martineau, as an able journalist and political economist, gave -valuable assistance to the postal reform. To read her statesmanlike -letters to my father, even after the lapse of over half a century, -is indeed a “liberal education.” In these, when writing of the old -system, she employed several notable phrases, of which, perhaps, -one of the finest was that describing the barrier raised by heavy -postal rates between severed relatives as “the infliction which makes -the listening parent deaf and the full-hearted daughter dumb.” In a -letter, written shortly before penny postage became a reality, to him -whom in her Autobiography she calls “the most signal social benefactor -of our time,” she told how “we are all putting up our letter-boxes on -our hall doors with great glee.” In the same letter she described the -joy of the many poor “who can at last write to one another as if they -were all M.P.s!” _As if they were all M.P.s!_ What a comment, what a, -may be, unconsciously satirical reflection on the previous state of -things![109] - -The great O'Connell gave to the postal reform the aid of his powerful -influence both within and without Parliament. He was a friend of -Matthew Davenport Hill, and at an early stage of the agitation assured -my uncle of his hearty appreciation of the plan. O'Connell himself -would have proposed the Parliamentary Committee on Postage, of which, -as we have seen, one of his sons was made a member, had not Mr Wallace -already taken the initiative; and, later, when the Bill was before the -House, four of the O'Connells, headed by their chieftain, went into -the “Ayes” lobby, together with other members from the Green Isle. The -proposed reform naturally and strongly appealed to the sympathies of -the inhabitants of the poorer of the two islands. In May 1839, on the -occasion of a public deputation to the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, -to urge adoption of the reform, O'Connell spoke in moving terms of -its necessity. One passage of his speech recalls the remark made, -many years after, by Gladstone when, at the final interview between -himself and a later Irish leader, the aged statesman, in answer to -a question put by the historian of “Our Own Times,” said that, in -his opinion, O'Connell's principal characteristic was “a passion of -philanthropy.”[110] “My poor countrymen,” said O'Connell in 1839, “do -not smuggle [letters], for the high postage works a total prohibition -to them. They are too poor to find out secondary conveyances; and if -you shut the Post Office to them, which you do now, you shut out warm -hearts and generous affections from home, kindred, and friends.”[111] - -Hume, one of the great economists, a member of that “Manchester -School” which the shallow wits of the present time deride, and present -at this deputation, was a man who never advocated any course likely -to be improvident. Yet, undismayed by possible loss of revenue, he -gave the postal reform his heartiest support;[112] while Mr Moffatt, -bolder still, volunteered, should the Government shrink from the -undertaking, to start a City Company to work the Post Office, -meanwhile guaranteeing to the State the same annual income that it was -accustomed to receive. - -Mr Warburton, who headed the deputation, said, with telling emphasis, -that the proposed reform was a measure which a Liberal party had a -just right to expect from a Liberal Administration. The deputation, -a very important one, numbering, among others, 150 Members of -Parliament, was unmistakably in earnest, and the Government hesitated -no longer. Mr Warburton's hint was perfectly well understood; and Lord -Melbourne's reply was cautious but favourable.[113] - -Some three weeks later Mr Warburton wrote to tell my father that -“penny postage is to be granted.”[114] Three days later still, Mr -Warburton wrote again that the very date was now settled on which -public announcement of that fact would be made. A few days later -still, Mr Warburton rose in the House to ask the Home Secretary, -Lord John Russell, whether the Government intended to proceed with a -twopenny or a penny rate. Lord John replied that the Government would -propose a resolution in favour of a uniform penny postage. - -By Mr Warburton's advice, Rowland Hill was present when this -announcement was made, and deep was the gratification he felt. - -Still somewhat fearful lest the Government should hesitate to adopt -prepayment and the postage stamps—details of vital necessity to the -success of the plan—its author, about this time and at the request of -the Mercantile Committee, drew up a paper, which they published and -widely circulated, entitled “On the Collection of Postage by Means of -Stamps.” - -In the Upper House, Lord Radnor, a little later, repeated Mr -Warburton's question; and Lord Melbourne replied that the Chancellor -of the Exchequer would shortly bring the matter forward. - -My father drew up yet another paper, entitled “Facts and Estimates as -to the Increase of Letters,” which was also printed by the Mercantile -Committee, and a copy sent to every member of Parliament in the hope -that its perusal might secure support of the measure when introduced -to the Commons. - -On 5th July, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Spring Rice, brought -in his Budget, the adoption of uniform penny postage being proposed in -it. - -During the debate, Rowland Hill sat underneath the gallery, but -when the division came on he had, of course, to withdraw. The two -door-keepers however, who took a lively interest in the progress of -affairs, and were zealous friends to the reform, advised its author -to keep within hail; and at intervals one or other of them gave a -hurried whisper through the grating in the door. “All right!” “Going -on capitally!” “Sure of a majority!” came in succession; and when the -anxious listener was laughingly informed that Colonel Sibthorpe—a Tory -of Tories, and at one time beloved of _Punch's_ caricaturists—had gone -into the “Ayes” lobby, the cause indeed seemed won. In a House of only -328 members there were 215 “ayes,” and 113 “noes,” being a majority of -102, or nearly 2 to 1. - -But the House of Lords had still to be reckoned with; and towards it -the untiring Mercantile Committee next directed its attention. Some -of its members were formed into a deputation to interview the more -influential peers, the Duke of Wellington for one.[115] Mr Moffatt -thereupon put himself into communication with the old soldier, and -received from him a characteristic and crushing reply. “F. M. the -Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr Moffatt. The -Duke does not fill any political office. He is not in the habit of -discussing public affairs in private, and he declines to receive -the visits of deputations or individuals for the purpose of such -discussions,” etc. - -Nothing daunted, Rowland Hill resolved to try direct appeal, and -wrote to the Duke, setting forth briefly “a few facts in support of -the Bill,” etc. No answer was received, but the letter had a scarcely -looked-for effect. - -The second reading of the Bill in the Commons took place on the 22nd -July, Mr Goulburn, Sir Robert Inglis, and Sir Robert Peel attacked the -measure; and Mr Baring, Lord Seymour, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, -Mr Wallace, and Mr Warburton defended it. The House did not divide. -The Bill was read a third time on 29th July, and passed. - -My paternal grandfather was in the House on the occasion, and was -probably the happiest and proudest man there, the author of the plan -not even excepted. - -A few days later, my father, through Lord Duncannon,[116] received -a summons to confer with Lord Melbourne at the latter's house the -following Sunday. Lord Duncannon was present at the interview; and -the three soon went to work in the most friendly fashion. - -The subject in hand having, after a while, been thoroughly mastered, -Lord Melbourne began to walk up and down the room, his lips moving as -if rehearsing his speech for the House of Lords, but uttering no word. -While thus employed, a servant entered, and made an all but inaudible -announcement to his master. “Show him into the other room,” said -Lord Melbourne; and presently passed through the folding doors into -the adjoining apartment. A hum of conversation at once began, one of -the voices rising at last to angry tones, and the postal reformer's -name being once audibly pronounced by the irate speaker. “It is Lord -Lichfield,” quietly observed Lord Duncannon. Gradually, peace seemed -to be restored; the visitor departed, and Lord Melbourne, re-entering, -said: “Lichfield has been here. Why a man cannot talk of penny postage -without getting into a passion passes my understanding.” - -The following day, 5th August, the Prime Minister, in a long speech, -moved the second reading of the Penny Postage Bill in the Upper House. - -The Postmaster-General supported the measure, but did not conceal his -distrust of it from a financial point of view. - -To Lord Brougham's speech allusion has already been made.[117] - -The Duke of Wellington did not believe that reduced rates of postage -would encourage the soldiers on foreign or colonial service to write -home oftener than before;[118] and in the earlier part of his speech -drew so doleful a picture of the state of our national finances and -of the danger likely to accrue to them through the lowering of any -duty, that the anxious listener—who, by Lord Melbourne's wish, was -in the House—seated on the steps of the throne, feared he was about -to witness the slaughter of the scheme for which he and others had -worked so strenuously. But Lord Duncannon, observing the downcast -countenance, came up and kindly whispered: “Don't be alarmed; he is -not going to oppose us.” - -Nor did he; for, after alluding to the evils of high postal rates, -the Duke went on to say that, in his opinion, the plan most likely -to remedy these was that known as Mr Rowland Hill's. “Therefore,” he -concluded, “I shall, although with great reluctance, vote for the -Bill, and I earnestly recommend you to do the same.”[119] - -The Bill passed.[120] It received the Royal assent on the 17th August; -and at once Mr Wallace wrote to congratulate Mrs Hill on the success -of her husband's efforts, “a success to which your unremitting -exertions have greatly contributed.” - -[Illustration: CAROLINE PEARSON, LADY HILL.] - -Mr Wallace's tribute was well deserved. My mother was a devoted -wife, a true helpmate, therein resembling the late Lady Salisbury, -Mrs Gladstone, Lady Campbell-Bannerman, and many lesser known women. -During the long postal reform agitation, her buoyant hopefulness -and abiding faith in her husband's plan never failed to cheer and -encourage him to persevere. Years after, when their children were -old enough to understand the position, their father would tell them -how much he owed to her, and bade them never to forget the debt. She -was, moreover, a pattern scribe, sitting, hour after hour, untiring, -unshirking, giving her opinion when asked for it, and in a handwriting -both legible and beautifully formed, covering page after page with -the sentences he dictated. More than one pamphlet, his journal, and -letters innumerable were thus written by her; and she also helped in -the arduous preparation for his examination before the Commissioners -of Post Office Inquiry in 1837, the Select Committee on Postage of -1838, and the still later Committee of 1843. Years of useful work did -she thus devote to the reform, and many a time was she seated already -busy at her task when the first hour of the long day's vigil struck -four. From her own lips little was ever heard of this; but what other -members of the family thought of it is shown by the remark made by an -old kinswoman of my father. Some one having spoken in her presence -of her cousin as “the father of penny postage,” she emphatically -exclaimed: “Then I know who was its mother!” - -The free-traders naturally hailed the postal reform with enthusiasm. -It was an economic measure entirely after their own hearts, being, -like their own effort for emancipation, directed against monopoly -and class favouritism. Moreover, it gave an immense impetus to their -crusade, since it enabled the League's literature to be disseminated -with an ease and to an extent which, under the old system, would have -been impossible. Thus one reform helps on another. “The men of the -League are your devoted servants,” wrote Cobden in one of his cheery -letters. “Colonel Thompson,[121] Bright, and I have blessed you not a -few times in the course of our agitating tour.” - -Cobden was one of the earliest and heartiest of Rowland Hill's -supporters. He thought so highly of “Post Office Reform” that he -urgently advised its republication in a cheaper form, offering to -defray half the cost.[122] Of the plan, when it had been some time -established, he wrote that “it is a terrible engine for upsetting -monopoly and corruption: witness our League operations, _the spawn of -your penny postage_.” - -When Sir Robert Peel—more enlightened or more independent in 1846 -than in 1839 and later—repealed the Corn Tax, Cobden again wrote to -Rowland Hill. “The League,” he said, “will be virtually dissolved -by the passing of Peel's measure. I shall feel like an emancipated -negro—having fulfilled my seven years' apprenticeship to an agitation -which has known no respite. I feel that _you_ have done not a little -to strike the fetters from my limbs, for without the penny postage we -might have had more years of agitation and anxiety.”[123] - -The Post Office, as we have seen, had hitherto existed chiefly for the -benefit of the aristocratic and moneyed classes—those of the latter, -at least, who were Members of Parliament, then rich men only—the -general public having to pay dearly for the privilege of using the -Department for conveyance of their correspondence. But with the -advent of the new system, the Post Office straightway became the paid -servant—and a far more faithful and efficient one than it is sometimes -given credit for being—of the entire nation, since upon every man, -woman, and child in the United Kingdom were henceforth conferred equal -rights to postal intercourse. - -Strange to say, the passing of the Penny Postage Bill had, to some -extent, depended upon the successful making of a bargain. In April -1839 Lord Melbourne's Government brought in what was known as the -Jamaica Bill, which proposed to suspend for five years that Colony's -Constitution. The measure was strenuously opposed by the Conservatives -led by Peel and by some of the Liberals. On the second reading of the -Bill, the Government escaped defeat by the narrow majority of five, -and at once resigned. Peel was sent for by the Queen, but, owing to -the famous “Bedchamber Difficulty,” failed to form a Ministry. Lord -Melbourne returned to office, and the Radical members agreed to give -his Administration their support on condition that penny postage -should be granted. “Thus,” says my brother, “one of the greatest -social reforms ever introduced was actually given as a bribe by a -tottering Government to secure political support.”[124] A party move -not altogether without precedent. - -When the new postal system became a legalised institution both Mr -Wallace and Mr Warburton, independently of one another, wrote to Lord -Melbourne, and urged him to give Rowland Hill a position in which -he would be enabled to work out his plan. Of Mr Wallace's letter my -father said that it was but a specimen of that tried friend's general -course. “He makes no reference to his own valuable labours, but only -urges claim for me.” Mr Warburton's letter was equally generous and -self-oblivious. - -Lord Melbourne turned no deaf ear to these appeals. In the autumn of -1839 the reformer was appointed for a term of two years—afterwards -extended to three—to the Treasury to superintend the working of his -plan. Obviously, his proper place, and that to which the public -expected him to be raised, was the Post Office; but the hostile -element there was probably too formidable to be withstood. The new -Chancellor of the Exchequer—Mr Spring Rice had gone to the Upper House -as Lord Monteagle—was Mr (afterwards Sir) Francis Baring, whom Rowland -Hill found an able, zealous, high-minded chief, and whose friendship -he valued to the last. - -Of what can only be correctly described as the fanatical opposition -of the Post Office authorities to the reform, it is easy, and -customary, to point the finger of scorn or of derision. This is -unjust. Honourable men occupying responsible positions as heads of -an important branch of the Civil Service, and bound, therefore, -to safeguard what they believe to be its truest interests, have a -difficult task to carry out when they are confronted with the forcible -acceptance of an untried scheme in whose soundness they have little or -no faith. That the policy the postal officials pursued was a mistaken -one time has abundantly proved; but if their opposition argued lack of -understanding, they merely acted as the generality of men similarly -situated would have done. Even Rowland Hill, who, as an outsider, -battered so long at the official gates, was wont to confess, when, -later, he found shelter within the citadel they defended, that he -was not a little apt to feel towards other outsiders a hostility -similar to that which his old enemies had felt towards him. The -sentiment is not inspired by the oft-alleged tendency to somnolence -that comes of the well-upholstered official armchair and assured -salary, but from the heart-weariness born of the daily importunity -of persons who deluge a long-suffering Department with crude and -impracticable suggestions, or with complaints that have little or no -foundation.[125] - -By the time the postal reform had come to be an established -institution, not a few former adversaries loyally aided the reformer -to carry out its details, by their action tacitly confessing, even -when they made no verbal acknowledgment, that their earlier attitude -had been a mistake. Now that all are dead their opposition may rightly -be regarded with the tenderness that is, or should be, always extended -to the partisans of a lost cause. - -A great deal of the opposition was, however, far from honest, and -unfortunately had very mischievous effects. On this subject something -will be said in the course of the ensuing chapter. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[89] The members in addition to Mr Wallace were Viscount Lowther, Lord -Seymour, Sir Thomas Fremantle, and Messrs Warburton, Poulett Thomson, -Raikes Currie, Morgan John O'Connell, Thornley, Chalmers, Pease, -Mahony, Parker (Sheffield), George William Wood, and Villiers. Three -of these—Lord Seymour, Mr Parker, and Mr Thomson (afterwards Lord -Sydenham)—were opponents of the plan, but that their opposition was -mainly official was evidenced when, the Government having adopted the -plan of reform, all three became its advocates.—“Life,” i. 287. - -[90] “The Jubilee of the Uniform Penny Postage,” p. 18. By Pearson -Hill, 1890. Cassell & Co. Ltd. - -[91] “Hansard,” xxxviii. 1462, 1464. - -[92] “Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage,” pp. 29, 34, -etc. The gross revenue which rather more than recovered in 1851, was -achieved on a four-and-three-quarters-fold increase of letters only, -whereas the Postmaster-General said that recovery would require a -twelvefold increase. Rowland Hill calculated that recovery would ensue -on a five-and-three-quarters increase. - -[93] Director of the Ordnance Survey, a distinguished geologist, -and an earnest worker in the cause of postal reform from quite an -early date. He had lost his hands during the Napoleonic wars; and -when he dined at our house always brought his knife, fork, etc., and -his manservant, who screwed them into place, and changed them when -needful, a process which deeply interested us children. He did not, -however, permit this serious loss to stand in the way of his leading -an active and useful public career. - -[94] “Third Report,” p. 48. - -[95] _Ibid._ p. 49. The Superintendent of the Mail-coaches considered -that each coach could carry 15 hundred-weight or 1680 pounds. - -[96] “Third Report,” p. 42. - -[97] _Ibid._ p. 27. - -[98] “Post Office Reform,” p. 55. - -[99] “First Report,” questions 1369, 1372. - -[100] “Third Report,” p. 34, etc. - -[101] “Life,” i. 325-327. - -[102] “Life,” i. 325-327. - -[103] Father to a later Postmaster-General. - -[104] “Life,” i. 328. - -[105] “Life,” i. 329. - -[106] _Ibid._ i. 330. - -[107] The _Times_ was now a hearty champion of the reform, and wrote -frequently and ably in support of it. - -[108] “Life,” i. 337. During the writing of this Report my father -had frequent occasion to call upon its author in order to check -elaborate calculations and to put important questions in the clearest -light—on the principle, apparently, that two heads, when each is -mathematical, are better than one. “Philosopher Warburton,” as he -was sometimes called, was one of the best friends the postal reform -had. He was a man of wide influence, and an indefatigable worker. -Originally a timber merchant, he abandoned commerce for science his -favourite pursuits being mathematics and astronomy. He was a member -of the Political Economy Club from its foundation in 1821 till his -death in 1858; he was one of the founders of the London University, -and served on its first council; and he represented Bridport, Dorset, -in successive Parliaments from 1825 to 1841. It is often asserted -that a recluse, bookworm, or scientist cares for nothing outside his -own four walls or lower than the starry heavens. In this case never -was saying more completely falsified. Mr Warburton was unusually -public-spirited, a prominent Parliamentarian, and a lucid writer. -When my father visited him, he was always received in his friend's -sanctum, the dining-room, whose appearance never altered. Dining there -would have been impossible, although the table was always set out at -full length. It was entirely covered with piles of volumes, most of -them Blue Books. The sideboard, save for one small space reserved for -astronomical instruments, was similarly loaded, as were also all the -chairs but one in addition to that reserved for Mr Warburton's use. -The floor was likewise piled with books, very narrow passages only -being left to enable people to move about; and the whole place bore a -look upon it as of “the repose of years.” When, after talking a while, -Mr Warburton resumed his pen, my father had time, during his several -visits, to read the whole of one of Macaulay's brilliant and then -newly-published Essays in a volume which always occupied a particular -spot on a table. - -[109] Many years after the establishment of the postal reform, on -the occasion of a tour to the English Lakes, our parents took my -younger sister and me to visit Miss Martineau at her prettily-situated -Ambleside house. We two girls were charmed with her bright, sensible -talk, and her kindly, winning personality. We found her also much -better-looking than from her portraits we had expected to see her. -_They_ missed the wonderful lighting up of the clever face which, -when animated, looked far younger than when in repose. Among other -interesting items of information, she told us of her, I fear, useless -efforts to rescue the local rural population, then mostly illiterates, -from the curse of intemperance. She contemplated giving a lecture -on the subject, and showed us some horrifying coloured drawings -representing the ravages effected by alcohol on the human system which -she had prepared for it; but, as she knew that no one would come if -the lecture were announced as about Drink, she said she should call it -a “Discourse on Our Digestive Organs,” or something of the sort. We -never heard the fate of that proposed lecture. - -[110] “The Story of Gladstone's Life,” p. 38. By Justin M'Carthy. - -[111] “Life,” i. 342. How well the great orator understood his -poorer countrymen's need was shown when, for a few weeks before the -10th of January 1840, a tentative reduction to a uniform fourpenny -rate outside London was introduced. The increase of letters during -those few weeks stood at, for England and Wales, 33; Scotland, -51; and Ireland, 52 per cent. When my father and his brothers—as -told in the Introductory Chapter—used to wander about the “green -borderland” outside the smaller Birmingham and Wolverhampton of the -early nineteenth century, they sometimes, in the summer and autumn -seasons, fell in with the Irish haymakers and harvesters, and were -struck with the frugal manner in which they lived, their sobriety and -their unwillingness to break into the little hoard of money—their -wages—which they aimed to take back intact to their families in -Ireland at the end of their few months' service here. The postal -reform enabled these men to write letters and to send their money home -cheaply, frequently, and without waiting for the season's close. - -[112] Writing of penny postage, eight years later, to the American -historian Bancroft, Hume said: “I am not aware of any reform amongst -the many I have promoted during the past forty years that has had, -and will have, better results towards the improvement of the country, -socially, morally, and politically.” - -[113] In Earl Russell's “Recollections,” at p. 231, a quotation -is made from an entry in his journal for 1839, which says: “The -Cabinet”—of which he was a member—“was unanimous in favour of the -ingenious and popular plan of a penny postage.” - -[114] “Life,” i. 343. - -[115] Only those who remember any of the generation which lived -through the long and anxious years of the terrible war with France can -form an adequate idea of the veneration—adoration even—felt by the -nation for the great Duke—_the_ Duke as he was generally called. My -father, at no time addicted to the “scarlet fever,” was nevertheless -one of the heartiest devotees; and one day during our three years' -sojourn at Brighton he took some of us children to the railway station -to see the veteran, then about to return to town after a visit to the -seaside. There he sat alone under the sheltering hood of his open -carriage which, with its back turned towards the locomotive, was -mounted on an ordinary truck at the rear end of the train. He wore a -dark, military cloak and close-fitting cloth cap, and with his thin -face, hooked nose, and piercing eyes looked like an ancient eagle. His -unwandering gaze was bent sea-wards as though he descried a foreign -fleet making with hostile intentions for our shores. He was so used to -being stared at that but for his at once giving the military salute -in acknowledgment of our father's respectful bow and bared head, we -might have thought him unconscious of the presence of strangers. He -seemed so to be even when our father took us close to the train, and -bade us look well at the greatest of living Englishmen because he was -so old that we might not see him again. It would, however, have been -difficult to forget a face so striking. After all, that was not our -only sight of him. We often afterwards saw him riding in Hyde Park, -where the crowd saluted him as if he were Royalty itself; and, later -still, we looked on at his never-to-be-forgotten funeral. Mention of -the “Iron Duke” and of the Brighton railway brings back to memory -another old soldier who figured in the same wars and, as Earl of -March, achieved distinction. This was the then Duke of Richmond, on -whom we children looked with awesome curiosity, because rumour, for -once a truth-teller, declared that ever since 1815 he had carried -somewhere within his corporeal frame a bullet which defied all -attempts at extraction, and, indeed, did not prevent his attaining -to a hale old age. While my father was on the directorate of the -London and Brighton railway, and lived at that seaside resort, he -often travelled to town with some distinguished man whom he invited -to share his _coupé_. (Why, I wonder, is this pleasant sort of -compartment rarely or never seen nowadays?) More than once the Duke -of Richmond was his companion. The time was the mid 'forties, when -railway locomotives were far less powerfully built than they are now, -and when, London Bridge Terminus being up a rather long incline, it -was customary, on the departure of a train from the ticket-taking -platform, to employ a second engine to aid the one in front by pushing -from behind. The travellers were seated in an end _coupé_, and -opposite their seats were, of course, only the usual glass windows. -When, therefore, the Duke for the first time saw the auxiliary engine -coming close up against the carriage, he did not know what it meant, -turned pale, and showed considerable uneasiness. My father soon -assured him that all was right, and then asked why he, a veteran -campaigner, was unnerved by a mere railway engine. Whereupon the old -soldier laughingly replied that he would far sooner face the foe on -the battlefield than sit quietly right in face of the “iron horse.” - -[116] Lord Duncannon had been a member of the Commission of Post -Office Inquiry of 1835-1838 (already mentioned) which examined -Rowland Hill in February 1837. He was at first a strong opponent of -the Reform, but during the examination became one of its heartiest -supporters. The other two Commissioners were Lord Seymour—who, later, -served on Mr Wallace's Select Committee, was afterwards Duke of -Somerset, and gave to the world an unorthodox little volume—and Mr -Labouchere, afterwards Lord Taunton, and uncle to the better-known -proprietor of _Truth_. - -[117] Chap. ii. p. 80. With Lord Brougham and others, my father, -some years before, had been associated in the movement for the -“Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,” a Society which, in England and -Wales acted as pioneers in the good work of publishing cheap and -wholesome literature, just as in Scotland did the Chambers Brothers. -Unfortunately, Brougham believed himself to be scientific, and -contributed to the series an article so full of mistakes that some -wag immediately dubbed the Society that for the “_Con_fusion of -Useful,” etc. Brougham was a supporter of the postal reform, and my -father found in him more kindliness than the world gave him credit for -possessing. The great lawyer was a very eccentric man, and _Punch_ -caricatured him unmercifully, invariably representing him as clad in -the large-checked “inexpressibles” which he is said to have always -worn because, in a moment of weakness, he had purchased as a bargain -so huge a roll of cloth of that pattern that it supplied him with -those garments for the rest of his days. The story is pretty generally -known of his causing to be published the news of his death, and of his -sitting, very much alive, in a back room of his darkened house, and -reading, with quite pardonable interest, the obituary notices which -appeared in the different newspapers. He wrote an execrable hand, -which varied in degrees of illegibility. The least illegible he and -his secretary alone could read; a worse he only; the very worst, not -even he could decipher, especially if he had forgotten the matter of -which it treated. This story has, of course, been fathered on many -bad writers; but any one possessed of a Brougham autograph must feel -convinced that to none but him could possibly belong its authorship. - -[118] How much mistaken the old warrior was as regards the soldiers' -letters has been abundantly proved. During the first eight months of -postal communication between the United Kingdom and our comparatively -small army in the Crimea—and long, therefore, before the Board School -era—more than 350,000 letters passed each way; while when the Money -Order system, for the first time in history, was extended to the seat -of war, in one year over £100,000 was sent home for wives and families. - -[119] “Life,” i. 352-360. - -[120] When it passed the Lords, Cobden is said to have exclaimed: -“There go the Corn Laws!” - -[121] Colonel Perronet Thompson was the author of the once famous -“Anti-Corn-Law Catechism,” which might, with great advantage, be -reprinted now. He was a public-spirited man, one of the foremost among -the free-traders, and deserves to be better remembered than he is. - -[122] The pamphlet was published at a shilling; in those days of paper -taxation, when books were necessarily dear and correspondingly scarce, -a by no means exorbitant price. - -[123] During a part of Cobden's Parliamentary career and that of his -and our friends, J. B. Smith and Sir Joshua Walmsley, all three men -were next-door neighbours, living in London in three adjoining houses. -Hence Nos. 101, 103, and 105 Westbourne Terrace came to be known as -“Radical Row.” - -[124] “The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago,” p. 24. - -[125] Losses, for example, are often imputed to the Post Office for -which it is entirely blameless. Did space allow, scores of instances -might be cited. One of the most absurd was the case of a London -merchant, who, in the course of very many months, wrote at intervals -angry letters to the Postmaster-General asking why such or such -a letter had not reached its destination. No amount of enquiries -could trace the errant missives; and the luckless Department was, at -corresponding intervals, denounced for its stupidity in equally angry -letters to the Press. One day, while certain city improvements were -being carried out, an ancient pump, near the merchant's office, which -had long refused to yield any water was taken down, when its interior -presented an unusual appearance. An errand-boy had, at odd times, -been sent to post the Firm's letters, and had slipped them into the -narrow slit where once the vanished pump-handle used to work. The -introduction of street letter-boxes was then recent, and their aspect -still unfamiliar. The boy had therefore taken the venerable relic for -one of those novel structures, and all the missing letters lay therein. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -AT THE TREASURY - - -To any one disposed to belief in omens it would seem that the -beginning of Rowland Hill's connection with the Treasury augured ill -for its continuance. Even the letter which invited him to office went -near to miss reaching its destination. - -He had left town for a brief rest after the strenuous work of the -close upon three years' struggle for postal reform, leaving strict -orders at the South Australian Office that if any communication from -the Government intended for him arrived there it should be forwarded -without delay. The document did arrive, but was laid aside to await -the wanderer's return because it bore in the left-hand corner what -seemed to be the signature of a then well-known man connected with -Australian affairs who, at the meetings of the Association, was much -given to bestow on its members much unsought advice and worthless -criticism; and was therefore, by unanimous consent, voted an -insufferable bore. However, when a messenger came from the Treasury -to ask why no notice had been taken of a letter from the Chancellor -of the Exchequer, the alarmed clerk on duty hastened to send on the -belated dispatch, wrapped up as a brown paper parcel, by railway, -as being, to his mind, the most expeditious, apparently because most -novel mode of conveyance. But parcels by rail made slower progress -in those days than in these; and when at last this one reached its -destination its date was hardly of the newest. - -[Illustration: - - _From a Photograph by Messrs. Whiteley & Co._ - -No. 1, ORME SQUARE. - -The residence of Rowland Hill when Penny Postage was established. The -Tablet was put up by the L.C.C.] - -The first interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer was scarcely -satisfactory, but through no fault of Mr Baring, who was but the -mouthpiece of the Cabinet. The Government, as we have seen, offered -a temporary (two years') engagement to a man already provided with -steady employment, and therefore in a fairly good financial position, -as things were then accounted; required him to devote his whole time -to the public service; and to this temporary engagement proposed to -attach the salary of a head clerk. This, too, to a man who, with the -help of thousands of supporters of every class, had just inaugurated -an epoch-making reform destined to confer lasting benefit on his -own country and on the entire civilised world; who was on the wrong -side of forty; and who had a wife and young children to support. The -offer—however intended—could only be described as shabby; and the fact -that during the interview the amount of emolument was twice increased -suggested a hard-bargain-driving transaction rather than a discussion -between friendly negotiators. We have also seen that in 1837 Rowland -Hill, through his friend Mr Villiers, offered to make a present to -the Government of his plan—willing, because he was convinced of its -soundness and workability, to let them have the full credit of its -introduction, but stipulating that if the gift were refused he should -refer his proposals to the Press, and to the country—a gift the -Government had not the courage to accept. It is therefore clear that -monetary greed found no place in my father's temperament, but only the -dread which every prudent husband and father must feel when confronted -with the prospect, in two years' time and at the age of forty-six, of -recommencing the arduous battle of life. - -He told Mr Baring that while he was willing to give his services -gratuitously, or to postpone the question of remuneration till the -new system should have had adequate trial, it would be impossible -for him to enter on such an undertaking were he placed on a footing -inferior to that of the Secretary to the Post Office—a necessary -stipulation if the reformer was to have full power to carry his plan -into operation. He was well aware that the post officials viewed it -and him with unfriendly eyes; and his anxiety was not diminished by -the knowledge that his reform would be developed under another roof -than that of the Treasury, and by the very men who had pronounced the -measure revolutionary, preposterous, wild, visionary, absurd, clumsy, -and impracticable. His opponents had prophesied that the plan would -fail; and as Matthew Davenport Hill, when writing of this subject, -wittily and wisely said: “I hold in great awe prophets who may have -the means of assisting in the fulfilment of their own predictions.” -It was therefore imperative that Rowland Hill's position should be -a well-defined one, and he himself be placed on an equality with -the principal executive officer among those with whose habits and -prejudices he was bound to interfere. The labour would be heavy, -and the conditions were unusual. He must try to turn enemies still -smarting under the bitterness of defeat into allies willing as -well as able to help on the reform they detested; and to persuade -them not to place obstacles in its way. The innovations to be made -would be numerous, because, while reduction of postage and modes of -prepayment formed the principal features of the plan, they were far -from being the only features. The projected increase of facilities for -transmitting letters, etc., would cause an immense amount of extra -work; and as in this matter he would have to contend with the Post -Office almost single-handed, nothing would be easier than for its head -officials to raise plausible objections by the score to every proposal -made. Nor could the public, who had now secured cheap postage and an -easier mode of paying for it—to superficial eyes the only part of the -plan worth fighting for—be henceforth relied upon to give the reformer -that support which was necessary to carry out other important details; -the less so as the reformer would be debarred from appealing for -outside help or sympathy, because, when once the official doorways are -passed, a man's independence is lost, and his lips are perforce sealed. - -The interview was brought to a close by Rowland Hill telling Mr Baring -that before returning a definite answer he must consult his friends; -and that as his eldest brother was away on circuit at Leicester, and -he proposed to start at once for that town to seek fraternal advice, -three days must elapse before the matter could be settled. - -He found his brother lying on a couch in a state of exhaustion after -a very hard day's work, and Rowland proposed to delay discussion of -the question till the following day. But Matthew would not hear of -this; and, getting more and more moved as the younger man proceeded -with his tale, presently sprang upright, and, oblivious of fatigue, -threw himself with ardour into the subject of the offered appointment. -After a while, Matthew proposed to write a letter on his own account -to Rowland, which the latter should hand to the Chancellor of the -Exchequer. This was done the next day, the younger brother writing -to the elder's dictation; and the letter is given at full length in -my father's “Life” and in my brother's “The Post Office of Fifty -Years Ago.” In Matthew's own clear and eloquent language—for he was -as admirable a writer as he was a speaker—are expressed the views -enunciated above, which Rowland had already laid before Mr Baring at -the interview just described. - -Before the Chancellor of the Exchequer and my father met again the -former wrote him a letter explanatory of the course of conduct to -be adopted on his engagement at the Treasury, stating, among other -things, that free access to the Post Office, and every facility of -enquiry as to the arrangements made would be given, but that all “your -communications will be to the Treasury, from which any directions to -the Post Office will be issued; and you will not exercise any direct -authority, or give any immediate orders to the officers of the Post -Office.” The explanation was said to be given “to prevent future -misunderstanding”; and this was doubtless the euphonious mode of -expressing apprehension of a state of things which, in view of the -well-known hostility of St Martin's-le-Grand, the writer felt was -likely to arise; and again mention was made of the condition that -“the employment is considered as temporary, and not to give a _claim_ -to continued employment in office at the termination of those two -years.”[126] - -The prospect was scarcely satisfactory; nevertheless, my father hoped -that by the end of his term of engagement, and by unceasing effort -on his part, he might find himself “in a recognised position, in -direct communication with persons of high authority, and entrusted -with powers which, however weak and limited in the outset, seemed, -if discreetly used, not unlikely in due time to acquire strength -and durability. I was far from supposing that the attainment of my -post was the attainment of my object. The obstacles, numerous and -formidable, which had been indicated in my brother's letter had all, -I felt, a real existence; while others were sure to appear of which, -as yet, I knew little or nothing. Still, I felt no way daunted, but, -relying at once on the efficiency of my plan, I felt confident of -succeeding in the end.”[127] - -The goal at which Rowland Hill aimed was, as he told Mr Baring at -this second interview, the permanent headship—as distinguished from -the political headship—of the Post Office, then filled by Colonel -Maberly:[128] the only position in which the reformer could really -acquire that authority which was essential to the development of his -plan. But the Fates were stronger even than one strong-willed man; and -Colonel Maberly held the post for fifteen years longer. Thus, when the -helm came at last into Rowland Hill's hands, he was long past middle -life; and his years of almost unrestricted influence were destined to -be but few. - -Further encouragement to accept the present position was given by -Mr Baring's friendly, sympathetic attitude; and it should here be -recorded that the longer Rowland Hill served under his chief the -more cordial grew the relations between them. Ample proof of this -confidence was seen in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's increased -readiness to adopt suggestions from the new official, and to leave to -him the decision on not a few questions of importance. - -On the first day of my father's appointment he accompanied Mr Baring -to the Post Office, that being the first time the reformer had set -foot within its portals. He was much interested in the different -processes at work, such as date-stamping, “taxing”—the latter destined -soon, happily, to be abolished—sorting, etc. But the building, which -had been erected at great expense only ten years previously, struck -him as too small for the business carried on in it; badly planned, -badly ventilated, and deficient in sanitary arrangements—a monument -to the fatuity alike of architect and builder. This discovery led -him to think of practicable alterations in the existing edifice and -of devolution in the shape of erection of district offices; and by -Mr Baring's wish he drew up a paper giving his views in detail, -and including with his proposals that necessary accompaniment of -amalgamation into one force of the two corps of letter-carriers, the -general and the “twopenny post” men, which has already been alluded -to. But this greatly needed measure was, perforce, deferred till after -Colonel Maberly's retirement. - -In order the better to get through as much of his projected work as he -could accomplish in the twice twelvemonths before him, my father rose -daily at six, and after an early breakfast set off for the Treasury, -where at first his appearance at an hour when many officials were -probably only beginning to rise caused considerable astonishment, and -where he stayed as long as he could. If even under these circumstances -the progress made seemed slow and unsatisfactory to the man longing to -behold his scheme adopted in its entirety, how much worse would not -the reform have fared had he kept strictly to the hours prescribed by -official custom! - -A few weeks after his acceptance of office, and at Mr Baring's -suggestion, he visited Paris to inspect the postal system there. He -found it in many respects well ahead of our own. In France the old -system never weighed so heavily upon the people as did our own old -system upon us. The charges were about two-thirds of our own for -corresponding distances, but the number of a letter's enclosures -was not taken into consideration, the postage varying according to -weight. Though Paris was much smaller than London, its post offices -were more numerous than ours, being 246 against our 237. There was a -sort of book post, a parcel post for valuables of small dimensions at -a commission paid of 5 per cent.—the Post Office, in case of loss, -indemnifying the loser to the extent of the value of the article; and -a money order system so far in advance of our own that the French -people sent more than double as much money through the post as we -did. The gross revenue was about two-thirds that of the British Post -Office; the expenses 20 per cent. more; the nett revenue less than -half. - -Street letter-boxes were an old institution in France; our own, -therefore, were but an adaptation. The larger towns of Germany -possessed them, as did also the towns and villages of the Channel -Isles. After his visit to France, Rowland Hill urged the Treasury to -adopt street letter-boxes, and one was put up in Westminster Hall. -But it was not till the early 'fifties that they were introduced to -any great extent. Before the establishment of penny postage there -were only some 4,500 post offices in the United Kingdom. In the year -of my father's death (1879), the number had grown to over 13,000, -in addition to nearly 12,000 pillar and wall boxes. And the advance -since 1879 has, of course, been very great.[129] But it is not alone -in number that the change is seen. In the case of post offices, -a handsome edifice full of busy workers has, in many towns and -districts, replaced an insignificant building managed by a few more or -less leisurely officials, or by even one person. - -[Illustration: A POST-OFFICE IN 1790. By permission of the Proprietors -of the _City Press_. - -AN OLD POST OFFICE.] - -It was during this visit to Paris that my father became acquainted -with M. Piron, _Sous Directeur des Postes aux Lettres_, a man whose -memory should not be suffered to perish, since it was mainly through -his exertions that the postal reform was adopted in France. For -several years during the latter part of Louis Philippe's reign, M. -Piron strove so persistently to promote the cause of cheap postage -that he actually injured his prospects of rising in the Service, as -the innovation was strenuously opposed both by the monarch and by the -Postmaster-General, M. Dubost, the “French Maberly.” Therefore, while -the “citizen king” remained on the throne the Government gave little -or no encouragement to the proposed reform. But M. Piron, too much -in earnest to put personal advancement above his country's welfare, -went on manfully fighting for cheap postage. He it was who made the -accidental discovery among the archives of the French Post Office of -documents which showed that a M. de Valayer had, nearly two hundred -years before, established in Paris a private (penny?) post—of which -further mention will be made in the next chapter. Neither Charles -Knight, who first suggested the impressed stamp, nor Rowland Hill, -who first suggested the adhesive stamp, had heard of M. de Valayer or -of his private post; and even in France they had been forgotten, and -might have remained so but for M. Piron's discovery. One is reminded -of the re-invention of the mariner's compass and of many other new-old -things. - -Nine years after my father's official visit to Paris, that is, with -the advent of the Revolution of 1848, the reforming spirit in France -had stronger sway; and M. Piron's efforts were at last crowned with -success. The uniform rate proposed by him (20 centimes) was adopted, -and the stamp issued was the well-known black head of Liberty. In -order to keep pace with the public demand, the first sheets were -printed in such a hurry that some of the heads—the dies to produce -which were then detached from one another—were turned upside down. M. -Piron sent my father one of the earliest sheets with apologies for the -reversals. These are now almost unobtainable, and are therefore much -prized by philatelists. - -During this visit to Paris, or at a later one, my father also made -the acquaintance of M. Grasset, M. St Priest, and other leading post -officials; and, among non-official and very interesting people, M. -Horace Say, son to the famous Jean Baptiste Say, and father to the -late M. Léon Say, three generations of illustrious Frenchmen. - -Although travelling in France—or, indeed, in England or any other -country—was in 1839 very different from what it has become in these -luxurious days, for railways were established later in France than -they were here, my mother had accompanied her husband. One day the -pair set off in a _calèche_ to visit some old friends who lived in a -rather distant part of the country. Darkness came on, and ere long -all trace of the road was lost. At last the wretched little vehicle -broke down in a field; and the driver, detaching the horse, rode off -to try to discover their whereabouts. The process was a slow one; and -the travellers were left alone for what seemed to be many hours. Near -the field was a wood in which wolves had been seen that day, and there -was good reason to dread a visit from them. When at last the driver, -having found the right road, reappeared, attached the horse to the -_calèche_, and pushed on again, he drove his party by mistake to the -back-door of their friends' house. It was now late at night, and the -family, who had retired to rest, and were waked by the driver's loud -knocking, mistook the belated travellers for robbers, and refused -to unbar the door. It was only after a long parley that the wearied -visitors were admitted, to receive, of course, the warmest welcome. -The master of the house had been the hero of an unusually romantic -story. As a young officer in the French army, he was captured at the -time of the unfortunate Walcheren expedition, and carried to England, -there to remain some years as a prisoner of war. While on _parole_ he -made many friends in this country, where he occupied part of his time -by the study of English law, in which he became a proficient. During -his novitiate he became acquainted with a young lady unto whom he was -not long in losing his heart. As he came to know her and her widowed -mother better, a suspicion crossed his mind that the daughter was -being kept out of a handsome property, rightly hers, by a fraudulent -relative. Examination of the case strengthened suspicion into -conviction, and he undertook to champion her cause, his knowledge of -English law coming in as a powerful weapon to his hand. On conclusion -of the trial, he and some of those who had acted with him set off for -the lady's home as fast as horses, post-boys, and money could take -them. “They are scattering guineas!” exclaimed a bystander. “They have -won the case!” It was so, and something more than the case, for the -gallant young Frenchman was rewarded for his prowess by receiving in -marriage the hand of the girl for whom he had accomplished so much. -When the war was over, M. Chevalier returned to France together with -his wife and her mother. - -Heartily as Mr Baring approved of the new system, he still distrusted -the principle of prepayment. In this opinion he was, as we have seen, -not singular. By many people it was still pronounced “un-English” to -prepay letters. But my father was so confident of the wisdom of the -step that Mr Baring ultimately gave way, stipulating only that the -responsibility should rest, not on the Chancellor of the Exchequer, -but on the author of the reform. The condition was unhesitatingly -accepted. - -To ensure use of the stamps, Mr Baring, later, proposed that it -should be made illegal to prepay postage other than by their means; -but Rowland Hill, hating compulsion, and feeling confident of their -ultimate acceptability, maintained that it would be better if at first -the two modes of payment, money and stamps, contended for public -favour on equal terms, and succeeded in convincing Mr Baring of the -soundness of that view. - -The question of the stamps was therefore one of the first to require -my father's attention on his return from Paris; and he found much -to occupy him in dealing with the many suggestions contained in the -letters sent in by the public, and in the vast number of designs -accompanying them. As the succeeding chapter will show, the subject, -in one form or another, took up much of his time for a little over -twelve months. - -Early in December, at his suggestion, the tentative postal rate of -1d. for London, and 4d. for the rest of the kingdom was introduced, -all tiresome extras such as the penny on each letter for using the -Menai and Conway bridges, the halfpenny for crossing the Scottish -border, etc., being abolished. This experiment was made to allow -the postal staff to become familiarised with the new system, as a -vast increase of letters, necessarily productive of some temporary -confusion, was looked for on the advent of the uniform penny rate. -Under the old system 4d. had been the lowest charge beyond the radius -of the “twopenny post”; therefore, even the preliminary reduction -was a relief. But although three years earlier a lowering of the -existing rates to a minimum of 6d. or 8d. would have been eagerly -welcomed, the public were now looking forward to yet lower charges; -and the prospect of paying 4d. was viewed with great dissatisfaction. -People began to suspect that the concession would go no further, that -the Government intended to “cheat the public,” and my father was -accused of having “betrayed his own cause.” Thus easily is a scare -manufactured. - -The result of the first day of this preliminary measure was awaited -with some anxiety. The increase of the fourpenny letters was about 50, -and of the penny letters nearly 150 _per cent._, the unpaid letters -being about as numerous as usual, prepayment being not yet made -compulsory. This state of things my father considered “satisfactory”; -Mr Baring “very much so.” The next day the numbers fell off, and -this gave the enemies of postal reform a delightful, and by no means -neglected, opportunity of writing to its author letters of the “I told -you so!” description. - -The 10th of January 1840, when the uniform penny rate came into -operation, was a busy day at the post offices of the country. -Many people made a point of celebrating the occasion by writing -to their friends, and not a few—some of the writers being entire -strangers—addressed letters of thanks to the reformer.[130] One of -these was from Miss Martineau, who had worked ably and well for the -reform; and another from the veteran authoress, Miss Edgeworth, whom, -some twenty years earlier, Rowland Hill had visited in her interesting -ancestral home.[131] - -At that time, and for many years after, there was at St -Martin's-le-Grand a large centre hall open to the public, but, -later, covered over and appropriated by the ever-growing Circulation -Department. At one end of the hall was a window, which during part of -the day always stood open to receive the different kinds of missives. -These, as the hour for closing drew near, poured in with increasing -volume, until at “six sharp,” when the reception of matter for the -chief outgoing mail of the day ended, the window shut suddenly, -sometimes with a letter or newspaper only half-way through.[132] On -the afternoon of the 10th, six windows instead of one were opened; -and a few minutes before post time a seventh was thrown up, at which -the chief of the Circulation Department himself stood to help in the -receipt of letters. The crowd was good-tempered, and evidently enjoyed -the crush, though towards the last letters and accompanying pennies -were thrown in anyhow, sometimes separating beyond hope of reunion; -and though many people were unable to reach the windows before six -o'clock struck. When the last stroke of the hour had rung out, and -the lower sash of every window had come down with a rush like the -guillotine, a great cheer went up for “penny postage and Rowland -Hill,” and another for the Post Office staff who had worked so well. - -So much enthusiasm was displayed by the public that the author of the -new system fully expected to hear that 100,000 letters, or more than -three times the number usually dispatched, had been posted. The actual -total was about 112,000. - -The reformer kept a constant watch on the returns of the number of -inland letters passing through the post. The result was sometimes -satisfactory, sometimes the reverse, especially when a return issued -about two months after the establishment of the penny rate showed -that the increase was rather less than two-and-three-quarters-fold. -The average postage on the inland letters proved to be three -halfpence; and the reformer calculated that at that rate a -four-and-three-quarters-fold increase would be required to bring up -the gross revenue to its former dimensions. Eleven years later his -calculation was justified by the result; and in the thirteenth year -of the reform the number of letters was exactly five times as many as -during the last year of the old system. - -Meanwhile, it was satisfactory to find that the reductions which had -recently been made in the postage of foreign letters had led to -a great increase of receipts, and that in no case had loss to the -revenue followed. - -One reason for the comparatively slow increase in the number of inland -letters must be attributed to the persistent delay in carrying out my -father's plan for extending rural distribution. In the minute he drew -up, he says: “The amount of population thus seriously inconvenienced -the Post Office has declared itself unable to estimate, but it -is probable that in England and Wales alone it is not less than -4,000,000. The great extent of the deficiency [of postal facilities] -is shown by the fact that, while these two divisions of the empire -contain about 11,000 parishes, their total number of post offices of -all descriptions is only about 2,000. In some places _quasi_ post -offices have been established by carriers and others, whose charges -add to the cost of a letter, in some instances as much as sixpence. A -penny for every mile from the post office is a customary demand.”[133] - -Of the beneficent effects of cheap postage, gratifying accounts were -meanwhile being reported; some told in conversation, or in letters -from friends or strangers, some in the Press or elsewhere. - -One immediate effect was an impetus to education, especially among -the less affluent classes. When one poor person could send another -of like condition a letter for a penny instead of many times that -amount, it was worth the while of both to learn to read and write. -Many people even past middle age tried to master the twin arts; and -at evening classes, some of which were improvised for the purpose, -two generations of a family would, not infrequently, be seen at work -seated side by side on the same school bench. Other poor people, -with whom letter-writing, for lack of opportunity to practise it, -had become a half-forgotten handicraft, made laborious efforts to -recover it. And thus old ties were knit afresh, as severed relatives -and friends came into touch again. Surely, to hinder such reunion by -“blocking” rural distribution and other important improvements was -little, if at all, short of a crime. - -Mr Brookes, a Birmingham home missionary, reported that the -correspondence of the poorer classes had probably increased a -hundredfold; and that adults as well as young people took readily to -prepayment, and enjoyed affixing the adhesive Queen's head outside -their letters. - -Professor Henslow, then rector of Hitcham, Suffolk, wrote of the -importance of the new system to those who cultivated science and -needed to exchange ideas and documents. He also stated that before -penny postage came in he had often acted as amanuensis to his poorer -parishioners, but that they now aspired to play the part of scribe -themselves. - -The servant class, hitherto generally illiterate, also began to indite -letters home; and a young footman of Mr Baring's one day told my -father that he was learning to write in order to send letters to his -mother, who lived in a remote part of the country; and added that he -had many friends who were also learning. Indeed, one poor man, settled -in the metropolis, proudly boasted that he was now able to receive -daily bulletins of the condition of a sick parent living many miles -away. - -Charles Knight found that the reduced rates of postage stimulated -every branch of his trade—an opinion endorsed by other publishers and -book-sellers; and the honorary secretary to the Parker Society, whose -business was the reprinting of the early reformers' works, wrote, two -years after the abolition of the old system, to tell the author of the -new one that the very existence of the Society was due to the penny -post. - -“Dear Rowland,” wrote Charles Knight, in a letter dated 10th May 1843, -“The Poor Law 'Official Circular' to which par. No. 7 chiefly refers, -is one of the most striking examples of the benefit of cheap postage. -It could not have existed without cheap postage. The Commissioners -could not have sent it under their frank without giving it away, which -would have cost them £1,000 a year. It is sold at 4d., including the -postage, which we prepay; and we send out 5,000 to various Boards of -Guardians and others who are subscribers, and who pay, in many cases, -by post office orders. The work affords a profit to the Government -instead of costing a thousand a year.” - -After four years of the new system Messrs Pickford said that their -letters had grown in number from 30,000 to 720,000 _per annum_. -And testimony of similar character was given either in evidence -before the Committee on Postage of 1843, or, from time to time, was -independently volunteered. - -The postal reform not only gave a vast impetus to trade and education, -but even created new industries, among them the manufacture of -letter-boxes and letter-weighing machines—which were turned out in -immense quantities—to say nothing of the making of stamps and of -stamped and other envelopes, etc. - -In two years the number of chargeable letters passing through the post -had increased from 72,000,000 _per annum_ to 208,000,000. Illicit -conveyance had all but ceased, and the gross revenue amounted to -two-thirds of the largest sum ever recorded. The nett revenue showed -an increase the second year of £100,000, and the inland letters were -found to be the most profitable part of the Post Office business.[134] -It is a marvel that the new system should have fared as well as -it did, when we take into consideration the bitter hostility of -the postal authorities, the frequent hindrances thrown in the path -of reform, to say nothing of the terrible poverty then existing -among many classes of our fellow country people under the blighting -influence of Protection and of the still unrepealed Corn Laws; poverty -which is revealed in the many official reports issued during that sad -time, in “S.G.O.'s” once famous letters, and in other trustworthy -documents of those days, whose hideous picture has, later, been -revived for us in that stirring book, “The Hungry Forties.” - -The hindrances to recovery of the postal revenue were in great -measure caused by the delay in carrying out the details of Rowland -Hill's plan of reform. Especially was this the case in the -postponement of the extension of rural distribution—to which allusion -has already been made—one of the most essential features of the plan, -one long and wrongfully kept back; and, when granted, gratefully -appreciated. Issue of the stamps was also delayed, these not being -obtainable for some months after the introduction of the new system; -and there was a still longer delay in providing the public with an -adequate supply.[135] - -The increase of postal expenditure was another factor in the case. -The total charge for carrying the inland mails in 1835—the year -before “Post Office Reform” was written—was £225,920; and it remained -approximately at that figure while the old system continued in force. -Then it went up by leaps and bounds, till by the end of the first year -of the new system (1840) it reached the sum of £333,418. It has gone -on steadily growing, as was indeed inevitable, owing to the increase -of postal business; but the growth of expenditure would seem to be out -of all proportion to the service, great as that is, rendered. By 1868 -the charge stood at £718,000,[136] and before the nineteenth century -died out even this last sum had doubled. - -The following instance is typical of the changes made in this respect. -In 1844 the Post Office _received_ from the coach contractors about -£200 for the privilege of carrying the mail twice a day between -Lancaster and Carlisle. Only ten years later, the same service -performed by the railway cost the Post Office some £12,000 a year.[137] - -Another form of monetary wastefulness through overcharge arose from -misrepresentation as to the length of railway used by the Post Office -on different lines, one Company receiving about £400 a year more -than was its due—although, of course, the true distance was given in -official notices and time-tables. Even when the error was pointed out, -the postal authorities maintained that the charge was correct. - -This lavish and needless increase of expenditure on the part of -the Post Office made Mr Baring as uneasy as it did my father. Not -infrequently when explanations were demanded as to the necessity for -these enhanced payments, evasive or long-delayed replies were given. -Thus Rowland Hill found himself “engaged in petty contests often -unavailing and always invidious”;[138] and in these petty contests -and ceaseless strivings to push forward some item or other of his -plan, much of his time, from first to last, was wasted. Thus, at -the beginning of 1841, when he had been at the Treasury a year and -quarter, it became evident that, unless some improvement took place, -two years or even a longer period would not suffice to carry out the -whole of his plan. - -Before 1841 came to an end he was destined to find the opposing powers -stronger than ever. In the summer of that year the Melbourne Ministry -fell—to the harassed postal reformer a heavy blow. For, if during the -past two years he had not succeeded in accomplishing nearly all he had -hoped to do, still the record of work was far from meagre. But if, -with Mr Baring as an ally, and under a Government among whose members, -so far as he knew, he counted but a single enemy, progress was slow, -he had everything to dread from a Ministry bound to be unfriendly. - -With their advent, conviction was speedily forced upon him that the -end was not far off. The amount and scope of his work was gradually -lessened; minutes on postal matters were settled without his even -seeing them; and minutes he had himself drawn up, with the seeming -approbation of his official chiefs, were quietly laid aside to be -forgotten. On the plea of insufficiency of employment—insufficiency -which was the natural consequence of the taking of work out of his -hands—the number of his clerks was cut down to one; and all sorts of -minor annoyances were put in his way. Meanwhile, the demands from the -Post Office for increased salaries, advances, allowances, etc., which -during the past two years had been frequently sent up to the Treasury, -became more persistent and incessant than ever. - -Rural distribution was still delayed, or was only partially and -unsatisfactorily carried out. Some places of 200 or 300 inhabitants -were allowed a post office, while other centres peopled by 2,000 or -3,000 went without that boon. This plan of rural distribution, whose -object was to provide post offices in 400 registrars' districts which -were without anything of the sort, was, after long waiting, conceded -by the Treasury before the break-up of the Melbourne Ministry; and my -father, unused till latterly to strenuous modes of official evasion, -believed the measure safe. He forgot to take into account the Post -Office's power of passive resistance; and several months were yet to -elapse ere he discovered that Mr Baring's successor had suspended his -predecessor's minute; nor was its real author ever able to obtain -further information concerning it. - -Nor was this all. Letters written by Rowland Hill to the new -Chancellor of the Exchequer on the subject of registration and other -reforms remained unnoticed, as did also a request to be allowed to -proceed with one or two more out of a list of measures which stood -in need of adoption. Later, my father wrote urging that other parts -of his reform should be undertaken, drawing attention to the work -which had already been successfully achieved; and so forth. A brief -acknowledgment giving no answer to anything mentioned in his letter -was the only outcome. At intervals of two months between the sending -of each letter, he twice wrote again, but of neither missive was any -notice taken. - -Among other projects it had been decided that Rowland Hill should go -to Newcastle-on-Tyne to arrange about a day mail to that town; and the -necessary leave of absence was duly granted. He was also desirous of -visiting some of the country post offices; but, being anxious to avoid -possible breach of rule, he wrote to Colonel Maberly on the subject. -The letter was referred to the Postmaster-General, and, after him, to -the Chancellor of the Exchequer: the result being that the sanction to -any portion of the journey was withdrawn. - -One of the worst instances of the official “veiled hostility” to -reform and reformer appeared in a document which my father—who might -easily have given it a harsher name—always called the “fallacious -return,” published in 1843. In this the Post Office accounts were so -manipulated as to make it seem that the Department was being worked -at an annual loss of £12,000 or more. The unfriendly powers had all -along prophesied that the reform could not pay; and now, indeed, they -had a fine opportunity of “assisting in the fulfilment of their own -predictions.” - -Till the new postal system was established, the “packet service” -for foreign and colonial mails had, “with little exception,” been -charged to the Admiralty. In the “fallacious return” the entire amount -(£612,850) was charged against the Post Office. Now, in comparing the -fiscal results of the old and new systems, it was obviously unfair to -include the cost of the packet service in the one and exclude it from -the other. Despite all statements made to the contrary—and a great -deal of fiction relating to postal arithmetic has long been allowed -to pass current, and will probably continue so to do all down the -“ringing grooves of time”—the nett revenue of the Department amounted -to £600,000 _per annum_.[139] - -Another “mistake” lay in under-stating the gross revenue by -some £100,000. On this being pointed out by my father to the -Accountant-General, he at once admitted the error, but said that a -corrective entry made by him had been “removed by order.”[140] And not -only was correction in this case refused, but other “blunders” in the -Post Office accounts on the wrong side of the ledger continued to be -made, pointed out, and suffered to remain. - -In one account furnished by the Department it was found, says my -father, “that the balance carried forward at the close of a quarter -changed its amount in the transit; and when I pointed out this fact -as conclusive against the correctness of the account, it was urged -that without such modification the next quarter's account could not be -made to balance.”[141] Not a very bright example of the application of -culinary operations to official book-keeping because of the ease with -which it could be detected. What wonder that to any one whose eyes are -opened to such ways, faith in official and other statistics should be -rudely shaken! - -The effect of these high-handed proceedings was naturally to foster -mistaken ideas as to postal revenues. - -In 1842 Lord Fitzgerald, during a debate on the income-tax, said that -the Post Office revenue had perished. The statement was speedily -disposed of by Lord Monteagle, who, after pointing out the falseness -of the allegation, declared that the expense of the packet service had -no more to do with penny postage than with the expense of the war in -Afghanistan or China, or the expense of the Army and Navy.[142] - -In the House of Commons, Peel, of course only quoting memoranda which -had been provided for his use, repeated these misleading statistics; -and, later, they have found further repetition even in some of the -Postmaster-General's Annual Reports. - -These frequently recurring instances of thwarting, hindering, and -misrepresentation showed plainly that the working of the postal reform -should not have been entrusted to men whose official reputation was -pledged not to its success but to its failure; and that the “shunting” -of its author on to a Department other than that in which if endowed -with due authority he might have exercised some control, was, to put -the case mildly, a great mistake. - -One ray of comfort came to him in the midst of his troubles. In the -hard times which prevailed in the early 'forties diminution of revenue -was far from being peculiar to the Post Office. The country was -undergoing one of the heaviest of those periodically recurrent waves -of depression which lessen the product of all taxes (or the ability -to pay them) when, in April 1843, my father was able to write in his -diary that the Post Office “revenue accounts show an increase of -£90,000 on the year.... The Post Office is the only Department which -does not show a deficiency on the quarter.”[143] - -In July 1842, the Chancellor of the Exchequer wrote to Rowland Hill -to remind him that his three years' engagement at the Treasury -would terminate in the ensuing September, and adding that he did not -consider it advisable to make any further extension of the period of -engagement beyond the date assigned to it. - -Dreading lest, when the official doors should close behind him, his -cherished reform should be wrecked outright, its author offered -to work for a time without salary. The offer was refused, and the -intended dismissal was announced in Parliament. The news was received -with surprise and indignation there and elsewhere. - -The Liberal Press was unanimous in condemnation of the Government's -conduct, and some of the papers on their own side, though naturally -cautious of tone, were of opinion that Rowland Hill had been harshly -used. The Ministers themselves were probably of divided mind; and -my father, when commenting upon a letter which the Prime Minister -about this time addressed to him, says: “I cannot but think that, -as he wrote, he must have felt some little of that painful feeling -which unquestionably pressed hard upon him in more than one important -passage of his political career.”[144] - -At the last interview the postal reformer had with the Chancellor -of the Exchequer, Mr Goulburn's courteous manner also went “far to -confirm the impression that he feels he is acting unjustly and under -compulsion.”[145] - -One of the most indignant and outspoken of the many letters which -Rowland Hill received was from his former chief, Mr Baring, who -stigmatised the conduct of the Government as “very shabby,” more than -hinted that jealousy was the cause of dismissal, and added that had -the Postmaster-General's plan of letter-registration been carried into -effect, it “would have created an uproar throughout the country.” -It was well known that the head of the Post Office did not feel -too kindly towards the reform, and was bent on charging a shilling -on every registered letter, while Rowland Hill stoutly maintained -that sixpence would be sufficient.[146] Hence the allusion. The -Postmaster-General is said to have demanded his opponent's dismissal, -and as he was credited with being in command of several votes in the -Lower House, his wishes naturally carried weight. - -Cobden gave vent to his disgust in a characteristic letter in which -he suggested that the programme of the Anti-Corn-Law League should be -followed:—a national subscription raised, a demonstration made, and a -seat in Parliament secured. But the programme was not followed. - -Among other letters of sympathy came one from the poet who, as his -epitaph at Kensal Green reminds us, “sang the _Song of the Shirt_.” -Said Hood: “I have seen so many instances of folly and ingratitude -similar to those you have met with that it would never surprise me to -hear of the railway people, some day, finding their trains running on -so well, proposing to discharge the engines.”[147] - -The public, used to nearly four years of the new system, took alarm -lest it should be jeopardised; and the Mercantile Committee, well -entitled as, after its arduous labours, it was to repose, roused -itself to renewed action, and petitioned the Government to carry out -the postal reform in its entirety. - -But the ruling powers were deaf to all protests; and thus to the -list of dismissed postal reformers was added yet one more. First, -Witherings; then, Dockwra; next, Palmer; and now, Hill. - -While giving due prominence to the more salient features of the -intrigue against the postal reform and reformer, the painful narrative -has been as far as possible curtailed. It is, however, well worth -telling if only to serve as warning to any would-be reformer—perhaps -in any field: in the Post Office certainly—of the difficulties that -lie in the path he yearns to tread. Should the reader be inclined to -fancy the picture overdrawn, reference to the “Life of Sir Rowland -Hill,” edited by Dr G. B. Hill, will show that in those pages the -story is told with far more fulness of detail and bluntness of -truth-speaking. - -More than thirty years after Peel had “given Rowland Hill the sack,” -as at the time _Punch_, in a humorous cartoon, expressed it, the real -story of the dismissal was revealed to its victim by one who was -very likely to be well-informed on the subject. It is an ugly story; -and for a long time my brother and I agreed that it should be told -in these pages. Later, seeing that all whom it concerned are dead, -and that it is well, however difficult at times, to follow the good -old rule of _de mortuis nil nisi bonum_, it has seemed wiser to draw -across that relic of the long-ago past a veil of oblivion. - -But here a digression may be made into a several years' later history, -because, however chronologically out of place, it fits in at this -juncture with entire appropriateness. - -It is obvious that no person could succeed in cleansing so Augean a -stable as was the Post Office of long ago without making enemies of -those whose incompetency had to be demonstrated, or whose profitable -sinecures had to be suppressed. Thus even when Rowland Hill's position -had become too secure in public estimation for open attack to be of -much avail, he was still exposed to that powerful “back-stairs” -influence which, by hindering the progress of his reform, had done -both the public service and himself individually much harm. - -Of the reality of this secret hostility, ample proof was from time to -time afforded, none, perhaps, being more striking than the following. -When Lord Canning had been political head of the Post Office for some -months, he one day said to my father: “Mr Hill, I think it right to -let you know that you have enemies in high places who run you down -behind your back. When I became Postmaster-General, every endeavour -was made to prejudice me against you. I determined, however, to judge -for myself. I have hitherto kept my eyes open, saying nothing. But I -am bound to tell you now that I find every charge made against you to -be absolutely untrue. I think it well, however, that you should know -the fact that such influences are being exerted against you.”[148] - -When, at the age of forty-seven, Rowland Hill had to begin the world -afresh, one dread weighed heavily upon his mind. It was that Peel's -Government might advance the postal charges to, as was rumoured, a -figure twice, thrice, or even four times those established by the -reformed system. It was a dread shared by Messrs Baring, Wallace, -Moffatt, and very many more. Great, therefore, was the relief when -the last-named friend reported that the new Postmaster-General had -assured him that there was no danger of the postage rates being -raised.[149] - -After the dismissal by Peel, a long and anxious time set in for the -little household in the then semi-rural precinct of Orme Square, -Bayswater; and again my mother's sterling qualities were revealed. -Reared as she had been in a circle where money was plentiful and -hospitality unbounded, she wasted no time in useless lamentations, but -at once curtailed domestic expenses—those most ruthlessly cut down -being, as, later, our father failed not to tell us, her own. In his -parents' home he had lived in far plainer style than that maintained -in the house of which, for many years, owing to her mother's early -death, she had been mistress. Yet in all that ministered to her -husband's comfort she allowed scarcely any change to be made. At the -same time, there was no running into debt, because she had a hearty -contempt for the practice she was wont to describe as “living on the -forbearance of one's tradespeople.” - -But at last anxiety was changed to relief. One morning a letter -arrived inviting her husband to join the London and Brighton Railway -Board of Directors. Owing to gross mismanagement, the line had long -been going from bad to worse in every way; and an entirely new -directorate was now chosen. The invitation was especially gratifying -because it came from personal strangers. - -My father's connection with the railway forms an interesting chapter -of his life which has been told elsewhere. In a work dealing only with -the postal reform, repetition of the story in detail would be out of -place. One brief paragraph, therefore, shall suffice to recall what -was a pleasant episode in his career. - -The “new brooms” went to work with a will, and the railway soon began -to prosper. The price of shares—notwithstanding the announcement that -for the ensuing half-year no payment of dividends could be looked -for—rose rapidly; ordinary trains were increased in speed and number, -expresses started, and Sunday excursion trains, by which the jaded -dwellers “in populous city pent” were enabled once a week to breathe -health-giving sea-breezes, were instituted; the rolling stock was -improved, and, by the building of branch lines, the Company was ere -long enabled to add to its title “and South Coast.” The invitation -to my father to join the Board met, at the sitting which discussed -the proposal, with but one dissentient voice, that of Mr John Meesom -Parsons of the Stock Exchange. “We want no Rowland Hills here,” he -said, “to interfere in everything; and even, perhaps, to introduce -penny fares in all directions”—a rate undreamed of in those distant -days. He therefore resolved to oppose the unwelcome intruder on -every favourable occasion. The day the two men first met at the -Board, the magnetic attraction, instinct, whatever be its rightful -name, which almost at once and simultaneously draws together kindred -souls, affected both; and forthwith commenced a friendship which in -heartiness resembled that of David and Jonathan, and lasted throughout -life. Mr Parsons, as gleefully as any school-boy, told us the story -against himself on one out of many visits which he paid us; and with -equal gleefulness told it, on other occasions and in our presence, to -other people.[150] - -An incident which occurred four years after the termination of Rowland -Hill's engagement at the Treasury seemed to indicate a wish on Peel's -part to show that he felt not unkindly towards the reformer, however -much he disliked the reform. In the seventh year of penny postage, and -while its author was still excluded from office, the nation showed its -appreciation of Rowland Hill's work by presenting him with a monetary -testimonial. Sir Robert Peel was among the earliest contributors, his -cheque being for the maximum amount fixed by the promoters of the -tribute. Again Mr “Punch” displayed his customary genius for clothing -a truism in a felicitous phrase by comparing Peel's action with that -of an assassin who deals a stab at a man with one hand, and with the -other applies sticking-plaster to the wound. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[126] Letter to Rowland Hill from Mr Baring, dated “Downing Street, -14th September 1839.” - -[127] “Life,” i. 371. - -[128] An amusing character-sketch of Colonel Maberly is to be found in -the pages of Edmund Yates's “Recollections and Experiences.” - -[129] In connection with the putting up of one receptacle in London -not many years ago, a gruesome discovery was made. The ground near St -Bartholomew's Hospital had been opened previous to the erection of a -pillar letter-box, when a quantity of ashes, wood and human, came to -light. “Bart's” looks upon Smithfield, scene of the burning of some of -the martyrs for conscience' sake. No need, then, to ponder the meaning -of these sad relics. They clearly pointed to sixteenth-century man's -inhumanity to man. - -[130] The first person to post a letter under the new system is said -to have been Mr Samuel Lines of Birmingham, Rowland Hill's former -drawing-master, whose portrait hangs in the Art Gallery of that city. -He was warmly attached to his ex-pupil, who, in turn, held the old -man in high esteem, and maintained an occasional correspondence with -him till the artist's death. Determined that in Birmingham no one -should get the start of him, Mr Lines wrote to my father a letter of -congratulation, and waited outside the Post Office till at midnight of -the 9th a clock rang out the last stroke of twelve. Then, knocking up -the astonished clerk on duty, he handed in the letter and the copper -fee, and laconically remarked: “A penny, I believe.” - -[131] Another well-known literary woman, the poetess, Elizabeth -Barrett Browning, according to her “Letters” recently published, wrote -to an American friend earnestly recommending adoption of “our penny -postage, as the most successful revolution since 'the glorious three -days' of Paris”—meaning, of course, the three days of July 1830 (i. -135). - -[132] This window and the amusing scramble outside it are immortalised -in Dickens's pleasant article on the Post Office in the opening -number of _Household Words_, first edition, 30th March 1850. (Our -friend, Mr Henry Wills, already mentioned in the Introductory Chapter, -was Dickens's partner in _Household Words_, and brought the famous -novelist to our house at Hampstead to be dined and “crammed” before -writing the article. It was a memorable evening. No doubt the cramming -was duly administered, but recollection furnishes no incident of this -operation, and only brings back to mind a vivid picture of Dickens -talking humorously, charmingly, incessantly, during the too brief -visit, and of his doing so by tacit and unanimous consent, for no -one had the slightest wish to interrupt the monologue's delightful -flow. His countenance was agreeable and animated; the impression -made upon us was of a man, who, as the Americans aptly put it, is -“all there.” We often saw him both within doors and without, for one -of his favourite walks, while living in Tavistock Square, was up -to Hampstead, across the Heath—with an occasional peep in at “Jack -Straw's Castle,” where friends made a rendezvous to see him—and back -again to town through Highgate. Every one knew him by sight. The word -would fly from mouth to mouth, “Here comes Dickens!” and the lithe -figure, solitary as a rule, with its steady, swinging pace, and the -keen eyes looking straight ahead at nothing in particular, yet taking -in all that was worth noting, would appear, pass, and be lost again, -the while nearly every head was turned to look after him.) Whenever -visitors were shown over the Post Office, they were advised so to time -their arrival that the tour should end a little before 6 P.M., with -a visit to a certain balcony whence a good view could be obtained -of the scene. One day my father escorted the Duchess of Cambridge -and her younger daughter—better known since as Duchess of Teck—over -the Post Office. He was delighted with their society, being greatly -struck with the elder lady's sensible, well-informed talk, and the -lively, sociable manner of the younger one. Both were much amused by -the balcony scene, and Princess Mary entered keenly into the fun of -the thing. She grew quite excited as the thickening crowd pressed -forward faster, laughed, clapped her hands, and audibly besought the -stragglers, especially one very leisurely old dame, to make haste, or -their letters would not be posted in time. - -[133] “Life,” i. 451. In 1841 the census gave the population of -England and Wales as a little under 16,000,000. The delay above -mentioned therefore affected at least a fourth of the number. - -[134] “Report of the Committee on Postage” (1843), p. 29. - -[135] See also chap. vi. - -[136] “Life,” i. 412. - -[137] “First Annual Report of the Postmaster-General, 1854.” - -[138] “Life,” i. 414. - -[139] “Life,” ii. 4, 5. - -[140] “Life,” ii. 87. - -[141] _Ibid_, i. 448. - -[142] “Hansard,” lxiv. 321. - -[143] “Life,” i. 460. - -[144] “Life,” i. 471. - -[145] _Ibid._, i. 468. - -[146] The registration fee is one of the postal charges which have -become smaller since that time, to the great benefit of the public. It -is pleasant to know that the threatened plan of highly-feed compulsory -registration was never carried into effect. - -[147] “Gentle Tom Hood,” as the wittiest of modern poets has been -called, was a friend of old standing. Though little read to-day, some -of his more serious poems are of rare beauty, and his _Haunted House_ -is a marvel of what Ruskin used to call “word-painting.” His letters -to children were as delightful as those of the better-known “Lewis -Carroll.” Hood was very deaf, and this infirmity inclined him, when -among strangers or in uncongenial society, to taciturnity. Guests who -had never met him, and who came expecting to hear a jovial fellow -set the table in a roar, were surprised to see a quiet-mannered man -in evidently poor health, striving, by help of an ear-trumpet, to -catch other people's conversation. But, at any rate, it was _not_ in -our house that the hostess, piqued at the chilly silence pervading -that end of her table which should have been most mirthful, sent her -little daughter down the whole length of it to beg the bored wit to -“wake up and be funny!” Hood had many cares and sorrows, including -the constant struggle with small means and ill-health; and it is -pleasant to remember that when the final breakdown came, Sir Robert -Peel—concealing under a cloak of kindly tactfulness, so kindly that -the over-sensitive beneficiary could not feel hurt—bestowed on the -dying man some sorely-needed monetary assistance. - -[148] This and the previous paragraph are contributed by Mr Pearson -Hill, who was always, and deservedly, entirely in our father's -confidence. - -[149] “Life,” i. 436. The only time, later, when there seemed a chance -of such increase was during the Crimean War, “when,” said my father in -his diary, “being called upon to make a confidential report, I showed -that, though some immediate increase of revenue might be expected -from raising the rate to twopence, the benefit would be more than -counterbalanced by the check to correspondence; and upon this the -project was abandoned.” - -[150] It was during Rowland Hill's connection with the Railway Company -that a riddle appeared in a certain newspaper which was copied into -other papers, and was therefore not slow in reaching our family -circle. It was worded much as follows: “When is Mr Rowland Hill like -the rising sun?—When he tips the little Hills with gold.” We never -knew who originated this delightful _jeu d'esprit_, but our father -was much amused with it, and we children had the best possible reason -for being grateful to its author. The riddle cropped up afresh in -Lord Fitzmaurice's “Life of Lord Granville” (i. 174); but the Duke of -Argyll, then Postmaster-General, is therein made the generous donor. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE STAMPS - - -Between the date of Rowland Hill's leaving the Treasury, and that -of his appointment to the Post Office to take up afresh the work to -which, more than aught else, he was devoted, an interval of about -four years elapsed, during a great part of which, as has just been -mentioned, he found congenial employment on the directorate of the -London and Brighton railway; a little later becoming also a member -of the Board of Directors of two minor lines of railway. But as this -episode is outside the scope of the present work, the four-years-long -gap may be conveniently bridged over by the writing of a chapter on -postage stamps. - -Since their collection became a fashion—or, as it is sometimes -unkindly called, a craze—much has been written concerning them, of -which a great part is interesting, and, as a rule, veracious; while -the rest, even when interesting, has not infrequently been decidedly -the reverse of true. This latter fact is especially regrettable when -the untruths occur in works of reference, a class of books professedly -compiled with every care to guard against intrusion of error. Neglect -of this precaution, whether the result of carelessness or ignorance, -or from quite dissimilar reasons, is to be deplored. No hungry person -cares to be offered a stone when he has asked for bread; nor is it -gratifying to the student, who turns with a heart full of faith to a -should-be infallible guide into the ways of truth, to find that he has -strayed into the realm of fiction. - -The present chapter on stamps merely touches the fringe of the -subject, in no wise resembles a philatelist catalogue, and may -therefore be found to lack interest. But at least every endeavour -shall be made to avoid excursion into fableland. - -Since the story of the postal labels should be told from the -beginning, it will be well to comment here on some of the more glaring -of the misstatements regarding that beginning contained in the -notice on postage stamps which forms part of the carelessly-written -article on the Post Office which appeared in the ninth edition of the -“Encyclopædia Britannica,” vol. xix. p. 585. - -(1) “A postpaid envelope,” the writer declares, “was in common use in -Paris in the year 1653.” - -So far from being “in common use,” the envelope or cover was the -outcome of an aristocratic monopoly granted, as we have seen in a -previous chapter, to M. de Valayer, who, “under royal approbation” set -up “'a private' [penny?][151] post, placing boxes at the corners of the -streets for the reception of letters wrapped up in envelopes which -were to be bought at offices established for that purpose.”[1] To -M. de Valayer, therefore, would seem to belong priority of invention -of the street letter-box, and perhaps of the impressed stamp and -envelope; although evidence to prove that the boon was intended for -public use seems to be wanting. In the days of Louis XIV. how many -of the “common”alty were able to make use of the post? M. de Valayer -also devised printed forms of “billets,” prepaid, and a facsimile of -one is given in the _Quarterly Review's_ article.[152] Like our own -present-day postcards, one side of the billet was to be used for the -address, the other for correspondence; but the billet was a sheet of -paper longer than our postcard, and no doubt it was folded up—the -address, of course, showing—before being posted. There is no trace on -the facsimile of an adhesive stamp. Neither is mention made of any -invention or use of such stamp in France or elsewhere in the year -1670, although some seeker after philatelist mare's-nests a while -since read into the article aforesaid fiction of that sort. - -(2) “Stamped postal letter paper (_carta postale bollata_) was issued -to the public by the Government of the Sardinian States in November -1818; and stamped postal envelopes were issued by the same Government -from 1820 till 1836.” - -There was no such issue “to the public.” For the purpose of collecting -postal duties, “stamped paper or covers of several values, both -with embossed and with impressed stamps, appear to have been used in -the kingdom of Sardinia about the year 1819.”[153] The use of these -stamped covers, etc., was almost entirely limited to one small class -of the community, namely the Ministers of State, and was in force -from about 1819 to 1821 only. “In March 1836, a formal decree was -passed suppressing their further use, the decree being required simply -to demonetise a large stock found unused in the Stamp Office at -Turin.”[1] The Sardinian experiment, like the earlier one of M. de -Valayer in Paris, had but a brief existence, the cause of failure in -both cases being apparently attributable to the absence of uniformity -of rate. - -(3) “Stamped wrappers for newspapers were made experimentally in -London by Mr Charles Whiting, under the name of 'go-frees,' in 1830.” - -In this country Charles Knight—in as complete ignorance as was -my father of M. de Valayer's experiment in the mid-seventeenth -century—has always been considered the first to propose the use of -stamped covers or wrappers for newspapers; and this he did in 1834, -his covers being intended to take the place, as payers of postage, -of the duty stamp, when that odious “tax on knowledge” should be -abolished. Had it been possible under the old postal system to prepay -letter-postage as well as newspaper-postage, what more likely than -that a man so far-seeing as was Mr Knight would also have suggested -the application of his stamp to all mail matter? _Letter_ postage -stamps and prepayment had, of necessity, to await the advent of 1840 -and uniformity of rate.[154] - -(4) “Finally, and in its results most important of all, the adhesive -stamp was made experimentally by Mr James Chalmers in his printing -office at Dundee, in 1834.” - -An untruth followed by other untruths equally astounding. - -Mr Chalmers, when writing of his stamps, has happily supplied -refutation of the fraudulent claim set up for him since his own death -and that of the postal reformer; and as Mr Chalmers is the person -chiefly concerned in that claim, and was a man as honourable as he -was public-spirited, his evidence must necessarily be more valuable -than that of any other witness. He published his suggestions as to -postal reform, etc., in full, with his name and address added, in -the _Post Circular_[155] of 5th April 1838, his paper being dated -8th February of the same year. Specimens of his stamps accompanied -his communication; and in a reprint of this paper made in 1839 he -claimed November 1837 as the date of his “_first_” experiments in -stamp-making—the italics being his own. In none of his writings is -there mention of any earlier experiments; neither is allusion made -to any such in the numerously-signed “certificate” addressed by his -fellow-citizens of Dundee to the Treasury in September 1839. The -certificate eulogises Mr Chalmers' valuable public services, speaks of -his successful efforts in 1825 to establish a 48 hours' acceleration -of the mail-coaches plying between Dundee and London, and recommends -to “My Lords” the adoption of the accompanying “slips” proposed by -him. But nowhere in the certificate is reference made to the mythical -stamps declared, nearly half a century later, to have been made in -1834. Yet some of these over one hundred signatories must have been -among the friends who, according to the fable, visited Mr Chalmers' -printing office in that year to inspect those early stamps. An -extraordinary instance of wholesale forgetfulness if the stamps had -had actual existence.[156] The “slips” made “_first_” in November 1837 -were narrow pieces of paper of which one end bore the printed stamp, -while the other end was to be slipped under the envelope flap—a clumsy -device, entailing probable divorce between envelope and “slip” during -their passage through the post. The fatal objection to all his stamps -was that they were type-set, thereby making forgery easy. In every -case the stamps bear the face-value proposed by Rowland Hill in his -plan of reform—a penny the half, and twopence the whole ounce. Not -only did Mr Chalmers _not_ invent the stamp, adhesive or otherwise, -but of the former he disapproved on the ground of the then supposed -difficulty of gumming large sheets of paper.[157] - -It may be added that copies of the _Post Circular_ figure in the “Cole -Bequest” to the South Kensington Museum; and if a very necessary -caution addressed to the custodians there while the Chalmers claim was -being rather hotly urged has received due attention, those documents -should still be in the Museum, unimpeachable witnesses to the truth. - -This claim to priority of invention, or of _publication_ of invention, -of the stamps which, with culpable carelessness, obtained recognition -in the pages of the “Encyclopædia Britannica” has no foundation in -fact. The writer of the article on the Post Office in “Chambers's -Encyclopædia,” ix. 677 (edition 1901), is far better informed on the -subject of which he treats, though even he says that “Both” [men] -“seem to have hit on the plan independently; but,” he adds, with true -discernment of the weakest feature of the claim, “the use of adhesive -postage stamps, without uniform rates, and at a time when the practice -of sending letters unpaid was almost universal, would obviously have -been impossible.” - -This impossibility has already been demonstrated in the present -work in the chapter on “The Old System.” The simple explanation -of the cause which prompted Mr Chalmers, late in 1837, to make -designs for the stamps is not far to seek. At some time during the -intervening months he had read “Post Office Reform,”[158] opened up a -correspondence with its author—till then an entire stranger—and joined -the ranks of those who were helping on the reform. It is a pity that -in the attempt to fix upon this public-spirited man credit for an -invention which was not his, the good work he actually accomplished -should be frequently lost sight of. - -The “Dictionary of National Biography” also too readily gave -countenance to the Chalmers fable, a decision perhaps explained by the -priority of position accorded in the alphabet to C over H. An accident -of this sort gives a misstatement that proverbial long start which is -required for its establishment, and naturally handicaps truth in the -race; the consequence being that rectification of error is not made, -and the later article is altered to bring it into seeming agreement -with the earlier.[159] - -On the other hand, the conductors of “Chambers's Encyclopædia” -evidently recognise that a work of reference should be a mine of -reliable information, one of their most notable corrections in a -later edition of a mistake made in one earlier being that attributing -the suppression of garrotting to the infliction on the criminals of -corporal punishment—an allegation which, however, often asserted by -those outside the legal profession, has more than once been denied by -some of the ablest men within it. - -No notice would have been taken in these pages of this preposterous -claim were it not that the two works of reference whose editors or -conductors seem to have been only too easily imposed upon have a -wide circulation, and that until retraction be made—an invitation -to accord which, in at least one case, was refused for apparently -a quite frivolous reason—the foolish myth will in all probability -be kept alive. The fraud was so clumsily constructed that it was -scarcely taken seriously by those who know anything of the real -history of the stamps, impressed and adhesive; and surprise might be -felt that sane persons should have put even a passing faith in it, -but for recollection that—to say nothing of less notorious cases—the -once famous Tichborne claimant never lacked believers in his equally -egregious and clumsily constructed imposture. - -How little the Chalmers claimant believed in his own story is shown -by his repeated refusal to accept any of the invitations my brother -gave him to carry the case into Court. Had the claim been genuine, -its truth might then and there have been established beyond hope of -refutation. - -In all probability most of the claimants to invention of the postage -stamp—they have, to our knowledge, numbered over a dozen, while the -claimants to the entire plan of reform make up at least half that -tale—came from the many competitors who, in response to the Treasury's -invitation to the public to furnish designs, sent in drawings and -written suggestions.[160] What more natural than that, as years went -past and old age and weakened memory came on, these persons should -gradually persuade themselves and others that not only had they -invented the _designs_ they sent up for competition, but also the very -_idea_ of employing stamps with which to pay postage? Even in such a -strange world as this, it is not likely that _all_ the claimants were -wilful impostors.[161] - -Rowland Hill's first proposal in regard to the postage stamps was -that they and the envelopes should be of one piece, the stamps being -printed on the envelopes. But some days later the convenience of -making the stamp separate, and therefore adhesive, occurred to him; -and he at once proposed its use, describing it, as we have seen, as -“a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp, and covered at -the back with glutinous wash,” etc. As both stamps are recommended in -“Post Office Reform” as well as in its author's examination before the -Commissioners of Post Office Inquiry in February 1837, it is clear -that priority of _suggestion_ as well as of _publication_ belong to -Rowland Hill.[162] - -By 1838 official opinion, though still adverse to the proposal to tax -letters by weight, had come to view with favour the idea of prepayment -by means of stamps. Still, one of the chief opponents enumerated as -many as nine classes of letters to which he thought that stamps would -be inapplicable. The task of replying to eight of these objections -was easy enough; with the ninth Rowland Hill was fain to confess his -inability to deal. Stamps, it was declared, would be unsuitable to -“half-ounce letters weighing an ounce or more.”[163] - -That the stamps—whatever should be the design chosen—would run risk -of forgery was a danger which caused no little apprehension; and the -Chairman of the Board of Stamps and Taxes (Inland Revenue) proposed -to minimise that risk by having them printed on paper especially -prepared. In the case of the envelopes bearing the embossed head, the -once famous “Dickinson” paper, which contained fine threads of silk -stretched across the pulp while at its softest, was that chosen. It -was believed to be proof against forgery, and was in vogue for several -years, but has long fallen into disuse. - -The Government, as we have seen, decided in July 1839 to adopt the -plan of uniform penny postage, including the employment of “stamped -covers, stamped paper, and stamps to be used separately,”[164] and -invited the public to furnish designs for these novel objects. In -answer to the appeal came in some 2,600 letters containing suggestions -and many sets of drawings, of which forty-nine varieties alone were -for the adhesive stamps. It was, if possible, an even less artistic -age than the present—though, at least, it adorned the walls of its -rooms with something better than tawdry _bric-à-brac_, unlovely -Japanese fans, and the contents of the china-closet—and in most cases -beauty of design was conspicuous by its absence, a fault which, -coupled with others more serious, especially that of entire lack of -security against forgery, fore-doomed the greater number of the essays -to rejection.[165] - -To become a financial success it was necessary that the stamps should -be produced cheaply, yet of workmanship so excellent that imitation -could be easily detected. Now there is one art which we unconsciously -practise from infancy to old age—that of tracing differences in -the human faces we meet with. It is this art or instinct which -enables us to distinguish our friends from strangers; and it was, -perhaps, recognition of this fact that long ago led to the placing -on the coinage of the portrait of the reigning monarch because it -was familiar to the public eye, and therefore less likely than any -other face to be counterfeited. In an engraving of some well-known -countenance, any thickening or misplacing of the facial lines makes -so great an alteration in features and expression that forgery is -far more easily detected than when the device is only a coat-of-arms -or other fanciful ornament.[166] For this reason, therefore, it was -decided in 1839 to reproduce on the postage stamp the youthful Queen's -head in profile designed by Wyon for the money of the then new reign, -daily use of which coinage was making her face familiar to all her -people. The head is also identical with that on the medal—likewise by -Wyon—which was struck to commemorate her first State visit to the city -in November 1837. - -The stamp then being difficult to counterfeit, and worth but little -in itself, while the machinery employed to produce it was costly, -the reason is obvious why, so far as is known, only two attempts, -and those so clumsy that one wonders who could have wasted time in -forging the things, were made to imitate the finely executed, earliest -“Queen's head.”[167] - -The design was engraved by hand on a single steel matrix, the head, -through the agency of this costly machinery, being encompassed by -many fine, delicately-wrought lines. The matrix was then hardened, -and used to produce impressions on a soft steel roller of sufficient -circumference to receive twelve repetitions, the beautiful work of -the original matrix being therefore repeated, line for line, in every -stamp printed. The roller, being in turn hardened, reproduced, under -very heavy pressure, its counterpart on a steel plate a score of -times, thus making up the requisite 240 impressions which cause each -sheet to be of the value of one sovereign.[168] - -Absolute uniformity was thus secured at comparatively little cost. -The ingenious process was invented by Mr Perkins,[169] of the firm -of Perkins, Bacon & Co. of Fleet Street, who, during the first forty -years of the reformed postal system, printed some 95/100ths of our -postage stamps, and in that space of time issued nearly 21,000,000,000 -of penny adhesives alone.[170] Later, the contract passed into -the hands of Messrs De La Rue, who hitherto, but long after 1840, -had merely printed stamps of a few higher values than the penny -and twopenny issue. In at least one work of fiction, however, the -impression is conveyed that the latter firm from the first enjoyed the -monopoly of stamp production of all values. - -About midway in the 'fifties a serious fire broke out on Messrs -Perkins & Co.'s premises, and much valuable material was destroyed. -Investigation of the salvage showed that barely two days' supply -of stamps remained in stock; and some anxiety was felt lest these -should become exhausted before fresh ones could be produced, as even -a temporary return to prepayment by coin of the realm would by this -time have been found irksome. But with characteristic zeal, the firm -at once recommenced work, and only a few people were ever aware how -perilously near to deadlock the modern postal machine had come. It was -after this fire that the crimson hue of the penny adhesive was altered -to a sort of brick-red. The change of colour—one of several such -changes exhibited by the red stamp—is duly recorded in Messrs Stanley -Gibbon & Co.'s catalogue, though the probably long-forgotten accident -with which it would seem to be connected is not mentioned. - -The reasons for the four months' long delay in the issue of the stamps -were twofold. They were, first, the more or less open hostility of -the Post officials to both reform and reformer, which, as has been -stated, caused all sorts of hindrances to be strewn in the path of -progress; and, secondly, the apprehension still felt by the Government -that the public would not take kindly to prepayment. The stamps -ought, of course, to have been issued in time to be used by the 10th -January 1840, when the new system came into force. When they were at -last forthcoming, none were forwarded to the receiving offices till -complaint was made. The fault was then found to lie with the wording -of the Treasury letter giving the requisite directions. Later, another -difficulty arose. The Stamp Office persisted in issuing the stamped -covers in entire sheets as they were printed, and the Post Office -refused to supply them uncut to the receivers. Three days alone were -wasted over this wrangle. A week later the Post Office, which had -formally undertaken the distribution of the covers, discovered that -such work was beyond its powers. For a month after the first issue of -the stamps the receiving offices remained unsupplied. - -While the Government and others still cherished the delusion that the -recipient of a letter would feel insulted if denied the time-honoured -privilege of paying for it, the delayed publication of the stamps was -less to be regretted since it enabled the experiment to be first tried -with money only. - -The official forecast was at fault. From the very start, and with -the best will in the world, the public, when posting letters, put -down pennies and missives together, and when the stamps—called by -would-be wits the “Government sticking-plasters”—at last appeared, the -difficulty was not to persuade people to make use of them, but to get -them supplied fast enough to meet the popular demand. - -While the stamps were still new that large section of mankind which -never reads public instructions was occasionally at a loss where to -affix the adhesive. Any corner of the envelope but the right one would -be chosen, or, not infrequently, the place at the back partly occupied -by the old-fashioned seal or wafer. Even the most painstaking of -people were sometimes puzzled, and a certain artist, accustomed, like -all his brethren of the brush, to consider that portion of his canvas -the right hand which faced his left, was so perplexed that he carried -to the nearest post office his letter and stamp, knocked up the clerk, -and when the latter's face appeared at the little unglazed window of -the ugly wooden screen which is now superseded everywhere, perhaps -save at railway booking offices, by the more civilised open network, -asked politely, “Which do you call the right hand of a letter?” “ -We've no time here for stupid jokes,” was the surly answer, and the -window shut again directly. - -A similar rebuff was administered to a man who, while travelling, -called for letters at the post office of a provincial town. He was -the unfortunate possessor of an “impossible” patronymic. “What name?” -demanded the supercilious clerk. “Snooks,” replied the applicant; -and down went the window panel with a bang, accompanied by a forcibly -expressed injunction not to bother a busy man with idiotic jests. - -To the post office of, at that time, tiny Ambleside, came one day a -well-to-do man to buy a stamp to put on the letter he was about to -post. “Is this new reform going to last?” he asked the postmaster. -“Certainly,” was the reply; “it is quite established.” “Oh, well, -then,” said the man, resolved to give the thing generous support, -“give me _three_ stamps!” Not much of a story to tell, perhaps, but -significant of the small amount of letter-writing which in pre-penny -postage days went on even among those well-to-do people who were not -lucky enough to enjoy the franking privilege. - -The postal employees also showed their strangeness to the new order of -things by frequently forgetting to cancel the stamps when the letters -bearing them passed through the post—thereby enabling dishonest people -to defraud the Department by causing the unobliterated labels to -perform another journey. Many correspondents, known and unknown, sent -Rowland Hill, in proof of this carelessness, envelopes which bore such -stamps. Once a packet bearing four uncancelled stamps reached him. - -The Mulready envelope had met with the cordial approbation of the -artist's fellow Royal Academicians when it was exhibited in Council -previous to its official acceptance; though one defect, palpable to -any one of fairly discerning ability, had apparently escaped the -eighty possibly somnolent eyes belonging to “the Forty”—that -among the four winged messengers whom Britannia is sending forth in -different directions seven legs only are apportioned. The envelope -failed to please the public; it was mercilessly satirised and -caricatured, and ridicule eventually drove it out of use. So vast a -number of “Mulreadies” remained in stock, however, that, on their -withdrawal, a machine had to be constructed to destroy them. There -were no philatelists then to come to their rescue. - -[Illustration: THE MULREADY ENVELOPE.] - -Forgery of the stamps being out of the question, fraudulent people -devoted their energies to getting rid of the red ink used to -obliterate the black “pennies” in order to affix these afresh to -letters as new stamps. The frauds began soon after the first issue of -the adhesives, for by the 21st of May my father was already writing -in his diary of the many ingenious tricks which were practised. -Cheating the Post Office had so long been an established rule, that -even when postage became cheap, and the public shared its benefits -impartially—peer and Parliamentarian now being favoured no more highly -than any other class—the evil habit did not at once die out. - -In some cases the fraud was palpable and unabashed. For example, Lord -John Russell one day received a sheet of paper, the label on which -had been washed so mercilessly that the Queen's features were barely -discernible. The difficulty of dealing with the trouble was, of -course, intensified by the fact that whereas the stamps were impressed -on the paper by powerful machinery, and had had time to dry, the -obliterations were made by hand,[171] and were fresh—a circumstance -which, in view of the tenacity of thoroughly dried ink, gave a great -advantage to the dishonest. - -At this juncture an ink invented by a Mr Parsons was favourably -reported on as an obliterant, but it shortly yielded to the skill -of Messrs Perkins & Co.; and the stamp-cleaning frauds continuing, -several of our leading scientific men, including Faraday, were -consulted. As a result, new obliterating inks, red and black, were -successively produced, tested, and adopted, but only for a while. Some -of the experiment-makers lived as far off as Dublin and Aberdeen; -and Dr Clark, Professor of Chemistry at the University of the latter -city, came forward on his own account, and showed his interest in the -cause by making or suggesting a number of experiments. Many people, -indeed, went to work voluntarily, for the interest taken in the matter -was widespread, and letters offering suggestions poured in from many -quarters. But apparently the chemically skilled among the rogues were -abler than those employed by the officials, since the “infallible” -recipes had an unlucky knack of turning out dismal failures. -Therefore, after consultation with Faraday, it was resolved that, so -soon as the stock of stamps on hand became exhausted, an aqueous ink -should be used both for the stamps and for the obliteration, ordinary -black printing ink being meanwhile employed for the latter process. -Professor Phillips and Mr Bacon, of the firm of Perkins & Co., at the -same time undertook to procure a destructive oleaginous ink to be used -in the printing of the new stamp. - -It was hoped that thoroughly good printer's ink would be found -efficacious for obliterating purposes; but ere long a chemist named -Watson completely removed the obliteration. He then proposed for use -an obliterative ink of his own invention, which was tried, but proved -to be inconveniently successful, since it both injured the paper -and effaced the writing near the stamp. Its use had therefore to be -abandoned. - -The trouble did not slacken, for while Mr Watson was laboriously -removing the black printing ink from the black pennies, and making -progress so slowly that, at a like rate, the work could not have -repaid any one, honest or the reverse, for the time spent upon it, -Mr Ledingham, my father's clerk, who had throughout shown great -enthusiasm in the cause, was cleaning stamps nine times as fast, or -at the rate of one a minute—a process rapid enough to make the trick -remunerative. - -Ultimately, it occurred to Rowland Hill that “as the means which were -successful in removing the printing ink obliterant were different from -those which discharged Perkins' ink, a secure ink might perhaps be -obtained by simply mixing the two.”[172] The device succeeded, the -ink thus formed proving indestructible; and all seemed likely to go -well, when a fresh and very disagreeable difficulty made its unwelcome -appearance. To enable this ink to dry with sufficient rapidity, a -little volatile oil had been introduced, and its odour was speedily -pronounced by the postal officials to be intolerable. Happily, means -were found for removing the offence; and at length, a little before -the close of the year, all requirements seemed to be met.[173] - -It had been a time of almost incessant anxiety. For more than six -months there had been the earlier trouble of securing a suitable -design for the stamps, and then, when selected, the long delay in -effecting their issue; and now, during another six months, this later -trouble had perplexed the officials and their many sympathisers. -In the end, the colour of the black penny was changed to red, the -twopenny stamp remaining blue. Thenceforth, oleaginous inks were -used both for printing and for obliterating; the ink for the latter -purpose being made so much more tenacious than that used to print -the stamp that any attempt to remove the one from the other, even -if the destruction of both did not follow, must at least secure the -disappearance of the Queers head. A simple enough remedy for the evil, -and, like many another simple remedy, efficacious; yet some of the -cleverest men in the United Kingdom took half a year to find it out. - -Before trial it was impossible to tell which of the two kinds of -stamps would be preferred: the one impressed upon the envelope and so -forming a part of it, or the other, the handy little adhesive. Rowland -Hill expected the former to be the favourite on account of its being -already in place, and therefore less time-consuming. Moreover, as a -man gifted with a delicate sense of touch, the tiny label which, when -wet, is apt to adhere unpleasantly to the fingers, attracted him less -than the cleanlier embossed stamp on the envelope; and perhaps he -thought it not unlikely that other people would be of like mind. But -from the first the public showed a preference for the adhesive; and -to this day the more convenient cover with the embossed head has been -far seldomer in demand. It is not impossible that if the present life -of feverish hurry and high pressure continues, and even intensifies, -the reformer's expectations as regards the choice of stamps may yet -be realised. It may have been the expression of this merely “pious -opinion” on his part which gave rise to some absurd fables—as, for -instance, that he recommended the adhesive stamp “very hesitatingly,” -and only at the eleventh hour; that he sought to restrict the public -to the use of the impressed stamp because he preferred it himself; and -rubbish of like sort. - -From the time that Rowland Hill first planned his reform till the day -when his connection with the Post Office terminated, his aim ever was -to make of that great Department a useful servant to the public; and -all who knew what was his career there were well aware that when at -length he had beaten down opposition, that object was attained. He -was the last man likely to allow personal predilections or selfish or -unworthy considerations of any kind to stand before the welfare of the -service and of his country. - -[Illustration: - - _From a Photograph by Maull and Polyblank._ - -SIR ROWLAND HILL.] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[151] “Life,” i. 377. It is curious that neither in the article on -the French Post Office in the “Encyclopædia Brittanica” nor in that -in Larousse's “_Dictionnaire du XIXe Siècle_” is mention made of M. -de Valayer or M. Piron. Whether the real worthies are excluded from -the articles in order to make room for the fustian bound to creep in, -it would be difficult to say. But, while perusing these writings, -a saying of my brother's often returns to mind. “I have never,” he -declared, “read any article upon the postal reform, friendly or the -reverse, which was free from misstatements.” - -[152] No. 128, p. 555. - -[153] “The Origin of Postage Stamps,” p. 7. By Pearson Hill. Here is a -story of a “find” that is more interesting than that at Turin or that -of M. Piron already alluded to, because it comes nearer home to us. -About the middle of the nineteenth century, and during the demolition -in London of some old houses which had long been appropriated to -governmental use, and were now abandoned, the discovery was made of -a large number of the paper-duty stamps, issued by George III.'s -Ministry in order to tax the “American Colonies.” When the obnoxious -impost was cancelled, and the many years long revolt had become a -successful revolution, the ex-colonies thenceforth assuming the -title of “The United States,” the stamps became waste material, and -were thrown into a cupboard, and forgotten. At the time of their -reappearance, the then Chairman of the Board of Stamps and Taxes -(Inland Revenue Office), Mr John Wood, gave half a dozen of them to -Rowland Hill, as curiosities; and one is still in my possession. -Another was given by my father to the American philanthropist, Mr -Peabody, then visiting this country, who was greatly interested in -the discovery. Now it would be just as correct to say that the tax -had been imposed on the American Colonies—of course it never _was_ -imposed, since, as we know, payment was from the first refused—till -the middle of the nineteenth century, simply because the stamps were -only found some eighty years after their supersession, as it is to -say that the Sardinian “stamped postal letter paper” and “stamped -postal envelopes” were employed till 1836, in which year, after long -disuse, they were formally abolished. But the manner and matter of the -“Encyclopædia Britannica's” article on the Post Office and the stamps -are not what they should be, and much of them would reflect discredit -on the average school-boy. - -[154] Prepayment, as has been stated, was not actually unknown, but -was so rare as to be practically non-existent. - -[155] The _Post Circular_ was a paper set up temporarily by the -“Mercantile Committee” to advocate the reform. It was ably edited by -Mr Cole, and had a wide circulation. - -[156] The stamps were probably exhibited at the Dundee printing -office, any time between November 1837 and September 1839—at which -later date they were sent to London. - -[157] Published in February of that year. - -[158] Published in February of that year. - -[159] Dr Birkbeck Hill, on one occasion, told me that in the article -on my father which he was asked to write for the D.N.B. he said of -the adhesive stamp that its invention had been “wrongfully attributed -to Mr James Chalmers”—words which nowhere appear in the article as -it now stands. “The proprietors of the 'Encyclopædia Britannica,'” -wrote my brother in “The Origin of Postage Stamps,” pp. 14, 15 (note), -“did not avail themselves of the offer I had made to place them in -communication with those from whom official information could be best -obtained—indeed, they appear to have made no application to the Post -Office for information of any kind.... Meanwhile, as it afterwards -turned out, they were abundantly supplied with Mr P. Chalmers' _ex -parte_, and, to say the least, singularly inaccurate statements. -With the editor of the 'Dictionary of National Biography' I had no -communication whatever.” Is it after this careless fashion that much -of our “island story” is compiled? If so, what wonder that long before -the present day wise men should have declared that all history needed -to be rewritten? - -[160] One of these claimants was a man connected with a well-known -national museum; and his pretensions were to us a never-failing source -of amusement. He was distinguished for two peculiarities: one being a -passion for slaughtering the reputations of his friends; the other, -the misappropriation to his own credit of all originality in any -reforms or inventions projected by them. So far as I am aware, only -one claimant was of my own sex; and she, at least, had the courage of -her opinions, for, instead of biding her time till the postal reformer -was no more, the poor insane creature wrote direct to him, saying she -was the originator of the entire plan, and begging him to use his -influence with the Government to obtain for her an adequate pension. -The stories connected with some of the other claims are quite as -curious as the foregoing. - -[161] Inaccuracy of memory applies to other things than invention -of postage stamps. Here is a curious instance. “Sir John Kaye, in -writing his history of the Sepoy War, said he was often obliged to -reject as convincing proof even the overwhelming assertion, 'But I was -there.' 'It is hard,' he continues, 'to disbelieve a man of honour -when he tells you what he himself did; but every writer long engaged -in historical enquiry has had before him instances in which men, -even after a brief lapse of time, have confounded in their minds the -thought of doing, or the intent to do, a certain thing with the fact -of actually having done it. Indeed, in the commonest affairs of daily -life we often find the intent mistaken for the act, in retrospect.' -Kaye was writing at a period of not more than ten to twelve years -after the events which he was narrating. When you extend ten years -to twenty or twenty-four, memories grow still more impaired, and -the difficulty of ensuring accuracy becomes increasingly greater.” -(Thus “The Reformer,” A. and H. B. Bonner, vii. 36, 37.) Most of -the claims to invention of the postage stamp seem to have been made -considerably more than ten, twelve, twenty, or twenty-four years after -its introduction—some of them curiously, or, at any rate, opportunely -enough, forty years or so after; that is about the time of Rowland -Hill's death, or but little later. - -[162] For the adhesive stamp, see “Post Office Reform,” p. 45, and -“Ninth Report of the Commissioners of Post Office Inquiry,” p. 38. -The impressed stamp is mentioned in “Post Office Reform” at p. 42, -and also in that “Ninth Report.” The writer of the “Encyclopædia -Britannica's” article (xix. 585), while quoting Rowland Hill's -description of the adhesive stamp, adds: “It is quite a fair inference -that this alternative had been suggested from without,” but gives no -reason for hazarding so entirely baseless an assertion. The article, -indeed, bears not a few traces of what looks like personal malice; and -it is a pity that the editorial revising pen, whether from indolence -or from misunderstanding of the subject on its wielder's part, was -suffered to lie idle. - -[163] These are the actual words made use of. See “Second Report of -the Commissioners of Post Office Inquiry,” Question 11,111. - -[164] Thus the Treasury Minute. - -[165] “In the end there were selected from the whole number of -competitors four whose suggestions appeared to evince most ingenuity,” -wrote my father. “The reward that had been offered was divided -amongst them in equal shares, each receiving £100” (“Life,” i. 388). -Sir Henry Cole gives their names as follows:—“Mr Cheverton, Mr C. -Whiting, myself, and, I believe, Messrs Perkins, Bacon & Co. After the -labour,” he adds, “of reading the two thousand five” (?six) “hundred -proposals sent to the Treasury, 'My Lords' obtained from them no other -modes of applying the postage stamp than those suggested by Mr Hill -himself—stamped covers or half sheets of paper, stamped envelopes, -labels or adhesive stamps, and stamps struck on letter-paper -itself.”—(“Fifty Years of Public Life,” i. 62, 65, 66.) - -[166] So profoundly did Rowland Hill feel the importance of this fact -that he invariably scouted a suggestion occasionally made in the early -days of the postal reform that his own head should appear on at least -one of the stamps. The some-time postmaster of New Brunswick, who -caused his portrait to adorn a colonial stamp now much sought after by -philatelists on account, perhaps, of its rarity, for it was speedily -abolished, seems to have been of quite a different frame of mind. - -[167] This earliest stamp was a far finer and more artistic piece of -workmanship than any of its successors; and has only to be compared -with the later specimens—say, for example, with King Edward's head on -the halfpenny postcards and newspaper bands—to see how sadly we have -fallen behind some other nations and our own older methods, at any -rate in the art of engraving, or, at least, of engraving as applied to -the postage stamp. - -[168] In the paper drawn up by Rowland Hill, “On the Collection of -Postage by Means of Stamps,” and issued by the Mercantile Committee -in June 1839, he had recommended that, for convenience' sake, the -stamp should be printed on sheets each containing 240, arranged in -twenty rows of twelve apiece; and they are so printed to this day. It -has been asserted that at first the sheets were printed in strips of -twelve stamps each; but there is no truth in the statement. Archer's -perforation patent, which makes separation of the adhesives easy, and -is therefore a boon to the many of us who are often in a hurry, was -not adopted before the mid-'fifties. - -[169] His father, an American, was the inventor of the once famous -air-gun. - -[170] Fifteen years after the issue of the first stamps, during which -time more than 3,000,000,000 had been printed, it was deemed advisable -to make a second matrix by transfer from the first. It had become -necessary to deepen the graven lines by hand, but the work was so -carefully done that the deviation in portraiture was very slight. - -[171] And a hasty hand, too, for in those days of manual labour there -was a keen race among the stampers as to who, in a given time, should -make the greatest number of obliterations. The man whose record stood -habitually highest was usually called on to exhibit his prowess to -visitors who were being escorted over the Department. - -[172] Rowland Hill's Journal, 9th November 1840. - -[173] “Life,” i. 399-407. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -AT THE POST OFFICE - - -As the evident weakening of Peel's Government became more marked, the -thoughts of the man who had been sacrificed to official intrigues, and -unto whom it was, as he pathetically writes, “grief and bitterness to -be so long kept aloof from my true work,” turned longingly towards -the Post Office and to his insecurely established and only partially -developed plan. With a change of Ministry, better things must surely -come. - -His hopes were realised. In 1846 the Peel Administration fell, and -Lord John (afterwards Earl) Russell became Prime Minister. The public -voice, clearly echoed in the Press, demanded Rowland Hill's recall to -office, there to complete his reform.[174] - -One of the first intimations he received of his probable restoration -was a letter from Mr Warburton advising him to be “within call if -wanted.” A discussion had risen overnight in Parliament. Mr Duncombe -had complained of the management of the Post Office, and so had Mr -Parker, the Secretary to the Treasury. The new Postmaster-General, -Lord Clanricarde, it was reported, had found “the whole establishment -in a most unsatisfactory condition”; and the new Prime Minister -himself was “by no means satisfied with the state of the Post Office,” -and did not “think the plans of reform instituted by Mr Hill had been -sufficiently carried out.” Messrs Hume and Warburton urged Mr Hill's -recall.[175] - -Several of the good friends who had worked so well for the reform both -within and without Parliament also approached the new Government, -which, indeed, was not slow to act; and my father entered, not, as -before, the Treasury, but his fitter field of work—the Post Office. -The whirligig of time was indeed bringing in his revenges. An entire -decade had elapsed since the reformer, then hopeful and enthusiastic, -inwardly digested the cabful of volumes sent him by Mr Wallace, and -dictated to Mrs Hill the pages of “Post Office Reform.” He had at -the time been denied admission to the Post Office when seeking for -information as to the working of the old system he was destined to -destroy. He now found himself installed within the official precincts, -and in something resembling authority there. - -Thus before the passing of the year 1846 he was able to comment yet -further in his diary on the curious parallel between his own treatment -and that of Dockwra and Palmer. “Both these remarkable men,” he -wrote, “saw their plans adopted, were themselves engaged to work them -out, and subsequently, on the complaint of the Post Office, were -turned adrift by the Treasury.” We “were all alike in the fact of -dismissal.... I alone was so far favoured as to be recalled to aid in -the completion of my plan.”[176] - -At the time when Dockwra, the most hardly used of all, was driven -from office a ruined man, and with the further aggravation of -responsibility for the costs of a trial which had been decided -unjustly against him, the “merry monarch's” numerous progeny were -being lavishly provided for out of the national purse. The contrast -between their treatment and that of the man who had been one of the -greatest benefactors to his country renders his case doubly hard. - -In an interview which Mr Warburton had with the Postmaster-General -preparatory to Rowland Hill's appointment, the Member for Bridport -pointed to the fact that his friend was now fifty-one years of -age, and that it would be most unfair to call on him to throw up -his present assured position only to run risk of being presently -“shelved”; and further urged the desirability of creating for him the -post of Adviser to the Post Office, in order that his time should -not be wasted in mere routine duty. At the same time, Mr Warburton -stipulated that Rowland Hill should not be made subordinate to the -inimical permanent head of the Office. Had Mr Warburton's advice -been followed, it would have been well for the incompleted plan, the -reformer, and the public service. Rowland Hill himself suggested, by -way of official designation, the revival of Palmer's old title of -Surveyor-General to the Post Office; but the proposal was not received -with favour. Ultimately he was given the post of Secretary to the -Postmaster-General, a title especially created for him, which lapsed -altogether when at last he succeeded to Colonel Maberly's vacated -chair. The new office was of inferior rank and of smaller salary than -his rival's; and, as a natural consequence, the old hindrances and -thwartings were revived, and minor reforms were frequently set aside -or made to wait for several years longer. Happily, it was now too late -for the penny post itself to be swept away; the country would not have -allowed it; and in this, the seventh year of its establishment, its -author was glad to record that the number of letters delivered within -12 miles of St Martin's-le-Grand was already equal to that delivered -under the old system throughout the whole United Kingdom. - -By 1846 Rowland Hill was occupying a better pecuniary position than -when in 1839 he went to the Treasury. He had made his mark in the -railway world; and just when rumours of his retirement therefrom -were gaining ground, the South Western Railway Board of Directors -offered him the managership of that line. The salary proposed was -unusually high, and the invitation was transparently veiled under -a Desdemona-like request that he would recommend to the Board some -one with qualifications “as much like your own as possible.” But -he declined this and other flattering offers, resigned his three -directorships, and thus relinquished a far larger income than that -which the Government asked him to accept. The monetary sacrifice, -however, counted for little when weighed in the balance against the -prospect of working out his plan. - -His first interview with Lord Clanricarde was a very pleasant -one; and he left his new chief's presence much impressed with his -straightforward, business-like manner. - -On this first day at St Martin's-le-Grand's Colonel Maberly and -Rowland Hill met, and went through the ceremony of shaking hands. But -the old animosity still possessed considerable vitality. The hatchet -was but partially interred. - -With Lord Clanricarde my father worked harmoniously; the diarist after -one especially satisfactory interview writing that he “never met with -a public man who is less afraid of a novel and decided course of -action.” - -Early in his postal career, my father, by Lord Clanricarde's wish, -went to Bristol to reorganise the Post Office there, the first of -several similar missions to other towns. In nearly every case he -found one condition of things prevailing: an office small, badly -lighted, badly ventilated, and with defective sanitary arrangements; -the delivery of letters irregular and unnecessarily late; the mail -trains leaving the provincial towns at inconvenient hours; and other -vexatious regulations, or lack of regulations. He found that by an -annual expenditure of £125 Bristol's chief delivery of the day could -be completed by nine in the morning instead of by noon. Although -unable to carry out all the improvements needed, he effected a good -deal, and on the termination of his visit received the thanks of the -clerks and letter-carriers.[177] - -In 1847 a thorough revision of the money order system was entrusted to -him; and, thenceforth, that office came entirely under his control. -Seventeen years later, Lord Clanricarde, in the Upper House, paid his -former lieutenant, then about to retire, a handsome tribute of praise, -saying, among other things, that, but for Mr Hill, the business of -that office could hardly have been much longer carried on. No balance -had been struck, and no one knew what assets were in hand. On passing -under Mr Hill's management, the system was altered: four or five -entries for each order were made instead of eleven; and official -defalcation or fraud, once common, was now no more heard of.[178] - -Lord Clanricarde placed the management of that office under my -father's command in order that the latter should have a free hand; and -it was settled that all returns to Parliament should be submitted to -Rowland Hill before being sent to the Treasury, with leave to attack -any that seemed unfair to penny postage. Previous to this act of -friendliness and justice on the Postmaster-General's part, papers had -generally been submitted to the permanent head of the office and even -to officers of lower rank, but had been withheld from the reformer's -observation.[179] - -“Eternal vigilance” is said to be the necessary price to pay for -the preservation of our liberties; and, half a century ago, a like -vigilance had to be exercised whenever and wherever the interests of -the postal reform were concerned. - -The arrears in the Money Order Departments of the London and -provincial offices were so serious that to clear them off would, it -was declared, fully employ thirty-five men for four years. The Post -Office had always maintained that the Money Order Department yielded -a large profit; but a return sent to Parliament in 1848 showed that -the expenditure of the year before the change of management exceeded -the receipts by more than £10,000. In 1849 my father expressed “a -confident expectation” that in the course of the year the Money Order -Office would become self-supporting. By 1850 that hope was realised. -By 1852 the office showed a profit of £11,664, thereby, in six years, -converting the previous loss into a gain of more than £22,000;[180] -and during the last year of Rowland Hill's life (1878-79) the profits -were £39,000. - -A reduction of size in the money order forms and letters of advice, -and the abolition of duplicate advices effected a considerable saving -in stationery alone; while the reduction of fees and the greater -facilities for the transmission of money given by cheap postage -raised the amount sent, in ten years only, twenty-fold. In 1839 about -£313,000 passed through the post; and in 1864, the year of my father's -resignation, £16,494,000. By 1879 the sum had risen to £27,000,000; -and it has gone on steadily increasing. - -Perhaps the following extract from Rowland Hill's journal is -satisfactory, as showing improvement in account-keeping, etc. “July -8th, 1853.—A recent return to Parliament of the number and cost of -prosecutions [for Post Office offences] from 1848 to 1852 inclusive, -shows an enormous decrease—nearly, I think, in the ratio of three to -one. This very satisfactory result is, I believe, mainly owing to the -improved arrangements in the Money Order Office.”[181] - -The new postal system, indeed, caused almost a revolution in official -account-keeping. Under the old system the accounts of the provincial -postmasters were usually from three to six months in arrear, and -no vouchers were demanded for the proper disbursement of the money -with which the postmasters were credited. In consequence of this -dilatoriness, the officials themselves were often ignorant of the -actual state of affairs, or were sometimes tempted to divert the -public funds to their own pockets, while the revenue was further -injured by the delay in remitting balances. Under the new system each -postmaster rendered his account weekly, showing proper vouchers for -receipts and payments and the money left in hand, to the smallest -possible sum. This improvement was accompanied by lighter work to a -smaller number of men, and a fair allowance of holiday to each of them. - -When, in 1851, my father's attention was turned to the question -of facilitating life insurance for the benefit of the staff, and -especially of its humbler members, it was arranged with Sir George -Cornwall Lewis,[182] at that time Chancellor of the Exchequer, that, -to aid in making up the requisite funds, the proceeds of unclaimed -money orders, then averaging £1,100 a year, and all such money found -in “dead” letters as could not be returned to their writers, should -be used. Accumulations brought the fund up to about £12,000. In this -manner “The Post Office Widows' and Orphans' Fund Society” was placed -on a firm footing. A portion of the void order fund was also employed -in rescuing from difficulties another society in the London office -called “The Letter-Carriers' Burial Fund.”[183] - -Although in 1857 my father, with the approval of Lord Colchester, -the then Postmaster-General, had proposed the extension of the money -order system to the Colonies, it was not till the Canadian Government -took the initiative in 1859 that the Treasury consented to try the -experiment. It proved so successful that the measure was gradually -extended to all the other colonies, and even to some foreign countries. - -Like Palmer, Rowland Hill was a born organiser, and work such as that -effected in the Money Order Office was so thoroughly congenial that -it could scarcely fail to be successful. The race of born organisers -can hardly be extinct. Is it vain to hope that one may yet arise to -set in order the said-to-be-unprofitable Post Office Savings Bank, -whose abolition is sometimes threatened? As a teacher of thrift to one -of the least thrifty of nations, it is an institution that should -be mended rather than ended. Mending must surely be possible when, -for example, each transaction of that Bank costs 7.55d. exclusive of -postage—or so we are told—while other savings banks can do their work -at a far lower price.[184] - -The following story is illustrative of the strange want of -common-sense which distinguishes the race, especially when posting -missives. “Mr Ramsey, (missing-letter clerk),” writes Rowland Hill in -his diary of 27th May 1847, “has brought me a packet containing whole -banknotes to the amount of £1,500 so carelessly made up that they had -all slipped out, and the packet was addressed to some country house in -Hereford, no post-town being named. It had found its way, after much -delay, into the post office at Ross, and had been sent to London by -the postmistress.” - -It is not often that the head of so dignified and peaceful an -institution as the Post Office is seen in a maimed condition, and that -condition the result of fierce combat. Nevertheless, in that stirring -time known as “the year of revolutions” (1848), a newly-appointed -chief of the French Post Office, in the pleasant person of M. Thayer, -arrived in this country on official business. He came supported on -crutches, having been badly wounded in the foot during the June -insurrection in Paris. He told us that his family came originally from -London, and that one of our streets was named after them. If, as was -surmised, he made a pilgrimage to Marylebone to discover it, it must -have looked to one fresh from Paris a rather dismal thoroughfare. - -About 1849 Rowland Hill instituted periodical meetings of the Post -Office Surveyors to discuss questions which had hitherto been settled -by the slower method of writing minutes. These postal parliaments were -so satisfactory that henceforth they were often held. They proved -“both profitable and pleasant, increased the interest of the surveyors -in the work of improvement, and by the collision of many opinions, -broke down prejudices, and overthrew obstacles.” - -One of the greatest boons which, under my father's lead, was secured -to the letter-carriers, sorters, postmasters, and others, all over -the kingdom, was the all but total abolition of Post Office Sunday -labour. In a single day 450 offices in England and Wales were relieved -of a material portion of their Sunday duties. Three months later the -measure was extended to Ireland and Scotland, 234 additional offices -being similarly relieved. While these arrangements were in process of -settlement, Rowland Hill, in the autumn of 1849, resolved to still -further curtail Sunday labour. Hitherto the relief had been carried -out in the Money Order Department only, but it was now decided to -close the offices entirely between the hours of ten and five. To make -this easier, it became necessary to provide for the transmission -of a certain class of letters through London on the Sunday, and to -ask a few men to lend their services on this account. Compulsion -there was none: every man was a volunteer; and for this absence of -force my father, from beginning to end of the movement, resolutely -bargained. Previous to the enactment of this measure of relief, 27 -men had been regularly employed every Sunday at the General Post -Office. Their number was temporarily increased to 52 in order that -some 5,829 men—all of whom were compulsory workers—should elsewhere be -relieved, each of some five-and-three-quarters hours of labour every -“day of rest.” In a few months, all the arrangements being complete, -and the plan got into working order, the London staff was reduced to -little more than half the number employed before the change was made. -Ultimately, the services even of this tiny contingent were reduced, -four men sufficing; and Sunday labour at the Post Office was cut down -to its minimum amount—a state of things which remained undisturbed -during my father's connection with that great public Department. - -The actual bearing of this beneficent reform was, strange to say, -very generally misunderstood, and perhaps more especially by “The -Lord's Day Society.” Thus for some months Rowland Hill was publicly -denounced as a “Sabbath-breaker” and a friend and accomplice of His -Satanic Majesty. The misunderstanding was not altogether discouraged -by some of the old Post Office irreconcilables; but it is only fair -to the memory of the chief opponent to record the fact that when -the ill-feeling was at its height Colonel Maberly called his clerks -together, told them that, owing to unjust attacks, the Department was -in danger, and exhorted them to stand forth in its defence.[185] - -When the turmoil began the Postmaster-General was inclined to side -with some of the leading officials who advocated compulsion should -the number volunteering for the London work be insufficient. Happily, -the supply was more than ample. But when the trouble subsided Lord -Clanricarde generously admitted that he had been wrong and my father -right. - -Some of the provincial postmasters and other officials, -misunderstanding the case, joined in the clamour, and went far on the -way to defeat a measure planned for their relief. Others were more -discerning, and the postmaster of Plymouth wrote to say that at his -office alone thirty men would be relieved by an enactment which was -“one of the most important in the annals of the Post Office.” - -The agitation showed how prone is the public to fly to wrong -conclusions. Here was Rowland Hill striving to diminish Sunday work, -and being denounced as if he was seeking to increase it! It goes -without saying that, during the agitation, numerous letters, generally -anonymous, and sometimes violently abusive, deluged the Department, -and especially the author of the relief; and that not even Rowland -Hill's family were spared the pain of receiving from candid and, -of course, entirely unknown friends letters of the most detestable -description. Truly, the ways of the unco gude are past finding out. - -While the conflict raged, many of the clergy proved no wiser than the -generality of their flocks, and were quite as vituperative. Others, -to their honour be it recorded, tried hard to stem the tide of -ignorance and bigotry. Among these enlightened men were the Hon. and -Rev. Grantham Yorke, rector of St Philip's, Birmingham; the Professor -Henslow already mentioned; and Dr Vaughan, then head-master of Harrow -and, later, Dean of Llandaff. All three, although at the time personal -strangers, wrote letters which did their authors infinite credit, and -which the recipient valued highly. The veteran free-trader, General -Peronnet Thompson, also contributed a series of able articles on the -subject to the then existing _Sun_. - -Some of the newspapers at first misunderstood the question quite as -thoroughly as did the public; but, so far as we ever knew, only the -_Leeds Mercury_—unto whose editor, in common with other editors, -had been sent a copy of the published report on the reduction -of Sunday labour—had the frankness to express regret for having -misrepresented the situation.[186] Other newspapers were throughout -more discriminating; and the _Times_, in its issue of 25th April 1850, -contained an admirable and lengthy exposition of the case stated with -very great clearness and ability.[187] - -“Carrying out a plan of relief which I had suggested as a more general -measure when at the Treasury,” says Rowland Hill in his diary, “ I -proposed to substitute a late Saturday night delivery in the nearer -suburbs for that on Sunday morning. By this plan more than a hundred -men would be forthwith released from Sunday duty in the metropolitan -district alone.”[188] He further comments, perhaps a little slyly, -on the “notable fact that while so much has been said by the London -merchants and bankers against a delivery where their places of -business are, of course, closed, not a word has been said against a -delivery in the suburbs where they live.”[189] - -To give further relief to Sunday labour, Rowland Hill proposed “so -to arrange the work as to have the greatest practicable amount of -sorting done in the travelling offices on the railways; the earlier -portion ending by five on Sunday morning, and the later not beginning -till nine on Sunday evening. The pursuit of this object led to a -singular device.”[190] He was puzzling over the problem how to deal -with letters belonging to good-sized towns too near to London to -allow of sorting on the way. The railway in case was the London and -North-Western; the towns St Albans and Watford. The thought suddenly -flashed upon him that the easiest way out of the difficulty would be -to let the _down_ night mail train to Liverpool receive the St Albans -and Watford _up_ mails to London; and that on arrival at some more -remote town on the road to Liverpool they should be transferred, -sorted, to an _up_ train to be carried to London. No time would be -really lost to the public, because, while the letters were performing -the double journey their destined recipients would be in bed; nor -would any additional expense or trouble be incurred. The plan was a -success, was extended to other railways, and the apparently eccentric -proceeding long since became a matter of everyday occurrence. - -In 1851 prepayment in money of postage on inland letters was abolished -at all those provincial offices where it had thus far been allowed. -Early in the following year the abolition was extended to Dublin, next -to Edinburgh, and, last of all, to London—thus completing, throughout -the United Kingdom, the establishment of prepayment by stamps alone, -and thereby greatly simplifying the proceedings at all offices. To -save trouble to the senders of many circulars, the chief office, St -Martin's-le-Grand, continued to receive prepayment in money from 10 -A.M. to 5 P.M., in sums of not less than £2 at a time: an arrangement, -later, extended to other offices. - -An extract from Rowland Hill's diary, under date 29th October 1851, -says: “A clerkship at Hong-Kong having become vacant by death, the -Postmaster-General has, on my recommendation, determined not to fill -it, and to employ part of the saving thus effected in giving to the -postmaster and each of the remaining clerks in turn leave of absence -for a year and a half,[191] with full salary, and an allowance of -£100 towards the expense of the voyage. By these means, while ample -force will still be left, the poor fellows will have the opportunity -of recruiting their health.” - -Early in 1852 Rowland Hill also writes in his diary that “The -Postmaster-General has sanctioned a measure of mine which, I expect, -will have the effect of converting the railway stations in all the -larger towns into gratuitous receiving offices.” The plan, convenient -as it has proved, was, however, long in being carried out. - -The agitation to extend penny postage beyond the limits of the -British Isles is much older than many people suppose. Far back in the -'forties Elihu Burritt[192] strove long and manfully in the cause of -“_ocean_ penny postage”; and in my father's diary, under date 5th -March 1853, it is recorded that the Postmaster-General received a -deputation “which came to urge the extension of penny postage to the -Colonies.”[193] It was a reform long delayed; and as usual the Post -Office was reproached for not moving with the times, etc. That a large -portion of the blame lay rather with the great steamship companies, -which have never failed to charge heavily for conveyance of the mails, -is far too little considered. - -But the great steamship companies are not alone in causing the Post -Office to be made a scapegoat for their own sins in the way of -exacting heavy payments. In 1853 Rowland Hill gave evidence before a -Parliamentary committee to consider railway and canal charges; and -showed that, owing to the strained relations between the Post Office -and the railway companies, the use of trains for mail conveyance -was so restricted as to injure the public and even the companies -themselves; also that, while the cost of carrying passengers and -goods had been greatly reduced on the railways, the charge for -carrying the mails had grown by nearly 300 per cent., although their -weight had increased by only 140 per cent. He also laid before the -Committee a Bill—approved by two successive Postmasters-General—framed -to prescribe reasonable rates, and laying down a better principle -of arbitration in respect of trains run at hours fixed by the -Postmaster-General. The Committee, as shown by their Report, mainly -adopted Rowland Hill's views, which were indeed perfectly just, -and, if adopted, would, in his estimation, have reduced the annual -expenditure in railway conveyance—then about £360,000—by at least -£100,000. The proposals were made to secure fair rates of charge in -all new railway bills, but it was intended to extend the arrangement -eventually to already existing railways. But the railway influence in -Parliament was too strong to allow adoption of these improvements; -and attempts subsequently made were unavailing to alter the injurious -law enacted early in the railway era, and intended to last only -till experience of the working of the lines should have afforded -the requisite data for laying down a scale of charges.[194] Being -of opinion that, in order to serve the public more effectually, far -greater use should be made of the railways, the reformer tried to -procure for the Post Office the unrestricted use of all trains for -a moderate fixed charge. Owing, however, to the existing law, the -uncertainty of rates of payment, the excessive awards frequently made, -and other causes, this useful measure was not adopted, with the result -that the subsidies to the companies went on increasing in magnitude. - -In the same year the Great Northern Railway had spontaneously begun -to run a train at night, at such speed as to outstrip the night mail -on the London and North-Western line. Believing that the object was -to tempt the public into agitating for the use of the rival train -and line, my father applied to the North-Western Railway company for -such acceleration as would obviate the possibility of such a demand -being made. He also suggested the introduction of what are now called -limited mails; but this idea was not adopted for some years.[195] -Till the acceleration was accomplished the answer to a letter leaving -London by the night mail for Edinburgh or Glasgow could not be -received till the afternoon of the next day but one. - -Increased speed, however, was found to produce unpunctuality, -misunderstandings, and other evils; and the public grew dissatisfied. -Of course the railway companies blamed the Post Office, and, -equally, of course, though with better reason, the Post Office -blamed the railway companies. My father proposed that each side -should be subjected to fines whenever irregularity occurred, and -that punctuality should receive reward. But the proposal was not -accepted. In 1855, however, the attempt was again made to induce the -railway companies to agree to the payment of mutual penalties in -case of unpunctuality, coupled with reward to the companies, but not -to the Office, for punctual performance. Only one company—the North -British—accepted the proposal, the result being that the instances -of irregularity were in half a year brought down from 112 to 9, the -company at the same time receiving a reward of £400. - -Later, the railway companies agreed to accelerate their night mails -between London and Edinburgh and Glasgow. An _additional_ payment -of some £15,000 a year had to be made, but the benefit to the two -countries was so great that the outlay was not grudged. The effort to -extend a like boon to Ireland was not so successful. The companies -which had begun with moderate demands, suddenly asked for lessened -acceleration and increased remuneration; and the Government adopted -their views in preference to those of the Postmaster-General and the -postal reformer. As a natural consequence, an annual subsidy of over -£100,000 had to be paid in addition to the necessary cost of provision -for letter-sorting in the trains and steamships. Punctuality also -was often disregarded, and penalties were suspended on the score of -insufficient pier accommodation at Holyhead. - -Some of the companies were short-sighted enough to refuse what would -have been remunerative work offered by the Post Office. On one short -line of 23 miles, £3,000 per annum was demanded for the carriage of a -night mail; and, although the Office offered to furnish a train of its -own, as by law any one was entitled to do, and to pay the appointed -tolls, though legally exempt from so doing—such payment to be -settled by arbitration—the proposal was rejected. Ultimately, a more -circuitous route was adopted at a third of the cost first demanded. - -There was great need of reorganisation and common-sense rearrangement -in these matters. Why, for instance, when carrying a letter between -Land's End and John O'Groat's should twenty-one separate contracts, -irrespective of engagements with rural messengers and of plans for the -conveyance of mail-bags to and from railway stations and post offices, -have been required? - -With a view to the reduction of these extravagant subsidies, Rowland -Hill proposed that “Government should, on ample security, and to a -limited extent, advance loans on the terms on which it could itself -borrow to such companies as were willing to adopt a reasonable tariff -of charge for postal services.” He hoped by these means to reduce -the annual payments to the companies by about £250,000. The Duke of -Argyll, then Postmaster-General, and Mr Hutchinson, Chairman of the -Stock Exchange, highly approved of the plan; but, though it evoked -much interest, and came up again as a public question more than once -in later years, no progress was made. Were State purchase of the -railways to become the law of the land, solution of the difficulty -might yet be discovered. - -One of the measures Rowland Hill hoped to see accomplished was the -conveyance of mails on one of the principal lines by special trains -absolutely limited to Post Office service. The cost would be moderate -if the companies could be induced to join in an arrangement under -which, the bare additional expense in each instance being ascertained -by a neutral authority, a certain fixed multiple of that amount -should be paid. Captain (afterwards Sir Douglas) Galton, of the Board -of Trade, and Sir William Cubitt heartily approved of the plan, the -latter estimating the cost in question at 1s. to 1s. 3d. a mile, and -advising that two and a half times that amount should be offered. -Under this rule the Post Office would pay less for the whole train -than it already paid for a small part of one. The plan of charge by -fixed scale found little favour with the companies; but the proposed -special mail service was ultimately adopted. - -The Postmaster-General (Lord Canning's) Commission in 1853 on -the Packet Service—which included among its members Lord Canning -himself and the then Sir Stafford Northcote—did much useful work, -and published an able Report giving a brief history of “contract -mail-packets”; explaining why, under older conditions, heavy subsidies -were necessary, and expressing their opinion that, as now the steamers -so employed carry passengers and freight, these large subsidies could -no longer be required. When a new route has been opened for the -extension of commerce, further continuance of the Service, unless -desirable on account of important political reasons, should depend on -its tendency to become self-supporting. Among other recommendations -made were the omission in future contracts of many conditions whose -effect is increase of cost; a reduction of the contract to an -undertaking (subject to penalties for failure) to convey the mails at -fixed periods and with a certain degree of speed, and an agreement -that, except in the case of a new route, contracts should not be -allowed to exist for a long period. - -When at last the management of the Packet Service was transferred from -the Admiralty to the Post Office, a useful—indeed necessary—reform -was accomplished. While in the hands of the former Department, the -Service had become a source of very heavy expense, owing, in great -part, to its extension for political reasons very far beyond postal -requirements. - -Great inconvenience had resulted also from the slight control -possessed by the Post Office over the Service. In 1857, for example, -the contract with the West Indian Packet Company was renewed without -the knowledge of either the Postmaster-General or of Rowland Hill. The -absence in the contracts of stipulations as to punctuality likewise -had ill effects. The most punctual service at this time was that -between Devonport and the Cape of Good Hope, as the Union Steamship -Company, into whose contract such stipulations had been introduced -in strong form, made during 1859 every one of its voyages within the -appointed time. - -Investigation of the Packet Service accounts showed how abundant -was the room for diminution of cost. The annual charge to the Home -Government for conveying the mails to and from Honduras was, as a -consequence, readily cut down from £8,000 to £2,000, and eventually -to £1,500. There had always been a heavy loss on the foreign and -colonial service. That to the Cape of Good Hope and Natal was reduced -in six years from £28,000 to £5,400 per annum. Much of the merit of -this diminution of cost, as regards the Packet Service, was always -attributed by my father to his youngest brother Frederic; and while -that department remained under the latter's control the large annual -loss was reduced by more than £200,000—one-half the sum—by the cutting -down of expenditure, the other half by increased yield from the -correspondence. The cost to the British taxpayer was further lightened -by calling upon the colonists, who had hitherto been exempt from all -such charges, henceforth to bear their fair share of the expense. Thus -both punctuality and economy were insisted upon. - -About 1857 a persistent demand arose for a mail service to Australia -by the Panama route, the Press vigorously taking up the agitation, -and the Government being accused of “red tapeism” because they did -not move in the matter, or not until the outcry grew so loud that it -was deemed expedient to apply to the shipping agencies for tenders. -Being one day at the Athenæum Club, Rowland Hill met a friend, a man -of superior education and varied knowledge, who had long held an -important post in the Far East, almost on the shores of the Pacific. -“Why,” asked this friend, “do you not establish an Australian mail by -the Panama route?” “Why should we?” was the counter-question. “Because -it is the shortest,” replied the friend. At once Rowland Hill proposed -an adjournment to the drawing-room, where stood a large globe; the -test of measurement was applied, and thereupon was demonstrated the -fallacy of a widespread popular belief, founded on ignorance of the -enormous width of the Pacific Ocean—a belief, as this anecdote shows, -shared even by some of those who have dwelt within reach of its -waters.[196] - -But convincing friends was of far less moment than convincing the -public; and Rowland Hill drew up a Report on the subject which, backed -by the Postmaster-General, Lord Colchester, had the desired effect -of preventing, for the time being, what would have been a heavy and -useless expenditure of public money.[197] - -It is found that great public ceremonies affect the weekly returns -of the number of letters passing through the post. Sometimes the -result is a perceptible increase; at other times a decrease. The -funeral of the great Duke of Wellington was held on the 18th November -1852, and “all London” was in the streets to look at it. The weekly -return, published on the 22nd, showed that the number of letters -dispatched by the evening mail from the metropolis on that memorable -18th fell off by about 100,000. The next day's letters were probably -increased by an extra 10,000. The revolutionary year, 1848, also had -a deteriorating influence on correspondence, the return published in -1849 for the previous twelvemonths showing a smaller increase than, -under ordinary circumstances, might have been expected. - -In 1853 Docker's ingenious apparatus for the exchange of mail-bags -at those railway stations through which trains pass without stopping -was introduced. The process is described by the postal reformer as -follows:—“The bags to be forwarded, being suspended from a projecting -arm at the station, are so knocked off by a projection from the train -as to fall into a net which is attached to the mail carriage, and is -for the moment stretched out to receive them; while, at the same time, -the bags to be left behind, being hung out from the mail carriage, are -in like manner so struck off as to be caught in a net fixed at the -station; the whole of this complex movement being so instantaneous -that the uninformed eye cannot follow it.” It was this inability to -understand the movement which led to a ridiculous error. On the -first day of the experiment people assembled in crowds to witness -it. At Northallerton “half Yorkshire” gathered—according to the -mail inspector—and many were under the impression that the outgoing -set of bags they saw hanging to the projecting arm in readiness for -absorption by the passing train, and the incoming set hanging out -from the mail carriage, ready to be caught in the net fixed at the -station, were one and the same thing. Though what useful purpose could -be served by the mere “giving a lift” of a hundred yards or so to one -solitary set of bags is rather hard to perceive. - -[Illustration: - - By permission of the Proprietors of the “_City Press_.” - -AN EARLY TRAVELLING POST OFFICE WITH MAIL BAGS EXCHANGE APPARATUS.] - -The invention was not altogether a success, very heavy bags—especially -when the trains were running at great speed—being sometimes held -responsible for the occurrence of rather serious accidents. It even -became necessary to cease using the apparatus till the defect, -whatever it might be, could be put right. Several remedies were -suggested, but none proved effectual till my brother, then only -twenty-one years of age, hit upon a simple contrivance which removed -all difficulties, and thenceforth the exchange-bag apparatus worked -well. Sir William Cubitt, who had unsuccessfully striven to rectify -matters, generously eulogised his youthful rival's work. - -The stamp-obliterating machines which superseded the old practice -of obliteration by hand were also my brother's invention. In former -days the man who could stamp the greatest number of letters in a -given time was usually invited to exhibit his prowess when visitors -were shown over the office. The old process had never turned out -impressions conspicuous for legibility, and means of improvement had -been for some time under consideration. But it was a trial presided -over by Lord Campbell in 1856 which precipitated matters. An important -question turned upon the exact date at which a letter had been posted, -but the obliterating stamp on the envelope was too indistinct to -furnish the necessary evidence. Lord Campbell sharply animadverted -upon the failure, and his strictures caused the Duke of Argyll—then -Postmaster-General—to write to Rowland Hill upon the subject. The -use of inferior ink was supposed to be responsible for the trouble, -and various experiments were tried, without effecting any marked -beneficial result. Objection was made to abolition of the human hand -as stamper on the ground that thus far it had proved to be the fastest -worker. Then my brother's mechanical skill came to the rescue, and -complaints as to clearness and legibility soon became rare.[198] By -the machines the obliterations were made faster than by the best -hand-work, the increase of speed being at least 50 per cent. About the -year 1903 my brother's machines began, I am told, to be superseded by -others which are said to do the work faster even than his. Judging -by some of the obliterations lately made, presumably by these later -machines, it is evident that, so far as clearness and legibility are -concerned, the newer process is not superior to the older. - -My brother was a born mechanician, and, like our uncle Edwin Hill, -could, out of an active brain, evolve almost any machine for which, -in some emergency, there seemed to be need. To give free scope to -Pearson's obvious bent, our father had, in his son's early youth, -caused a large four-stalled stable adjoining our house at Hampstead -to be altered into a well-equipped workshop; and in this many a long -evening was spent, the window being often lighted up some hours -after the rest of the family had retired to bed, and my brother -being occasionally obliged to sing out, through the one open pane, a -cheery “good-night” to the passing policeman, who paused to see if a -burglarious conspiracy was being devised during the nocturnal small -hours, from the convenient vantage-ground of the outhouse. - -The dream of my brother's life was to become a civil engineer, for -which profession, indeed, few young men could have been better fitted; -and the dream seemed to approach accomplishment when, during a visit -to our father, Sir William (afterwards first Lord) Armstrong spoke -most highly of Pearson's achievements—he had just put into completed -form two long-projected small inventions—and offered to take the -youth into his own works at Newcastle-on-Tyne. But the dream was -never destined to find realisation. Sir William's visit and proposal -made a fitting opportunity for the putting to my brother of a serious -question which had been in our father's head for some time. In his -son's integrity, ability, and affection, Rowland Hill had absolute -trust. Were the younger man but working with him at the Post Office, -the elder knew he could rely on unswerving support, on unwavering -fidelity. The choice of callings was laid before my brother: life -as a civil engineer—a profession in which his abilities could not -fail to command success—or the less ambitious career of a clerk at -St Martin's-le-Grand. Our father would not dwell upon his own strong -leaning towards the latter course, but with the ever-present mental -image of harassing official intrigues against himself and his hard-won -reform, it is not difficult to picture with what conflicting emotions -he must have waited his son's decision. This was left entirely in -the young man's hands; and he chose the part which he knew would -best serve his father. The cherished dream was allowed to melt into -nothingness, and my brother began his postal career not as a favoured, -but as an ordinary clerk, though one always near at hand, and always -in the complete confidence of his immediate chief. Whatever regrets -for the more congenial life Pearson may have harboured, he never, to -my knowledge, gave them audible expression, nor could any father have -had a more loyal son. When, many years later, it seemed desirable -that some official should be appointed to report on the value of the -mechanical inventions periodically offered to the Post Office, and to -supervise those already in operation, it seemed when my brother was -selected for that post as if he had only received his due, and that -merely in part. - -He had also administrative ability of no mean order; and when only -twenty-eight years of age was selected by the Postmaster-General to -go to Mauritius to reorganise the post office there, which through -mismanagement had gradually drifted into a state of confusion, -apparently beyond rectification by the island authorities. He speedily -brought the office into good working order; but perhaps his Mauritian -labours will be best remembered by his substitution of certain -civilised stamps—like those then used in some of the West Indian -isles—in place of the trumpery red and blue, penny and twopenny, -productions which were the handiwork of some local artist, and which -are now so rare that they command amazingly large sums of money in the -philatelist world. - -[Illustration: By permission of the Proprietor of Flett's Studios, -late London School of Photography. - -PEARSON HILL.] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[174] The people of to-day who have never known the old postal system -can have no idea of the unanimity and strength of that voice. Memory -of the former state of things was still fresh in men's minds; and, -with perhaps one exception, no person wished for its return. “Hill, -you are the most popular man in the kingdom,” one day exclaimed an old -friend. The exception—there might have been more than one, but if so, -we were none the wiser—was one of the Bentincks who, so late as the -year 1857, suggested in the House of Commons a return to franking on -the score that penny postage was one of the greatest jobs and greatest -financial mistakes ever perpetrated. Sir Francis Baring advised Mr -Bentinck to try to bring back the old postal rates, when he would see -what the country thought of the proposal.—(“Hansard,” cxlvi. 188, 189.) - -[175] By this time Mr Wallace had retired from public life, and only -a short while later became involved in pecuniary difficulties. By -the exertions of his friends and admirers, an annuity was secured to -him—a provision which, though small in comparison with his former -prosperity, placed the venerable ex-Parliamentarian well above want. -He died in 1855, aged eighty-two. - -[176] “Life,” ii. 9, 10. - -[177] “Life,” ii. 58. - -[178] The _Times_ (Parliamentary Debates), 15th June 1864. The -Money Order Office dates from 1792. It was first known as “Stow & -Co.,” being started as a private undertaking by three Post Office -clerks; and its mission was to enable small sums of money to be -safely transmitted to our sailors and soldiers. Later, all classes -of the community were included in the benefit, the remittances to be -forwarded being still restricted to small sums. Each of the three -partners advanced £1,000 to float the enterprise, and division of -the profits gave to each about £200 a year. The commission charged -was 8d. in the pound, of which 3d. each went to the two postmasters -who received and paid the orders, and 2d. to the partners. The -Postmaster-General sanctioned the measure, which clearly supplied a -felt want, but refrained from interference with its management. In -1838 “Stow & Co.” ceased to exist, becoming thenceforth an official -department, and the then partners receiving compensation for the -surrender of their monopoly. The fees were thereupon fixed at 6d. for -sums not exceeding £2, and 1s. 6d. for sums of £2 to £5, the rates -being still further reduced in 1840. - -[179] “Life,” ii. 59, 60. - -[180] “Life,” ii. 257. - -[181] “Life” ii. 260. - -[182] Reputed author of the well-known saying that “Life would be -endurable were it not for its pleasures.” - -[183] “Life,” ii. 304-307. In 1871 the amount of unclaimed money -orders was £3,390. In that year the Lords of the Treasury put an -end to this disposal of unclaimed money except in regard to the -then existing recipients of the aid; and the accumulated capital, -together with the interest thereon, about £20,707, was paid into the -Exchequer.—(Editor, G.B.H.'s, note at p. 306.) - -[184] “Life,” ii. 365. (Note by its Editor.) - -[185] “Life,” ii. 122. On the famous 10th of April 1848 (Chartist -day) Colonel Maberly likewise showed his martial spirit and strong -sense of the virtue of discipline when he requested Rowland Hill -to place his own clerks and those of the Money Order Office—in all -about 250—under his, the Colonel's, command, thus making up a corps -of special constables some 1,300 strong. All over London, on and -before that day, there was great excitement; a large supply of arms -was laid in, defences were erected at Governmental and other public -buildings, very little regular work was done, and there was any amount -of unnecessary scare, chiefly through the alarmist disposition of the -Duke of Wellington—seldom, rumour said, averse from placing a town in -a more or less state of siege, and ever ready to urge upon successive -Governments the desirability of spending huge sums on fortifications -whose destiny ere long was to become obsolete—though partly also -because there were many people still living who could remember the -Gordon riots immortalised in “Barnaby Rudge,” and who feared a -repetition of their excesses. But the Chartists were a different -set of men from Gordon's “tag, rag, and bobtail” followers. On the -morning of the 10th, my father, driving to the Post Office, came up -in Holborn with the long procession marching in the direction of -Kennington Common (now a park), preparatory to presenting themselves -with their petition at the Houses of Parliament. Calling on the -cabman to drive slowly, my father watched the processionists with -keen interest, and was much struck with their steady bearing, evident -earnestness, and the bright, intelligent countenances of many of them. -On close inspection, not a few terrible revolutionists are found to -look surprisingly like other people, though the comparison does not -invariably tell in favour of those other people. - -[186] The _Mercury's_ article (25th April 1850) was so good that it -seems worth while to quote some of it. “Macaulay informs us that the -post, when first established, was the object of violent invective as a -manifest contrivance of the Pope to enslave the souls of Englishmen; -and most books of history or anecdote will supply stories equally -notable. But we really very much doubt whether any tale of ancient -times can match the exhibition of credulity which occurred in our own -country, and under our own eyes, within these last twelve months.... -Nearly 6,000 people have been relieved from nearly six hours' work -every Sunday by the operation of a scheme which was denounced as a -deliberate encouragement to Sabbath-breaking and profanity.” - -[187] _À propos_ of never answering attacks in the Press and -elsewhere, my father was not a little given to quote the opinion of -one of the Post officials who “goes so far as to declare that if he -found himself charged in a newspaper with parricide, he would hold -his tongue lest the accusation should be repeated next day with the -aggravation of matricide.”—“Life,” ii. 235. - -[188] This relief, proposed in November 1849, became an accomplished -fact a few days before the year died out. - -[189] “Life,” ii. 138. - -[190] _Ibid._ ii. 137. - -[191] In those slower-going days a large part of the holiday would be -taken up by the journey home and back. - -[192] A frequent and always welcome visitor at my father's house -was this son of America—“the learned blacksmith,” as he was -habitually called. He was one of the most interesting as well as -most refreshingly unconventional of men, but was never offensively -unconventional because he was one of “Nature's noblemen.” -Sweet-tempered, gentle-mannered, and pure-minded, he won our -regard—affection even—from the first. He could never have been guilty -of uttering an unkind word to any one, not even to those who were -lukewarm on the slavery question, who did not feel inspired to join -the Peace Society, or who were languid in the cause of “ocean penny -postage.” On the last-named subject he had, as an entire stranger, -written to my father a long letter detailing his scheme, and urging -the desirability of its adoption; and it was this letter which led -to our making Elihu Burritt's acquaintance. He became a great friend -of my elder sister, and maintained with her a many years' long -correspondence. Once only do I remember seeing him angry, and then -it was the righteous indignation which an honest man displays when -confronted with a lie. It was when unto him had been attributed the -authorship of my father's plan. He would have nothing to do with -a fraudulent claim to which sundry other men have assented kindly -enough, or have even, with unblushing effrontery, appropriated of -their own accord. Elihu Burritt and Cardinal Mezzofanti were said to -be the two greatest linguists of the mid-nineteenth century; and I -know not how many languages and dialects each had mastered—the one -great scholar a distinguished prince of the Roman Catholic Church, -the other an American of obscure birth and an ex-blacksmith. Another -trans-atlantic postal reformer, though one interested in the reform -as regarded his own country rather than ours, was Mr Pliny Miles, who -in outward appearance more closely resembled the typical American of -Dickens's days than that of the present time. In his own land Mr Miles -travelled far and wide, wrote much, spoke frequently, and crossed the -Atlantic more than once to study the postal question here. He was an -able man, and a good talker. I well remember his confident prophecy, -some few years before the event, of a fratricidal war between the -Northern and Southern States; how bitterly he deplored the coming -strife; and how deeply impressed were all his hearers both with the -matter and manner of his discourse. I believe he had “crossed the bar” -before hostilities broke out. - -[193] “Life,” ii. 241. - -[194] “Life,” ii. 227-230. - -[195] “My notion is,” wrote the diarist, “to run a train with only one -or two carriages in addition to those required for the mail, and to -stop only once in about 40 miles.” A long distance run in those days. -The speed was fixed at 40 miles an hour, stoppages included. This was -considered very quick travelling in the 'fifties. - -[196] “It is curious,” says my father, “how inveterate is the mistake -in question. Columbus expected to reach Cathay more quickly by sailing -westward, but was stopped by the American continent. The projectors -of the 'Darian Scheme' hoped to enrich themselves by making their -settlement a great _entrepot_ between Europe and the East Indies; and -Macaulay, in his interesting narrative of the enterprise ('History -of England,' vol. v. p. 200), considers their mistake to consist -mainly in the assumption that Spain would permit a settlement on its -territory; but it seems not to have occurred to him that, in any -event, the scheme was intrinsically hopeless, seeing that the old -route by the Cape of Good Hope, besides avoiding the cost and delay of -transhipment, surpasses the Darian route even in shortness” (“Life,” -ii. 292). It is also well known that the discoverer of certain rapids -on the great river St Lawrence believed himself to be nearing the -country of Confucius when he called them “La Chine.” - -[197] Thus the agitation for an “all red route” is a mere revival. - -[198] Sixth Annual Report of the Postmaster-General. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -AT THE POST OFFICE—_Continued_ - - -The important Commission appointed in 1853 to revise the scale of -salaries of the Post Office employees held many sittings and did -valuable work.[199] Its report was published in the following year. -Rowland Hill's examination alone occupied eight days; and he had the -satisfaction of finding the Commissioners' views in accordance with -his own on the subject of patronage, promotion, and classification. - -On the score that the business of the Post Office is of a kind which -peculiarly requires centralisation, the Commission condemned the -principle of the double Secretariate, and recommended that the whole -should be placed under the direction of a single secretary; that in -order to enable “every deserving person” to have within his reach -attainment to “the highest prizes,” the ranks of the Secretary's -Office should be opened to all members of the establishment; and -that throughout the Department individual salaries should advance -by annual increments instead of by larger ones at long intervals: -all advancements to be contingent on good conduct. It was also -advised that, to attract suitable men, prospects of advancement -should be held out; that improvement in provincial offices—then much -needed—should be secured by allowing respective postmasters, under -approval and in accordance with prescribed rules, to appoint their own -clerks; and that promotion should be strictly regulated according to -qualification and merit—a rule which in time must raise any department -to the highest state of efficiency. The abolition of a crying evil -was also advised. At the time in question all appointments to the -office rested not with the Postmaster-General but with the Treasury, -the nomination being in effect left to the Member of Parliament for -the district where a vacancy occurred, provided he were a general -supporter of the Government. It was a system which opened the way to -many abuses, and was apt to flood the service with “undesirables.” -The Commissioners advised the removal of the anomaly both for obvious -reasons and “because the power which the Postmaster-General would -possess of rewarding meritorious officers in his own department by -promoting them to the charge of the important provincial offices would -materially conduce to the general efficiency of the whole body.” -The relinquishment of patronage—a privilege always held dear by -politicians—was conceded so far as to allow to the Postmaster-General -the appointing of all postmasterships where the salary exceeded £175 -a year, thus avoiding the application in all cases where the Post -Office is held in conjunction with a private business or profession. A -subsequent concession reduced the minimum to £120. The relinquishment -of so much patronage reflected great credit on the Administration then -in power.[200] - -It is pleasant to remember that when, in after years, the postal -reform, by its complete success, had proved the soundness of its -author's reasoning, the Conservatives and “Peelites,” who of old -had opposed the Penny Postage Bill, seemed sometimes to go out of -their way to show him friendliness. One of the kindest of his old -opponents was Disraeli—not yet Earl of Beaconsfield—who, as Chancellor -of the Exchequer, invited the reformer to share his hospitality, -and especially singled out the new guest for attention. The first -Postmaster-General to invite Rowland Hill to his house was his second -chief, the Tory Lord Hardwicke, who had also asked Colonel Maberly, -but was careful to put the two men one at each end of the very long -table. - -When, therefore, at last (in 1854) my father was given the post -Colonel Maberly had so long filled, and became thenceforth known -to the world as Secretary to the Post Office, it was with deep -gratification that he recorded the fact in his diary that “all those -to whom I had on this occasion to return official thanks had been -members of the Government by which, twelve years before, I had been -dismissed from office.[201] I could not but think that the kind and -earnest manner in which these gentlemen now acted proceeded in some -measure from a desire to compensate me for the injustice of their -former leader; and this view made me even more grateful for their -consideration.”[202] - -The old hostility between Colonel Maberly and Rowland Hill was -scarcely likely to decrease while they remained, to use the sailor -Postmaster-General's favourite expression, “two kings of Brentford.” -Colonel Maberly had never been sparing of his blows during the long -agitation over the postal reform previous to its establishment; and -a dual authority is hardly calculated to transform opponents into -allies. It was therefore fortunate that the peculiar arrangement, -after enduring, with considerable discomfort, for seven and a half -years, was brought to a close. - -We all have our strong points; and one of Colonel Maberly's was a -happy knack of selecting heads of departments, the chief Secretary's -immediate subordinates. They were an able staff of officers, unto -whom my father always considered that the good reputation the Post -Office enjoyed while he was its permanent head was largely due. With -their aid the reformer devised and matured measures of improvement -more rapidly than before—more rapidly because there was now far less -likelihood, when once authorisation had been obtained for carrying -them out, of seeing his proposals subjected to tiresome modifications -or indefinite delays, too often leading to entire abandonment. Thus he -was enabled to give most of his time to the work of organisation, to -him always, as he has said, “of all occupations the least difficult -and the most pleasant.” He encouraged his newly-acquired staff “to -make what proved to be a valuable change in their mode of proceeding; -for whereas the practice had been for these officers simply to select -the cases requiring the judgment of the Secretary, and to await his -instructions before writing their minutes thereon, I gradually induced -them to come prepared with an opinion of their own which might serve -in a measure for my guidance.” This placing of confidence in able and -experienced men had, as was but natural, excellent results. - -The arrangement of secretarial and other duties being now settled, -reforms proceeded satisfactorily; new and greatly improved post -offices were erected, and older ones were cleared of accumulated -rubbish, and made more habitable in many ways. It was found that -at the General Post Office itself no sort of provision against the -risk of fire existed—an extraordinary state of things in a building -through which many documents, often of great value and importance, -were continually passing. Little time was lost in devising measures to -remedy this and other defects. - -But, strange to say, in 1858 the construction and alteration of post -office buildings was transferred by the Treasury to the Board of -Works. Knowing that the change would lead to extravagance, Rowland -Hill essayed, but quite unsuccessfully, to effect a reversal of this -measure; and in support of his views instanced a striking contrast. -A new post office had been erected at Brighton, the cost, exclusive -of a moderate sum expended to fit it up as a residence, being about -£1,600. A similar building had now to be put up at Dundee, whose -correspondence was half that of Brighton. The Board of Works' estimate -came to four or five times that amount, and all that Rowland Hill -could accomplish was to bring the cost down to £5,700. - -The first of the long series of “Annual Reports of the -Postmaster-General” was published in 1854. It was prefaced with an -interesting historical sketch of the Post Office from its origin, -written by Matthew Davenport Hill's eldest son Alfred, unto whom my -father was further beholden for valuable assistance as arbitrator -in the already mentioned disputes between the Post Office and the -railway companies. The modern weakness of apathy—most contagious of -maladies—seemed after a while to settle even on the Post Office, for, -late in the 'nineties, the issue was for a time discontinued. - -One passage alone in the First Report shows how satisfactory was the -progress made. “On the first day of each month a report is laid before -the Postmaster-General showing the principal improvements in hand, -and the stage at which each has arrived. The latest of these reports -(which is of the usual length) records 183 measures, in various stages -of progress or completed during the month of December 1854. Minor -improvements, such as extension of rural posts, etc., are not noticed -in these reports.”[203] - -Another small periodical publication first appeared in 1856, which, -revised and issued quarterly, is now a well-known, useful little -manual. This was the _British Postal Guide_. Its acceptability was -made evident by its ready sale, amounting, not long after its issue, -to 20,000 or 30,000 copies. Two years later an old publication known -as the _Daily Packet List_ was rearranged, enlarged, and turned into -a weekly edition, which, as the _Postal Circular_, accomplished much -useful service. Had the Treasury allowed the extension of the sphere -of this little work, as recommended by the Postmaster-General and -Rowland Hill, it could have been so extended as to become a postal -monitor, correcting any possible misconceptions, and keeping the -public constantly informed as to the real proceedings of the Post -Office. - -By November 1854 the diarist was able to write that his “plan has been -adopted, more or less completely, in the following States: Austria, -Baden, Bavaria, Belgium, Brazil, Bremen, Brunswick, Chile, Denmark, -France, Frankfort, Hamburg, Hanover, Lubeck, Naples, New Grenada, -Netherlands, Oldenburg, Peru, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, -Saxony, Spain, Switzerland, Tuscany, United States, and Wurtemberg.” -It seems worth while to repeat the long list just as my father gave -it, if only to show how much, since that time, the political geography -of our own continent has altered, most of the tiny countries and all -the “free cities” of mid-nineteenth-century Europe having since that -date become absorbed by larger or stronger powers. It will be noticed -that Norway and Sweden had not yet followed the example of the other -western European countries. But the then “dual kingdom” did not long -remain an exception. - -Among the first European powers to adopt the postal reform were, -strange to say, Spain and Russia, neither of which was then accounted -a progressive country. In September 1843 the Spanish ambassador -wrote to Rowland Hill asking for information about postal matters, -as his Government contemplated introducing the postage stamp, and, -presumably, a certain amount of uniformity and low rates. Not long -after, news came that Russia had adopted stamps. The chief motive in -each case was, however, understood to be the desire to prevent fraud -among the postmasters. - -Although Spain moved early in the matter of postal reform, Portugal -sadly lagged behind, no new convention having been effected with that -country, and, consequently, no postal improvements, save in marine -transit, made for fifty years. In 1858, however, mainly through the -good offices of the British Ministers at Madrid and Lisbon, and of Mr -Edward Rea, who was sent out from London by the Postmaster-General for -the purpose, better postal treaties were made, both with Spain and -Portugal. Even with such countries as Belgium, Germany (the German -Postal Union), and the United States, progress in the way of treaties -was very slow. - -The postal revenues of all these European countries were smaller than -our own, Portugal's being less than that of the city of Edinburgh. -Small indeed is the connection between the amount of a country's -correspondence and the number of its population. According to an -official return published in the _Journal de St Petersburg_ in 1855, -the letters posted during the year throughout the huge empire of -Russia were only 16,400,000, or almost the same number as those posted -during the same year in Manchester and its suburbs. - -By 1853 a low uniform rate of postage was established over the length -and breadth of our even then vast Indian Empire; a few outlying -portions alone excepted. For many years after the introduction of the -new system, involving, as it did, complete adoption of Rowland Hill's -plan, the Indian Post Office did not pay expenses; but by 1870 it -became self-supporting.[204] - -It has sometimes been asserted that, in his eagerness to make his -reform a financial success, Rowland Hill cut down the wages of the -lower strata of employees. Nothing could be more untrue. Economy, -he believed, was to be obtained by simpler methods and better -organisation, not by underpaying the workers. While at the Post -Office he did much to improve the lot of these classes of men. Their -wages were increased, they had greater opportunity of rising in the -service, a pension for old age combined with assistance in effecting -life assurance, gratuitous medical advice and medicines,[205] and -an annual holiday without loss of pay. The number of working hours -was limited to a daily average of eight, and a regulation was made -that any letter-carrier who, taking one day with another, found his -work exceed that limit, should be entitled to call attention to the -fact and obtain assistance. An exhaustive enquiry was made as to -the scale of wages paid, the hours of work required, etc.; and the -report, when published, told the world that the men of similar rank in -other callings, such as policemen, railway porters, and several more, -were not so well treated as their brethren in the postal service. -So clearly, indeed, was this proved that public endorsement of the -fact was at once evidenced by a marked increase of applications for -situations as sorters, letter-carriers, etc. - -A striking proof of this recognition of a truth came at first hand to -Rowland Hill's knowledge. He was consulting an old medical friend, -and in the course of conversation the latter said that his footman -wished to obtain an appointment as letter-carrier. Whereupon my -father pointed out that the man was better off as footman, because, -in addition to receiving good wages, he had board, lodging, and -many other advantages. This, answered the doctor, had already been -represented to the man; but his reply was that in the Post Office -there was the certainty of continuity of employment and the pension -for old age. The fact that the employees in a public department are -not, like many other workers, liable at any moment to be sent adrift -by the death or impoverishment of their employers, constitutes one of -the strongest attractions to the service. Has this circumstance any -connection with the growing disinclination of the poorer classes to -enter domestic service? - -In 1854 rural distribution was greatly extended, 500 new offices being -opened. This extension, it may be remembered, was one of several -measures which were persistently opposed by the enemies of the postal -reform. How much the measure was needed, and, when granted, how -beneficial were its results, is shown by the fact that it was followed -by the largest increase of letters which had taken place in any year -since 1840, or a gain on 1853 of 32,500,000. - -The measure affected several hundreds of different places and a -very large percentage of the entire correspondence of the United -Kingdom. Formerly there were to every office limits, sometimes narrow, -sometimes wide, beyond which there was either no delivery, or one -made only at additional charge, generally of a penny a letter: an -arrangement which, in spite of my father's repeated efforts to amend -it, outlived the introduction of the new postal system for more than -fourteen years, and in the districts thus affected partially nullified -its benefits. Not until this and other survivals of the older state -of things were swept away could his plan be rightly said to be -established. - -London—whose then population formed one-tenth and its correspondence -one-fourth of the United Kingdom—was also not neglected. It was -divided into ten postal districts,[206] each of which was treated as a -separate town with a local chief office in addition to its many minor -offices. The two corps of letter-carriers—the general postmen and -those who belonged to the old “twopenny post”—which till this time -existed as distinct bodies of employees, were at last amalgamated; -their “walks” were rearranged, and a new plan of sorting at the chief -office was instituted, while the letters and other missives intended -for the different districts, being sorted before they reached London, -were no longer, as of old, sent to St Martin's-le-Grand, but were -at once dispatched for distribution to the local chief office whose -initials corresponded with those upon the covers. Door letter-boxes -increased in number in the houses of the poorer as well as of the -richer classes; and the use, in addition to the address, on the -printed heading of a letter of the initials denoting the postal -district from which it emanated, and on the envelope of that where it -should be delivered—a use to which the public generally accustomed -itself kindly—greatly facilitated and expedited communication -within the 12 miles circuit, so that thenceforth it became possible -to post a letter and receive its reply within the space of a few -hours—a heartily appreciated boon in the days when the telephone was -not. As a natural consequence, the number of district letters grew -apace, and the congestion at St Martin's-le-Grand was perceptibly -lessened. At the same time, the Board of Works to some extent amended -the nomenclature of the streets and the numbering of houses. The -most important delivery of the day, the first, was accelerated by -two hours; in some of the suburbs by two and a half hours. That -is, the morning's letters were distributed at nine o'clock instead -of at half-past eleven. Since that time, and for many years now, -the delivery has been made at or before eight o'clock. Nothing -facilitated these earlier deliveries more than the sorting of letters -_en route_; and the practice also enabled more frequent deliveries -to be made. Improved communication with the colonies and foreign -countries, through better treaties, was likewise effected; and each -improvement was rendered easier by the rapid growth everywhere of -railways and shipping companies, and the increased speed of trains and -steamships. - -In 1855 “the system of promotion by merit,” recommended by my father -and endorsed with approval by the Civil Service Commissioners “was -brought into full operation. In the three metropolitan offices, when -a vacancy occurred application for appointment was open to all; the -respective claims were carefully compared, and, without the admission -of any other consideration whatever, the claim which was adjudged -to be best carried the day. To keep our course free from disturbing -influences, it was laid down that any intercession from without in -favour of individual officers should act, if not injuriously, at -least not beneficially, on the advancement of those concerned.” ... -“By the transfer to the Post Office of appointment to all the higher -postmasterships, opportunity for promotion was greatly enlarged, -and posts formally bestowed for political services now became the -rewards of approved merit. This change obviously involved great -improvement in the quality of the persons thus entrusted with powers -and duties of no small importance to the public. In the provincial -offices a corresponding improvement was, in great measure, secured -by delegating the power of appointing their subordinates, under -certain restrictions, to the respective postmasters, who, being -themselves responsible for the good working of their offices, were -naturally led to such selection as would best conduce to that end. -This delegation, so far as related to clerks, was made on the -recommendation of the Civil Service Commissioners; and the trust -being satisfactorily exercised, was subsequently extended to the -appointment of letter-carriers also.” The measure worked well. “From -the different departments of the metropolitan offices, and from -the provincial surveyors the reports of its operation were almost -uniformly satisfactory. Officers were found to take more personal -interest in their duties, to do more work without augmentation of -force, to make up in some degree by additional zeal for the increased -yearly holiday that was granted them, and to discharge their duties -with more cheerfulness and spirit, knowing that good service would -bring eventual reward.”[207] - -The new system of promotion by merit worked far better than that of -the Commissioners' examinations for admission to the Civil Service. -As regards the letter-carriers, it has always been found that the -men best fitted for this duty were those whose previous life had -inured them to bodily labour and endurance of all kinds of weather. -The new educational requirements in many instances excluded these -people, while giving easy admission to shopmen, clerks, servants, -and others accustomed to indoor and even sedentary life, who were -little fitted to perform a postman's rounds. The Duke of Argyll, then -Postmaster-General, requested the Commissioners to adopt a somewhat -lower standard of acquirement. At the same time he authorised the -subjection of candidates for the office of letter-carriers to a -stricter test as regards bodily strength, with the result that about -one man in every four was rejected. By these means, and the greater -attention paid to the laws of sanitation in offices and private -dwellings, the health of the department gradually reached a high -standard. - -That the plan of confining admission to the service to candidates -who have passed the Civil Service examinations is not without its -drawbacks, is seen by the following extract from a Report by Mr -Abbott, Secretary to the Post Office in Scotland. “Considering,” he -says, “the different duties of the account, the secretary's and the -sorting branches, I am inclined to believe that the examination should -have more special reference to the vacancy the candidate is to fill -than to his general knowledge on certain subjects proposed for all -in the same class, more especially as regards persons nominated to -the sorting office, where manual dexterity, quick sight, and physical -activity are more valuable than mere educational requirements.”[208] - -As may be surmised by the foregoing, Rowland Hill was one of the many -clear-sighted men who declined to yield unquestioning approbation -to the system of competitive examinations introduced by the Civil -Service Commissioners; nor did longer acquaintance with it tend -to modify his opinion on the subject. The scheme, he thought, -“worked unsatisfactorily, the criteria not being the best, and the -responsibility being so divided that no one is in effect answerable -for an appointment made under it. The consequence of its adoption has -been, in many instances, the rejection of men who gave promise of -great usefulness, and the admission of others whose usefulness has -proved very small.[209] If no way had been open to the public service -but through competitive examination as now conducted, I cannot say -what might have been my own chance of admission, since on the plan -adopted, no amount of knowledge or power in other departments is -regarded as making up for deficiency in certain prescribed subjects. -Under such a system neither George Stephenson nor Brindley would have -passed examination as an engineer, nor perhaps would Napoleon or -Wellington have been admitted to any military command. The principle, -if sound, must be equally applicable to manufacturing and commercial -establishments, but I have heard of none that have adopted it. Indeed, -a wealthy merchant lately declared (and I believe most of his brethren -would agree with him) that if he had no clerks but such as were -chosen for him by others, his name would soon be in the _Gazette_. -I have always been of opinion that the more the appointments to the -Post Office, and indeed to other departments, are regulated on the -principles ordinarily ruling in establishments conducted by private -individuals, the better it will be for the public service. The -question to be decided between candidates should be, I think, simply -which is best fitted for the duties to be performed; and the decision -should be left to the person immediately answerable for the right -performance of the duty.”[210] - -While tranquillity reigned at St Martin's-le-Grand from, and long -after, 1854, not only among the heads of departments, but generally -throughout the office, and while reports from all quarters, -metropolitan and provincial, bore testimony to efficient work -accomplished and good conduct maintained, it was inevitable that in a -body so numerous as was that of the lower grade employees some amount -of discontent should arise. Promotion by merit, in whatever class, has -few charms in the eyes of those who are deficient in the very quality -which insures promotion, and who, perhaps for many years, have drawn -steady payment for ordinary duty so performed as to become scarcely -more than nominal. In every large community there are certain to be -some “bad bargains” who, though practically useless as workers, have -often abundant capacity for giving trouble, especially, maybe, in the -way of fomenting a spirit of mutiny.[211] - -At the Post Office this spirit manifested itself even while every care -was being taken to ameliorate the condition of this multitudinous -class of employees, and to rectify individual cases of hardship, and -while, even during the time of insubordination, many respectable -men outside the postal walls were showing their appreciation of the -advantage of a letter-carrier's position over that of men of like -class in other callings, by applying for appointment to that corps. -Misrepresentation is a principal factor in stimulating disaffection, -and, for reasons other than sympathy with the alleged victims of -supposed tyrannical employers, is sometimes, though, happily, rarely, -employed by those who, as non-officials, are sheltered by anonymity -as well as by extraneity from participation in such punishment as may -befall the better-known disaffected. - -From an early period of Rowland Hill's career at the Post Office -he was subjected to almost constant personal attacks on the part -of a certain weekly newspaper. Many were written with considerable -plausibility, but all were void of substantial truth, while others -were entire fabrications. All too were of the sort which no -self-respecting man condescends to answer, yet which, perhaps all the -more on account of that contemptuous silence, do infinite harm, and -by an unthinking public are readily believed. Many of these attacks -were traced to men who had left the postal service—to the no small -advantage of that service—and whose dismissal was supposed to be -the work of the permanent postal head; and one such man at least, a -scribe with a ready pen, and ink in which the ingredient gall was -over-liberally mingled, vented his spleen during a long succession -of years with a perseverance worthy a better cause. As the newspaper -in question had rather a wide circulation—since when did harmful -literature fail to meet ready sale?—and the postal employees were, -in many cases, no wiser than their fellow-readers, it was perhaps -not unnatural that the attacks, which were directed more frequently -and angrily against the postal reformer than against his colleagues, -should meet with credence. “It certainly was rather ill-timed,” says -Rowland Hill, on hearing[212] of a particularly vicious libel, “for -in the previous month (November 1858) I had induced the Treasury to -abandon its intention of issuing an order forbidding the receipt of -Christmas boxes, and also had obtained some improvement in their scale -of wages, the Treasury granting even more than was applied for.”[213] - -It was not long before the agitation assumed a still more serious -form, no fewer than three anonymous letters threatening assassination -being received at short intervals by the harassed reformer. The -heads of the different postal departments, becoming alarmed for the -safety of the permanent chief's life, advised his temporary absence -from the Office; and Mr Peacock, its solicitor, who knew that an -expert had satisfied himself and others that the handwriting of the -first of these letters could be traced to a certain postman who had -been giving much trouble of late, proposed immediate arrest and -prosecution. But, on comparing the suspected man's actual handwriting -with that, disguised though it was, of the anonymous letter, Rowland -Hill disagreed with the expert's view, and refused assent to so -drastic a proceeding; happily so, for later circumstances seemed to -point to justification of the adverse opinion. My father also declined -to absent himself from the Office, and even when a fourth letter -appeared, in which were mentioned the place, day, and hour when the -fatal blow would be struck, he still, as was his custom, walked the -last half mile of his way to work, armed only with his umbrella, and -on the fateful occasion passed the indicated spot without encountering -harm of any kind. Later than this, somehow, word of the anonymous -letters reached my mother's ears, though not, of course, through her -husband; and thenceforth she made it her daily practice to drive down -to the Post Office, and accompany him home. - -This episode would hardly be worth the telling did it not serve to -show how little need there generally is to pay attention to letters, -however threatening, when written by persons who dare not reveal their -identity. On occasions of this sort memory brings back to mind the -story of the brave Frenchman who at the time of the Franco-German -war wrote to the then newly-proclaimed German Emperor, William I., -at Versailles, to remind him of sundry ugly passages in his life, -and to threaten him with condign punishment—the writer being a near -neighbour, and appending to his letter his actual name and address. -This man at least had the courage of his opinions. The anonymous -scribbler is seldom so valorous. - -In 1858 “The Post Office Library and Literary Association” was -established, the institution being aided by the delivery of lectures, -an enterprise in which several of the leading officials participated. -Mr West gave a fascinating discourse on etymology; and Rowland Hill -took his turn by lecturing on the annular eclipse of the sun (“visible -at Greenwich”) which happened in that year.[214] In 1859 similar -institutions were started at most of the London district offices, and -in some provincial towns. - -When the volunteer movement was in the heyday of its youth, the -Post Office was one of the earliest of the great public departments -to establish a corps of its own, whose exploits were humorously -related by “Ensign” Edmund Yates, under the heading “The Grimgribber -Rifle Volunteers,” in several numbers of _All the Year Round_ of -the period. The corps became amalgamated with the “Civil Service” -volunteer force, of which fine body it was perhaps the pioneer company. - -“I wrote,” says Rowland Hill, “to the Postmaster-General, Lord -Colchester, on the subject (of raising a volunteer corps), and -obtained his ready sanction. Upon my communicating with the heads -of departments, I was told that there would be readiness enough to -volunteer if only the expenses could be provided for, or reduced to a -low rate; that the men would willingly give their time, but thought it -somewhat unreasonable that there should be a demand for their money -also. The difficulty was overcome by the same means, and I suppose to -about the same extent, as in other corps; but from that day to this I -have been unable to understand the policy or propriety of making men -pay for liberty to serve their country, a practice which must, in the -nature of things, debar large numbers from enrolment. The movement was -not limited to the chief office, and was especially satisfactory at -Edinburgh.”[215] - -In July 1859 Sir Edward Baines, proprietor of the _Leeds Mercury_, -wrote to introduce to Rowland Hill the inventor of the Post Office -Savings[216] Bank scheme, Mr (afterwards Sir) Charles Sikes, a banker -of Huddersfield—a scheme which has been a great convenience to people -of limited means. Depositors and deposits have increased, till the -modest venture launched in 1860, under the auspices of the Chancellor -of the Exchequer, Mr Gladstone, has grown into a colossal undertaking. -Sir Charles, with characteristic lack of self-advertisement, never -sought reward of any kind for the good work he had initiated. He was -satisfied with the knowledge that it had proved of immense benefit to -his fellow-men. He long survived the carrying into practical shape of -his scheme; and now that he is dead, his invention has, of course, -been claimed by or for others. - -The postal reform is one which, save as regards its most salient -features, has been established somewhat on the “gradual instalment -system,” each instalment, as a rule, coming into operation after a -hard struggle on the part of its promoter, and several years later -than when first proposed. Prepayment of postage, for example, one of -the most essential parts of my father's plan, was long allowed to -remain optional, although he had “counted upon universal prepayment -as an important means towards simplifying the accounts, with -consequent economy of time and expense, the expedient of double -postage on post-payment being regarded as a temporary mode of -avoiding the difficulties naturally attending a transition state; -and though hitherto deferring the measure to more pressing matters, -I had always looked forward to a time suitable for taking the step -necessary to the completion of my plan. The almost universal resort -to prepayment had rendered accounts of postage very short and easy, -but obviously universal practice alone could render them altogether -unnecessary.”[217] - -The attempt to make prepayment compulsory was renewed in 1859, the -proportion of unpaid letters having by that date become very small. -But the public generally were insensible to the advantage to the -service which economy of time and labour must secure, while the few -active malcontents who thought themselves qualified to be a law -unto themselves, if not to others, raised so much clamour that it -was considered advisable to postpone issue of the edict. An error -of judgment, perhaps, since the public soon becomes accustomed to -any rule that is at once just and easy to follow; as indeed had -already been shown by the readiness—entirely contrary to official -prediction—with which prepayment had, from the first, been accepted. -After all, submission to compulsory prepayment of our postage is not -one whit more slavish than submission to compulsory prepayment of our -railway and other vehicular fares, a gentle form of coercion to which -even those of us who are the most revolutionary of mind assent with -exemplary meekness. - -So far back as 1842[218] Rowland Hill had recommended the -establishment of a parcel post, but, although renewing his efforts -both in 1858 and 1863, he was forced to leave accomplishment of this -boon to later reformers. In the last-named year, however, the pattern -post came into operation. - -In 1862 he was able to make important alterations in the registration -of letters. Allusion has already been made to the ancient quarrel -between a former Postmaster-General and my father over the amount -of fee, the political head of the office wishing to keep it at 1s., -Rowland Hill to reduce it to 6d., a reduction easily obtained when -in 1846 the latter entered the Post Office. A largely increased -number of registered letters had been the result. The fee was now -still further reduced, the reduction being followed by an even larger -increase of registered letters; while the registration of coin-bearing -letters was at last made compulsory. Before 1862 coins had often -been enclosed in unregistered letters, at times so carelessly that -their presence was evident, and abstraction easy. As a natural -consequence, misappropriation was not infrequent. After the passing -of this necessary enactment the losses diminished rapidly; the number -of letters containing money posted in the second half of that year -increased to about 900,000, and the number of those which failed to -reach their destination was only twelve. - -While it is undeniable that occasionally a letter-carrier or sorter -has been responsible for the disappearance of some articles—at times -of great value—entrusted to the care of the department, the public -itself is frequently very far from blameless. As has already been -shown, carelessness that can only be called culpable sometimes throws -temptation in the men's way. In the course of a single twelvemonths, -nearly 31,000 letters entirely unaddressed were posted, many of which -contained money whose sum total amounted to several thousands of -pounds. - -The number of things lost in the post through negligence to enclose -them in properly secured covers, or through placing them in covers -which are imperfectly addressed or not addressed at all, so that -sometimes neither sender nor intended recipient can be traced, is very -great. In one twelvemonths alone the accumulations at the Dead Letter -Office sold at auction by order of the Postmaster-General comprised -almost every description of wearing apparel from socks up to sealskin -jackets and suits of clothing, Afghan, Egyptian, and South African war -medals, a Khedive's Star, a pearl necklace, some boxes of chocolate, -a curious Transvaal coin, and several thousands of postage stamps. -Did none of the losers dream of applying for repossession of their -property ere it passed under the auctioneer's hammer; or did they -resign themselves to the less troublesome assumption that the things -had been stolen? - -Simply to avoid payment of the registration fee—whose present amount -can hardly be found burdensome—people will hide money or other -valuables in some covering material that is inexpensive, or that may -be useful to the recipient, such as butter, puddings, etc., which are -sent off by the yet cheaper parcel post. One of the most flagrant -cases of deception was that of a lady living in Siam, who dispatched -to the old country several packages said to contain stationery -and walking-sticks, and valued at £7, 10s. 0d. Suspicion was -aroused—perhaps by the odd combination of treasures—and the parcels -were opened, when the “stationery and walking-sticks” of modest value -resolved themselves into a superb collection of diamonds and other -jewels worth about £25,000. - -The Post Office is often reproached for slowness or unwillingness -to adopt new ways; and, as a rule, the accusations are accompanied -by brilliant and highly original witticisms, in which figure the -contemptuous words “red tape.” For the apparent lack of official zeal, -the reproaching public itself is often to blame. Its passion—dating -from long past times, yet far from moribund—for defrauding the -department which, on the whole, serves it so well, yet with so few -thanks and so many scoldings, is one chief bar to possible reforms. -When, for example, the book-post was established in 1846,[219] all -sorts of things which had no right to be where they were found used -to be hidden between the pages. In one instance, a watch was concealed -in an old volume, within whose middle leaves a deep hole had been -excavated which was artfully covered over by the outside binding and -by several pages at the beginning and end of the book. To the casual -observer it therefore presented an innocent appearance, but fell -victim to post-official, lynx-eyed investigation. - -“With every desire to give the public all possible facilities,” wrote -my father in his diary, “we were often debarred from so doing by the -tricks and evasions which too frequently followed any relaxation of -our rules.” - -Even the great Macaulay transgressed strict postal regulations, being -in the habit, as his nephew tells us in one of the most delightful -biographies ever written, of sending him, when a school-boy, letters -fastened with sealing-wax, the seal hiding the welcome golden “tip.” -As the use of seals has almost entirely died out, and sealed missives, -even in Macaulay's time, were coming to be looked at with suspicion—as -probably containing something worth investigation—by those through -whose hands they pass, the boy was fortunate in that his uncle's -letters reached him safely. - -Very unreasonable, and sometimes downright absurd, are many complaints -made by the public. A lady once wrote to the authorities saying that -whereas at one time she always received her letters in the morning, -they now only reached her in the evening. The fact was that, through -the making of better arrangements, the letters which used to come in -with the matutinal tea and toast were now delivered over-night. - -The following is a rather curious story of theft. The cook in a -gentleman's family residing at Harrow one day received an unregistered -letter from Hagley, near Birmingham, which, when posted, contained a -watch. On reaching its destination the cover was found to enclose a -couple of pebbles only. She at once went to her master for advice. An -eminent geologist was dining at the house. When he saw the enclosures, -he said: “These are Harrow pebbles; no such stones could be found -at Hagley.” This showed that the letter must have been tampered -with at the Harrow end of the journey. The postal authorities were -communicated with, and an official detective was sent to Harrow to -make enquiries. Something about the letter had, it seems, attracted -notice at the local post office—perhaps the watch had ticked—which -proved that the packet was intact when handed to the letter-carrier -for delivery. He had not, however, given the letter to the cook, but -to the butler, who passed it on to the cook. The delinquent, then, -must be either the letter-carrier or the butler. The letter-carrier -had been long in the postal service, and bore an excellent character. -Suspicion therefore pointed to the butler. He was called into the -dining-room, and interrogated. He denied all knowledge of the watch, -and declared he had given the packet to the cook exactly as he had -received it. But while the interrogation was proceeding, his boxes -were being examined; and, although no watch was found in any, the -searchers came upon some things belonging to his master. Taxed with -their theft, the man pleaded guilty, but once more disclaimed all -knowledge of the watch. On some pretext he was allowed to leave the -room, when he retired to the pantry, and there committed suicide. - -As time wore on, during the ten years which followed 1854 and my -father's appointment as Secretary to the Post Office, he sometimes -found that his earlier estimate of former opponents was a mistake. -When on the eve of entering the Post Office in 1846, he was, for -instance, especially advised to get rid of Mr Bokenham, the head of -the Circulation Department.[220] The new-comer, however, soon learned -to appreciate at their just value Mr Bokenham's sterling qualities -both in official and private life. So far from “inviting him to -resign,” my father, unasked, moved for and obtained that improvement -in position and salary which his ex-adversary so thoroughly well -deserved, and which any less disinterested man would probably have -secured for himself long before. Nor was Mr Bokenham's the only -instance of genuine worth rewarded by well-merited promotion in -position or salary, or both. - -Another former strong opponent had been Mr William Page, unto whose -efforts the successful conclusion of that treaty, known as “The -Postal Union,” which enables us to correspond with foreign nations -for 2-1/2d. the half-ounce, was largely due. At the present day -2-1/2d. seems scarcely to deserve the term “cheap” postage, but in the -middle of the nineteenth century it was a reduction to rejoice over. -No visitor was more welcome to our house than Mr Page, who was one -of the most genial and least self-seeking of men. He was a staunch -“Maberlyite,” and, even when most friendly with us, never concealed -his attachment to the man to whom he owed much kindness, as well as -his own well-deserved advancement, and the appointment to the postal -service of his two younger brothers. This unswerving loyalty to a -former chief naturally made us hold Mr Page in still warmer esteem, -since the worship of the risen sun is much more common and much less -heroic than is that of the luminary which has definitely set. When my -father died, Mr Page, at once and uninvited, cut short an interesting -and much-needed holiday in Normandy because he knew we should all wish -him to be present at the funeral. - -But although the situation at the Post Office greatly improved after -the chief opponent's translation to another sphere of usefulness, the -old hostility to the reform and reformer did not die out, being in -some directions scotched merely, and not killed. - -One of the most prominent among the irreconcilables was the novelist, -Anthony Trollope. But as he was a surveyor, which means a postal -bird of passage or official comet of moderate orbit regularly moving -on its prescribed course, with only periodic appearances at St -Martin's-le-Grand, he did not frequently come into contact with the -heads there. He was an indefatigable worker; and many of his novels -were partly written in railway carriages while he was journeying -from one post town to another, on official inspection bent. On one -occasion he was brought to our house, and a most entertaining and -lively talker we found him to be. But somehow our rooms seemed too -small for his large, vigorous frame, and big, almost stentorian voice. -Indeed, he reminded us of Dickens's Mr Boythorn, minus the canary, -and gave us the impression that the one slightly-built chair on which -he rashly seated himself during a great part of the interview, must -infallibly end in collapse, and sooner rather than later. After about -a couple of hours of our society, he apparently found us uncongenial -company; and perhaps we did not take over kindly to him, however -keen our enjoyment, then and afterwards, of his novels and his talk. -He has left a record in print of the fact that he heartily detested -the Hills, who have consoled themselves by remembering that when a -man has spent many years in writing romance, the trying of his hand, -late in life, at history, is an exceedingly hazardous undertaking. In -fact, Trollope's old associates at the Post Office were in the habit -of declaring that his “Autobiography” was one of the greatest, and -certainly not the least amusing, of his many works of fiction. - -But Anthony Trollope had quite another side to his character beside -that of novelist and Hill-hater, a side which should not be lost sight -of. In 1859 he was sent out to the West Indies on official business; -and, although a landsman, he was able to propose a scheme of steamer -routes more convenient and more economical than those in existence, -”and, in the opinion of the hydrographer to the Admiralty, superior to -them even in a nautical point of view.”[221] Nevertheless, the scheme -had to wait long for adoption. Indeed, what scheme for betterment has -_not_ to wait long? - -Whenever my father met with any foreign visitors of distinction, he -was bound, sooner or later, to ask them about postal matters in their -own country. The examined were of all ranks, from the King of the -Belgians to Garibaldi, the Italian patriot, whom he met at a public -banquet, and presently questioned as to the prospects of penny postage -in Italy. Garibaldi's interest in the subject was but languid; the -sword with him was evidently a more congenial weapon than the pen—or -postage stamp. When, later, Rowland Hill told his eldest brother of -the unsatisfactory interview, the latter was greatly amused, and said: -“When you go to Heaven I foresee that you will stop at the gate to -enquire of St Peter how many deliveries they have a day, and how the -expense of postal communication between Heaven and the other place is -defrayed.” - -To the year 1862 belongs a veracious anecdote, which, although -it has no relation to postal history, is worth preserving from -oblivion because its heroine is a lady of exalted rank, who is held -in universal respect. In connection with the Great Exhibition of -that year, whose transplanted building has since been known as the -Alexandra Palace of North London, my father came to know the Danish -Professor Forchammer; and, when bound for the Post Office, often took -his way through the Exhibition, then in Hyde Park, and the Danish -Section in particular. One morning he found the Professor very busy -superintending a rearrangement of the pictures there. A portrait had -just been taken from the line in order that another, representing -a very attractive-looking young lady, which had previously been -“skied,” might be put into the more important place. The young lady's -father had not yet become a king, and the family was by no means -wealthy, which combination of circumstances perhaps accounted for -the portrait's former inconspicuous position. On my father's asking -the reason for the change, Professor Forchammer replied that a great -number of people was expected to visit that Section to-day to look at -the portrait, and it was imperative that it should be given the best -place there, in consequence of the announcement just made public that -the original was “engaged to marry your Prince of Wales.” - -My father parted with great regret from Lord Clanricarde when the -Russell Administration went out of office. His kindness and courtesy, -his aptitude for work, his good sense and evident sincerity, had -caused the “Secretary to the Postmaster-General,” after a service of -nearly six years, to form a very high opinion of his chief.[222] - -Lord Clanricarde's successor, Lord Hardwicke, belonged to the rough -diamond species; yet he tried his hardest to fulfil intelligently -and conscientiously the duties of his novel and far from congenial -office. He had a cordial dislike to jobbery of any kind, though once -at least he came near to acquiescing in a Parliamentary candidate's -artfully-laid plot suggesting the perpetration of a piece of -lavish and unnecessary expenditure in a certain town, the outlay -to synchronise with the candidate's election, and the merit to be -claimed by him. Happily, Lord Hardwicke's habitual lack of reticence -gave wiser heads the weapon with which to prevent so flagrant a job -from getting beyond the stage of mere suggestion. It was the man's -kind heart and dislike to give offence which doubtless led him into -indiscretions of the sort; but amiable as he was, he had at times -a knack of making people feel extremely uncomfortable, as when, in -conformity with his own ideas on the subject, he sought to regulate -the mutual relations of the two chief Secretaries, when he called -in all latchkeys—his own, however, included—and when, during his -first inspection of his new kingdom, he audibly asked, on entering -a large room full of employees, if he had “the power to dismiss all -these men.” The old sailor aimed at ruling the Post Office as he had -doubtless ruled his man-of-war, wasted time and elaborate minutes -on trivial matters—such as a return of the number of housemaids -employed—when important reforms needed attention, and had none of the -ability or breadth of view of his predecessor. - -Lord Canning was my father's next chief, and soon showed himself -to be an earnest friend to postal reform. It was while he was -Postmaster-General, and mainly owing to his exertions, that in -1854 fulfilment was at last made of the promise given by Lord John -Russell's Government, to place the author of Penny Postage at -the head of the great department which controlled the country's -correspondence—a promise in consideration of which Rowland Hill, in -1846, had willingly sacrificed so much. When Lord Canning left the -Post Office to become Governor-General of India, my father felt as -if he had lost a lifelong friend; and he followed with deep interest -his former chiefs career in the Far East. During the anxious time -of struggle with the Mutiny, nothing pained my father more than the -virulent abuse which was often levelled at the far-seeing statesman -whose wise and temperate rule contributed so largely to preserve to -his country possession of that “brightest jewel of the crown” at -a season when most people in Britain lost their senses in a wild -outburst of fury. Lord Canning's management of India won, from -the first, his ex-lieutenant's warmest admiration. The judgment -of posterity—often more discerning, because less heated, than -contemporaneous opinion—has long since decided that “Clemency Canning” -did rightly. The nickname was used as a reproach at the time, but -the later title of “The Lord Durham of India” is meant as a genuine -compliment, or, better still, appreciation.[223] - -The Duke of Argyll—he of the “silvern tongue”—succeeded Lord Canning, -and showed the same aptitude for hard work which had distinguished -his predecessors. His quickness of apprehension, promptitude in -generalisation, and that facility in composition which made of his -minutes models of literary style, were unusually great. When he left -the Post Office he addressed to its Secretary a letter of regret at -parting—an act of courtesy said to be rare. The letter was couched in -the friendliest terms, and the regret was by no means one-sided. - -Lord Colchester, the Postmaster-General in Lord Derby's short-lived -second Administration, was another excellent chief, painstaking, -hard-working, high-minded, remarkably winning in manner, cherishing -a positive detestation of every kind of job, and never hesitating to -resist pressure on that score from whatever quarter it might come. His -early death was a distinct loss to the party to which he belonged. - -For Lord Elgin, who, like Lord Canning, left the Post Office to -become Governor-General of India, my father entertained the highest -opinion alike as regarded his administrative powers, his calm and -dispassionate judgment, and his transparent straightforwardness of -character. “He is another Lord Canning,” the postal reformer used -to say; and that was paying his new chief the greatest compliment -possible. - -So far, then, as my father's experience entitled him to judge, -there are few beliefs more erroneous than that which pictures these -political, and therefore temporary masters of the Post Office—or, -indeed, of other Governmental departments—as mere “ornamental -figure-heads,” drawing a handsome salary, and doing very little to -earn it. The same remark applies to my father's last chief, who was -certainly no drone, and who was ever bold in adopting any improvement -which seemed to him likely to benefit the service and the public. - -Hitherto the reformer had been fortunate in the Postmasters-General -he had served under; and by this time—the beginning of the -'sixties—everything was working harmoniously, so that Mr (afterwards -Sir John) Tilly, the then Senior Assistant Secretary, when contrasting -the present with the past, was justified when he remarked that, “Now -every one seems to do his duty as a matter of course.” - -But with the advent to power in 1860 of the seventh chief under whom -my father, while at the Post Office, served, there came a change; -and the era of peace was at an end. The new head may, like Lord -Canning, have had knowledge of that hostility to which the earlier -Postmaster-General, in conversation with Rowland Hill, alluded. But -if so, the effect on the later chief was very different from that -upon Lord Canning. At this long interval of time, there can be no -necessity to disinter the forgotten details of a quarrel that lasted -for four years, but which will soon be half a century old. Perhaps -the situation may be best expressed in the brief, and very far from -vindictive reference to it in my father's diary. “I had not,” he -wrote, “the good fortune to obtain from him that confidence and -support which I had enjoyed with his predecessors.” Too old, too -utterly wearied out with long years of almost incessant toil and -frequently recurring obstruction, too hopelessly out of health[224] to -cope with the new difficulties, the harassed postal reformer struggled -on awhile, and in 1864 resigned. - -He was sixty-eight years of age, and from early youth upward, had -worked far harder than do most people. “He had,” said an old friend, -“packed into one man's life the life's work of two men.”[225] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[199] The Commissioners were Lord Elcho, Sir Stafford Northcote, Sir -Charles Trevelyan, and Mr Hoffay. - -[200] “Life,” ii. 245-249. - -[201] These were, of course, the “Peelites”—the members who, together -with their leader, had seceded from the Tory party on the Free Trade -question. - -[202] “Life,” ii. 225, 226. - -[203] “Life,” ii. 267. - -[204] “Life,” ii. 317. - -[205] A medical man had now been added to the staff, the first so -appointed being Dr Gavin, a much-esteemed official, who perished -untimely, if I remember rightly, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, during the -awful visitation there of the cholera epidemic of 1853. - -[206] Afterwards diminished to eight. - -[207] “Life,” ii. 298-301. - -[208] “Life,” ii. 300. At this time the Post Office staff numbered -over 24,000, of whom more than 3,000 served in the London district. - -[209] A thirty or more years old example of this rejection returns to -memory. A young man—a born soldier, and son to a distinguished officer -in the Engineers—failed to pass the inevitable Army examination. -The subject over which he broke down was some poem of Chaucer's, I -think the immortal Prologue to _The Canterbury Tales_—that wonderful -collection of masterly-drawn portraits of men and women who must have -been living people over five hundred years ago. Even an ardent lover -of him “whose sweet breath preluded those melodious bursts that fill -the spacious times of great Elizabeth with sounds that echo still,” -has never yet been able to perceive what connection the strains of -“Dan Chaucer, the first warbler,” can have with the science of modern -warfare. The born soldier, it was said, was fain to turn ranchman in -the American Far West. - -[210] As regards this oft-discussed matter, it seems that -Herbert Spencer was of like mind with my father. Speaking in his -“Autobiography of Edison,” the great philosopher says that “that -remarkable, self-educated man” was of opinion that “college-bred men -were of no use to him. It is astonishing,” continues Herbert Spencer, -“how general, among distinguished engineers, has been the absence of -education, or of high education. James Brindley and George Stephenson -were without any early instruction at all: the one taught himself -writing when an apprentice, and the other put himself to school when -a grown man. Telford too, a shepherd boy, had no culture beyond -that which a parish school afforded. Though Smeaton and Rennie and -Watt had the discipline of grammar schools, and two of them that of -High Schools, yet in no case did they pass through a _curriculum_ -appropriate to the profession they followed. Another piece of -evidence, no less remarkable, is furnished by the case of Sir Benjamin -Baker, who designed and executed the Forth Bridge—the greatest and -most remarkable bridge in the world, I believe. He received no regular -engineering instruction. Such men who, more than nearly all other -men, exercise constructive imagination, and rise to distinction only -when they are largely endowed with this faculty, seem thus to show by -implication the repressive influence of an educational system which -imposes ideas from without instead of evolving them from within.” -(“Autobiography,” i. 337, 338.) The remarks are the outcome of Herbert -Spencer's perusal of a biographical sketch of the celebrated engineer, -John Ericsson. In this occurred a significant passage: “When a friend -spoke to him with regret of his not having been graduated from some -technical institute, he answered that the fact, on the other hand, -was very fortunate. If he had taken a course at such an institution, -he would have acquired such a belief in authority that he would never -have been able to develop originality and make his own way in physics -and mechanics.” - -[211] In writing of the discontents which occasionally troubled the -postal peace during the mid-nineteenth century, it must be clearly -understood that no allusion is intended to those of later times. In -this story of an old reform the latest year at the Post Office is -1864; therefore, since this is a chronicle of “ancient history” only, -comments on the troubles of modern days, which the chronicler does not -profess to understand, shall be scrupulously avoided. - -[212] He never wasted his time in reading the attacks, even when some -good-natured friend occasionally asked: “Have you seen what Blank has -just written about you?” - -[213] “Life,” ii. 328. - -[214] Some of us enjoyed a capital view of the eclipse at Swindon in -fine weather and pleasant company. Our friend, Mr W. H. Wills, who was -also present, wrote an amusing account of the eclipse—appending to it, -however, a pretty story which never happened—in _Household Words_. The -eclipse was soon over, but the great astronomical treat of the year -was, of course, Donati's unforgettable comet, “a thing of beauty,” -though unfortunately not “a joy for ever,” which blazed magnificently -in the northern hemisphere for some few weeks. - -[215] “Life,” ii. 334. - -[216] Here was another reformer from outside the Post Office. Yet -one more was Sir Douglas Galton, who first proposed that the Post -Office should take over the telegraphic system. His father-in-law, Mr -Nicholson of Waverley Abbey, sent the then Captain Galton's paper on -the subject to Rowland Hill in 1852. The communication being private, -my father replied also privately, giving the project encouragement, -and leaving Captain Galton to take the next step. He submitted his -plan to the Board of Trade, whence it was referred to the Post Office. -The Postmaster-General, Lord Hardwicke, did not view the scheme with -favour, and it was dropped, to be resumed later within the Office -itself. Had Captain Galton's proposals been resolutely taken up in -1852, the British taxpayers might have been spared the heavy burden -laid upon them when, nearly twenty years later, the State purchase of -the Telegraphs was effected “at a cost at once so superfluous and so -enormous.” (“Life,” ii. 251, 252.) - -[217] “Life,” ii. 335. - -[218] “Report of the Select Committee on Postage (1843),” p. 41. Also -“Life,” ii. 336. - -[219] Professor de Morgan was one of the many literary and scientific -men who took an interest in the book-post when first proposed. At the -outset it was intended that no writing of any sort, not even the name -of owner or donor, should be inscribed in a volume so sent, but the -Professor descanted so ably and wittily on the hardship of thus ruling -out of transit an innocent book, merely because, a century or more -ago, some hand had written on its fly-leaf, “Anne Pryse, her boke; God -give her grace therein to loke,” that not even the hardest-hearted -official, and certainly not my father, could have said him nay; and by -this time any writing, short of a letter, is allowed. The Professor -had a wonderfully-shaped head, his forehead towards the top being -abnormally prominent. He was devoted to mathematics, and gave much -time to their study; thus it used to be said by those who could not -otherwise account for his strange appearance, that the harder he -worked at his favourite study the keener grew the contest between the -restraining frontal bones and protruding brain, the latter perceptibly -winning the day. A delightful talker was this great mathematician, -also a pugilistic person, and on occasion not above using his fists -with effect. One day he was summoned for an assault, and duly appeared -in the police court. “I was walking quietly along the street,” began -the victim, “when Professor de Morgan came straight up to me——” -“That's a lie!” exclaimed the disgusted mathematician. “I came up to -you at an angle of forty-five degrees.” This anecdote has been given -to several eminent men, but Professor de Morgan was its real hero. - -[220] By shear ability, industry, and steadiness, Mr Bokenham had -worked himself up from a humble position to high rank in the Post -Office. One day a rough but pleasant-looking man of the lower -agricultural class came to London from his and Mr Bokenham's native -East Anglia, and called at St Martin's-le-Grand. “What! Bill -Bokenham live in a house of this size!” he exclaimed. He had taken -the imposing, but far from beautiful edifice built in 1829 for his -cousin's private residence. - -[221] “Life,” ii. 288. - -[222] In Edmund Yates's “Recollections” many pleasant stories are told -of Lord Clanricarde, to whose kindness indeed the author owed his -appointment to the Post Office. - -[223] “The close of his career as Postmaster-General,” wrote my father -many years later, “was highly characteristic. For some reason it was -convenient to the Government that he should retain his office until -the very day of his departure for the East. Doubtless it was expected -that this retention would be little more than nominal, or that, at -most, he would attend to none but the most pressing business, leaving -to his successor all such affairs as admitted of delay. When I found -that he continued to transact business just as usual, while I knew -that he must be encumbered with every kind of preparation, official, -personal, and domestic, I earnestly pressed that course upon him, -but in vain; he would leave no arrears, and every question, great or -small, which he had been accustomed to decide was submitted to him -as usual to the last hour of his remaining in the country. Nor was -decision even then made heedlessly or hurriedly, but, as before, after -full understanding.... In common with the whole world, I regarded -his premature death as a severe national calamity. He was earnest -and energetic in the moral reform of the Post Office, and had his -life been longer spared, might perhaps have been the moral reformer -of India.... That such a man, after acquiring a thorough knowledge -of myself, should have selected me for the difficult and responsible -post of Secretary to the Post Office, and have continued throughout -my attached friend, is to me a source of the highest gratification.” -(“Life,” ii. 353-355.) - -[224] He had been still further crippled in 1860 by a paralytic -seizure which necessitated entire abstention from work for many -months, and from which he rallied, but with impaired health, although -he lived some nineteen years longer. - -[225] “Life,” ii. 353-363. Yates, in his “Recollections,” gives -a vivid character sketch of this political head of the office. -The portrait is not flattering. But then Yates, who, like other -subordinates at St Martin's-le-Grand, had grievances of his own -against the man who was probably the most unpopular Postmaster-General -of his century, does not mince his words. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE SUNSET OF LIFE - - -In February 1864, Rowland Hill sent in his resignation to the Lords -of the Treasury. Thenceforward, he retired from public life, though -he continued to take a keen interest in all political and social -questions, and especially in all that concerned the Post Office.[226] -In drawing his pen-portrait, it is better that the judgment of a few -of those who knew him well should be quoted, rather than that of one -so nearly related to him as his present biographer. - -[Illustration: _From a Portrait in_ “THE GRAPHIC.” - -SIR ROWLAND HILL.] - -In the concluding part to the “Life of Sir Rowland Hill and History of -Penny Postage,” partly edited, partly written by Dr G. Birkbeck Hill, -the latter, while reviewing the situation, justly holds that “In the -Post Office certainly” his uncle “should have had no master over him -at any time.” ... “Under the able chiefs whom he served from 1854 to -1860, he worked with full contentment.” When “this happy period came -to an end, with the appointment of” the Postmaster-General under whom -he found it impossible to work, “his force was once more, and for -the last time, squandered. How strangely and how sadly was this man -thwarted in the high aim of his life! He longed for power; but it -was for the power to carry through his great scheme. 'My plan' was -often on his lips, and ever in his thoughts. His strong mind was made -up that it should succeed.”... “There was in him a rare combination -of enthusiasm and practical power. He clearly saw every difficulty -that lay in his path, and yet he went on with unshaken firmness. In -everything but in work he was the most temperate of men. His health -was greatly shattered by his excessive toils and his long struggles. -For the last few years of his life he never left his house, and never -even left the floor on which his sleeping room was. But in the midst -of this confinement, in all the weakness of old age and sickness, he -wrote: 'I accept the evil with the good, and frankly regard the latter -as by far the weightier of the two. Could I repeat my course, I should -sacrifice as much as before, and regard myself as richly repaid by -the result.' With these high qualities was united perfect integrity. -He was the most upright and the most truthful of men. He was often -careless of any gain to himself, but the good of the State never for -one moment did he disregard. His rule was stern, yet never without -consideration for the feelings of others. No one who was under him -ever felt his self-respect wounded by his chief.[227] He left behind -him in all ranks of the service a strong sense of public duty which -outlived even the evil days which came after him. One of the men who -long served under him bore this high testimony to the character of his -old chief: 'Sir Rowland Hill was very generous with his own money, and -very close with public money. He would have been more popular had he -been generous with the public money and close with his own.'”[228] - -When Mr Gladstone was Chancellor of the Exchequer, my father often -worked with him, their relations being most harmonious. Shortly -before the postal reformer's resignation, the great statesman wrote -that “he stands pre-eminent and alone among all the members of the -Civil Service as a benefactor to the nation.” At another time Mr -Gladstone assured his friend that “the support you have had from me -has been the very best that I could give, but had it been much better -and more effective, it would not have been equal to your deserts and -claims.” And at a later season, when Rowland Hill was suffering from -an especially virulent outbreak of the misrepresentation and petty -insults which fall to the lot of all fearlessly honest, job-detesting -men, the sympathising Chancellor wrote: “If you are at present -under odium for the gallant stand you make on behalf of the public -interests, at a period, too, when chivalry of that sort by no means -'pays,' I believe that I have, and I hope still to have, the honour -of sharing it with you.”[229] Writing soon after my father's death, -the then leader of the Opposition used words which Rowland Hill's -descendants have always prized. “In some respects his lot was one -peculiarly happy even as among public benefactors, for his great plan -ran like wildfire through the civilised world; and never, perhaps, -was a local invention (for such it was) and improvement applied in -the lifetime of its author to the advantage of such vast multitudes -of his fellow-creatures.” Ten years later, the same kindly critic, in -the course of a speech delivered at Saltney in October 1889, said: -”In the days of my youth a labouring man, the father of a family, was -practically prohibited from corresponding with the members of his -household who might be away. By the skill and courage and genius of -Sir Rowland Hill, correspondence is now within reach of all, and the -circulation of intelligence is greatly facilitated.”[230] - -A very busy man himself, my father was naturally full of admiration -for Gladstone's marvellous capacity for work and for attending to a -number of different things at once. One day, when the Secretary to -the Post Office went to Downing Street to transact some departmental -business with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he found the latter -engaged with his private secretaries, every one of whom was hard at -work, a sculptor being meanwhile employed upon a bust for which the -great man was too much occupied to give regular sittings. Every now -and then during my father's interview, Mrs Gladstone, almost, if not -quite, as hard-working as her husband, came in and out, each time on -some errand of importance, and all the while letters and messengers -and other people were arriving or departing. Yet the Chancellor of the -Exchequer seemed able to keep that wonderful brain of his as clear as -if his attention had been wholly concentrated on the business about -which his postal visitor had come, and this was soon discussed and -settled in Gladstone's own clear and concise manner, notwithstanding -the should-have-been-bewildering surroundings, which would have driven -my father all but distracted. A characteristic, everyday scene of that -strenuous life. - -On Rowland Hill's retirement, he received many letters of sympathy and -of grateful recognition of his services from old friends and former -colleagues, most of them being men of distinguished career. They -form a valuable collection of autographs, which would have been far -larger had not many of his early acquaintances, those especially who -worked heartily and well during the late 'thirties to help forward the -reform, passed over already to the majority. One letter was from Lord -Monteagle, who, as Mr Spring Rice, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the -Melbourne Administration, had proposed Penny Postage in the Budget of -1839. - -Prolonged rest gave back to Rowland Hill some of his old strength, and -allowed him to serve on the Royal Commission on Railways, and to show -while so employed that his mind had lost none of its clearness. He was -also able on several occasions to attend the meetings of the Political -Economy Club and other congenial functions, and he followed with keen -interest the doings of the Royal Astronomical Society, to which he had -belonged for more than half a century.[231] He also spent much time -in preparing the lengthy autobiography on whose pages I have largely -drawn in writing this story of his reform. He survived his retirement -from the Post Office fifteen years; and time, with its happy tendency -to obliterate memory of wrongs, enabled him to look back on the old -days of storm and stress with chastened feelings. Over several of -his old opponents the grave had closed, and for the rest, many years -had passed since they and he had played at move and counter-move. -Thus, when the only son of one of his bitterest adversaries died -under especially sad circumstances, the news called forth the aged -recluse's ever ready sympathy, and prompted him to send the bereaved -parent a genuinely heartfelt message of condolence. Increasing age -and infirmities did not induce melancholy or pessimistic leanings, -and although he never ceased to feel regret that his plan had not -been carried out in its entirety—a regret with which every reformer, -successful or otherwise, is likely to sympathise—he was able in -one of the concluding passages of his Autobiography to write thus -cheerfully of his own position and that of his forerunners in the same -field: “When I compare my experience with that of other reformers or -inventors, I ought to regard myself as supremely fortunate. Amongst -those who have laboured to effect great improvements, how many have -felt their success limited to the fact that by their efforts seed was -sown which in another age would germinate and bear fruit! How many -have by their innovations exposed themselves to obliquy, ridicule, -perhaps even to the scorn and abhorrence of at least their own -generation; and, alas, how few have lived to see their predictions -more than verified, their success amply acknowledged, and their deeds -formally and gracefully rewarded!”[232] - -Owing to the still quieter life which, during his very latest years, -he was obliged to lead through broken health, advancing age, and the -partial loneliness caused by the passing hence of his two eldest -brothers, one of his children, and nearly all his most intimate -friends, he was nearly forgotten by the public, or at any rate by that -vastly preponderating younger portion of it, which rarely studies “the -history of our own times,” or is only dimly aware that Rowland Hill -had “done something to the Post Office.” Many people believed him to -be dead, others that he was living in a retirement not altogether -voluntary. Thus one day he was greatly amused while reading his -morning paper, to learn that at a spiritualist meeting his wraith had -been summoned from the vasty deep, and asked to give its opinion on -the then management of the Post Office. The helm at that time was in -the hands of one of the bitterest of his old opponents, and sundry -things had lately taken place—notably, if memory serves me aright, -in the way of extravagant telegraphs purchase—of which he strongly -disapproved. But that fact by no means prevented the spirit from -expressing entire satisfaction with everything and everybody at St -Martin's-le-Grand, or from singling out for particular commendation -the then novel invention of halfpenny postcards. These the living man -cordially detested as being, to his thinking, a mischievous departure -from his principle of uniformity of rate.[233] Later, he so far -conformed to the growing partiality for postcards as to keep a packet -or two on hand, but they diminished in number very slowly, and he was -ever wont to find fault with the unfastidious taste of that large -portion of mankind which writes descriptions of its maladies, details -of its private affairs, and moral reflections on the foibles of its -family or friends, so that all who run, or, at any rate, sort and -deliver, may read. - -During the quarter-century which elapsed between Rowland Hill's -appointment to the Treasury and his resignation of the chief -secretaryship to the Post Office, many generous tributes were paid him -by the public in acknowledgment of the good accomplished by the postal -reform. - -The year after the establishment of penny postage, Wolverhampton, -Liverpool, and Glasgow, each sent him a handsome piece of plate, the -Liverpool gift, a silver salver, being accompanied by a letter from -Mr Egerton Smith, the editor of the local _Mercury_. Mr Smith told my -father that the salver had been purchased with the pence contributed -by several thousands of his fellow-townsmen, and that Mr Mayer, in -whose works it had been made, and by whom it was delivered into the -postal reformer's hands, had waived all considerations of profit, and -worked out of pure gratitude. The other pieces of plate were also -accompanied by addresses couched in the kindliest of terms. - -From Cupar Fife came a beautiful edition of the complete works -of Sir Walter Scott—ninety-eight volumes in all. In each is a -fly-leaf stating for whom and for what services this unique edition -was prepared, the inscription being as complimentary as were the -inscriptions accompanying the other testimonials. My father was -a lifelong admirer of Scott; and when the Cupar Fife Testimonial -Committee wrote to ask what form their tribute should take, he was -unfeignedly glad to please his Scots admirers by choosing the works -of their most honoured author, and, at the same time, by possessing -them, to realise a very many years long dream of his own. As young -men, he and his brothers had always welcomed each successive work as -it fell from pen and press, duly receiving their copy direct from -the publishers, and straightway devouring it. Younger generations -have decided that Scott is “dry.” Had they lived in those dark, early -decades of the nineteenth century, when literature was perhaps at -its poorest level, they also might have greeted with enthusiasm -the creations of “the Great Unknown,” and wondered who could be -their author.[234] My father set so high a value on these beautiful -presentation volumes that, from the first, he laid down a stringent -rule that not one of them should leave the house, no matter who might -wish to borrow it. - -The National Testimonial—to which allusion has already been made—was -raised about three years after Rowland Hill's dismissal from the -Treasury, and before his restoration to office by Lord John Russell's -Administration, by which time the country had given the new postal -system a trial, and found out its merits. In 1845 Sir George Larpent, -in the name of the Mercantile Committee, sent my father a copy of -its Resolutions, together with a cheque for £10,000, the final -presentation being deferred till the accounts should be made up. -This was done in June 1846, on the occasion of a public dinner at -which were assembled Rowland Hill's aged father, his only son—then a -lad of fourteen—and his brothers, in addition to many of those good -friends who had done yeoman service for the reform. The idea of the -testimonial originated with Mr John Estlin,[235] an eminent surgeon of -Bristol, and was speedily taken up in London by _The Inquirer_, the -article advocating it being written by the editor, the Rev. Wm. Hinks. -The appeal once started was responded to by the country cordially and -generously. - -Many pleasant little anecdotes show how heartily the poorer classes -appreciated both reform and reformer. Being, in 1853, on a tour in -Scotland, my father one day employed a poor journeyman tailor of -Dunoon to mend a torn coat. Somehow the old man found out who was -its wearer, and no amount of persuasion would induce him to accept -payment for the rent he so skilfully made good. A similar case -occurred somewhat earlier, when we were staying at Beaumaris; while a -“humble admirer” who gave no name wrote, a few years later than the -presentation of the National Testimonial, to say that at the time he -had been too poor to subscribe, but now sent a donation, which he -begged my father to accept. His identity was never revealed. Another -man wrote a letter of thanks from a distant colony, and not knowing -the right address, inscribed the cover “To him who gave us all the -Penny Post.” Even M. Grasset, when in a similar difficulty, directed -his envelope from Paris to “Rowland Hill—where he is.” That these -apologies for addresses can be reproduced is proof that the missives -reached their destination.[236] - -It would be easy to add to these stories; their name is legion. - -Tributes like these touched my father even more deeply than the -bestowal of public honours, although he also prized these as showing -that his work was appreciated in all grades of life. Moreover, in -those now far-off days, “honours” were bestowed more sparingly and -with greater discrimination than later came to be the case; and merit -was considered of more account than money-bags. Thus in 1860 Rowland -Hill was made a K.C.B., the suggestion of that step being understood -to lie with Lords Palmerston and Elgin (the then Postmaster-General), -for the recipient had not been previously sounded, and the gift came -as a surprise. - -After my father's retirement, the bestowal of honours recommenced, -though he did _not_ assume the title of “Lord Queen's head,” as Mr -Punch suggested he should do were a peerage offered to him—which was -not at all likely to be done. At Oxford he received the honorary -degree of D.C.L.,[237] and a little later was presented by the then -Prince of Wales with the first Albert Gold Medal issued by the -Society of Arts. The following year, when Rowland Hill was dining at -Marlborough House, the Prince reminded him of the presentation. Upon -which the guest told his host a little story which was news to H.R.H., -and greatly amused him. The successive blows required for obtaining -high relief on the medal had shattered the die before the work was -completed. There was not time to make another die, as it was found -impossible to postpone the ceremony. At the moment of presentation, -however, the recipient only, and not the donor, was aware that it was -an empty box which, with much interchange of compliments, passed from -the royal hands into those of the commoner. - -From Longton, in the Staffordshire Potteries, came a pair of very -handsome vases. When the workmen engaged in making them learned for -whom they were intended, they bargained that, by way of contribution -to the present, they should give their labour gratuitously. - -An address to Rowland Hill was voted at a town's meeting at Liverpool, -and this was followed by the gift of some valuable pictures. Their -selection being left to my father himself, he chose three, one work -each, by friends of long standing—his ex-pupil Creswick, and Messrs -Cooke and Clarkson Stanfield, all famous Royal Academicians. Three -statues of the postal reformer have been erected, the first at -Birmingham, where, soon after his resignation, a town's meeting was -held to consider how to do honour to the man whose home had once been -there, the originator of the movement being another ex-pupil, Mr -James Lloyd of the well-known banking family. From Kidderminster his -fellow-townsmen sent my father word that they were about to pay him -the same compliment they had already paid to another Kidderminster -man, the famous preacher, Richard Baxter. But this newer statue, like -the one by Onslow Ford in London,[238] was not put up till after -the reformer's death. Of the three, the Kidderminster statue, -by Thomas Brock, R.A., is by far the best, the portrait being good -and the pose characteristic. Mr Brock has also done justice to his -subject's strongest point, the broad, massive head suggestive of the -large, well-balanced brain within. That the others were not successful -as likenesses is not surprising. Even when living he was difficult -to portray, a little bust by Brodie, R.S.A., when Rowland Hill was -about fifty, being perhaps next best to Brock's. The small bust in -Westminster Abbey set up in the side chapel where my father lies -is absolutely unrecognisable. Another posthumous portrait was the -engraving published by Vinter (Lithographer to the Queen). It was -taken from a photograph then quite a quarter-century old. Photography -in the early 'fifties was comparatively a young art. Portraits were -often woeful caricatures; and the photograph in our possession was -rather faded, so that the lithographer had no easy task before him. -Still, the likeness was a fair one, though the best of all—and they -were admirable—were an engraving published by Messrs Kelly of the -“Post Office Directory,” and one which appeared in the _Graphic_. - -[Illustration: - - _From a Photograph by the late T. Ball._ - -THE STATUE, KIDDERMINSTER. - -By Thomas Brock, R.A.] - -In June 1879, less than three months before his death, the Freedom of -the City of London was bestowed upon the veteran reformer. By this -time he had grown much too infirm to go to the Guildhall to receive -the honour in accordance with long-established custom. The Court of -Common Council therefore considerately waived precedent, and sent to -Hampstead a deputation of five gentlemen,[239] headed by the City -Chamberlain, who made an eloquent address, briefly describing the -benefits achieved by the postal reform, while offering its dying -author “the right hand of fellowship in the name of the Corporation.” -My father was just able to sign the Register, but the autograph is -evidence of the near approach to dissolution of the hand that traced -it. - -On the 27th of August in the same year he passed away in the presence -of his devoted wife, who, barely a year his junior, had borne up -bravely and hardly left his bedside, and of one other person. Almost -his last act of consciousness was, while holding her hand in his, to -feel for the wedding ring he had placed upon it nearly fifty-two years -before. - -My father's noblest monument is his reform which outlives him, and -which no reactionary Administration should be permitted to sweep away. -The next noblest is the “Rowland Hill Benevolent Fund,” whose chief -promoters were Sir James Whitehead and Mr R. K. Causton, and was -the fruit of a subscription raised soon after the postal reformer's -death, doubled, eleven years later, by the proceeds of the two Penny -Postage Jubilee celebrations, the one at the Guildhall and the other -at the South Kensington Museum, in 1890. Had it been possible to -consult the dead man's wishes as to the use to be made of this fund, -he would certainly have given his voice for the purpose to which it -is dedicated—the relief of those among the Post Office employees who, -through ill-health, old age, or other causes, have broken down, and -are wholly or nearly destitute. For, having himself graduated in the -stern school of poverty, he too had known its pinch, and could feel -for the poor as the poor are ever readiest to feel. - -My father's fittest epitaph is contained in the following poem which -appeared in _Punch_ soon after his death. His family have always, and -rightly, considered that no more eloquent or appreciative obituary -notice could have been penned. - - -In Memoriam - -ROWLAND HILL - -ORIGINATOR OF CHEAP POSTAGE - - Born at Kidderminster, 3rd December 1795. Died at Hampstead, 27th - August 1879. Buried in Westminster Abbey, by the side of James - Watt, Thursday, 4th September. - - No question this of worthy's right to lie - With England's worthiest, by the side of him - Whose brooding brain brought under mastery - The wasted strength of the Steam giant grim. - - Like labours—his who tamed by sea and land - Power, Space, and Time, to needs of human kind, - That bodies might be stronger, nearer hand, - And his who multiplied mind's links with mind. - - Breaking the barriers that, of different height - For rich and poor, were barriers still for all; - Till “out of mind” was one with “out of sight,” - And parted souls oft parted past recall. - - Freeing from tax unwise the interchange - Of distant mind with mind and mart with mart; - Releasing thought from bars that clipped its range; - Lightening a load felt most i' the weakest part. - - What if the wings he made so strong and wide - Bear burdens with their blessings? Own that all - For which his bold thought we oft hear decried, - Of laden bag, too frequent postman's call, - - Is nothing to the threads of love and light - Shot, thanks to him, through life's web dark and wide, - Nor only where he first unsealed men's sight, - But far as pulse of time and flow of tide! - - Was it a little thing to think this out? - Yet none till he had hit upon the thought; - And, the thought brought to birth, came sneer and flout - Of all his insight saw, his wisdom taught. - - All office doors were closed against him—hard; - All office heads were closed against him too. - He had but worked, like others, for reward. - “The thing was all a dream.” “It would not do.” - - But this was not a vaguely dreaming man, - A windbag of the known Utopian kind; - He had thought out, wrought out, in full, his plan; - 'Twas the far-seeing fighting with the blind. - - And the far-seeing won his way at last, - Though pig-headed Obstruction's force died hard; - Denied his due, official bitters cast, - Into the cup wrung slowly from their guard. - - But not until the country, wiser far - Than those who ruled it, with an angry cry, - Seeing its soldiers 'gainst it waging war, - At last said resolutely, “Stand you by! - - “And let him in to do what he has said, - And you do not, and will not let him do.” - And so at last the fight he fought was sped, - Thought at less cost freer and further flew. - - And all the world was kindlier, closer knit, - And all man's written word can bring to man - Had easier ways of transit made for it, - And none sat silent under poortith's ban - - When severed from his own, as in old days. - And this we owe to one sagacious brain, - By one kind heart well guided, that in ways - Of life laborious sturdy strength had ta'en. - - And his reward came, late, but sweeter so, - In the wide sway that his wise thought had won: - He was as one whose seed to tree should grow, - Who hears him blest that sowed it 'gainst the sun. - - So love and honour made his grey hairs bright, - And while most things he hoped to fulness came, - And many ills he warred with were set right, - Good work and good life joined to crown his name. - - And now that he is dead we see how great - The good work done, the good life lived how brave, - And through all crosses hold him blest of fate, - Placing this wreath upon his honoured grave! - - —_Punch_, 20th September 1879 - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[226] On leaving office he drew up a short paper entitled, “Results of -Postal Reform,” a copy of which appears in the Appendix. - -[227] He was, indeed, never likely to err as once did the unpopular -Postmaster-General who summoned to his presence the head of one of the -departments to give an explanation of some difficult matter that was -under consideration. The interview was bound to be lengthy, but the -unfortunate man was not invited to take a chair, till Rowland Hill, -who was also present, rose, and, by way of silent protest against an -ill-bred action, remained standing. Then both men were asked to sit -down. - -[228] “Life,” ii. 411-414. - -[229] “Life,” ii. 363, 400. - -[230] It is well to reproduce these remarks of one who could remember -the old postal system, because among the younger generations who know -nothing of it, a belief seems to be prevalent that the plan of penny -postage was merely an elaboration of the little local posts. Gladstone -was thirty when the great postal reform was established, and was -therefore fully qualified to speak of it as he did. - -[231] His love for “the Queen of all the Sciences” was gratified one -cloudless day in the late autumn of his life by following through his -telescope the progress of a transit of Mercury, which he enjoyed with -an enthusiasm that was positively boyish. An early lesson in astronomy -had been given him one wintry night by his father, who, with the -little lad, had been taking a long walk into the country. On their -return, young Rowland, being tired, finished the journey seated on his -father's back, his arms clasped round the paternal neck. Darkness came -on, and in the clear sky the stars presently shone out brilliantly. -The two wayfarers by and by passed beside a large pond, in which, the -evening being windless, the stars were reflected. Seeing how admirable -an astral map the placid waters made, the father stopped and pointed -out the constellations therein reproduced, naming them to his little -son. The boy eagerly learned the lesson, but his joy was somewhat -tempered by the dread lest he should fall into what, to his childish -fancy, looked like a fathomless black abyss. Happily, his father had a -firm grasp of Rowland's clinging arms, and no accident befell him. - -[232] “Life,” ii. 401. - -[233] A more recent instance of killing a man before he is dead, and -raising his spirit to talk at a _séance_, was that of Mr Sherman, -the American statesman. His ghost expatiated eloquently on the -beauties and delights of Heaven—with which region, as he was still in -the land of the living, he could hardly have made acquaintance—and -altogether uttered much unedifying nonsense. The following veracious -anecdotes show what hazy views on history, postal or otherwise, some -children, and even their elders, entertain. A school mistress who -had recently passed with honours through one of our “Seminaries of -Useless Knowledge,” was asked by a small pupil if Rowland Hill had -not invented the penny post. “No, my dear,” answered the learned -instructress. “The penny post has been established in this country for -hundreds of years. All that Rowland Hill did was to put the Queen's -head on to a penny stamp.” The other story is of a recent _viva voce_ -examination in English history at one of our large public schools. -“Who was Rowland Hill?” was the question. “Rowland Hill,” came without -hesitation the reply, though not from the grand-nephew who was -present and is responsible for the tale, “was a man who was burned -for heresy.” Could the boy have been thinking of Rowland Taylor, a -Marian martyr? The fact that my father was not exactly orthodox, lends -piquancy to the story. - -[234] While we were children our father used often to read aloud to -us—as a schoolmaster and elocutionist he was a proficient in that -comparatively rare art—and in course of time we thus became acquainted -with nearly all these books. He probably missed the occasional lengthy -introductory chapters and other parts which well bear pruning, for -memory holds no record of their undeniable tediousness. We certainly -did not find Scott “dry.” Why should we? Through him we came to know -chivalric Saladin, David of Huntingdon, and tawny-haired Richard of -the Lion's heart; to love the noble Rebecca, and to assist at the -siege of Torquilstone Castle; to look on at the great fight between -the Clan Chattan and the Clan Quhele, and to mourn over Rothesay's -slow, cruel doing to death; to know kings and queens, and companies -of gallant knights and lovely ladies, and free-booters like Rob Roy -and Robin Hood, and wits and eccentric characters who were amusing -without being vulgar or impossible. Also was it not Sir Walter who -“discovered” Scotland for our delight, and through that discovery -contributed largely to his native land's prosperity? - -[235] The Mercantile Committee suggested a National Testimonial in -March 1844, but Mr Estlin's proposal was yet earlier. - -[236] A third letter to the postal reformer, also delivered, came -directed to the General Post Office to “Mr Owl O Neill.” Owing to -the present spread of education, the once numerous (and genuine) -specimens of eccentric spelling are yearly growing fewer, so that -the calling of “blind man”—as the official decipherer of illegible -and ill-spelled addresses is not very appropriately termed—is likely -to become obsolete. It would surely have given any ordinary mortal -a headache to turn “Uncon” into Hong-Kong, “Ilawait” into Isle of -Wight, “I Vicum” into High Wycombe, “Searhoo Skur” into Soho Square, -or “Vallop a Razzor” into Valparaiso. Education will also deprive us -of insufficiently addressed letters. “Miss Queene Victoria of England” -did perhaps reach her then youthful Majesty from some Colonial or -American would-be correspondent; but what could have been done with -the letter intended for “My Uncle Jon in London,” or that to “Mr Michl -Darcy in the town of England”? The following pair of addresses are -unmistakably Hibernian. “Dennis Belcher, Mill Street, Co. Cork. As you -turn the corner to Tom Mantel's field, where Jack Gallavan's horse was -drowned in the bog-hole,” and “Mr John Sullivan, North Street, Boston. -He's a man with a crutch. Bedad, I think that'll find him.” That the -French Post Office also required the services of “blind man” these -strange addresses, taken from Larouse's “Dictionnaire du XIXe Siècle,” -vol. xii. p. 1,497, demonstrate. The first, “À monsieur mon fils à -Paris,” reached its destination because it was called for at the chief -office, where it had been detained, by a young man whose explanation -satisfied the enquiring official. Whether the letter addressed to -Lyon, and arriving at a time of thaw, “À M. M., demeurant dans la -maison auprès de laquelle il y a un tas de neige” was delivered is not -so certain. - -[237] He had long before added to his name the justly-prized initials -of F.R.S. and F.R.A.S. - -[238] This last statue had not long been unveiled when the street -boys—so reported one of our newspapers—began to adorn the pedestal -with postage stamps. - -[239] These were Mr Washington Lyon, mover of the resolution; Sir John -Bennett, the seconder; Mr Peter M'Kinley, the Chairman of General -Purposes Committee; Mr (afterwards Sir Benjamin) Scott, F.R.A.S., the -City Chamberlain; and Mr (afterwards Sir John) Monckton, F.S.A., the -Town Clerk. - - - - -APPENDIX - -RESULTS OF POSTAL REFORM - - -Before stating the results of Postal Reform it may be convenient that -I should briefly enumerate the more important organic improvements -effected. They are as follows:— - -1. A very large reduction in the Rates of Postage on all -correspondence, whether Inland, Foreign, or Colonial. As instances in -point, it may be stated that letters are now conveyed from any part of -the United Kingdom to any other part—even from the Channel Islands to -the Shetland Isles—at one-fourth of the charge previously levied on -letters passing between post towns only a few miles apart;[240] and -that the rate formerly charged for this slight distance—viz. 4d.—now -suffices to carry a letter from any part of the United Kingdom to any -part of France, Algeria included. - -2. The adoption of charge by weight, which, by abolishing the charge -for mere enclosures, in effect largely extended the reduction of rates. - -3. Arrangements which have led to the almost universal resort to -prepayment of correspondence, and that by means of stamps. - -4. The simplification of the mechanism and accounts of the department -generally, by the above and other means. - -5. The establishment of the Book Post (including in its operation all -printed and much M.S. matter), at very low rates; and its modified -extension to our Colonies, and to many foreign countries. - -6. Increased security in the transmission of valuable letters -afforded, and temptation to the letter-carriers and others greatly -diminished, by reducing the Registration Fee from 1s. to 4d., by -making registration of letters containing coin compulsory, and by -other means. - -7. A reduction to about one-third in the cost—including postage—of -Money Orders, combined with a great extension and improvement of the -system. - -8. More frequent and more rapid communication between the Metropolis -and the larger provincial towns; as also between one provincial town -and another. - -9. A vast extension of the Rural Distribution—many thousands of -places, and probably some millions of inhabitants having for the first -time been included within the Postal System. - -10. A great extension of free deliveries. Before the adoption of -Penny Postage, many considerable towns, and portions of nearly all -the larger towns, had either no delivery at all, or deliveries on -condition of an extra charge. - -11. Greatly increased facilities afforded for the transmission of -Foreign and Colonial Correspondence; by improved treaties with foreign -countries, by a better arrangement of the Packet service, by sorting -on board and other means. - -12. A more prompt dispatch of letters when posted, and a more prompt -delivery on arrival. - -13. The division of London and its suburbs into Ten Postal Districts, -by which, and other measures, communication within the 12-miles circle -has been greatly facilitated, and the most important delivery of the -day has, generally speaking, been accelerated as much as two hours. - -14. Concurrently with these improvements, the condition of the -employees has been materially improved; their labours, especially -on the Sunday, having been very generally reduced, their salaries -increased, their chances of promotion augmented, and other important -advantages afforded them. - - -RESULTS - -My pamphlet on “Post Office Reform” was written in the year -1836. During the preceding twenty years—viz., from 1815 to 1835 -inclusive—_there was no increase whatever in the Post Office revenue, -whether gross or net_, and therefore, in all probability, none in -the number of letters; and though there was a slight increase in the -revenue, and doubtless in the number of letters, between 1835 and -the establishment of Penny Postage early in 1840—an increase chiefly -due, in my opinion, to the adoption of part of my plan, viz., the -establishment of Day Mails to and from London—yet, during the whole -period of twenty-four years immediately preceding the adoption of -Penny Postage, the revenue, whether gross or net, and the number of -letters, were, in effect, stationary. - -Contrast with this the rate of increase under the new system which has -been in operation during a period of about equal length. In the first -year of Penny Postage the letters more than doubled, and though since -then the increase has, of course, been less rapid, yet it has been so -steady that, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of trade, every year, -without exception, has shown a considerable advance on the preceding -year, and the first year's number is now nearly quadrupled. As regards -revenue, there was, of course, at first a large falling off—about a -million in gross and still more in net revenue. Since then, however, -the revenue, whether gross or net, has rapidly advanced, till now it -even exceeds its former amount, the rate of increase, both of letters -and revenue, still remaining undiminished. - -In short, a comparison of the year 1863 with 1838 (the last complete -year under the old system) shows that the number of chargeable letters -has risen from 76,000,000 to 642,000,000; and that the revenue, at -first so much impaired, has not only recovered its original amount, -but risen, the gross from £2,346,000 to about £3,870,000, and the net -from £1,660,000 to about £1,790,000.[241] - -The expectations I held out before the change were, that eventually, -under the operation of my plans, the number of letters would increase -fivefold, the gross revenue would be the same as before, while the -net revenue would sustain a loss of about £300,000. The preceding -statement shows that the letters have increased, not fivefold, but -nearly eight-and-a-half-fold; that the gross revenue, instead of -remaining the same, has increased by about £1,500,000; while the net -revenue, instead of falling £300,000, has risen more than £100,000. - -While the revenue of the Post Office has thus more than recovered -its former amount, the indirect benefit to the general revenue of -the country arising from the greatly increased facilities afforded -to commercial transactions, though incapable of exact estimate, must -be very large. Perhaps it is not too much to assume that, all things -considered, the vast benefit of cheap, rapid, and extended postal -communication has been obtained, even as regards the past, without -fiscal loss. For the future there must be a large and ever-increasing -gain. - -The indirect benefit referred to is partly manifested in the -development of the Money Order System, under which, since the year -1839, the annual amount transmitted has risen from £313,000 to -£16,494,000, that is, fifty-two-fold. - -An important collateral benefit of the new system is to be found in -the cessation of that contraband conveyance which once prevailed so -far that habitual breach of the postal law had become a thing of -course. - -It may be added that the organisation thus so greatly improved and -extended for postal purposes stands available for other objects; -and, passing over minor matters, has already been applied with great -advantage to the new system of Savings Banks. - -Lastly, the improvements briefly referred to above, with all their -commercial, educational, and social benefits, have now been adopted, -in greater or less degree—and that through the mere force of -example—by the whole civilised world. - -I cannot conclude this summary without gratefully acknowledging the -cordial co-operation and zealous aid afforded me in the discharge of -my arduous duties. I must especially refer to many among the superior -officers of the department—men whose ability would do credit to any -service, and whose zeal could not be greater if their object were -private instead of public benefit. - - ROWLAND HILL. - - HAMPSTEAD, - _23rd February 1864_. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[240] When my plan was published, the lowest General Post rate was -4d.; but while the plan was under the consideration of Government the -rate between post towns not more than 8 miles asunder was reduced from -4d. to 2d. - -[241] In this comparison of revenue, the mode of calculation in -use before the adoption of Penny Postage has, of course, been -retained—that is to say, the cost of the Packets on the one hand, and -the produce of the impressed Newspaper Stamps on the other, have been -excluded. The amounts for 1863 are, to some extent, estimated, the -accounts not having as yet been fully made up. - - - - -INDEX - - - Abbott, Sec. P.O., Scotland, 259 - - Aberdeen, 54, 206 - - Abolition of postal tolls over Menai and Conway bridges - and Scottish border, 161; - of money prepayment, 228 - - Account-keeping, official (blunders in), 174, 175; - postal, 62-64, 105, 106, 175; - practically revolutionised, 219 - - Accountant-General, the, 175 - - Adelaide, South Australia, 19 - - Adhesive stamps. (See Postage stamps) - - Admiralty, the, 174, 236 - - Advertisement duty, the, 97 - - Adviser to the P.O., 214 - - Afghanistan, war in, 176 - - Aggrieved lady, an, 274 - - Air-gun, the, 200 - - Airy, Sir G. B., Astronomer Royal, 34 - - Albert Gold Medal, story of an, 299 - - Algeria, 14 - - Algerine Ambassador, the, 14 - - Allen, Ralph, postal reformer, 55, 71, 77 - - _All the Year Round_, 267 - - Amalgamation of two corps of letter-carriers, the, 41, 155 - - “Ambassador's bag,” the, 43 - - Ambleside, 132, 204 - - American Chamber of Commerce, the, 68 - - —— colonies, revolt of the, 17; - and the paper-duty stamp, 188 - - —— rancher, an, 260 - - Amiens, the Peace of, 35, 88 - - Angas, Mr G. F., 19 - - “Anne Pryse, her boke,” 272 - - Annual motion, Mr Villiers', 24 - - —— Reports of the Postmaster-General, 171, 176, 250 - - Annular eclipse of the sun, 266 - - Anonymous letters, 225, 264, 265 - - “Anti-Corn-Law Catechism,” the, 143; - League, the, 142, 143, 178 - - Appointments, the power to make, transferred to Post Office, 246; - excellent appointments made by Colonel Maberly, 248; - best rules for, 209, 261 - - Archer's perforation patent, 200 - - Argyll, Duke of. (See Postmasters-General) - - Armstrong, Sir Wm. (Lord Armstrong), 242 - - Army and Navy, the, 176; - letters and money orders (Crimean War), 140 - - Arnott, Dr Niel, 28 - - Artist, a puzzled, 203 - - Ashburton, Lord, 39, 124 - - Ashley, Lord. (See Shaftesbury) - - Ashurst, Mr Wm., 114 - - “As if they were all M.P.s,” 131 - - Association for abolition of taxes on knowledge, 97 - - Astronomical Society, the Royal, 291 - - Astronomy, 6, 81; - an early lesson in, 291 - - Athenæum Club, 31, 237; - newspaper, 29 - - Atterbury, trial of Bishop, 114 - - Auction sale of lost articles, 271 - - Augean stable, an, 180 - - Augier, M., 79 - - Australia, 19, 65; - mails to, 237, 238 - - Austria, 37; - adopts postal reform, 251 - - Authors who draw on their imagination for their facts, 186-189 - - “Autobiographic Sketches,” De Quincey, 16 - - Average postage on letters, the, 41, 165 - - - Back-stairs influence, 178-181 - - Bacon, Mr (Messrs Perkins, Bacon & Co.), 207 - - Bad bargains, the State's, 262 - - Baden adopts postal reform, 251 - - Baines family, the (_Leeds Mercury_), 117, 267 - - Baker, Sir B., 261 - - Balcombe, Miss B., 27, 28 - - Bancroft, United States' historian, 134 - - Bandiera, the brothers, 114 - - Bankers' franks, 45 - - “Barbary Corsairs, The,” 15 - - Baring brothers, the, 114 - - ——, Sir F., 138; - a zealous chief, 145; - first interview with, 149; - discusses terms of engagement with R. H., 149-153; - his friendly attitude, 154; - distrusts principle of prepayment, 160; - suggests compulsory use of stamps, 161; - satisfied with result of tentative rate, 162; - uneasy at increase of expenditure, 171; - his indignation at R. H.'s dismissal, 178; - dreads possible raising of postal rates, 181; - on suggested revival of old system, 212 - - “Barnaby Rudge,” 224 - - Bates, Mr (Messrs Baring Brothers), 114 - - Bath, 71, 77, 82 - - Bavaria adopts postal reform, 251 - - Baxter, Richard, 300 - - Beaumaris, 297 - - “Bedchamber Difficulty,” the, 144 - - Belated letter, a, 148 - - Belgians, King of the, 278 - - Belgium, 109; - adopts postal reform, 251, 252 - - Bennett, Sir J., 302 - - Bentham, Jeremy, 13, 34 - - Bentinck, Mr, M.P., 211 - - Bernadotte, 14 - - Bertram, Mr, “Some Memories of Books,” 59 - - Bianconi, “the Palmer of Ireland,” 88 - - Bible, the, 72 - - Birmingham, 7, 8, 10, 11, 66, 67, 84, 88, 113, 133, 162, 274 - - Blackstone on our criminal code, 9 - - Black wall, 75 - - Blanc, Louis, 38 - - “Blind man,” the, in England and France, 298 - - Blue Books, 100, 102; - a model one, 129 - - Blue Coat School, the, 1 - - Board of Stamps and Taxes (Inland Revenue), the, 119, 188, 197 - - —— Trade, 268 - - —— Works, 249, 250, 256 - - Bodichon, Mme. B. L. S., 36, 118 - - Bokenham, Mr, Head of the Circulation Department, 164, 275, 276 - - Bolton-King, Mr, 114 - - “Bomba,” King, 37 - - Bonner, post official, 84 - - ——, A. and H. B., 195 - - Book post, the, 272, 273 - - Boswell's “Life of Johnson,” 112 - - Bourbons, the, 114 - - Bowring, Sir J., 35 - - Boythorn, Mr, 277 - - Brandram, Mr, 18 - - Brawne, Fanny, 29 - - Brazil adopts postal reform, 251 - - Breakdown prophesied, a, 122 - - Bremen adopts postal reform, 251 - - Brewin, Mr, 41, 42, 67 - - Bridport, 130, 213 - - Brierley Hill, 50 - - Bright, John, 143 - - Brighton, 30, 182-184, 249, 250 - - Brindley, Jas., 260, 261 - - Bristol, 84, 124, 297 - - British Linen Co., the, 66 - - “British Postal Guide,” the, 251 - - Brobdingnagian and Lilliputian letters, 116 - - Brock, Thos., R.A., 301 - - Brodie, Wm., R.S.A., 301 - - Brompton, 57 - - Brookes, Mr, 167 - - Brougham, Lord, 36, 80, 139, 140 - - Brown, Sir Wm., 39, 124 - - Browning, Eliz. Barrett, 163 - - Bruce Castle, 14, 16, 18, 95 - - Brunswick adopts postal reform, 251 - - Budget of 1839, penny postage proposed in the, 135 - - Building and correspondence, relative sizes of, 121 - - Bull-baiting, etc., 25 - - Burgoyne, Sir J., 44 - - Burke, Edmund, 35 - - Burritt, Elihu, 229 - - Busy day, a, 289, 290 - - Butler, S., “Hudibras,” 5 - - - Cabful of Blue Books, a, 100 - - Calais, 56 - - Calverley, 22 - - Cambridge, 19 - - ——, Duchess of, 164; - Princess Mary of, 164 - - Campbell-Bannerman, Lady, 141 - - Campbell, Lord, 85, 241 - - Canada, postal rates to, 56; - extension of Money Order System to, 220 - - Canals and Railway charges, 230, 231 - - “Candling” letters, 52, 54, 64, 105 - - Canning, Lord. (See Postmasters-General) - - Cape of Good Hope, Steamship Co., 236, 237, 238 - - Carlyle, Thos., 114 - - Carrick-on-Shannon, 77 - - Carriers and others as smugglers, 66-69 - - “Carroll, Lewis,” 179 - - Carter, Rev. J., 25 - - “Castle Rackrent,” etc., 34 - - Catholic Emancipation, 26, 81, 88 - - —— gentleman despoiled, a, 88 - - Causton, Mr R. K., M.P., 302 - - Caxton Exhibition, the, 22 - - Celestial and other postal arrangements, 278 - - Census return (1841), 166 - - “Century of progress,” the, 91 - - Chadwick, Sir E., 28 - - Chalmers, Mr, M.P., 120 - - ——, Jas., 189-193 - - ——, P., 193, 194 - - “Chambers' Encyclopædia,” 192, 193 - - ——, Wm. and Robert, 31, 140 - - Chancellors of the Exchequer— - Spring Rice (Lord Monteagle), 111, 135, 138, 145 - Sir F. Baring, 138, 145, 149-153, 154, 160, 161, 162, 171 - H. Goulburn, 173, 177 - Sir Geo. Cornwall Lewis, 219 - B. Disraeli, 247. (See also Disraeli) - Gladstone, 268, 288, 289. (See also Gladstone) - - Chancery Lane, 21, 22 - - “Change of style, the,” 81 - - Channel Isles, 77, 156 - - Charing Cross and Brompton, postage between, 57 - - Charles II., 173 - - “Chartist Day,” 223, 224 - - Chaucer, 8, 260 - - Chester, 74 - - Chevalier, M., 159, 160 - - Cheverton, Mr, 198 - - Chile adopts postal reform, 251 - - China, war with, 176 - - Cholera at Haddington, 4 - - Christmas-boxes, 264 - - “Chronicles,” Second Book of, 72 - - Civil Service Commissioners and examinations, 257-261 - - —— war in the United States predicted, 230 - - Claimants to authorship of postal reform or postage - stamps, 49, 53, 189-195 - - Clanricarde, Lord. (See Postmasters-General) - - Clark, Professor, 206 - - ——, Sir Jas., 34 - - ——, Thos., 7 - - Claude, 17, 33, 34 - - Clerks, duties of, under old system, 64 - - Coaches. (See Mail coaches) - - Cobden, R., 65, 109, 141; - his letters to R. H., 143, 178 - - —— Club, 19 - - Coin-bearing letters, 270 - - Colby, General, 123 - - Colchester, Lord. (See Postmasters-General) - - Cole, Mr (Sir Henry), 114, 115, 190, 191, 198 - - Coleridge, S. T., 29, 60 - - Collection of postage in coin, 62, 63, 105 - - Colonial penny postage, 230 - - Colonies, the, 17, 188, 230 - - Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia, 19 - - Comet of 1858, the, 266 - - Commission on Packet Service, the, 235 - - —— on Railways, 291 - - —— to revise salaries of postal employees, 245, 246 - - Commissioners, Civil Service. (See Civil Service, etc.) - - —— of Inland Revenue, Reports of the, 63, 95 - - —— of Post Office Inquiry, the, 98, 99, 142, 196, 197 - - Committee of Inquiry (1788), 80 - - —— on Postage, the Select (1838), 42, 58, 65, 67-69, 103, 119, - 121-130, 142, 169, 270; - on Postage (1843), 142, 169 - - —— on canal and railway charges, 230, 231 - - Compulsory prepayment of postage, 269 - - Congestion at St Martin's-le-Grand, 256 - - Conservatives and Peelites, 247 - - Constantinople, 57 - - Conveyance of inland mails. (See Mails) - - Conway bridge, 54, 161 - - Cooke, Wm., R.A., 34, 300 - - Corn Laws, the, 81, 111, 141, 143, 169 - - Corporal punishment abolished at Hazelwood, 12 - - Correction “removed by order,” a, 175 - - Correspondence and building: should they agree in size? 121 - - Cost of conveyance of letters between London and Edinburgh, 103 - - Coulson, Mr, 34 - - Cowper, Mr E., 21 - - Cox, David, 18 - - Craik, Mrs (Mulock, Miss), 31 - - Creswick, Thos., R.A., 13, 34, 300 - - Crimean War, 140, 182 - - “Criminal Capitalists,” Edwin Hill, 95 - - Croker, J. W., 112 - - Cross-posts, the, 55 - - “Crowd” of petitions, a, 113 - - Crowe family, the, 30 - - Crump, Mrs Lucy, 112 - - Crusaders and others, 40, 41 - - Cubitt, Sir Wm., 235, 240 - - Cupar-Fife, testimonial from, 295 - - - _Daily News_, the, 30 - - _Daily Packet List_, the, 251 - - Darian Scheme, the, 238 - - Davenport, Mrs, 4 - - Davy's, Sir H., mother and Penzance, 31 - - “Dead” letters, 220; - auction sale at office of, 271 - - Deal, 44 - - Debating society, a youthful, 9 - - “De Comburendo Heretico” Act, 81 - - Decrease of price: increase of consumption, 101, 104 - - —— of prosecutions for theft, 83, 219 - - Definition of local penny post area, 75, 76 - - Degree of D.C.L. (Oxon.), 299 - - De La Rue & Co., Messrs, 95, 201 - - Deliveries, acceleration and greater frequency of, 256 - - “Denis Duval,” Thackeray, 83 - - Denman, Lord, 36 - - Denmark adopts postal reform, 251 - - Deputation to Lord Melbourne, 133, 134 - - Deputy Comptroller of the Penny Post, 84 - - Designs for postage stamps, 197 - - _Détenu_, a, 35 - - Dickens, Chas., 31, 163, 164, 277 - - “Dickinson” paper, the, 197 - - “Dictionary of National Biography,” the, 192, 193 - - “_Dictionnaire du XIXe Siècle_,” 79, 186, 298 - - Dilke, C. W., antiquary, journalist, etc., 29 - - Dillon, Mr (Messrs Morrison and Dillon), 115 - - Dining in hall, 31 - - Discontent at P.O., 262-265; - at tentative rate, 162 - - “Discourse on Our Digestive Organs,” a, 132 - - “Dismal Science,” the, 28 - - Disraeli, B. (Lord Beaconsfield), viii., 247 - - Distribution an only function, 106 - - Districts, London divided into, 74, 255 - - Docker's mail-bags exchange apparatus, 239 - - Dockwra, Wm., postal reformer, 71; - inventor of local penny posts, introduces delivery of letters, - divides city and suburbs into postal districts, opens over 400 - receiving offices, introduces parcel post, etc., his rates - lasting till 1801, then raised to swell war-tax, 74, 75; - falls victim to Duke of York's jealousy, loses situation, ruined - by law-suit, pensioned, pension revoked, he sinks into - poverty, 76; - his penny post falls upon evil days, 83; - remarks on his dismissal, 80, 179, 213 - - Dodd, Rev. Dr, 46 - - Donati's comet, 266 - - Dover Castle, 18 - - Doyle, Sir A. C., “The Great Shadow,” 10 - - Drayton Grammar School, 1 - - Dubost, M., 157 - - Dublin, 83, 206, 228 - - Dudley, 50 - - Duncannon, Lord, 138, 139, 141 - - Duncombe, T., M.P., 114, 212 - - Dundee, 189, 190, 191, 250 - - Dunoon, 297 - - Duty stamp on newspapers, 46, 47, 95 - - - Eagerness for postal reform among the poor, 124 - - Eclipse, Mr Wills and the, 266 - - Economy, how best secured, 253 - - Edgeworth, Maria, 34, 35, 163 - - Edinburgh, 54, 58, 59; - one letter to, 66, 78, 83, 85; - cost of letter conveyance to, 103; - a mail-coach's postal burden, 115, 116, 233; - postal revenue larger than that of Portugal, 252 - - _Edinburgh Review_, the, 112 - - Edison, 261 - - Education, impetus given to, 166-168 - - Edwards, Mr E., 15 - - Egerton-Smith, Mr, 295 - - Egypt, postal rates to, 56 - - Eight hours movement, an, 253 - - Elcho, Lord, 245 - - Elgin, Lord. (See Postmasters-General) - - Ellis, Mr Wm., 115 - - Elmore, A., R.A., 34 - - Emery, Mr, his evidence, 124 - - Emigrants and emigrant ships, 20 - - Employees, number of, in London, 259 - - “Encyclopædia Britannica,” the (ninth edition), mistakes in article - on Post Office, 186-189, 193, 196, 201 - - “Engaged to marry your Prince of Wales,” 279 - - England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, letters in, 66, 138. - (See also Number of letters) - - Envelopes, 51, 52, 186, 187 - - Eothen, 35 - - Episode of a wedding ring, 302 - - Epping, 50 - - Ericsson, 262 - - “Essays of a Birmingham Manufacturer” (Sargent), 16 - - “Esther, The Book of,” 72 - - Estlin, Mr J., 297 - - Etymology, lecture on, 266 - - Euclid's Elements, 5 - - Evasions, losses, and thefts, 57-60, 66-69, 106, 146, 147, 272-275 - - Every division should be self-supporting, 125 - - Examinations, Civil Service, 257-261 - - Exchange of bags apparatus (Docker's), 239, 240 - - Excursion and express trains, etc., 183 - - Executions outside Newgate, 10 - - Expenditure, increase of, 109, 170-172 - - Extension of penny postage to Colonies, 230 - - Facilitating life insurance for staff, 219 - - “Facts and Estimates as to the Increase of Letters,” 135 - - Faggot vote, a new kind of, 3 - - “Fallacious return,” the, 174 - - Faraday, 206, 207 - - “Feats on the Fiords,” 15 - - Fergusson, Sir Wm., 34 - - Field, Mr E. W., 32 - - “Fifty Years of Public Life,” 198 - - Fire at Hazelwood, 18 - - First letter posted under new system, 162 - - Fitzgerald, Lord, 175 - - Fitzmaurice, Lord, 184 - - Foot and horse posts, 79 - - Footman prefers public to domestic service, 254 - - Forchammer, Professor, 279, 280 - - Ford, Onslow, R.A., 300 - - Foreign letters, reduction in postage of, 165; - foreign postal revenues, 156, 252, 253 - - —— pupils, 14 - - Forging gun barrels, 10 - - Forster, Mr M., M.P.; Mr J., M.P., 36 - - Forth bridge, the, 261 - - Forty miles an hour, 232 - - Four ounces weight limit, 108 - - France, 14, 18, 35, 36, 79, 87; - old postal system, 155-157; - travelling in during the 'thirties, 158; - adopts postal reform, 251, 266 - - Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, 37 - - Francis, Mr J. C., 93, 95 - - Franco-German War, the, 265 - - Frankfort adopts postal reform, 251 - - Franking system, the, 42-44, 45, 48, 49, 100, 107; - proposed return to, 211 - - Franklin Expedition, the, 40 - - Frauds and Evasions. (See evasions, etc.) - - Freedom of the City of London, 301 - - Free library, etc., at Wolverhampton, 25; - at Hampstead, 33 - - —— trade and protection, ix., x., 24, 101 - - —— traders favour postal reform, 140 - - Fremantle, Sir T., 120 - - French Post Office, the, 155-158, 221 - - —— revolutions. (See Revolution, etc.) - - Frenchman, a brave, 265 - - Fry, Elizabeth, 117 - - Funeral of the Duke of Wellington, 239 - - - Gallenga, 37 - - Galton, Sir D., 235, 267 - - Garibaldi, 37, 278, 279 - - Gavin, Dr, 253 - - _Gazette_, the, 261 - - George I., 74; - III., 47, 188 - - German Postal Union, the, 252 - - Germany, street letter-boxes in, 156 - - Gibbets, 11 - - Gibraltar, 56 - - Gladstone, Mrs, 141, 290 - - ——, W. E., ix., x., 37, 112, 268, 288, 289, 290 - - Glasgow, 54, 68, 233, 294 - - Gledstanes, Mr, 115 - - _Globe_, the, 19 - - Gordon riots, the, 224 - - Goulburn, H. (See Chancellors of the Exchequer) - - Gradual instalments, 268 - - Graham, Thos., Master of the Mint, 34 - - “Grahamising” letters, 114 - - _Graphic_, the, 301 - - Grasset, M., 158, 298 - - Gravesend, newspapers sent _viâ_, 46 - - Great Exhibition of 1851, 95; - of 1862, 279 - - —— Northern Railway, 232 - - “Great Shadow, The,”—Conan Doyle, 10 - - Greece, 14, 113 - - Greenock's first member, 98, 119. (See also Wallace, etc.) - - Gregory XIII., Pope, 81 - - “Grimgribber Rifle Corps,” the, 266 - - Grote, Geo., M.P., 113 - - Guildhall, the, 53, 76, 302 - - “Guy Mannering,” 50, 78 - - - Hackney, 76 - - Haddington, 4 - - Hale, Sir Matthew, 81 - - Half-ounce letters of eccentric weight, 197; - half-ounce limit, 108 - - Hall, Captain Basil, 13 - - Hall-door letter-boxes, 106, 131, 256 - - Hamburg adopts postal reform, 251 - - Hampstead, 29, 30, 32 - - Hanover adopts postal reform, 251 - - “Hansard,” 43, 80, 99, 121, 176, 212 - - Hardwick, Lord. (See Postmasters-General) - - Harley, Dr G., 34 - - Harlowe, another Clarissa, 3 - - Hasker, 84 - - Hawes, Sir B., 36 - - Hazelwood school and system, 12-16 - - “Heart of Midlothian, The,” 66 - - Henslow, Professor, 167, 225 - - Henson, G., 39 - - “Her Majesty's Mails”—W. Lewins, 66 - - “Here comes Dickens!” 164 - - Hereford, 221 - - Herschel family, the, 34, 117 - - High postal rates mean total prohibition, 133 - - Highgate, 50 - - Hill, Alfred, 250 - - ——, Arthur, 18, 29, 297 - - —— brothers, 8-16, 93, 94, 133 - - ——, Caroline (born Pearson), 22, 23, 26; - Mr Wallace's congratulations, 141; - “mother of penny postage,” 142; - her help, unselfishness, and courage, 182, 212, 265; - the wedding ring, 302 - - Hill, Caroline (Mrs Clark), 16 - - ——, Edwin, 93; - his help, a mechanical genius, supervisor of stamps at Somerset - House, machines for folding and stamping newspapers, folding - envelopes, embossing Queen's head, etc., author of “Principles - of Currency,” “Criminal Capitalists,” etc., 94, 95; - anecdotes, 95, 96, 242, 293, 297 - - ——, Frederick, 237, 297 - - ——, Dr G. B., author of “Life of Sir Rowland Hill,” and editor of - “The History of Penny Postage,” x, 17, 38, 71, 112, 120, - 193, 286-288 - - ——, James, 2, 4, 5 - - ——, John, postal reformer, 74 - - —— ——, 2 - - —— ——, the younger, 3 - - ——, Matthew Davenport, 4, 9, 21; - helps reform, 93; - first Recorder of Birmingham, 94; - advises R. H. to publish pamphlet, 96; - his reply to Croker, 112, 132, 150; - “prophets who can assist in fulfilment of their own - predictions,” 150; - an admirable letter, 152; - on questioning Garibaldi, 279, 293, 297 - - ——, Miss Octavia, 28 - - ——, Pearson, his help in preparing this book, ix.; - pamphlets, etc., 39, 47, 50, 56, 57, 65, 66, 120, 145, 180, 181, - 188, 193; - on writings upon postal reform, 187; - perfects Docker's exchange-bags apparatus, is complemented by - Sir Wm. Cubitt, invents stamp-obliterating machine, 240, 241; - Sir Wm. Armstrong's offer, 242; - P. H. renounces true vocation and enters Post Office, appointed to - examine mechanical inventions sent there, 243; - reorganises Mauritius post office, 244, 297 - - ——, R. and F., the Misses, authors of “Matthew Davenport Hill,” - etc., 96 - - ——, Rev. Rowland, preacher, 1 - - ——, Sir Rowland (Lord Hill), warrior, 1 - - —— —— ——, Lord Mayor of London, 1 - - —— —— ——, postal reformer, birth, 7; - weakly childhood, love of arithmetic, early ambition, helps in - school, 8-16; - writes “Public Education” 14; - scene-painter, etc., wins drawing prize, 17; - thrilling adventure, 18; - takes home news of Waterloo, 88; - joins Association for abolition of taxes on knowledge, 97; - becomes Secretary to South Australian Commission, 18; - the rotatory printing press, 21, 22; - a young lover, 23; - some of his friends, 28-37; - his connection with the London and Brighton railway, 38, 182-184; - the heavy burden of postal charges, 44; - the franking system, 48; - first to propose letter postage stamps, 49; - Coleridge's story, 60; - reformers before him, 70-91; - many callings, 71; - his penny post not identical with that of Dockwra, 75; - on “the change of style,” 81; - doing something to the mail-coaches, 87; - in mid-'twenties proposed travelling post office, 92; - later conveyance of mail matter by pneumatic tube, 93; - discussed application of lighter taxation to letters, his brothers' - help, 93, 94; - M. D. H. advises writing pamphlet, Chas. Knight publishes it, M. D. - H.'s influential friends, 96; - Mr Wallace and R. H., 98; - Blue Books, 100; - reasons out his plan, 100-108; - Commissioners of P.O. Inquiry and R. H.'s evidence and plan, 98; - cost of conveyance of letters, 102-105; - pamphlet issued, 109; - plan privately submitted to Government and offered to them, - declined, 111, 149; - _Quarterly Review_ attacks plan, M. D. H. defends it in - _Edinburgh Review_, 112; - the great mercantile houses, Press, etc., support reform, 116-118; - Parliamentary Committee formed, 119; - R. H. under examination, 119-120; - in after years excuses P.O. hostility, 126; - the Committee's good work, 129; - penny postage to be granted, 134; - writes two papers for Mercantile Committee, in House of Commons - during debate, door-keepers on voting prospects, 135; - R. H. writes to Duke of Wellington, present at third reading of - Bill, 138; - in House of Lords during debate, 141; - appointment in Treasury, 145; - the outsider as insider, old opponents later become - friends, 146, 147; - adventures of a letter, 148; - terms of engagement, 149-153; - visits M. D. H. at Leicester, the latter's letter, 151, 152; - R. H.'s goal, 153; - first visit to P.O., 154; - finds building defective, early attendance at Treasury, 155; - visits Paris, 155-160; - suggests adhesive stamps, 107, 135, 138, 160, 196; - accepts responsibility for prepayment, 160; - by stamps or money? stamp troubles last for twelve months, 161; - tentative rate satisfactory, uniform penny postage - established, 162; - congratulatory letters, 162-163; - royal visitors to P.O., 164; - testimony to benefits of reform, 166-169, etc; - delay in issue of stamps, 170; - lavish increase of expenditure, official evasions, 171-176; - visit to Newcastle-on-Tyne prevented, the “fallacious return,” 174; - error in accounts, 175; - receives notice of dismissal, 176; - offers to work without salary, 177; - public indignant at dismissal, 177-179; - R. H. and registration fee, 178; - leaves Treasury, 179, 180; - Lord Canning's curious revelation, xi., 181; - will Peel raise postal rates? 181; - joins London and Brighton Railway Directorate, 182-184; - hears of M. de Valayer's invention, 189; - Mr Chalmers' correspondence with R. H., 192; - R. H.'s proposals as to stamps, 196; - Treasury decides to adopt them, 198; - stamp obliteration troubles, 205-208; - absurd fables, 209; - Peel's Government falls, restoration to office of reformer - demanded, appointed to P.O., 211; - compares his own case with that of Dockwra and Palmer, 213; - Mr Warburton on terms, 214; - R. H. willingly sacrifices good income for sake of reform, - interview with Lord Clanricarde and Colonel Maberly, 215; - reorganises Bristol post office, also entire Money Order System, - turns deficit into profit, many improvements effected, 215-219; - missives that go astray, 220; - relief of Sunday labour, 222-227; - the Chartists, 224; - relief to Hong Kong officials, 228; - post offices at railway stations suggested, 229; - Parliamentary Committee on railway and canal charges, 230; - efforts to obtain reasonable railway terms, 230-235; - Steamship Co.'s heavy charges, 230; - tries to obtain use of all railway trains, an acceleration of - North-Western night mail train, and adoption of limited - mails, 232; - suggests fines for unpunctuality and rewards for punctuality, - etc., 233, etc.; - also Government loans to Railway Companies, 234; - proposes trains limited to P.O. use, 235; - Packet Service contracts: these often made without P.O. knowledge - or control, 236; - route to Australia by Panama longer than rival route, R. H.'s - report to that effect, 238; - exchange of mail-bags operation, 239; - stamp-obliteration experiments, 240; - workshop fitted up for P. H., who renounces prospects as civil - engineer, 242-243; - R. H. examined by Commission to revise postal employees' - salaries, 245; - good work done by Commission, 246; - Conservatives and Peelites, R. H. becomes Secretary to the - P.O., 247; - his love of organisation, 248; - encourages staff to independence of opinion: excellent results, - new post offices erected and old ones improved, provision - against fire made, building, etc., transferred to Board of - Works: consequent increase of expenditure, 249; - publication of “Annual Reports” begins, 250; - minor reforms made, postal reform adopted by many - countries, 251, 252; - R. H. advocates economy by better organisation, a medical officer - appointed, 253; - secures better terms for employees 253, 254; - his doctor's footman, 254; - London divided into districts, 255; - R. H. on Civil Service examinations, 257-261; - era of peace, discontent and threatening anonymous letters, libels - by dismissed officials, worse threats, R. H.'s coolness, - uneasiness of colleagues, 262-265; - lecture on the annular eclipse, 266; - P.O. volunteer corps, is introduced to inventor of Post Office - Savings Bank scheme, 267; - reform by gradual instalments, 268; - compulsory prepayment of postage, 268, 269; - again recommends parcel post, pattern post established, - registration fee reduced, and compulsory prepayment at last - obtained, 270; - decrease of losses, tricks and evasions, 271; - old opponents friends, Messrs Bokenham, Page, etc., 275-277; - R. H. and Garibaldi, 278; - R. H. and a Danish professor, 279; - on successive Postmasters-General, 280-285; - final breakdown in health, resignation, 285; - pen-portraits and appreciations, 286-289; - letters of sympathy, 290; - joins Royal Commission on Railways, his early lesson in Astronomy, - prepares his autobiography, 291; - his remarks on own career, 292; his spirit at a _séance_, 293; - honours, testimonials, etc., 294-302; - two stories of a torn coat, 297; - strange addresses, “Mr Owl O'Neill,” etc., 298; - vases from Longton, pictures from Liverpool, statues, etc., 300; - photographs, etc., presentation of the Freedom of the City of - London, 301; - death, his two noblest monuments, two Jubilee celebrations, 302; - his fittest epitaph, 303-305; - “Results of Postal Reform,” 286, 307-311 - - Hill, Sarah (Lea), 4, 7, 8, 10 - - —— —— (Symonds), 4, 6 - - ——, Thos. Wright, 5, 6, 7, 10, 15, 16, 17, 94, 138, 291, 297 - - “Hillska Scola,” a, 14 - - Hinks, Rev. Wm., 297 - - “History of England, The,” Macaulay, 238 - - “History of Our Own Times, The,” Justin M'Carthy, 75, 92, 133 - - “History of the Post Office, The,” H. Joyce, 42, 45, 55, 56, 63, 70, - 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 92 - - “History of the Thirty Years' Peace, The,” H. Martineau, 40, 41 - - Hodnet, Shropshire, 1 - - Hoffay, Mr, 245 - - Hogarth, 81 - - Holland, 109. (See also Netherlands) - - Holyhead, 54, 233 - - “Home Colonies and Extinction of Pauperism,” etc., 109; - home colonies in Belgium and Holland, 109 - - Hong Kong post office, 228; - clerks' holiday, 229 - - Honours, testimonials, etc., 294, 302 - - Hood, “Gentle Tom,” 178, 179 - - Hostility of P.O. (See Opposition, etc.) - - Hourly deliveries, 107 - - House of Commons, 43, 72, 96, 111, 113, 114, 116; - Committee on Postage, 121-130; - debates on Penny Postage Bill, 135, 138, 178, 224 - - House of Lords, 43, 96, 111, 136, 139; - passes Penny Postage Bill, 141, 224 - - _Household Words_, 163, 266 - - Huddersfield, 268 - - “Hudibras,” 5 - - Huguenot Knight, Millais', 7 - - Hume, J., M.P., 133, 134, 212 - - Hungarian refugees, 37 - - “Hungry 'Forties,” the, 61, 169 - - Hunt, Leigh, 35, 110 - - Hutchinson, Mr, 234 - - Hydrographer to the Admiralty, the, 278 - - - Iceland, 15 - - Iddesley, Lord. (See Northcote, Sir S.) - - Impetus to education and trade, 166-169 - - Improvement in locomotion, x. - - Improvements in Money Order system, account-keeping, holidays, 219; - in life insurance and other funds, 219, 220; - in lot of letter-carriers, sorters, etc., 253, 254, etc. - - Income, a poor man's daily, 42 - - Increase of employment, pay, and prosperity, 101; - of postal expenditure, 109, 170, 171, 172; - of deliveries, 256; - of facilities and speed in conveyance, 69, 257 - - Indian Mutiny, the, 282; - P.O. becomes self-supporting, 253 - - Indignation at R. H.'s dismissal, 177-179 - - Industrial emancipation, Gladstone on, vii., viii. - - Inglis, Sir R. H., M.P., 138 - - Inland letters most profitable part of P.O. business, 169 - - —— Revenue Board, the, 119, 188, 197 - - _Inquirer_, the, 297 - - “Intercourse, Liberation of,” x., 125 - - “Invasion of the Crimea, The,” Kinglakes, 35 - - Ireland, 44, 54, 66, 73, 74, 77, 133, 233 - - Irish famine, the, 81 - - —— haymakers and harvesters, 133 - - —— in Manchester, 65 - - Iron horse more formidable than foe on battlefield, 137 - - - Jamaica Bill, the, 144 - - James II., 76, 77 - - Jansa, Herr, 37 - - Jefferson, President, 14 - - “John Halifax,” Miss Mulock, 31 - - John O' Groat's, 234 - - Johnson, post official, 84 - - ——, Dr, 112 - - Jones, Loyd (Lord Overstone), 39, 124 - - _Journal de St Pétersbourg, Le_, 252 - - Joyce, Mr Herbert, “The History of the Post Office,” 42, 45, 55, 56, - 63, 70, 71, 72, 76, 92 - - Jubilee, Queen Victoria's first, 39 - - —— of the Uniform Penny Postage, 57, 120 - - Jullien, M., 14 - - - Kaye, Sir J., 195 - - Keats, John, 29 - - Kelly, Messrs (“The London Directory”), 301 - - Kidderminster, 3, 7, 300, 303 - - King Edward's head (postage stamp), 199 - - Kinglakes, the, 35 - - Kinkel, Gottfried, 38 - - Knight, Charles, 32; - publishes “Post Office Reform,” 96; - first to propose use of impressed stamp, 107, 158, 168, 189 - - Kossuth, 37 - - Kubla Khan, 72 - - - Lachine Rapids, 238 - - Labouchere, H. (Lord Taunton), 138 - - Lamb, Chas., 29 - - Lambeth, 76 - - Land's End, 234 - - Larousse, “_Dictionnaire du XIXe Siècle_,” 79, 186, 298 - - Larpent, Sir Geo., 296 - - Last woman burnt, 9 - - Lea, Provost, 4; - Sarah (see Hill, Sarah); - William, 4 - - Ledingham, Mr, 207 - - _Leeds Mercury_, the, 117, 226, 267 - - Lefevre, J. S. (First Lord Eversley), 19 - - Leitrim, 77 - - Letter, adventures of a, 148, 149 - - —— boxes, door, 106, 107, 131, 256 - - —— carriers, 41, 62, 63, 105, 106; - improvement in lot of, 220, 253, 254, etc.; - letter-carrier and footman, 254; - amalgamation of two corps of, 255, 256; - the right sort of men as, 258, 275 - - —— folding a fine art, 52 - - —— smuggling, 66-69, 121, 133 - - “Letters, Conversations, and Recollections of S. T. Coleridge,” 60 - - “Letters of George Birkbeck Hill,” Mrs L. Crump, 112 - - Letters subjected to protective rates, 54; - refused, mis-sent, etc., loss on, 62; - no delivery before Dockwra's time, 74; - losses of, 146, 147, 221; - number of, after reform, 133, 165, 168, 169, 239; - after extension of rural distribution, 255; - sorted _en route_, 227; - strangely addressed, 297, 298 - - Lewins, Mr, “Her Majesty's Mails,” 66 - - Lewis, Sir G. C. (See Chancellors of the Exchequer) - - Liberation of Intercourse, x., 125 - - Lichfield, Lord. (See Postmasters-General) - - “Lie Waste,” the, 11 - - “Life endurable but for its pleasures,” 219 - - “Life of Lord Granville,” Lord Fitzmaurice, 184 - - “Life of Sir Rowland Hill, and History of Penny Postage,” G. B. Hill, - x., 38, etc. - - Limited Liability Act, the, 32 - - Lines, Mr, 162 - - Liverpool, 24, 39, 68, 83, 227, 294, 300, 301 - - _Liverpool Mercury_, the, 117, 295; - _Post and Mercury_, 52 - - Lloyd, Mr Jas., 300 - - Local posts, 53, 74, 75, 76, 83, 84 - - Lombard Street office, 74 - - London and Brighton railway, 38, 182-184, 185 - - —— divided into postal districts by Dockwra, 74; - by Rowland Hill, 255 - - ——, pop. one-tenth, correspondence, one-fourth of the United - Kingdom, 255 - - _London School Magazine_, 17 - - London University, 130 - - Londonderry, 54 - - Long distance runs in the 'forties, 232 - - Longton, Staffordshire Potteries, 300 - - Lonsdale, Lord. (See Postmasters-General) - - “Lord Queen's Head,” 299 - - “Lord's Day Society's” mistaken action, 223 - - Lords of the Treasury, 190, 220 - - Losses of letters, etc., 146, 147, 220, 221, 271 - - Loughton, 50 - - Louis Philippe, King, 157 - - Louis XIV., 187 - - Lowther, Lord. (See Postmasters-General) - - Lubeck adopts postal reform, 251 - - Lyell, Sir Chas., 34 - - Lyon, Mr W., 301 - - - Maberly, Colonel (Sec. to the P.O.) disapproves of postal - reform, 121, 122, 150, 155, 173, 214, 215; - Yates on, 154; - commands at P.O. on “Chartist Day,” at time of Sunday labour - question, 223; - leaves P.O., 247; - excellent appointments, 248 - - MacAdam, 85 - - Macaulay, 112, 114, 131, 226, 238, 273 - - Macdonald (_Times_), 22 - - Mackenzie family, the, 5 - - Madrid, 78 - - Mahony, Mr, M.P., 120 - - Mails, the, by land—coaches, 64, 79, 82-90, 98, 103, 170; - railways, 109, 115, 122, 227, 240; - cost of conveyance of, 109, etc., 230-235 - - ——, by sea. (See Packet Service) - - Majority of 102 for Penny Postage Bill, 136 - - Manchester, 39, 65, 83, 84; - number of letters equals that of all Russia, 252 - - _Manchester Guardian_, the, 117 - - “Manchester School,” the, 134 - - Mander, Mr J., 25 - - Manning, “The Queen's Ancient Serjeant,” 36 - - “Manual of Geography,” a, 5 - - Map of Europe, political changes in, 251 - - Marco Polo's travels: the posts, 72 - - Margate postmaster's report, 69 - - Marian martyr, a, 294 - - Married Women's Property Act, 118 - - Martineau, Harriet, 15, 34, 40, 41, 55, 60, 131, 162 - - Master of the Posts (Witherings), 73 - - “Matthew Davenport Hill,” by his daughters, 96 - - Mauritius post office reorganised, 244 - - Maury, Mr, 68 - - Mayer, Mr, 295 - - Mayor, the Lord, 113 - - Mazzini, 37, 114 - - M'Carthy, J., “History of Our Own Times,” etc., 75, 92, 133 - - M'Kinley, Mr P., 302 - - Mediterranean, postal rates to the, 56 - - Melbourne, Lord. (See Prime Ministers) - - Mellor, Mr Justice, 36 - - Mendi bridge, 54, 161 - - Mercantile Committee, the, 114, 135, 136, 137, 179, 190, 200, 296 - - —— houses and postal reform, 114 - - Mercury, a transit of, 291 - - Merit, promotion by, 257, 258, 262 - - Mexico, 14 - - Mezzofanti, Cardinal, 230 - - Miles, Mr Pliny, 230 - - Milford, 54 - - Mill, James and John Stuart, 34 - - Millais, Sir J. E., 7 - - Millington's hospital, 2, 4 - - Moffat, Mr Geo., M.P., 113, 134, 137, 181 - - Monckton, Sir G., 302 - - Money Order System, 140; - how founded, unsatisfactory financial condition, 217; - R. H. undertakes its management, it becomes self-supporting, - increase of business, decrease of fraud, unclaimed money - orders made use of, etc., 216-222; - extension of system to colonies, 220 - - Monteagle, Lord, 175, 290. - (See also Spring Rice) - - Morgan, Professor de, 272, 273 - - Morley, John, M.P., vii. - - _Morning Chronicle_, the, 56, 116 - - Morrison, Dillon, & Co., Messrs, 115 - - “Mother of Penny Postage, the,” 142 - - Mulready, W., R.A., 34; - his envelope, 204, 205 - - Murray, R., postal reformer, 70, 74 - - My grandmother's brewings jeopardised, 10 - - - Napier, Sir Wm., 1 - - Naples (the two Sicilies) adopts postal reform, 251 - - Napoleon, story of, 27, 28; - the _détenus_, 35, 36, 260 - - Natal, 237 - - National Gallery, the, 33 - - Navigation Act, repeal of the, ix. - - Netherlands, the, adopts postal reform, 251 - - “New Annual Directory for 1800, The,” 53, 76 - - —— Brunswick postmaster, 199 - - Newcastle-on-Tyne, 77, 173, 253 - - Newgate, executions outside, 10 - - New Grenada adopts postal reform, 251 - - —— industries created, 169 - - —— meaning of the word “post,” 72 - - —— South Wales, 65 - - —— York, 68 - - Newsbearers, coaches as, 87, 88 - - Newspapers, 46, 47, 57-60, 97, 116, 117, 129; - stamp duty on, 46, 47, 95. - (See also Press) - - Newton, Sir Isaac, 104 - - Nicholson, Mr, inventor, 21 - - ——, Mr (Waverley Abbey), 267 - - Nightingale, Florence, 117 - - _Nineteenth Century_, the, x. - - Ninth part of a farthing, the, 104 - - —— Report of the Commissioners of P.O. Inquiry, 98, 196 - - Nominations, system of, 246 - - “Nonsense of a Penny post,” 131 - - “No Rowland Hills wanted,” 185 - - North British Railway, 233 - - North-Western Railway, 227, 232 - - Northcote, Sir Stafford (Lord Iddesley), 235, 245 - - Northern diligence, the, 78 - - Norway, 15, 251 - - Norwich, 77 - - _Notes and Queries_, 9, 52, 93 - - Number of letters after reform, 133, 165, 168; - in two years' time, 169; - in seventh year of reform number delivered in and round London - equal to those for the entire United Kingdom under old - system, 214, 239; - after extension of rural distribution, 255, 256 - - - Obliteration by hand (stamping), 206, 240, 241 - - Ocean penny postage, 229 - - O'Connell, Daniel, M.P., 88, 132, 133; - M. J., M.P., 120, 127 - - Offer (R. H.'s) to give plan of postal reform to - Government, 111, 149; - to give services at Treasury gratuitously, 150 - - Official account-keeping and “blunders,” 174, 175, 176 - - Old opponents become friendly, 147, 246, 247, 275 - - —— postal system, the, 39-69; - in France, 155-157 - - Oldenburg adopts postal reform, 251 - - “Oldest and ablest officers, the,” 80 - - “On the Collection of Postage by Means of Stamps,” 135, 200 - - Opening letters in the P.O., 114, 115 - - Opposition honest and dishonest, 93, 120-122, 125, 126, 145-147, - 202, 212, 275-278 - - “Origin of Postage Stamps, The,” 50, 188, 193 - - Oscar, Prince, 14 - - Osler, Mr Follett, 13 - - Oswald, Dr and Miss, 38 - - Ounce limit, the first proposal, 108 - - Outsiders as reformers, 146, 265, 267 - - Owen, Robert, 34, 114 - - Oxford, 299 - - - “Pace that killed, the,” 85 - - Pacific Ocean's enormous width, 238 - - Packet Service, the, 174, 175; - Commission sits on, contract mail-packets, etc., management - transferred to P.O., evils of Admiralty control, West Indian - packet service, Union Steamship Co., services to Cape of Good - Hope, Honduras, Natal, reductions in cost, Australia _viâ_ - Panama not the shortest route, cost of - conveyance, 230, 235-238; - improved communication, foreign and colonial, 257 - - Page, Mr Wm., 276, 277; - Messrs E. and H., 276 - - Palmer, John, postal reformer, 71; - favours Bath, increases number of coaches, 77; - proposes abolition of foot and horse posts, causes stage to become - mail coaches, 79; - a visionary, 80; - placed in authority, by 1792 all coaches new, first quick coach to - Bath, 82; - robbery nearly ceases, traverses the entire kingdom, 83; - looks to newspaper and penny posts, 84; - coaches said to go at dangerous speed, reach highest level of - proficiency, 85; - are beaten by “iron horse,” 86; - remarks on his dismissal, 80, 179, 213, 214; - a born organiser, 220 - - “Palmer of Ireland, The,” Bianconi, 88 - - Palmerston, Lord. (See Prime Ministers) - - Panama, mails _viâ_, 237, 238 - - Panizzi, Sir Antonio, 37 - - Paper-duty, the, 97; - stamps for “the American Colonies,” 188 - - Parcel post recommended, 270 - - Paris, 56, 155-158, 186, 221 - - Parker, Mr, M.P., 212 - - ——, Mr, M.P. (Sheffield), 120 - - —— Society, the, 168 - - Parricide and matricide, 226 - - Parsons, Mr, 206 - - ——, Mr J. M., 183, 184 - - Patent Office, the, 21 - - Patronage, relinquished, 246 - - Pattern post introduced, 270 - - Pattison, Mr J., 115 - - Peabody: American philanthropist, 188 - - Peace of Amiens, the, 35, 88 - - Peacock, Mr, Solicitor to the P.O., 121, 126, 265 - - Pearson, Alex., 27, 28; - Caroline, (see Hill); - Clara, 26; - Joseph, 23-26 - - Pease, Mr, M.P., 120 - - Peculation rife under old system, 63 - - Peel, Sir Robert, 48, 138, 144. - (See also Prime Ministers) - - Peelites and Conservatives, 247 - - _Pegasus_, wreck of the, 5 - - Penny postage proposed in Budget of 1839, 135; - passes in Commons, 138; - in Lords, 142; - established, 162; - education encouraged, severed ties reknit, 166, 167; - beneficial effect on trade, etc., 168, 169; - other than inland, 230; - and Garibaldi, 227, 228; - two Jubilee celebrations, 302 - - —— posts, Dockwra's, 74, 75; - other local, 33, 76, 83, 84 - - Perkins, Bacon, & Co., Messrs, 198, 200, 201, 206, 207 - - Peru adopts postal reform, 251 - - “Peter Plymley's Letters,” Sydney Smith, 89 - - Petitions in favour of penny postage, 113, 124 - - Phillips, Professor, 207 - - Pickford, Messrs, 168 - - Pictures from Liverpool, 300 - - Pillar and wall letter-boxes. (See Street letter-boxes) - - Pirate States and pirate raids, 14, 15 - - Piron, M., _Sous Directeur des Postes aux Lettres_, 157, 158, - 187, 188 - - Place, Mr, and “Post Office Reform,” 110 - - Plampin, Admiral, 27 - - Plymouth, 20, 77; - the postmaster of, 225 - - Pneumatic tubes, 93 - - Poerio, 37 - - Political Economy Club, the, 19, 120 - - —— heads of P.O. no drones, 284 - - Poole, Mr S. L., “The Barbary Corsairs,” 15 - - “Poor Law Official Circular, The,” 166 - - Poor sufferers from dear postage, 42, 55, 59-62, 123 - - Pope, Alex., 55, 71 - - “Popular Tales,” Miss Edgeworth, 35 - - Portugal adopts postal reform, 251; - postal revenue smaller than that of Edinburgh, 252 - - Post, new meaning of the word, 72 - - Postcards, 293 - - _Post Circular_, the, 190, 191 - - Post Office—account-keeping, 62-64, 105, 106; - authorities oppose reform, 120-122, 125, 126, etc.; - Money Order system during Crimean war, 140 (see also Money Order - system); becomes servant to entire nation, 144, 209; - only department not showing deficiency of revenue, 176; - P.O. _versus_ Stamp Office, 202; - Widows' and Orphans' Fund, 220; - transference of appointments to, 246; - unjust accusations against, 272 - - “Post Office Directory, The,” 301 - - —— ——, Indian, self-supporting, 253 - - —— —— Library and Literary Association, the, 266 - - “Post Office of Fifty Years Ago, The,” 39, 47, 56, 65, 66, 145 - - “Post Office Reform,” 40, 63, 64, 99, 101, 104, 106, 107, 109, 110, - 111, 143, 192, 196, 213 - - —— —— Savings Bank, the, 220, 267 - - —— —— surveyors, the, 222 - - —— Offices, etc., great increase in number of, 156 - - —— ——, Registrars' districts without, 64, 65 - - —— officials fear increase of business, 121 - - Postage “single,” “double,” “treble,” etc., 49-52, 55, 57 - - —— stamps, 49, 51, 53; - impressed and embossed, 95; - description of adhesive, 107, 135, 160; - delay in issue, 170; - their collection, misleading accounts in the “Encyclopædia - Britannica,” and elsewhere, 185-193, etc.; - envelopes, M. de Valayer's private post, 186; - doings of Sardinian P.O., 187; - stamps on newspaper wrappers, 107, 158, 189; - stamps useless without uniformity of rate and prepayment, 189, etc.; - R. H.'s proposals, 196, 198, etc.; - adhesive stamps recommended in “Post Office Reform,” and “Ninth - Report of the Commissioners of Post Office Inquiry,” official - approval of prepayment by stamps, 196; - Treasury invites public to send in designs, results disappointing, - why monarch's portrait was chosen, 199; - precautions against forgery, 197-199; - description of stamp-making, 200; - Messrs Perkins & Co. make stamps first forty years of new system, - are succeeded by Messrs De La Rue, stock nearly destroyed by - fire, 201; - changes of colour, 201, 208; - why issue delayed, 202; - eagerly adopted when issued, where to stick Queen's head? - anecdotes, 203; - uncancelled stamps, the Mulready envelope, 204; - cleaning off obliterations, 205-208; - public interested, many experiments and suggestions, 206, 207; - the black penny becomes red, 208; - public prefer adhesive to embossed, absurd fables, 209 - - _Postal Circular_, the, 251 - - Postal contribution to war-tax, the, 47, 55, 76 - - —— districts, London divided into, 74, 255 - - _Postal Guide_, the _British_, 251 - - Postal Parliament, a, 222 - - —— rates. (See Postage “single,” etc., and other headings) - - —— reform and reformers, 70-90, 100, 108, 127, 129, 144, 180, etc. - - —— revenue. (See Revenue, etc.) - - —— Service, advantages of, 254 - - —— Union, the, 276 - - Postmaster-General on crutches, a, 221 - - Postmasters-General— - Lord Lichfield, 120, 139 - —— Lowther, 120, 178, 182 - —— Clanricarde, 212, 213, 214, 215-219, 224, 229, 230, 280 - —— Hardwicke, 247, 248, 268, 286, 281 - —— Canning, xi., 181, 235, 281, 282, 284 - Duke of Argyll, 184, 234, 241, 259, 283 - Lord Colchester, 220, 238, 267, 283 - —— Elgin, 283, 284, 299 - A later Postmaster-General, 284, 285 - - Postmen. (See Letter-carriers) - - Potatoes at Kidderminster, 3, 7 - - Prepayment of postage, 49, 105, 106, 107, 124, 160, 162, 189, 196, - 202, 203, 228, 268, 269, 270 - - Press-gang, the, 10, 11 - - Press, the, generally favours postal reform, 116; - on R. H.'s dismissal, 177. - (See also newspapers) - - Priestley, Joseph, 6, 7 - - Prime Ministers— - Lord Melbourne, 111, 133, 134, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 144, 145, - 171, 173, 291 - Sir Robert Peel, 143, 177, 180, 181, 182, 184, 211 - Lord John Russell, 211, 212, 280, 281, 296 - —— Palmerston, 299 - W. E. Gladstone, 289. - (See also Chancellors of the Exchequer) - - Prince of Wales, the, 280, 299 - - Princess's portrait, a, 279 - - “Principles of Currency,” Edwin Hill, 95 - - Printing press, the rotatory, 21, 22, 71 - - Private penny post, M. de Valayer's, 157, 158, 186-188 - - Profitless expenditure, 51, 60-62, etc. - - Promotion by merit, 257, 258, 262 - - Prophecies and prophets, 80, 130 - - Protection applied to correspondence, 54, 161 - - Protestant despoiler, a, 88 - - Prussia adopts postal reform, 251 - - Public buildings barricaded, 224 - - “Public Education,” 14 - - Pulteney, Sir Wm., 66 - - _Punch_, 136, 180, 184, 299, 303-305 - - Pump, story of a, 146, 147 - - Puritans, the, 4, 6 - - - _Quarterly Review_, the, 112, 187 - - Queen Adelaide, 19 - - —— Anne, 76 - - —— Caroline's trial, 87 - - —— Victoria, 39, 40, 64, 66, 119 - - Queen's head: postage stamp, 95, 167, 199, 205, 208, 294 - - Quincey, De, 16, 35 - - - Radical Row, 144 - - Radnor, Lord, 113, 135 - - Raikes Currie, Mr, M.P., 120, 127 - - Railway, London and Brighton, etc. (See other headings) - - Railways, supersede coaches, 89, 109; - conveyance of mails by train dearer than by coach, mails first go - by rail (1838), 109; - heavy subsidies to, 170, 171, etc.; - sorting of letters on, 227, 228; - applications made to, acceleration of night mails, companies demand - increased payments, twenty-one separate contracts, trains - limited to P.O. service, 231-235; - improved communication, 257 - - Ramsey, Mr, 221 - - Rea, Mr E., 252 - - “Recollections and Experiences,” E. Yates, 154, 280, 285 - - Recovery of gross revenue, 122, 165 - - Reform Bill of 1832, the, 23, 98 - - “Reformer, the,” 195 - - Registrars' districts without post offices, 64, 65 - - Registration of letters, 99; - fees, 178, 270 - - “Registration, The Transfer of Land by,” 19 - - Relays of horses, 82 - - Relief to Hong Kong officials, 228, 229 - - Rennie, Sir J., 261 - - Report of the Committee of Inquiry (1788), 80; - of the Committee on Postage (1843), 169 - - Reports of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, 63, 95; - of the Commissioners of Post Office Inquiry, 98, 196, 197; - of the Select Committee on Postage (1838), 42, 58, 64, 65, 67, 69, - 103, 123-126, 129, 130 - - “Results of Postal Reform,” 286, 307-311 - - Revenue from coaches, increase of, 102 - - ——, National, 72, 97 - - ——, Postal, 42, 43; - in seventeenth century, 72, 73, 102, 108, 109, 122, 126, 165, 169, - 175, 176, 252; - foreign, 102, 156 - - Revolution, the French, of 1789, 14, 17; - of 1848, 158, 221 - - Richmond, the Duke of, 137 - - Rintoul, R. S., the _Spectator_, 116, 117; - his daughter, 117 - - Riots at Birmingham, 7 - - Ritchie, Mrs Richmond, 34 - - Roberts, David, R.A., 32 - - Robespierre's Secretary, 14 - - “Robinson Crusoe,” 5 - - Roebuck, J. A., M.P., 36, 43 - - Rogers, S., “the banker poet,” 32 - - Roget, Dr, “The Thesaurus,” 35 - - Romance in a culvert, 23; - in a coach, 89, 90 - - Romantic lawsuit, a, 159, 160 - - Romilly, Sir S., 10 - - “Rowland Hill Benevolent Fund, The,” 302 - - “Rowland Hill: where he is,” 298 - - Rufini, 37 - - Rural distribution, 166, 167, 170, 172, 255 - - Russell, Lord John (Earl Russell), 36, 134, 135, 205. - (See also Prime Ministers) - - Russia adopts postal reform, 251, 252; - number of letters in 1855, 253 - - - S. G. O.'s Letters, 169 - - Sabden, 65 - - Sabine, Sir E., 34 - - St Alban's and Watford mails, 227 - - St Colomb, Cornwall, 71 - - St Helena, Napoleon at, 27, 28 - - St Martin's-le-Grand, 153, 154, 163, 228, 243, 248, 250, 253, 256, - 262, 263-265, 277, 293 - - St Peter, 279 - - St Priest, M., 158 - - Salisbury, Lady, 141 - - Saltney, Gladstone at, 289 - - San Francisco, 57 - - Sardinia, 187, 188, 251 - - Sargent, Mr. W. L., 16 - - Saturday night deliveries, 227 - - Savages in England, 11 - - Savings Bank. (See Post Office, etc.) - - Saxony adopts postal reform, 251 - - Say, three generations, 158 - - Scholefield, Mr, M.P., 113 - - Schoolmistress, an ill-informed, 294 - - Scotland, 54, 66, 73, 74, 297 - - _Scotsman_, the, 117 - - Scott, Sir Benjamin, 302 - - ——, Sir Walter, 50, 66, 78, 79, 99, 295, 296 - - Secretary to the P.O., Scotland, 211 - - “Sedition made easy,” 112 - - “Seminaries of Useless Knowledge,” 294 - - Settembrini, 37 - - Seven miles an hour! Preposterous! 79 - - Seymour, Lord (Duke of Somerset), 120, 128, 138 - - Shaftesbury, Lord, 48 - - Sheffield, near Rotherham, 84 - - Sherman, Mr, 293 - - Shiel, Mr, 114 - - Shrewsbury, 2 - - Siberia, postal rates to, 57 - - Sibthorpe, Colonel, M.P., 136 - - Sikes, Sir Chas., 267 - - Simplicity _versus_ complications, 105 - - Smeaton, 261 - - Smith, Mr B., M.P., 36 - - “Smith, John,” and friend's fraud, 58, 60, 69 - - ——, Mr J. B., M.P., 36, 143 - - ——, Southwood, Dr, 28 - - ——, Sydney, 1, 89, 131 - - Smithfield and the martyrs, 157 - - Smuggling letters, 66-69, 121, 133 - - Smyth, Admiral, 34 - - Snooks! 203 - - “Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,” the, 139 - - —— of Arts, the, 299 - - “Some Memories of Books,” a story from, 59 - - Somerset House, 94, 95 - - Somerville, Mary, 117 - - Sorters, improvement in their lot, 253, 254 - - Sorting in travelling post offices, 92, 227, 228 - - Southampton, the press-gang at, 11 - - South Australian Commission, the, 19, 148 - - —— Kensington Museum, the, 191, 302 - - South-Western Railway Co.'s offer, 215 - - Spain, 14; - adopts postal reform, 251, 252 - - Spanish gentlemen to the rescue, 29 - - _Spectator_, the, 116 - - Spencer, Herbert, 261, 262 - - Spirits called from the vasty deep, 293 - - Spring Rice. (See Chancellors of the Exchequer) - - Spy, taken for a, 18 - - Squire's firewood, the, 3 - - Stamp obliteration, 241 - - —— Office _versus_ P.O., 202 - - “Stamped covers, stamped paper, andstamps to be used separately,” 197 - - Stamps and Taxes (Inland Revenue) Office, 119, 188, 197 - - ——, postage. (See Postage stamps) - - Stanfield, Clarkson, R.A., 32, 300 - - Stanley Gibbons & Co., Messrs, 201 - - —— of Alderley, Lord, 284, 285 - - Stationery and walking-sticks, 272 - - Statues at Birmingham, Kidderminster, and London, 300 - - Steamship Co.'s. (See Packet Service) - - Stephenson, Geo., 110, 260 - - Stockholm, 14 - - “Story of Gladstone's Life, The,” 133 - - Stow & Co., 217 - - Stowe, John, 1 - - Stracheys, the, 5 - - Strangely addressed letters, 297, 298 - - Street letter-boxes, 147, 156, 187 - - _Sun_, the, 226 - - Sunday labour relief measures, 222-227 - - Survivals of the Old System, 255 - - Sweden, 14, 251 - - Swift, Dean, 52 - - Swindon, 266 - - Switzerland adopts postal reform, 251 - - Symondses, the, 2, 4, 5 - - - Taunton, Lord. (See Labouchere, Mr) - - “Taxes on knowledge,” 47, 97, 189 - - “Taxing” letters, 49, 105, 106, 116, 125 - - Taylor, R. (Marian martyr), 294 - - Telegraphs, State purchase of, 267, 268, 293 - - Telford, 85, 261 - - Tentative fourpenny rate, 133, 161 - - Tenth January 1840, scene at the General Post Office, 162 - - Testimonials and honours, 294-302 - - Tettenhall Road and the culvert, 23 - - Thackeray, 30, 31, 34, 35, 83 - - Thayer, M., 221 - - Theft, story of a, 274 - - “There go the Corn Laws!” 141 - - “Thesaurus, The,” Dr Roget, 35 - - Thompson, Colonel Perronet, 143, 225 - - —— Sir H., 34 - - Thomson, Poulett, M.P. (Lord Sydenham), 120, 128 - - Thornley, Mr Thos., M.P., 24, 120 - - Throckmorton, Mr, 24 - - Thurso, 54 - - Tichborne claimant, the, 194 - - Tilly, Sir J., 284 - - _Times_, the, 116, 129, 216, 226 - - Tipping the little Hills with gold, 184 - - Torn coat, two stories of a, 297 - - Torrens, Colonel, 19 - - ——, Sir R., 19 - - Tottenham, 14 - - Travelling in France in the 'thirties, 158 - - —— post offices, 92, 227, 228 - - Travers, Mr J., 115 - - Treasury, the, invites public to send in designs for stamps, 194, - 197, 249, 251, 286 - - Trevelyan, Sir Chas., 245 - - —— Sir Geo., 273 - - Trial by jury at school, 12 - - Tripolitan ambassador, the, 14 - - Trollope, Anthony, 277, 278 - - Turner, J. W. M., R.A., 18, 33, 34 - - Tuscany adopts postal reform, 251 - - Twenty-one separate contracts, 234 - - Two sympathetic door-keepers, 135, 136 - - “Two Letters,” Gladstone's famous, 37 - - Two thousand petitions, 113 - - Twopenny post, the, 84, 161, 255 - - —— rate, proposed and carried, 129 - - Tyburn, 46 - - Tyson, Mr, 52 - - - Umbrella, story of an, 33 - - Unclaimed money and valuables, 219, 220 - - Uniformity of postal rates, 105, 108, 125, etc. - - “Union of my children has proved their strength, the,” 94 - - —— Steamship Co., the, 236 - - United States, 56; - mails to, 68, 69; - civil war predicted, 230; - adopts postal reform, 251, 252 - - Unjust accusations, P.O., 272 - - Unpaid letters in 1859, 269 - - Uselessness of postage stamps before 1840, 49, etc. - - - Valayer, M. de, 157, 158, 186-188 - - Vases from Longton, 300 - - Vaughan, Dr, 225 - - Victorian women, the early, 117, 118 - - Villiers, Hon. C. P., M.P., 24, 111, 120, 149 - - Vinter, Mr, 301 - - Virginia, the University of, 14 - - Vision of mail-coaches, a, 86, 87 - - Voluntary work at Hazelwood, 13; - at the P.O., 222-224 - - Volunteers, the P.O., 266 - - - Wages, increase of. (See Improvements, etc.) - - Wakefield, E. G., 19 - - Walcheren Expedition, the, 159 - - Wales, the Princess of, 279 - - Wall letter-boxes. (See Street, etc.) - - Wallace of Kelly, R., M.P., postal reformer, 90; - proposes charge by weight, public competition in mail coach - contracts, appointment of Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry - (Postage), establishment of day mails, registration of letters, - reduction of postal charges, more frequent mails, etc., 98, 99; - advocates R. H.'s plan, sends him Blue Books, 100; - Chairman of Committee, 119; - his two casting votes, 127, 128; - his zeal and toil, favours penny rate, 129; - supports Penny Postage Bill, 138; - writes to Mrs Hill on its passing, 141; - urges Lord Melbourne to give appointment to R. H., 145, 181; - retirement and death, 212 - - Walmsleys, the, 37, 143 - - Walsall, 67 - - “Walter Press,” the, 22 - - War with France, 10, 18, 47 - - War-tax, postal contribution to the, 47, 55, 76 - - Warburton, Hy., M.P., 120, 127; - serves on Parliamentary Committee and writes report, 129; - favours penny rate, “Philosopher Warburton” at home, 130; - on deputation to Lord Melbourne, questions Government in House, - “Penny Postage is to be granted,” 134; - advises R. H. to attend debate, 125; - supports Bill, 138; - urges giving appointment to R. H., 145; - and restoration to office, 212; - interviews Postmaster-General, 214 - - Watch-smuggling, 273; - a stolen, 274, 275 - - Waterloo, the battle of, 1, 88 - - Watford and St Albans' mails, 227 - - Watson, Mr, 207 - - Watt, James, 261, 303 - - “Waverley,” 78 - - Wedding ring, episode of a, 302 - - Weighing letters, 125 - - Weight of chargeable letters one-fourth of the entire mail only, 103; - average carried and capable of being carried by coach, 123 - - Wellington, Duke of, 1, 136, 137, 138, 141, 224, 239, 260 - - Wesley, John, 81 - - West Indian Packet Service, 236 - - West, Mr, on Etymology, 266 - - Westminster, 76; - the Hall, 156; - the Abbey, 301, 303 - - Wheatstone, Sir Chas., 34 - - Whitehead, Sir Jas., 302 - - Whiting, Mr, 189, 198 - - Widows' and Orphans' Fund, the P.O., 220 - - Wild and visionary scheme, a, 120 - - Wilde, Sir Thos. (Lord Truro), 36 - - Wilkinson, Mr W. A., 115 - - William I., German Emperor, 266 - - —— III., 81; - - —— IV., 19, 119 - - Wills, Mr W. H., 31, 163, 266; - Mrs Wills, 31 - - Wilson, Mr L. P., 115 - - Window immortalised by Dickens, a, 163 - - Witch mania, the, 81 - - Witherings, postal reformer, gives new meaning to the word “post,” - made “Master of the Posts,” an able administrator, dismissed, - 72, 73, 78; - remarks on his treatment, 80, 179 - - Wolverhampton, 11, 23, 25, 26, 50, 52, 133, 294 - - Wolves, 159 - - Wood, Mr J. (Stamps and Taxes Office), 188 - - ——, Mr G. W., M.P., 120 - - Works of Reference, 185, 186, 192, 195, 196 - - Wreckage, postal reform narrowly escapes, 127, 129 - - Wurtemberg adopts postal reform, 251 - - Wyon, Wm., R.A., 199 - - - Yates, Edmund, 154, 266, 280, 285 - - “Year of Revolutions, The,” 221, 239 - - York, 74, 77 - - ——, James, Duke of, 76 - - Yorke, Hon. and Rev. G., 225 - - Young, Arthur, 78 - - - Zerffi, Dr, 37 - - - - - Printed at - - The Edinburgh Press - - 9 and 11 Young Street - - - - - ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ - │ Transcriber's Note: │ - │ │ - │ The original spelling, hyphenation, and punctuation have been │ - │ retained, with the exception of apparent typographical errors │ - │ which have been corrected. │ - │ │ - │ Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. │ - │ │ - │ Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant │ - │ form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. │ - │ │ - │ Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, _like │ - │ this_. │ - │ │ - │ Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved between paragraphs │ - │ and some illustrations have been moved closer to the text that │ - │ references them. 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Smyth - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Sir Rowland Hill - The Story of a Great Reform - -Author: Eleanor C. Smyth - -Release Date: August 31, 2017 [EBook #55467] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR ROWLAND HILL *** - - - - -Produced by WebRover, Christian Boissonnas, Adrian -Mastronardi, The Philatelic Digital Library Project at -http://www.tpdlp.net and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet -Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="transnote covernote"> - The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in - the public domain. -</div> - - -<p class="ac noindent p4 xx-larger">SIR ROWLAND HILL</p> - - -<div class="bbox1"> - <p class="ac noindent">COBDEN AS A CITIZEN</p> - <p>A Chapter in Manchester History. Containing a - facsimile of Cobden's pamphlet, “Incorporate your - Borough,” with an Introduction and a complete - Cobden Bibliography, by William E. A. Oxon. - With 7 Photogravure Plates, and 3 other Illustrations. - Demy 8vo, half parchment, 21s. net.</p> - - <p class="ac noindent p2">COILLARD OF THE ZAMBESI</p> - <p>The Lives of Francois and Christina Coillard, of - the Paris Missionary Society, 1834-1904. By C. W. - Mackintosh. With a Photogravure Frontispiece, a - Map, and 64 other Illustrations. Second Edition. - Demy 8vo, 15s. net.</p> - - <p class="ac noindent p2">THE LIFE OF RICHARD COBDEN</p> - <p>By the Right Hon. John Morley, M.P. With - Photogravure Portrait from the Original Drawing - by Lowes Dickinson. 2 vols. Large Crown 8vo, - 7s. the set. Also a “Popular” Edition. 1 vol. - Large Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.</p> - - <p class="ac noindent p2"><span class="smcap">London: T. Fisher - Unwin.</span></p> -</div> - - -<div class="figcenter bord p4"><a name="frontis.jpg" id="frontis.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/frontis.jpg" width="451" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><span class="smcap">Sir Rowland Hill</span>, - K.C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.R.A.S.<br /><i>By permission of Messrs. - De La Rue.</i></div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - <h1>SIR ROWLAND HILL</h1> - -<p class="ac noindent x-larger p2">THE STORY OF A GREAT REFORM<br /> -<br /> -TOLD BY HIS DAUGHTER</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_logo.jpg" id="i_logo.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_logo.jpg" width="100" height="103" - alt="Facsimile of postage stamp" /> - <div class="caption">FACSIMILE OF THE<br /> - ORIGINAL SKETCH FOR<br /> - THE POSTAGE STAMP</div> -</div> - - -<p class="ac noindent p4">LONDON</p> -<p class="ac noindent"><span class="larger">T. FISHER UNWIN</span></p> -<p class="ac noindent"><span class="smaller">ADELPHI TERRACE</span></p> -<p class="ac noindent"><span class="x-smaller">MCMVII</span></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<p class="ac noindent p4 x-smaller"><i>All rights reserved.</i></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ac noindent">IN LOVING MEMORY OF</p> - -<p class="ac noindent">ROWLAND HILL <span class="smcap smaller">AND</span> -CAROLINE PEARSON<br /> -(Born December 3, 1795, (Born November 25, 1796,<br /> -Died August 27, 1879) -Died May 27, 1881)</p> - -<p class="ac noindent p2">THIS BOOK IS WRITTEN<br /> -<br /> -<span class="x-smaller">BY</span><br /> -<br /> -<span class="smaller">THEIR LAST REMAINING IMMEDIATE DESCENDANT</span><br /> -<br /> -ELEANOR C. SMYTH</p> - - -<p class="p4">“A fond desire to preserve the memory of those we love from -oblivion is an almost universal sentiment.”</p> - -<p class="ar"> -—(Lord Dufferin on his mother—<i>Songs, Poems, and<br /> -Verses</i>. By <span class="smcap">Helen, Lady Dufferin</span>.)</p> - -<p class="p2">“Reform does not spell ruin, lads—remember Rowland Hill!”</p> - -<p class="ar"> -—(<i>Punch</i> on the Postal Reform Jubilee, 1890.)</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> - <h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> -</div> - - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> Gladstone's “'musings for the good of man,'” -writes John Morley in his Life of the dead statesman -(ii. 56, 57), the “Liberation of Intercourse, to -borrow his own larger name for Free Trade, figured -in his mind's eye as one of the promoting conditions -of abundant employment.... He recalled the -days when our predecessors thought it must be for -man's good to have 'most of the avenues by which -the mind and also the hand of man conveyed -and exchanged their respective products' blocked or -narrowed by regulation and taxation. Dissemination -of news, travelling, letters, transit of goods, were all -made as costly and difficult as the legislation could -make them. 'I rank,' he said, 'the introduction of -cheap postage for letters, documents, patterns, and -printed matter, and the abolition of all taxes on -printed matter, in the catalogue of free legislation. -These great measures may well take their place -beside the abolition of prohibitions and protective -duties, the simplifying of revenue laws, and the repeal -of the Navigation Act, as forming together the great -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> -code of industrial emancipation.'” To the above the -biographer adds that in Gladstone's article in the -<i>Nineteenth Century</i> on Free Trade, Railways, and -Commerce, he divided the credit of our material -progress between the two great factors, the Liberation -of Intercourse and the Improvement of Locomotion.</p> - -<p>In view of the occasional attempts to revive the -pernicious franking privilege, and of the frequently -recurring warfare between Free Trade and the rival -system, whose epitaph we owe to Disraeli, but whose -unquiet spirit apparently declines to rest within its -tomb, the present seems a fitting time to write the -story of the old reform to which Gladstone alluded—“the -introduction of cheap postage for letters,” etc., -the narrative being prefaced by a notice of the -reformer, his family, and some of his friends who are -not mentioned in later pages.</p> - -<p>My cousin, Dr Birkbeck Hill's “Life of Sir -Rowland Hill and History of Penny Postage” is an -elaborate work, and therefore valuable as a source of -information to be drawn upon by any future historian -of that reform and of the period, now so far removed -from our own, which the reformer's long life covered. -Before Dr Hill's death he gave me permission to take -from his pages such material as I cared to incorporate -with my own shorter, more anecdotal story. This has -been done, but my narrative also contains much that -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span> -has not appeared elsewhere, because, as the one of -my father's children most intimately associated with -his home life, unto me were given opportunities of -acquiring knowledge which were not accessible to -my cousin.</p> - -<p>Before my brother, Mr Pearson Hill, died, he read -through the greater portion of my work; and although -since then much has been remodelled, omitted, and -added, the narrative ought to be substantially correct. -He supplied sundry details, and more than one -anecdote, and is responsible for the story of Lord -Canning's curious revelation which has appeared in -no previous work. In all that my brother wrote his -actual words have been, as far as possible, retained. -The tribute to his memory in the first chapter on the -Post Office was written after his decease.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span></p> - - -<p class="ac noindent">CONTENTS</p> - -<table id="TOC" summary="CONTENTS"> - <tbody> - <tr> - <td class="c2"><span class="x-smaller">CHAP.</span></td> - <td class="c1"></td> - <td class="c2"><span class="x-smaller">PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2"></td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE</a></td> - <td class="c2">ix</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2"></td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#INTRODUCTORY">INTRODUCTORY</a></td> - <td class="c2">1</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2">I.</td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">THE OLD POSTAL SYSTEM</a></td> - <td class="c2">39</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2">II.</td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">SOME EARLY POSTAL REFORMERS</a></td> - <td class="c2">70</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2">III.</td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">THE PLAN</a></td> - <td class="c2">92</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2">IV.</td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">EXIT THE OLD SYSTEM</a></td> - <td class="c2">119</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2">V.</td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">AT THE TREASURY</a></td> - <td class="c2">148</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2">VI.</td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">THE STAMPS</a></td> - <td class="c2">185</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2">VII.</td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">AT THE POST OFFICE</a></td> - <td class="c2">211</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2">VIII.</td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">AT THE POST OFFICE - (<i>Continued</i>)</a></td> - <td class="c2">245</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2">IX.</td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">THE SUNSET OF LIFE</a></td> - <td class="c2">286</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2"></td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#APPENDIX">APPENDIX—RESULTS OF POSTAL REFORM</a></td> - <td class="c2">306</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c2"></td> - <td class="c1"><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></td> - <td class="c2">311</td> - </tr> - </tbody> -</table> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></p> - - -<p class="ac noindent">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</p> - - -<table id="ILLOS" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS"> - <tbody> - <tr> - <td class="c1"></td> - <td class="c2"><span class="x-smaller">PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#frontis.jpg"><span class="smcap">Sir Rowland - Hill</span> (<i>Portrait by Rajon</i>)</a></td> - <td class="c2"><span class="x-smaller"><i>Frontispiece</i></span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_logo.jpg"><span class="smcap">First Sketch - of Postage Stamp</span></a></td> - <td class="c2"><span class="x-smaller"><i>Title-page</i></span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_007.jpg"><span class="smcap">Rowland Hill's - Birthplace, Kidderminster</span></a></td> - <td class="c2">7</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_014.jpg"><span class="smcap">Bruce Castle - School</span></a></td> - <td class="c2">15</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_017.jpg"><span class="smcap">Thomas Wright - Hill</span></a></td> - <td class="c2">17</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_026.jpg"><span class="smcap">Joseph - Pearson</span> (<i>Bust by Chantrey</i>)</a></td> - <td class="c2">26</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_049.jpg"><span class="smcap">Sir Rowland - Hill</span> (<i>Photo by the London Stereoscopic Co.</i>)</a></td> - <td class="c2">49</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_096.jpg"><span class="smcap">Facsimile of - Rowland Hill's Writing</span></a></td> - <td class="c2">97</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_109.jpg"><span class="smcap">No. 2 Burton - Crescent</span></a></td> - <td class="c2">109</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_141.jpg"><span class="smcap">Caroline - Pearson, Lady Hill</span></a></td> - <td class="c2">141</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_148.jpg"><span class="smcap">No. 1 Orme - Square</span></a></td> - <td class="c2">149</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_157.jpg"><span class="smcap">An Old Post - Office</span></a></td> - <td class="c2">157</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_204.jpg"><span class="smcap">The Mulready - Envelope</span></a></td> - <td class="c2">205</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_211.jpg"><span class="smcap">Sir Rowland - Hill</span> (<i>Photo by Maull & Polyblank</i>)</a></td> - <td class="c2">209</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_239.jpg"><span class="smcap">Early Travelling - Post Office with Mail-bags Exchange Apparatus</span></a></td> - <td class="c2">240</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_244.jpg"><span class="smcap">Pearson - Hill</span></a></td> - <td class="c2">244</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_286.jpg"><span class="smcap">Sir Rowland - Hill</span> (<i>“Graphic” portrait</i>)</a></td> - <td class="c2">286</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="c1"><a href="#i_301.jpg"><span class="smcap">The Statue, - Kidderminster</span></a></td> - <td class="c2">301</td> - </tr> - </tbody> -</table> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> - <h2><a name="INTRODUCTORY" id="INTRODUCTORY"></a>INTRODUCTORY</h2> -</div> - - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> earliest of the postal reformer's forefathers to -achieve fame that outlives him was Sir Rowland Hill, -mercer, and Lord Mayor of London in 1549, a native -of Hodnet, Shropshire, who founded a Grammar School -at Drayton, benefited the London Blue Coat School, -was a builder of bridges, and is mentioned by John -Stowe. From his brother are descended the three -Rowland Hills famous in more modern times—the -preacher, the warrior, and the author of Penny Postage. -Some of the preacher's witticisms are still remembered, -though they are often attributed to his brother cleric, -Sydney Smith; Napier, in his “Peninsular War,” -speaks very highly of the warrior, who, had Wellington -fallen at Waterloo, would have taken the Duke's place, -and who succeeded him as Commander-in-Chief when, -in 1828, Wellington became Prime Minister. A later -common ancestor of the three, a landed proprietor, -married twice, and the first wife's children were thrown -upon the world to fight their way as best as they could, -my paternal grandfather's great-grandfather being one -of the dispossessed. But even the blackest cloud has -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> -its silver lining; and the fall, by teaching the young -people self-help, probably brought out the latent good -stuff that was in them. At any rate, family tradition -preserves memory of not a few men and women—Hills, -or of the stocks with which they married—of -whom their descendants have reason to be proud.</p> - -<p>There was, for example, John Hill, who served -among “the twelve good men and true” on a certain -trial, was the only one of them who declined to accept -a bribe, and, the fact becoming known, was handsomely -complimented by the presiding judge. Thenceforth, -whenever the Assizes in that part of the country came -round again, John used to be asked after as “the -honest juror.” At least two of my father's forebears, -a Symonds and a Hill, refused to cast their political -votes to order, and were punished for their sturdy -independence. The one lived to see a hospital erected -in Shrewsbury out of the large fortune for some two -hundred years ago of £30,000 which should have come -to his wife, the testator's sister; the other, a baker and -corn merchant, son to “the honest juror,” saw his -supply of fuel required to bake his bread cut off by -the local squire, a candidate for Parliament, for whom -the worthy baker had dared to refuse to vote. Ovens -then were heated by wood, which in this case came -from the squire's estate. When next James Hill made -the usual application, the faggots were not to be had. -He was not discouraged. Wood, he reflected, was -dear; coal—much seldomer used then than now—was -cheap. He mixed the two, and found the plan succeed, -lessened the proportion of wood, and finally dispensed -with it altogether. His example was followed by other -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> -people: the demand for the squire's firewood languished, -and the boycotted voter was presently requested to -purchase afresh. “An instance,” says Dr Birkbeck -Hill, “of a new kind of faggot vote.”</p> - -<p>Another son of “the honest juror” was the first -person to grow potatoes in Kidderminster. Some two -centuries earlier “the useful tuber” was brought to -England; but even in times much nearer our own, -so slowly did information travel, that till about 1750 -the only denizen of that town who seems to have known -of its existence was this second John Hill. When the -seeds he sowed came up, blossomed, and turned to -berries, these last were cooked and brought to table. -Happily no one could eat them; and so the finger of -scorn was pointed at the luckless innovator. The -plants withered unheeded; but later, the ground being -wanted for other crops, was dug up, when, to the -amazement of all beholders and hearers, a plentiful -supply of fine potatoes was revealed.</p> - -<p>On the spindle side also Rowland Hill's family -could boast ancestors of whom none need feel ashamed. -Among these was the high-spirited, well-dowered -orphan girl who, like Clarissa Harlowe, fled from home -to escape wedlock with the detested suitor her guardians -sought to force upon her. But, unlike Richardson's -hapless heroine, this fugitive lived into middle age, -maintained herself by her own handiwork—spinning—never -sought even to recover her lost fortune, married, -left descendants, and fatally risked her life while preparing -for burial the pestilence-smitten neighbour -whose poor remains his own craven relatives had abandoned. -Though she perished untimely, recollection -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> -of her married name was preserved to reappear in -that of a great-grandson, Matthew <i>Davenport</i> Hill. -The husband of Mrs Davenport's only daughter, -William Lea, was a man little swayed by the superstitions -of his time, as he showed when he broke through -a mob of ignorant boors engaged in hounding into a -pond a terrified old woman they declared to be a -witch, strode into the water, lifted her in his arms, -and, heedless of hostile demonstration, bore her to -his own home to be nursed back into such strength -and sanity as were recoverable. A son of William -Lea, during the dreadful cholera visitation of 1832, -played, as Provost of Haddington, a part as fearlessly -unselfish as that of his grandmother in earlier days, -but without losing his life, for his days were long in -the land. His sister was Rowland Hill's mother.</p> - -<p>On both sides the stocks seem to have been of -stern Puritan extraction, theologically narrow, inflexibly -honest, terribly in earnest, of healthy life, fine physique—nonagenarians -not infrequently. John Symonds, son -to him whose wife forfeited succession to her brother, -Mr Millington's fortune, because both men were -sturdily obstinate in the matter of political creed, was, -though a layman, great at extempore prayer and -sermon-making. When any young man came a-wooing -to one of his bonnie daughters, the father would -take the suitor to an inner sanctum, there to be tested -as to his ability to get through the like devotional -exercises. If the young man failed to come up to the -requisite standard he was dismissed, and the damsel -reserved for some more proficient rival—James Hill -being one of the latter sort. How many suitors of the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> -present day would creditably emerge from that -ordeal?</p> - -<p>Through this sturdy old Puritan we claim kinship -with the Somersetshire family, of whom John -Addington Symonds was one, and therefore with the -Stracheys; while from other sources comes a collateral -descent from “Hudibras” Butler, who seems to have -endowed with some of his own genuine wit certain -later Hills; as also a relationship with that line of -distinguished medical men, the Mackenzies, and with -the Rev. Morell Mackenzie, who played a hero's part -at the long-ago wreck of the <i>Pegasus</i>.</p> - -<p>A neighbour of James Hill was a recluse, who, -perhaps, not finding the society of a small provincial -town so companionable as the books he loved, forbore -“to herd with narrow foreheads,” but made of James -a congenial friend. When this man died, the task fell -to his executors, James Hill and another, to divide his -modest estate. Among the few bequests were two -books to young Tom, James's son, a boy with a -passion for reading, but possessed of few books, one -being a much-mutilated copy of “Robinson Crusoe,” -which tantalisingly began with the thrilling words, -“more than thirty dancing round a fire.” The fellow -executor, knowing well the reputation for uncanny -ways with which local gossip had endowed the -deceased, earnestly advised his colleague to destroy -the volumes, and not permit them to sully young -Tom's mind. “Oh, let the boy have the books,” said -James Hill, and straightway the legacy was placed -in the youthful hands. It consisted of a “Manual of -Geography” and Euclid's “Elements.” The effect of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> -their perusal was not to send the reader to perdition, -but to call forth an innate love for mathematics, and, -through them, a lifelong devotion to astronomy, tastes -he was destined to pass on in undiminished ardour -to his third son, the postal reformer.</p> - -<p>Thomas Wright Hill was brought up in the -straitest-laced of Puritan sects, and he has left a -graphic description of the mode in which, as a small -boy of seven, he passed each Sunday. The windows -of the house, darkened by their closed outside shutters, -made mirrors in which he saw his melancholy little -face reflected; his toys were put away; there were -three chapel services, occupying in all some five and -a half hours, to which he was taken, and the intervals -between each were filled by long extempore prayers -and sermon-reading at home, all week-day conversation -being rigidly ruled out. The sabbatical observance -commenced on Saturday night and terminated on -Sunday evening with “a cheerful supper,” as though -literally “the evening and the morning were the first -day”—an arrangement which, coupled with the habit -of bestowing not Christian but Hebrew names upon -the children, gives colour to the oft-made allegation -that our Puritan ancestors drew their inspiration from -the Old rather than from the New Testament. The -only portion of these Sunday theological exercises -which the poor little fellow really understood was the -simple Bible teaching that the tenderly-loved mother -gave to him and to his younger brother. While as -a young man residing in Birmingham, however, he -passed under the influence of Priestley, and became -one of his most devoted disciples, several of whom, at -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> -the time of the disgraceful “Church and King” riots -of 1791, volunteered to defend the learned doctor's -house.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> -But Priestley declined all defence, and the -volunteers retired, leaving only young Tom, who would -not desert his beloved master's threatened dwelling. -The Priestley family had found refuge elsewhere, but -his disciple stayed alone in the twilight of the barred -and shuttered house, which speedily fell a prey to -its assailants. Our grandfather used often to tell us -children of the events of those terrible days when -the mob held the town at their mercy, and were -seriously opposed only when, having destroyed so -much property belonging to Nonconformity, they next -turned their tireless energy towards Conformity's possessions. -His affianced wife was as courageous as he, -for when while driving in a friend's carriage through -Birmingham's streets some of the rioters stopped -the horses, and bade her utter the cry “Church and -King,” she refused, and was suffered to pass on unmolested. -Was it her bravery or her comeliness, -or both, that won for her immunity from harm?</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_007.jpg" id="i_007.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_007.jpg" width="472" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">ROWLAND HILL'S BIRTHPLACE, KIDDERMINSTER.<br /> - By permission of the Proprietors of the “<i>Illustrated - London News</i>.”</div> -</div> - - -<p>The third son of this young couple, Rowland, -the future postal reformer, first saw the light in a -house at Kidderminster wherein his father was born, -which had already sheltered some generations of -Hills, and whose garden was the scene of the potato -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> -story. The child was weakly, and, being threatened -with spinal trouble, passed much of his infancy in -a recumbent position. But the fragile form held a -dauntless little soul, and the almost abnormally large -brain behind the too pallid forehead was a very active -one. As he lay prone, playing with the toys his -mother suspended to a cord stretched within easy -reach above him; and, later, working out mental -arithmetical problems, in which exercise he found -delight, and to the weaving of alluring daydreams, -he presently fell to longing for some career—what -it should be he knew not—that should leave his -country the better for his having lived in it. The -thoughts of boys are often, the poet tells us, “long, -long thoughts,” but it is not given to every one -to see those daydreams realised. Though what is -boy (or girl) worth who has not at times entertained -healthily ambitious longings for a great future?</p> - -<p>As he grew stronger he presently came to help -his father in the school the latter had established at -Birmingham, in which his two elder brothers, aged -fifteen and fourteen, were already at work. The -family was far from affluent, and its young members -were well aware that on their own exertions depended -their future success. For them there was no royal -road to learning or to anything else; and even as -children they learned to be self-reliant. From the -age of twelve onwards, my father, indeed, was self-supporting. -Like Chaucer's poor parson, the young -Hill brothers learned while they taught, even sometimes -while on their way to give a lesson, as did my -father when on a several miles long walk to teach -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> -an equally ignorant boy the art of Navigation; and -perhaps because life had to be taken so seriously, they -valued the hardly-acquired knowledge all the more -highly. Their father early accustomed his children to -discuss with him and with each other the questions of -the time—a time which must always loom large in the -history of our land. Though he mingled in the talk, -“it was,” my Uncle Matthew said, “a match of mind -against mind, in which the rules of fair play were -duly observed; and we put forth our little strength -without fear. The sword of authority was not thrown -into the scale.... We were,” added the writer, “born -to a burning hatred of tyranny.”<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> And no wonder, -for in the early years of the last century tyranny was -a living, active force.</p> - -<p>If, to quote Blackstone, “punishment of unreasonable -severity” with a view to “preventing crimes and -amending the manners of a people” constitute a -specific form of tyranny, the fact that in 1795, the -year of Rowland Hill's birth, the pillory, the stocks, -and the whipping-post were still in use sufficiently -attests this “unreasonable severity.” In March 1789, -less than seven years before his birth, a yet more -terrible punishment was still in force. A woman—the -last thus “judicially murdered”—was burnt at the -stake; and a writer in <i>Notes and Queries</i>, of 21st -September 1851, tells its readers that he was present -on the occasion. Her offence was coining, and she was -mercifully strangled before being executed. Women -were burnt at the stake long after that awful death -penalty was abolished in the case of the more favoured -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> -sex. The savage cruelty of the criminal code at this -time and later is also indicated by the fact that -over 150 offences were punishable by death. Even -in 1822, a date within the recollection of persons still -living, and notwithstanding the efforts made by Sir -Samuel Romilly and others to humanise that code, -capital punishment was still terribly common. In that -year, on two consecutive Monday mornings, my father, -arriving by coach in London from Birmingham, passed -within sight of Newgate. Outside its walls, on the -first occasion, the horrified passengers counted nineteen -bodies hanging in a row; on the second, twenty-one.</p> - -<p>During my father's childhood and youth this -country was almost constantly engaged in war. -Within half a mile of my grandfather's house the -forging of gun barrels went on all but incessantly, -the work beginning before dawn and lasting till long -after nightfall. The scarcely-ending din of the -hammers was varied only by the occasional rattle -from the proof shed; and the shocks and jars had -disastrous effect upon my grandmother's brewings of -beer. Meanwhile “The Great Shadow,” graphically -depicted by Sir A. Conan Doyle, was an actual dread -that darkened our land for years. And the shadow -of press-gang raids was a yet greater dread alike -to the men who encountered them, sometimes to -disappear for ever, and to the women who were -frequently bereft of their bread-winners. It is, -however, pleasant to remember that sometimes the -would-be captors became the captured. A merchant -vessel lying in quarantine in Southampton Water, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> -her yellow flag duly displayed, but hanging in the -calm weather so limply that it was hardly observable, -was boarded by a press-gang who thought to do a -clever thing by impressing some of the sailors. -These, seeing what was the invaders' errand, let -them come peaceably on deck, when the quarantine -officer took possession of boat and gang, and -detained both for six weeks.</p> - -<p>For those whose means were small—a numerous -class at that time—there was scant patronage of public -conveyances, such as they were. Thus the young -Hill brothers had to depend on their own walking -powers when minded to visit the world that lay beyond -their narrow horizon. And to walking tours, often of -great length, they were much given in holiday time, -tours which took them to distant places of historic -interest, of which Rowland brought back memorials -in his sketch book. Beautiful, indeed, were the then -green lanes of the Midlands, though here and there -they were disfigured by the presence of some lonely -gibbet, the chains holding its dismal “fruit” clanking -mournfully in windy weather. Whenever it was -possible, the wayfarer made a round to avoid passing -the gruesome object.</p> - -<p>One part of the country, lying between Birmingham -and Wolverhampton, a lonely heath long since -covered with factories and houses, known as the -“Lie Waste,” was also not pleasant to traverse, though -the lads occasionally had to do so. A small collection -of huts of mud-and-wattle construction sheltered some -of our native savages—for they were nothing else—whose -like has happily long been “improved off the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> -face” of the land. These uncouth beings habitually -and literally went “on all fours.” Whether the attitude -was assumed in consequence of the low roofs of -their dwellings, or the outcasts chose that mode of -progression in imitation of the animals which were -their ordinary companions, history does not say, but -they moved with wonderful celerity both in and out -of doors. At sight of any passer-by they were apt -to “rear,” and then oaths, obscene language, and -missiles of whatever sort was handy would be their -mildest greeting, while more formidable attack was -likely to be the lot of those who ventured too near -their lairs. Among these people the Hill boys often -noticed a remarkably handsome girl, as great a savage -as the rest.</p> - -<p>As the three elder brothers grew well into their -teens, much of the school government fell to their -lot, always with the parental sanction, and ere long -it was changed in character, and became a miniature -republic.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Trial by jury for serious offences was -instituted, the judge being my grandfather or one -of his sons, and the jury the culprit's fellow-pupils. -Corporal punishment, then perhaps universal in -schools, was abolished, and the lads, being treated -as reasonable creatures, early learned to be a self-respecting -because a self-governing community. The -system, which in this restricted space cannot be -described in detail, was pre-eminently a success, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> -since it turned out pupils who did it and themselves -credit. “All the good I ever learned was learned at -Hazelwood,” I once heard say a cheery old clergy-man, -probably one of the last surviving “boys.” The -teaching was efficiently carried on, and the development -of individual talent was wisely encouraged, the -pupils out of school hours being allowed to exercise -the vocation to which each was inclined, or which, -owing to this practice, was discovered in each. -Thus in boyhood Follet Osler, the inventor of -the anemometer and other scientific instruments, was -enabled to bring to light those mechanical abilities -which, till he exhibited their promise during his -hours of voluntary work, were unsuspected even by -his nearest of kin. Again, Thomas Creswick, R.A., -found an outlet for his love of art in drawing, though, -being a very little fellow when he began, some of -these studies—of public buildings in Birmingham—were -very funny, the perspective generally having -the “Anglo-Saxon” peculiarities, and each edifice -being afflicted with a “list” out of the perpendicular -as pronounced as that of Pisa's leaning tower—or -nearly so.</p> - -<p>The fame of the “Hazelwood system” spread -afar, and many of our then most distinguished fellow-countrymen -visited the school. Among the rest, -Bentham gave it his hearty approval; and Captain -Basil Hall, the writer of once popular books for boys, -spoke of the evident existence of friendly terms -between masters and pupils, declared the system to -be “a curious epitome of real life,” and added that -the boys were not converted into little men, but -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> -remained boys, only with heads and hands fully -employed on topics they liked.</p> - -<p>Visitors also came from foreign lands. Bernadotte's -son, Prince Oscar, afterwards first king of -Sweden of that name, travelled to Hazelwood, -examined the novel system, and, later, established -at Stockholm a “Hillska Scola.” From France, -among other people, came M. Jullien, once secretary -to Robespierre—what thrilling tales of the Great -Revolution must he not have been able to tell!—and -afterwards a wise philanthropist and eminent -writer on education. He sent a son to Hazelwood. -President Jefferson, when organising the University -of Virginia, asked for a copy of “Public Education,”<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> -the work describing the system and the joint production -of Rowland, who found the ideas, Matthew, -who supplied the composition, and, as regards a few -suggestions, of a younger brother, Arthur. Greece, -Spain, far-off Mexico even, in course of time sent -pupils either to Hazelwood or to Bruce Castle, -Tottenham, to which then picturesque and somewhat -remote London suburb the school was ultimately -transferred. “His Excellency, the Tripolitan -Ambassador,” wrote my father in his diary of 1823, -“has informed us that he has sent to Tripoli for six -young Africans; and the Algerine Ambassador, not -to be outdone by his piratical brother, has sent for -a dozen from Algiers.”<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Happily, neither contingent -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> -put in an appearance. In both cases the enthusiasm -evoked seems to have been short-lived.</p> - -<div class="figcenter bord"><a name="i_014.jpg" id="i_014.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_014.jpg" width="600" height="370" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">BRUCE CASTLE SCHOOL, TOTTENHAM.<br /> - By permission of Messrs. De La Rue.</div> -</div> - -<p>An old Hazelwood pupil, Mr E. Edwards, in his -written sketch of “Sir Rowland Hill,” said of the -school that no similar establishment “in the world, -probably at that time, contained such an array of -costly models, instruments, apparatus, and books. -There was an observatory upon the top of the house -fitted with powerful astronomical instruments. The -best microscopes obtainable were at hand. Models -of steam and other engines were all over the place. -Air-pumps and electrical machines were familiar -objects. Maps, then comparatively rare, lined the -walls. Drawing and mathematical instruments were -provided in profusion. Etching was taught, and a -copper press was there for printing the pupils' efforts -in that way. A lithographic press and stones of -various sizes were provided, so that the young artists -might print copies of their drawings to send to their -admiring relatives. Finally, a complete printing press -with ample founts of type was set up to enable -the boys themselves to print a monthly magazine -connected with the school and its doings.” Other -attractions were a well fitted-up carpenter's shop; -a band, the musicians being the pupils; the training -of the boys in vocal music; a theatre in which the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> -manager, elocution teacher, scene painter, etc., were -the young Hill brothers, the <i>costumière</i> their sister -Caroline, and the actors the pupils; the control of -a sum of money for school purposes; and the use -of a metallic coinage received as payment for the -voluntary work already mentioned, and by which -certain privileges could be purchased.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> - -<p>My grandfather inspired his sons and pupils with -a longing to acquire knowledge, at the same time so -completely winning their hearts by his good comradeship, -that they readily joined him in the long and -frequent walks of which he was fond, and in the course -of which his walking stick was wont to serve to make -rough drawings of problems, etc., in road or pathway. -“His mathematical explanations,” wrote another old -pupil in the “Essays of a Birmingham Manufacturer” -(W. L. Sargent), “were very clear; and he looked -at the bearings of every subject irrespective of its -conventionalities. His definition of a straight line -has been said to be the best in existence.”<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> - -<div class="figcenter bord"><a name="i_017.jpg" id="i_017.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_017.jpg" width="452" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">THOMAS WRIGHT HILL.<br /> - By permission of Messrs. Thos. De La Rue.</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> - -<p>In my father's “Life,” Dr Birkbeck Hill, when -writing of his recollections of our grandfather, said -that it seemed “as if the aged man were always seated -in perpetual sunshine. How much of the brightness -and warmth must have come from his own cheerful -temperament?... His Sunday morning breakfasts -live in the memory like a landscape of Claude's.” At -these entertainments the old man would sit in his easy-chair, -at the head of the largest table the house could -boast, in a circle of small, adoring grandchildren, the -intervening, severe generation being absent; and of -all the joyous crowd his perhaps was the youngest -heart. There were other feasts, those of reason and -the flow of soul, with which he also delighted his -young descendants: stories of the long struggle in the -revolted “American Colonies,” of the Great French -Revolution, and of other interesting historical dramas -which he could well remember, and equally well -describe.</p> - -<p>His old pupils would come long distances to see -him; and on one occasion several of them subscribed -to present him with a large telescope, bearing on it -a graven tribute of their affectionate regard. This -greatly prized gift was in use till within a short time -of his last illness.</p> - -<p>Young Rowland had a strong bent towards art, -as he showed when, at the age of thirteen, he won the -prize, a handsome box of water-colour paints, offered -by the proprietor of the <i>London School Magazine</i> for -“the best original landscape drawing by the youth of -all England, under the age of sixteen.” He painted -the scenery for the school theatre, and made many -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> -water-colour sketches in different parts of our island, -his style much resembling that of David Cox. He -was an admirer of Turner long before Ruskin “discovered” -that great painter; and, as his diary shows, -marvelled at the wondrous rendering of atmospheric -effects exhibited in his idol's pictures. Nearly all my -father's scenery and sketches perished in a fire which -partially burnt down Hazelwood School; and few are -now in existence. After the age of seventeen he -gave up painting, being far too busy to devote time -to art, but he remained a picture-lover to the end of -his days. Once during the long war with France he -had an adventure which might have proved serious. -He was sketching Dover Castle, when a soldier came -out of the fortress and told him to cease work. Not -liking the man's manner, the youthful artist went on -painting unconcernedly. Presently a file of soldiers, -headed by a corporal, appeared, and he was peremptorily -ordered to withdraw. Then the reason for the -interference was revealed: he was taken for a spy. -My father at once laid aside his brush; he had no -wish to be shot.</p> - -<p>In 1835 Rowland Hill resigned to a younger -brother, Arthur,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> the head-mastership of Bruce Castle -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> -School, and accepted the post of secretary to the -Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia, -whose chairman was Colonel Torrens.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> Another -commissioner was John Shaw Lefevre, later a famous -speaker of the House of Commons, who, as Lord -Eversley, lived to a patriarchal age. But the prime -mover in the scheme for colonising this portion of -the “Island Continent” was that public-spirited man, -Edward Gibbon Wakefield. William IV. took much -interest in the project, and stipulated that the chief -city should bear the name of his consort—Adelaide.</p> - -<p>The Commissioners were capable men, and were -ably assisted by the South Australian Company, -which much about the same time was started mainly -through the exertions of Mr G. F. Angas. Among -the many excellent rules laid down by the Commissioners -was one which insisted on the making of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> -a regular and efficient survey both of the emigrant -ships and of the food they carried. As sailing vessels -were then the only transports, the voyage lasted -several months, and the comfort of the passengers -was of no small importance. “When,” said my father -in his diary, “defects and blemishes were brought to -light by the accuracy of the survey, and the stipulated -consequences enforced, an outcry arose as if the -connection between promise and performance were -an unheard-of and most unwarrantable innovation. -After a time, however, as our practice became recognised, -evasive attempts grew rare, the first expense -being found to be the least.” He often visited the -port of departure, and witnessed the shipping off of -the emigrants—always an interesting occasion, and -one which gave opportunities of personal supervision -of matters. Being once at Plymouth, my mother and -he boarded a vessel about to sail for the new colony. -Among the passengers was a bright young Devonian, -apparently an agriculturist; and my father, observing -him, said to my mother: “I feel sure that man will do -well.” The remark was overheard, but the Devonian -made no sign. He went to Australia poor, and -returned wealthy, bought an estate close to his birth-place -which was in the market, and there settled. -But before sailing hither, he bought at one of the -Adelaide banks the finest one of several gold nuggets -there displayed, and, armed with this, presented himself -at my father's house, placed his gift in my -mother's hand, and told how the casual remark -made forty years before had helped to spur him on -to success.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> - -<p>The story of Rowland Hill and a mysteriously -vanished rotatory printing press may be told -here.</p> - -<p>In 1790 Mr William Nicholson devised a scheme -for applying to ordinary type printing the already -established process of printing calico by revolving -cylinders. The impressions were to be taken from -his press upon successive sheets of paper, as no means -of producing continuous rolls had as yet been invented; -but the machine worked far from satisfactorily, and -practically came to nothing. A quarter of a century -later Mr Edward Cowper applied Nicholson's idea to -stereotype plates bent to a cylindrical surface. But -till the advent of “Hill's machine” (described at the -Patent Office as “<span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1835, No. 6762”) all plans for -fixing movable types on a cylinder had failed. It is -therefore incontestable that the first practical scheme -of printing on a continuous roll of paper by revolving -cylinders was invented and set to work by Rowland -Hill in the year named. The machine was intended -mainly for the rapid printing of newspapers, but the -refusal of the Treasury to allow an arrangement by -which the Government stamp could be affixed by -an ingenious mechanical device as the scroll passed -through the press—a refusal withdrawn later—deferred -for many years the introduction of any rotatory -printing machine.</p> - -<p>The apparatus was kept at my Uncle Matthew's -chambers in Chancery Lane, and was often shown to -members of the trade and others. Although driven -by hand only, it threw off impressions at the rate of -7,000 or 8,000 an hour, a much higher speed than -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> -that hitherto attained by any other machine. But -from 1836 onwards my father's attention was almost -wholly taken up with his postal reform, and it was -only after his retirement from the Post Office in 1864 -that his mind reverted to the subject of the printing -press. Several years before the latter date his brother -had left London; but of the rotatory printing machine, -bulky and ponderous as it was, a few small odds and -ends—afterwards exhibited at the Caxton Exhibition -in 1877—alone remained.</p> - -<p>In 1866 the once well-known “Walter Press” was -first used in the <i>Times</i> office. Of this machine my -father has said that “except as regards the apparatus -for cutting and distributing the printed sheets, and -excepting further that the 'Walter Press' (entered -at the Patent Office as “<span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1866, No. 3222”) is -only adapted for printing from stereotype plates, while -mine would not only print from stereotype plates, -but, what is more difficult, from movable types also, -the two machines are almost identical. ” He added -that “the enormous difficulty of bringing a complex -machine into practical use—a difficulty familiar to -every inventor—has been most successfully overcome -by Messrs Calverley and Macdonald, the -patentees.”</p> - -<p>By whom and through what agency the machine -patented in 1835 was apparently transported from -Chancery Lane to Printing House Square is a -mystery which at this distant date is hardly likely -to be made clear.</p> - -<p>It has always been a tradition in our family that -the courtship between Rowland Hill and Caroline -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> -Pearson began when their united ages amounted to -eleven years only, the boy being by twelve months the -elder. The families on both sides lived at the time -at Wolverhampton, and the first kiss is said to have -been exchanged inside a large culvert which crossed -beneath the Tettenhall Road in the neighbourhood -of the Hills' house, and served to conduct a tiny -rivulet, apt in wet weather to become a swollen -stream, into its chosen channel on the other side the -way. The boy delighted to creep within this shelter—often -dry in summer—and listen to the rumbling overhead -of the passing vehicles. Noisy, ponderous wains -some of these were, with wheels of great width and -strength, and other timbers in like proportion; but -to the small listener the noisier the more enjoyable. -These wains have long vanished from the roads they -helped to wear out, the railway goods trains having -superseded them, although of late years the heavy -traction engines, often drawing large trucks after them, -seem likely to occupy the place filled by their forgotten -predecessors. Little Rowland naturally wished to -share the enchanting treat with “Car,” as he generally -called his new friend, and hand in hand the “wee -things” set off one day to the Tettenhall Road. -Many years later the elderly husband made a sentimental -journey to the spot, and was amazed at the -culvert's apparent shrinkage in size. Surely, a most -prosaic spot for the beginning of a courtship!</p> - -<p>The father of this little girl was Joseph Pearson, -a man held in such high esteem by his fellow-citizens -that after the passing of the great Reform -Bill in 1832 he was asked to become one of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> -Wolverhampton's first two members.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> He was, however, -too old for the wear and tear of Parliamentary -life, though when the General Election came on he -threw himself with all his accustomed zeal into the -struggle, and was, as a consequence, presently laid -up with a temporary ailment, which caused one of -his political foes to declare that “If Mr Pearson's -gout would only last three weeks longer we might -get our man in.” These words coming to Mr -Pearson's ears, he rose from his sick-bed, gout or -no gout, and plunged afresh into the fray, with so -much energy that “we” did <i>not</i> “get our man in,” -but the other side did.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> -<p>“He was,” once said a many years old friend, -“conspicuous for his breadth of mind, kindness of -heart, and public spirit.” He hated the cruel sports -common in his time, and sought unceasingly to put -them down. One day, while passing the local bull-ring, -he saw a crowd of rough miners and others -preparing to bait a bull. He at once strode into -their midst, liberated the animal, pulled up or broke -off the stake, and carried it away on his shoulder. -Was it his pluck, or his widespread popularity -that won the forbearance of the semi-savage by-standers? -At any rate, not a hostile finger was -laid upon him. Meanwhile, he remembered that if -brutalising pastimes are put down, it is but right that -better things should be set in their place. Thus the -local Mechanics' Institute, British Schools, Dispensary, -and other beneficent undertakings, including rational -sports for every class, owed their origin chiefly to -him; and, aided by his friend John Mander, and -by the Rev. John Carter, a poor, hard-working -Catholic priest, he founded the Wolverhampton Free -Library.</p> - -<p>Joseph Pearson was one of the most hospitable -and genial of men, and, for his time, a person of -some culture. He detested cliques and coteries, those -paralysing products of small provincial towns, and -would have naught to do with them. Men of great -variety of views met round his dinner-table, and -whenever it seemed necessary he would preface the -repast with the request that theology and politics -should be avoided. With his Catholic neighbours—Staffordshire -was a stronghold of the “Old Religion” -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>—the -sturdy Nonconformist was on the happiest of -terms, and to listen to the conversation of the often -well-travelled, well-educated priests was to him a -never-failing pleasure. For Catholic Emancipation -he strove heartily and long. With all sects he was -friendly, but chiefly his heart went out to those who -in any way had suffered for their faith. One effect -of this then not too common breadth of view was -seen when, after his death, men of all denominations -followed him to his grave, and the handsomest of the -several journalistic tributes to his memory appeared -in the columns of his inveterate political and theological -opponent, the local Tory paper. A ward in -the Hospital and a street were called after the -whilom “king of Wolverhampton.”<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_026.jpg" id="i_026.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_026.jpg" width="415" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">JOSEPH PEARSON.<br /> - <i>From a Photograph by Messrs. Whiteley & Co.</i><br /> - <i>The bust was the last work of Sir Francis Chantry.</i></div> -</div> - -<p>He had three daughters, of whom my mother -was the eldest. His wife died young, and before -her sixteenth year Caroline became mistress of his -house, and thus acquired the ease of manner and -knowledge of social duties which made of her the -charming hostess who, in later years, presided over -her husband's London house. She will make a brief -reappearance in other pages of this work.</p> - -<p>Joseph Pearson's youngest daughter, Clara, was a -beautiful girl, a frequent “toast” at social gatherings -in the three counties of Stafford, Warwick, and -Worcester—for toasts in honour of reigning belles -were still drunk at festivities in provincial Assembly -Rooms and elsewhere, what time the nineteenth -century was in its teens. When very young she -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> -became engaged to her cousin, Lieutenant (afterwards -Captain) Alexander Pearson, R.N., who at -the time of Napoleon's sojourn at St Helena was -stationed there, being attached to the man-of-war -commanded by Admiral Plampin. One gift which -Lieutenant Pearson gave my aunt she kept to the end -of her life—a lock of Napoleon's hair. Lieutenant -Pearson often saw the ex-Emperor, and, many years -after, described him to us children—how, for instance, -he would stand, silent and with folded arms, gazing -long and fixedly seaward as though waiting for the -rescue which never came. The lieutenant was one -of the several young naval officers who worshipped -at the shrine of the somewhat hoydenish Miss -“Betsy” Balcombe, who comes into most stories of -St. Helena of that time. Wholly unabashed by -consideration of the illustrious captive's former -greatness, she made of him a playmate—perhaps a -willing one, for life must have been terribly dreary -to one whose occupation, like that of Othello, was -gone. Occasionally she shocked her hearers by -addressing the ex-Emperor as “Boney,” though it -is possible that the appellation so frequently heard -in the mouths of his British enemies had no osseous -association in his own ears, but was accepted as an -endearing diminutive. One day, in the presence of -several witnesses, our cousin being among them, -she possessed herself of a sword, flourished it playfully -before her, hemmed Napoleon into a corner, -and, holding the blade above his head, laughingly -exclaimed: “Maintenant j'ai vaincu le vanqueur du -monde!” But there was no answering laugh; the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> -superstitious Corsican turned pale, made some short, -unintelligible reply, left the room, and was depressed -and taciturn for the rest of the day. It was surmised -that he took the somewhat tactless jest for an omen -that a chief who had been beaten by a woman -would never again lead an army of men.</p> - -<p>During Rowland Hill's prime, and until the final -breakdown of his health, our house was a favourite -haunt of the more intimate of his many clever friends. -Scientific, medical, legal, artistic, literary, and other -prominent men met, exchanged views, indulged in -deep talk, bandied repartee, and told good stories -at breakfast and dinner parties; the economists -mustering in force, and plainly testifying by their -bearing and conversation that, whatever ignorant -people may say of the science they never study, its -professors are often the very reverse of dismal. If -Dr Southwood Smith<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> and Mr (later Sir Edwin) -Chadwick's talk at times ran gruesomely on details -of “intramural interment,” the former, at least, had -much quaint humour, and was deservedly popular; -while Dr Neil Arnott, whose chief hobbies were -fabled to be those sadly prosaic things, stoves, water-beds, -and ventilation, but who was actually a distinguished -physician, natural philosopher, author, and -traveller, was even, when long past sixty, one of the -gayest and youngest of our guests: a mimic, but -never an ill-natured one, a spinner of amusing yarns, -and frankly idolised by the juvenile members of the -family whose minds he mercifully never attempted -to improve.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> - -<p>Charles Wentworth Dilke,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> founder of the -<i>Athenæum</i> newspaper, a famous journalist and -influential man of letters, at whose house one met -every writer, to say nothing of other men and -women, worth knowing, was another charming old -man, to listen to whose talk was a liberal education. -Did we walk with him on Hampstead Heath, -where once he had a country house, he became an -animated guide-book guiltless of a dull page, telling -us of older times than our own, and of dead and -gone worthies who had been guests at “Wentworth -House.” On this much worn, initial-carven, wooden -seat used often to sit Keats listening to the nightingales, -and, maybe, thinking of Fanny Brawne. At -another spot the weakly-framed poet had soundly -thrashed a British rough who was beating his wife. -Across yonder footpath used to come from Highgate -“the archangel a little damaged,” as Charles Lamb -called Coleridge. At that road corner, in a previous -century, were wont to gather the visitors returning -from the Well Walk “pump-room,” chalybeate spring, -and promenade, till they were in sufficient force to be -safe from highwaymen or footpads who frequented -the then lonely road to London. In a yet earlier -century certain gallant Spanish gentlemen attached -to Philip and Mary's court, rescued some English -ladies from molestation by English ruffians; and -memorials of this episode live in the still traceable -circle of trees whose predecessors were planted by -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> -the grateful ladies, and in the name of the once quaint -old hostelry hard by, and of the road known as the -Spaniards.</p> - -<p>Another wanderer about Hampstead's hills and -dales was the great Thackeray, who was often -accompanied by some of the family of Mr Crowe, -a former editor of the <i>Daily News</i>, and father to -Eyre Crowe, R.A., and Sir Joseph Archer Crowe. -These wanderings seem to have suggested a few of -the names bestowed by Thackeray on the characters -in his novels, such as “Jack Belsize” and “Lord -Highgate,” while the title of “Marquess of Steyne” -is reminiscent of another Thackerayan haunt—“Dr” -Brighton. Hampstead still better knew Dickens, -who is mentioned later in these pages. The two -writers are often called rivals; yet novels and men -were wholly unlike. Each was a peerless genius in -his own line, and each adorned any company in -which he moved. Yet, while Dickens was the life -and soul of every circle, Thackeray—perhaps the -only male novelist who could draw a woman absolutely -true to life<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>—always struck us as rather silent and -self-absorbed, like one who is studying the people -around him with a view to their reproduction in -as yet unwritten pages. His six feet of height -and proportionate breadth, his wealth of grey hair, -and the spectacles he was said never to be seen -without, made of him a notable figure everywhere. -Yet, however outwardly awe-inspiring, he was the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> -kindliest of satirists, the truest of friends, and has -been fitly described as “the man who had the heart -of a woman.”<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> At the Athenæum Club he was often -seen writing by the hour together in some quiet -corner, evidently unconscious of his surroundings, at -times enjoying a voiceless laugh, or again, perhaps -when telling of Colonel Newcome's death, with “a -moisture upon his cheek which was not dew.”</p> - -<p>Another literary friend—we had many—was -William Henry Wills, also mentioned later: a kind -friend to struggling authors, who did not a little to -start Miss Mulock on her career as authoress, and -who made her known to us. He once told us a -curious story about an old uncle with whom as a -lad he used to stay in the days before the invasion -of the west country by railways with their tendency -to modernisation of out-of-the-way places. This -ancient man lived in a large ancestral mansion, and -literally “dined in hall” with his entire household. -There was a sanded floor—formerly, no doubt, rush-strewn—and -the family and their “retainers” sat -down together at a very long table to the midday -repast, the servants taking their place literally “below -the salt,” which was represented by a large bowl filled -with that necessary concomitant. In how many other -country houses did this mediæval custom last into the -first third of the nineteenth century?<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Mrs Wills—only -sister to the Chambers brothers, William and -Robert, who, together with our other publisher friend, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> -Charles Knight, did so much to cheapen the cost -and in every way to raise the tone of literature—was, -in addition to possessing great charm of manner, -an admirable amateur actress, and an unrivalled singer -of Scottish songs.</p> - -<p>Hampstead, midway in the nineteenth century, -was still a picturesque little town, possessed of several -stately old houses—one known as Sir Harry Vane's—whose -gardens were in some cases entered through -tall, wide, iron gates of elaborate design which now -would be accounted priceless. It was still the resort of -artists, many of whom visited the pleasant house of -Edwin Wilkins Field, conspicuous among the public-spirited -men who rescued from the builder-fiend the -Heath, and made of it a London “lung” and a joy for -ever; himself a lawyer, the inspirer of the Limited -Liability Act, and an accomplished amateur water-colour -painter. His first wife was a niece of Rogers, -the banker-poet, famous for his breakfast parties -and table talk. At Mr Field's house we came first -to know Clarkson Stanfield, R.A., the famous sea-scape -painter, and his family, who were musical as well -as artistic, and gave delightful parties. It was said -that Stanfield was familiar with the build and rig of a -ship down to its minutest detail, because he and his -lifelong friend and fellow Royal Academician, David -Roberts, ran away from school together to sea at a -time when life on the ocean wave seemed to most -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> -boys the ideal existence. To the last, Stanfield -looked like an old sea-dog, and was bluff, hearty -and genial. Hampstead still remembers him with -pride; and “Stanfield House,” wherein the first -really good local Free Library was sheltered, is so -called because for nearly twenty years it was his -dwelling.</p> - -<p>At the Fields' house, among other celebrities, -artistic, literary and legal, we also met Turner; -and it was to “Squire's Mount,” and at a crowded -evening party there that a characteristic anecdote of -this eccentric, gifted painter belongs. The taciturn, -gloomy-looking guest had taken an early farewell of -host and hostess, and disappeared, only to return some -minutes later, wonderfully and fearfully apparelled, -and silently commence a search about the drawing-room. -Suddenly he seemed to recollect, approached -a sofa on which sat three handsomely-attired ladies, -whose indignant countenances were a sight for gods -and men when the abruptly-mannered artist called on -them to rise. He then half dived beneath the seat, drew -forth a dreadfully shabby umbrella of the “Gamp” -species, and, taking no more notice of the irate three -than if they had been so many chairs, withdrew—this -time for good. Turner had a hearty contempt -for the Claude worship, and was resolved to expose its -hollowness. He bequeathed to the nation two of his -finest oil paintings on condition that they were placed -in the Trafalgar Square Gallery beside two of Claude's -which already hung there, and to this day act as foils. -A custodian of the Gallery once told me that he was -present when Turner visited the room in which were -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> -the two Claudes, took a foot-rule from his pocket -and measured their frames, doubtless in order that -his own should be of like dimensions.</p> - -<p>Other artists whom we knew were Mulready, -Cooke—as famous for his splendid collection of old -Venetian glass as for his pictures—Creswick and -Elmore; but much as Rowland Hill loved art, the -men of science, such as Airy, the Astronomer Royal; -Smyth, the “Astronomical Admiral”; Wheatstone, -Lyell; Graham, the Master of the Mint; Sabine, the -Herschels, and others were to him the most congenial -company. After them were counted in his regard the -medical men, philosophers and economists, such as -Harley, Coulson, Fergusson, the Clarkes, Sir Henry -Thompson—the last to die of his old friends—and -Bentham, Robert Owen, James and John Stuart Mill—these -last four being among the earliest great -men he knew, and counting in some ways as his -mentors.</p> - -<p>Of his literary friends no two held a higher place -in his esteem than Maria Edgeworth and Harriet -Martineau. Of the latter and of her able, untiring -help in promoting the cause of Penny Postage, mention -will appear later. The former, my father, and his -brother Arthur, as young men, visited at her Irish -home, making the pilgrimage thither which Scott and -many other literary adorers had made or were destined -to make, one of the most interesting being that of Mrs. -Richmond Ritchie, Thackeray's daughter, of which -she tells us in her editorial preface to a recent edition -of “Castle Rackrent.” The two brothers had looked -forward to meet a charming woman, but she exceeded -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> -their expectations, and the visit remained in the -memory of both as a red-letter day.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> - -<p>Among literary men, besides those already mentioned, -or to be named later, were Leigh Hunt, De -Quincey—who when under the influence of opium -did the strangest things, being one day discovered by -my father and a friend hiding in some East End slum -under the wholly erroneous impression that “enemies” -were seeking to molest him—Sir John Bowring, Dr -Roget, author of “The Thesaurus,” and the Kinglakes. -“Eothen,” as the writer of that once famous -book of travels and of “The Invasion of the Crimea,” -was habitually called by his friends, was a delightful -talker; and his brother, the doctor, was equally -gifted, if less fluent, while his sister was declared by -Thackeray to be the cleverest woman he ever met.</p> - -<p>Dr Roget was a most cultivated man, with the -exquisite polish and stately bearing of that now wholly -extinct species, the gentlemen of the old school. He -was one of the many tourists from England who, -happening to be in France after the break-up of the -short-lived Peace of Amiens, were detained in that -country by Napoleon. Though a foreigner, Dr Roget -had lived so long in England, and, as his book -proves, knew our language so well, that he could -easily have passed for a native of these isles; -and thus readily fell a victim to the Corsican's -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> -unjustifiable action. Happily for himself, Dr Roget -remembered that Napoleon had recently annexed -Geneva to France; and he therefore, as a Genevese, -protested against his detention on the ground that the -annexation had made of him a French subject. The -plea was allowed; he returned to England, and finally -settled here; but the friend who had accompanied -him on the tour, together with the many other -<i>détenus</i>, remained in France for several years.</p> - -<p>Political friends were also numerous, some of -whom will be mentioned in later pages. Of others, -our most frequent visitors were the brilliant talker -Roebuck, once known as “Dog Tear 'Em” of the -House of Commons; the two Forsters, father and -son, who, in turn and for many years, represented -Berwick-upon-Tweed; J. B. Smith (Stockport); and -Benjamin Smith (Norwich), at whose house we met -some of the arctic explorers of the mid-nineteenth -century, congenial friends of a descendant of the -discoverer of Smith's Sound, and with whose clever -daughters, Madame Bodichon being the eldest, we of -the younger generation were intimate. At one time -we saw a good deal also of Sir Benjamin Hawes, who, -when appointed Under-Secretary to the Colonies in -Lord John Russell's Administration of 1846, said to -my parents: “Heaven help the Colonies, for I know -nothing at all about them!”—an ignorance shared by -many other people in those days of seldom distant -travel.</p> - -<p>My father's legal friends included Denman, Wilde, -Mellor, Manning, Brougham, and others; and racy -was the talk when some of these gathered round “the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> -mahogany tree,” for the extremely small jokes which -to-day produce “roars of laughter” in Court were then -little in favour, or failed to reach the honour of -reproduction in print.</p> - -<p>Quite as interesting as any of the other people we -mingled with were the foreign political exiles who -became honoured guests in many households; and -some of these terrible revolutionists were in reality the -mildest mannered and most estimable of men. Herr -Jansa, the great violinist, was paying a visit to this -country in 1849, and out of pure kindness of heart -volunteered to play at a concert at Willis's rooms got -up for the benefit of the many Hungarian refugees -recently landed here. For this “crime” the then -young Emperor Francis Joseph caused the old man -to be banished; though what was Austria's loss was -Britain's gain, as he spent some years among us -respected and beloved by all who knew him. We -met him oftenest at the house of Sir Joshua Walmsley, -where, as Miss Walmsley was an accomplished pianist, -very enjoyable musical parties were given. The -Hungarian refugees, several of whom were wonderful -musicians, were long with us; and some, like Dr -Zerffi, remained here altogether. The Italian exiles, -Mazzini, Rufini, Gallenga, Panizzi—afterwards Sir -Antonio, Principal Librarian at the British Museum, -and planner of the Reading Room there—and others -came to speak and write English better than many -English people. Poerio, Settembrini, and other -victims of King “Bomba”—whose sufferings inspired -Gladstone to write his famous “Two Letters”—were -not here long; Garibaldi was an infrequent bird of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> -passage, as was also Kossuth. Kinkel, the German -journalist, a man of fine presence, had been sentenced -to lifelong incarceration at Spandau after the Berlin -massacre—from which Dr Oswald and his sister with -difficulty escaped—but cleverly broke prison and took -refuge in England; Louis Blanc, historian and most -diminutive of men, made his home for some years -among us; and there were many more. Quite a -variety of languages was heard in the London drawing-rooms -of that time, conversation was anything but -commonplace; and what thrillingly interesting days -those were!</p> - -<p>The story of my father's connection with the -London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, and of -that portion of his life which followed his retirement -from the Post Office, will be alluded to later in -this work.</p> - -<p>As it is well not to overburden the narrative with -notes, those of mere reference to volume and page -of Dr Hill's “Life” of my father are generally -omitted from the present story; though if verification -of statements made be required, the index to my -cousin's book should render the task easy, at least -as regards all matter taken from that “Life.”</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> -Another volunteer was a young man named Clark, one of whose -sons afterwards married T. W. Hill's elder daughter. An acquaintance -of Clark's, politically a foe, sought to save his friend's house from -destruction by writing upon it the shibboleth, “Church and King.” -But like Millais' Huguenot knight, Clark scorned to shelter himself -or property under a false badge, and promptly effaced the kindly-intentioned -inscription.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> -“Remains of T. W. Hill.” By M. D. Hill, p. 124.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> -“Six years have now elapsed,” wrote my father in 1823, “since -we placed a great part of the government of the school in the hands -of the boys themselves; and during the whole of that time the headmaster -has never once exercised his right of veto upon their -proceedings.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> -Its full title was “Plans for the Government and Liberal -Education of Boys in Large Numbers,” and the work speedily went -into a second edition.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> -Algeria was not conquered by France till 1830; and until the -beginning of the nineteenth century our shores were still liable to -piratical raids. One such (in Norway) is introduced in Miss -Martineau's story, “Feats on the Fiords.” The pirates, during -hundreds of years, periodically swept the European coasts, and -carried off people into slavery, penetrating at times even so far -north as Iceland. What was the condition of these North African -pirate States prior to the French conquest is told by Mr S. L. Poole -in “The Barbery Corsairs” (“Story of the Nations” series).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> -It was a visit paid to Bruce Castle School which caused De -Quincey, in that chapter of his “Autobiographic Sketches” entitled -“My Brother,” to write: “Different, O Rowland Hill, are the laws -of thy establishment, for other are the echoes heard amid the ancient -halls of Bruce. There it is possible for the timid child to be happy, -for the child destined to an early grave to reap his brief harvest -in peace. Wherefore were there no such asylums in those days? -Man flourished then as now. Wherefore did he not put forth his -power upon establishments that might cultivate happiness as well as -knowledge.” The stories of brutalities inflicted upon weakly boys in -some of our large schools of to-day might tempt not a few parents to -echo De Quincey's pathetic lament, though perhaps in less archaic -language.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> -It is as follows:—“A straight line is a line in which, if any two -points be taken, the part intercepted shall be less than any other line -in which these points can be found.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> -He was an ideal schoolmaster and an enthusiastic Shakespearean, -his readings from the bard being much in the same cultured style as -those of the late Mr Brandram. Whenever it was bruited about the -house that “Uncle Arthur was going 'to do' Shakespeare,” there -always trooped into the room a crowd of eager nieces, nephews, and -others, just as in a larger house members troop in when a favourite -orator is “up.” At his own request, a monetary testimonial raised -by his old pupils to do him honour was devoted to the purchase of -a lifeboat (called by his name) to be stationed at one of our coast -resorts.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> -Colonel Torrens, after whom a river and a lake in South -Australia were named, had a distinguished career. For his spirited -defence in 1811 of the island of Anholt he was awarded a sword of -honour. But he was much more than a soldier, however valorous -and able. He was a writer on economics and other important -problems of the day; was one of the founders of the Political -Economy Club, and of the <i>Globe</i> newspaper, then an advocate -of somewhat advanced views; and interested himself in several -philanthropic movements. His son, Sir Robert Torrens, sometime -M.P. for Cambridge, lived for many years in South Australia, and -was its first Premier. While there he drew up the plan of “The -Transfer of Land by Registration,” which became an Act bearing his -name, and is one of the measures sometimes cited as proof that the -Daughter States are in sundry ways well ahead of their Mother. In -consequence of the good work the plan has accomplished in the -land of its origin, it has been adopted by other colonies, and is a -standard work on the list of Cobden Club publications. Colonel -Torrens's eldest granddaughter married Rowland Hill's only son.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> -The candidates ultimately chosen were the Hon. Charles -Pelham Villiers, who represented the constituency for sixty-three -years—from January 1835 till his death in January 1898—and -Mr Thomas Thornley of Liverpool. Both men, as we shall see, -served on that select Committee on Postage which sat to enquire as -to the merits of my father's plan of postal reform, and helped to -cause its adoption. The two men were long known locally as -“Mr Pearson's members.” Mr Villiers will be remembered as the -man who, for several years in succession, brought in an Annual -Motion on behalf of Free Trade, and as being for a longer while, -perhaps, than any other Parliamentarian, “the Father of the House”; -but the fact is not so well known that he came near to not representing -Wolverhampton at all. The election agent who “discovered” -him in London described him in a letter to my grandfather (who was -chairman of the local Liberal Association) as “a young gentleman -named Villiers, a thorough free-trader, of good connexions, and -good address.” Thus his advent was eagerly looked for. Always -given to procrastination, the candidate, however, was so long in -making his appearance or communicating with the constituents, -that his place was about to be taken by a more energetic person -who went so far as to issue his address and begin his canvass. Only -just in time for nomination did Mr Villiers drive into Wolverhampton. -Whereupon Mr Throckmorton gracefully retired.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> -He died in July 1838, in the midst of the agitation for the -postal reform, in which he took an enthusiastic interest.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> -Grandfather to Miss Octavia Hill.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> -His son was one of the Commissioners who aided Prince -Albert to inaugurate the Great Exhibition of 1851, and was created -a baronet in recognition of his services.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> -What other man ever depicted a Becky Sharpe, a Beatrix -Esmond, a Mrs Bute Crawley, or a Lady Kew—to say nothing -of minor characters?</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> -“Thackeray's London.” By W. H. Rideing.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> -Less than half a century before the time described by Mr -Wills, the mother of Sir Humphrey Davy left the fact on record -that in Penzance, a town of 2,000 inhabitants, there were but -one cart, one carpet, no such thing as a silver fork, no merchandise -brought to the place save that carried by pack-horses, and every -one who travelled went on horseback. On this state of things -Palmer's mail coaches had a most rousing effect.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> -When Miss Edgeworth's father in 1804 wrote the preface to her -“Popular Tales,” he quoted Burke as saying that in the United -Kingdom one person in every hundred could read, and added that -he hoped his daughter's works would attract the attention of a good -many “thousands.” Millions of readers were probably undreamed -of. The schoolmaster has made some progress since those days.</p></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ac noindent">THE OLD POSTAL SYSTEM</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p><span class="smcap">“Postage</span> is one of the worst of our -taxes. Few taxes, if any, -have so injurious a tendency as the tax upon the communication -by letters. I cannot doubt that a taxation upon communication by -letters must bear heavily upon commerce; it is, in fact, taxing the -conversation of people who live at a distance from each other. The -communication of letters by persons living at a distance is the same -as a communication by word of mouth between persons living in the -same town. You might as well tax words spoken upon the Royal -Exchange as the communications of various persons living in -Manchester, Liverpool, and London.”—Lord <span class="smcap">Ashburton</span>, -a conservative peer.</p> - -<p>“We build National Galleries, and furnish them with pictures; -we propose to create public walks for the air and health and exercise -of the community at the general cost of the country. I do not think -that either of these, useful and valuable as they are to the community, -and fit as they are for Government to sanction, are more conducive -to the moral and social advancement of the community than the -facility of intercourse by post.”—<span class="smcap">Samuel Jones Loyd</span> (Lord -<span class="smcap">Overstone</span>), banker and financier.</p> - -<p>“It is commercial suicide to restrict the free transmission of -letters.”—(Sir) <span class="smcap">William Brown</span>, a Liverpool merchant.</p> - -<p>“We are cut off from our relatives by the high rates of postage.”—<span class="smcap">G. -Henson</span>, a working hosier of Nottingham.</p></div> - - -<p>In a short sketch of the postal reform written by my -brother,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> -in the year of the late Queen's first jubilee— -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> -which was also the jubilee of the publication of our -father's “Post Office Reform,” the pamphlet that -swept away the old system—the following passage -from Miss Martineau's “History of the Thirty Years' -Peace, 1815-1845” is quoted with excellent effect. -From a novel point of view, and in somewhat startling -colours, it presents us with a picture of the state of -things which, under that old system, existed in our -country through four-tenths (less one year) of the -nineteenth century, and is therefore within the -recollection of people still living.</p> - -<p>We look back now, Miss Martineau says,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> with a -sort of amazed compassion to the old crusading days -when warrior husbands and their wives, grey-headed -parents and their brave sons parted, with the knowledge -that it must be months or years before they -could hear even of one another's existence. We -wonder how they bore the depth of silence, and we -feel the same now about the families of polar -voyagers;<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> but till the commencement of Her -Majesty's reign it did not occur to many of us how -like to this was the fate of the largest classes in our -own country. The fact is that there was no full and -free epistolary intercourse in the country except for -those who, like Members of Parliament, had the -command of franks. There were few families in the -wide middle class who did not feel the cost of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> -postage to be a heavy item in their expenditure; -and if the young people sent letters home only once -a fortnight, the amount at the year's end was a rather -serious matter. But it was the vast multitude of the -poorer classes who suffered, like the crusading families -of old, and the geographical discoverers of all time. -When the young people went out into the world -the separation between them and those left behind -was almost like that of death. The hundreds of -thousands of apprentices, of shopmen, of governesses, -of domestic servants, were cut off from family -relations as effectually as if seas or deserts divided -them (vol. iv. p. 11).</p> - -<p>Yet it was not so much the number of miles of -severance or the paucity of means of communication -that raised walls of oblivion between members of -those poorer families which form the large majority -of our race; for by 1840—the year when the postal -reform was established—communication between even -distant places was becoming comparatively easy. -Separation was mainly caused by dear postal charges. -Fourpence carried a letter 15 miles only; the -average rate, even taking into account the many -penny letters circulated by the local town-posts—which, -it is said, numbered some two hundred, the -greater part being very profitable undertakings—was -6-¼d.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> -Mr Brewin of Cirencester, in his evidence -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> -before the Parliamentary Committee of 1838 (Third -Report), put the case with startling effect when he -said: “Sixpence is a third of a poor man's daily -income. If a gentleman whose fortune is a thousand -a year, or £3 a day, had to pay one-third of his daily -income—a sovereign—for a letter, how often would -he write letters of friendship?”</p> - -<p>But Mr Brewin's illustration, admirable as it is, -did not cover the entire case. And, first, it is worth -pointing out that the “poor man's daily income” was -not only actually smaller, but, generally speaking, it -had also smaller purchasing power in the 'thirties than -it came to have later in the century when freer trade -and lighter taxation prevailed. The real hardship, -however, was that too often the man “whose fortune -is a thousand a year”—and sometimes much more—was, -unlike his poorer brother on 1s. 6d. a day, -exempt altogether from postal charges.</p> - -<p>For the franking system is a hoary iniquity. It -dates back considerably more than two hundred years. -To such an extent was the practice, legally or illegally, -carried, that, as Mr Joyce, in his “History of the -Post Office,” tells us: “In Great Britain alone the -postage represented by the franked letters, excluding -those which were, or which purported to be, 'On His -Majesty's Service,' amounted in 1716 to what was, -for that time relatively to the total Post Office -revenue, the enormous sum of £17,500 a year” -(p. 142). By 1838 the number of franked missives -was some 7,000,000 a year. Of these, rather less -that 5,000,000 were “double” letters, about 2,000,000 -eight-fold letters, and some 77,000 thirteen-fold letters, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> -free carriage of which caused a loss to the revenue -during the twelvemonths of about £1,065,000.</p> - -<p>The franking privilege—which enabled its possessor -to write his name outside a letter, thereby -rendering it exempt from postal charge—was in -vogue long before it received formal recognition by -Parliament, and is indeed said to have been given -by way of bribe to the Commons what time the Post -Office became a Crown monopoly. The first intention -was that franking should be enjoyed only by Members -during each session; but later it was practised in and -out of session. When the measure came before the -House, a few Members condemned it as “shabby,” -“a poor mendicant proviso,” etc. But the Bill was -passed. The Upper House rejected it. Then the -Commons, with a knowledge of human nature creditable -to their understanding if to nothing else, inserted -a clause providing that the Lords' letters should also -be franked; whereupon the Bill became an Act.</p> - -<p>The old system worked with great tenderness -towards the “haves,” and with corresponding harshness -towards the “have nots.” It enabled some -members of the favoured classes to send by post free -of charge such things as fifteen couples of hounds, two -maid servants, a cow, two bales of stockings, a deal -case containing flitches of bacon, a huge feather-bed, -and other bulky products, animate and inanimate. -“The 'Ambassador's bag,'” said Mr Roebuck one -night in the House of Commons, “was often unduly -weighted. Coats, lace, boots, and other articles were -sent by it; even a pianoforte, and a horse!”<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> - -<p>On the other hand, the unfavoured many were -heavily taxed for the transmission of missives often -smaller, easier of carriage, and lighter of weight; -and were so taxed to make up for the immunity -enjoyed by the favoured few, since the revenue, at -all costs, must be maintained. Thus to Rowland -Hill's parents, and to many thousands more, in those -days of slender income and heavy taxation, the postman's -knock was a sound of dread. The accepted -letter might prove to be a worthless circular or other -useless sheet, on which the too-trusting recipient had -thrown away the money needed for necessary things -whose purchase must be deferred.</p> - -<p>Incredibly high the postal rates sometimes were. -A packet weighing 32 oz. was once sent from Deal -to London. The postage was over £6, being, as -Rowland Hill's informant remarked, four times as -much as the charge for an inside place by the coach.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> -Again, a parcel of official papers, small enough to -slip inside an ordinary pocket, was sent from Dublin -to another Irish town addressed to Sir John -Burgogne. By mistake it was charged as a letter -instead of as a parcel, and cost £11! For that -amount the whole mail-coach plying between the -two towns, with places for seven passengers and -their luggage, might have been hired. Extreme -cases these perhaps, but that they could and did -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> -happen argued something rotten in the state of—the -old system.</p> - -<p>The peers of the realm and the Members of -Parliament could not only frank their own letters, -but those also of their friends, who, perhaps, in nine -cases out of ten could well afford to do without such -help. The number of franks which privileged people -could write was limited by law,<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> -but was frequently -exceeded if a donor hated to say “No,” or found -that compliance with requests enhanced his popularity, -or was to his advantage. Members of Parliament -sometimes signed franks by the packet, and gave -them to constituents and friends. It was an easy, -inexpensive way of making a present, or of practising -a little bribery and corruption. The chief offenders -were said to be the banker Members, who, in one -day (of 1794), sent 103,000 franked letters through -the London Post Office alone. No wonder a -“banker's frank” came to be a byword. Franks -were also sometimes given to servants instead of, -or to eke out, their wages; and the servants, being -then as a rule illiterate, sold the franks again.</p> - -<p>Forgery of franks was extensively practised, since -to imitate a man's writing is not difficult. Mr Joyce -tells us that, under the old system, the proportion of -counterfeit to genuine franks varied from half to -three-quarters of the entire number. Why forgery -should be resorted to is easy to understand. The -<i>un</i>privileged nursed a natural grudge against the -privileged, and saw no harm in occasionally enjoying -a like immunity from postal charges. Prosecutions -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> -availed little as deterrents. Even the fate of the -Rev. Dr Dodd, hanged at Tyburn in 1771 for the -offence, could not check the practice.</p> - -<p>The strictness of the rules against forging the -frank on a letter, so long a capital offence, contrasted -strangely with the extraordinary laxity of those -relating to the franking of newspapers. To pass -freely through the post, a newspaper, like a letter, -had to be franked by a peer or a Member of Parliament. -But no pretence was ever made that the -signatures were genuine; and not only was anybody -at liberty to write the name of peer or Member, but -the publishers themselves were accustomed to issue -the newspapers with their customer's name and -address, and the franking signature already <i>printed</i> -on each cover! Indeed, were this useless form to -be disregarded, the paper was counted as an unpaid -letter, and became liable to a charge of perhaps -several shillings.</p> - -<p>The cost of conveying newspapers by post was -practically covered by the duty stamp. Yet “No -newspaper could be posted in any provincial town -for delivery within the same, nor anywhere within -the London District (a circle of 12 miles radius -from the General Post Office) for delivery within -the same circle, unless a postage of 1d., in -addition to the impressed newspaper stamp, were -paid upon it—a regulation which, however, was -constantly evaded by large numbers of newspapers -intended for delivery in London being sent by -newsagents down the river to be posted at -Gravesend, the Post Office then having the trouble -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> -of bringing them back, and of delivering them without -charge.”<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> - -<p>The newspaper duty at its lowest charge was -1d., and at its highest 4d., and varied with the -varying burden of taxation. Thus during the long -period of George III.'s almost incessant wars it -rose from the lower to the higher figure. Before a -word could be printed on any newspaper the blank -sheet had to be taken to the Stamp Office to -receive the impress of the duty stamp, and therefore -prepayment of newspaper postage was secured. -It may be that when the stamp duty rose to 3d. -and 4d., the official conscience was satisfied that -sufficient payment had been made; and thus the -franking signature became an unnecessary survival, -a mere process of lily-painting and refined gold-gilding, -which at some future time might be quietly got -rid of. If so, the reason becomes evident why the -forgery of franks on newspapers was viewed with -leniency, the authorities having, by means of the -stamp, secured their “pound of flesh.” But no duty -stamp was ever impressed on letters which were -treated altogether differently, prepayment in their -case being, if not actually out of the question, so -rare as to be practically non-existent.</p> - -<p>The duty on newspapers was an odious “tax on -knowledge,” and rendered a cheap Press impossible. -Only the well-to-do could indulge in the luxury of -a daily paper; and recollection of childish days brings -back a vision of the sheet passing through a succession -of households till its contents had become -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> “ancient -history,” and it ended its existence in tatters. The -repeal of the stamp duty and of that other “tax -unwise,” the paper duty, changed all this, and gave -rise to the penny and halfpenny Press of modern -times and the cheap and good books that are now -within the reach of all. The fact is worth recording -that yet another—perhaps more than one other—article -of daily use did duty in a plurality of households -during those far-off days of general dearness. This -was tea, then so costly that it was a common practice -for poor people to call at the houses of the well-to-do, -and ask for the used leaves, though not to -cleanse carpets and glassware as we do at the present -day, but to infuse afresh.</p> - -<p>The making of exemptions is a huge mistake; and, -according to the cynic, a mistake is more reprehensible -than a crime. Exemptions create discontent, and -justly so. Peel, inimical as he was to the postal -reform, was well aware of the evils of the franking -system, and said that “were each Government Department -required to pay its own postage, much would be -done towards checking the abuse.”<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> - -<p>It was Rowland Hill's wish that franking should be -totally abolished. But vested interests—that worst -bar to all social progress—proved stronger than the -reformer; and his plan, in that and some other details, -was not carried out in its entirety. Franking was -enormously curtailed, but it was a scotching rather than -a killing process; and after his retirement the evil -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> -thing slowly but steadily increased. Nor does the -tendency at the present day give sign of abatement.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_049.jpg" id="i_049.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_049.jpg" width="365" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Yours very affectionately Rowland Hill<br /> - <i>From a Photograph by the London Stereoscopic Co.</i></div> -</div> - -<p>As some of that increasingly large portion of the -public which knows nothing of the old postal system -are under the erroneous impression that others than -Rowland Hill suggested the use of postage stamps for -letters, it is well to point out that the employment -of such stamps before 1840, so far from cheapening -or rendering easier the payment of postal charges, -must have made them considerably dearer, and -have yet further complicated the process of letter-“taxing.”<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> - -<p>Postage stamps, like railway tickets, are mere tokens -of prepayment, and, however mentally hazy on the -subject of the origin of postage stamps some of us -may be, we can all easily understand how absurd, -indeed impossible, introduction of the tickets would -have been in the dark ages before railway trains began -to run. Equally impossible would have been the -employment, or even the suggestion, of stamps when -letters were posted unpaid. Under the old system -the letters of the unprivileged classes were rated, -primarily, according to the distance travelled, though -not necessarily the distance actually separating writer -and recipient, because, although before 1840 railways -existed, no close network of lines covered our land, -providing, as it does to-day, direct and plentiful means -of inter-communication; and therefore the Post Office, -to suit its own convenience, often obliged some of its -mail matter to perform very circuitous routes, thereby -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> -not only retarding delivery, but rendering still greater -the already great variability of rates. “Thus, for -example, letters from Loughton to Epping (places -only 2 or 3 miles apart) were carried into London -and out again, and charged a postage of 7d.—that -being the rate under the old system for letters between -post towns ranging from 30 to 50 miles apart.”<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> -That this circumambulatory practice was responsible -for waste of time as well as increase of cost is shown -by the fact that of two letters, the one addressed to -Highgate, and the other to Wolverhampton (120 miles -further along the same coach road), and both posted in -London at the same hour, the Highgate letter would -be delivered last. As regards cost, an anomaly quite -as absurd as the two foregoing existed in the case -of letters between Wolverhampton and Brierley Hill -which were carried by a cross-post passing through -Dudley. If a letter went the whole way, the -postage was 1d.; but if it stopped short at Dudley, -4d. was charged. Of the letters which performed -circuitous routes, Scott, in the fortieth chapter of -“Guy Mannering,” humorously remarks that, “There -was a custom, not yet wholly obsolete, of causing -a letter from one town to another, perhaps within the -distance of 30 miles, to perform a circuit of 200 miles -before delivery; which had the combined advantage of -airing the epistle thoroughly, of adding some pence to -the revenue of the Post Office, and of exercising the -patience of the correspondents.”</p> - -<p>The question of charge was still further complicated, -because, secondarily, there existed “single,” “double,” -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> -“treble,” and yet heavier rates of postage; as when -the treble rate was passed, further increase was -reckoned by weight, the charge being quadrupled -when the letter weighed an ounce, rising afterwards by -a “single” postage for every additional quarter ounce. -It was as well, perhaps, that the people who lived -before the 'forties did not lead the feverish life of -to-day. Otherwise, how would the post officials, to -say nothing of the public, have remembered these -positively bewildering details?</p> - -<p>A “single” letter had to be written on a single -sheet of paper, whose use probably gave rise to the -practice of that now obsolete “cross” writing which -often made an epistle all but illegible, but to which -in those days of dear postage recourse was unavoidable -when much matter had to be crammed into the -limited compass of that single sheet. If a second sheet, -or even the smallest piece of paper, were added to the -first, the postage was doubled. The effect of fastening -an adhesive stamp on to a single letter would -therefore have been to subject the missive to a double -charge; while to have affixed a stamp to an envelope -containing a letter would have trebled the postage. -In other words, a man living, say, 400 miles from -his correspondent, would have to pay something -like 4s. for the privilege of receiving from him -a single sheet of paper carried in a wholly -unnecessary cover bearing an equally unnecessary, -because entirely useless, adornment in the shape of -an adhesive stamp. For obvious reasons, therefore -neither “the little bags called envelopes,” as in his -pamphlet Rowland Hill quaintly described these -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> -novel adjuncts, nor the stamps, were, or could be, -in use.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> - -<p>One veracious anecdote will suffice to show what -came of evasion, wilful or unintentional, of a hard and -fast postal rule. A letter was once sent from London -to Wolverhampton, containing an enclosure to which -a small piece of paper had been fastened. The process -called “candling” showed that the letter consisted of -three parts; and the single postage being 10d., a -charge was made of 2s. 6d.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> - -<p>It will thus be seen that in reckoning the postage -on a letter, distance, the number of enclosures (if -any), and, finally, weight had to be taken into consideration. -Nor should it be forgotten that of single -inland letters the variations of charge amounted to -over forty. Under so complicated a system, it was, -save in very exceptional circumstances, far easier to -collect the postage at the end of the letter's journey -than at its beginning; and, in the absence of prepayment, -of what possible use could stamps have been, or -what man in his senses would have proposed them?<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> -Had later-day ignorance of the actual state of things -under the old postal system been less widespread -than it is, any claim to authorship of postage stamps -before reform of that system was attempted or achieved -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> -would, for lack of the credulous element among the -public, scarcely have been hazarded.</p> - -<p>The “candling” of letters was practised to -ascertain whether single, double, treble, or still -heavier postage should be charged. The missive was -carried into a darkened room, and held up against a -strong artificial light. This process not only gave -the examining official some idea of the number of -enclosures, if any, but often revealed their character. -It was to defeat temptation to dishonesty caused by -this scrutiny that the practice, not yet obsolete, was -adopted of cutting a banknote in two before posting -it, and keeping back the second half till receipt of the -first had been acknowledged.</p> - -<p>Single letter postage between London and -Edinburgh or Glasgow cost 1s. 3-½d., between London -and Aberdeen 1s. 4-½d., and between London and -Thurso 1s. 5-½d., the odd halfpenny being the duty -exacted in protectionist days to enable the epistle to -cross the Scottish border. A letter to Ireland <i>via</i> -Holyhead paid, in addition to ordinary postage, -steamer rates and toll for using the Menai and Conway -bridges. Or, if a letter took the southerly route to -Ireland, the extra charge was levied at Milford. -Single letter postage to Londonderry was 1s. 5d. -To the many other more distant Irish towns it was -still heavier.</p> - -<p>These single charges—enforced, too, at a time -when the nation, wearied out with many years of -almost incessant war, was poorer far than it is now—seem -to us exorbitant. When, therefore, we think of -them as doubled, trebled, quadrupled, and so forth, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> -it is easy to understand why to all but the rich letter-writing -became an almost lost art; and we realise -more clearly the truth of Miss Martineau's word-picture -which a superficial reader might be inclined -to pronounce overdrawn.</p> - -<p>The rates had been oppressive enough in 1801 -when, in order to swell the war-tax, a further contribution -to the Exchequer of £150,000 was enforced. But -in 1812 a yet further contribution of £200,000 was -required; and these higher rates—the highest ever -reached—were maintained for a quarter of a century -after the peace of 1815: that is, till Rowland Hill's -reform swept the old system away.</p> - -<p>In order to increase the postal revenue, the screw -had been tightened in a variety of ways, even to the -arresting of further progress in Ralph Allen's much-needed -“cross-posts” reform.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> -As Mr Joyce puts it: -“In 1695 a circuitous post would be converted into -a direct one, even though the shorter distance carried -less postage; in 1813 a direct post in place of a -circuitous one was constantly being refused on the -plea that a loss of postage would result.”<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> In the -latter year all sorts of oppressive and even bewildering -new regulations were enforced whose tendency -was to make of the Post Office a yet harsher tax-raising -machine. One new charge was of “an -additional penny on each letter for the privilege of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> -the mail-coach passing through”<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> certain towns; and -other rules were equally vexatious.</p> - -<p>The lowest single postage to Paris was 1s. 8d.; -and in the case of foreign letters partial prepayment -was the rule. For instance, when a letter travelled -from London to Paris, the writer paid 10d., -which freed it as far as Calais only, its recipient -paying the other 10d. on its delivery in the -French capital. Collection of postage at the end of -the entire journey would have been contrary to -regulation.</p> - -<p>The lowest single postage to Gibraltar was -2s. 10d.; and to Egypt, 3s. 2d. When a letter -crossed the Atlantic to Canada or the United States -an inland rate at each end of the transit was charged -in addition to the heavy ocean postage. A packet -of manuscript to either of those countries cost £5 -under the old system. But at this “reduced” (!) rate -only a 3-lb. packet could be sent. Did one weigh the -merest fraction of a pound over the permitted three, -it could not go except as a letter, the postage upon -which would have been £22, 0s. 8d.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> One can hardly -expect the public of to-day to believe that rates such -as these were ever in force. They sufficiently explain -why it was that the ill-to-do relatives of equally -ill-to-do people who emigrated to the Colonies or -foreign countries often lost all trace of them.</p> - -<p>In the <i>Morning Chronicle</i> of 22nd August 1837, -appeared an announcement that, “Henceforth postage -on letters to the Mediterranean will be at the rate -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> -of only 10s. an ounce”—showing that even as -regards countries nearer home than America postal -charges rendered letter-writing an expensive occupation -even to the well-to-do if they had a large foreign -correspondence. To-day “a letter can be sent -from London westward to San Francisco or eastward -to Constantinople or Siberia for a less amount of -postage than was charged in 1836 on one going -from Charing Cross to Brompton.”<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> And in the -future the cost is likely to become less.</p> - -<p>The old postal rates being so burdensome, it was -inevitable that tricks and evasions of many sorts -should be practised, notwithstanding the merciless -penalties that were inflicted on delinquents detected in -the act.</p> - -<p>It is probably no exaggeration to say that -hundreds, if not thousands, of newspapers were -annually posted which no one particularly cared to -read. Yet it is certain that many a recipient eagerly -welcomed the paper sent him even though he might -rarely unfold its pages. As newspapers went free—or -nominally did so, for after all the postage was -indirectly taken out of the pocket of the man who -invested 5d. in every copy of his “daily”—and -letters, except those which passed between members -of the privileged classes, did not, the newspaper came -to be a frequent bearer of well-disguised messages -from one member of the unprivileged classes to -another. The employment of inks of different colours, -of variations in modes of writing names, callings, and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> -addresses, and even peculiar flourishes executed by -the pen, conveyed valuable information to him who -received the paper, and enabled many tradesmen to -keep up a brisk correspondence without contributing a -farthing to the revenue.</p> - -<p>How, for example, should the uninitiated postal -authorities know that the innocent-looking superscription -on a newspaper sent from London to “Mr John -Smith, Grocer, Tea-dealer, etc, No. 1 High Street -Edinburgh,” conveyed to Mr Smith the assurance that -on Tuesday the price of sugar was falling, and that -the remittances he had sent in discharge of his -indebtedness had been received? Yet so it was, for -however fictitious the name and address, the case is -genuine, the conspiring pair of correspondents having -come forward during the agitation for penny postage -as voluntary witnesses to the necessity for the reform, -their evidence being the revelation of their fraud made -on condition that they should be held exempt from -prosecution. There were six different modes of -writing Mr Smith's name, one for each working day -of the week; and the wording of his trade varied still -oftener, and served to give him the latest news of the -market. If Mr Smith's fellow-tradesman (and fellow-conspirator) -in London wrote the address immediately -after the name, omitting all mention of Mr Smith's -calling, the latter knew that the goods he had sent -had reached their destination. Variations rung upon -the locality name, such as High Street (without the -number), High St., 1 High Street, 1 High St., No. 1 -High Street, or No. 1 High St., related to pecuniary -matters. For while we have seen how satisfactory -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> -was the news conveyed in “No. 1 High Street,” -“High St.,” on the contrary, told Mr Smith that the -bills he sent had been dishonoured.</p> - -<p>But Mr Smith and colleague were by no means -the only correspondents who deliberately plotted to -defraud the revenue; for, under the old system, it -seemed to be each person's aim to extract the cost of -postage on his own letters out of the pocket of some -other person. In this achievement, however, there can -be little doubt that, as a rule, the well-to-do made the -most successful score.</p> - -<p>The story told by Mr Bertram in “Some Memories -of Books” about the apprentice to a printing firm is -another instance of evasion. The young man was -frequently in want of clothing, and made known his -need to those at home with as little outlay as though -he had been a member of Parliament or peer of the -realm. He printed small slips of paper bearing such -legends as “want trousers,” “send new coat,” etc., -pasted them into newspapers, and sent these to his -parents.</p> - -<p>At the present day indulgence in a practice of this -sort would seem contemptible, a fraud to which only the -meanest of mankind would resort. But had we too -lived when postage was charged on a fourth part only -of the entire mail, and when the writers of the letters -forming that fourth part, and we among them, were -taxed to make up the loss on the franked three-quarters, -perhaps even we, immaculate as we believe -ourselves to be, might have been tempted to put our -scruples into our pocket to keep company with our -slender purse, and have taken to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> -“ways that are -dark,” though, if less astute than Mr John Smith and -his London correspondent, possibly also to “tricks -that are vain”—with unpleasant consequences to -ourselves.</p> - -<p>There is an oft-quoted story about Coleridge, who, -one day while wandering through the Lake District, -saw a poor woman refuse a letter which the postman -offered her. The kindly poet, in spite of the woman's -evident reluctance to accept the gift, paid the money -she could not raise; but when the letter was opened, -it was seen to be a blank sheet of paper not intended -for acceptance, but sent by her son according to -preconcerted agreement as a sign that he was well.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> -This, then, is not only yet another illustration of the -frauds to which the “have nots” were driven to resort, -but, further, shows how profitless, even costly, was the -labour imposed upon the Post Office by the system to -which the authorities clung with so unaccountable -an affection. For an unaccepted sheet of paper does -not travel from London to the Lake District for -nothing; and when we multiply one unaccepted letter -by many thousands, one may form some idea of the -amount of fruitless trouble as well as fruitless outlay -which was incurred by the Department.</p> - -<p>The enforced silence between severed relations -and friends was therefore rendered yet more painful -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> -when the letters—genuine letters too, not dummies—got -as far as the post office nearest to their intended -destination, or even to the door of the poor dwellings -to which they were addressed, yet failed to cross the -threshold because their should-be recipients were too -poverty-stricken to “take them up.” In many instances -mothers yearning to hear from absent children -would pawn clothing or household necessaries rather -than be deprived of the letters which, but for that -sacrifice, must be carried back to the nearest post -office to await payment. One poor woman, after -striving for several weeks to make up the money to -redeem a longed-for letter from her granddaughter in -London, went at last to the local office with the -shilling which a pitying lady gave her, only to find -that the letter had been returned to town. She never -received it. Another poor woman begged a local -postmaster's daughter to accept a spoon by way of -pledge till the ninepence charged upon a letter awaiting -payment at the office could be raised. A labouring -man declined an eightpenny letter though it came -from a far-off daughter because the price meant one -loaf the less for his other children. It was much -harder for the poorest classes to find pence enough -to lavish on postage in those yet earlier and often -hungrier nineteenth century decades than even the -“Hungry Forties”; during which years a man had -sometimes to spend more than eightpence—more -occasionally than double that sum—on his children's -loaf.</p> - -<p>The refused missives, after waiting a while at the -local office for the chance of redemption, went back -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> -to the chief office, were consigned to the “dead” -department, and were there destroyed, thus costing -the Service—meaning, of course, the public—the useless -double journey and the wasted labour of not a -few officials.</p> - -<p>Sometimes a kind-hearted postmaster would -advance the sum due for a letter out of his own -pocket, taking his chance of being repaid. But -not every postmaster could afford to take such risks, -nor was it desirable that they should be laid upon -the wrong shoulders.</p> - -<p>In 1837 the Finance Account showed a profitless -expenditure of £122,000 for letters “refused, mis-sent, -re-directed, and so forth.” This loss of revenue was, -of course, quite distinct from that already mentioned -as caused by the use of franks fictitious and genuine. -Truly, the unprivileged paid somewhat dearly for the -advantages enjoyed by the privileged, since it lay with -the former both to make good the loss and to provide -the required profit.</p> - -<p>Under the old system the postman would often -be detained, sometimes as much as five minutes, at -each house at which he called while he handed in his -letters, and received the money due upon them. In -business quarters this sort of thing had long been -found intolerable, and therefore, by private arrangement -with the merchants, the postman, on the first, -and by far the heaviest, delivery of the day, did not -wait for his money. But after the second delivery -he had to call at every house where he had left letters -earlier in the day and collect the postage: a process -which often made the second delivery lengthy and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> -wearisome. A test case showed that while it took a -man an hour and a half to deliver 67 letters for which -he waited to receive payment, half an hour sufficed -for the delivery of 570 letters for which he did not -wait to be paid.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> - -<p>Another evil of the old system was the temptation -to fraud which it put in the way of the letter-carriers. -When a weak or unscrupulous man found a supply of -loose cash in his pocket at the end of his delivery, his -fingers would itch—and not always in vain—to keep it -there. Again, an honest man, on his way back to the -office with the proceeds of his round upon him, was -not safe from attack if his road was lonely or the -streets ill-lighted or deserted. The old foot and horse -posts were often robbed. Murders even, Mr Joyce -reminds us, were not infrequent, and executions failed -to check them.</p> - -<p>The system of account-keeping was “an exceedingly -tedious, inconvenient, and, consequently, expensive -process.”<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> -The money which the recipient -of a letter paid to the postman passed to the local -postmaster, who sent it on to the head office. It went -through many hands, and peculation was rife. “The -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> -deputy postmasters could not be held to effectual -responsibility as regards the amounts due from them -to the General Office; and as many instances of -deficit came at times to light, sometimes following -each other week after week in the same office, there -can be no doubt that the total annual loss must have -reached a serious amount.”<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> - -<p>On the arrival of the mails at the General Post -Office, the clerks were required to see that the charge -entered upon every letter had been correctly made, -and that each deputy postmaster had debited himself -with the correct amount of postage; to stamp the -letters—that is, to impress on them the date when -they were posted; to assort them for delivery, in -which work the letter-carriers assisted; to ascertain -the amount of postage to be collected by each letter-carrier, -and to charge him therewith. In addition to -all this, another detail must not be forgotten—that -in the London Office alone there were daily many -thousands of letters which had to undergo the -“candling” process.</p> - -<p>For the outgoing mails the duties were somewhat -similar, and quite as complicated, and some -seven hundred accounts had to be made out against -as many deputy postmasters.</p> - -<p>Simplification of account-keeping under the old -system, however much needed, seemed hopeless of -attainment.</p> - -<p>Even in England, the most prosperous “partner” -of the United Kingdom, there were at the time of -the late Queen's accession, districts larger than -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> -Middlesex, within whose borders the postman never -set foot. Of the 2,100 Registrar's districts into -which England and Wales were divided, 400 districts, -each containing on the average about 20 square miles -and some 4,000 inhabitants—making in all a population -of about a million and a half—had no post office -whatever. The chief places in these districts, containing -about 1,400 inhabitants each, were on the -average some 5 miles, and in several instances as -much as 16 miles, from the nearest post office.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> - -<p>The 50,000 Irish, or immediate descendants of -Irish in Manchester, said Cobden in his evidence -before the Parliamentary Committee of 1838, were -almost as completely cut off from communication -with their relatives in Ireland as though they were -in New South Wales.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> -And when he drew this -comparison, it counted for much more than it would -do to-day. Great Britain and Australia were then -practically much further asunder than they are now, -sailing vessels at that time taking from four to six -months to do the single, and sometimes nearly twelve -the double voyage. A good many years had yet -to elapse before the Indian Ocean was bridged by -the fast steamships which have reduced that several -months' journey to one of a few weeks only.</p> - -<p>The great free-trader's calico printing works were -situated at a little town or village, of some 1,200 -inhabitants, called Sabden, 28 miles from Manchester. -Although a manufacturing centre, it had no post -office, and nothing that did duty for one.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> - -<p>In the opening paragraph of the twenty-seventh -chapter of “The Heart of Midlothian,” Scott says -that in 1737 “So slight and infrequent was the -intercourse betwixt London and Edinburgh, that -upon one occasion the mail from the former city -arrived at the General Post Office in Scotland with -only one letter in it. The fact is certain. The -single epistle was addressed to the principal director -of the British Linen Company.”</p> - -<p>In “Her Majesty's Mails” Mr Lewins says that: -“About the same time the Edinburgh mail is said -to have arrived in London containing but one letter -addressed to Sir William Pulteney, the banker” -(p. 85).</p> - -<p>The old system being at once clumsy, irrational, -irritating, and unjust, little wonder need be felt that -when Queen Victoria's reign began, each inhabitant -of England and Wales received on an average one -letter in three months, of Scotland one in four months, -and of Ireland one a year.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> - -<p>Until 1748 there were but three posts a week -between London and Birmingham. In that year the -number was doubled. The notice making known this -improvement contains denunciations of the people -who were in “any way concerned in the illegal collecting -or delivery of Letters or Packets of Letters.” -The fines for the offence were “£5 for every letter, -and £100 for every week this practice is continued.” -But fines could not arrest the smuggling, because -the practice was remunerative to the smugglers, and -popular among those who employed them, and who -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> -thus enjoyed cheap rates of postage. Therefore the -illegal traffic went on growing, till by the time the -old system came to an end it had assumed vast -proportions.</p> - -<p>Publishers and other business men wrote letters -on one large sheet of paper for different people living -in the same district. On reaching its destination -the sheet was divided into its separate parts, each -of which being then delivered by hand or local post. -A similar practice in respect of money payments -prevailed.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> -One publisher and bookseller said he -was “not caught” till he had thus distributed -some 20,000 letters. Several carriers made the -collection and distribution of letters their only -business, and in the collecting process women and -children were employed. In one district the illegal -practice was more than fifty years old, and in at -least another, as we see by the notice quoted in the -preceding paragraph, its age must have exceeded a -century. In one then small town the daily average -of smuggled letters amounted to more than 50, -and on one occasion rose above 150. The Mr -Brewin of Cirencester already mentioned said he -knew two carriers who conveyed four times as many -letters as did the mail.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> -One carrier confessed to -having smuggled about 60 letters a day. On another -carrier's premises a bag was seized containing 1,100 -letters. Twelve walking carriers between Birmingham -and Walsall were employed exclusively in -conveying letters at a charge of a penny apiece. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> -Five Glasgow merchants illegally transmitted letters -at the rate severally of three, eighteen, sixteen, eight, -and fifteen to one that went legally. Five-sixths of -the Manchester letters contributed nothing whatever to -the postal revenue.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> -Nor does the list of delinquencies -end here.</p> - -<p>Letters were also smuggled in warehousemen's -bales and parcels; among manufacturers' patterns and -other things which coach proprietors, on payment -of a trifle for booking, carried free of charge; in -weavers' bags, in farmers' “family boxes,” and in -other ways.[1]</p> - -<p>Even the mail-coach drivers and guards engaged -in the unlawful traffic, though in many instances -letters were sent in coach parcels not so much to save -postage as to facilitate transmission and ensure early -delivery.</p> - -<p>Mr Maury, of the American Chamber of Commerce, -assured the Select Committee that when regular -steam communication between Liverpool and New -York was established, the first steamer carried <i>five</i> -letters in the large bag provided in expectation of -a heavy dispatch. Ten thousand letters were, however, -placed in another bag sent to the care of the -consignee of the same vessel; and Mr Maury himself -contributed some 200 free letters to this second bag. -Every ten days a steamer left this country for America -each carrying some 4,000 smuggled letters—a fact -of which the postal authorities were well aware; and -almost every shipbroker hung a bag in his office -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> -for the convenience of those who sent letters otherwise -than through the post. Letters so collected by one -broker for different ships in which he was interested -were said to be sometimes “enough to load a cab.” -In 111 packages containing 822 newspapers sent -in the course of five months to America, 648 letters -were found concealed. The postmaster of Margate -reported that in the visitors' season the increase of -population there made no proportionate increase of -postage, a fact which he attributed to the illegal conveyance -of letters by steamers. The growing facilities -for travel caused a corresponding growth of letter-smuggling. -At the same time, the more general -establishment of local penny posts tended to secure -to the Post Office the conveyance of letters between -neighbouring towns and villages;<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> -and undoubtedly -did much to recoup that extensively swindled Department -for its loss of revenue caused by franking, -evasions like those of Mr John Smith and others, -and letter-smuggling.</p> - -<p>As usual, the people who practised the deception -were scarcely so much to blame as those who, spite -of every effort at reform, persisted in maintaining a -system which created favouritism, hampered trade, -severed family ties, and practically created the -smuggling offence which scandalised the official -conscience. Had the rates been less exorbitant, and -had they fallen impartially on rich and poor, these -dishonest practices might have had little or no -existence. They ceased only when at last the old -order changed, and, happily, gave place to new.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> -“The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago.” By Pearson Hill. -Cassell & Co. (1887).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> -As the passage is slightly condensed, quotation marks are not -employed. The words generally—whole sentences sometimes—are, -however, Miss Martineau's own.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> -Written while yet the fate of the Franklin Expedition was an -unsolved mystery.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> -The two sorts of post were kept quite distinct, the business of -the general post and that of the local posts being carried on in separate -buildings and by different staffs. It was not till the postal reform -had been established some years that Rowland Hill was able to -persuade the authorities of the wisdom of that amalgamation of the -two which formed an important feature of his plan.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> -“Hansard,” cxlvi. 189.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> -Travelling as well as postage has cheapened. A fourth part of -£6 is 30s.—the price of each “inside place.” To-day a first-class -railway <i>return</i> ticket between Deal and London costs less than -half 30s.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> -Fourteen franks a day was the number each M.P. could issue.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> -“The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago,” p. 6.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 135. Peel voted against the Penny Postage Bill; -and even that kindly friend to the poorer classes, the “good” Lord -Shaftesbury—then Lord Ashley—followed Sir Robert's example.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> -That is, of calculating the amount of postage to be levied on -each letter.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> -“The Origin of Postage Stamps,” p. 17. By Pearson Hill.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> -A recent discussion in <i>Notes and Queries</i> (Tenth Series, -vol. i.) has shown that envelopes are mentioned by Swift and later -writers of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. They are -sometimes called “envelopes” and sometimes “covers.” Their use -must have been exceedingly limited, and still more limited, perhaps, -is the number of people who have actually seen them. They -were probably square sheets of paper used to enclose a number of -missives addressed to one person or several persons living in the -same neighbourhood; and were, most likely, better known to the race -of letter smugglers (about whom see further) than to any one else. -An obituary notice in the <i>Liverpool Daily Post and Mercury</i> of -23rd May, 1906, on the late Mr J. D. Tyson, “a notable Liverpool -insurance broker,” shows how new the use of envelopes as we now -understand them was more than half a century ago. The writer -says: “Even the introduction of the envelope was greatly opposed -by most of the old firms; and for fear the envelope would be thrown -away and all traces of posting be lost, the juniors were instructed to -pin the envelope to the letter. This had soon to give way when -the usefulness of the envelope became so pronounced.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> -The neat and rapid folding of the large sheets of paper on -which single letters were written was regarded as one of the fine -arts; and lessons in it were sometimes given to boys at school. I -have a distinct recollection of seeing a number of people seated -round a table and practising letter-folding, and of my begging to -be allowed to join the circle and try my diminutive 'prentice hand -at the game. A dignified and elaborate process was the sealing -of the folded letter, impressing much the juniors of the family, -who looked on admiringly, while the head thereof performed the -ceremony, the only drawback being the odious smell of the unnecessarily -large, old-fashioned “lucifer” match employed to light -the candle. When one of the seals hanging to the broad silken -strap showing below the paternal or grand-paternal waistcoat was -pressed upon the bountifully spread, hot wax till a perfect impression -was left, the letter thus completed would be held up for all -to see. What would those stately, leisurely-mannered gentlemen -of the olden time, who, perhaps, took five or more minutes over -the fastening of a letter, have said to our present style of doing -things—especially to the far from elegant mode of moistening the -gummed envelope flap which has superseded the cleanly spreading -of the scented wax and application of the handsome seal of armorial -bearings carved on a precious stone and set in a golden shield?</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> -According to an extract taken from the “New Annual Directory -for 1800,” in the Guildhall Library, prepayment might be made -in the case of the local “penny” (afterwards “twopenny”) post. -That this fact should need an advertisement seems to argue that, -even as regards the local posts, prepayment was not a common -practice.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> -This was he who did “good by stealth, and blush[ed] to find -it fame.” Out of his contract with the Post Office he made the -large income, for that time, of £12,000 a year, and spent the greater -part of it in those acts of beneficence which, aided by Pope's famous -lines, have preserved for him well-deserved, lasting fame.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> -“History of the Post Office,” p. 357.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> -“History of the Post Office,” p. 357.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> -“The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago,” p. 13.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> -“The Jubilee of the Uniform Penny Postage,” p. 22. By -Pearson Hill.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> -“Letters, Conversations, and Recollections of S. T. Coleridge,” -ii. 114. In different versions of the story the absent relative is -described as father, husband, or brother; and in not a few cases -the hero's action, through a mistake made by Miss Martineau when -writing the History already alluded to, has been claimed for Rowland -Hill, who is further supposed—quite erroneously—to have been then -and there inspired with the resolve to undertake postal reformation.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> -“Eighteenth Report of the Commissioners of Revenue -Inquiry,” pp. 621, 622. Now, if 570 letters, payment for which -had not to be waited for, could be delivered in half an hour, it -follows that in the hour and half consumed in delivering those -67 other letters, three times 570, or 1710, <i>prepaid</i> letters might -have been distributed. This one small fact alone furnishes proof -of the necessity for prepayment, for this test delivery was made -in the heart of the city of London, where prompt delivery and -common-sense postal regulations are of paramount importance to -business men.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> -“Post Office Reform,” p. 29.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> -“Post Office Reform,” p. 29.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> -“The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago,” p. 12.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> -“Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage,” p. 22.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> -“The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago,” p. 14.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> -“Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage,” p. 12.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> pp. 13, 14.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> -“Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage,” pp. -13, 14.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> -“Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage,” pp. 15-30.</p></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ac">SOME EARLY POSTAL REFORMERS</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> Mr Joyce's already quoted and exhaustive work -upon the Post Office as it existed before 1840 an -interesting account is given of the reformers who, -long before Rowland Hill's time, did so much to -render the service efficient, and therefore to benefit -the nation. As pioneers in a good cause, they deserve -mention in another volume dealing with the same -public Department; and their story is perhaps the -better worth repeating because it shows how curiously -similar is the treatment meted out to those -who are rash enough to meddle with a long-established -monopoly, no matter how greatly it may stand -in need of reform. In every instance the reformer -struggled hard for recognition of the soundness of -his views, toiled manfully when once he had acquired -the position he deserved to hold, was more or less -thwarted and harassed while he filled it, and, precisely -as if he had been a mischievous innovator instead of -a public benefactor, was eventually got rid of.</p> - -<p>As regards the Post Office, each of the best-known -reformers was handicapped by the fact that, with one -notable exception, he was that unwelcome thing, an -outsider. Murray was an upholsterer, or, according -to another account, a clerk in the Assize Office; -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> -Dockwra was a sub-searcher at the Custom House; -and Palmer was the proprietor of the Bath theatre. -My father, as has been shown, had been a schoolmaster, -a rotatory printing press inventor, and a -member of the South Australian Commission. Even -when his plan was accepted by the Government, he -had yet to set foot within the Post Office, though not -for want of trying to enter, because while collecting -material for his pamphlet in 1836 he had applied to -the authorities for permission to inspect the working -of the Department, only to meet with a refusal.</p> - -<p>The one notable exception was Ralph Allen, Pope's -“humble Allen,” and, as mentioned in the previous -chapter, the author of the cross-posts. The original -of Fielding's “Squire Allworthy” had, Mr Joyce tells -us, “been cradled and nursed in the Post Office,” -and his grandmother was postmistress at St Columb, -Cornwall. Here he kept the official accounts in so -neat and regular a manner that he attracted the -attention of the district surveyor, and, later, was -given a situation in the Bath Post Office, eventually -becoming its chief official.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> - -<p>Mr Joyce's narrative, as we have seen, is brought -down only to the end of the old postal system. To -that which superseded it he makes but brief allusion, -because the subject had already been dealt with in -the two volumes edited and added to by Dr Birkbeck -Hill.</p> - -<p>In the present work the story will be carried less -than thirty years beyond the time at which Mr Joyce's -narrative ends—that is, so far as postal reform is -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> -concerned. The later history of the Post Office, -which would easily make a volume as large as Mr -Joyce's, has yet to find an author, and to rank worthily -beside his should be written with a corresponding care -and accuracy of detail.</p> - -<p>One chapter only need be devoted here to the -most prominent early postal reformers, and their story -shall begin with Witherings (1635). Speaking of his -work, Mr Joyce says, “This was the introduction -of postage.”<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> To Witherings, therefore, must be -awarded the merit of having furnished cause for a -new meaning of the word “post,” whose earlier -usage still survives in some provincial hotel notices -announcing “posting in all its branches.”<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> - -<p>In Witherings' time the postal rates were, for -single letters, “under 80 miles, 2d.; under 140 miles, -4d.; over 140 miles, 6d.—for until 1840 the charges -were calculated according to distance. For double -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> -letters double rates were, of course, exacted. If -“bigger” than double, the postage became 6d., -9d. and 1s. Single postage to and from Scotland -was 8d., to and from Ireland 9d. These were -heavy rates at a time when the country was far -less wealthy and the relative value of money -higher than is now the case. But at least service -was rendered for the heavy rates, as “Henceforth -the posts were to be equally open to all; all -would be at liberty to use them; all would be -welcome.”<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> - -<p>Witherings especially distinguished himself in the -management of the foreign postal service, which he -accelerated and made more efficient. In 1637 he was -appointed “Master of the Posts,” and was thus the -only reformer from outside who, withinside, rose to -become supreme head of the Department. The office -was given to enable him to undertake, unhindered, -the improvements he proposed to make in the inland -posts. Three years later he was dismissed, and an -end put to “the career of one who had the sagacity to -project and the energy to carry out a system, the -main features of which endure to the present day.”<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> - -<p>In 1643 the postal revenue amounted to some -£5,000 a year only. By 1677 the Department's -profits were farmed at £43,000 a year, and the -officials consisted of one Postmaster-General and -seventy-five employees. A writer of the day tells -us that “the number of letter missives is now prodigiously -great.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> - -<p>In 1658 John Hill, a Yorkshire attorney, did -good work, and tried to accomplish more. He already -supplied post horses between York and London, -undertook the conveyance, at cheap rates, of parcels -and letters, and established agencies about the country -for the furtherance of a scheme to greatly reduce -the postal charges throughout the kingdom; his proposal -being a penny rate for England and Wales, a -twopenny rate for Scotland, and a fourpenny rate for -Ireland. But the Government declined to consider -the merits of the plan.</p> - -<p>When Dockwra—who gave practical shape to the -scheme which Murray had assigned to him—established -his reform of a penny post, London had no -other post office than the general one in Lombard -Street,<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> and there was no such thing as a delivery -of letters between one part of London and another. -Thus, if any Londoner wished to write to any other -Londoner, he was obliged to employ a messenger -to convey his missive to its destination; and as the -houses then had no numbers, but were distinguished -only by signs, the amateur letter-carrier must have -been often puzzled at which door to knock.</p> - -<p>Dockwra soon put his great scheme into working -order. He divided city and suburbs into districts—in -that respect forestalling a feature of Rowland Hill's -plan—seven in number, each with a sorting office; -and in one day opened over four hundred receiving -offices. In the city letters were delivered for 1d., -in the suburbs for 2d. It must have been quite -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> -as epoch-making a reform to the Londoners of the -seventeenth century, as was the far wider-reaching, -completer scheme established a hundred and sixty -years later to the entire nation. For Dockwra's, -though for its time a wonderful advance, was but a -local institution, the area served being “from Hackney -in the north to Lambeth in the south, and from -Blackwall in the east to Westminster in the west.”<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> -He also introduced a parcel post.</p> - -<p>The local penny posts—for they were afterwards -extended to many other towns—have given some -people the erroneous impression that Rowland Hill's -plan of penny postage was simply an elaboration -and a widening of Dockwra's older system. Things -called by a similar name are not necessarily identical. -Indeed, as we have seen, the word “postage” had -formerly quite a different meaning from that it now -has; and, although Dockwra's “penny post” and -Rowland Hill's “penny postage” related equally to -postage in its modern interpretation of the word, that -the system established in 1840 materially differed -from preceding systems will be shown in the succeeding -chapter.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> - -<p>Dockwra's reform was inaugurated in 1680, proved -of immense benefit to the public, was intended to last -for ever, and did last for a hundred and twenty-one -years. In 1801 the charges on the local—to say -nothing of those on the general—post were raised -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> -from 1d. and 2d. to 2d. and 3d., while its area, -which in Queen Anne's reign had been extended -to from 18 to 20 miles beyond London, shrank into -much narrower limits.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> The increase of charge was -due to that augmented contribution, on the part of -the Post Office, to the war-tax which has been -already mentioned. During the last twenty-five of -the years 1801-1840 the country was at peace, but -the tendency of “temporary” war-taxes is to become -permanent, or to die a very lingering death; and, as -has been shown, no diminution was made in postal -rates; and letter-writing in thousands of homes -practically ceased to be.</p> - -<p>In 1663 the entire profits of the Post Office had -been settled on James, Duke of York; and Dockwra's -reform, like other large measures, being costly to -establish, he had to seek financial help outside the -Department, the requisite money being furnished by -a few public-spirited citizens of London. The undertaking -was a losing speculation at first, but presently -began to prosper; and the Duke's jealousy was at -once roused. “So long,” says Mr Joyce, “as the -outgoings exceeded the receipts, Dockwra remained -unmolested; but no sooner had the balance turned -than the Duke complained of his monopoly being -infringed, and the Courts of Law decided in his -favour. Not only was Dockwra cast in damages, -but the undertaking was wrested out of his hands.”<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> - -<p>During James's reign this eminent public servant -met with no recognition of his valuable work; but -under William and Mary he was granted a pension, -and after some delay was reinstated as comptroller -of the penny post. But in 1700 both situation and -pension came to an end; and the man who had -conferred so signal a benefit upon his fellow-citizens -was finally dismissed.</p> - -<p>In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the -posts in Ireland were few and far between. Carrick-on-Shannon -was the only town in County Leitrim -which received a mail, and that not oftener than -twice a week. Several districts in Ireland were -served only at the cost of their inhabitants.</p> - -<p>Besides London, Bath alone—favoured by its -two distinguished citizens, Ralph Allen and John -Palmer—had, before 1792, more than one letter-carrier; -and many important centres of population, -such as Norwich, York, Derby, Newcastle-on-Tyne, -and Plymouth, had none at all—the postmaster, and -in some instances a single assistant, constituting the -entire staff, no sort of duty outside the official walls -being undertaken. The Channel Islands were treated -as though they had been in another planet. Before -1794 they had no postal communication with the rest -of the United Kingdom, though for some years local -enterprise had provided them with an inter-insular -service. When Palmer appeared on the scene, the -number of towns in the British Isles which received -mails increased rapidly, while those already served -two or three times a week began to receive a post -daily.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> - -<p>In no respect, perhaps, has greater progress been -made than in the matter of mail conveyance, both as -regards acceleration and safety, and in other ways. -In Witherings' time about two months were required -for a letter and its answer to pass between London -and Scotland or London and Ireland. Exchange of -correspondence between the three kingdoms was, -strange to say, far less expeditiously carried on than -that between London and Madrid. But when it is -remembered how direful was the condition of our -thoroughfares in the seventeenth and eighteenth -centuries, the impossibility of anything like swift -progress becomes evident. Ruts there were, says -Arthur Young, which measured 3 feet in depth, and -in wet weather were filled to the brim with water; -while in “Guy Mannering” Scott speaks of districts -“only accessible through a succession of tremendous -morasses.” In “Waverley” (<i>temp.</i> 1745) is described -the “Northern Diligence, a huge, old-fashioned tub -drawn by three horses, which completed the journey -from Edinburgh to London ('God willing,' as the -advertisement expressed it) in three weeks.” Twenty -years later, even, the coaches spent from twelve to -fourteen days upon the journey, and went once a -month only. In some places the roads were so bad -that it was necessary to erect beacons alongside them -to keep the travelling public after dark from falling -into the ponds and bogs which lined the highways -and sometimes encroached upon them. Elsewhere, -the ponderous “machines” groaned or clattered over -rocky and precipitous ways, rolling and pitching like -a vessel on an angry sea. Not even by the more -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> -lightly-freighted men on foot and boys mounted on -the wretched steeds provided for the Post Office -service could swifter progress be made. No wonder -that letter and answer should travel but slowly.</p> - -<p>In 1784, when Palmer proposed the abolition of -these slow-moving and far from trustworthy mail-carriers,<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> -and the substitution in their place of the -existing stage-coaches,<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> great were the scorn and -indignation of the postal authorities. Seven miles an -hour instead of three and a half! And coaches instead -of post-boys! Were ever such mad proposals heard -of! The officials were “amazed that any dissatisfaction, -any desire for change should exist.” Not so -very long before, they had plumed themselves on the -gratifying fact that “in five days an answer to a letter -might be had from a place distant 200 miles from -the writer.” And now, even in face of that notable -advance, the public wanted further concessions! One -prominent official “could not see why the post should -be the swiftest conveyance in England.” Another -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> -was sure that if travelling were made quicker, the -correspondence of the country would be thrown into -the utmost confusion. But he thought—and perhaps -the parentage of the thought was not far to seek—that -to expedite the mails was simply impossible. The -officials, indeed, were “unanimously of opinion that -the thing is totally impracticable.”<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> And, doubtless, -Palmer was set down as “a visionary” and “a -revolutionist”—names to be bestowed, some fifty-three -years later, upon another persistent reformer. -A second Committee, formed to consider Palmer's proposals, -reported that it had “examined the oldest and -ablest officers of the Post Office, and they had no confidence -whatever in the plan.” “It is always,” said -Brougham, when, in the Upper House, he was advocating -adoption of the later reform, “the oldest and ablest, -for the Committee considered the terms synonymous.”<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> - -<p>Thus does history repeat itself. As it was with -Palmer, so, before him, it was with Witherings -and Dockwra; and, after him, with Rowland Hill. -The unforgivable offence is to be wiser than one's -opponents, and to achieve success when failure has -been predicted.</p> - -<p>But worse things than prophecy of failure accompany -reforms, attempted or accomplished, and act like -a discordant chorus striving to drown sweet music. -Prophecy of dire results, such as ruin of society, -disruption of the Empire, etc., are sometimes raised, -and carry dismay into the hearts of the timid. -My father, who was born less than forty-three years -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> -after “the change of style,” as a child often heard old -people, in all seriousness, lament the loss of “our -eleven days,” and declare that since it was made everything -in this country had gone wrong.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> I too, when -young, have heard aged lips attribute the awful cholera -visitation of 1832 to our sinfulness in passing the -Catholic Emancipation Bill; and the potato disease -and consequent Irish famine in the mid 'forties to -interference with the sacred Corn Laws. We laugh -at this sort of thing to-day, but are we much wiser -than our forebears?</p> - -<p>Although these great reforms differ widely in -character, the gloomy predictions concerning them are -substantially alike. The terrible things prophesied -never come to pass; and of the reforms when once -established no sane person wishes to get rid.</p> - -<p>When at last Palmer had borne down opposition -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> -and been placed in authority, he set to work in a -far-reaching, statesmanlike manner. The old, worthless -vehicles which, owing to their frequent habit of -breaking down on the road, had become a constant -source of complaint, were gradually got rid of; and -by 1792 all his mail-coaches were new. He was a -born organiser, and insisted on the introduction and -maintenance of business-like methods. Unnecessary -stoppages along the road were put an end to, and -necessary stoppages shortened; the mail-bags to be -taken on were made up before the coaches appeared, -the mail-bags to be taken off were ready to the guard's -hand; and strict punctuality was enforced. The -guards and coachmen were armed, and no one unskilled -in the use of firearms was employed in either capacity. -The harness and other accoutrements were kept in -good repair, the coaches were well-horsed, and the -relays were made with reasonable frequency.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> - -<p>Palmer had calculated that sixteen hours ought to -suffice for the London and Bath coach when covering -the distance between the two cities. The time -usually spent on the road was thirty-eight hours. The -first mail-coach which started from Bath to London -under his auspices in 1784 performed the journey -in seventeen hours, proving with what nearness to -absolute accuracy he had made his calculations. For -a while seventeen hours became the customary time-limit. -Not long after this date mail-coaches were -plying on all the principal roads.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> - -<p>Before the first of Palmer's coaches went to -Liverpool, that seaport was served by one letter-carrier. -Ten years later, six were needed. One -postman had sufficed for Edinburgh; now four were -required. Manchester till 1792 had but one letter-carrier, -and its postal staff consisted of an aged -widow and her daughter. Previous to 1794 the -Isle of Wight was served by one postmaster and -one letter-carrier only.</p> - -<p>Before Palmer took over the management of the -coaches they were robbed, along one road or -another, at least once a week. It was not till his -rule was ten years old that a coach was stopped -or robbed; and then it was not a highwayman, but -a passenger who did the looting. Before 1784 the -annual expenditure incurred through prosecution of -the thieves had been a heavy charge on the service, -one trial alone—that of the brothers Weston, who -figure in Thackeray's “Denis Duval”—having cost -£4,000. This burden on the Post Office revenue -henceforth shrank into comparatively insignificant -dimensions.</p> - -<p>Palmer traversed the entire kingdom along its -coach routes, making notes of the length of time -consumed on each journey, calculating in how much -less time it could be performed by the newer -vehicles, and always keeping an observant eye on -other possible improvements.</p> - -<p>Before the end of the eighteenth century -Dockwra's London penny post<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> -had fallen upon -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> -evil days. Neglect and mismanagement had been -its lot for many years; there was a steady diminution -of its area, and no accounts were kept of its -gains. Palmer looked into the condition of the -local post, as, in addition to the mail conveyance, -he had already looked into the condition of the -newspaper post and other things which stood in -need of rectification; and, later, the old penny post, -now transformed into a twopenny post, was taken -in hand by Johnson, who, from the position of -letter-carrier, rose, by sheer ability, to the office of -“Deputy Comptroller of the Penny Post.”</p> - -<p>As a rule, Palmer was fortunate in choosing -subordinates, of whom several not only accomplished -useful work long after their chief had been dismissed, -but who introduced reforms on their own account. -Hasker, the head superintendent of the mail-coaches, -kept the vehicles, horses, accoutrements, etc., to say -nothing of the officials, quite up to Palmer's level. -But in another chosen man the great reformer was -fatally deceived, for Bonner intrigued against his -benefactor, and helped to bring about his downfall.</p> - -<p>One reform paves the way for succeeding reforms. -Palmer's improved coaches caused a marked increase -of travelling; and the establishment of yet better -and more numerous vehicles led to the making of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> -better roads. By this time people were beginning -to get over the ground at such a rate that the late -Lord Campbell, when a young man, was once, in -all seriousness, advised to avoid using Palmer's -coaches, which, it was said, owing to the speed at -which they travelled between London and Edinburgh, -and elsewhere, had caused the death of several -passengers from apoplexy! “The pace that killed” -was 8 miles an hour. By the time the iron -horse had beaten the flesh-and-blood quadruped -out of the field, or rather road, the coaches were -running at the rate of 12 miles an hour.</p> - -<p>Everywhere the mails were being accelerated -and increased in number. For now the science of -engineering was making giant strides; and Telford -and his contemporary MacAdam—whose name has -enriched our language with a verb, while the man -himself endowed our thoroughfares with a solid -foundation—were covering Great Britain with highways -the like of which had not been seen since -the days of the Roman Conquest.</p> - -<p>And then arrived the late 'twenties of the nineteenth -century, bringing with them talk of railways -and of steam-propelled locomotives whose speed, -it was prophesied by sanguine enthusiasts, might -some day even rival that of a horse at full gallop. -The threatened mail-coaches lived on for many a -year, but from each long country highway they disappeared -one after another, some of them, it is said, -carrying, on their last journey, the Union Jack at -half-mast; and, ere long, the once busy roadside -inn-keepers put up their shutters, and closed the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> -doors of their empty stables. More than half a -century had to elapse before the hostelries opened -again to the cyclists and motorists who have given -to them fresh life and energy.</p> - -<p>And thus passed away the outward and visible -witnesses to Palmer's great reform, not as many -things pass because they have reached the period -of senile decay, but when his work was at the high -water-mark of efficiency and fame. Perhaps that -singular fact is suggestive of the reason why the -disappearance of the once familiar pageant gave rise -to a widespread regret that was far from being mere -sentimentality.</p> - -<p>When they were in their prime, the “royal mail-coaches” -made a brave display. Ruddy were they -with paint and varnish, and golden with Majesty's -coat-of-arms, initials, etc. The driver and guard -were clad in scarlet uniforms, and the four fine -horses—often increased in a “difficult” country to -six or more—were harnessed two abreast, and went -at a good, swinging pace. Once upon a time a -little child was taken for a stroll along a suburban -highroad to watch for the passing of the mail-coaches -on their way from London to the north—a -literally everyday pageant, but one unstaled by -custom. In the growing dusk could be distinguished -a rapidly-moving procession of dark crimson and -gold vehicles in single file, each with its load of -comfortably wrapped-up passengers sitting outside, -and each drawn by four galloping steeds, whose -quick footfalls made a pleasant, rhythmic sound. -One heard the long, silvern horns of the guards, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> -every now and then, give notice in peremptory tones -to the drivers of ordinary conveyances to scatter to -right and left, and one noted the heavy cloud of dust -which rolled with and after the striking picture. A -spectacle it was beside which the modern railway -train is ugly, the motor-car hideous: which rarely -failed to draw onlookers to doorways and windows, -and to give pedestrians pause; and which always -swept out of sight much too quickly. The elderly -cousin accompanying the child drew her attention -to the passing procession, and said that her father -was doing something in connection with those -coaches—meaning, of course, their mails—something -that would make his country more prosperous and -his own name long remembered. The child listened -in perplexity, not understanding. In many noble -arts—above all, in the fashioning of large, square -kites warranted, unlike those bought at shops, to -fly and not to come to pieces—she knew him to be -the first of men. Yet how even he could improve -upon the gorgeous moving picture that had just -flashed past it was not easy to understand.</p> - -<p>In the days when railways and telegraphs were -not, the coach was the most frequent, because the -fastest, medium of communication. It was therefore -the chief purveyor of news. On the occurrence of -any event of absorbing interest, such as the most -stirring episodes of the twenty-years-long war with -France, or the trial of Queen-Consort Caroline, -people lined the roads in crowds, and as the coach -swept past, the passengers shouted out the latest -intelligence. Even from afar the waiting throngs -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> -in war time could always tell when the news was -of victories gained, or, better still, of peace, such -as the short-lived pact of Amiens, and the one of -long duration after June 1815. On these occasions -the vehicle was made gay with flags, ribbons, green -boughs, and floral trophies; and the passengers -shouted and cheered madly, the roadside public -speedily becoming equally excited. It fell one day -to Rowland Hill's lot, as a lad of nineteen, to meet -near Birmingham an especially gaily-decked coach, -and to hurry home with the joyful intelligence of -the “crowning mercy”—at one stage of the battle, -'tis said, not far from becoming a defeat—of Waterloo.</p> - -<p>The once celebrated Bianconi was known as “the -Palmer of Ireland.” Early in the nineteenth century -he covered the roads of his adopted country with an -admirably managed service of swift cars carrying -mails and passengers; and thus did much to remedy -postal deficiencies there, and to render imperative the -maintenance in good order of the public highways. -Once, if not oftener, during his useful career, he -came to the Post Office on official business, and -“interviewed” Rowland Hill, who found him an -interesting and original-minded man, his fluent -English, naturally, being redolent of the Hibernian -brogue. Bianconi's daughter, who married a son of -the great O'Connell, wrote her father's “Life”; and, -among other experiences, told how on one occasion -he was amazed to see a Catholic gentleman, while -driving a pair of horses along the main street of -an Irish town, stopped by a Protestant who coolly -detached the animals from the carriage, and walked -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> -off with them. No resistance could be offered, and -redress there was none. The horses were each -clearly of higher value than the permitted £5 -apiece, and could therefore legally become the -property of any Protestant mean enough, as this -one was, to tender that price, and (mis)appropriate -them. When Catholic Emancipation—long promised -and long deferred—was at last conceded, this -iniquitous law, together with other laws as bad or -worse, was swept away.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> - -<p>With the advent of railways the “bians” gradually -disappeared, doing so when, like the mail-coaches, they -had reached a high level of excellence, and had been -of almost incalculable public benefit.</p> - -<p>The mail-coach, leisurely and tedious as it seems -in these days of hurry, had a charm of its own in that -it enabled its passengers to enjoy the fresh air—since -most of them, by preference, travelled outside—and -the beauties of our then comparatively unspoiled country -and of our then picturesque old towns, mostly sleepy -or only slowly awakening, it is true, and, doubtless, -deplorably dull to live in. The journey was at least -never varied by interludes of damp and evil-smelling -tunnels, and the travelling ruffian of the day had less -opportunity for outrage on his fellowman or woman. -The coach also, perhaps, lent itself more kindly to -romance than does the modern, noisy railway train; -at any rate, a rather pretty story, long current in our -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> -family, and strictly authentic, belongs to the ante-railway -portion of the nineteenth century. One of -my mother's girl-friends, pretty, lively, clever, and -frankly coquettish, was once returning alone by coach -to London after a visit to the country. She was the -only inside passenger, but was assured that the other -three places would be filled on arrival at the next -stage. When, therefore, the coach halted again, she -looked with some curiosity to see who were to be -her travelling companions. But the expected three -resolved themselves into the person of one smiling -young man whose face she recognised, and who at -once sat down on the seat opposite to hers, ere long -confessing that, hearing she was to come to town by -that coach, he had taken all the vacant places in order -to make sure of a <i>tête-à-tête</i>. He was one of several -swains with whom she was accustomed to flirt, but -whom she systematically kept at arm's-length until she -could make up her mind whether to say “yes” or -“no.” But he had come resolved to be played with -no longer, and to win from her a definite answer. -Whether his eloquent pleading left her no heart to -falter “no,” or whether, woman-like, she said “yes” -by way of getting rid of him, is not recorded. But -that they were married is certain; and it may as well -be taken for granted that, in accordance with the time-honoured -ending of all romantic love stories, “they -lived happy ever after.”</p> - -<p>No eminent postal reformer rose during the first -thirty-seven years of the nineteenth century unless we -except that doughty Parliamentary free lance, Robert -Wallace of Kelly, of whom more anon. But the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> -chilling treatment meted out by officials within the -postal sanctuary to those reform-loving persons -sojourning outside it, or even to those who, sooner -or later, penetrated to its inner walls, was scarcely -likely to tempt sane men to make excursions into -so inhospitable a field.</p> - -<p>Yet it was high time that a new reformer appeared, -for the Department was lagging far behind the Post -Offices of other countries—especially, perhaps, that of -France—and the wonderful nineteenth “century of -progress” had now reached maturity.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> -“History of the Post Office,” p. 146.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> -“History of the Post Office,” p. 18.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> -The word “postage,” we are told, was originally applied to the -hire of a horse for “posting,” and was extended to letters in comparatively -recent times only. It is therefore well when meeting with -the word in other than modern documents not to conclude too -hastily that it relates to epistolary correspondence. An Act of 1764 -is said to be the first in which was used “postage” in the sense of a -charge upon letters. But in 1659 the item, “By postage of letters -in farm, £14,000,” appears in a “Report on the Public Revenue -in the Journals of the House of Commons,” vii. 627. The fact -likewise seems well worth recalling that in the translation of the -Bible of 1611 the words “post” and “letters” are connected, notably -in “2 Chronicles,” xxx. 6, and in “Esther.” Chapter xvii. of -Marco Polo's travels, by the by, contains an interesting description -of the horse and foot posts in the dominions of Kubla Khan, which -were so admirably organised that the journeys over which ordinary -travellers spent ten days were accomplished by the posts in two.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> -“History of the Post Office,” p. 18.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> p. 21.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> -In George I.'s reign, besides London, Chester is said to have -been the only town in England which possessed two post offices.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> -“History of the Post Office,” p. 37.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> -“The ancient penny post resembled the modern penny post -only in name,” says Justin M'Carthy in “A History of Our Own -Times,” chap. iv. p. 99.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> The -“New Annual Directory for 1800” (see Guildhall Library), -speaking of the “Penny Post,” defines its area as “the cities of -London [and] Westminster, the borough of Southwark and their -suburbs.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> -“History of the Post Office,” pp. 37-40.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> -Or, in his own words, mails trusted to “some idle boy without -a character, mounted on a worn-out hack, who, so far from being -able to defend himself against a robber, was more likely to be in -league with one.” Apparently, the people of this class had no -better name in France, and probably other countries, to judge by a -fragment of conversation taken from Augier, and chronicled in -Larousse's “<i>Dictionnaire du XIX<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>,” xii. 1497:—“La poste -est en retard.” “Oui, d'une heure à peu près. Le piéton prend -courage à tous les cabarets.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> -As a contemporary of Palmer, Scott was never guilty of an -anachronism not unknown to present-day authors who sometimes -cause the puppet men and women of their romances to travel before -1784 in <i>mail</i> when they really mean <i>stage</i> coaches. The terms are -too often taken to be synonymous.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> -“Report of the Committee of Inquiry (1788).”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> -“Hansard,” xxxix. 1201, etc.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> -For nearly two centuries the change was opposed here, partly -perhaps chiefly, because it was inaugurated on the Continent by a -Pope, Gregory XIII. Common-sense and the noblest of all sciences -were on the side of His Holiness; but religious bigotry was too -strong even for that combination; and for those many years -religious bigotry held the field. Opposition did not cease even -when the correction was made; and grave divines preached against -the wickedness of an Act which, they said, brought many millions -of sinners eleven days nearer to their graves; and in one of -Hogarth's series of Election Pictures, a man is seen bearing a -placard on which is inscribed the words, “Give us back our eleven -days.” Most of us, too, are familiar with the cruel story of the witch -mania which was shared by men as excellent as Sir Matthew Hale -and John Wesley. To-day, we are glad that old, friendless men and -women, to say nothing of their harmless, necessary cats, are -permitted to die peacefully. Are there any now among us who -would restore the Act, <i>De Comburendo Heretico</i>, expunged from the -Statute Book in William's III.'s reign—a removal which doubtless -scandalised not a few sincerely devout persons?</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> -In the oldest days of coaching, the horses which started with -the vehicle drew it to the journey's end. Relays of horses were a -happy afterthought.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> -Dublin became possessed of a local penny post before 1793; -but not until that date, or a hundred and thirteen years after -the establishment of Dockwra's reform in London, was it considered -worth while to extend the boon to Manchester—which had now displaced -Bristol as the second town in the kingdom—or to the last-named -city and to Birmingham. At this time, too, it was still -customary to address letters bound for the centre of the cutlery -industry to “Sheffield, near Rotherham”, the latter being the more -important town.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> -For a graphically described contrast between the treatment -meted out in those “good old times” to Catholics and that to -Protestants, see Sydney Smith's too-seldom read “Peter Plymley's -Letters.”</p></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> - <h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ac noindent">THE PLAN</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p><span class="smcap">“If</span> in 1834 only a moderate -reduction had been made in the -extortionate rates of postage which were then in force, Rowland -Hill might not have embarked upon his plan; and, even if he had -done so, that plan might have failed to evoke from the public -sufficient force to overcome opposition in high quarters. In proportion -to the extent of the evil did men welcome the remedy.”—<span class="smcap">Joyce's</span> -“History of the Post Office,” p. 420.</p> - -<p>The postal reform “perhaps represents the greatest social -improvement brought about by legislation in modern times.”—<span class="smcap">Justin -M'Carthy</span> in “A History of Our Own Times,” chap. iv. p. 89.</p></div> - - -<p>For many years my father's attention had been turned -towards the question of postal reform; although in -that respect he was far from standing alone. The -defects of the old system were so obvious that with -many people they formed a common subject of conversation; -and plans of improvement were repeatedly -discussed. So far back as 1826 Rowland Hill's -thoughts had outgrown the first stage on the road -to “betterment”—that of mere fault-finding with the -things that are. He had drawn up a scheme for -a travelling post office. The fact that, whereas the -mails from all parts as a rule reached London at -6 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, while the distribution of letters only began -three hours later, struck him as a defect in need of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> -urgent remedy. If, he argued, the inside of the mail-coach, -or “an additional body thereto, were to be fitted -with shelves and other appliances, the guard might -sort and [date] stamp the letters, etc., on the journey. -By so doing, time would be saved: the mails would -either leave the provincial towns three hours later, -giving more time for correspondence, or the letters -could be delivered in London three hours earlier.” -In January 1830 he suggested the dispatch of mail -matter by means of pneumatic tubes. But neither -project went beyond the stage of written memoranda; -nor, in face of the never-failing hostility manifested -by the post officials towards all reforms, especially -those emanating from outsiders, was likely to do -more.</p> - -<p>Early in the 'thirties reductions in certain departments -of taxation had been made; and my father's -mind being still turned towards the Post Office, he -fell into the habit of discussing with his family and -others the advisability of extending similar reductions -to postal rates.</p> - -<p>And this seems a fitting place to mention that -while from every member of his family he received -the heartiest sympathy and help throughout the long -struggle to introduce his reform, it was his eldest -brother, Matthew, who, more than any other, did -him yeoman service; and, after Matthew, the second -brother, Edwin.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> -Of the five Hill brothers who -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> -reached old age, it has been claimed for the eldest -that, intellectually, he was the greatest. He had not, -perhaps, the special ability which enabled my father -to plan the postal reform, a measure which probably -none of his brothers, gifted as in various ways all -were, could have thought out, and brought to concrete -form; neither had the eldest the mathematical power -which distinguished Rowland. But in all other respects -Matthew stood first; and that he was one of the -wittiest, wisest, most cultivated, and, at the same -time, most tender-hearted of men in an age especially -rich in the type there can be no doubt. He was -the first Birmingham man to go to the Bar, and -for twenty-eight years was his native city's first -recorder.</p> - -<p>The second brother, Edwin, was also an unusually -clever man, and had a genius for mechanics which -placed him head and shoulders above his brethren. -His help in furthering the postal reform, as well as -in other ways, was given “constantly and ably,” said -my father. Out of a very busy brain Edwin could -evolve any machine or other contrivance required to -meet the exigencies of the hour, as when, to make -life less hard to one who was lame and rheumatic, -he devised certain easily-swinging doors; and when -in 1840 he was appointed Supervisor of stamps at -Somerset House he was quite in his element. Among -other things, he invented an ingenious method, said -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> -the First Report of the Commissioners of Inland -Revenue, by which the unwieldy, blank newspaper -sheets which, as we have seen, were obliged, before -being printed, to go to Somerset House to receive -the impress of the duty stamp, were separated, turned -over, and stamped with a speed and accuracy which -had previously been considered unattainable.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> He -was also the inventor of the envelope-folding machine -known as De La Rue's, and shown at the Great -Exhibition of 1851. The process of embossing the -Queen's head on the postal envelopes was likewise his -invention; and, further, he published two once well-known -works—the one on “Principles of Currency,” -the other on “Criminal Capitalists.” He applied the -latter title to those proprietors of houses and shops -who knowingly let them out as shelters for criminals -or depots for the sale of stolen goods; and he proposed -that, in order to check crime, these landlords -should first be struck at.<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> - -<p>Matthew it was who, after many conversations -with Rowland on the subject so frequently in the -latter's thoughts, advised him to draw up his plan -in pamphlet form. The advice was followed, and the -detailed scheme laid before the adviser, who approved -of it so highly that he suggested its publication by -their mutual friend, Charles Knight. This was done, -with what far-reaching effect we know. But my -uncle's help did not end here. For him, who, self-aided, -had won an influential position both at the Bar -and in the brilliant, intellectual society of his day, it -was easier than for his lesser known junior to have -access to men likely to prove powerful advocates of -the scheme and good friends to its author. Henceforth, -as his biographers remind us, the eldest brother -devoted to the proposed reform all the time and -labour he could spare from his own work.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> -He introduced -Rowland to men of influence in both Houses -of Parliament, to several of the chief journalists, and -other leaders of public opinion. Their sympathy was -soon enlisted, as was also that of many of my father's -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> -own friends, and, ere long, that of the great majority -of the nation when once the merits of the plan came -to be understood.</p> - -<div class="figcenter bord"><a name="i_096.jpg" id="i_096.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_096.jpg" width="399" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Facsimile of Manuscript Page (in Sir <span class="smcap">Rowland - Hill's</span> handwriting) of the Draft of his Pamphlet on Post Office Reform. See - 3rd Edition (1837) page 49.</div> -</div> - -<p>When, in 1834, Rowland Hill joined the Association -formed for the total abolition of the odious -“taxes on knowledge” there was a duty of 1s. 6d. -on every advertisement; a paper duty at 1-½d. the -lb.; and the newspaper stamp duty was at its -highest—4d. This last burden—undoubtedly a war-tax—was -reduced once more to 1d. only in 1835, -when we had been at peace for twenty years. So -easy is it to lay a war-tax on the nation: so difficult -to take it off again. Weighted after this fashion, how -could journalistic enterprise prosper? The Association -was of opinion that if the Press could be cheapened -newspapers would increase, and advertisements -multiply, while the fiscal produce of journalism would -be as large as ever. In estimating this probable -expansion Rowland Hill applied a principle on which -he subsequently relied in reference to postal reform, -namely, that the increased consumption of a cheapened -article in general use makes up for the diminished -price.</p> - -<p>The Revenue for the financial year which ended -with March 1836 had yielded a large surplus; and a -reduction of taxation was confidently looked for. Thus -the time seemed ripe for the publication of my father's -views upon the postal question; and he set to work to -write that slighter, briefer edition of his pamphlet -which was intended for private circulation only.</p> - -<p>It was in this year also that he made the -acquaintance of one of the greatest of all those—many -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> -in number—who helped to carry his proposed scheme -into accomplished fact—Robert Wallace of Kelly, -Greenock's first Member of Parliament and the -pioneer postal reformer of the nineteenth century. -From the time Mr Wallace entered Parliament, at -the General Election which followed the passing of -the great Reform Bill of 1832, he took the deepest -interest in postal matters, and strove to reform the -Department with a persistency which neither ridicule -could weary nor opposition defeat. He was in the -field two years before Rowland Hill; and while thus -unconsciously preparing the way for another man, -was able to accomplish several useful reforms on his -own account.</p> - -<p>In 1833 Mr Wallace proposed that postage -should be charged by weight instead of by number -of enclosures, thereby anticipating my father as -regards that one suggestion. But nothing came of -the proposal. He was more fortunate when moving -for leave to throw open to public competition the -contract for the construction of mail-coaches, which, -when adopted, led to an annual saving of over -£17,000. He also secured the appointment of a -Commission of Inquiry into the management of the -Post Office. The Commission was established in -1835, continued to work till 1838, issued ten Reports,<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> -and by its untiring efforts was, as my father always -maintained, justly entitled to much of the credit of -his own later success. Mr Wallace was, of course, -to the fore in the Commission, and gave valuable -evidence in favour of the establishment of day mails, -which subsequently formed a feature of Rowland Hill's -plan, and was eventually carried into effect with great -advantage to the public and to the Revenue. To Mr -Wallace we also owe the boon of registration of letters. -He likewise pleaded for a reduction of postal rates, -and of more frequent communication between different -centres of population. In Parliament, during the -session of 1836, and in the last speech he made there -before the publication of Rowland Hill's pamphlet, he -urged the abandonment of the manifestly unjust rule -of charging postage not according to the geographical -distance between one place and another, but according -to the length of the course a letter was compelled -to take.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> -As regards the question of reduced postal -rates, he said: “It would be proper not to charge more -than 3d. for any letter sent a distance of 50 miles; -for 100 miles, 4d.; 200 miles, 6d.; and the highest -rate of postage ought not to be more than 8d. or -9d. at most.”<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> - -<p>A detailed plan of wholesale reform (as was my -father's) Mr Wallace never had, and he no more -dreamed of postage stamps—though the suggestion -of these has been sometimes attributed to him as -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> -well as to other men—or of prepayment than he did -of uniformity of rate. He was an older man than -Rowland Hill, and of higher social standing; yet was -he so incapable of jealousy or other petty meanness, -that when the younger man, on completion of his -scheme, laid it before the veteran Scotsman, the -latter threw aside all other plans and suggestions, -took up the only practicable reform, and worked -for it as heartily as if it had been his own.</p> - -<p>To Mr Wallace every would-be postal reformer -turned with unerring instinct as to his best friend; -and it was through the instrumentality of this public -benefactor that Rowland Hill had been furnished with -sundry Parliamentary Blue Books containing those -statistics and other valuable facts, mastery of which -was essential to the completion of his pamphlet, -since it was necessary to understand the old system -thoroughly before destroying it.</p> - -<p>“As I had never yet been within the walls of any -post office,” wrote my father of Mr Wallace's friendly -act, “my only sources of information for the time -consisted of those heavy Blue Books, in which invaluable -matter too often lies hidden amidst heaps of -rubbish. Into some of these [books] I had already -dipped; but Mr Wallace, having supplied me by -post with an additional half-hundred-weight of raw -material,<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> -I now commenced that systematic study, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> -analysis, and comparison which the difficulty of my -self-imposed task rendered necessary.”</p> - -<p>Basing his calculations on the information drawn -from these and other volumes, Rowland Hill found -that, after the reduction of taxation in 1823, the price -of soap fell by an eighth, tea by a sixth, silk goods -by a fifth, and coffee by a fourth. The reduction in -price was followed by a great increase of consumption, -the sale of soap rising by a third, and that of tea by -almost half. Of silk goods the sale had more than -doubled, and of coffee more than tripled. Cotton -goods had declined in cost during the previous twenty -years by nearly a half, and their sale was quadrupled.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p> - -<p>In his pamphlet Rowland Hill dwelt upon this -fact of increased consumption following on decreased -price. It was clear, then, that the taxes for remission -should be those affording the greatest relief to the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> -public accompanied with the least loss to the -Revenue; and that scrutiny should be made into -the subject in order to discover which tax, or taxes, -had failed to grow in productiveness with increase -of population and prosperity. The test showed that, -whereas between 1815 and 1835 the nation had -added six millions to its numbers, and that trade -had largely increased, the postal revenue was rather -smaller in the later than in the earlier year. During -the same period the revenue from the stage-coaches -had grown by 128 per cent. In France, where the -postal charges were more reasonable, the revenue -of the Department had, in the same twenty years, -increased by 80 per cent.</p> - -<p>Reform in our own postal system was obviously -a necessity.</p> - -<p>But the fiscal loss to the country, as shown in -the state of our postal revenue, serious as it was, -seemed to Rowland Hill a lesser evil than the bar, -artificial and harmful, raised by the high charges on -correspondence, to the moral and intellectual progress -of the people. If put upon a sound basis, the Post -Office, instead of being an engine for the imposition -of an unbearable tax, would become a powerful -stimulus to civilisation.</p> - -<p>Still delving among the Parliamentary Blue -Books, he further gathered that the cost of the -service rendered—that is, of the receipt, conveyance, -and distribution of each ordinary missive sent from -post town to post town within the United Kingdom—averaged -84/100ths of a penny only; 28/100ths going to -conveyance, and 56/100ths to the receipt and delivery, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> -collection of postage, etc. Also that the cost of -conveyance for a given distance being generally in -direct proportion to the weight carried, and a newspaper -or franked letter weighing about as much as -several ordinary letters, the average expense of conveying -a letter chargeable with postage must be still -lower, probably some 9/100ths of a penny: a conclusion -supported by the well-known fact, already alluded -to,<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> -that the chargeable letters weighed, on an -average, one fourth only of the entire mail.</p> - -<p>He also found that the whole cost of the mail-coach -service for one journey between London and -Edinburgh was only £5 a day.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> -The average load -of the mail diurnally carried being some six hundred-weight, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> -the cost of each hundred-weight was therefore -16s. 8d. Taking the average weight of a letter -at a quarter of an ounce, its cost of carriage for the -400 miles was but 1/36th part of a penny—in the -light of Rowland Hill's amended estimate actually -less. Yet the postage exacted for even the lightest -“single” letter was 1s. 3-½d. The ninth part of a -farthing—the approximate cost of conveyance—is a -sum too small to be appreciable, and impossible to -collect. Therefore, “if the charge for postage be -made proportionate to the whole expense incurred -in the receipt, transit, and delivery of the letter, and -in the collection of its postage, it must be made -uniformly the same from every post town to every -other post town in the United Kingdom.”[1] In -other words, “As it would take a ninefold weight to -make the expense of transit amount to one farthing, -it follows that, taxation apart, the charge ought to -be precisely the same for every packet of moderate -weight, without reference to the number of its -enclosures.”<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p> - -<p>The custom of charge by distance seemed self-condemned -when a simpler mode was not only practicable -but actually fairer. Now, with increase of the -number of letters the cost of each was bound to -diminish; and with reduction of postage, especially -the great reduction which seemed easy of attainment, -increase of number could not fail to follow.</p> - -<p>The simple incident of the falling apple is said to -have suggested to Newton the theory of gravitation. -So also the discovery that the length of a letter's -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> -journey makes no appreciable difference to the cost of -that journey led Rowland Hill to think of uniformity -of rate; and in that portion of his “Life” which is -autobiographic he said that the “discovery” that such -a rate would approach nearer to absolute justice than -any other that could be fixed upon was “as startling -to myself as it could be to any one else, and was the -basis of the plan which has made so great a change in -postal affairs” (i. 250).</p> - -<p>Mention has already been made of the time-wasting -and costly mode in which, during or after -delivery of the letters, the postage had to be collected, -necessarily in coin of the realm. In rural districts -the postman's journey, when twofold, doubled the -cost of its delivery, its distance, and its time-duration. -The accounts, as we have seen, were most -complicated, and complication is only too apt to -spell mismanagement, waste, and fraud. Simplicity -of arrangement was imperative. But simplicity could -only be attained by getting rid of the complications. -The work must be <i>changed</i>. Time must be saved, -and unprofitable labour be done away with. But -how? By abolishing the tiresome operations of -“candling” and of making the “calculations” (of -postal charge) now inscribed on every letter; by -expediting the deliveries, and by other devices. -Above all, the public should learn to undertake its -due share of work, the share non-performance of -which necessitated the complications, and swelled the -expenses. That is, the <i>sender</i> of the letter should -pay for its transit before the Post Office incurred any -cost in connection with it, only, as under the existing -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> -system and in numberless cases, to meet with a refusal -on the part of the should-be receiver to accept it.</p> - -<p>In other words, prepayment must be made the -rule. Prepayment would have the effect of “simplifying -and accelerating the proceedings of the Post Office -throughout the kingdom, and rendering them less -liable to error and fraud. In the central Metropolitan -Office there would be no letters to be taxed, no -examination of those taxed by others; no accounts to -be made out against the deputy postmasters for letters -transmitted to them, nor against the letter-carriers. -There would be no need of checks, no necessity to -submit to frauds and numberless errors for want of -means to prevent or correct them. In short, the -whole of the financial proceedings would be reduced to -a single, accurate, and satisfactory account, consisting -of a single item per day, with each receiver and each -deputy postmaster.”<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p> - -<p>Distribution would thenceforth be the letter-carriers' -only function; and thus the first step towards the -acceleration of postal deliveries would be secured. -And while considering this last point, there came into -Rowland Hill's mind the idea of that now common -adjunct to everybody's hall-door—the letter-box. If -the postman could slip his letters through a slit in the -woodwork, he need not wait while the bell or knocker -summoned the dilatory man or maid; and his round -being accomplished more expeditiously, the letters -would be received earlier.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> -The shortening of the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> -time consumed on the round would unquestionably -facilitate the introduction of those hourly deliveries in -thickly populated and business districts which formed -part of the plan of postal reform.</p> - -<p>How best to collect the prepaid postage had next -to be decided; and among other things, Rowland -Hill bethought him of the stamped cover for newspapers -proposed by his friend Charles Knight three -years before, but never adopted; and, finally, of the -loose adhesive stamp which was his own device. -The description he gave of this now familiar object -reads quaintly at the present day. “Perhaps this -difficulty”—of making coin payments at a post -office—“might be obviated by using a bit of -paper just large enough to bear the stamp, and -covered at the back with a glutinous wash which, -by applying a little moisture, might be attached to -the letter.”<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> - -<p>The disuse of franks and the abandonment of -illicit conveyance, the breaking up of one long letter -into several shorter ones, and the certain future use -to be made of the post for the distribution of those -circulars and other documents which either went by -different channels or were altogether withheld,<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> should -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> -cause the number of missives to increase enormously. -Although, were the public, in accordance with its -practice in other cases, to expend no more in postage -than before, the loss to the nett Revenue should be -but small. Even were it to be large, the powerful -stimulus given by easy communication and low-priced -postage to the productive power of the -country, and the consequent increase of revenue in -other departments, would more than make up for -the deficiency. On all these grounds, then, the -adoption of the plan must be of incalculable -benefit.</p> - -<p>The uniform rate of a penny the half-ounce -ought to defray the cost of letter-carriage, and -produce some 200 per cent. profit. My father -originally proposed a penny the ounce; and thirty-three -years later, being then in retirement, he -privately advised the Government of the day to -revert to the ounce limit. His suggestion was -adopted; but the limit has since been brought up to -four ounces—a reduction which, had it been proposed -in 1837, must inevitably have ensured the defeat of -the postal reform.</p> - -<p>As regards the speedy recovery of the nett -Revenue appearances seem to indicate that he -was over-sanguine; the gross Revenue not reaching -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> -its former amount till 1851, the nett till 1862.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> The -reasons were several, but among them can hardly be -counted faulty calculations on Rowland Hill's part. -We shall read more about this matter in a later -chapter. Meanwhile, one cause, and that a main -one, shall be mentioned. As railways multiplied, -and mail-coaches ceased to ply, the expenses of -conveyance grew apace.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></p> - -<div class="figcenter bord"><a name="i_109.jpg" id="i_109.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_109.jpg" width="449" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">No. 2, BURTON CRESCENT,<br /> - Where “Post Office Reform” was written. A group of people stand - opposite the house.<br /> - <i>From a Photograph by Messrs. Whiteley & Co.</i></div> -</div> - -<p>Under the increased burden the old system, had -it endured much longer, must have collapsed. The -railway charges for carrying the mails, unlike the -charges for carrying passengers and goods, have -been higher, weight for weight, than the charges by -the mail-coaches, and the tendency in later years -has by no means made towards decrease.</p> - -<p>The pamphlet was entitled “Post Office Reform: -Its Importance and Practicability.”<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> -Use of the words -“Penny Postage” was carefully avoided, because a -reformer, when seeking to convert to his own way -of thinking a too-often slow-witted public, is forced -to employ the wisdom of the serpent in conjunction, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> -not only with the gentleness of the dove, but also -with something of the cunning of the fox or weasel. -Thus canny George Stephenson, when pleading for -railways, forbore to talk of locomotives running at -the tremendous rate of 12 miles an hour lest his -hearers should think he was qualifying for admission -to a lunatic asylum. He therefore modestly hinted -at a lower speed, the quicker being supposed to be -exceptional. So also Rowland Hill, by stating the -arguments for his case clearly, yet cautiously, sought -to lead his readers on, step by step, till the seeming -midsummer madness of a uniform postal rate -irrespective of distance should cease to startle, and, -instead, be accepted as absolutely sane.</p> - -<p>In this way he engaged the attention, among -others, of the once famous Francis Place, tailor -and politician, to whom he sent a copy of “Post -Office Reform.” Mr Place began its perusal with -an audible running accompaniment of “Pish!” and -“Pshaw!” varied by an occasional remark that the -“hitch” which must inevitably destroy the case -would presently appear. But as he read, the audible -monosyllabic marginal notes ceased, and when he -turned the last page, he exclaimed in the needlessly -strong language of the day: “I'll be damned if -there <i>is</i> a hitch after all!” and forthwith became a -convert. Leigh Hunt expressed his own sentiments -in happier form when he declared that the pamphlet's -reasoning “carries us all along with it as smoothly -as wheel on railroad.”</p> - -<p>Through the kindness of Mr Villiers, the long-time -senior Member for Wolverhampton, the pamphlet, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> -while still in manuscript, was confidentially submitted -to the Government. The author, through his friend, -expressed his willingness to let them have the entire -credit of introducing the plan if they would accept -it. Otherwise he reserved the right to lay it before -the public. Many years after, Mr Villiers wrote of -the satisfaction he felt that the measure was left to -the unbiassed judgment of the people, for, after all, -the Government had not the courage to accept the -offer, and the only outcome of a rather pleasant -interview, in January 1837, with the Chancellor of -the Exchequer, Mr Spring Rice, was the suggestion -made by him and adopted by Rowland Hill, that -the penny rate should be charged not on an ounce, -but on half an ounce—to the cautious keeper of the -national purse seemingly a less startling innovation.</p> - -<p>That the plan should be treated, not as a party -question, but strictly on its merits, was its author's -earnest, oft-repeated desire. Nor could it be properly -regarded from a political aspect, since it counted -among its advocates in the two Houses, and outside -them, members of both parties. Yet, notwithstanding -this support, and the fact that the friends of the -proposed reform daily grew more numerous, the best -part of three years was consumed in converting to -recognition of its merits not only a fairly large portion -of the official world, but the Prime Minister himself. -However, the same Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, -it was who declared that it was madness to contemplate -as possible the abolition of the Corn Laws.</p> - -<p>“Post Office Reform” made no small sensation. -It was widely read and discussed, as indeed was but -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> -natural, seeing how thoroughly dissatisfied with the -old system nearly every one outside the official circle -was. The proposed reform was, as a rule, heartily -approved, although by some would-be clever people -it was mercilessly ridiculed; and a writer in the -<i>Quarterly Review</i> assailed it, declaring, among other -things, that “prepayment by means of a stamp or -stamped cover is universally admitted to be quite the -reverse of convenient, foreign to the habits of the -people,” etc.—yet another illustration of the folly of -indulging in prophecy unaccompanied by knowledge. -He further professed to see in the proposal “only -a means of making sedition easy.”!<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a></p> - -<p>To this attack Matthew Hill made a scathing -reply in the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, using, to flagelate -the foe, the ready wit and unanswerable logic of -which he was a master. Then passing to the -financial side of the question, he pointed out that -the temporary diminution of income ought to be -regarded as an outlay. The loss, he argued, would -be slight in comparison with the object in view. -Even if the annual deficit were one million during -ten years, that would be but half what the country -had paid for the abolition of slavery; and <i>that</i> payment -was made with no prospect of <i>money</i> return. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> -Should hope of ultimate profit fail, a substituted tax -might be imposed; and were it asked, what tax? -the answer should be, <i>any</i>—certain that none could -operate so fatally on all other sources of revenue as -the present postal tax.</p> - -<p>Time was on the side of the reformer, and before -long the public, having digested both the pamphlet -and the debates thereon, took up the question with -enthusiasm. In the largest city in the kingdom as -in the smallest hamlet, meetings were convened in -support and furtherance of the proposed reform. -Within twelve months two thousand petitions were -presented to Parliament, causing, on one occasion, a -curious scene. Mr Scholefield, having laid on the -table a petition from Birmingham, praying for adoption -of the penny postage plan, the Speaker called -on all members who had charge of similar petitions -to bring them up. At once a “crowd” rose to present -them amid cheering on all sides.</p> - -<p>The number of signatures reached a quarter of -a million; and as many of the petitions proceeded -from Town Councils, Chambers of Commerce, and -other such Corporations, a single signature in many -instances represented a considerable number of -persons.</p> - -<p>Grote, the historian of Greece, and an earnest -worker for the reform, presented a petition. One -from the city contained over 12,500 signatures, bore -the names of the Lord Mayor and many London -merchants, and was filled in twelve hours. In the -Upper House, the Lord Radnor of the time, an -earnest friend to reforms of many sorts, presented -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> -no fewer than forty petitions. The signatures -were of many classes, all sects, and both political -parties.</p> - -<p>In the City, on the proposal of Mr Moffatt, afterwards -Member for Southampton, the “Mercantile -Committee” was formed. Its founder, whom Rowland -Hill has described as “one of my most zealous, -steady, and efficient supporters,” threw himself with -great earnestness into the formation of this Committee, -raising funds, and gathering together the -able men, London merchants and others, who became -its members. Its principal aim was to collect evidence -in favour of the plan; and to its ceaseless energy -much of the success of the movement was due. Mr -Ashurst, father to a late Solicitor to the Post Office, -was requested to become Solicitor to the Committee. -He accepted the invitation, declined to receive remuneration -for his services, and worked with unflagging -industry.<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> -Mr Bates, of the house of Baring -Brothers, acted as Chairman; Mr Cole as Secretary. -In addition to the above, and to Mr Moffatt, may be -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> -mentioned the names of Messrs William Ellis, James -Pattison, L. P. Wilson, John Dillon,<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> -John Travers, -J. H. Gladstanes, and W. A. Wilkinson—all warm -supporters of the plan from the beginning.</p> - -<p>Mr Cole excelled in the invention of pictorial -devices of the sort which are far more likely to -convert the average citizen to faith in a newly -propounded reform than all the arguments, however -able, that were ever spoken or written; and are -therefore most valuable. He drew, for instance, a -mail-coach with a large amount of postal matter piled, -by artistic licence, on the roof instead of inside “the -boot.” Six huge sacks contained between them 2,296 -newspapers weighing 273 lbs.; a seventh sack, as large -as any of its fellows, held 484 franked letters, and -weighed 47 lbs.; while a moderate-sized parcel was -filled with Stamp Office documents. They were all -labelled “go free.” A bag of insignificant dimensions -leant up against one of the sacks. It held -1,565 ordinary letters, weighed 34 lbs., and was -marked “pay £93.” This tiny packet paid for all -the rest! Cole was too sensible a man to make use -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> -of an illustration which, if untrue, could only have -inspired ridicule. His figures were absolutely correct, -and represented the actual proportions of the mail -matter carried from London to Edinburgh on 2nd -March 1838. His Brobdingnagian “single” and -Lilliputian “double” letters, whose names are indicative -of their relative size, were one evening handed -round the House of Commons with telling effect. -They were, of course, designed to satirise the old -system practice of “taxing” letters according to -number of enclosures. Both had passed through the -post that day, the giant having been charged just half -what was paid on the dwarf.</p> - -<p>In all the large centres of population the great -mercantile houses were foremost among those who -took up the good cause, and the Press also threw -itself into the struggle with much heartiness except -in those cases where the cue given was—attack! -Happily these dissentients were soon outnumbered -and outvoiced. A few journals, indeed, achieved -marvellously sudden conversions—behaviour which -even in the present more enlightened days is not -absolutely unknown. Twenty-five London and eighty-seven -provincial papers—there were far fewer papers -then than there are now—supported the proposed -reform, and their championship found an echo in some -of the foreign Press. In London the <i>Times</i> (after -a while), the now defunct <i>Morning Chronicle</i>, and -the <i>Spectator</i> were pre-eminent. Mr Rintoul, founder -and first editor of the <i>Spectator</i>, not only championed -the reform long before its establishment, but continued -to give the reformer constant support through trials -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> -and triumphs till 1858, when, to the great loss of -journalism and of all good causes, death severed Mr -Rintoul's connection with that paper.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p> - -<p>Outside London, the <i>Scotsman</i>—then renowned for -its advanced views—the <i>Manchester Guardian</i>, the -<i>Liverpool Mercury</i>, and the <i>Leeds Mercury</i>—then in -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> -the hands of the well-known Baines family—were, -perhaps, especially active. Their support and that of -other ably conducted provincial papers never varied, -and to the end of his life Rowland Hill spoke gratefully -of the enlightened and powerful aid thus given.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> -“All the members of his family,” says Mr John C. Francis -in <i>Notes and Queries</i>, 10th Series, No. 141, 8th September 1906, -“were proud of Rowland and his scheme. There was no jealousy: -each worked in harmony. The brothers looked at all times to each -other for counsel; it was a perfect home, with the good old father as -its head. Truly have his words been verified: 'The union of my -children has proved their strength.'” ... “Never did a family -so unite in working for the common good.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> -“By his inventive mechanical skill,” says Mr Francis, “he -greatly improved the machinery [at Somerset House]. My father -frequently had occasion to see him, and always found him ready -to consider any suggestion made. Especially was this the case when -he obtained permission for a stamp to be made with the sender's -name round the rim. This was designed for him by Edwin Hill.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> -Of Edwin's kindness of heart many instances are remembered. -Of these, two, characteristic of the man, shall be selected. The -head gardener at Bruce Castle lived in the (then) village of Tottenham -down a narrow entry at a corner of which stood one of the -inevitable drink-traps which in this civilised country are permitted -to be set up wherever the poor most do congregate. John simply -could not pass that public-house. He was too good a man to -be allowed to sink into a sot; and eventually my uncle bethought -him of building a gardener's cottage in a corner of the Castle -grounds. The plan succeeded: John lived to a hale old age, and -some of his children did well in the world. One afternoon, when my -uncle was walking along the Strand on his way home from Somerset -House after an arduous day's work, he saw a shabbily-dressed child -sobbing bitterly. Now, Edwin Hill could never pass a little one -in distress, and therefore stopped to ask what was the matter. The -child had wandered from home, and was lost. The address it gave -was at some distance, and in quite an opposite direction from that -in which my uncle was bound. Most men would have made over -the small waif to the first policeman who came in sight. But not -this man. He took the wearied mite in his arms, carried it home, -and placed it in its anxious mother's arm.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> -“Matthew Davenport Hill,” p. 142. By his daughters, -R. and F. Hill.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> -In the Ninth of which was embodied the Commissioners' -examination of Rowland Hill made in February 1837. It is curious -that even these able men, when discussing the plan with its author, -spoke with most hesitation of that detail of whose wisdom so many -officials were more than doubtful, yet which, from the first, never -presented any real difficulty—the practicability of prepayment—“Life,” -i. 274.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> -As we have seen, in the chapter on “The Old Postal System,” -Sir Walter Scott has made a somewhat biting remark upon the “few -pence” which the Post Office added to its revenue on letters which -were sent a long round in order to meet Departmental convenience.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> -“Hansard,” xxxv. (2nd Series), 422.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> -“Raw material by the half-hundred-weight” and “by post” in -non-prepayment days is suggestive of heavy demands upon my -father's purse. But no demand was made. Mr Wallace's frank as -an M.P. would cause the packages he sent to be carried free of -charge. It was literally a <i>cabful</i> of books which arrived, thus adding -yet another item to the oft-quoted list of huge things which could -“go free” when sent by a member of the privileged classes. One -trembles to think what would have been the charge to one of the -<i>un</i>privileged.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> -After the adoption of free trade the prices of foreign produce -fell still further, and their consumption since Rowland Hill drew up -his estimates has grown enormously. With increase of business -following on increase of consumption, came necessarily increase of -employment and of national prosperity. So also when the old -postal system was abolished, and the business of the Department -advanced by leaps and bounds, a very large addition had to be made -to the number of employees. That fact is obvious, but another, -perhaps because it is less obvious, is but little known. “The -introduction of penny postage,” wrote my father in 1869, “was -really followed by a reduction in the hours, and an increase in the -remuneration to nearly every man in the Department, save only -the Postmaster-General and the Secretary”—himself. In some -quarters the reverse was erroneously believed to be the case.—“Life,” -ii. 345.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> -Chap. i. p. 50.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> -“When at length I obtained precise information, I found that -in taking care not to make my estimate too low, I had made it -considerably too high; and I think the history of this rectification -too curious and characteristic to be omitted. Two years later, the -Parliamentary Committee appointed to consider my plan ordered, at -my suggestion, a Return on the subject, when, to my surprise and -amusement, the Report of the Post Office gave as the cost of the -mail the exact sum estimated by me—viz., £5. Struck with this -coincidence, the more so as I had intentionally allowed for possible -omission, I suggested the call for a Return in detail, and, this being -given, brought down the cost to £4, 8s. 7-¾d. In the Return, however, -I discovered an error, viz., that the charge for guards' wages -was that for the double journey instead of the single; and when this -point was adjusted in a third Return, the cost sank to £3, 19s. 7-¾d. -When explanation of the anomaly was asked for, it was acknowledged -by the Post Office authorities that my estimate had been adopted -wholesale.” (Rowland Hill in the “Appendix to the Second Report -of the Select Committee on Postage, 1838,” pp. 257-259.) In -estimating the real cost of a letter between London and Edinburgh -we must therefore seek for a fraction still smaller than the one -indicated by my father's calculations.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> -“Post Office Reform,” p. 19.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> -“Post Office Reform,” pp. 24, 25.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> -This proposal was by no means received at the outset with -universal favour. When the public was notified, after Government's -acceptance of the plan of postal reform, of the advisability of -setting up letter-boxes, many people—the majority, no doubt—adopted -the suggestion as a matter of course. But others objected, -some of them strongly; and one noble lord wrote in high indignation -to the Postmaster-General to ask if he actually expected him, Lord -Blank, “to cut a hole in his mahogany door.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> -“Post Office Reform,” pp. 45, 94-96.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> -Among these he included small orders, letters of advice, -remittances, policies of insurance, letters enclosing patterns, letters -between country attorneys and their London agents, documents -connected with magisterial and county jurisdiction, and with -local trusts and commissions for the management of sewers, -harbours, roads, schools, charities, etc., notices of meetings, of -elections, etc., prices current, catalogues of sales, prospectuses, and -other things which, at the present time, are sent by post as a matter -of course.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> -Cobden was even more optimistic. In a letter to Rowland -Hill he said: “I am prepared to find that the revenue from the -penny postage <i>exceeds</i>, the first year, any former income of the Post -Office.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> -It was in 1838 that the mails began to go by rail.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> -This was not my father's first pamphlet. In 1832 he published -“Home Colonies: Sketch of a Plan for the Gradual Extinction of -Pauperism and for the Diminution of Crime.” The pamphlet -advocated the settlement of able-bodied paupers on waste lands—a -proposal frequently revived by different writers—by the cultivation -of which the men would be made self-supporting, and the State be -saved their charge. The successful working of similar experiments -in Belgium and Holland was instanced as proof that the theory -was not mere Utopianism.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> -No. 128, p. 531. The author of the diatribe was John Wilson -Croker, whose name is preserved from oblivion by Macaulay's fierce -criticism in one of his famous “Essays,” that on Croker's edition of -Boswell's “Life of Johnson”—criticism which in severity rivals that -on the poet Montgomery in the same series. Many years later -Gladstone said to Dr Hill: “You have succeeded in doing what -Macaulay attempted to do, and failed—you have suppressed Croker.”—(Mrs -Lucy Crump's “Letters of George Birkbeck Hill.”)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> -Mr Ashurst, as we are reminded in Mr Bolton King's “Mazzini” -(pp. 88 and 104), was a solicitor who had been a friend of Robert -Owen, and who made Mazzini's acquaintance at the time of the once -famous Governmental letter-opening scandal which agitated the far-off -'forties, and caused Carlyle, Duncombe, Shiel, Macaulay, and -many more people both in the House of Commons and out of it -to denounce a practice which, as was only too truly said, through -sending “a warning to the Bourbons, helped to entrap hapless -patriots,” meaning the brothers Bandiera. The agitation led to -the abolition of the custom of opening private letters entrusted for -conveyance to the Post Office; or did so for a while. It is a -custom that is very old, and has not lacked for apologists, as what -evil custom ever did? During Bishop Atterbury's trial in 1723, a -Post Office clerk deposed on oath that some letters which were offered -in evidence were facsimiles made of actual documents stopped, -opened, and copied in the office “by direction”; and on Atterbury's -asking if the witness had received warrant for the act, the Lords -put in the plea of public expediency, and the enquiry came to an -end.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> -Mr John Dillon, of the once famous old firm of Morrison, -Dillon, & Co., was probably one of the last wealthy London -merchants who lived above their place of business. The Dillons -were hospitable people, and their dwelling was commodious and -beautifully furnished; but not many merchant princes of the present -day would choose as a residential quarter—Fore Street, E.C.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> -Mr Rintoul was fortunate in being father to a devoted daughter -who, from an early age, gave him valuable assistance in his editorial -work. While still a young girl, and for the space of some few weeks -when he was suffering from severe illness, she filled the editorial -chair herself, and did so with ability. At the present day we are -frequently assured by people who did not live in the times they -criticise so freely that the “early Victorian” women were inferior to -those of the present day. The assertion is devoid of truth. The -women of half a century and more ago were bright, witty, unaffected, -better mannered and perhaps better read than their descendants, -often highly cultivated. They dressed simply, not extravagantly—happily -for the bread-winning members of their family—did not -gamble, were self-reliant, original-minded, and <i>not</i>, as has been -asserted, absurdly deferential to their male relations. Indeed, it is -probable that there were, proportionately, quite as many henpecked -husbands in the land as there are now. If in some ways the -Victorian women had less liberty than have the women of to-day -and travelled less, may it not, as regards the former case, have been -partly because the community was not so rich as it is at the present -time, and because the facilities for travel were fewer and the conditions -harder? In intellectual power and noble aims the women -of half a century ago were not inferior to those of to-day. Certain -it is that the former gave less time to pleasure and more to self-culture, -etc. There are to-day many women who lead noble, useful -lives, but their generation does not enjoy a monopoly of all the -virtues. To take but a few instances from the past: has any -woman of the present time excelled in true nobility of character or -usefulness of career Elizabeth Fry, first among female prison -reformers; Florence Nightingale, pioneer of the nursing sisterhood, -and indefatigable setter to rights of muddle in Crimean War hospitals -and stores; Caroline Herschel, distinguished astronomer; Mary -Somerville, author and scientist—though three of these belong to a -yet earlier generation—and Barbara L. S. Bodichon, artist, foundress -of Girton College, and originator of the Married Women's Property -Act? The modern woman is in many ways delightful, and is, as a -rule, deservedly independent; but it is not necessary to accompany -insistence on that fact by cheap and unmerited sneers at former -generations of the sex. It is also not amiss to ask if it was not the -women of the past age who won for the women of the present the -liberties these latter enjoy.</p></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ac noindent">EXIT THE OLD SYSTEM</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">By</span> the early summer of 1837 the agitation in favour -of the postal reform was in full movement, and in the -midst of it the old king, William IV., died. His -youthful successor was speedily deluged with petitions -in favour of penny postage. One of the first acts -of her first Parliament was to appoint the Select -Committee for which Mr Wallace had asked—“To -enquire into the present rates and mode of -charging postage, with a view to such a reduction -thereof as may be made without injury to the -revenue; and for this purpose to examine especially -into the mode recommended for charging and collecting -postage in a pamphlet published by Mr Rowland -Hill.” Of this Committee, which did so much to -help forward the postal reform, the doughty Member -for Greenock was, of course, chosen as Chairman. -The Committee sat for sixty-three days; and in -addition to the postal officials and those of the Board -of Stamps and Taxes (Inland Revenue), examined -Rowland Hill and over eighty other witnesses of -various occupations and from different parts of the -country.</p> - -<p>The story of their arduous labours is told at great -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> -length in Dr Birkbeck Hill's edition of my father's -Autobiography. There is therefore no need to -elaborate it here. The evidence told heavily against -the existing postal system—whose anomalies, absurdities, -and gross injustice have been described in the -first chapter of this work—and, with corresponding -force, demonstrated the necessity for its reform.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> - -<p>It might have been supposed that the Committee's -careful and elaborate examination of Rowland Hill's -plan, supported as it was by an unanswerable array -of facts, would have sufficed to ensure its adoption. -“He had yet to learn the vast amount of <i>vis inertia</i> -existing in some Government Departments. The -minds of those who sit in high places are sometimes -wonderfully and fearfully made, and 'outsiders,' as -he was destined to find, must be prepared to knock -long and loudly at the outer door before they can -obtain much attention.”<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a></p> - -<p>That the Post Office authorities would oppose -the plan was a foregone conclusion. They fought -against it in the strenuous fashion known metaphorically -as “tooth and nail.” The Postmaster-General -of the day—he who said that “of all the wild and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> -visionary schemes which he had ever heard or read -of it was the most extraordinary”<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> -—gave it as his -opinion that if twelve times the number of letters -were carried, the expenses of conveyance would -become twelve times heavier—a strange argument -for an educated man to use. He also declared that -with increase of correspondence the walls of the -Post Office would burst—a premonition which, not -unnaturally, provoked Rowland Hill into asking -whether the size of the building should be regulated -by the amount of correspondence, or the amount of -correspondence by the size of the building.</p> - -<p>The Secretary to the Post Office, Colonel -Maberly, was apparently free from the dread of the -possible effect of increased correspondence which -exercised the minds of other post officials besides -the Postmaster-General. The Secretary told the -Committee he was sure that even if no charge were -made people would not write more frequently than -they did under the existing system; and he predicted -that the public would object to prepayment. He -approved of a uniform rate, but apparently in theory -only, as he added that he thought it quite impracticable. -He doubted whether letter-smuggling—to -which practice Mr Peacock, Solicitor to the Post -Office, and other officials made allusion as an evil -on a very large scale—would be much affected by -the proposed reduction of postage, since “it cannot -be reduced to that price that smugglers will not -compete with the Post Office at an immense profit.” -He pronounced the scheme to be “fallacious, preposterous, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> -utterly unsupported by facts, and resting -entirely on assumption”; prophesied its certain -failure, if adopted, and said the revenue would not -recover for forty or fifty years.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p> - -<p>Some of the officials made the rather humiliating -confession that they should not know how to deal -with the multitude of letters likely to follow a change -of system, and a “breakdown” was so frequently -predicted, that it was hard to avoid the suspicion -that the wish was father to the thought. The dread -expressed of this increase of correspondence is, in -the light of these later days, unaccountable. “Has -any one,” pertinently asked my father, “ever heard -of a commercial company <i>afraid</i> of an expected -growth in its business?”</p> - -<p>It was maintained that a fivefold increase of -letters would necessitate a fivefold number of mail-coaches, -and Rowland Hill was accused of having -omitted this “fact” in his calculations. The objection -was absurd. The coaches were by no means -fully laden, many having very little to carry, and -the chargeable letters, as we have seen, formed only -a small portion of the entire mail. Twenty-four -coaches left London every evening, each bearing its -share of that small portion; but had the whole of -it been conveyed in one coach, its bulk would not -have displaced a single passenger.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> - -<p>Colonel (afterwards General) Colby,<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> -indeed, told -the Committee that his attention was first drawn to -the desirability of cheapening postage while travelling -all over the kingdom, when he had “observed that -the mails and carriages which contained the letters -formed a very stupendous machinery for the conveyance -of a very small weight; that, in fact, if -the correspondence had been doubled, trebled, or -quadrupled, it could not have affected the expense -of conveyance.”<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p> - -<p>To determine this question of the weight of -the mails, the Committee caused a return to be made -in the case of the coaches leaving London. The -average was found to be only 463 lbs.—a little over -a quarter of the weight which, according to Post -Official estimates, a mail-coach would be capable of -carrying.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> - -<p>In the chapter on the old system we have seen -the straits to which the poor were reduced when -having to “take up” a letter which had come from -distant relative or friend. Yet how eager was -this class to enjoy the privilege possessed by those -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> -better off than themselves, was shown during the -examination of Mr Emery, Deputy-Lieutenant for -Somerset, and a Commissioner of Taxes, when he -told the Committee that the poor people near Bristol -had signed a petition for the reduction of postage, -and that he “never saw greater enthusiasm.” Testimony -to a similar effect abounds in the Committee's -Reports.</p> - -<p>That some, at least, of the public were not so -alarmed at the prospect of prepayment as were the -officials generally, is seen by the evidence of several -witnesses who advised that it should be made compulsory. -The public were also quick to appreciate -the advantage of payment by stamps instead of -money. Sir (then Mr) William Brown of Liverpool, -said he had seen the demoralising effect arising -from entrusting young men with money to pay for -postage, which, under the existing arrangement, his -house [of business] was frequently obliged to do. -His view was corroborated by other witnesses.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> - -<p>Mr Samuel Jones Loyd (afterwards Lord Overstone) -greatly regretted “that the post was ever -taken as a field for taxation, and should be very -glad to find that, consistently with the general -interests of the revenue, which the Government has -to watch over, they can effect any reduction in the -total amount so received, or any reduction in the -charges without diminishing the total amount.”<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></p> - -<p>Lord Ashburton was of much the same opinion.</p> - -<p>Rowland Hill himself dissented from the view -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> -generally—and indeed still—held that so long as the -Department as a whole thrives, its funds may justly -be applied to maintain special services which do not -repay their own costs. On the contrary, he thought -that every division of the service should be at least -self-supporting, though he allowed that, for the sake -of simplicity, extensions might be made where there -was no immediate expectation of absolute profit. All -beyond this he regarded as contrary to the true -principles of free trade—of the “Liberation of Intercourse,” -to use the later-day, and in this case more -appropriate, phrase. Whenever, therefore, the nett -revenue from the Post Office is too high for the -interests of the public, the surplus, he maintained, -should be applied to the multiplication of facilities in -those districts in which, through the extent of their -correspondence, such revenue is produced.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> - -<p>Most of the Post Office chiefs examined by the -Committee viewed with disfavour the proposal to -“tax” letters by weight. An experiment had been -made at the Office from which it was inferred that -a greater number could be taxed in a given time on -the plan in use than by charging them in proportion -to the weight of each letter. The test, however, -was of little value because the weighing had -not been made by the proposed half-ounce, but by -the quarter-ounce scale; and, further, because it was -already the custom to put nearly every letter into the -balance unless its weight was palpable to the hand.<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p> - -<p>While some of the officials objected to uniformity -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> -of rate as “unfair in principle,” others thought well -of it on the score that uniformity “would very much -facilitate all the operations of the Post Office.”<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a></p> - -<p>But, admissions apart, the hostility to the plan was, -on the part of the Post Office, unmistakable. This -opposition rendered Rowland Hill's work all the -harder. “My own examination,” he says, “occupied -a considerable portion of six days, my task being not -only to state and enforce my own views, but to reply -to objections raised by such of the Post Office authorities -as were against the proposed reform. This list -comprised—with the exception of Mr Peacock, the -Solicitor—all the highest officials in the chief office; -and, however unfortunate their opposition, and however -galling I felt it at the time, I must admit on -retrospect that, passing over the question of means -employed, their resistance to my bold innovation was -very natural. Its adoption must have been dreaded -by men of routine, as involving, or seeming to involve, -a total derangement of proceeding—an overthrow of -established order; while the immediate loss of revenue—inevitable -from the manner in which alone the -change could then be introduced (all gradual or -limited reform having by that time been condemned -by the public voice)—a loss, moreover, greatly -exaggerated in the minds of those who could not, -of did not, see the means direct and indirect of -its recuperation, must naturally have alarmed the -appointed guardians of this branch of the national -income.”<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> - -<p>Some members even of the Committee were -opposed to essential features of the reform, so that -it barely escaped, if not actual wreckage, serious -maiming at their hands. “The divisions on the two -most important of the divisions submitted to the -Committee,” wrote Rowland Hill, “and, indeed, the -ultimate result of their deliberations, show that the -efforts that had been made had all been needed.”<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p> - -<p>A resolution moved by Mr Warburton recommending -the establishment of a uniform rate of inland -postage between one post town and another resulted -in a tie, and was only carried by the casting vote of -the chairman, Mr Wallace. Mr Warburton further -moving that in view of “any large reduction being -made in the rates of inland postage, it would be -expedient to adopt a uniform rate of one penny per -half-ounce without regard to distance,” the motion -was rejected by six to three, the “aye” stalwarts -being the mover, and Messrs Raikes Currie<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> and -M. J. O'Connell. Then Mr Warburton, still manfully -striving, moved to recommend a uniform rate of -three halfpence: the motion being again lost. The -following day Mr Warburton returned to the charge, -and urged the adoption of a twopenny uniform rate, -rising by a penny for each additional half-ounce. -This motion was not directly negatived like its predecessors, -but was met by an amendment which was -tantamount to a negative. Again the votes were -equal; and again the motion was carried by the -casting vote of the chairman.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> - -<p>The rejected amendment was moved by Mr -Thomson, who proposed that a draft report originating -with Lord Seymour should be adopted, the chief -recommendations of which were the maintenance of -the charge by distance, such rate to vary from 1d. -(for under 15 miles) to 1s. (for above 200 miles), or -of some similar scale. Had the Seymour amendment -been adopted, “not only the recommendations for -uniformity and decided reduction of postage would -have been set aside, but also those for increased -facilities, for the general use of stamps, and for charge -by weight instead of by the number of enclosures.”<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> -In fact, the old postal system would have been simply -scotched, not killed—and very mildly scotched, many -of its worst features being retained. Yet this amendment -would have gone forth as the recommendation -of the Committee but for the casting vote of Mr -Wallace.</p> - -<p>It is but fair to Lord Seymour to say that, however -“erroneous in its reasonings on many points,” -the amendment yet contained passages justifying the -reformer's views, “particularly as regards the evils -which high rates of postage brought upon the poor, -the vast extent of illicit conveyance, the evils of the -frank system, and even many of the advantages of -a uniform charge.” Had the recommendations in the -Seymour Report been prepared “two years before, -almost every one of them would have been received -as a grace; but it was now too late, their sum total -being altogether too slight to make any approach -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> -towards satisfying the expectations which had subsequently -arisen.”<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a></p> - -<p>The adoption of a twopenny rate was not only -contrary to Rowland Hill's plan, but actually rendered -“strict uniformity impracticable, since reservation -would have to be made in favour of the local penny -rates then in existence which could not be raised -without exciting overpowering dissatisfaction.”<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> - -<p>“Seldom, I believe, has any committee worked -harder,” wrote my father, in after years. “Mr -Wallace's exertions were unsparing, his toil incessant, -and his zeal unflagging.” The <i>Times</i> spoke but the -truth when in its issue of 31st May 1839, it said -that the Post Office Inquiry was “one conducted -with more honesty and more industry than any -ever brought before a Committee of the House of -Commons.”<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p> - -<p>Yet how near it came to destroying the reform -outright.</p> - -<p>The third and concluding Report of the proceedings -of this memorable Committee was entrusted for -revision to the competent hands of Mr Warburton, -who made of it a model Blue Book. “On all important -points,” wrote Rowland Hill, “it gave to my -statements and conclusions the sanction of its powerful -authority. Nevertheless, as the Committee had -determined on the recommendation of a twopenny -rate, the Report had to be framed in at least formal -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> -accordance with this fact; though both Mr Wallace, -in whose name it went to the Committee, and Mr -Warburton, its author, were strongly in favour of the -penny rate. A careful perusal of the document, however, -will show that, though the twopenny rate is -formally recommended, the penny rate is the one -really suggested for adoption. In this sense it was -understood by the public; and, to my knowledge, it -was wished that it should be so understood.”<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p> - -<p>Outside the official circle, opinion, though mainly -favourable, was still a good deal divided; and the -dismal prophecies which always precede the passing -into law of any great reform had by no means ceased -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> -to be heard. It is therefore not altogether surprising -that even so clear-sighted a man as Sydney Smith—whose -wisdom is too seldom remembered by those -who think of him only as a wit—should have laughed -at “this nonsense of a penny post.” But when the -“nonsense” had had three years of trial he wrote to -its author, uninvited, a letter of generous appreciation.</p> - -<p>Miss Martineau, as an able journalist and political -economist, gave valuable assistance to the postal -reform. To read her statesmanlike letters to my -father, even after the lapse of over half a century, is -indeed a “liberal education.” In these, when writing -of the old system, she employed several notable -phrases, of which, perhaps, one of the finest was that -describing the barrier raised by heavy postal rates -between severed relatives as “the infliction which -makes the listening parent deaf and the full-hearted -daughter dumb.” In a letter, written shortly before -penny postage became a reality, to him whom in her -Autobiography she calls “the most signal social benefactor -of our time,” she told how “we are all putting -up our letter-boxes on our hall doors with great glee.” -In the same letter she described the joy of the many -poor “who can at last write to one another as if they -were all M.P.s!” <i>As if they were all M.P.s!</i> What -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> -a comment, what a, may be, unconsciously satirical -reflection on the previous state of things!<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a></p> - -<p>The great O'Connell gave to the postal reform the -aid of his powerful influence both within and without -Parliament. He was a friend of Matthew Davenport -Hill, and at an early stage of the agitation assured -my uncle of his hearty appreciation of the plan. -O'Connell himself would have proposed the Parliamentary -Committee on Postage, of which, as we have -seen, one of his sons was made a member, had not -Mr Wallace already taken the initiative; and, later, -when the Bill was before the House, four of the -O'Connells, headed by their chieftain, went into the -“Ayes” lobby, together with other members from -the Green Isle. The proposed reform naturally and -strongly appealed to the sympathies of the inhabitants -of the poorer of the two islands. In May 1839, on the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> -occasion of a public deputation to the Prime Minister, -Lord Melbourne, to urge adoption of the reform, -O'Connell spoke in moving terms of its necessity. One -passage of his speech recalls the remark made, many -years after, by Gladstone when, at the final interview -between himself and a later Irish leader, the aged -statesman, in answer to a question put by the historian -of “Our Own Times,” said that, in his opinion, -O'Connell's principal characteristic was “a passion -of philanthropy.”<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> -“My poor countrymen,” said -O'Connell in 1839, “do not smuggle [letters], for the -high postage works a total prohibition to them. They -are too poor to find out secondary conveyances; and -if you shut the Post Office to them, which you do -now, you shut out warm hearts and generous affections -from home, kindred, and friends.”<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a></p> - -<p>Hume, one of the great economists, a member of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> -that “Manchester School” which the shallow wits of -the present time deride, and present at this deputation, -was a man who never advocated any course likely to -be improvident. Yet, undismayed by possible loss -of revenue, he gave the postal reform his heartiest -support;<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> -while Mr Moffatt, bolder still, volunteered, -should the Government shrink from the undertaking, -to start a City Company to work the Post Office, meanwhile -guaranteeing to the State the same annual income -that it was accustomed to receive.</p> - -<p>Mr Warburton, who headed the deputation, said, -with telling emphasis, that the proposed reform was a -measure which a Liberal party had a just right to -expect from a Liberal Administration. The deputation, -a very important one, numbering, among others, -150 Members of Parliament, was unmistakably in -earnest, and the Government hesitated no longer. Mr -Warburton's hint was perfectly well understood; and -Lord Melbourne's reply was cautious but favourable.<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p> - -<p>Some three weeks later Mr Warburton wrote to -tell my father that “penny postage is to be granted.”<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> -Three days later still, Mr Warburton wrote again -that the very date was now settled on which public -announcement of that fact would be made. A few -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> -days later still, Mr Warburton rose in the House -to ask the Home Secretary, Lord John Russell, -whether the Government intended to proceed with -a twopenny or a penny rate. Lord John replied -that the Government would propose a resolution in -favour of a uniform penny postage.</p> - -<p>By Mr Warburton's advice, Rowland Hill was -present when this announcement was made, and deep -was the gratification he felt.</p> - -<p>Still somewhat fearful lest the Government should -hesitate to adopt prepayment and the postage stamps—details -of vital necessity to the success of the plan—its -author, about this time and at the request of the -Mercantile Committee, drew up a paper, which they -published and widely circulated, entitled “On the -Collection of Postage by Means of Stamps.”</p> - -<p>In the Upper House, Lord Radnor, a little later, -repeated Mr Warburton's question; and Lord Melbourne -replied that the Chancellor of the Exchequer -would shortly bring the matter forward.</p> - -<p>My father drew up yet another paper, entitled -“Facts and Estimates as to the Increase of Letters,” -which was also printed by the Mercantile Committee, -and a copy sent to every member of Parliament in the -hope that its perusal might secure support of the -measure when introduced to the Commons.</p> - -<p>On 5th July, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, -Mr Spring Rice, brought in his Budget, the adoption -of uniform penny postage being proposed in it.</p> - -<p>During the debate, Rowland Hill sat underneath -the gallery, but when the division came on he -had, of course, to withdraw. The two door-keepers -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> -however, who took a lively interest in the progress of -affairs, and were zealous friends to the reform, advised -its author to keep within hail; and at intervals one -or other of them gave a hurried whisper through -the grating in the door. “All right!” “Going on -capitally!” “Sure of a majority!” came in succession; -and when the anxious listener was laughingly -informed that Colonel Sibthorpe—a Tory of Tories, -and at one time beloved of <i>Punch's</i> caricaturists—had -gone into the “Ayes” lobby, the cause indeed -seemed won. In a House of only 328 members -there were 215 “ayes,” and 113 “noes,” being a -majority of 102, or nearly 2 to 1.</p> - -<p>But the House of Lords had still to be reckoned -with; and towards it the untiring Mercantile Committee -next directed its attention. Some of its members -were formed into a deputation to interview the more -influential peers, the Duke of Wellington for one.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> -Mr Moffatt thereupon put himself into communication -with the old soldier, and received from him a -characteristic and crushing reply. “F. M. the Duke -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> -of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr Moffatt. -The Duke does not fill any political office. He is not -in the habit of discussing public affairs in private, and -he declines to receive the visits of deputations or -individuals for the purpose of such discussions,” etc.</p> - -<p>Nothing daunted, Rowland Hill resolved to try -direct appeal, and wrote to the Duke, setting forth -briefly “a few facts in support of the Bill,” etc. -No answer was received, but the letter had a -scarcely looked-for effect.</p> - -<p>The second reading of the Bill in the Commons -took place on the 22nd July, Mr Goulburn, Sir Robert -Inglis, and Sir Robert Peel attacked the measure; and -Mr Baring, Lord Seymour, the Chancellor of the -Exchequer, Mr Wallace, and Mr Warburton defended -it. The House did not divide. The Bill was read -a third time on 29th July, and passed.</p> - -<p>My paternal grandfather was in the House on the -occasion, and was probably the happiest and proudest -man there, the author of the plan not even excepted.</p> - -<p>A few days later, my father, through Lord -Duncannon,<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> -received a summons to confer with -Lord Melbourne at the latter's house the following -Sunday. Lord Duncannon was present at the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> -interview; and the three soon went to work in the -most friendly fashion.</p> - -<p>The subject in hand having, after a while, been -thoroughly mastered, Lord Melbourne began to walk -up and down the room, his lips moving as if rehearsing -his speech for the House of Lords, but uttering -no word. While thus employed, a servant entered, -and made an all but inaudible announcement to his -master. “Show him into the other room,” said -Lord Melbourne; and presently passed through the -folding doors into the adjoining apartment. A hum -of conversation at once began, one of the voices -rising at last to angry tones, and the postal reformer's -name being once audibly pronounced by the irate -speaker. “It is Lord Lichfield,” quietly observed -Lord Duncannon. Gradually, peace seemed to be -restored; the visitor departed, and Lord Melbourne, -re-entering, said: “Lichfield has been here. Why a -man cannot talk of penny postage without getting into -a passion passes my understanding.”</p> - -<p>The following day, 5th August, the Prime -Minister, in a long speech, moved the second -reading of the Penny Postage Bill in the Upper -House.</p> - -<p>The Postmaster-General supported the measure, -but did not conceal his distrust of it from a financial -point of view.</p> - -<p>To Lord Brougham's speech allusion has already -been made.<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> - -<p>The Duke of Wellington did not believe that -reduced rates of postage would encourage the -soldiers on foreign or colonial service to write home -oftener than before;<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> -and in the earlier part of his -speech drew so doleful a picture of the state of -our national finances and of the danger likely to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>accrue to them through the lowering of any duty, -that the anxious listener—who, by Lord Melbourne's -wish, was in the House—seated on the steps of -the throne, feared he was about to witness the -slaughter of the scheme for which he and others -had worked so strenuously. But Lord Duncannon, -observing the downcast countenance, came up and -kindly whispered: “Don't be alarmed; he is not -going to oppose us.”</p> - -<p>Nor did he; for, after alluding to the evils of -high postal rates, the Duke went on to say that, in -his opinion, the plan most likely to remedy these -was that known as Mr Rowland Hill's. “Therefore,” -he concluded, “I shall, although with great reluctance, -vote for the Bill, and I earnestly recommend -you to do the same.”<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> - -<p>The Bill passed.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> -It received the Royal assent -on the 17th August; and at once Mr Wallace wrote -to congratulate Mrs Hill on the success of her -husband's efforts, “a success to which your unremitting -exertions have greatly contributed.”</p> -<div class="figcenter bord"><a name="i_141.jpg" id="i_141.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_141.jpg" width="357" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">CAROLINE PEARSON, LADY HILL.</div> -</div> - -<p>Mr Wallace's tribute was well deserved. My -mother was a devoted wife, a true helpmate, therein -resembling the late Lady Salisbury, Mrs Gladstone, -Lady Campbell-Bannerman, and many lesser known -women. During the long postal reform agitation, -her buoyant hopefulness and abiding faith in her -husband's plan never failed to cheer and encourage -him to persevere. Years after, when their children -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> -were old enough to understand the position, their -father would tell them how much he owed to her, -and bade them never to forget the debt. She was, -moreover, a pattern scribe, sitting, hour after hour, -untiring, unshirking, giving her opinion when asked -for it, and in a handwriting both legible and beautifully -formed, covering page after page with the -sentences he dictated. More than one pamphlet, -his journal, and letters innumerable were thus written -by her; and she also helped in the arduous preparation -for his examination before the Commissioners -of Post Office Inquiry in 1837, the Select Committee -on Postage of 1838, and the still later Committee -of 1843. Years of useful work did she thus devote -to the reform, and many a time was she seated -already busy at her task when the first hour of the -long day's vigil struck four. From her own lips -little was ever heard of this; but what other members -of the family thought of it is shown by the remark -made by an old kinswoman of my father. Some -one having spoken in her presence of her cousin -as “the father of penny postage,” she emphatically -exclaimed: “Then I know who was its mother!”</p> - -<p>The free-traders naturally hailed the postal reform -with enthusiasm. It was an economic measure entirely -after their own hearts, being, like their own -effort for emancipation, directed against monopoly -and class favouritism. Moreover, it gave an immense -impetus to their crusade, since it enabled the League's -literature to be disseminated with an ease and to -an extent which, under the old system, would have -been impossible. Thus one reform helps on another. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> -“The men of the League are your devoted servants,” -wrote Cobden in one of his cheery letters. “Colonel -Thompson,<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> -Bright, and I have blessed you not a -few times in the course of our agitating tour.”</p> - -<p>Cobden was one of the earliest and heartiest of -Rowland Hill's supporters. He thought so highly -of “Post Office Reform” that he urgently advised -its republication in a cheaper form, offering to defray -half the cost.<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> -Of the plan, when it had been some -time established, he wrote that “it is a terrible -engine for upsetting monopoly and corruption: witness -our League operations, <i>the spawn of your penny -postage</i>.”</p> - -<p>When Sir Robert Peel—more enlightened or -more independent in 1846 than in 1839 and later—repealed -the Corn Tax, Cobden again wrote to -Rowland Hill. “The League,” he said, “will be -virtually dissolved by the passing of Peel's measure. -I shall feel like an emancipated negro—having fulfilled -my seven years' apprenticeship to an agitation -which has known no respite. I feel that <i>you</i> have -done not a little to strike the fetters from my limbs, -for without the penny postage we might have had -more years of agitation and anxiety.”<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a></p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> -<p>The Post Office, as we have seen, had hitherto -existed chiefly for the benefit of the aristocratic and -moneyed classes—those of the latter, at least, who -were Members of Parliament, then rich men only—the -general public having to pay dearly for the -privilege of using the Department for conveyance -of their correspondence. But with the advent of -the new system, the Post Office straightway became -the paid servant—and a far more faithful and efficient -one than it is sometimes given credit for being—of -the entire nation, since upon every man, woman, -and child in the United Kingdom were henceforth -conferred equal rights to postal intercourse.</p> - -<p>Strange to say, the passing of the Penny Postage -Bill had, to some extent, depended upon the successful -making of a bargain. In April 1839 Lord -Melbourne's Government brought in what was known -as the Jamaica Bill, which proposed to suspend for -five years that Colony's Constitution. The measure -was strenuously opposed by the Conservatives led -by Peel and by some of the Liberals. On the second -reading of the Bill, the Government escaped defeat -by the narrow majority of five, and at once resigned. -Peel was sent for by the Queen, but, owing to the -famous “Bedchamber Difficulty,” failed to form a -Ministry. Lord Melbourne returned to office, and -the Radical members agreed to give his Administration -their support on condition that penny postage -should be granted. “Thus,” says my brother, “one -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> -of the greatest social reforms ever introduced was -actually given as a bribe by a tottering Government -to secure political support.”<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> -A party move not -altogether without precedent.</p> - -<p>When the new postal system became a legalised -institution both Mr Wallace and Mr Warburton, -independently of one another, wrote to Lord Melbourne, -and urged him to give Rowland Hill a -position in which he would be enabled to work out -his plan. Of Mr Wallace's letter my father said -that it was but a specimen of that tried friend's -general course. “He makes no reference to his -own valuable labours, but only urges claim for me.” -Mr Warburton's letter was equally generous and -self-oblivious.</p> - -<p>Lord Melbourne turned no deaf ear to these -appeals. In the autumn of 1839 the reformer was -appointed for a term of two years—afterwards extended -to three—to the Treasury to superintend the -working of his plan. Obviously, his proper place, and -that to which the public expected him to be raised, -was the Post Office; but the hostile element there was -probably too formidable to be withstood. The new -Chancellor of the Exchequer—Mr Spring Rice had -gone to the Upper House as Lord Monteagle—was -Mr (afterwards Sir) Francis Baring, whom Rowland -Hill found an able, zealous, high-minded chief, and -whose friendship he valued to the last.</p> - -<p>Of what can only be correctly described as the -fanatical opposition of the Post Office authorities to -the reform, it is easy, and customary, to point the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> -finger of scorn or of derision. This is unjust. -Honourable men occupying responsible positions as -heads of an important branch of the Civil Service, -and bound, therefore, to safeguard what they believe -to be its truest interests, have a difficult task to -carry out when they are confronted with the forcible -acceptance of an untried scheme in whose soundness -they have little or no faith. That the policy the -postal officials pursued was a mistaken one time has -abundantly proved; but if their opposition argued -lack of understanding, they merely acted as the -generality of men similarly situated would have done. -Even Rowland Hill, who, as an outsider, battered -so long at the official gates, was wont to confess, -when, later, he found shelter within the citadel they -defended, that he was not a little apt to feel towards -other outsiders a hostility similar to that which his -old enemies had felt towards him. The sentiment -is not inspired by the oft-alleged tendency to somnolence -that comes of the well-upholstered official -armchair and assured salary, but from the heart-weariness -born of the daily importunity of persons -who deluge a long-suffering Department with crude -and impracticable suggestions, or with complaints that -have little or no foundation.<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> - -<p>By the time the postal reform had come to be -an established institution, not a few former adversaries -loyally aided the reformer to carry out its details, -by their action tacitly confessing, even when they -made no verbal acknowledgment, that their earlier -attitude had been a mistake. Now that all are dead -their opposition may rightly be regarded with the -tenderness that is, or should be, always extended -to the partisans of a lost cause.</p> - -<p>A great deal of the opposition was, however, far -from honest, and unfortunately had very mischievous -effects. On this subject something will be said in -the course of the ensuing chapter.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> -The members in addition to Mr Wallace were Viscount -Lowther, Lord Seymour, Sir Thomas Fremantle, and Messrs -Warburton, Poulett Thomson, Raikes Currie, Morgan John -O'Connell, Thornley, Chalmers, Pease, Mahony, Parker (Sheffield), -George William Wood, and Villiers. Three of these—Lord Seymour, -Mr Parker, and Mr Thomson (afterwards Lord Sydenham)—were -opponents of the plan, but that their opposition was mainly official -was evidenced when, the Government having adopted the plan of -reform, all three became its advocates.—“Life,” i. 287.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> -“The Jubilee of the Uniform Penny Postage,” p. 18. By Pearson -Hill, 1890. Cassell & Co. Ltd.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> -“Hansard,” xxxviii. 1462, 1464.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> -“Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage,” pp. 29, -34, etc. The gross revenue which rather more than recovered in -1851, was achieved on a four-and-three-quarters-fold increase of -letters only, whereas the Postmaster-General said that recovery -would require a twelvefold increase. Rowland Hill calculated that -recovery would ensue on a five-and-three-quarters increase.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> -Director of the Ordnance Survey, a distinguished geologist, -and an earnest worker in the cause of postal reform from quite -an early date. He had lost his hands during the Napoleonic -wars; and when he dined at our house always brought his knife, -fork, etc., and his manservant, who screwed them into place, and -changed them when needful, a process which deeply interested us -children. He did not, however, permit this serious loss to stand -in the way of his leading an active and useful public career.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> -“Third Report,” p. 48.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> -<i>Ibid.</i> p. 49. The Superintendent of the Mail-coaches considered -that each coach could carry 15 hundred-weight or 1680 -pounds.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> -“Third Report,” p. 42.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> -<i>Ibid.</i> p. 27.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> -“Post Office Reform,” p. 55.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> -“First Report,” questions 1369, 1372.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> -“Third Report,” p. 34, etc.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 325-327.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 325-327.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> -Father to a later Postmaster-General.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 328.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 329.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> -<i>Ibid.</i> i. 330.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> -The <i>Times</i> was now a hearty champion of the reform, and wrote -frequently and ably in support of it.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 337. During the writing of this Report my father had -frequent occasion to call upon its author in order to check elaborate -calculations and to put important questions in the clearest light—on -the principle, apparently, that two heads, when each is mathematical, -are better than one. “Philosopher Warburton,” as he was -sometimes called, was one of the best friends the postal reform had. -He was a man of wide influence, and an indefatigable worker. -Originally a timber merchant, he abandoned commerce for science -his favourite pursuits being mathematics and astronomy. He was a -member of the Political Economy Club from its foundation in 1821 -till his death in 1858; he was one of the founders of the London -University, and served on its first council; and he represented -Bridport, Dorset, in successive Parliaments from 1825 to 1841. It -is often asserted that a recluse, bookworm, or scientist cares for -nothing outside his own four walls or lower than the starry heavens. -In this case never was saying more completely falsified. Mr -Warburton was unusually public-spirited, a prominent Parliamentarian, -and a lucid writer. When my father visited him, he -was always received in his friend's sanctum, the dining-room, -whose appearance never altered. Dining there would have been -impossible, although the table was always set out at full length. -It was entirely covered with piles of volumes, most of them Blue -Books. The sideboard, save for one small space reserved for -astronomical instruments, was similarly loaded, as were also all -the chairs but one in addition to that reserved for Mr Warburton's -use. The floor was likewise piled with books, very narrow passages -only being left to enable people to move about; and the whole -place bore a look upon it as of “the repose of years.” When, -after talking a while, Mr Warburton resumed his pen, my father -had time, during his several visits, to read the whole of one of -Macaulay's brilliant and then newly-published Essays in a volume -which always occupied a particular spot on a table.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> -Many years after the establishment of the postal reform, on the -occasion of a tour to the English Lakes, our parents took my younger -sister and me to visit Miss Martineau at her prettily-situated -Ambleside house. We two girls were charmed with her bright, -sensible talk, and her kindly, winning personality. We found her -also much better-looking than from her portraits we had expected -to see her. <i>They</i> missed the wonderful lighting up of the clever -face which, when animated, looked far younger than when in -repose. Among other interesting items of information, she told us -of her, I fear, useless efforts to rescue the local rural population, -then mostly illiterates, from the curse of intemperance. She -contemplated giving a lecture on the subject, and showed us some -horrifying coloured drawings representing the ravages effected by -alcohol on the human system which she had prepared for it; but, -as she knew that no one would come if the lecture were announced -as about Drink, she said she should call it a “Discourse on Our -Digestive Organs,” or something of the sort. We never heard the -fate of that proposed lecture.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> -“The Story of Gladstone's Life,” p. 38. By Justin M'Carthy.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 342. How well the great orator understood his -poorer countrymen's need was shown when, for a few weeks before -the 10th of January 1840, a tentative reduction to a uniform -fourpenny rate outside London was introduced. The increase of -letters during those few weeks stood at, for England and Wales, 33; -Scotland, 51; and Ireland, 52 per cent. When my father and his -brothers—as told in the Introductory Chapter—used to wander -about the “green borderland” outside the smaller Birmingham and -Wolverhampton of the early nineteenth century, they sometimes, in -the summer and autumn seasons, fell in with the Irish haymakers -and harvesters, and were struck with the frugal manner in which -they lived, their sobriety and their unwillingness to break into the -little hoard of money—their wages—which they aimed to take back -intact to their families in Ireland at the end of their few months' -service here. The postal reform enabled these men to write letters -and to send their money home cheaply, frequently, and without -waiting for the season's close.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> -Writing of penny postage, eight years later, to the American -historian Bancroft, Hume said: “I am not aware of any reform -amongst the many I have promoted during the past forty years -that has had, and will have, better results towards the improvement -of the country, socially, morally, and politically.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> -In Earl Russell's “Recollections,” at p. 231, a quotation is made -from an entry in his journal for 1839, which says: “The Cabinet”—of -which he was a member—“was unanimous in favour of the -ingenious and popular plan of a penny postage.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 343.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> -Only those who remember any of the generation which lived -through the long and anxious years of the terrible war with France -can form an adequate idea of the veneration—adoration even—felt by -the nation for the great Duke—<i>the</i> Duke as he was generally called. -My father, at no time addicted to the “scarlet fever,” was nevertheless -one of the heartiest devotees; and one day during our three -years' sojourn at Brighton he took some of us children to the railway -station to see the veteran, then about to return to town after a visit -to the seaside. There he sat alone under the sheltering hood of his -open carriage which, with its back turned towards the locomotive, -was mounted on an ordinary truck at the rear end of the train. He -wore a dark, military cloak and close-fitting cloth cap, and with his -thin face, hooked nose, and piercing eyes looked like an ancient -eagle. His unwandering gaze was bent sea-wards as though he -descried a foreign fleet making with hostile intentions for our shores. -He was so used to being stared at that but for his at once giving the -military salute in acknowledgment of our father's respectful bow and -bared head, we might have thought him unconscious of the presence -of strangers. He seemed so to be even when our father took us -close to the train, and bade us look well at the greatest of living -Englishmen because he was so old that we might not see him again. -It would, however, have been difficult to forget a face so striking. After -all, that was not our only sight of him. We often afterwards saw him -riding in Hyde Park, where the crowd saluted him as if he were -Royalty itself; and, later still, we looked on at his never-to-be-forgotten -funeral. Mention of the “Iron Duke” and of the Brighton -railway brings back to memory another old soldier who figured in the -same wars and, as Earl of March, achieved distinction. This was -the then Duke of Richmond, on whom we children looked with -awesome curiosity, because rumour, for once a truth-teller, declared -that ever since 1815 he had carried somewhere within his corporeal -frame a bullet which defied all attempts at extraction, and, indeed, -did not prevent his attaining to a hale old age. While my father -was on the directorate of the London and Brighton railway, and -lived at that seaside resort, he often travelled to town with some -distinguished man whom he invited to share his <i>coupé</i>. (Why, -I wonder, is this pleasant sort of compartment rarely or never seen -nowadays?) More than once the Duke of Richmond was his -companion. The time was the mid 'forties, when railway locomotives -were far less powerfully built than they are now, and when, London -Bridge Terminus being up a rather long incline, it was customary, on -the departure of a train from the ticket-taking platform, to employ a -second engine to aid the one in front by pushing from behind. -The travellers were seated in an end <i>coupé</i>, and opposite their seats -were, of course, only the usual glass windows. When, therefore, -the Duke for the first time saw the auxiliary engine coming close up -against the carriage, he did not know what it meant, turned pale, -and showed considerable uneasiness. My father soon assured him -that all was right, and then asked why he, a veteran campaigner, -was unnerved by a mere railway engine. Whereupon the old -soldier laughingly replied that he would far sooner face the foe on -the battlefield than sit quietly right in face of the “iron horse.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> -Lord Duncannon had been a member of the Commission of -Post Office Inquiry of 1835-1838 (already mentioned) which examined -Rowland Hill in February 1837. He was at first a strong opponent -of the Reform, but during the examination became one of its -heartiest supporters. The other two Commissioners were Lord -Seymour—who, later, served on Mr Wallace's Select Committee, was -afterwards Duke of Somerset, and gave to the world an unorthodox -little volume—and Mr Labouchere, afterwards Lord Taunton, and -uncle to the better-known proprietor of <i>Truth</i>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> -Chap. ii. p. 80. With Lord Brougham and others, my father, -some years before, had been associated in the movement for the -“Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,” a Society which, in England -and Wales acted as pioneers in the good work of publishing cheap -and wholesome literature, just as in Scotland did the Chambers -Brothers. Unfortunately, Brougham believed himself to be scientific, -and contributed to the series an article so full of mistakes that some -wag immediately dubbed the Society that for the “<i>Con</i>fusion of -Useful,” etc. Brougham was a supporter of the postal reform, and -my father found in him more kindliness than the world gave him -credit for possessing. The great lawyer was a very eccentric man, -and <i>Punch</i> caricatured him unmercifully, invariably representing him -as clad in the large-checked “inexpressibles” which he is said -to have always worn because, in a moment of weakness, he had -purchased as a bargain so huge a roll of cloth of that pattern that -it supplied him with those garments for the rest of his days. The -story is pretty generally known of his causing to be published the -news of his death, and of his sitting, very much alive, in a back room -of his darkened house, and reading, with quite pardonable interest, -the obituary notices which appeared in the different newspapers. -He wrote an execrable hand, which varied in degrees of illegibility. -The least illegible he and his secretary alone could read; a worse -he only; the very worst, not even he could decipher, especially -if he had forgotten the matter of which it treated. This story has, -of course, been fathered on many bad writers; but any one possessed -of a Brougham autograph must feel convinced that to none but -him could possibly belong its authorship.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> -How much mistaken the old warrior was as regards the soldiers' -letters has been abundantly proved. During the first eight months -of postal communication between the United Kingdom and our -comparatively small army in the Crimea—and long, therefore, before -the Board School era—more than 350,000 letters passed each way; -while when the Money Order system, for the first time in history, -was extended to the seat of war, in one year over £100,000 was sent -home for wives and families.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 352-360.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> -When it passed the Lords, Cobden is said to have exclaimed: -“There go the Corn Laws!”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> -Colonel Perronet Thompson was the author of the once -famous “Anti-Corn-Law Catechism,” which might, with great -advantage, be reprinted now. He was a public-spirited man, one -of the foremost among the free-traders, and deserves to be better -remembered than he is.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> -The pamphlet was published at a shilling; in those days of -paper taxation, when books were necessarily dear and correspondingly -scarce, a by no means exorbitant price.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> -During a part of Cobden's Parliamentary career and that of his -and our friends, J. B. Smith and Sir Joshua Walmsley, all three men -were next-door neighbours, living in London in three adjoining -houses. Hence Nos. 101, 103, and 105 Westbourne Terrace came -to be known as “Radical Row.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> -“The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago,” p. 24.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> -Losses, for example, are often imputed to the Post Office for -which it is entirely blameless. Did space allow, scores of instances -might be cited. One of the most absurd was the case of a London -merchant, who, in the course of very many months, wrote at -intervals angry letters to the Postmaster-General asking why such -or such a letter had not reached its destination. No amount of -enquiries could trace the errant missives; and the luckless Department -was, at corresponding intervals, denounced for its stupidity in -equally angry letters to the Press. One day, while certain city -improvements were being carried out, an ancient pump, near the -merchant's office, which had long refused to yield any water was -taken down, when its interior presented an unusual appearance. -An errand-boy had, at odd times, been sent to post the Firm's -letters, and had slipped them into the narrow slit where once the -vanished pump-handle used to work. The introduction of street -letter-boxes was then recent, and their aspect still unfamiliar. The -boy had therefore taken the venerable relic for one of those novel -structures, and all the missing letters lay therein.</p></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> - <h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ac noindent">AT THE TREASURY</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">To</span> any one disposed to belief in omens it would seem -that the beginning of Rowland Hill's connection with -the Treasury augured ill for its continuance. Even -the letter which invited him to office went near to -miss reaching its destination.</p> - -<p>He had left town for a brief rest after the -strenuous work of the close upon three years' struggle -for postal reform, leaving strict orders at the South -Australian Office that if any communication from -the Government intended for him arrived there it -should be forwarded without delay. The document -did arrive, but was laid aside to await the wanderer's -return because it bore in the left-hand corner what -seemed to be the signature of a then well-known man -connected with Australian affairs who, at the meetings -of the Association, was much given to bestow on -its members much unsought advice and worthless -criticism; and was therefore, by unanimous consent, -voted an insufferable bore. However, when a -messenger came from the Treasury to ask why no -notice had been taken of a letter from the Chancellor -of the Exchequer, the alarmed clerk on duty hastened -to send on the belated dispatch, wrapped up as a -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> -brown paper parcel, by railway, as being, to his -mind, the most expeditious, apparently because most -novel mode of conveyance. But parcels by rail made -slower progress in those days than in these; and -when at last this one reached its destination its date -was hardly of the newest.</p> - - -<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_148.jpg" id="i_148.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_148.jpg" width="455" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">No. 1, ORME SQUARE.<br /> - The residence of Rowland Hill when Penny Postage was established.<br /> - The Tablet was put up by the L.C.C.<br /> - <i>From a Photograph by Messrs. Whiteley & Co.</i></div> -</div> - -<p>The first interview with the Chancellor of the -Exchequer was scarcely satisfactory, but through no -fault of Mr Baring, who was but the mouthpiece of -the Cabinet. The Government, as we have seen, -offered a temporary (two years') engagement to a -man already provided with steady employment, and -therefore in a fairly good financial position, as things -were then accounted; required him to devote his -whole time to the public service; and to this temporary -engagement proposed to attach the salary -of a head clerk. This, too, to a man who, with the -help of thousands of supporters of every class, had -just inaugurated an epoch-making reform destined to -confer lasting benefit on his own country and on the -entire civilised world; who was on the wrong side -of forty; and who had a wife and young children to -support. The offer—however intended—could only -be described as shabby; and the fact that during -the interview the amount of emolument was twice -increased suggested a hard-bargain-driving transaction -rather than a discussion between friendly -negotiators. We have also seen that in 1837 -Rowland Hill, through his friend Mr Villiers, offered -to make a present to the Government of his plan—willing, -because he was convinced of its soundness -and workability, to let them have the full credit of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> -its introduction, but stipulating that if the gift were -refused he should refer his proposals to the Press, -and to the country—a gift the Government had not -the courage to accept. It is therefore clear that -monetary greed found no place in my father's temperament, -but only the dread which every prudent -husband and father must feel when confronted with -the prospect, in two years' time and at the age -of forty-six, of recommencing the arduous battle of -life.</p> - -<p>He told Mr Baring that while he was willing -to give his services gratuitously, or to postpone the -question of remuneration till the new system should -have had adequate trial, it would be impossible for -him to enter on such an undertaking were he placed -on a footing inferior to that of the Secretary to the -Post Office—a necessary stipulation if the reformer -was to have full power to carry his plan into operation. -He was well aware that the post officials -viewed it and him with unfriendly eyes; and his -anxiety was not diminished by the knowledge that -his reform would be developed under another roof -than that of the Treasury, and by the very men -who had pronounced the measure revolutionary, -preposterous, wild, visionary, absurd, clumsy, and -impracticable. His opponents had prophesied that -the plan would fail; and as Matthew Davenport Hill, -when writing of this subject, wittily and wisely said: -“I hold in great awe prophets who may have the -means of assisting in the fulfilment of their own predictions.” -It was therefore imperative that Rowland -Hill's position should be a well-defined one, and he -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> -himself be placed on an equality with the principal -executive officer among those with whose habits and -prejudices he was bound to interfere. The labour -would be heavy, and the conditions were unusual. -He must try to turn enemies still smarting under the -bitterness of defeat into allies willing as well as able -to help on the reform they detested; and to persuade -them not to place obstacles in its way. The innovations -to be made would be numerous, because, while -reduction of postage and modes of prepayment formed -the principal features of the plan, they were far from -being the only features. The projected increase of -facilities for transmitting letters, etc., would cause an -immense amount of extra work; and as in this matter -he would have to contend with the Post Office almost -single-handed, nothing would be easier than for its -head officials to raise plausible objections by the score -to every proposal made. Nor could the public, who -had now secured cheap postage and an easier mode -of paying for it—to superficial eyes the only part of -the plan worth fighting for—be henceforth relied upon -to give the reformer that support which was necessary -to carry out other important details; the less so as -the reformer would be debarred from appealing for -outside help or sympathy, because, when once the -official doorways are passed, a man's independence -is lost, and his lips are perforce sealed.</p> - -<p>The interview was brought to a close by Rowland -Hill telling Mr Baring that before returning a definite -answer he must consult his friends; and that as his -eldest brother was away on circuit at Leicester, and -he proposed to start at once for that town to seek -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> -fraternal advice, three days must elapse before the -matter could be settled.</p> - -<p>He found his brother lying on a couch in a state -of exhaustion after a very hard day's work, and -Rowland proposed to delay discussion of the question -till the following day. But Matthew would not hear -of this; and, getting more and more moved as the -younger man proceeded with his tale, presently sprang -upright, and, oblivious of fatigue, threw himself with -ardour into the subject of the offered appointment. -After a while, Matthew proposed to write a letter on -his own account to Rowland, which the latter should -hand to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. This was -done the next day, the younger brother writing to the -elder's dictation; and the letter is given at full length -in my father's “Life” and in my brother's “The Post -Office of Fifty Years Ago.” In Matthew's own clear -and eloquent language—for he was as admirable a -writer as he was a speaker—are expressed the views -enunciated above, which Rowland had already laid -before Mr Baring at the interview just described.</p> - -<p>Before the Chancellor of the Exchequer and my -father met again the former wrote him a letter -explanatory of the course of conduct to be adopted -on his engagement at the Treasury, stating, among -other things, that free access to the Post Office, and -every facility of enquiry as to the arrangements made -would be given, but that all “your communications -will be to the Treasury, from which any directions -to the Post Office will be issued; and you will not -exercise any direct authority, or give any immediate -orders to the officers of the Post Office.” The -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> -explanation was said to be given “to prevent future -misunderstanding”; and this was doubtless the -euphonious mode of expressing apprehension of a -state of things which, in view of the well-known -hostility of St Martin's-le-Grand, the writer felt was -likely to arise; and again mention was made of the -condition that “the employment is considered as -temporary, and not to give a <i>claim</i> to continued -employment in office at the termination of those two -years.”<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> - -<p>The prospect was scarcely satisfactory; nevertheless, -my father hoped that by the end of his term -of engagement, and by unceasing effort on his part, -he might find himself “in a recognised position, in -direct communication with persons of high authority, -and entrusted with powers which, however weak and -limited in the outset, seemed, if discreetly used, not -unlikely in due time to acquire strength and durability. -I was far from supposing that the attainment of my -post was the attainment of my object. The obstacles, -numerous and formidable, which had been indicated -in my brother's letter had all, I felt, a real existence; -while others were sure to appear of which, as yet, I -knew little or nothing. Still, I felt no way daunted, -but, relying at once on the efficiency of my plan, I -felt confident of succeeding in the end.”<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p> - -<p>The goal at which Rowland Hill aimed was, as -he told Mr Baring at this second interview, the -permanent headship—as distinguished from the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> -political headship—of the Post Office, then filled by -Colonel Maberly:<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> -the only position in which the -reformer could really acquire that authority which -was essential to the development of his plan. But -the Fates were stronger even than one strong-willed -man; and Colonel Maberly held the post for fifteen -years longer. Thus, when the helm came at last -into Rowland Hill's hands, he was long past middle -life; and his years of almost unrestricted influence -were destined to be but few.</p> - -<p>Further encouragement to accept the present -position was given by Mr Baring's friendly, sympathetic -attitude; and it should here be recorded -that the longer Rowland Hill served under his chief -the more cordial grew the relations between them. -Ample proof of this confidence was seen in the -Chancellor of the Exchequer's increased readiness -to adopt suggestions from the new official, and to -leave to him the decision on not a few questions of -importance.</p> - -<p>On the first day of my father's appointment he -accompanied Mr Baring to the Post Office, that -being the first time the reformer had set foot within -its portals. He was much interested in the different -processes at work, such as date-stamping, “taxing”—the -latter destined soon, happily, to be abolished—sorting, -etc. But the building, which had been -erected at great expense only ten years previously, -struck him as too small for the business carried on -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> -in it; badly planned, badly ventilated, and deficient in -sanitary arrangements—a monument to the fatuity -alike of architect and builder. This discovery led -him to think of practicable alterations in the existing -edifice and of devolution in the shape of erection -of district offices; and by Mr Baring's wish he drew -up a paper giving his views in detail, and including -with his proposals that necessary accompaniment -of amalgamation into one force of the two corps of -letter-carriers, the general and the “twopenny post” -men, which has already been alluded to. But this -greatly needed measure was, perforce, deferred till -after Colonel Maberly's retirement.</p> - -<p>In order the better to get through as much of his -projected work as he could accomplish in the twice -twelvemonths before him, my father rose daily at -six, and after an early breakfast set off for the -Treasury, where at first his appearance at an hour -when many officials were probably only beginning -to rise caused considerable astonishment, and where -he stayed as long as he could. If even under these -circumstances the progress made seemed slow and -unsatisfactory to the man longing to behold his -scheme adopted in its entirety, how much worse -would not the reform have fared had he kept strictly -to the hours prescribed by official custom!</p> - -<p>A few weeks after his acceptance of office, and -at Mr Baring's suggestion, he visited Paris to inspect -the postal system there. He found it in many -respects well ahead of our own. In France the old -system never weighed so heavily upon the people as -did our own old system upon us. The charges were -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> -about two-thirds of our own for corresponding distances, -but the number of a letter's enclosures was -not taken into consideration, the postage varying -according to weight. Though Paris was much -smaller than London, its post offices were more -numerous than ours, being 246 against our 237. -There was a sort of book post, a parcel post for -valuables of small dimensions at a commission paid -of 5 per cent.—the Post Office, in case of loss, -indemnifying the loser to the extent of the value -of the article; and a money order system so far in -advance of our own that the French people sent -more than double as much money through the post -as we did. The gross revenue was about two-thirds -that of the British Post Office; the expenses 20 -per cent. more; the nett revenue less than half.</p> - -<p>Street letter-boxes were an old institution in -France; our own, therefore, were but an adaptation. -The larger towns of Germany possessed them, as -did also the towns and villages of the Channel Isles. -After his visit to France, Rowland Hill urged the -Treasury to adopt street letter-boxes, and one was -put up in Westminster Hall. But it was not till -the early 'fifties that they were introduced to any -great extent. Before the establishment of penny -postage there were only some 4,500 post offices in -the United Kingdom. In the year of my father's -death (1879), the number had grown to over 13,000, -in addition to nearly 12,000 pillar and wall boxes. -And the advance since 1879 has, of course, been very -great.<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> -But it is not alone in number that the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> -change is seen. In the case of post offices, a -handsome edifice full of busy workers has, in many -towns and districts, replaced an insignificant building -managed by a few more or less leisurely officials, -or by even one person.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_157.jpg" id="i_157.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_157.jpg" width="373" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">AN OLD POST OFFICE.<br /> - <span class="smcap">A Post-Office in 1790.</span><br /> - By permission of the Proprietors of the <i>City Press</i>.</div> -</div> - -<p>It was during this visit to Paris that my father -became acquainted with M. Piron, <i>Sous Directeur des -Postes aux Lettres</i>, a man whose memory should not -be suffered to perish, since it was mainly through -his exertions that the postal reform was adopted in -France. For several years during the latter part of -Louis Philippe's reign, M. Piron strove so persistently -to promote the cause of cheap postage that he actually -injured his prospects of rising in the Service, -as the innovation was strenuously opposed both -by the monarch and by the Postmaster-General, -M. Dubost, the “French Maberly.” Therefore, -while the “citizen king” remained on the throne the -Government gave little or no encouragement to the -proposed reform. But M. Piron, too much in earnest -to put personal advancement above his country's -welfare, went on manfully fighting for cheap postage. -He it was who made the accidental discovery among -the archives of the French Post Office of documents -which showed that a M. de Valayer had, nearly two -hundred years before, established in Paris a private -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> -(penny?) post—of which further mention will be made -in the next chapter. Neither Charles Knight, who -first suggested the impressed stamp, nor Rowland -Hill, who first suggested the adhesive stamp, had -heard of M. de Valayer or of his private post; and -even in France they had been forgotten, and might -have remained so but for M. Piron's discovery. One -is reminded of the re-invention of the mariner's -compass and of many other new-old things.</p> - -<p>Nine years after my father's official visit to Paris, -that is, with the advent of the Revolution of 1848, -the reforming spirit in France had stronger sway; -and M. Piron's efforts were at last crowned with -success. The uniform rate proposed by him (20 -centimes) was adopted, and the stamp issued was -the well-known black head of Liberty. In order to -keep pace with the public demand, the first sheets -were printed in such a hurry that some of the heads—the -dies to produce which were then detached from -one another—were turned upside down. M. Piron -sent my father one of the earliest sheets with apologies -for the reversals. These are now almost unobtainable, -and are therefore much prized by philatelists.</p> - -<p>During this visit to Paris, or at a later one, my -father also made the acquaintance of M. Grasset, -M. St Priest, and other leading post officials; and, -among non-official and very interesting people, -M. Horace Say, son to the famous Jean Baptiste -Say, and father to the late M. Léon Say, three -generations of illustrious Frenchmen.</p> - -<p>Although travelling in France—or, indeed, in -England or any other country—was in 1839 very -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> -different from what it has become in these luxurious -days, for railways were established later in France -than they were here, my mother had accompanied -her husband. One day the pair set off in a <i>calèche</i> -to visit some old friends who lived in a rather distant -part of the country. Darkness came on, and ere long -all trace of the road was lost. At last the wretched -little vehicle broke down in a field; and the driver, -detaching the horse, rode off to try to discover their -whereabouts. The process was a slow one; and the -travellers were left alone for what seemed to be -many hours. Near the field was a wood in which -wolves had been seen that day, and there was good -reason to dread a visit from them. When at last the -driver, having found the right road, reappeared, -attached the horse to the <i>calèche</i>, and pushed on -again, he drove his party by mistake to the back-door -of their friends' house. It was now late at -night, and the family, who had retired to rest, and -were waked by the driver's loud knocking, mistook -the belated travellers for robbers, and refused to -unbar the door. It was only after a long parley -that the wearied visitors were admitted, to receive, -of course, the warmest welcome. The master of the -house had been the hero of an unusually romantic -story. As a young officer in the French army, he -was captured at the time of the unfortunate Walcheren -expedition, and carried to England, there to remain -some years as a prisoner of war. While on <i>parole</i> -he made many friends in this country, where he -occupied part of his time by the study of English -law, in which he became a proficient. During his -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> -novitiate he became acquainted with a young lady -unto whom he was not long in losing his heart. As -he came to know her and her widowed mother better, -a suspicion crossed his mind that the daughter was -being kept out of a handsome property, rightly hers, -by a fraudulent relative. Examination of the case -strengthened suspicion into conviction, and he undertook -to champion her cause, his knowledge of English -law coming in as a powerful weapon to his hand. -On conclusion of the trial, he and some of those -who had acted with him set off for the lady's home -as fast as horses, post-boys, and money could take -them. “They are scattering guineas!” exclaimed a -bystander. “They have won the case!” It was so, -and something more than the case, for the gallant -young Frenchman was rewarded for his prowess by -receiving in marriage the hand of the girl for whom -he had accomplished so much. When the war was -over, M. Chevalier returned to France together with -his wife and her mother.</p> - -<p>Heartily as Mr Baring approved of the new -system, he still distrusted the principle of prepayment. -In this opinion he was, as we have seen, not -singular. By many people it was still pronounced -“un-English” to prepay letters. But my father was -so confident of the wisdom of the step that Mr -Baring ultimately gave way, stipulating only that -the responsibility should rest, not on the Chancellor -of the Exchequer, but on the author of the reform. -The condition was unhesitatingly accepted.</p> - -<p>To ensure use of the stamps, Mr Baring, later, -proposed that it should be made illegal to prepay -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> -postage other than by their means; but Rowland -Hill, hating compulsion, and feeling confident of -their ultimate acceptability, maintained that it would -be better if at first the two modes of payment, money -and stamps, contended for public favour on equal -terms, and succeeded in convincing Mr Baring of -the soundness of that view.</p> - -<p>The question of the stamps was therefore one -of the first to require my father's attention on his -return from Paris; and he found much to occupy -him in dealing with the many suggestions contained -in the letters sent in by the public, and in the vast -number of designs accompanying them. As the -succeeding chapter will show, the subject, in one -form or another, took up much of his time for a -little over twelve months.</p> - -<p>Early in December, at his suggestion, the tentative -postal rate of 1d. for London, and 4d. for the -rest of the kingdom was introduced, all tiresome -extras such as the penny on each letter for using the -Menai and Conway bridges, the halfpenny for crossing -the Scottish border, etc., being abolished. This -experiment was made to allow the postal staff to -become familiarised with the new system, as a vast -increase of letters, necessarily productive of some -temporary confusion, was looked for on the advent -of the uniform penny rate. Under the old system -4d. had been the lowest charge beyond the radius -of the “twopenny post”; therefore, even the preliminary -reduction was a relief. But although three -years earlier a lowering of the existing rates to a -minimum of 6d. or 8d. would have been eagerly -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> -welcomed, the public were now looking forward to -yet lower charges; and the prospect of paying 4d. -was viewed with great dissatisfaction. People began -to suspect that the concession would go no further, -that the Government intended to “cheat the public,” -and my father was accused of having “betrayed his -own cause.” Thus easily is a scare manufactured.</p> - -<p>The result of the first day of this preliminary -measure was awaited with some anxiety. The -increase of the fourpenny letters was about 50, and -of the penny letters nearly 150 <i>per cent.</i>, the unpaid -letters being about as numerous as usual, prepayment -being not yet made compulsory. This state -of things my father considered “satisfactory”; Mr -Baring “very much so.” The next day the numbers -fell off, and this gave the enemies of postal reform -a delightful, and by no means neglected, opportunity -of writing to its author letters of the “I told you -so!” description.</p> - -<p>The 10th of January 1840, when the uniform penny -rate came into operation, was a busy day at the -post offices of the country. Many people made a -point of celebrating the occasion by writing to their -friends, and not a few—some of the writers being -entire strangers—addressed letters of thanks to the -reformer.<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> -One of these was from Miss Martineau, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> -who had worked ably and well for the reform; and -another from the veteran authoress, Miss Edgeworth, -whom, some twenty years earlier, Rowland Hill had -visited in her interesting ancestral home.<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a></p> - -<p>At that time, and for many years after, there -was at St Martin's-le-Grand a large centre hall -open to the public, but, later, covered over and -appropriated by the ever-growing Circulation Department. -At one end of the hall was a window, which -during part of the day always stood open to receive -the different kinds of missives. These, as the hour for -closing drew near, poured in with increasing volume, -until at “six sharp,” when the reception of matter -for the chief outgoing mail of the day ended, the -window shut suddenly, sometimes with a letter or -newspaper only half-way through.<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> -On the afternoon -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> -of the 10th, six windows instead of one were -opened; and a few minutes before post time a -seventh was thrown up, at which the chief of the -Circulation Department himself stood to help in the -receipt of letters. The crowd was good-tempered, -and evidently enjoyed the crush, though towards -the last letters and accompanying pennies were -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> -thrown in anyhow, sometimes separating beyond -hope of reunion; and though many people were unable -to reach the windows before six o'clock struck. -When the last stroke of the hour had rung out, -and the lower sash of every window had come down -with a rush like the guillotine, a great cheer went -up for “penny postage and Rowland Hill,” and -another for the Post Office staff who had worked -so well.</p> - -<p>So much enthusiasm was displayed by the public -that the author of the new system fully expected -to hear that 100,000 letters, or more than three times -the number usually dispatched, had been posted. -The actual total was about 112,000.</p> - -<p>The reformer kept a constant watch on the returns -of the number of inland letters passing through the -post. The result was sometimes satisfactory, sometimes -the reverse, especially when a return issued -about two months after the establishment of the -penny rate showed that the increase was rather less -than two-and-three-quarters-fold. The average -postage on the inland letters proved to be three -halfpence; and the reformer calculated that at that -rate a four-and-three-quarters-fold increase would -be required to bring up the gross revenue to its -former dimensions. Eleven years later his calculation -was justified by the result; and in the thirteenth -year of the reform the number of letters was exactly -five times as many as during the last year of the -old system.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, it was satisfactory to find that the -reductions which had recently been made in the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> -postage of foreign letters had led to a great increase -of receipts, and that in no case had loss to the -revenue followed.</p> - -<p>One reason for the comparatively slow increase -in the number of inland letters must be attributed to -the persistent delay in carrying out my father's plan -for extending rural distribution. In the minute he -drew up, he says: “The amount of population thus -seriously inconvenienced the Post Office has declared -itself unable to estimate, but it is probable that in -England and Wales alone it is not less than -4,000,000. The great extent of the deficiency [of postal -facilities] is shown by the fact that, while these two -divisions of the empire contain about 11,000 parishes, -their total number of post offices of all descriptions -is only about 2,000. In some places <i>quasi</i> post -offices have been established by carriers and others, -whose charges add to the cost of a letter, in some -instances as much as sixpence. A penny for every -mile from the post office is a customary demand.”<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a></p> - -<p>Of the beneficent effects of cheap postage, gratifying -accounts were meanwhile being reported; some -told in conversation, or in letters from friends or -strangers, some in the Press or elsewhere.</p> - -<p>One immediate effect was an impetus to education, -especially among the less affluent classes. When -one poor person could send another of like condition -a letter for a penny instead of many times that -amount, it was worth the while of both to learn to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> -read and write. Many people even past middle age -tried to master the twin arts; and at evening classes, -some of which were improvised for the purpose, two -generations of a family would, not infrequently, be -seen at work seated side by side on the same school -bench. Other poor people, with whom letter-writing, -for lack of opportunity to practise it, had become a -half-forgotten handicraft, made laborious efforts to -recover it. And thus old ties were knit afresh, as -severed relatives and friends came into touch again. -Surely, to hinder such reunion by “blocking” rural -distribution and other important improvements was -little, if at all, short of a crime.</p> - -<p>Mr Brookes, a Birmingham home missionary, -reported that the correspondence of the poorer classes -had probably increased a hundredfold; and that -adults as well as young people took readily to prepayment, -and enjoyed affixing the adhesive Queen's -head outside their letters.</p> - -<p>Professor Henslow, then rector of Hitcham, -Suffolk, wrote of the importance of the new system -to those who cultivated science and needed to exchange -ideas and documents. He also stated that -before penny postage came in he had often acted -as amanuensis to his poorer parishioners, but that -they now aspired to play the part of scribe themselves.</p> - -<p>The servant class, hitherto generally illiterate, -also began to indite letters home; and a young -footman of Mr Baring's one day told my father that -he was learning to write in order to send letters to -his mother, who lived in a remote part of the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> -country; and added that he had many friends who -were also learning. Indeed, one poor man, settled -in the metropolis, proudly boasted that he was now -able to receive daily bulletins of the condition of -a sick parent living many miles away.</p> - -<p>Charles Knight found that the reduced rates of -postage stimulated every branch of his trade—an -opinion endorsed by other publishers and book-sellers; -and the honorary secretary to the Parker -Society, whose business was the reprinting of the -early reformers' works, wrote, two years after the -abolition of the old system, to tell the author of the -new one that the very existence of the Society was -due to the penny post.</p> - -<p>“Dear Rowland,” wrote Charles Knight, in a -letter dated 10th May 1843, “The Poor Law -'Official Circular' to which par. No. 7 chiefly refers, -is one of the most striking examples of the benefit of -cheap postage. It could not have existed without -cheap postage. The Commissioners could not have -sent it under their frank without giving it away, -which would have cost them £1,000 a year. It is -sold at 4d., including the postage, which we prepay; -and we send out 5,000 to various Boards of Guardians -and others who are subscribers, and who pay, in -many cases, by post office orders. The work affords -a profit to the Government instead of costing a -thousand a year.”</p> - -<p>After four years of the new system Messrs Pickford -said that their letters had grown in number -from 30,000 to 720,000 <i>per annum</i>. And testimony -of similar character was given either in evidence -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> -before the Committee on Postage of 1843, or, from -time to time, was independently volunteered.</p> - -<p>The postal reform not only gave a vast impetus to -trade and education, but even created new industries, -among them the manufacture of letter-boxes and -letter-weighing machines—which were turned out in -immense quantities—to say nothing of the making -of stamps and of stamped and other envelopes, etc.</p> - -<p>In two years the number of chargeable letters -passing through the post had increased from -72,000,000 <i>per annum</i> to 208,000,000. Illicit conveyance -had all but ceased, and the gross revenue -amounted to two-thirds of the largest sum ever -recorded. The nett revenue showed an increase -the second year of £100,000, and the inland letters -were found to be the most profitable part of the -Post Office business.<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> -It is a marvel that the new -system should have fared as well as it did, when -we take into consideration the bitter hostility of the -postal authorities, the frequent hindrances thrown in -the path of reform, to say nothing of the terrible -poverty then existing among many classes of our -fellow country people under the blighting influence -of Protection and of the still unrepealed Corn Laws; -poverty which is revealed in the many official reports -issued during that sad time, in “S.G.O.'s” once -famous letters, and in other trustworthy documents -of those days, whose hideous picture has, later, been -revived for us in that stirring book, “The Hungry -Forties.”</p> - -<p>The hindrances to recovery of the postal revenue -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> -were in great measure caused by the delay in carrying -out the details of Rowland Hill's plan of reform. -Especially was this the case in the postponement of -the extension of rural distribution—to which allusion -has already been made—one of the most essential -features of the plan, one long and wrongfully kept -back; and, when granted, gratefully appreciated. -Issue of the stamps was also delayed, these not -being obtainable for some months after the introduction -of the new system; and there was a still longer -delay in providing the public with an adequate -supply.<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a></p> - -<p>The increase of postal expenditure was another -factor in the case. The total charge for carrying -the inland mails in 1835—the year before “Post -Office Reform” was written—was £225,920; and it -remained approximately at that figure while the old -system continued in force. Then it went up by -leaps and bounds, till by the end of the first year -of the new system (1840) it reached the sum of -£333,418. It has gone on steadily growing, as was -indeed inevitable, owing to the increase of postal -business; but the growth of expenditure would seem -to be out of all proportion to the service, great as -that is, rendered. By 1868 the charge stood at -£718,000,<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> -and before the nineteenth century died -out even this last sum had doubled.</p> - -<p>The following instance is typical of the changes -made in this respect. In 1844 the Post Office -<i>received</i> from the coach contractors about £200 for -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> -the privilege of carrying the mail twice a day -between Lancaster and Carlisle. Only ten years -later, the same service performed by the railway -cost the Post Office some £12,000 a year.<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a></p> - -<p>Another form of monetary wastefulness through -overcharge arose from misrepresentation as to the -length of railway used by the Post Office on different -lines, one Company receiving about £400 a year -more than was its due—although, of course, the true -distance was given in official notices and time-tables. -Even when the error was pointed out, the postal -authorities maintained that the charge was correct.</p> - -<p>This lavish and needless increase of expenditure -on the part of the Post Office made Mr Baring as -uneasy as it did my father. Not infrequently when -explanations were demanded as to the necessity for -these enhanced payments, evasive or long-delayed -replies were given. Thus Rowland Hill found himself -“engaged in petty contests often unavailing and -always invidious”;<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> -and in these petty contests and -ceaseless strivings to push forward some item or -other of his plan, much of his time, from first to -last, was wasted. Thus, at the beginning of 1841, -when he had been at the Treasury a year and -quarter, it became evident that, unless some improvement -took place, two years or even a longer period -would not suffice to carry out the whole of his plan.</p> - -<p>Before 1841 came to an end he was destined to -find the opposing powers stronger than ever. In -the summer of that year the Melbourne Ministry -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> -fell—to the harassed postal reformer a heavy blow. -For, if during the past two years he had not succeeded -in accomplishing nearly all he had hoped to do, still -the record of work was far from meagre. But if, -with Mr Baring as an ally, and under a Government -among whose members, so far as he knew, -he counted but a single enemy, progress was slow, -he had everything to dread from a Ministry bound -to be unfriendly.</p> - -<p>With their advent, conviction was speedily forced -upon him that the end was not far off. The amount -and scope of his work was gradually lessened; -minutes on postal matters were settled without his -even seeing them; and minutes he had himself drawn -up, with the seeming approbation of his official chiefs, -were quietly laid aside to be forgotten. On the plea -of insufficiency of employment—insufficiency which -was the natural consequence of the taking of work -out of his hands—the number of his clerks was cut -down to one; and all sorts of minor annoyances -were put in his way. Meanwhile, the demands from -the Post Office for increased salaries, advances, -allowances, etc., which during the past two years -had been frequently sent up to the Treasury, became -more persistent and incessant than ever.</p> - -<p>Rural distribution was still delayed, or was only -partially and unsatisfactorily carried out. Some places -of 200 or 300 inhabitants were allowed a post office, -while other centres peopled by 2,000 or 3,000 went -without that boon. This plan of rural distribution, -whose object was to provide post offices in 400 -registrars' districts which were without anything of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> -the sort, was, after long waiting, conceded by the -Treasury before the break-up of the Melbourne -Ministry; and my father, unused till latterly to -strenuous modes of official evasion, believed the -measure safe. He forgot to take into account the -Post Office's power of passive resistance; and several -months were yet to elapse ere he discovered that Mr -Baring's successor had suspended his predecessor's -minute; nor was its real author ever able to obtain -further information concerning it.</p> - -<p>Nor was this all. Letters written by Rowland -Hill to the new Chancellor of the Exchequer on the -subject of registration and other reforms remained -unnoticed, as did also a request to be allowed to -proceed with one or two more out of a list of -measures which stood in need of adoption. Later, -my father wrote urging that other parts of his reform -should be undertaken, drawing attention to the work -which had already been successfully achieved; and -so forth. A brief acknowledgment giving no answer -to anything mentioned in his letter was the only -outcome. At intervals of two months between the -sending of each letter, he twice wrote again, but of -neither missive was any notice taken.</p> - -<p>Among other projects it had been decided that -Rowland Hill should go to Newcastle-on-Tyne to -arrange about a day mail to that town; and the -necessary leave of absence was duly granted. He -was also desirous of visiting some of the country -post offices; but, being anxious to avoid possible -breach of rule, he wrote to Colonel Maberly on the -subject. The letter was referred to the Postmaster -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>-General, -and, after him, to the Chancellor of the -Exchequer: the result being that the sanction to any -portion of the journey was withdrawn.</p> - -<p>One of the worst instances of the official “veiled -hostility” to reform and reformer appeared in a -document which my father—who might easily have -given it a harsher name—always called the “fallacious -return,” published in 1843. In this the Post Office -accounts were so manipulated as to make it seem -that the Department was being worked at an annual -loss of £12,000 or more. The unfriendly powers -had all along prophesied that the reform could not -pay; and now, indeed, they had a fine opportunity -of “assisting in the fulfilment of their own predictions.”</p> - -<p>Till the new postal system was established, -the “packet service” for foreign and colonial mails -had, “with little exception,” been charged to the -Admiralty. In the “fallacious return” the entire -amount (£612,850) was charged against the Post -Office. Now, in comparing the fiscal results of the -old and new systems, it was obviously unfair to -include the cost of the packet service in the one and -exclude it from the other. Despite all statements -made to the contrary—and a great deal of fiction -relating to postal arithmetic has long been allowed -to pass current, and will probably continue so to do -all down the “ringing grooves of time”—the nett -revenue of the Department amounted to £600,000 -<i>per annum</i>.<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p> - -<p>Another “mistake” lay in under-stating the gross -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> -revenue by some £100,000. On this being pointed -out by my father to the Accountant-General, he at -once admitted the error, but said that a corrective -entry made by him had been “removed by order.”<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> -And not only was correction in this case refused, but -other “blunders” in the Post Office accounts on the -wrong side of the ledger continued to be made, -pointed out, and suffered to remain.</p> - -<p>In one account furnished by the Department it -was found, says my father, “that the balance carried -forward at the close of a quarter changed its amount -in the transit; and when I pointed out this fact as -conclusive against the correctness of the account, it -was urged that without such modification the next -quarter's account could not be made to balance.”<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> -Not a very bright example of the application of -culinary operations to official book-keeping because -of the ease with which it could be detected. What -wonder that to any one whose eyes are opened to -such ways, faith in official and other statistics should -be rudely shaken!</p> - -<p>The effect of these high-handed proceedings was -naturally to foster mistaken ideas as to postal -revenues.</p> - -<p>In 1842 Lord Fitzgerald, during a debate on the -income-tax, said that the Post Office revenue had -perished. The statement was speedily disposed of -by Lord Monteagle, who, after pointing out the -falseness of the allegation, declared that the expense -of the packet service had no more to do with penny -postage than with the expense of the war in -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> -Afghanistan or China, or the expense of the Army -and Navy.<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a></p> - -<p>In the House of Commons, Peel, of course only -quoting memoranda which had been provided for his -use, repeated these misleading statistics; and, later, -they have found further repetition even in some of -the Postmaster-General's Annual Reports.</p> - -<p>These frequently recurring instances of thwarting, -hindering, and misrepresentation showed plainly that -the working of the postal reform should not have -been entrusted to men whose official reputation was -pledged not to its success but to its failure; and -that the “shunting” of its author on to a Department -other than that in which if endowed with due -authority he might have exercised some control, -was, to put the case mildly, a great mistake.</p> - -<p>One ray of comfort came to him in the midst of -his troubles. In the hard times which prevailed in -the early 'forties diminution of revenue was far -from being peculiar to the Post Office. The -country was undergoing one of the heaviest of those -periodically recurrent waves of depression which -lessen the product of all taxes (or the ability to pay -them) when, in April 1843, my father was able to -write in his diary that the Post Office “revenue -accounts show an increase of £90,000 on the year.... -The Post Office is the only Department which -does not show a deficiency on the quarter.”<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p> - -<p>In July 1842, the Chancellor of the Exchequer -wrote to Rowland Hill to remind him that his three -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> -years' engagement at the Treasury would terminate -in the ensuing September, and adding that he did -not consider it advisable to make any further extension -of the period of engagement beyond the date -assigned to it.</p> - -<p>Dreading lest, when the official doors should close -behind him, his cherished reform should be wrecked -outright, its author offered to work for a time without -salary. The offer was refused, and the intended -dismissal was announced in Parliament. The news -was received with surprise and indignation there -and elsewhere.</p> - -<p>The Liberal Press was unanimous in condemnation -of the Government's conduct, and some of the -papers on their own side, though naturally cautious -of tone, were of opinion that Rowland Hill had -been harshly used. The Ministers themselves were -probably of divided mind; and my father, when -commenting upon a letter which the Prime Minister -about this time addressed to him, says: “I cannot -but think that, as he wrote, he must have felt some -little of that painful feeling which unquestionably -pressed hard upon him in more than one important -passage of his political career.”<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a></p> - -<p>At the last interview the postal reformer had -with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Goulburn's -courteous manner also went “far to confirm the -impression that he feels he is acting unjustly and -under compulsion.”<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p> - -<p>One of the most indignant and outspoken of the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> -many letters which Rowland Hill received was from -his former chief, Mr Baring, who stigmatised the -conduct of the Government as “very shabby,” more -than hinted that jealousy was the cause of dismissal, -and added that had the Postmaster-General's plan of -letter-registration been carried into effect, it “would -have created an uproar throughout the country.” -It was well known that the head of the Post Office -did not feel too kindly towards the reform, and was -bent on charging a shilling on every registered letter, -while Rowland Hill stoutly maintained that sixpence -would be sufficient.<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> -Hence the allusion. -The Postmaster-General is said to have demanded -his opponent's dismissal, and as he was credited -with being in command of several votes in the -Lower House, his wishes naturally carried weight.</p> - -<p>Cobden gave vent to his disgust in a characteristic -letter in which he suggested that the programme -of the Anti-Corn-Law League should be followed:—a -national subscription raised, a demonstration made, -and a seat in Parliament secured. But the programme -was not followed.</p> - -<p>Among other letters of sympathy came one from -the poet who, as his epitaph at Kensal Green reminds -us, “sang the <i>Song of the Shirt</i>.” Said Hood: “I -have seen so many instances of folly and ingratitude -similar to those you have met with that it -would never surprise me to hear of the railway people, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> -some day, finding their trains running on so well, -proposing to discharge the engines.”<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a></p> - -<p>The public, used to nearly four years of the new -system, took alarm lest it should be jeopardised; -and the Mercantile Committee, well entitled as, after -its arduous labours, it was to repose, roused itself -to renewed action, and petitioned the Government -to carry out the postal reform in its entirety.</p> - -<p>But the ruling powers were deaf to all protests; -and thus to the list of dismissed postal reformers -was added yet one more. First, Witherings; then, -Dockwra; next, Palmer; and now, Hill.</p> - -<p>While giving due prominence to the more salient -features of the intrigue against the postal reform -and reformer, the painful narrative has been as far -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> -as possible curtailed. It is, however, well worth -telling if only to serve as warning to any would-be -reformer—perhaps in any field: in the Post Office -certainly—of the difficulties that lie in the path he -yearns to tread. Should the reader be inclined to -fancy the picture overdrawn, reference to the “Life -of Sir Rowland Hill,” edited by Dr G. B. Hill, will -show that in those pages the story is told with far -more fulness of detail and bluntness of truth-speaking.</p> - -<p>More than thirty years after Peel had “given -Rowland Hill the sack,” as at the time <i>Punch</i>, in -a humorous cartoon, expressed it, the real story of -the dismissal was revealed to its victim by one who -was very likely to be well-informed on the subject. -It is an ugly story; and for a long time my brother -and I agreed that it should be told in these pages. -Later, seeing that all whom it concerned are dead, -and that it is well, however difficult at times, to -follow the good old rule of <i>de mortuis nil nisi bonum</i>, -it has seemed wiser to draw across that relic of the -long-ago past a veil of oblivion.</p> - -<p>But here a digression may be made into a several -years' later history, because, however chronologically -out of place, it fits in at this juncture with entire -appropriateness.</p> - -<p>It is obvious that no person could succeed in -cleansing so Augean a stable as was the Post Office -of long ago without making enemies of those whose -incompetency had to be demonstrated, or whose -profitable sinecures had to be suppressed. Thus even -when Rowland Hill's position had become too secure -in public estimation for open attack to be of much -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> -avail, he was still exposed to that powerful “back-stairs” -influence which, by hindering the progress of -his reform, had done both the public service and -himself individually much harm.</p> - -<p>Of the reality of this secret hostility, ample proof -was from time to time afforded, none, perhaps, being -more striking than the following. When Lord -Canning had been political head of the Post Office -for some months, he one day said to my father: -“Mr Hill, I think it right to let you know that you -have enemies in high places who run you down -behind your back. When I became Postmaster-General, -every endeavour was made to prejudice me -against you. I determined, however, to judge for -myself. I have hitherto kept my eyes open, saying -nothing. But I am bound to tell you now that I find -every charge made against you to be absolutely untrue. -I think it well, however, that you should know the -fact that such influences are being exerted against -you.”<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a></p> - -<p>When, at the age of forty-seven, Rowland Hill -had to begin the world afresh, one dread weighed -heavily upon his mind. It was that Peel's Government -might advance the postal charges to, as was -rumoured, a figure twice, thrice, or even four times -those established by the reformed system. It was -a dread shared by Messrs Baring, Wallace, Moffatt, -and very many more. Great, therefore, was the relief -when the last-named friend reported that the new -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> -Postmaster-General had assured him that there was -no danger of the postage rates being raised.<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a></p> - -<p>After the dismissal by Peel, a long and anxious -time set in for the little household in the then semi-rural -precinct of Orme Square, Bayswater; and again -my mother's sterling qualities were revealed. Reared -as she had been in a circle where money was plentiful -and hospitality unbounded, she wasted no time in -useless lamentations, but at once curtailed domestic -expenses—those most ruthlessly cut down being, as, -later, our father failed not to tell us, her own. In his -parents' home he had lived in far plainer style than -that maintained in the house of which, for many -years, owing to her mother's early death, she had -been mistress. Yet in all that ministered to her -husband's comfort she allowed scarcely any change -to be made. At the same time, there was no running -into debt, because she had a hearty contempt for the -practice she was wont to describe as “living on the -forbearance of one's tradespeople.”</p> - -<p>But at last anxiety was changed to relief. One -morning a letter arrived inviting her husband to join -the London and Brighton Railway Board of Directors. -Owing to gross mismanagement, the line had long -been going from bad to worse in every way; and -an entirely new directorate was now chosen. The -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> -invitation was especially gratifying because it came -from personal strangers.</p> - -<p>My father's connection with the railway forms an -interesting chapter of his life which has been told -elsewhere. In a work dealing only with the postal -reform, repetition of the story in detail would be out -of place. One brief paragraph, therefore, shall suffice -to recall what was a pleasant episode in his career.</p> - -<p>The “new brooms” went to work with a will, -and the railway soon began to prosper. The price of -shares—notwithstanding the announcement that for -the ensuing half-year no payment of dividends could -be looked for—rose rapidly; ordinary trains were -increased in speed and number, expresses started, and -Sunday excursion trains, by which the jaded dwellers -“in populous city pent” were enabled once a week -to breathe health-giving sea-breezes, were instituted; -the rolling stock was improved, and, by the building -of branch lines, the Company was ere long enabled -to add to its title “and South Coast.” The invitation -to my father to join the Board met, at the sitting -which discussed the proposal, with but one dissentient -voice, that of Mr John Meesom Parsons of the Stock -Exchange. “We want no Rowland Hills here,” he -said, “to interfere in everything; and even, perhaps, -to introduce penny fares in all directions”—a rate -undreamed of in those distant days. He therefore -resolved to oppose the unwelcome intruder on every -favourable occasion. The day the two men first met -at the Board, the magnetic attraction, instinct, whatever -be its rightful name, which almost at once and -simultaneously draws together kindred souls, affected -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> -both; and forthwith commenced a friendship which -in heartiness resembled that of David and Jonathan, -and lasted throughout life. Mr Parsons, as gleefully -as any school-boy, told us the story against himself -on one out of many visits which he paid us; and with -equal gleefulness told it, on other occasions and in -our presence, to other people.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> - -<p>An incident which occurred four years after the -termination of Rowland Hill's engagement at the -Treasury seemed to indicate a wish on Peel's part to -show that he felt not unkindly towards the reformer, -however much he disliked the reform. In the seventh -year of penny postage, and while its author was still -excluded from office, the nation showed its appreciation -of Rowland Hill's work by presenting him with a -monetary testimonial. Sir Robert Peel was among -the earliest contributors, his cheque being for the -maximum amount fixed by the promoters of the -tribute. Again Mr “Punch” displayed his customary -genius for clothing a truism in a felicitous phrase by -comparing Peel's action with that of an assassin who -deals a stab at a man with one hand, and with the -other applies sticking-plaster to the wound.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> -Letter to Rowland Hill from Mr Baring, dated “Downing -Street, 14th September 1839.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 371.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> -An amusing character-sketch of Colonel Maberly is to be -found in the pages of Edmund Yates's “Recollections and -Experiences.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> -In connection with the putting up of one receptacle in London -not many years ago, a gruesome discovery was made. The ground -near St Bartholomew's Hospital had been opened previous to the -erection of a pillar letter-box, when a quantity of ashes, wood and -human, came to light. “Bart's” looks upon Smithfield, scene of -the burning of some of the martyrs for conscience' sake. No need, -then, to ponder the meaning of these sad relics. They clearly -pointed to sixteenth-century man's inhumanity to man.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> -The first person to post a letter under the new system is -said to have been Mr Samuel Lines of Birmingham, Rowland -Hill's former drawing-master, whose portrait hangs in the Art -Gallery of that city. He was warmly attached to his ex-pupil, -who, in turn, held the old man in high esteem, and maintained -an occasional correspondence with him till the artist's death. -Determined that in Birmingham no one should get the start of -him, Mr Lines wrote to my father a letter of congratulation, -and waited outside the Post Office till at midnight of the 9th -a clock rang out the last stroke of twelve. Then, knocking up -the astonished clerk on duty, he handed in the letter and the -copper fee, and laconically remarked: “A penny, I believe.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> -Another well-known literary woman, the poetess, Elizabeth -Barrett Browning, according to her “Letters” recently published, -wrote to an American friend earnestly recommending adoption of -“our penny postage, as the most successful revolution since 'the -glorious three days' of Paris”—meaning, of course, the three days -of July 1830 (i. 135).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> -This window and the amusing scramble outside it are -immortalised in Dickens's pleasant article on the Post Office in -the opening number of <i>Household Words</i>, first edition, 30th -March 1850. (Our friend, Mr Henry Wills, already mentioned -in the Introductory Chapter, was Dickens's partner in <i>Household -Words</i>, and brought the famous novelist to our house at -Hampstead to be dined and “crammed” before writing the article. -It was a memorable evening. No doubt the cramming was duly -administered, but recollection furnishes no incident of this operation, -and only brings back to mind a vivid picture of Dickens talking -humorously, charmingly, incessantly, during the too brief visit, -and of his doing so by tacit and unanimous consent, for no one -had the slightest wish to interrupt the monologue's delightful flow. -His countenance was agreeable and animated; the impression made -upon us was of a man, who, as the Americans aptly put it, is -“all there.” We often saw him both within doors and without, -for one of his favourite walks, while living in Tavistock Square, -was up to Hampstead, across the Heath—with an occasional peep -in at “Jack Straw's Castle,” where friends made a rendezvous to -see him—and back again to town through Highgate. Every one -knew him by sight. The word would fly from mouth to mouth, -“Here comes Dickens!” and the lithe figure, solitary as a rule, -with its steady, swinging pace, and the keen eyes looking straight -ahead at nothing in particular, yet taking in all that was worth -noting, would appear, pass, and be lost again, the while nearly -every head was turned to look after him.) Whenever visitors -were shown over the Post Office, they were advised so to time -their arrival that the tour should end a little before 6 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, with -a visit to a certain balcony whence a good view could be obtained -of the scene. One day my father escorted the Duchess of -Cambridge and her younger daughter—better known since as -Duchess of Teck—over the Post Office. He was delighted with -their society, being greatly struck with the elder lady's sensible, -well-informed talk, and the lively, sociable manner of the younger -one. Both were much amused by the balcony scene, and Princess -Mary entered keenly into the fun of the thing. She grew quite -excited as the thickening crowd pressed forward faster, laughed, -clapped her hands, and audibly besought the stragglers, especially -one very leisurely old dame, to make haste, or their letters would -not be posted in time.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 451. In 1841 the census gave the population of -England and Wales as a little under 16,000,000. The delay above -mentioned therefore affected at least a fourth of the number.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> -“Report of the Committee on Postage” (1843), p. 29.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> -See also chap. vi.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 412.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> -“First Annual Report of the Postmaster-General, 1854.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 414.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 4, 5.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 87.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> -<i>Ibid</i>, i. 448.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> -“Hansard,” lxiv. 321.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 460.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 471.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> -<i>Ibid.</i>, i. 468.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> -The registration fee is one of the postal charges which have -become smaller since that time, to the great benefit of the public. -It is pleasant to know that the threatened plan of highly-feed compulsory -registration was never carried into effect.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> -“Gentle Tom Hood,” as the wittiest of modern poets has been -called, was a friend of old standing. Though little read to-day, -some of his more serious poems are of rare beauty, and his <i>Haunted -House</i> is a marvel of what Ruskin used to call “word-painting.” -His letters to children were as delightful as those of the better-known -“Lewis Carroll.” Hood was very deaf, and this infirmity inclined -him, when among strangers or in uncongenial society, to taciturnity. -Guests who had never met him, and who came expecting to hear -a jovial fellow set the table in a roar, were surprised to see a -quiet-mannered man in evidently poor health, striving, by help of -an ear-trumpet, to catch other people's conversation. But, at any rate, -it was <i>not</i> in our house that the hostess, piqued at the chilly silence -pervading that end of her table which should have been most -mirthful, sent her little daughter down the whole length of it to -beg the bored wit to “wake up and be funny!” Hood had many -cares and sorrows, including the constant struggle with small means -and ill-health; and it is pleasant to remember that when the final -breakdown came, Sir Robert Peel—concealing under a cloak of -kindly tactfulness, so kindly that the over-sensitive beneficiary could -not feel hurt—bestowed on the dying man some sorely-needed -monetary assistance.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> -This and the previous paragraph are contributed by Mr Pearson -Hill, who was always, and deservedly, entirely in our father's -confidence.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 436. The only time, later, when there seemed a -chance of such increase was during the Crimean War, “when,” said -my father in his diary, “being called upon to make a confidential -report, I showed that, though some immediate increase of revenue -might be expected from raising the rate to twopence, the benefit -would be more than counterbalanced by the check to correspondence; -and upon this the project was abandoned.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a> -<a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> -It was during Rowland Hill's connection with the Railway -Company that a riddle appeared in a certain newspaper which was -copied into other papers, and was therefore not slow in reaching our -family circle. It was worded much as follows: “When is Mr -Rowland Hill like the rising sun?—When he tips the little Hills -with gold.” We never knew who originated this delightful <i>jeu -d'esprit</i>, but our father was much amused with it, and we children had -the best possible reason for being grateful to its author. The riddle -cropped up afresh in Lord Fitzmaurice's “Life of Lord Granville” -(i. 174); but the Duke of Argyll, then Postmaster-General, is therein -made the generous donor.</p></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ac noindent">THE STAMPS</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Between</span> the date of Rowland Hill's leaving the -Treasury, and that of his appointment to the Post Office -to take up afresh the work to which, more than aught -else, he was devoted, an interval of about four years -elapsed, during a great part of which, as has just been -mentioned, he found congenial employment on the -directorate of the London and Brighton railway; -a little later becoming also a member of the Board of -Directors of two minor lines of railway. But as this -episode is outside the scope of the present work, the -four-years-long gap may be conveniently bridged over -by the writing of a chapter on postage stamps.</p> - -<p>Since their collection became a fashion—or, as -it is sometimes unkindly called, a craze—much has -been written concerning them, of which a great part -is interesting, and, as a rule, veracious; while the -rest, even when interesting, has not infrequently -been decidedly the reverse of true. This latter fact -is especially regrettable when the untruths occur in -works of reference, a class of books professedly compiled -with every care to guard against intrusion of -error. Neglect of this precaution, whether the result -of carelessness or ignorance, or from quite dissimilar -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> -reasons, is to be deplored. No hungry person cares to -be offered a stone when he has asked for bread; nor -is it gratifying to the student, who turns with a heart -full of faith to a should-be infallible guide into the -ways of truth, to find that he has strayed into the -realm of fiction.</p> - -<p>The present chapter on stamps merely touches the -fringe of the subject, in no wise resembles a philatelist -catalogue, and may therefore be found to lack interest. -But at least every endeavour shall be made to avoid -excursion into fableland.</p> - -<p>Since the story of the postal labels should be told -from the beginning, it will be well to comment here -on some of the more glaring of the misstatements -regarding that beginning contained in the notice on -postage stamps which forms part of the carelessly-written -article on the Post Office which appeared in -the ninth edition of the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” -vol. xix. p. 585.</p> - -<p>(1) “A postpaid envelope,” the writer declares, -“was in common use in Paris in the year 1653.”</p> - -<p>So far from being “in common use,” the envelope -or cover was the outcome of an aristocratic monopoly -granted, as we have seen in a previous chapter, -to M. de Valayer, who, “under royal approbation” -set up “'a private' [penny?]<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> -post, placing boxes at -the corners of the streets for the reception of letters -wrapped up in envelopes which were to be bought -at offices established for that purpose.”[1] To M. de -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> -Valayer, therefore, would seem to belong priority of -invention of the street letter-box, and perhaps of the -impressed stamp and envelope; although evidence to -prove that the boon was intended for public use seems -to be wanting. In the days of Louis XIV. how -many of the “common”alty were able to make use of -the post? M. de Valayer also devised printed forms -of “billets,” prepaid, and a facsimile of one is given in -the <i>Quarterly Review's</i> article.<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> -Like our own present-day -postcards, one side of the billet was to be used for -the address, the other for correspondence; but the -billet was a sheet of paper longer than our postcard, -and no doubt it was folded up—the address, of course, -showing—before being posted. There is no trace -on the facsimile of an adhesive stamp. Neither is -mention made of any invention or use of such stamp -in France or elsewhere in the year 1670, although -some seeker after philatelist mare's-nests a while since -read into the article aforesaid fiction of that sort.</p> - -<p>(2) “Stamped postal letter paper (<i>carta postale -bollata</i>) was issued to the public by the Government -of the Sardinian States in November 1818; and -stamped postal envelopes were issued by the same -Government from 1820 till 1836.”</p> - -<p>There was no such issue “to the public.” For the -purpose of collecting postal duties, “stamped paper or -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> -covers of several values, both with embossed and with -impressed stamps, appear to have been used in the -kingdom of Sardinia about the year 1819.” -<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> The use -of these stamped covers, etc., was almost entirely -limited to one small class of the community, namely -the Ministers of State, and was in force from about -1819 to 1821 only. “In March 1836, a formal decree -was passed suppressing their further use, the decree -being required simply to demonetise a large stock -found unused in the Stamp Office at Turin.”[1] The -Sardinian experiment, like the earlier one of M. de -Valayer in Paris, had but a brief existence, the cause -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> -of failure in both cases being apparently attributable -to the absence of uniformity of rate.</p> - -<p>(3) “Stamped wrappers for newspapers were made -experimentally in London by Mr Charles Whiting, -under the name of 'go-frees,' in 1830.”</p> - -<p>In this country Charles Knight—in as complete -ignorance as was my father of M. de Valayer's experiment -in the mid-seventeenth century—has always been -considered the first to propose the use of stamped -covers or wrappers for newspapers; and this he did -in 1834, his covers being intended to take the place, -as payers of postage, of the duty stamp, when that -odious “tax on knowledge” should be abolished. -Had it been possible under the old postal system to -prepay letter-postage as well as newspaper-postage, -what more likely than that a man so far-seeing as -was Mr Knight would also have suggested the application -of his stamp to all mail matter? <i>Letter</i> postage -stamps and prepayment had, of necessity, to await the -advent of 1840 and uniformity of rate.<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a></p> - -<p>(4) “Finally, and in its results most important of -all, the adhesive stamp was made experimentally by -Mr James Chalmers in his printing office at Dundee, -in 1834.”</p> - -<p>An untruth followed by other untruths equally -astounding.</p> - -<p>Mr Chalmers, when writing of his stamps, has -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> -happily supplied refutation of the fraudulent claim -set up for him since his own death and that of the -postal reformer; and as Mr Chalmers is the person -chiefly concerned in that claim, and was a man as -honourable as he was public-spirited, his evidence -must necessarily be more valuable than that of any -other witness. He published his suggestions as to -postal reform, etc., in full, with his name and address -added, in the <i>Post Circular</i><a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> -of 5th April 1838, his -paper being dated 8th February of the same year. -Specimens of his stamps accompanied his communication; -and in a reprint of this paper made in 1839 -he claimed November 1837 as the date of his “<i>first</i>” -experiments in stamp-making—the italics being his -own. In none of his writings is there mention of -any earlier experiments; neither is allusion made -to any such in the numerously-signed “certificate” -addressed by his fellow-citizens of Dundee to the -Treasury in September 1839. The certificate eulogises -Mr Chalmers' valuable public services, speaks -of his successful efforts in 1825 to establish a 48 -hours' acceleration of the mail-coaches plying between -Dundee and London, and recommends to “My -Lords” the adoption of the accompanying “slips” -proposed by him. But nowhere in the certificate is -reference made to the mythical stamps declared, -nearly half a century later, to have been made in -1834. Yet some of these over one hundred -signatories must have been among the friends who, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> -according to the fable, visited Mr Chalmers' printing -office in that year to inspect those early stamps. -An extraordinary instance of wholesale forgetfulness -if the stamps had had actual existence.<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> -The “slips” -made “<i>first</i>” in November 1837 were narrow pieces -of paper of which one end bore the printed stamp, -while the other end was to be slipped under the -envelope flap—a clumsy device, entailing probable -divorce between envelope and “slip” during their -passage through the post. The fatal objection to all -his stamps was that they were type-set, thereby -making forgery easy. In every case the stamps -bear the face-value proposed by Rowland Hill in -his plan of reform—a penny the half, and twopence -the whole ounce. Not only did Mr Chalmers <i>not</i> -invent the stamp, adhesive or otherwise, but of the -former he disapproved on the ground of the then -supposed difficulty of gumming large sheets of paper.<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a></p> - -<p>It may be added that copies of the <i>Post Circular</i> -figure in the “Cole Bequest” to the South Kensington -Museum; and if a very necessary caution addressed -to the custodians there while the Chalmers claim was -being rather hotly urged has received due attention, -those documents should still be in the Museum, unimpeachable -witnesses to the truth.</p> - -<p>This claim to priority of invention, or of <i>publication</i> -of invention, of the stamps which, with culpable -carelessness, obtained recognition in the pages of the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> -“Encyclopædia Britannica” has no foundation in fact. -The writer of the article on the Post Office in -“Chambers's Encyclopædia,” ix. 677 (edition 1901), -is far better informed on the subject of which he -treats, though even he says that “Both” [men] -“seem to have hit on the plan independently; -but,” he adds, with true discernment of the weakest -feature of the claim, “the use of adhesive postage -stamps, without uniform rates, and at a time when -the practice of sending letters unpaid was almost -universal, would obviously have been impossible.”</p> - -<p>This impossibility has already been demonstrated -in the present work in the chapter on “The Old -System.” The simple explanation of the cause -which prompted Mr Chalmers, late in 1837, to -make designs for the stamps is not far to seek. At -some time during the intervening months he had -read “Post Office Reform,”<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> -opened up a correspondence -with its author—till then an entire -stranger—and joined the ranks of those who were -helping on the reform. It is a pity that in the -attempt to fix upon this public-spirited man credit -for an invention which was not his, the good work -he actually accomplished should be frequently lost -sight of.</p> - -<p>The “Dictionary of National Biography” also too -readily gave countenance to the Chalmers fable, a -decision perhaps explained by the priority of position -accorded in the alphabet to C over H. An accident -of this sort gives a misstatement that proverbial long -start which is required for its establishment, and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> -naturally handicaps truth in the race; the consequence -being that rectification of error is not made, -and the later article is altered to bring it into seeming -agreement with the earlier.<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a></p> - -<p>On the other hand, the conductors of “Chambers's -Encyclopædia” evidently recognise that a work of -reference should be a mine of reliable information, -one of their most notable corrections in a later -edition of a mistake made in one earlier being that -attributing the suppression of garrotting to the -infliction on the criminals of corporal punishment—an -allegation which, however, often asserted by those -outside the legal profession, has more than once -been denied by some of the ablest men within it.</p> - -<p>No notice would have been taken in these pages -of this preposterous claim were it not that the two -works of reference whose editors or conductors seem -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> -to have been only too easily imposed upon have a -wide circulation, and that until retraction be made—an -invitation to accord which, in at least one case, -was refused for apparently a quite frivolous reason—the -foolish myth will in all probability be kept -alive. The fraud was so clumsily constructed that -it was scarcely taken seriously by those who know -anything of the real history of the stamps, impressed -and adhesive; and surprise might be felt that sane -persons should have put even a passing faith in it, -but for recollection that—to say nothing of less -notorious cases—the once famous Tichborne claimant -never lacked believers in his equally egregious and -clumsily constructed imposture.</p> - -<p>How little the Chalmers claimant believed in his -own story is shown by his repeated refusal to accept -any of the invitations my brother gave him to carry -the case into Court. Had the claim been genuine, -its truth might then and there have been established -beyond hope of refutation.</p> - -<p>In all probability most of the claimants to invention -of the postage stamp—they have, to our knowledge, -numbered over a dozen, while the claimants to the -entire plan of reform make up at least half that -tale—came from the many competitors who, in -response to the Treasury's invitation to the public -to furnish designs, sent in drawings and written -suggestions.<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> -What more natural than that, as years -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> -went past and old age and weakened memory came -on, these persons should gradually persuade themselves -and others that not only had they invented -the <i>designs</i> they sent up for competition, but also -the very <i>idea</i> of employing stamps with which to pay -postage? Even in such a strange world as this, -it is not likely that <i>all</i> the claimants were wilful -impostors.<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> - -<p>Rowland Hill's first proposal in regard to the -postage stamps was that they and the envelopes -should be of one piece, the stamps being printed on -the envelopes. But some days later the convenience -of making the stamp separate, and therefore adhesive, -occurred to him; and he at once proposed its use, -describing it, as we have seen, as “a bit of paper -just large enough to bear the stamp, and covered -at the back with glutinous wash,” etc. As both -stamps are recommended in “Post Office Reform” -as well as in its author's examination before the -Commissioners of Post Office Inquiry in February -1837, it is clear that priority of <i>suggestion</i> as well -as of <i>publication</i> belong to Rowland Hill.<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a></p> - -<p>By 1838 official opinion, though still adverse to -the proposal to tax letters by weight, had come -to view with favour the idea of prepayment by -means of stamps. Still, one of the chief opponents -enumerated as many as nine classes of letters to -which he thought that stamps would be inapplicable. -The task of replying to eight of these objections -was easy enough; with the ninth Rowland Hill was -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> -fain to confess his inability to deal. Stamps, it was -declared, would be unsuitable to “half-ounce letters -weighing an ounce or more.”<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a></p> - -<p>That the stamps—whatever should be the design -chosen—would run risk of forgery was a danger -which caused no little apprehension; and the -Chairman of the Board of Stamps and Taxes -(Inland Revenue) proposed to minimise that risk by -having them printed on paper especially prepared. -In the case of the envelopes bearing the embossed -head, the once famous “Dickinson” paper, which -contained fine threads of silk stretched across the -pulp while at its softest, was that chosen. It was -believed to be proof against forgery, and was in -vogue for several years, but has long fallen into -disuse.</p> - -<p>The Government, as we have seen, decided in -July 1839 to adopt the plan of uniform penny -postage, including the employment of “stamped -covers, stamped paper, and stamps to be used -separately,”<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> -and invited the public to furnish designs -for these novel objects. In answer to the appeal -came in some 2,600 letters containing suggestions -and many sets of drawings, of which forty-nine -varieties alone were for the adhesive stamps. It -was, if possible, an even less artistic age than -the present—though, at least, it adorned the walls -of its rooms with something better than tawdry -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> -<i>bric-à-brac</i>, unlovely Japanese fans, and the contents -of the china-closet—and in most cases beauty of -design was conspicuous by its absence, a fault -which, coupled with others more serious, especially -that of entire lack of security against forgery, fore-doomed -the greater number of the essays to -rejection.<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a></p> - -<p>To become a financial success it was necessary -that the stamps should be produced cheaply, yet of -workmanship so excellent that imitation could be -easily detected. Now there is one art which we -unconsciously practise from infancy to old age—that -of tracing differences in the human faces we -meet with. It is this art or instinct which enables -us to distinguish our friends from strangers; and it -was, perhaps, recognition of this fact that long ago -led to the placing on the coinage of the portrait of -the reigning monarch because it was familiar to the -public eye, and therefore less likely than any other -face to be counterfeited. In an engraving of some -well-known countenance, any thickening or misplacing -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> -of the facial lines makes so great an alteration in -features and expression that forgery is far more -easily detected than when the device is only a coat-of-arms -or other fanciful ornament.<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> -For this reason, -therefore, it was decided in 1839 to reproduce on -the postage stamp the youthful Queen's head in -profile designed by Wyon for the money of the then -new reign, daily use of which coinage was making -her face familiar to all her people. The head is -also identical with that on the medal—likewise by -Wyon—which was struck to commemorate her first -State visit to the city in November 1837.</p> - -<p>The stamp then being difficult to counterfeit, and -worth but little in itself, while the machinery -employed to produce it was costly, the reason is -obvious why, so far as is known, only two attempts, -and those so clumsy that one wonders who could -have wasted time in forging the things, were made -to imitate the finely executed, earliest “Queen's -head.”<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> - -<p>The design was engraved by hand on a single -steel matrix, the head, through the agency of this -costly machinery, being encompassed by many fine, -delicately-wrought lines. The matrix was then -hardened, and used to produce impressions on a -soft steel roller of sufficient circumference to receive -twelve repetitions, the beautiful work of the original -matrix being therefore repeated, line for line, in -every stamp printed. The roller, being in turn -hardened, reproduced, under very heavy pressure, -its counterpart on a steel plate a score of times, -thus making up the requisite 240 impressions which -cause each sheet to be of the value of one -sovereign.<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a></p> - -<p>Absolute uniformity was thus secured at comparatively -little cost. The ingenious process was -invented by Mr Perkins,<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> -of the firm of Perkins, -Bacon & Co. of Fleet Street, who, during the -first forty years of the reformed postal system, -printed some 95/100ths of our postage stamps, and in -that space of time issued nearly 21,000,000,000 of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> -penny adhesives alone.<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> -Later, the contract passed -into the hands of Messrs De La Rue, who hitherto, -but long after 1840, had merely printed stamps of -a few higher values than the penny and twopenny -issue. In at least one work of fiction, however, the -impression is conveyed that the latter firm from the -first enjoyed the monopoly of stamp production of -all values.</p> - -<p>About midway in the 'fifties a serious fire broke -out on Messrs Perkins & Co.'s premises, and much -valuable material was destroyed. Investigation of -the salvage showed that barely two days' supply of -stamps remained in stock; and some anxiety was -felt lest these should become exhausted before fresh -ones could be produced, as even a temporary return -to prepayment by coin of the realm would by this -time have been found irksome. But with characteristic -zeal, the firm at once recommenced work, -and only a few people were ever aware how perilously -near to deadlock the modern postal machine -had come. It was after this fire that the crimson -hue of the penny adhesive was altered to a sort of -brick-red. The change of colour—one of several -such changes exhibited by the red stamp—is duly -recorded in Messrs Stanley Gibbon & Co.'s catalogue, -though the probably long-forgotten accident with -which it would seem to be connected is not mentioned.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> - -<p>The reasons for the four months' long delay in -the issue of the stamps were twofold. They were, -first, the more or less open hostility of the Post -officials to both reform and reformer, which, as has -been stated, caused all sorts of hindrances to be -strewn in the path of progress; and, secondly, the -apprehension still felt by the Government that the -public would not take kindly to prepayment. The -stamps ought, of course, to have been issued in -time to be used by the 10th January 1840, when -the new system came into force. When they were -at last forthcoming, none were forwarded to the -receiving offices till complaint was made. The fault -was then found to lie with the wording of the -Treasury letter giving the requisite directions. -Later, another difficulty arose. The Stamp Office -persisted in issuing the stamped covers in entire -sheets as they were printed, and the Post Office -refused to supply them uncut to the receivers. Three -days alone were wasted over this wrangle. A week -later the Post Office, which had formally undertaken -the distribution of the covers, discovered that such -work was beyond its powers. For a month after -the first issue of the stamps the receiving offices -remained unsupplied.</p> - -<p>While the Government and others still cherished -the delusion that the recipient of a letter would feel -insulted if denied the time-honoured privilege of -paying for it, the delayed publication of the stamps -was less to be regretted since it enabled the experiment -to be first tried with money only.</p> - -<p>The official forecast was at fault. From the very -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> -start, and with the best will in the world, the public, -when posting letters, put down pennies and missives -together, and when the stamps—called by would-be -wits the “Government sticking-plasters”—at last -appeared, the difficulty was not to persuade people -to make use of them, but to get them supplied fast -enough to meet the popular demand.</p> - -<p>While the stamps were still new that large section -of mankind which never reads public instructions was -occasionally at a loss where to affix the adhesive. -Any corner of the envelope but the right one would -be chosen, or, not infrequently, the place at the -back partly occupied by the old-fashioned seal or -wafer. Even the most painstaking of people were -sometimes puzzled, and a certain artist, accustomed, -like all his brethren of the brush, to consider that -portion of his canvas the right hand which faced his -left, was so perplexed that he carried to the nearest -post office his letter and stamp, knocked up the clerk, -and when the latter's face appeared at the little -unglazed window of the ugly wooden screen which -is now superseded everywhere, perhaps save at -railway booking offices, by the more civilised open -network, asked politely, “Which do you call the right -hand of a letter?” “ We've no time here for stupid -jokes,” was the surly answer, and the window shut -again directly.</p> - -<p>A similar rebuff was administered to a man -who, while travelling, called for letters at the post -office of a provincial town. He was the unfortunate -possessor of an “impossible” patronymic. “What -name?” demanded the supercilious clerk. “Snooks,” -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> -replied the applicant; and down went the window -panel with a bang, accompanied by a forcibly -expressed injunction not to bother a busy man with -idiotic jests.</p> - -<p>To the post office of, at that time, tiny Ambleside, -came one day a well-to-do man to buy a stamp to -put on the letter he was about to post. “Is this -new reform going to last?” he asked the postmaster. -“Certainly,” was the reply; “it is quite established.” -“Oh, well, then,” said the man, resolved to give -the thing generous support, “give me <i>three</i> stamps!” -Not much of a story to tell, perhaps, but significant -of the small amount of letter-writing which in pre-penny -postage days went on even among those well-to-do -people who were not lucky enough to enjoy -the franking privilege.</p> - -<p>The postal employees also showed their strangeness -to the new order of things by frequently forgetting -to cancel the stamps when the letters bearing -them passed through the post—thereby enabling dishonest -people to defraud the Department by causing -the unobliterated labels to perform another journey. -Many correspondents, known and unknown, sent -Rowland Hill, in proof of this carelessness, envelopes -which bore such stamps. Once a packet bearing -four uncancelled stamps reached him.</p> - -<p>The Mulready envelope had met with the cordial -approbation of the artist's fellow Royal Academicians -when it was exhibited in Council previous to its -official acceptance; though one defect, palpable to -any one of fairly discerning ability, had apparently -escaped the eighty possibly somnolent eyes belonging -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> -to “the Forty”—that among the four winged -messengers whom Britannia is sending forth in -different directions seven legs only are apportioned. -The envelope failed to please the public; it was -mercilessly satirised and caricatured, and ridicule -eventually drove it out of use. So vast a number -of “Mulreadies” remained in stock, however, that, -on their withdrawal, a machine had to be constructed -to destroy them. There were no philatelists then -to come to their rescue.</p> - -<div class="figcenter bord"><a name="i_204.jpg" id="i_204.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_204.jpg" width="600" height="386" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">THE MULREADY ENVELOPE.</div> -</div> - -<p>Forgery of the stamps being out of the question, -fraudulent people devoted their energies to getting -rid of the red ink used to obliterate the black -“pennies” in order to affix these afresh to letters -as new stamps. The frauds began soon after the -first issue of the adhesives, for by the 21st of May -my father was already writing in his diary of the -many ingenious tricks which were practised. Cheating -the Post Office had so long been an established -rule, that even when postage became cheap, and -the public shared its benefits impartially—peer and -Parliamentarian now being favoured no more highly -than any other class—the evil habit did not at once -die out.</p> - -<p>In some cases the fraud was palpable and unabashed. -For example, Lord John Russell one -day received a sheet of paper, the label on which -had been washed so mercilessly that the Queen's -features were barely discernible. The difficulty of -dealing with the trouble was, of course, intensified -by the fact that whereas the stamps were impressed -on the paper by powerful machinery, and had had -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> -time to dry, the obliterations were made by hand,<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> -and were fresh—a circumstance which, in view of -the tenacity of thoroughly dried ink, gave a great -advantage to the dishonest.</p> - -<p>At this juncture an ink invented by a Mr Parsons -was favourably reported on as an obliterant, but it -shortly yielded to the skill of Messrs Perkins & Co.; -and the stamp-cleaning frauds continuing, several -of our leading scientific men, including Faraday, -were consulted. As a result, new obliterating inks, -red and black, were successively produced, tested, -and adopted, but only for a while. Some of the -experiment-makers lived as far off as Dublin and -Aberdeen; and Dr Clark, Professor of Chemistry -at the University of the latter city, came forward -on his own account, and showed his interest in the -cause by making or suggesting a number of experiments. -Many people, indeed, went to work voluntarily, -for the interest taken in the matter was -widespread, and letters offering suggestions poured -in from many quarters. But apparently the chemically -skilled among the rogues were abler than those -employed by the officials, since the “infallible” -recipes had an unlucky knack of turning out dismal -failures. Therefore, after consultation with Faraday, -it was resolved that, so soon as the stock of stamps -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> -on hand became exhausted, an aqueous ink should -be used both for the stamps and for the obliteration, -ordinary black printing ink being meanwhile -employed for the latter process. Professor Phillips -and Mr Bacon, of the firm of Perkins & Co., at -the same time undertook to procure a destructive -oleaginous ink to be used in the printing of the new -stamp.</p> - -<p>It was hoped that thoroughly good printer's ink -would be found efficacious for obliterating purposes; -but ere long a chemist named Watson completely -removed the obliteration. He then proposed for -use an obliterative ink of his own invention, which -was tried, but proved to be inconveniently successful, -since it both injured the paper and effaced the -writing near the stamp. Its use had therefore to be -abandoned.</p> - -<p>The trouble did not slacken, for while Mr Watson -was laboriously removing the black printing ink from -the black pennies, and making progress so slowly -that, at a like rate, the work could not have repaid -any one, honest or the reverse, for the time spent -upon it, Mr Ledingham, my father's clerk, who had -throughout shown great enthusiasm in the cause, -was cleaning stamps nine times as fast, or at the -rate of one a minute—a process rapid enough to -make the trick remunerative.</p> - -<p>Ultimately, it occurred to Rowland Hill that “as -the means which were successful in removing the -printing ink obliterant were different from those which -discharged Perkins' ink, a secure ink might perhaps -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> -be obtained by simply mixing the two.”<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> -The device -succeeded, the ink thus formed proving indestructible; -and all seemed likely to go well, when a fresh -and very disagreeable difficulty made its unwelcome -appearance. To enable this ink to dry with sufficient -rapidity, a little volatile oil had been introduced, and -its odour was speedily pronounced by the postal -officials to be intolerable. Happily, means were -found for removing the offence; and at length, a -little before the close of the year, all requirements -seemed to be met.<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a></p> - -<p>It had been a time of almost incessant anxiety. -For more than six months there had been the earlier -trouble of securing a suitable design for the stamps, -and then, when selected, the long delay in effecting -their issue; and now, during another six months, -this later trouble had perplexed the officials and their -many sympathisers. In the end, the colour of the -black penny was changed to red, the twopenny stamp -remaining blue. Thenceforth, oleaginous inks were -used both for printing and for obliterating; the ink -for the latter purpose being made so much more -tenacious than that used to print the stamp that any -attempt to remove the one from the other, even if -the destruction of both did not follow, must at least -secure the disappearance of the Queers head. A -simple enough remedy for the evil, and, like many -another simple remedy, efficacious; yet some of the -cleverest men in the United Kingdom took half a -year to find it out.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> - -<p>Before trial it was impossible to tell which of -the two kinds of stamps would be preferred: the -one impressed upon the envelope and so forming a -part of it, or the other, the handy little adhesive. -Rowland Hill expected the former to be the favourite -on account of its being already in place, and therefore -less time-consuming. Moreover, as a man gifted -with a delicate sense of touch, the tiny label which, -when wet, is apt to adhere unpleasantly to the fingers, -attracted him less than the cleanlier embossed stamp -on the envelope; and perhaps he thought it not -unlikely that other people would be of like mind. -But from the first the public showed a preference for -the adhesive; and to this day the more convenient -cover with the embossed head has been far seldomer -in demand. It is not impossible that if the present -life of feverish hurry and high pressure continues, -and even intensifies, the reformer's expectations as -regards the choice of stamps may yet be realised. -It may have been the expression of this merely -“pious opinion” on his part which gave rise to some -absurd fables—as, for instance, that he recommended -the adhesive stamp “very hesitatingly,” and only at -the eleventh hour; that he sought to restrict the -public to the use of the impressed stamp because -he preferred it himself; and rubbish of like sort.</p> - -<p>From the time that Rowland Hill first planned -his reform till the day when his connection with the -Post Office terminated, his aim ever was to make -of that great Department a useful servant to the -public; and all who knew what was his career there -were well aware that when at length he had beaten -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> -down opposition, that object was attained. He was -the last man likely to allow personal predilections or -selfish or unworthy considerations of any kind to -stand before the welfare of the service and of his -country.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_211.jpg" id="i_211.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_211.jpg" width="440" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">SIR ROWLAND HILL.<br /> - <i>From a Photograph by Maull and Polyblank.</i> - </div> -</div> - - -<div class="footnotes p2"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 377. It is curious that neither in the article on the -French Post Office in the “Encyclopædia Brittanica” nor in that -in Larousse's “<i>Dictionnaire du XIX<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>” is mention made of M. -de Valayer or M. Piron. Whether the real worthies are excluded from -the articles in order to make room for the fustian bound to creep in, -it would be difficult to say. But, while perusing these writings, -a saying of my brother's often returns to mind. “I have never,” he -declared, “read any article upon the postal reform, friendly or -the reverse, which was free from misstatements.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> -No. 128, p. 555.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> -“The Origin of Postage Stamps,” p. 7. By Pearson Hill. -Here is a story of a “find” that is more interesting than that at -Turin or that of M. Piron already alluded to, because it comes nearer -home to us. About the middle of the nineteenth century, and -during the demolition in London of some old houses which had -long been appropriated to governmental use, and were now -abandoned, the discovery was made of a large number of the -paper-duty stamps, issued by George III.'s Ministry in order to -tax the “American Colonies.” When the obnoxious impost was -cancelled, and the many years long revolt had become a successful -revolution, the ex-colonies thenceforth assuming the title of -“The United States,” the stamps became waste material, and -were thrown into a cupboard, and forgotten. At the time of their -reappearance, the then Chairman of the Board of Stamps and Taxes -(Inland Revenue Office), Mr John Wood, gave half a dozen of -them to Rowland Hill, as curiosities; and one is still in my possession. -Another was given by my father to the American philanthropist, -Mr Peabody, then visiting this country, who was greatly -interested in the discovery. Now it would be just as correct to say -that the tax had been imposed on the American Colonies—of course -it never <i>was</i> imposed, since, as we know, payment was from the -first refused—till the middle of the nineteenth century, simply -because the stamps were only found some eighty years after their -supersession, as it is to say that the Sardinian “stamped postal -letter paper” and “stamped postal envelopes” were employed till -1836, in which year, after long disuse, they were formally abolished. -But the manner and matter of the “Encyclopædia Britannica's” article -on the Post Office and the stamps are not what they should be, and -much of them would reflect discredit on the average school-boy.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> -Prepayment, as has been stated, was not actually unknown, -but was so rare as to be practically non-existent.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> -The <i>Post Circular</i> was a paper set up temporarily by the -“Mercantile Committee” to advocate the reform. It was ably -edited by Mr Cole, and had a wide circulation.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> -The stamps were probably exhibited at the Dundee printing -office, any time between November 1837 and September 1839—at -which later date they were sent to London.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> -Published in February of that year.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> -Published in February of that year.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> -Dr Birkbeck Hill, on one occasion, told me that in the article -on my father which he was asked to write for the D.N.B. he said -of the adhesive stamp that its invention had been “wrongfully -attributed to Mr James Chalmers”—words which nowhere appear in -the article as it now stands. “The proprietors of the 'Encyclopædia -Britannica,'” wrote my brother in “The Origin of Postage Stamps,” -pp. 14, 15 (note), “did not avail themselves of the offer I had made -to place them in communication with those from whom official -information could be best obtained—indeed, they appear to have -made no application to the Post Office for information of any kind.... -Meanwhile, as it afterwards turned out, they were abundantly -supplied with Mr P. Chalmers' <i>ex parte</i>, and, to say the least, -singularly inaccurate statements. With the editor of the 'Dictionary -of National Biography' I had no communication whatever.” Is it -after this careless fashion that much of our “island story” is -compiled? If so, what wonder that long before the present day -wise men should have declared that all history needed to be -rewritten?</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> -One of these claimants was a man connected with a well-known -national museum; and his pretensions were to us a -never-failing source of amusement. He was distinguished for two -peculiarities: one being a passion for slaughtering the reputations -of his friends; the other, the misappropriation to his own credit -of all originality in any reforms or inventions projected by them. -So far as I am aware, only one claimant was of my own sex; and she, -at least, had the courage of her opinions, for, instead of biding her -time till the postal reformer was no more, the poor insane creature -wrote direct to him, saying she was the originator of the entire plan, -and begging him to use his influence with the Government to obtain -for her an adequate pension. The stories connected with some of -the other claims are quite as curious as the foregoing.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> -Inaccuracy of memory applies to other things than invention of -postage stamps. Here is a curious instance. “Sir John Kaye, in -writing his history of the Sepoy War, said he was often obliged to -reject as convincing proof even the overwhelming assertion, 'But I -was there.' 'It is hard,' he continues, 'to disbelieve a man of -honour when he tells you what he himself did; but every writer long -engaged in historical enquiry has had before him instances in which -men, even after a brief lapse of time, have confounded in their minds -the thought of doing, or the intent to do, a certain thing with the -fact of actually having done it. Indeed, in the commonest affairs of -daily life we often find the intent mistaken for the act, in retrospect.' -Kaye was writing at a period of not more than ten to twelve years -after the events which he was narrating. When you extend ten -years to twenty or twenty-four, memories grow still more impaired, -and the difficulty of ensuring accuracy becomes increasingly greater.” -(Thus “The Reformer,” A. and H. B. Bonner, vii. 36, 37.) Most -of the claims to invention of the postage stamp seem to have been -made considerably more than ten, twelve, twenty, or twenty-four -years after its introduction—some of them curiously, or, at any rate, -opportunely enough, forty years or so after; that is about the time -of Rowland Hill's death, or but little later.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> -For the adhesive stamp, see “Post Office Reform,” p. 45, and -“Ninth Report of the Commissioners of Post Office Inquiry,” p. 38. -The impressed stamp is mentioned in “Post Office Reform” at -p. 42, and also in that “Ninth Report.” The writer of the -“Encyclopædia Britannica's” article (xix. 585), while quoting -Rowland Hill's description of the adhesive stamp, adds: “It is -quite a fair inference that this alternative had been suggested from -without,” but gives no reason for hazarding so entirely baseless an -assertion. The article, indeed, bears not a few traces of what looks -like personal malice; and it is a pity that the editorial revising pen, -whether from indolence or from misunderstanding of the subject on -its wielder's part, was suffered to lie idle.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> -These are the actual words made use of. See “Second -Report of the Commissioners of Post Office Inquiry,” Question -11,111.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> -Thus the Treasury Minute.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> -“In the end there were selected from the whole number of -competitors four whose suggestions appeared to evince most -ingenuity,” wrote my father. “The reward that had been offered -was divided amongst them in equal shares, each receiving £100” -(“Life,” i. 388). Sir Henry Cole gives their names as follows:—“Mr -Cheverton, Mr C. Whiting, myself, and, I believe, Messrs -Perkins, Bacon & Co. After the labour,” he adds, “of reading the -two thousand five” (?six) “hundred proposals sent to the Treasury, -'My Lords' obtained from them no other modes of applying the -postage stamp than those suggested by Mr Hill himself—stamped -covers or half sheets of paper, stamped envelopes, labels or adhesive -stamps, and stamps struck on letter-paper itself.”—(“Fifty Years of -Public Life,” i. 62, 65, 66.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> -So profoundly did Rowland Hill feel the importance of this -fact that he invariably scouted a suggestion occasionally made in -the early days of the postal reform that his own head should appear -on at least one of the stamps. The some-time postmaster of New -Brunswick, who caused his portrait to adorn a colonial stamp now -much sought after by philatelists on account, perhaps, of its rarity, -for it was speedily abolished, seems to have been of quite a different -frame of mind.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> -This earliest stamp was a far finer and more artistic piece of -workmanship than any of its successors; and has only to be -compared with the later specimens—say, for example, with King -Edward's head on the halfpenny postcards and newspaper bands—to -see how sadly we have fallen behind some other nations and our -own older methods, at any rate in the art of engraving, or, at least, -of engraving as applied to the postage stamp.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> -In the paper drawn up by Rowland Hill, “On the Collection -of Postage by Means of Stamps,” and issued by the Mercantile -Committee in June 1839, he had recommended that, for convenience' -sake, the stamp should be printed on sheets each containing 240, -arranged in twenty rows of twelve apiece; and they are so printed -to this day. It has been asserted that at first the sheets were -printed in strips of twelve stamps each; but there is no truth in the -statement. Archer's perforation patent, which makes separation -of the adhesives easy, and is therefore a boon to the many of us -who are often in a hurry, was not adopted before the mid-'fifties.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> -His father, an American, was the inventor of the once famous -air-gun.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> -Fifteen years after the issue of the first stamps, during which -time more than 3,000,000,000 had been printed, it was deemed -advisable to make a second matrix by transfer from the first. It -had become necessary to deepen the graven lines by hand, but -the work was so carefully done that the deviation in portraiture -was very slight.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> -And a hasty hand, too, for in those days of manual labour there -was a keen race among the stampers as to who, in a given time, -should make the greatest number of obliterations. The man whose -record stood habitually highest was usually called on to exhibit -his prowess to visitors who were being escorted over the Department.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> -Rowland Hill's Journal, 9th November 1840.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> -“Life,” i. 399-407.</p></div></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ac noindent">AT THE POST OFFICE</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">As</span> the evident weakening of Peel's Government -became more marked, the thoughts of the man who -had been sacrificed to official intrigues, and unto -whom it was, as he pathetically writes, “grief and -bitterness to be so long kept aloof from my true -work,” turned longingly towards the Post Office and -to his insecurely established and only partially -developed plan. With a change of Ministry, better -things must surely come.</p> - -<p>His hopes were realised. In 1846 the Peel -Administration fell, and Lord John (afterwards Earl) -Russell became Prime Minister. The public voice, -clearly echoed in the Press, demanded Rowland Hill's -recall to office, there to complete his reform.<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a></p> - -<p>One of the first intimations he received of his -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> -probable restoration was a letter from Mr Warburton -advising him to be “within call if wanted.” A discussion -had risen overnight in Parliament. Mr -Duncombe had complained of the management of -the Post Office, and so had Mr Parker, the Secretary -to the Treasury. The new Postmaster-General, -Lord Clanricarde, it was reported, had found “the -whole establishment in a most unsatisfactory condition”; -and the new Prime Minister himself was -“by no means satisfied with the state of the Post -Office,” and did not “think the plans of reform -instituted by Mr Hill had been sufficiently carried -out.” Messrs Hume and Warburton urged Mr Hill's -recall.<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a></p> - -<p>Several of the good friends who had worked so -well for the reform both within and without Parliament -also approached the new Government, which, indeed, -was not slow to act; and my father entered, not, as -before, the Treasury, but his fitter field of work—the -Post Office. The whirligig of time was indeed bringing -in his revenges. An entire decade had elapsed -since the reformer, then hopeful and enthusiastic, -inwardly digested the cabful of volumes sent him by -Mr Wallace, and dictated to Mrs Hill the pages of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> -“Post Office Reform.” He had at the time been -denied admission to the Post Office when seeking -for information as to the working of the old system -he was destined to destroy. He now found himself -installed within the official precincts, and in something -resembling authority there.</p> - -<p>Thus before the passing of the year 1846 he was -able to comment yet further in his diary on the -curious parallel between his own treatment and that -of Dockwra and Palmer. “Both these remarkable -men,” he wrote, “saw their plans adopted, were -themselves engaged to work them out, and subsequently, -on the complaint of the Post Office, were -turned adrift by the Treasury.” We “were all alike -in the fact of dismissal.... I alone was so far -favoured as to be recalled to aid in the completion -of my plan.”<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a></p> - -<p>At the time when Dockwra, the most hardly -used of all, was driven from office a ruined man, -and with the further aggravation of responsibility for -the costs of a trial which had been decided unjustly -against him, the “merry monarch's” numerous progeny -were being lavishly provided for out of the national -purse. The contrast between their treatment and -that of the man who had been one of the greatest -benefactors to his country renders his case doubly -hard.</p> - -<p>In an interview which Mr Warburton had with -the Postmaster-General preparatory to Rowland Hill's -appointment, the Member for Bridport pointed to -the fact that his friend was now fifty-one years of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> -age, and that it would be most unfair to call on him -to throw up his present assured position only to run -risk of being presently “shelved”; and further urged -the desirability of creating for him the post of Adviser -to the Post Office, in order that his time should not -be wasted in mere routine duty. At the same time, -Mr Warburton stipulated that Rowland Hill should -not be made subordinate to the inimical permanent -head of the Office. Had Mr Warburton's advice -been followed, it would have been well for the incompleted -plan, the reformer, and the public service. -Rowland Hill himself suggested, by way of official -designation, the revival of Palmer's old title of -Surveyor-General to the Post Office; but the proposal -was not received with favour. Ultimately he -was given the post of Secretary to the Postmaster-General, -a title especially created for him, which -lapsed altogether when at last he succeeded to -Colonel Maberly's vacated chair. The new office was -of inferior rank and of smaller salary than his rival's; -and, as a natural consequence, the old hindrances and -thwartings were revived, and minor reforms were -frequently set aside or made to wait for several years -longer. Happily, it was now too late for the penny -post itself to be swept away; the country would -not have allowed it; and in this, the seventh year -of its establishment, its author was glad to record -that the number of letters delivered within 12 -miles of St Martin's-le-Grand was already equal to -that delivered under the old system throughout the -whole United Kingdom.</p> - -<p>By 1846 Rowland Hill was occupying a better -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> -pecuniary position than when in 1839 he went to the -Treasury. He had made his mark in the railway -world; and just when rumours of his retirement -therefrom were gaining ground, the South Western -Railway Board of Directors offered him the managership -of that line. The salary proposed was unusually -high, and the invitation was transparently veiled -under a Desdemona-like request that he would recommend -to the Board some one with qualifications “as -much like your own as possible.” But he declined -this and other flattering offers, resigned his three -directorships, and thus relinquished a far larger -income than that which the Government asked him -to accept. The monetary sacrifice, however, counted -for little when weighed in the balance against the -prospect of working out his plan.</p> - -<p>His first interview with Lord Clanricarde was a -very pleasant one; and he left his new chief's presence -much impressed with his straightforward, business-like -manner.</p> - -<p>On this first day at St Martin's-le-Grand's Colonel -Maberly and Rowland Hill met, and went through -the ceremony of shaking hands. But the old -animosity still possessed considerable vitality. The -hatchet was but partially interred.</p> - -<p>With Lord Clanricarde my father worked harmoniously; -the diarist after one especially satisfactory -interview writing that he “never met with -a public man who is less afraid of a novel and -decided course of action.”</p> - -<p>Early in his postal career, my father, by Lord -Clanricarde's wish, went to Bristol to reorganise -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> -the Post Office there, the first of several similar -missions to other towns. In nearly every case he -found one condition of things prevailing: an office -small, badly lighted, badly ventilated, and with -defective sanitary arrangements; the delivery of -letters irregular and unnecessarily late; the mail -trains leaving the provincial towns at inconvenient -hours; and other vexatious regulations, or lack of -regulations. He found that by an annual expenditure -of £125 Bristol's chief delivery of the day could be -completed by nine in the morning instead of by noon. -Although unable to carry out all the improvements -needed, he effected a good deal, and on the termination -of his visit received the thanks of the clerks and -letter-carriers.<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a></p> - -<p>In 1847 a thorough revision of the money order -system was entrusted to him; and, thenceforth, that -office came entirely under his control. Seventeen -years later, Lord Clanricarde, in the Upper House, -paid his former lieutenant, then about to retire, a -handsome tribute of praise, saying, among other -things, that, but for Mr Hill, the business of that -office could hardly have been much longer carried on. -No balance had been struck, and no one knew what -assets were in hand. On passing under Mr Hill's -management, the system was altered: four or five -entries for each order were made instead of eleven; -and official defalcation or fraud, once common, was -now no more heard of.<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> - -<p>Lord Clanricarde placed the management of that -office under my father's command in order that the -latter should have a free hand; and it was settled -that all returns to Parliament should be submitted -to Rowland Hill before being sent to the Treasury, -with leave to attack any that seemed unfair to penny -postage. Previous to this act of friendliness and -justice on the Postmaster-General's part, papers had -generally been submitted to the permanent head of -the office and even to officers of lower rank, but had -been withheld from the reformer's observation.<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a></p> - -<p>“Eternal vigilance” is said to be the necessary -price to pay for the preservation of our liberties; -and, half a century ago, a like vigilance had to be -exercised whenever and wherever the interests of the -postal reform were concerned.</p> - -<p>The arrears in the Money Order Departments of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> -the London and provincial offices were so serious that -to clear them off would, it was declared, fully employ -thirty-five men for four years. The Post Office had -always maintained that the Money Order Department -yielded a large profit; but a return sent to Parliament -in 1848 showed that the expenditure of the year -before the change of management exceeded the -receipts by more than £10,000. In 1849 my father -expressed “a confident expectation” that in the -course of the year the Money Order Office would -become self-supporting. By 1850 that hope was -realised. By 1852 the office showed a profit of -£11,664, thereby, in six years, converting the -previous loss into a gain of more than £22,000;<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> -and during the last year of Rowland Hill's life -(1878-79) the profits were £39,000.</p> - -<p>A reduction of size in the money order forms and -letters of advice, and the abolition of duplicate advices -effected a considerable saving in stationery alone; -while the reduction of fees and the greater facilities -for the transmission of money given by cheap postage -raised the amount sent, in ten years only, twenty-fold. -In 1839 about £313,000 passed through the -post; and in 1864, the year of my father's resignation, -£16,494,000. By 1879 the sum had risen to -£27,000,000; and it has gone on steadily increasing.</p> - -<p>Perhaps the following extract from Rowland Hill's -journal is satisfactory, as showing improvement in -account-keeping, etc. “July 8th, 1853.—A recent -return to Parliament of the number and cost of -prosecutions [for Post Office offences] from 1848 to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> -1852 inclusive, shows an enormous decrease—nearly, -I think, in the ratio of three to one. This very -satisfactory result is, I believe, mainly owing to the -improved arrangements in the Money Order Office.”<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a></p> - -<p>The new postal system, indeed, caused almost a -revolution in official account-keeping. Under the -old system the accounts of the provincial postmasters -were usually from three to six months in arrear, -and no vouchers were demanded for the proper -disbursement of the money with which the postmasters -were credited. In consequence of this -dilatoriness, the officials themselves were often -ignorant of the actual state of affairs, or were sometimes -tempted to divert the public funds to their -own pockets, while the revenue was further injured -by the delay in remitting balances. Under the -new system each postmaster rendered his account -weekly, showing proper vouchers for receipts and -payments and the money left in hand, to the smallest -possible sum. This improvement was accompanied -by lighter work to a smaller number of men, and -a fair allowance of holiday to each of them.</p> - -<p>When, in 1851, my father's attention was turned -to the question of facilitating life insurance for the -benefit of the staff, and especially of its humbler -members, it was arranged with Sir George Cornwall -Lewis,<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> -at that time Chancellor of the Exchequer, -that, to aid in making up the requisite funds, the -proceeds of unclaimed money orders, then averaging -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> -£1,100 a year, and all such money found in -“dead” letters as could not be returned to their -writers, should be used. Accumulations brought the -fund up to about £12,000. In this manner “The -Post Office Widows' and Orphans' Fund Society” -was placed on a firm footing. A portion of the -void order fund was also employed in rescuing from -difficulties another society in the London office called -“The Letter-Carriers' Burial Fund.”<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a></p> - -<p>Although in 1857 my father, with the approval -of Lord Colchester, the then Postmaster-General, -had proposed the extension of the money order -system to the Colonies, it was not till the Canadian -Government took the initiative in 1859 that the -Treasury consented to try the experiment. It proved -so successful that the measure was gradually extended -to all the other colonies, and even to some foreign -countries.</p> - -<p>Like Palmer, Rowland Hill was a born organiser, -and work such as that effected in the Money Order -Office was so thoroughly congenial that it could -scarcely fail to be successful. The race of born -organisers can hardly be extinct. Is it vain to -hope that one may yet arise to set in order the -said-to-be-unprofitable Post Office Savings Bank, -whose abolition is sometimes threatened? As a -teacher of thrift to one of the least thrifty of nations, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> -it is an institution that should be mended rather -than ended. Mending must surely be possible when, -for example, each transaction of that Bank costs -7.55d. exclusive of postage—or so we are told—while -other savings banks can do their work at a -far lower price.<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p> - -<p>The following story is illustrative of the strange -want of common-sense which distinguishes the race, -especially when posting missives. “Mr Ramsey, -(missing-letter clerk),” writes Rowland Hill in his -diary of 27th May 1847, “has brought me a -packet containing whole banknotes to the amount -of £1,500 so carelessly made up that they had all -slipped out, and the packet was addressed to some -country house in Hereford, no post-town being -named. It had found its way, after much delay, -into the post office at Ross, and had been sent to -London by the postmistress.”</p> - -<p>It is not often that the head of so dignified and -peaceful an institution as the Post Office is seen -in a maimed condition, and that condition the result -of fierce combat. Nevertheless, in that stirring time -known as “the year of revolutions” (1848), a -newly-appointed chief of the French Post Office, in -the pleasant person of M. Thayer, arrived in this -country on official business. He came supported on -crutches, having been badly wounded in the foot -during the June insurrection in Paris. He told -us that his family came originally from London, and -that one of our streets was named after them. If, -as was surmised, he made a pilgrimage to Marylebone -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> -to discover it, it must have looked to one fresh from -Paris a rather dismal thoroughfare.</p> - -<p>About 1849 Rowland Hill instituted periodical -meetings of the Post Office Surveyors to discuss questions -which had hitherto been settled by the slower -method of writing minutes. These postal parliaments -were so satisfactory that henceforth they were often -held. They proved “both profitable and pleasant, -increased the interest of the surveyors in the work -of improvement, and by the collision of many opinions, -broke down prejudices, and overthrew obstacles.”</p> - -<p>One of the greatest boons which, under my father's -lead, was secured to the letter-carriers, sorters, postmasters, -and others, all over the kingdom, was the -all but total abolition of Post Office Sunday labour. -In a single day 450 offices in England and Wales -were relieved of a material portion of their Sunday -duties. Three months later the measure was extended -to Ireland and Scotland, 234 additional offices being -similarly relieved. While these arrangements were in -process of settlement, Rowland Hill, in the autumn -of 1849, resolved to still further curtail Sunday -labour. Hitherto the relief had been carried out in -the Money Order Department only, but it was now -decided to close the offices entirely between the -hours of ten and five. To make this easier, it became -necessary to provide for the transmission of a certain -class of letters through London on the Sunday, and -to ask a few men to lend their services on this -account. Compulsion there was none: every man -was a volunteer; and for this absence of force my -father, from beginning to end of the movement, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> -resolutely bargained. Previous to the enactment of -this measure of relief, 27 men had been regularly -employed every Sunday at the General Post Office. -Their number was temporarily increased to 52 in -order that some 5,829 men—all of whom were compulsory -workers—should elsewhere be relieved, each -of some five-and-three-quarters hours of labour -every “day of rest.” In a few months, all the -arrangements being complete, and the plan got into -working order, the London staff was reduced to -little more than half the number employed before -the change was made. Ultimately, the services even -of this tiny contingent were reduced, four men -sufficing; and Sunday labour at the Post Office -was cut down to its minimum amount—a state of -things which remained undisturbed during my father's -connection with that great public Department.</p> - -<p>The actual bearing of this beneficent reform was, -strange to say, very generally misunderstood, and -perhaps more especially by “The Lord's Day Society.” -Thus for some months Rowland Hill was publicly -denounced as a “Sabbath-breaker” and a friend -and accomplice of His Satanic Majesty. The misunderstanding -was not altogether discouraged by -some of the old Post Office irreconcilables; but it is -only fair to the memory of the chief opponent to -record the fact that when the ill-feeling was at its -height Colonel Maberly called his clerks together, -told them that, owing to unjust attacks, the Department -was in danger, and exhorted them to stand -forth in its defence.<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p> - -<p>When the turmoil began the Postmaster-General -was inclined to side with some of the leading officials -who advocated compulsion should the number volunteering -for the London work be insufficient. Happily, -the supply was more than ample. But when the -trouble subsided Lord Clanricarde generously admitted -that he had been wrong and my father right.</p> - -<p>Some of the provincial postmasters and other -officials, misunderstanding the case, joined in the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> -clamour, and went far on the way to defeat a -measure planned for their relief. Others were -more discerning, and the postmaster of Plymouth -wrote to say that at his office alone thirty men -would be relieved by an enactment which was -“one of the most important in the annals of the -Post Office.”</p> - -<p>The agitation showed how prone is the public -to fly to wrong conclusions. Here was Rowland -Hill striving to diminish Sunday work, and being -denounced as if he was seeking to increase it! It goes -without saying that, during the agitation, numerous -letters, generally anonymous, and sometimes violently -abusive, deluged the Department, and especially the -author of the relief; and that not even Rowland Hill's -family were spared the pain of receiving from candid -and, of course, entirely unknown friends letters of the -most detestable description. Truly, the ways of the -unco gude are past finding out.</p> - -<p>While the conflict raged, many of the clergy -proved no wiser than the generality of their flocks, -and were quite as vituperative. Others, to their -honour be it recorded, tried hard to stem the tide -of ignorance and bigotry. Among these enlightened -men were the Hon. and Rev. Grantham Yorke, rector -of St Philip's, Birmingham; the Professor Henslow -already mentioned; and Dr Vaughan, then head-master -of Harrow and, later, Dean of Llandaff. All -three, although at the time personal strangers, wrote -letters which did their authors infinite credit, and -which the recipient valued highly. The veteran free-trader, -General Peronnet Thompson, also contributed -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> -a series of able articles on the subject to the then -existing <i>Sun</i>.</p> - -<p>Some of the newspapers at first misunderstood -the question quite as thoroughly as did the public; -but, so far as we ever knew, only the <i>Leeds Mercury</i>—unto -whose editor, in common with other editors, -had been sent a copy of the published report on the -reduction of Sunday labour—had the frankness to -express regret for having misrepresented the situation.<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> -Other newspapers were throughout more -discriminating; and the <i>Times</i>, in its issue of 25th -April 1850, contained an admirable and lengthy exposition -of the case stated with very great clearness -and ability.<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a></p> - -<p>“Carrying out a plan of relief which I had suggested -as a more general measure when at the -Treasury,” says Rowland Hill in his diary, “ I proposed -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> -to substitute a late Saturday night delivery -in the nearer suburbs for that on Sunday morning. -By this plan more than a hundred men would be -forthwith released from Sunday duty in the metropolitan -district alone.”<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> -He further comments, perhaps -a little slyly, on the “notable fact that while so -much has been said by the London merchants and -bankers against a delivery where their places of -business are, of course, closed, not a word has been -said against a delivery in the suburbs where they -live.”<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a></p> - -<p>To give further relief to Sunday labour, Rowland -Hill proposed “so to arrange the work as to have -the greatest practicable amount of sorting done in -the travelling offices on the railways; the earlier -portion ending by five on Sunday morning, and the -later not beginning till nine on Sunday evening. -The pursuit of this object led to a singular device.”<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> -He was puzzling over the problem how to deal with -letters belonging to good-sized towns too near to -London to allow of sorting on the way. The railway -in case was the London and North-Western; -the towns St Albans and Watford. The thought -suddenly flashed upon him that the easiest way out -of the difficulty would be to let the <i>down</i> night mail -train to Liverpool receive the St Albans and Watford -<i>up</i> mails to London; and that on arrival at some -more remote town on the road to Liverpool they -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> -should be transferred, sorted, to an <i>up</i> train to be -carried to London. No time would be really lost -to the public, because, while the letters were performing -the double journey their destined recipients would -be in bed; nor would any additional expense or -trouble be incurred. The plan was a success, was -extended to other railways, and the apparently -eccentric proceeding long since became a matter of -everyday occurrence.</p> - -<p>In 1851 prepayment in money of postage on -inland letters was abolished at all those provincial -offices where it had thus far been allowed. Early in -the following year the abolition was extended to -Dublin, next to Edinburgh, and, last of all, to London—thus -completing, throughout the United Kingdom, -the establishment of prepayment by stamps alone, -and thereby greatly simplifying the proceedings at all -offices. To save trouble to the senders of many -circulars, the chief office, St Martin's-le-Grand, continued -to receive prepayment in money from 10 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> -to 5 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, in sums of not less than £2 at a time: an -arrangement, later, extended to other offices.</p> - -<p>An extract from Rowland Hill's diary, under -date 29th October 1851, says: “A clerkship at -Hong-Kong having become vacant by death, the -Postmaster-General has, on my recommendation, -determined not to fill it, and to employ part of the -saving thus effected in giving to the postmaster and -each of the remaining clerks in turn leave of absence -for a year and a half,<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> -with full salary, and an allowance -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> -of £100 towards the expense of the voyage. By -these means, while ample force will still be left, the -poor fellows will have the opportunity of recruiting -their health.”</p> - -<p>Early in 1852 Rowland Hill also writes in his -diary that “The Postmaster-General has sanctioned -a measure of mine which, I expect, will have the -effect of converting the railway stations in all the -larger towns into gratuitous receiving offices.” The -plan, convenient as it has proved, was, however, -long in being carried out.</p> - -<p>The agitation to extend penny postage beyond -the limits of the British Isles is much older than -many people suppose. Far back in the 'forties -Elihu Burritt<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> -strove long and manfully in the cause -of “<i>ocean</i> penny postage”; and in my father's diary, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> -under date 5th March 1853, it is recorded that the -Postmaster-General received a deputation “which -came to urge the extension of penny postage to the -Colonies.”<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> -It was a reform long delayed; and as -usual the Post Office was reproached for not moving -with the times, etc. That a large portion of the -blame lay rather with the great steamship companies, -which have never failed to charge heavily for conveyance -of the mails, is far too little considered.</p> - -<p>But the great steamship companies are not alone -in causing the Post Office to be made a scapegoat -for their own sins in the way of exacting heavy payments. -In 1853 Rowland Hill gave evidence before -a Parliamentary committee to consider railway and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> -canal charges; and showed that, owing to the strained -relations between the Post Office and the railway -companies, the use of trains for mail conveyance was -so restricted as to injure the public and even the -companies themselves; also that, while the cost of -carrying passengers and goods had been greatly -reduced on the railways, the charge for carrying the -mails had grown by nearly 300 per cent., although -their weight had increased by only 140 per cent. -He also laid before the Committee a Bill—approved -by two successive Postmasters-General—framed to -prescribe reasonable rates, and laying down a better -principle of arbitration in respect of trains run -at hours fixed by the Postmaster-General. The -Committee, as shown by their Report, mainly -adopted Rowland Hill's views, which were indeed -perfectly just, and, if adopted, would, in his estimation, -have reduced the annual expenditure in railway -conveyance—then about £360,000—by at least -£100,000. The proposals were made to secure fair -rates of charge in all new railway bills, but it was -intended to extend the arrangement eventually to -already existing railways. But the railway influence -in Parliament was too strong to allow adoption -of these improvements; and attempts subsequently -made were unavailing to alter the injurious law -enacted early in the railway era, and intended to -last only till experience of the working of the lines -should have afforded the requisite data for laying -down a scale of charges.<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> -Being of opinion that, in -order to serve the public more effectually, far greater -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> -use should be made of the railways, the reformer -tried to procure for the Post Office the unrestricted -use of all trains for a moderate fixed charge. Owing, -however, to the existing law, the uncertainty of rates -of payment, the excessive awards frequently made, -and other causes, this useful measure was not adopted, -with the result that the subsidies to the companies -went on increasing in magnitude.</p> - -<p>In the same year the Great Northern Railway had -spontaneously begun to run a train at night, at such -speed as to outstrip the night mail on the London and -North-Western line. Believing that the object was -to tempt the public into agitating for the use of the -rival train and line, my father applied to the North-Western -Railway company for such acceleration as -would obviate the possibility of such a demand being -made. He also suggested the introduction of what -are now called limited mails; but this idea was not -adopted for some years.<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a> -Till the acceleration was -accomplished the answer to a letter leaving London -by the night mail for Edinburgh or Glasgow could -not be received till the afternoon of the next day -but one.</p> - -<p>Increased speed, however, was found to produce -unpunctuality, misunderstandings, and other evils; and -the public grew dissatisfied. Of course the railway -companies blamed the Post Office, and, equally, of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> -course, though with better reason, the Post Office -blamed the railway companies. My father proposed -that each side should be subjected to fines whenever -irregularity occurred, and that punctuality should -receive reward. But the proposal was not accepted. -In 1855, however, the attempt was again made to -induce the railway companies to agree to the payment -of mutual penalties in case of unpunctuality, -coupled with reward to the companies, but not to -the Office, for punctual performance. Only one -company—the North British—accepted the proposal, -the result being that the instances of irregularity -were in half a year brought down from 112 to 9, -the company at the same time receiving a reward -of £400.</p> - -<p>Later, the railway companies agreed to accelerate -their night mails between London and Edinburgh -and Glasgow. An <i>additional</i> payment of some -£15,000 a year had to be made, but the benefit to -the two countries was so great that the outlay was -not grudged. The effort to extend a like boon to -Ireland was not so successful. The companies which -had begun with moderate demands, suddenly asked -for lessened acceleration and increased remuneration; -and the Government adopted their views in preference -to those of the Postmaster-General and the postal -reformer. As a natural consequence, an annual -subsidy of over £100,000 had to be paid in addition -to the necessary cost of provision for letter-sorting in -the trains and steamships. Punctuality also was often -disregarded, and penalties were suspended on the score -of insufficient pier accommodation at Holyhead.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p> - -<p>Some of the companies were short-sighted enough -to refuse what would have been remunerative work -offered by the Post Office. On one short line of -23 miles, £3,000 per annum was demanded for the -carriage of a night mail; and, although the Office -offered to furnish a train of its own, as by law any -one was entitled to do, and to pay the appointed tolls, -though legally exempt from so doing—such payment -to be settled by arbitration—the proposal was rejected. -Ultimately, a more circuitous route was adopted at a -third of the cost first demanded.</p> - -<p>There was great need of reorganisation and -common-sense rearrangement in these matters. -Why, for instance, when carrying a letter between -Land's End and John O'Groat's should twenty-one -separate contracts, irrespective of engagements with -rural messengers and of plans for the conveyance of -mail-bags to and from railway stations and post offices, -have been required?</p> - -<p>With a view to the reduction of these extravagant -subsidies, Rowland Hill proposed that “Government -should, on ample security, and to a limited extent, -advance loans on the terms on which it could itself -borrow to such companies as were willing to adopt -a reasonable tariff of charge for postal services.” He -hoped by these means to reduce the annual payments -to the companies by about £250,000. The Duke of -Argyll, then Postmaster-General, and Mr Hutchinson, -Chairman of the Stock Exchange, highly approved of -the plan; but, though it evoked much interest, and -came up again as a public question more than once -in later years, no progress was made. Were State -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> -purchase of the railways to become the law of the -land, solution of the difficulty might yet be discovered.</p> - -<p>One of the measures Rowland Hill hoped to see -accomplished was the conveyance of mails on one -of the principal lines by special trains absolutely -limited to Post Office service. The cost would be -moderate if the companies could be induced to join -in an arrangement under which, the bare additional -expense in each instance being ascertained by a -neutral authority, a certain fixed multiple of that -amount should be paid. Captain (afterwards Sir -Douglas) Galton, of the Board of Trade, and Sir -William Cubitt heartily approved of the plan, the -latter estimating the cost in question at 1s. to 1s. 3d. -a mile, and advising that two and a half times that -amount should be offered. Under this rule the Post -Office would pay less for the whole train than it -already paid for a small part of one. The plan of -charge by fixed scale found little favour with the -companies; but the proposed special mail service was -ultimately adopted.</p> - -<p>The Postmaster-General (Lord Canning's) Commission -in 1853 on the Packet Service—which included -among its members Lord Canning himself and the -then Sir Stafford Northcote—did much useful work, -and published an able Report giving a brief history -of “contract mail-packets”; explaining why, under -older conditions, heavy subsidies were necessary, and -expressing their opinion that, as now the steamers -so employed carry passengers and freight, these large -subsidies could no longer be required. When a new -route has been opened for the extension of commerce, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> -further continuance of the Service, unless desirable on -account of important political reasons, should depend -on its tendency to become self-supporting. Among -other recommendations made were the omission in -future contracts of many conditions whose effect is -increase of cost; a reduction of the contract to an -undertaking (subject to penalties for failure) to convey -the mails at fixed periods and with a certain degree -of speed, and an agreement that, except in the case -of a new route, contracts should not be allowed to -exist for a long period.</p> - -<p>When at last the management of the Packet -Service was transferred from the Admiralty to the -Post Office, a useful—indeed necessary—reform was -accomplished. While in the hands of the former -Department, the Service had become a source of -very heavy expense, owing, in great part, to its -extension for political reasons very far beyond postal -requirements.</p> - -<p>Great inconvenience had resulted also from the -slight control possessed by the Post Office over the -Service. In 1857, for example, the contract with the -West Indian Packet Company was renewed without -the knowledge of either the Postmaster-General or -of Rowland Hill. The absence in the contracts of -stipulations as to punctuality likewise had ill effects. -The most punctual service at this time was that -between Devonport and the Cape of Good Hope, -as the Union Steamship Company, into whose -contract such stipulations had been introduced in -strong form, made during 1859 every one of its -voyages within the appointed time.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> - -<p>Investigation of the Packet Service accounts -showed how abundant was the room for diminution of -cost. The annual charge to the Home Government -for conveying the mails to and from Honduras was, -as a consequence, readily cut down from £8,000 to -£2,000, and eventually to £1,500. There had always -been a heavy loss on the foreign and colonial service. -That to the Cape of Good Hope and Natal was -reduced in six years from £28,000 to £5,400 per -annum. Much of the merit of this diminution of -cost, as regards the Packet Service, was always -attributed by my father to his youngest brother -Frederic; and while that department remained under -the latter's control the large annual loss was reduced -by more than £200,000—one-half the sum—by the -cutting down of expenditure, the other half by increased -yield from the correspondence. The cost to the -British taxpayer was further lightened by calling upon -the colonists, who had hitherto been exempt from all -such charges, henceforth to bear their fair share of -the expense. Thus both punctuality and economy -were insisted upon.</p> - -<p>About 1857 a persistent demand arose for a mail -service to Australia by the Panama route, the Press -vigorously taking up the agitation, and the Government -being accused of “red tapeism” because they did -not move in the matter, or not until the outcry grew so -loud that it was deemed expedient to apply to the -shipping agencies for tenders. Being one day at the -Athenæum Club, Rowland Hill met a friend, a man of -superior education and varied knowledge, who had -long held an important post in the Far East, almost -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> -on the shores of the Pacific. “Why,” asked this -friend, “do you not establish an Australian mail -by the Panama route?” “Why should we?” was -the counter-question. “Because it is the shortest,” -replied the friend. At once Rowland Hill proposed -an adjournment to the drawing-room, where stood -a large globe; the test of measurement was applied, -and thereupon was demonstrated the fallacy of a widespread -popular belief, founded on ignorance of the -enormous width of the Pacific Ocean—a belief, as this -anecdote shows, shared even by some of those who -have dwelt within reach of its waters.<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a></p> - -<p>But convincing friends was of far less moment than -convincing the public; and Rowland Hill drew up a -Report on the subject which, backed by the Postmaster-General, -Lord Colchester, had the desired effect of -preventing, for the time being, what would have been -a heavy and useless expenditure of public money.<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> - -<p>It is found that great public ceremonies affect -the weekly returns of the number of letters passing -through the post. Sometimes the result is a perceptible -increase; at other times a decrease. The -funeral of the great Duke of Wellington was held -on the 18th November 1852, and “all London” was -in the streets to look at it. The weekly return, -published on the 22nd, showed that the number of -letters dispatched by the evening mail from the -metropolis on that memorable 18th fell off by about -100,000. The next day's letters were probably -increased by an extra 10,000. The revolutionary -year, 1848, also had a deteriorating influence on -correspondence, the return published in 1849 for the -previous twelvemonths showing a smaller increase -than, under ordinary circumstances, might have been -expected.</p> - -<p>In 1853 Docker's ingenious apparatus for the -exchange of mail-bags at those railway stations -through which trains pass without stopping was -introduced. The process is described by the postal -reformer as follows:—“The bags to be forwarded, -being suspended from a projecting arm at the station, -are so knocked off by a projection from the train -as to fall into a net which is attached to the mail -carriage, and is for the moment stretched out to -receive them; while, at the same time, the bags to be -left behind, being hung out from the mail carriage, -are in like manner so struck off as to be caught in a -net fixed at the station; the whole of this complex -movement being so instantaneous that the uninformed -eye cannot follow it.” It was this inability to understand -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> -the movement which led to a ridiculous error. -On the first day of the experiment people assembled -in crowds to witness it. At Northallerton “half -Yorkshire” gathered—according to the mail inspector—and -many were under the impression that the -outgoing set of bags they saw hanging to the -projecting arm in readiness for absorption by the -passing train, and the incoming set hanging out from -the mail carriage, ready to be caught in the net fixed -at the station, were one and the same thing. Though -what useful purpose could be served by the mere -“giving a lift” of a hundred yards or so to one -solitary set of bags is rather hard to perceive.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_239.jpg" id="i_239.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_239.jpg" width="600" height="238" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">AN EARLY TRAVELLING POST OFFICE WITH MAIL BAGS EXCHANGE APPARATUS.<br /> - By permission of the Proprietors of the “<i>City Press</i>.”</div> -</div> - -<p>The invention was not altogether a success, very -heavy bags—especially when the trains were running -at great speed—being sometimes held responsible for -the occurrence of rather serious accidents. It even -became necessary to cease using the apparatus till -the defect, whatever it might be, could be put right. -Several remedies were suggested, but none proved -effectual till my brother, then only twenty-one years -of age, hit upon a simple contrivance which removed -all difficulties, and thenceforth the exchange-bag -apparatus worked well. Sir William Cubitt, who had -unsuccessfully striven to rectify matters, generously -eulogised his youthful rival's work.</p> - -<p>The stamp-obliterating machines which superseded -the old practice of obliteration by hand were -also my brother's invention. In former days the -man who could stamp the greatest number of letters -in a given time was usually invited to exhibit his -prowess when visitors were shown over the office. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> -The old process had never turned out impressions -conspicuous for legibility, and means of improvement -had been for some time under consideration. -But it was a trial presided over by Lord Campbell -in 1856 which precipitated matters. An important -question turned upon the exact date at which a -letter had been posted, but the obliterating stamp -on the envelope was too indistinct to furnish the -necessary evidence. Lord Campbell sharply animadverted -upon the failure, and his strictures caused -the Duke of Argyll—then Postmaster-General—to -write to Rowland Hill upon the subject. The use -of inferior ink was supposed to be responsible for the -trouble, and various experiments were tried, without -effecting any marked beneficial result. Objection was -made to abolition of the human hand as stamper on -the ground that thus far it had proved to be the -fastest worker. Then my brother's mechanical skill -came to the rescue, and complaints as to clearness -and legibility soon became rare.<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> -By the machines -the obliterations were made faster than by the best -hand-work, the increase of speed being at least 50 -per cent. About the year 1903 my brother's -machines began, I am told, to be superseded by -others which are said to do the work faster even -than his. Judging by some of the obliterations -lately made, presumably by these later machines, -it is evident that, so far as clearness and legibility -are concerned, the newer process is not superior to -the older.</p> - -<p>My brother was a born mechanician, and, like -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> -our uncle Edwin Hill, could, out of an active brain, -evolve almost any machine for which, in some -emergency, there seemed to be need. To give free -scope to Pearson's obvious bent, our father had, in -his son's early youth, caused a large four-stalled -stable adjoining our house at Hampstead to be -altered into a well-equipped workshop; and in this -many a long evening was spent, the window being -often lighted up some hours after the rest of the -family had retired to bed, and my brother being -occasionally obliged to sing out, through the one -open pane, a cheery “good-night” to the passing -policeman, who paused to see if a burglarious conspiracy -was being devised during the nocturnal small -hours, from the convenient vantage-ground of the -outhouse.</p> - -<p>The dream of my brother's life was to become -a civil engineer, for which profession, indeed, few -young men could have been better fitted; and the -dream seemed to approach accomplishment when, -during a visit to our father, Sir William (afterwards -first Lord) Armstrong spoke most highly of Pearson's -achievements—he had just put into completed form -two long-projected small inventions—and offered to -take the youth into his own works at Newcastle-on-Tyne. -But the dream was never destined to find -realisation. Sir William's visit and proposal made -a fitting opportunity for the putting to my brother -of a serious question which had been in our father's -head for some time. In his son's integrity, ability, -and affection, Rowland Hill had absolute trust. Were -the younger man but working with him at the Post -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> -Office, the elder knew he could rely on unswerving -support, on unwavering fidelity. The choice of -callings was laid before my brother: life as a civil -engineer—a profession in which his abilities could -not fail to command success—or the less ambitious -career of a clerk at St Martin's-le-Grand. Our -father would not dwell upon his own strong leaning -towards the latter course, but with the ever-present -mental image of harassing official intrigues against -himself and his hard-won reform, it is not difficult -to picture with what conflicting emotions he must -have waited his son's decision. This was left entirely -in the young man's hands; and he chose the part -which he knew would best serve his father. The -cherished dream was allowed to melt into nothingness, -and my brother began his postal career not -as a favoured, but as an ordinary clerk, though one -always near at hand, and always in the complete confidence -of his immediate chief. Whatever regrets -for the more congenial life Pearson may have -harboured, he never, to my knowledge, gave them -audible expression, nor could any father have had a -more loyal son. When, many years later, it seemed -desirable that some official should be appointed to -report on the value of the mechanical inventions -periodically offered to the Post Office, and to supervise -those already in operation, it seemed when my -brother was selected for that post as if he had only -received his due, and that merely in part.</p> - -<p>He had also administrative ability of no mean -order; and when only twenty-eight years of age -was selected by the Postmaster-General to go to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> -Mauritius to reorganise the post office there, which -through mismanagement had gradually drifted into -a state of confusion, apparently beyond rectification -by the island authorities. He speedily brought the -office into good working order; but perhaps his -Mauritian labours will be best remembered by his -substitution of certain civilised stamps—like those -then used in some of the West Indian isles—in place -of the trumpery red and blue, penny and twopenny, -productions which were the handiwork of some local -artist, and which are now so rare that they command -amazingly large sums of money in the philatelist -world.</p> - -<div class="figcenter bord"><a name="i_244.jpg" id="i_244.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_244.jpg" width="363" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">PEARSON HILL.<br /> - By permission of the Proprietor of Flett's Studios, late London School - of Photography.</div> -</div> - - -<div class="footnotes p2"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> -The people of to-day who have never known the old postal -system can have no idea of the unanimity and strength of that -voice. Memory of the former state of things was still fresh in men's -minds; and, with perhaps one exception, no person wished for its -return. “Hill, you are the most popular man in the kingdom,” -one day exclaimed an old friend. The exception—there might have -been more than one, but if so, we were none the wiser—was one -of the Bentincks who, so late as the year 1857, suggested in the -House of Commons a return to franking on the score that penny -postage was one of the greatest jobs and greatest financial mistakes -ever perpetrated. Sir Francis Baring advised Mr Bentinck to try -to bring back the old postal rates, when he would see what the -country thought of the proposal.—(“Hansard,” cxlvi. 188, 189.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> -By this time Mr Wallace had retired from public life, and only -a short while later became involved in pecuniary difficulties. By the -exertions of his friends and admirers, an annuity was secured to him—a -provision which, though small in comparison with his former -prosperity, placed the venerable ex-Parliamentarian well above want. -He died in 1855, aged eighty-two.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 9, 10.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 58.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> -The <i>Times</i> (Parliamentary Debates), 15th June 1864. The -Money Order Office dates from 1792. It was first known as -“Stow & Co.,” being started as a private undertaking by three -Post Office clerks; and its mission was to enable small sums of -money to be safely transmitted to our sailors and soldiers. Later, -all classes of the community were included in the benefit, the -remittances to be forwarded being still restricted to small sums. -Each of the three partners advanced £1,000 to float the enterprise, -and division of the profits gave to each about £200 a year. The -commission charged was 8d. in the pound, of which 3d. each went to -the two postmasters who received and paid the orders, and 2d. -to the partners. The Postmaster-General sanctioned the measure, -which clearly supplied a felt want, but refrained from interference -with its management. In 1838 “Stow & Co.” ceased to exist, -becoming thenceforth an official department, and the then partners -receiving compensation for the surrender of their monopoly. The -fees were thereupon fixed at 6d. for sums not exceeding £2, and -1s. 6d. for sums of £2 to £5, the rates being still further reduced -in 1840.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 59, 60.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 257.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> -“Life” ii. 260.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> -Reputed author of the well-known saying that “Life would -be endurable were it not for its pleasures.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 304-307. In 1871 the amount of unclaimed -money orders was £3,390. In that year the Lords of the Treasury -put an end to this disposal of unclaimed money except in regard -to the then existing recipients of the aid; and the accumulated -capital, together with the interest thereon, about £20,707, was paid -into the Exchequer.—(Editor, G.B.H.'s, note at p. 306.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 365. (Note by its Editor.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 122. On the famous 10th of April 1848 (Chartist -day) Colonel Maberly likewise showed his martial spirit and strong -sense of the virtue of discipline when he requested Rowland Hill -to place his own clerks and those of the Money Order Office—in -all about 250—under his, the Colonel's, command, thus making up -a corps of special constables some 1,300 strong. All over London, -on and before that day, there was great excitement; a large supply -of arms was laid in, defences were erected at Governmental and -other public buildings, very little regular work was done, and there -was any amount of unnecessary scare, chiefly through the alarmist -disposition of the Duke of Wellington—seldom, rumour said, averse -from placing a town in a more or less state of siege, and ever ready -to urge upon successive Governments the desirability of spending -huge sums on fortifications whose destiny ere long was to become -obsolete—though partly also because there were many people still -living who could remember the Gordon riots immortalised in -“Barnaby Rudge,” and who feared a repetition of their excesses. -But the Chartists were a different set of men from Gordon's “tag, -rag, and bobtail” followers. On the morning of the 10th, my -father, driving to the Post Office, came up in Holborn with the long -procession marching in the direction of Kennington Common (now -a park), preparatory to presenting themselves with their petition -at the Houses of Parliament. Calling on the cabman to drive -slowly, my father watched the processionists with keen interest, and -was much struck with their steady bearing, evident earnestness, and -the bright, intelligent countenances of many of them. On close -inspection, not a few terrible revolutionists are found to look -surprisingly like other people, though the comparison does not -invariably tell in favour of those other people.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> -The <i>Mercury's</i> article (25th April 1850) was so good that -it seems worth while to quote some of it. “Macaulay informs us -that the post, when first established, was the object of violent -invective as a manifest contrivance of the Pope to enslave the -souls of Englishmen; and most books of history or anecdote will -supply stories equally notable. But we really very much doubt -whether any tale of ancient times can match the exhibition of -credulity which occurred in our own country, and under our own -eyes, within these last twelve months.... Nearly 6,000 people -have been relieved from nearly six hours' work every Sunday by -the operation of a scheme which was denounced as a deliberate -encouragement to Sabbath-breaking and profanity.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> -<i>À propos</i> of never answering attacks in the Press and elsewhere, -my father was not a little given to quote the opinion of one of -the Post officials who “goes so far as to declare that if he found -himself charged in a newspaper with parricide, he would hold his -tongue lest the accusation should be repeated next day with the -aggravation of matricide.”—“Life,” ii. 235.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> -This relief, proposed in November 1849, became an accomplished -fact a few days before the year died out.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 138.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> -<i>Ibid.</i> ii. 137.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> -In those slower-going days a large part of the holiday would -be taken up by the journey home and back.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> -A frequent and always welcome visitor at my father's house -was this son of America—“the learned blacksmith,” as he was -habitually called. He was one of the most interesting as well as -most refreshingly unconventional of men, but was never offensively -unconventional because he was one of “Nature's noblemen.” -Sweet-tempered, gentle-mannered, and pure-minded, he won our -regard—affection even—from the first. He could never have been -guilty of uttering an unkind word to any one, not even to those who -were lukewarm on the slavery question, who did not feel inspired -to join the Peace Society, or who were languid in the cause of -“ocean penny postage.” On the last-named subject he had, as an -entire stranger, written to my father a long letter detailing his -scheme, and urging the desirability of its adoption; and it was -this letter which led to our making Elihu Burritt's acquaintance. -He became a great friend of my elder sister, and maintained with -her a many years' long correspondence. Once only do I remember -seeing him angry, and then it was the righteous indignation which -an honest man displays when confronted with a lie. It was when -unto him had been attributed the authorship of my father's plan. -He would have nothing to do with a fraudulent claim to which -sundry other men have assented kindly enough, or have even, with -unblushing effrontery, appropriated of their own accord. Elihu -Burritt and Cardinal Mezzofanti were said to be the two greatest -linguists of the mid-nineteenth century; and I know not how many -languages and dialects each had mastered—the one great scholar a -distinguished prince of the Roman Catholic Church, the other an -American of obscure birth and an ex-blacksmith. Another trans-atlantic -postal reformer, though one interested in the reform as -regarded his own country rather than ours, was Mr Pliny Miles, who -in outward appearance more closely resembled the typical American -of Dickens's days than that of the present time. In his own land -Mr Miles travelled far and wide, wrote much, spoke frequently, and -crossed the Atlantic more than once to study the postal question -here. He was an able man, and a good talker. I well remember -his confident prophecy, some few years before the event, of a -fratricidal war between the Northern and Southern States; how -bitterly he deplored the coming strife; and how deeply impressed -were all his hearers both with the matter and manner of his -discourse. I believe he had “crossed the bar” before hostilities -broke out.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 241.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 227-230.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> -“My notion is,” wrote the diarist, “to run a train with only one -or two carriages in addition to those required for the mail, and to -stop only once in about 40 miles.” A long distance run in those -days. The speed was fixed at 40 miles an hour, stoppages included. -This was considered very quick travelling in the 'fifties.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> -“It is curious,” says my father, “how inveterate is the mistake -in question. Columbus expected to reach Cathay more quickly by -sailing westward, but was stopped by the American continent. -The projectors of the 'Darian Scheme' hoped to enrich themselves -by making their settlement a great <i>entrepot</i> between Europe and the -East Indies; and Macaulay, in his interesting narrative of the -enterprise ('History of England,' vol. v. p. 200), considers their -mistake to consist mainly in the assumption that Spain would permit -a settlement on its territory; but it seems not to have occurred -to him that, in any event, the scheme was intrinsically hopeless, -seeing that the old route by the Cape of Good Hope, besides -avoiding the cost and delay of transhipment, surpasses the Darian -route even in shortness” (“Life,” ii. 292). It is also well known -that the discoverer of certain rapids on the great river St Lawrence -believed himself to be nearing the country of Confucius when -he called them “La Chine.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> -Thus the agitation for an “all red route” is a mere revival.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> -Sixth Annual Report of the Postmaster-General.</p></div></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> - <h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ac noindent">AT THE POST OFFICE—<i>Continued</i></p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> important Commission appointed in 1853 to -revise the scale of salaries of the Post Office employees -held many sittings and did valuable work.<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> -Its report was published in the following year. -Rowland Hill's examination alone occupied eight -days; and he had the satisfaction of finding the Commissioners' -views in accordance with his own on the -subject of patronage, promotion, and classification.</p> - -<p>On the score that the business of the Post Office -is of a kind which peculiarly requires centralisation, -the Commission condemned the principle of the -double Secretariate, and recommended that the -whole should be placed under the direction of a -single secretary; that in order to enable “every -deserving person” to have within his reach attainment -to “the highest prizes,” the ranks of the Secretary's -Office should be opened to all members of the -establishment; and that throughout the Department -individual salaries should advance by annual increments -instead of by larger ones at long intervals: all -advancements to be contingent on good conduct. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> -It was also advised that, to attract suitable men, -prospects of advancement should be held out; that improvement -in provincial offices—then much needed—should -be secured by allowing respective postmasters, -under approval and in accordance with prescribed -rules, to appoint their own clerks; and that promotion -should be strictly regulated according to qualification -and merit—a rule which in time must raise any -department to the highest state of efficiency. The -abolition of a crying evil was also advised. At -the time in question all appointments to the office -rested not with the Postmaster-General but with -the Treasury, the nomination being in effect left to the -Member of Parliament for the district where a vacancy -occurred, provided he were a general supporter of -the Government. It was a system which opened -the way to many abuses, and was apt to flood the -service with “undesirables.” The Commissioners -advised the removal of the anomaly both for obvious -reasons and “because the power which the Postmaster-General -would possess of rewarding meritorious -officers in his own department by promoting them -to the charge of the important provincial offices would -materially conduce to the general efficiency of the -whole body.” The relinquishment of patronage—a -privilege always held dear by politicians—was conceded -so far as to allow to the Postmaster-General the -appointing of all postmasterships where the salary -exceeded £175 a year, thus avoiding the application -in all cases where the Post Office is held in conjunction -with a private business or profession. A -subsequent concession reduced the minimum to £120. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> -The relinquishment of so much patronage reflected -great credit on the Administration then in power.<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a></p> - -<p>It is pleasant to remember that when, in after -years, the postal reform, by its complete success, had -proved the soundness of its author's reasoning, the -Conservatives and “Peelites,” who of old had opposed -the Penny Postage Bill, seemed sometimes to go -out of their way to show him friendliness. One of -the kindest of his old opponents was Disraeli—not -yet Earl of Beaconsfield—who, as Chancellor of -the Exchequer, invited the reformer to share his -hospitality, and especially singled out the new guest -for attention. The first Postmaster-General to invite -Rowland Hill to his house was his second chief, the -Tory Lord Hardwicke, who had also asked Colonel -Maberly, but was careful to put the two men one -at each end of the very long table.</p> - -<p>When, therefore, at last (in 1854) my father was -given the post Colonel Maberly had so long filled, -and became thenceforth known to the world as -Secretary to the Post Office, it was with deep -gratification that he recorded the fact in his diary -that “all those to whom I had on this occasion to -return official thanks had been members of the -Government by which, twelve years before, I had -been dismissed from office.<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> -I could not but think -that the kind and earnest manner in which these -gentlemen now acted proceeded in some measure -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> -from a desire to compensate me for the injustice of -their former leader; and this view made me even -more grateful for their consideration.”<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a></p> - -<p>The old hostility between Colonel Maberly and -Rowland Hill was scarcely likely to decrease while -they remained, to use the sailor Postmaster-General's -favourite expression, “two kings of Brentford.” -Colonel Maberly had never been sparing of his -blows during the long agitation over the postal -reform previous to its establishment; and a dual -authority is hardly calculated to transform opponents -into allies. It was therefore fortunate that the -peculiar arrangement, after enduring, with considerable -discomfort, for seven and a half years, was -brought to a close.</p> - -<p>We all have our strong points; and one of -Colonel Maberly's was a happy knack of selecting -heads of departments, the chief Secretary's immediate -subordinates. They were an able staff of officers, -unto whom my father always considered that the -good reputation the Post Office enjoyed while he -was its permanent head was largely due. With their -aid the reformer devised and matured measures of -improvement more rapidly than before—more rapidly -because there was now far less likelihood, when once -authorisation had been obtained for carrying them -out, of seeing his proposals subjected to tiresome -modifications or indefinite delays, too often leading -to entire abandonment. Thus he was enabled to give -most of his time to the work of organisation, to him -always, as he has said, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> -“of all occupations the least -difficult and the most pleasant.” He encouraged his -newly-acquired staff “to make what proved to be a -valuable change in their mode of proceeding; for -whereas the practice had been for these officers -simply to select the cases requiring the judgment of -the Secretary, and to await his instructions before -writing their minutes thereon, I gradually induced -them to come prepared with an opinion of their own -which might serve in a measure for my guidance.” -This placing of confidence in able and experienced -men had, as was but natural, excellent results.</p> - -<p>The arrangement of secretarial and other duties -being now settled, reforms proceeded satisfactorily; -new and greatly improved post offices were erected, -and older ones were cleared of accumulated rubbish, -and made more habitable in many ways. It was -found that at the General Post Office itself no sort -of provision against the risk of fire existed—an -extraordinary state of things in a building through -which many documents, often of great value and -importance, were continually passing. Little time -was lost in devising measures to remedy this and -other defects.</p> - -<p>But, strange to say, in 1858 the construction and -alteration of post office buildings was transferred -by the Treasury to the Board of Works. Knowing -that the change would lead to extravagance, Rowland -Hill essayed, but quite unsuccessfully, to effect a -reversal of this measure; and in support of his views -instanced a striking contrast. A new post office had -been erected at Brighton, the cost, exclusive of a -moderate sum expended to fit it up as a residence, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> -being about £1,600. A similar building had now to -be put up at Dundee, whose correspondence was half -that of Brighton. The Board of Works' estimate -came to four or five times that amount, and all that -Rowland Hill could accomplish was to bring the cost -down to £5,700.</p> - -<p>The first of the long series of “Annual Reports -of the Postmaster-General” was published in 1854. -It was prefaced with an interesting historical sketch -of the Post Office from its origin, written by Matthew -Davenport Hill's eldest son Alfred, unto whom my -father was further beholden for valuable assistance as -arbitrator in the already mentioned disputes between -the Post Office and the railway companies. The -modern weakness of apathy—most contagious of -maladies—seemed after a while to settle even on the -Post Office, for, late in the 'nineties, the issue was -for a time discontinued.</p> - -<p>One passage alone in the First Report shows how -satisfactory was the progress made. “On the first -day of each month a report is laid before the Postmaster-General -showing the principal improvements -in hand, and the stage at which each has arrived. -The latest of these reports (which is of the usual -length) records 183 measures, in various stages of -progress or completed during the month of December -1854. Minor improvements, such as extension of -rural posts, etc., are not noticed in these reports.”<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a></p> - -<p>Another small periodical publication first appeared -in 1856, which, revised and issued quarterly, is now -a well-known, useful little manual. This was the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> -<i>British Postal Guide</i>. Its acceptability was made -evident by its ready sale, amounting, not long after -its issue, to 20,000 or 30,000 copies. Two years -later an old publication known as the <i>Daily Packet -List</i> was rearranged, enlarged, and turned into a -weekly edition, which, as the <i>Postal Circular</i>, accomplished -much useful service. Had the Treasury -allowed the extension of the sphere of this little work, -as recommended by the Postmaster-General and -Rowland Hill, it could have been so extended as -to become a postal monitor, correcting any possible -misconceptions, and keeping the public constantly -informed as to the real proceedings of the Post Office.</p> - -<p>By November 1854 the diarist was able to write -that his “plan has been adopted, more or less -completely, in the following States: Austria, Baden, -Bavaria, Belgium, Brazil, Bremen, Brunswick, Chile, -Denmark, France, Frankfort, Hamburg, Hanover, -Lubeck, Naples, New Grenada, Netherlands, Oldenburg, -Peru, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, -Saxony, Spain, Switzerland, Tuscany, United States, -and Wurtemberg.” It seems worth while to repeat -the long list just as my father gave it, if only to show -how much, since that time, the political geography -of our own continent has altered, most of the tiny -countries and all the “free cities” of mid-nineteenth-century -Europe having since that date become -absorbed by larger or stronger powers. It will be -noticed that Norway and Sweden had not yet -followed the example of the other western European -countries. But the then “dual kingdom” did not -long remain an exception.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p> - -<p>Among the first European powers to adopt the -postal reform were, strange to say, Spain and Russia, -neither of which was then accounted a progressive -country. In September 1843 the Spanish ambassador -wrote to Rowland Hill asking for information about -postal matters, as his Government contemplated -introducing the postage stamp, and, presumably, a -certain amount of uniformity and low rates. Not -long after, news came that Russia had adopted -stamps. The chief motive in each case was, however, -understood to be the desire to prevent fraud among -the postmasters.</p> - -<p>Although Spain moved early in the matter of -postal reform, Portugal sadly lagged behind, no new -convention having been effected with that country, -and, consequently, no postal improvements, save in -marine transit, made for fifty years. In 1858, however, -mainly through the good offices of the British Ministers -at Madrid and Lisbon, and of Mr Edward Rea, who -was sent out from London by the Postmaster-General -for the purpose, better postal treaties were made, both -with Spain and Portugal. Even with such countries -as Belgium, Germany (the German Postal Union), -and the United States, progress in the way of treaties -was very slow.</p> - -<p>The postal revenues of all these European -countries were smaller than our own, Portugal's -being less than that of the city of Edinburgh. Small -indeed is the connection between the amount of a -country's correspondence and the number of its population. -According to an official return published in the -<i>Journal de St Petersburg</i> in 1855, the letters posted -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> -during the year throughout the huge empire of -Russia were only 16,400,000, or almost the same -number as those posted during the same year in -Manchester and its suburbs.</p> - -<p>By 1853 a low uniform rate of postage was -established over the length and breadth of our even -then vast Indian Empire; a few outlying portions -alone excepted. For many years after the introduction -of the new system, involving, as it did, complete -adoption of Rowland Hill's plan, the Indian Post -Office did not pay expenses; but by 1870 it became -self-supporting.<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a></p> - -<p>It has sometimes been asserted that, in his -eagerness to make his reform a financial success, -Rowland Hill cut down the wages of the lower strata -of employees. Nothing could be more untrue. -Economy, he believed, was to be obtained by simpler -methods and better organisation, not by underpaying -the workers. While at the Post Office he did much -to improve the lot of these classes of men. Their -wages were increased, they had greater opportunity -of rising in the service, a pension for old age combined -with assistance in effecting life assurance, -gratuitous medical advice and medicines,<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> -and an annual holiday without loss of pay. The number -of working hours was limited to a daily average of -eight, and a regulation was made that any letter-carrier -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> -who, taking one day with another, found -his work exceed that limit, should be entitled to -call attention to the fact and obtain assistance. An -exhaustive enquiry was made as to the scale of -wages paid, the hours of work required, etc.; and -the report, when published, told the world that -the men of similar rank in other callings, such as -policemen, railway porters, and several more, were -not so well treated as their brethren in the postal -service. So clearly, indeed, was this proved that -public endorsement of the fact was at once evidenced -by a marked increase of applications for situations -as sorters, letter-carriers, etc.</p> - -<p>A striking proof of this recognition of a truth -came at first hand to Rowland Hill's knowledge. -He was consulting an old medical friend, and in the -course of conversation the latter said that his footman -wished to obtain an appointment as letter-carrier. -Whereupon my father pointed out that the man was -better off as footman, because, in addition to receiving -good wages, he had board, lodging, and many other -advantages. This, answered the doctor, had already -been represented to the man; but his reply was that -in the Post Office there was the certainty of continuity -of employment and the pension for old age. The fact -that the employees in a public department are not, -like many other workers, liable at any moment to be -sent adrift by the death or impoverishment of their -employers, constitutes one of the strongest attractions -to the service. Has this circumstance any connection -with the growing disinclination of the poorer classes to -enter domestic service?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> - -<p>In 1854 rural distribution was greatly extended, -500 new offices being opened. This extension, it -may be remembered, was one of several measures -which were persistently opposed by the enemies of -the postal reform. How much the measure was -needed, and, when granted, how beneficial were its -results, is shown by the fact that it was followed by -the largest increase of letters which had taken place in -any year since 1840, or a gain on 1853 of 32,500,000.</p> - -<p>The measure affected several hundreds of different -places and a very large percentage of the entire -correspondence of the United Kingdom. Formerly -there were to every office limits, sometimes narrow, -sometimes wide, beyond which there was either no -delivery, or one made only at additional charge, -generally of a penny a letter: an arrangement which, -in spite of my father's repeated efforts to amend it, -outlived the introduction of the new postal system -for more than fourteen years, and in the districts -thus affected partially nullified its benefits. Not until -this and other survivals of the older state of things -were swept away could his plan be rightly said to -be established.</p> - -<p>London—whose then population formed one-tenth -and its correspondence one-fourth of the United -Kingdom—was also not neglected. It was divided -into ten postal districts,<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> -each of which was treated as -a separate town with a local chief office in addition -to its many minor offices. The two corps of letter-carriers—the -general postmen and those who belonged -to the old “twopenny post”—which till this time -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> -existed as distinct bodies of employees, were at last -amalgamated; their “walks” were rearranged, and a -new plan of sorting at the chief office was instituted, -while the letters and other missives intended for the -different districts, being sorted before they reached -London, were no longer, as of old, sent to St -Martin's-le-Grand, but were at once dispatched for -distribution to the local chief office whose initials -corresponded with those upon the covers. Door -letter-boxes increased in number in the houses of -the poorer as well as of the richer classes; and the -use, in addition to the address, on the printed heading -of a letter of the initials denoting the postal -district from which it emanated, and on the envelope -of that where it should be delivered—a use to which -the public generally accustomed itself kindly—greatly -facilitated and expedited communication within the -12 miles circuit, so that thenceforth it became possible -to post a letter and receive its reply within the space -of a few hours—a heartily appreciated boon in the -days when the telephone was not. As a natural -consequence, the number of district letters grew -apace, and the congestion at St Martin's-le-Grand -was perceptibly lessened. At the same time, the -Board of Works to some extent amended the -nomenclature of the streets and the numbering of -houses. The most important delivery of the day, -the first, was accelerated by two hours; in some of -the suburbs by two and a half hours. That is, the -morning's letters were distributed at nine o'clock -instead of at half-past eleven. Since that time, and -for many years now, the delivery has been made at -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> -or before eight o'clock. Nothing facilitated these -earlier deliveries more than the sorting of letters -<i>en route</i>; and the practice also enabled more frequent -deliveries to be made. Improved communication with -the colonies and foreign countries, through better -treaties, was likewise effected; and each improvement -was rendered easier by the rapid growth everywhere -of railways and shipping companies, and the increased -speed of trains and steamships.</p> - -<p>In 1855 “the system of promotion by merit,” -recommended by my father and endorsed with -approval by the Civil Service Commissioners “was -brought into full operation. In the three metropolitan -offices, when a vacancy occurred application -for appointment was open to all; the respective -claims were carefully compared, and, without the -admission of any other consideration whatever, the -claim which was adjudged to be best carried the day. -To keep our course free from disturbing influences, -it was laid down that any intercession from without -in favour of individual officers should act, if not -injuriously, at least not beneficially, on the advancement -of those concerned.” ... -“By the transfer to -the Post Office of appointment to all the higher -postmasterships, opportunity for promotion was greatly -enlarged, and posts formally bestowed for political -services now became the rewards of approved merit. -This change obviously involved great improvement -in the quality of the persons thus entrusted with -powers and duties of no small importance to the -public. In the provincial offices a corresponding -improvement was, in great measure, secured by -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> -delegating the power of appointing their subordinates, -under certain restrictions, to the respective -postmasters, who, being themselves responsible for -the good working of their offices, were naturally led -to such selection as would best conduce to that -end. This delegation, so far as related to clerks, -was made on the recommendation of the Civil Service -Commissioners; and the trust being satisfactorily exercised, -was subsequently extended to the appointment -of letter-carriers also.” The measure worked -well. “From the different departments of the metropolitan -offices, and from the provincial surveyors the -reports of its operation were almost uniformly satisfactory. -Officers were found to take more personal -interest in their duties, to do more work without -augmentation of force, to make up in some degree -by additional zeal for the increased yearly holiday -that was granted them, and to discharge their duties -with more cheerfulness and spirit, knowing that good -service would bring eventual reward.”<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a></p> - -<p>The new system of promotion by merit worked -far better than that of the Commissioners' examinations -for admission to the Civil Service. As regards -the letter-carriers, it has always been found that the -men best fitted for this duty were those whose -previous life had inured them to bodily labour and -endurance of all kinds of weather. The new educational -requirements in many instances excluded these -people, while giving easy admission to shopmen, -clerks, servants, and others accustomed to indoor -and even sedentary life, who were little fitted to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> -perform a postman's rounds. The Duke of Argyll, -then Postmaster-General, requested the Commissioners -to adopt a somewhat lower standard of -acquirement. At the same time he authorised the -subjection of candidates for the office of letter-carriers -to a stricter test as regards bodily strength, with the -result that about one man in every four was rejected. -By these means, and the greater attention paid to -the laws of sanitation in offices and private dwellings, -the health of the department gradually reached a -high standard.</p> - -<p>That the plan of confining admission to the service -to candidates who have passed the Civil Service -examinations is not without its drawbacks, is seen -by the following extract from a Report by Mr Abbott, -Secretary to the Post Office in Scotland. “Considering,” -he says, “the different duties of the account, the -secretary's and the sorting branches, I am inclined to -believe that the examination should have more special -reference to the vacancy the candidate is to fill than -to his general knowledge on certain subjects proposed -for all in the same class, more especially as regards -persons nominated to the sorting office, where manual -dexterity, quick sight, and physical activity are more -valuable than mere educational requirements.”<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a></p> - -<p>As may be surmised by the foregoing, Rowland -Hill was one of the many clear-sighted men who -declined to yield unquestioning approbation to the -system of competitive examinations introduced by -the Civil Service Commissioners; nor did longer -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> -acquaintance with it tend to modify his opinion on -the subject. The scheme, he thought, “worked -unsatisfactorily, the criteria not being the best, and -the responsibility being so divided that no one is -in effect answerable for an appointment made under -it. The consequence of its adoption has been, in -many instances, the rejection of men who gave -promise of great usefulness, and the admission of -others whose usefulness has proved very small.<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> -If no way had been open to the public service but -through competitive examination as now conducted, -I cannot say what might have been my own chance -of admission, since on the plan adopted, no amount -of knowledge or power in other departments is -regarded as making up for deficiency in certain -prescribed subjects. Under such a system neither -George Stephenson nor Brindley would have passed -examination as an engineer, nor perhaps would -Napoleon or Wellington have been admitted to any -military command. The principle, if sound, must be -equally applicable to manufacturing and commercial -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> -establishments, but I have heard of none that have -adopted it. Indeed, a wealthy merchant lately -declared (and I believe most of his brethren would -agree with him) that if he had no clerks but such -as were chosen for him by others, his name would -soon be in the <i>Gazette</i>. I have always been of -opinion that the more the appointments to the -Post Office, and indeed to other departments, are -regulated on the principles ordinarily ruling in -establishments conducted by private individuals, the -better it will be for the public service. The question -to be decided between candidates should be, I -think, simply which is best fitted for the duties to -be performed; and the decision should be left to -the person immediately answerable for the right -performance of the duty.”<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> - -<p>While tranquillity reigned at St Martin's-le-Grand -from, and long after, 1854, not only among the -heads of departments, but generally throughout the -office, and while reports from all quarters, metropolitan -and provincial, bore testimony to efficient work -accomplished and good conduct maintained, it was -inevitable that in a body so numerous as was that -of the lower grade employees some amount of discontent -should arise. Promotion by merit, in whatever -class, has few charms in the eyes of those -who are deficient in the very quality which insures -promotion, and who, perhaps for many years, have -drawn steady payment for ordinary duty so performed -as to become scarcely more than nominal. In every -large community there are certain to be some “bad -bargains” who, though practically useless as workers, -have often abundant capacity for giving trouble, -especially, maybe, in the way of fomenting a spirit -of mutiny.<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a></p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p> -<p>At the Post Office this spirit manifested itself -even while every care was being taken to ameliorate -the condition of this multitudinous class of employees, -and to rectify individual cases of hardship, and while, -even during the time of insubordination, many respectable -men outside the postal walls were showing -their appreciation of the advantage of a letter-carrier's -position over that of men of like class in other -callings, by applying for appointment to that corps. -Misrepresentation is a principal factor in stimulating -disaffection, and, for reasons other than sympathy -with the alleged victims of supposed tyrannical -employers, is sometimes, though, happily, rarely, -employed by those who, as non-officials, are sheltered -by anonymity as well as by extraneity from participation -in such punishment as may befall the better-known -disaffected.</p> - -<p>From an early period of Rowland Hill's career -at the Post Office he was subjected to almost constant -personal attacks on the part of a certain weekly -newspaper. Many were written with considerable -plausibility, but all were void of substantial truth, -while others were entire fabrications. All too were -of the sort which no self-respecting man condescends -to answer, yet which, perhaps all the more on account -of that contemptuous silence, do infinite harm, and -by an unthinking public are readily believed. Many -of these attacks were traced to men who had left -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> -the postal service—to the no small advantage of that -service—and whose dismissal was supposed to be -the work of the permanent postal head; and one -such man at least, a scribe with a ready pen, and -ink in which the ingredient gall was over-liberally -mingled, vented his spleen during a long succession -of years with a perseverance worthy a better cause. -As the newspaper in question had rather a wide -circulation—since when did harmful literature fail to -meet ready sale?—and the postal employees were, -in many cases, no wiser than their fellow-readers, it -was perhaps not unnatural that the attacks, which -were directed more frequently and angrily against -the postal reformer than against his colleagues, should -meet with credence. “It certainly was rather ill-timed,” -says Rowland Hill, on hearing<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> -of a particularly vicious libel, “for in the previous month -(November 1858) I had induced the Treasury to -abandon its intention of issuing an order forbidding -the receipt of Christmas boxes, and also had obtained -some improvement in their scale of wages, the -Treasury granting even more than was applied -for.”<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a></p> - -<p>It was not long before the agitation assumed a still -more serious form, no fewer than three anonymous -letters threatening assassination being received at -short intervals by the harassed reformer. The heads -of the different postal departments, becoming alarmed -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> -for the safety of the permanent chief's life, advised his -temporary absence from the Office; and Mr Peacock, -its solicitor, who knew that an expert had satisfied -himself and others that the handwriting of the first -of these letters could be traced to a certain postman -who had been giving much trouble of late, proposed -immediate arrest and prosecution. But, on comparing -the suspected man's actual handwriting with that, -disguised though it was, of the anonymous letter, -Rowland Hill disagreed with the expert's view, and -refused assent to so drastic a proceeding; happily -so, for later circumstances seemed to point to justification -of the adverse opinion. My father also declined -to absent himself from the Office, and even when -a fourth letter appeared, in which were mentioned -the place, day, and hour when the fatal blow would -be struck, he still, as was his custom, walked the -last half mile of his way to work, armed only with -his umbrella, and on the fateful occasion passed the -indicated spot without encountering harm of any -kind. Later than this, somehow, word of the anonymous -letters reached my mother's ears, though not, -of course, through her husband; and thenceforth she -made it her daily practice to drive down to the -Post Office, and accompany him home.</p> - -<p>This episode would hardly be worth the telling did -it not serve to show how little need there generally -is to pay attention to letters, however threatening, -when written by persons who dare not reveal their -identity. On occasions of this sort memory brings -back to mind the story of the brave Frenchman -who at the time of the Franco-German war wrote -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> -to the then newly-proclaimed German Emperor, -William I., at Versailles, to remind him of sundry -ugly passages in his life, and to threaten him with -condign punishment—the writer being a near neighbour, -and appending to his letter his actual name -and address. This man at least had the courage -of his opinions. The anonymous scribbler is seldom -so valorous.</p> - -<p>In 1858 “The Post Office Library and Literary -Association” was established, the institution being -aided by the delivery of lectures, an enterprise in -which several of the leading officials participated. -Mr West gave a fascinating discourse on etymology; -and Rowland Hill took his turn by lecturing on the -annular eclipse of the sun (“visible at Greenwich”) -which happened in that year.<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> -In 1859 similar -institutions were started at most of the London district -offices, and in some provincial towns.</p> - -<p>When the volunteer movement was in the heyday -of its youth, the Post Office was one of the earliest -of the great public departments to establish a corps -of its own, whose exploits were humorously related -by “Ensign” Edmund Yates, under the heading -“The Grimgribber Rifle Volunteers,” in several -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> -numbers of <i>All the Year Round</i> of the period. The -corps became amalgamated with the “Civil Service” -volunteer force, of which fine body it was perhaps -the pioneer company.</p> - -<p>“I wrote,” says Rowland Hill, “to the Postmaster-General, -Lord Colchester, on the subject (of -raising a volunteer corps), and obtained his ready -sanction. Upon my communicating with the heads -of departments, I was told that there would be -readiness enough to volunteer if only the expenses -could be provided for, or reduced to a low rate; -that the men would willingly give their time, -but thought it somewhat unreasonable that there -should be a demand for their money also. The -difficulty was overcome by the same means, and I -suppose to about the same extent, as in other corps; -but from that day to this I have been unable to -understand the policy or propriety of making men -pay for liberty to serve their country, a practice -which must, in the nature of things, debar large -numbers from enrolment. The movement was not -limited to the chief office, and was especially -satisfactory at Edinburgh.”<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a></p> - -<p>In July 1859 Sir Edward Baines, proprietor of -the <i>Leeds Mercury</i>, wrote to introduce to Rowland -Hill the inventor of the Post Office Savings<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> -Bank scheme, Mr (afterwards Sir) Charles Sikes, a banker -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> -of Huddersfield—a scheme which has been a great -convenience to people of limited means. Depositors -and deposits have increased, till the modest venture -launched in 1860, under the auspices of the Chancellor -of the Exchequer, Mr Gladstone, has grown into a -colossal undertaking. Sir Charles, with characteristic -lack of self-advertisement, never sought reward of -any kind for the good work he had initiated. He -was satisfied with the knowledge that it had proved -of immense benefit to his fellow-men. He long -survived the carrying into practical shape of his -scheme; and now that he is dead, his invention has, -of course, been claimed by or for others.</p> - -<p>The postal reform is one which, save as regards -its most salient features, has been established somewhat -on the “gradual instalment system,” each -instalment, as a rule, coming into operation after a -hard struggle on the part of its promoter, and -several years later than when first proposed. Prepayment -of postage, for example, one of the most -essential parts of my father's plan, was long allowed -to remain optional, although he had “counted upon -universal prepayment as an important means towards -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> -simplifying the accounts, with consequent economy -of time and expense, the expedient of double postage -on post-payment being regarded as a temporary -mode of avoiding the difficulties naturally attending -a transition state; and though hitherto deferring the -measure to more pressing matters, I had always -looked forward to a time suitable for taking the step -necessary to the completion of my plan. The almost -universal resort to prepayment had rendered accounts -of postage very short and easy, but obviously -universal practice alone could render them altogether -unnecessary.”<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a></p> - -<p>The attempt to make prepayment compulsory was -renewed in 1859, the proportion of unpaid letters -having by that date become very small. But the -public generally were insensible to the advantage to -the service which economy of time and labour must -secure, while the few active malcontents who thought -themselves qualified to be a law unto themselves, if -not to others, raised so much clamour that it was -considered advisable to postpone issue of the edict. -An error of judgment, perhaps, since the public soon -becomes accustomed to any rule that is at once just -and easy to follow; as indeed had already been shown -by the readiness—entirely contrary to official prediction—with -which prepayment had, from the first, been -accepted. After all, submission to compulsory prepayment -of our postage is not one whit more slavish -than submission to compulsory prepayment of our -railway and other vehicular fares, a gentle form of -coercion to which even those of us who are the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> -most revolutionary of mind assent with exemplary -meekness.</p> - -<p>So far back as 1842<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> -Rowland Hill had -recommended the establishment of a parcel post, -but, although renewing his efforts both in 1858 and -1863, he was forced to leave accomplishment of this -boon to later reformers. In the last-named year, -however, the pattern post came into operation.</p> - -<p>In 1862 he was able to make important alterations -in the registration of letters. Allusion has already -been made to the ancient quarrel between a former -Postmaster-General and my father over the amount -of fee, the political head of the office wishing to keep -it at 1s., Rowland Hill to reduce it to 6d., a reduction -easily obtained when in 1846 the latter entered -the Post Office. A largely increased number of -registered letters had been the result. The fee was -now still further reduced, the reduction being followed -by an even larger increase of registered letters; while -the registration of coin-bearing letters was at last -made compulsory. Before 1862 coins had often been -enclosed in unregistered letters, at times so carelessly -that their presence was evident, and abstraction easy. -As a natural consequence, misappropriation was not -infrequent. After the passing of this necessary enactment -the losses diminished rapidly; the number of -letters containing money posted in the second half -of that year increased to about 900,000, and the -number of those which failed to reach their destination -was only twelve.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p> -<p>While it is undeniable that occasionally a letter-carrier -or sorter has been responsible for the disappearance -of some articles—at times of great value—entrusted -to the care of the department, the public -itself is frequently very far from blameless. As has -already been shown, carelessness that can only be -called culpable sometimes throws temptation in the -men's way. In the course of a single twelvemonths, -nearly 31,000 letters entirely unaddressed were posted, -many of which contained money whose sum total -amounted to several thousands of pounds.</p> - -<p>The number of things lost in the post through -negligence to enclose them in properly secured covers, -or through placing them in covers which are imperfectly -addressed or not addressed at all, so that -sometimes neither sender nor intended recipient can -be traced, is very great. In one twelvemonths alone -the accumulations at the Dead Letter Office sold -at auction by order of the Postmaster-General comprised -almost every description of wearing apparel -from socks up to sealskin jackets and suits of clothing, -Afghan, Egyptian, and South African war medals, -a Khedive's Star, a pearl necklace, some boxes of -chocolate, a curious Transvaal coin, and several -thousands of postage stamps. Did none of the losers -dream of applying for repossession of their property -ere it passed under the auctioneer's hammer; or did -they resign themselves to the less troublesome assumption -that the things had been stolen?</p> - -<p>Simply to avoid payment of the registration fee—whose -present amount can hardly be found burdensome—people -will hide money or other valuables in -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> -some covering material that is inexpensive, or that -may be useful to the recipient, such as butter, -puddings, etc., which are sent off by the yet cheaper -parcel post. One of the most flagrant cases of -deception was that of a lady living in Siam, who -dispatched to the old country several packages said -to contain stationery and walking-sticks, and valued -at £7, 10s. 0d. Suspicion was aroused—perhaps by -the odd combination of treasures—and the parcels -were opened, when the “stationery and walking-sticks” -of modest value resolved themselves into a -superb collection of diamonds and other jewels worth -about £25,000.</p> - -<p>The Post Office is often reproached for slowness -or unwillingness to adopt new ways; and, as a rule, -the accusations are accompanied by brilliant and -highly original witticisms, in which figure the contemptuous -words “red tape.” For the apparent lack -of official zeal, the reproaching public itself is often -to blame. Its passion—dating from long past times, -yet far from moribund—for defrauding the department -which, on the whole, serves it so well, yet with so -few thanks and so many scoldings, is one chief bar -to possible reforms. When, for example, the book-post -was established in 1846,<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> -all sorts of things which -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> -had no right to be where they were found used to be -hidden between the pages. In one instance, a watch -was concealed in an old volume, within whose middle -leaves a deep hole had been excavated which was -artfully covered over by the outside binding and by -several pages at the beginning and end of the book. -To the casual observer it therefore presented an -innocent appearance, but fell victim to post-official, -lynx-eyed investigation.</p> - -<p>“With every desire to give the public all possible -facilities,” wrote my father in his diary, “we were -often debarred from so doing by the tricks and -evasions which too frequently followed any relaxation -of our rules.”</p> - -<p>Even the great Macaulay transgressed strict -postal regulations, being in the habit, as his nephew -tells us in one of the most delightful biographies -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> -ever written, of sending him, when a school-boy, -letters fastened with sealing-wax, the seal hiding the -welcome golden “tip.” As the use of seals has -almost entirely died out, and sealed missives, even in -Macaulay's time, were coming to be looked at with -suspicion—as probably containing something worth -investigation—by those through whose hands they -pass, the boy was fortunate in that his uncle's letters -reached him safely.</p> - -<p>Very unreasonable, and sometimes downright -absurd, are many complaints made by the public. -A lady once wrote to the authorities saying that -whereas at one time she always received her letters -in the morning, they now only reached her in the -evening. The fact was that, through the making -of better arrangements, the letters which used to -come in with the matutinal tea and toast were now -delivered over-night.</p> - -<p>The following is a rather curious story of theft. -The cook in a gentleman's family residing at Harrow -one day received an unregistered letter from Hagley, -near Birmingham, which, when posted, contained a -watch. On reaching its destination the cover was -found to enclose a couple of pebbles only. She at -once went to her master for advice. An eminent -geologist was dining at the house. When he saw -the enclosures, he said: “These are Harrow pebbles; -no such stones could be found at Hagley.” This -showed that the letter must have been tampered with -at the Harrow end of the journey. The postal -authorities were communicated with, and an official -detective was sent to Harrow to make enquiries. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> -Something about the letter had, it seems, attracted -notice at the local post office—perhaps the watch had -ticked—which proved that the packet was intact when -handed to the letter-carrier for delivery. He had not, -however, given the letter to the cook, but to the -butler, who passed it on to the cook. The delinquent, -then, must be either the letter-carrier or the butler. -The letter-carrier had been long in the postal service, -and bore an excellent character. Suspicion therefore -pointed to the butler. He was called into the dining-room, -and interrogated. He denied all knowledge of -the watch, and declared he had given the packet to -the cook exactly as he had received it. But while the -interrogation was proceeding, his boxes were being -examined; and, although no watch was found in any, -the searchers came upon some things belonging to -his master. Taxed with their theft, the man pleaded -guilty, but once more disclaimed all knowledge of the -watch. On some pretext he was allowed to leave -the room, when he retired to the pantry, and there -committed suicide.</p> - -<p>As time wore on, during the ten years which -followed 1854 and my father's appointment as Secretary -to the Post Office, he sometimes found that his -earlier estimate of former opponents was a mistake. -When on the eve of entering the Post Office in 1846, -he was, for instance, especially advised to get rid of -Mr Bokenham, the head of the Circulation Department.<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> -The new-comer, however, soon learned to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> -appreciate at their just value Mr Bokenham's sterling -qualities both in official and private life. So far from -“inviting him to resign,” my father, unasked, moved -for and obtained that improvement in position and -salary which his ex-adversary so thoroughly well -deserved, and which any less disinterested man would -probably have secured for himself long before. Nor -was Mr Bokenham's the only instance of genuine -worth rewarded by well-merited promotion in position -or salary, or both.</p> - -<p>Another former strong opponent had been Mr -William Page, unto whose efforts the successful -conclusion of that treaty, known as “The Postal -Union,” which enables us to correspond with foreign -nations for 2-½d. the half-ounce, was largely due. At -the present day 2-½d. seems scarcely to deserve the -term “cheap” postage, but in the middle of the -nineteenth century it was a reduction to rejoice -over. No visitor was more welcome to our house -than Mr Page, who was one of the most genial -and least self-seeking of men. He was a staunch -“Maberlyite,” and, even when most friendly with -us, never concealed his attachment to the man to -whom he owed much kindness, as well as his own -well-deserved advancement, and the appointment to -the postal service of his two younger brothers. This -unswerving loyalty to a former chief naturally made -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> -us hold Mr Page in still warmer esteem, since the -worship of the risen sun is much more common and -much less heroic than is that of the luminary which -has definitely set. When my father died, Mr Page, -at once and uninvited, cut short an interesting and -much-needed holiday in Normandy because he knew -we should all wish him to be present at the funeral.</p> - -<p>But although the situation at the Post Office -greatly improved after the chief opponent's translation -to another sphere of usefulness, the old hostility -to the reform and reformer did not die out, being -in some directions scotched merely, and not killed.</p> - -<p>One of the most prominent among the irreconcilables -was the novelist, Anthony Trollope. But as -he was a surveyor, which means a postal bird of -passage or official comet of moderate orbit regularly -moving on its prescribed course, with only periodic -appearances at St Martin's-le-Grand, he did not -frequently come into contact with the heads there. -He was an indefatigable worker; and many of his -novels were partly written in railway carriages while -he was journeying from one post town to another, -on official inspection bent. On one occasion he was -brought to our house, and a most entertaining and -lively talker we found him to be. But somehow -our rooms seemed too small for his large, vigorous -frame, and big, almost stentorian voice. Indeed, he -reminded us of Dickens's Mr Boythorn, minus the -canary, and gave us the impression that the one -slightly-built chair on which he rashly seated himself -during a great part of the interview, must -infallibly end in collapse, and sooner rather than -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> -later. After about a couple of hours of our society, -he apparently found us uncongenial company; and -perhaps we did not take over kindly to him, however -keen our enjoyment, then and afterwards, of -his novels and his talk. He has left a record in -print of the fact that he heartily detested the Hills, -who have consoled themselves by remembering that -when a man has spent many years in writing -romance, the trying of his hand, late in life, at -history, is an exceedingly hazardous undertaking. -In fact, Trollope's old associates at the Post Office -were in the habit of declaring that his “Autobiography” -was one of the greatest, and certainly not -the least amusing, of his many works of fiction.</p> - -<p>But Anthony Trollope had quite another side to -his character beside that of novelist and Hill-hater, -a side which should not be lost sight of. In 1859 -he was sent out to the West Indies on official -business; and, although a landsman, he was able -to propose a scheme of steamer routes more convenient -and more economical than those in existence, -“and, in the opinion of the hydrographer to the -Admiralty, superior to them even in a nautical point -of view.”<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> -Nevertheless, the scheme had to wait -long for adoption. Indeed, what scheme for betterment -has <i>not</i> to wait long?</p> - -<p>Whenever my father met with any foreign visitors -of distinction, he was bound, sooner or later, to ask -them about postal matters in their own country. -The examined were of all ranks, from the King of -the Belgians to Garibaldi, the Italian patriot, whom -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> -he met at a public banquet, and presently questioned -as to the prospects of penny postage in Italy. -Garibaldi's interest in the subject was but languid; -the sword with him was evidently a more congenial -weapon than the pen—or postage stamp. When, -later, Rowland Hill told his eldest brother of the -unsatisfactory interview, the latter was greatly -amused, and said: “When you go to Heaven I foresee -that you will stop at the gate to enquire of -St Peter how many deliveries they have a day, and -how the expense of postal communication between -Heaven and the other place is defrayed.”</p> - -<p>To the year 1862 belongs a veracious anecdote, -which, although it has no relation to postal history, -is worth preserving from oblivion because its heroine -is a lady of exalted rank, who is held in universal -respect. In connection with the Great Exhibition -of that year, whose transplanted building has since -been known as the Alexandra Palace of North -London, my father came to know the Danish Professor -Forchammer; and, when bound for the Post -Office, often took his way through the Exhibition, -then in Hyde Park, and the Danish Section in -particular. One morning he found the Professor -very busy superintending a rearrangement of the -pictures there. A portrait had just been taken from -the line in order that another, representing a very -attractive-looking young lady, which had previously -been “skied,” might be put into the more important -place. The young lady's father had not yet become -a king, and the family was by no means wealthy, -which combination of circumstances perhaps accounted -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> -for the portrait's former inconspicuous position. On -my father's asking the reason for the change, Professor -Forchammer replied that a great number of people -was expected to visit that Section to-day to look -at the portrait, and it was imperative that it should -be given the best place there, in consequence of the -announcement just made public that the original -was “engaged to marry your Prince of Wales.”</p> - -<p>My father parted with great regret from Lord -Clanricarde when the Russell Administration went -out of office. His kindness and courtesy, his aptitude -for work, his good sense and evident sincerity, had -caused the “Secretary to the Postmaster-General,” -after a service of nearly six years, to form a very -high opinion of his chief.<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a></p> - -<p>Lord Clanricarde's successor, Lord Hardwicke, -belonged to the rough diamond species; yet he tried -his hardest to fulfil intelligently and conscientiously -the duties of his novel and far from congenial office. -He had a cordial dislike to jobbery of any kind, -though once at least he came near to acquiescing -in a Parliamentary candidate's artfully-laid plot suggesting -the perpetration of a piece of lavish and -unnecessary expenditure in a certain town, the outlay -to synchronise with the candidate's election, and -the merit to be claimed by him. Happily, Lord -Hardwicke's habitual lack of reticence gave wiser -heads the weapon with which to prevent so flagrant -a job from getting beyond the stage of mere suggestion. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> -It was the man's kind heart and dislike -to give offence which doubtless led him into indiscretions -of the sort; but amiable as he was, he had -at times a knack of making people feel extremely -uncomfortable, as when, in conformity with his own -ideas on the subject, he sought to regulate the mutual -relations of the two chief Secretaries, when he called -in all latchkeys—his own, however, included—and -when, during his first inspection of his new kingdom, -he audibly asked, on entering a large room full of -employees, if he had “the power to dismiss all -these men.” The old sailor aimed at ruling the -Post Office as he had doubtless ruled his man-of-war, -wasted time and elaborate minutes on trivial matters—such -as a return of the number of housemaids -employed—when important reforms needed attention, -and had none of the ability or breadth of view of -his predecessor.</p> - -<p>Lord Canning was my father's next chief, and -soon showed himself to be an earnest friend to postal -reform. It was while he was Postmaster-General, -and mainly owing to his exertions, that in 1854 -fulfilment was at last made of the promise given -by Lord John Russell's Government, to place the -author of Penny Postage at the head of the great -department which controlled the country's correspondence—a -promise in consideration of which Rowland -Hill, in 1846, had willingly sacrificed so much. -When Lord Canning left the Post Office to become -Governor-General of India, my father felt as if he -had lost a lifelong friend; and he followed with -deep interest his former chiefs career in the Far -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> -East. During the anxious time of struggle with -the Mutiny, nothing pained my father more than the -virulent abuse which was often levelled at the far-seeing -statesman whose wise and temperate rule -contributed so largely to preserve to his country possession -of that “brightest jewel of the crown” at a -season when most people in Britain lost their senses -in a wild outburst of fury. Lord Canning's management -of India won, from the first, his ex-lieutenant's -warmest admiration. The judgment of posterity—often -more discerning, because less heated, than -contemporaneous opinion—has long since decided -that “Clemency Canning” did rightly. The nickname -was used as a reproach at the time, but the -later title of “The Lord Durham of India” is -meant as a genuine compliment, or, better still, -appreciation.<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p> - -<p>The Duke of Argyll—he of the “silvern tongue”—succeeded -Lord Canning, and showed the same -aptitude for hard work which had distinguished his -predecessors. His quickness of apprehension, promptitude -in generalisation, and that facility in composition -which made of his minutes models of literary style, -were unusually great. When he left the Post Office -he addressed to its Secretary a letter of regret at -parting—an act of courtesy said to be rare. The -letter was couched in the friendliest terms, and the -regret was by no means one-sided.</p> - -<p>Lord Colchester, the Postmaster-General in Lord -Derby's short-lived second Administration, was -another excellent chief, painstaking, hard-working, -high-minded, remarkably winning in manner, cherishing -a positive detestation of every kind of job, and -never hesitating to resist pressure on that score -from whatever quarter it might come. His early -death was a distinct loss to the party to which he -belonged.</p> - -<p>For Lord Elgin, who, like Lord Canning, left -the Post Office to become Governor-General of -India, my father entertained the highest opinion -alike as regarded his administrative powers, his -calm and dispassionate judgment, and his transparent -straightforwardness of character. “He is -another Lord Canning,” the postal reformer used -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> -to say; and that was paying his new chief the -greatest compliment possible.</p> - -<p>So far, then, as my father's experience entitled -him to judge, there are few beliefs more erroneous -than that which pictures these political, and therefore -temporary masters of the Post Office—or, indeed, of -other Governmental departments—as mere “ornamental -figure-heads,” drawing a handsome salary, -and doing very little to earn it. The same remark -applies to my father's last chief, who was certainly -no drone, and who was ever bold in adopting any -improvement which seemed to him likely to benefit -the service and the public.</p> - -<p>Hitherto the reformer had been fortunate in the -Postmasters-General he had served under; and by -this time—the beginning of the 'sixties—everything -was working harmoniously, so that Mr (afterwards -Sir John) Tilly, the then Senior Assistant Secretary, -when contrasting the present with the past, was -justified when he remarked that, “Now every one -seems to do his duty as a matter of course.”</p> - -<p>But with the advent to power in 1860 of the -seventh chief under whom my father, while at the -Post Office, served, there came a change; and the -era of peace was at an end. The new head may, -like Lord Canning, have had knowledge of that -hostility to which the earlier Postmaster-General, in -conversation with Rowland Hill, alluded. But if -so, the effect on the later chief was very different -from that upon Lord Canning. At this long interval -of time, there can be no necessity to disinter the -forgotten details of a quarrel that lasted for four -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> -years, but which will soon be half a century old. -Perhaps the situation may be best expressed in the -brief, and very far from vindictive reference to it -in my father's diary. “I had not,” he wrote, “the -good fortune to obtain from him that confidence and -support which I had enjoyed with his predecessors.” -Too old, too utterly wearied out with long years of -almost incessant toil and frequently recurring obstruction, -too hopelessly out of health<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> -to cope with the -new difficulties, the harassed postal reformer struggled -on awhile, and in 1864 resigned.</p> - -<p>He was sixty-eight years of age, and from early -youth upward, had worked far harder than do most -people. “He had,” said an old friend, “packed into -one man's life the life's work of two men.”<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a></p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> -The Commissioners were Lord Elcho, Sir Stafford Northcote, -Sir Charles Trevelyan, and Mr Hoffay.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 245-249.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> -These were, of course, the “Peelites”—the members who, -together with their leader, had seceded from the Tory party on -the Free Trade question.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 225, 226.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 267.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 317.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> -A medical man had now been added to the staff, the first -so appointed being Dr Gavin, a much-esteemed official, who -perished untimely, if I remember rightly, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, -during the awful visitation there of the cholera epidemic of 1853.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> -Afterwards diminished to eight.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 298-301.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 300. At this time the Post Office staff numbered -over 24,000, of whom more than 3,000 served in the London district.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> -A thirty or more years old example of this rejection returns to -memory. A young man—a born soldier, and son to a distinguished -officer in the Engineers—failed to pass the inevitable Army examination. -The subject over which he broke down was some poem of -Chaucer's, I think the immortal Prologue to <i>The Canterbury Tales</i>—that -wonderful collection of masterly-drawn portraits of men and -women who must have been living people over five hundred years -ago. Even an ardent lover of him “whose sweet breath preluded -those melodious bursts that fill the spacious times of great Elizabeth -with sounds that echo still,” has never yet been able to perceive -what connection the strains of “Dan Chaucer, the first warbler,” -can have with the science of modern warfare. The born soldier, -it was said, was fain to turn ranchman in the American Far West.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> -As regards this oft-discussed matter, it seems that Herbert -Spencer was of like mind with my father. Speaking in his -“Autobiography of Edison,” the great philosopher says that “that -remarkable, self-educated man” was of opinion that “college-bred -men were of no use to him. It is astonishing,” continues Herbert -Spencer, “how general, among distinguished engineers, has been -the absence of education, or of high education. James Brindley -and George Stephenson were without any early instruction at all: -the one taught himself writing when an apprentice, and the other -put himself to school when a grown man. Telford too, a shepherd -boy, had no culture beyond that which a parish school afforded. -Though Smeaton and Rennie and Watt had the discipline of -grammar schools, and two of them that of High Schools, yet in -no case did they pass through a <i>curriculum</i> appropriate to the -profession they followed. Another piece of evidence, no less -remarkable, is furnished by the case of Sir Benjamin Baker, who -designed and executed the Forth Bridge—the greatest and most -remarkable bridge in the world, I believe. He received no regular -engineering instruction. Such men who, more than nearly all -other men, exercise constructive imagination, and rise to distinction -only when they are largely endowed with this faculty, seem thus -to show by implication the repressive influence of an educational -system which imposes ideas from without instead of evolving them -from within.” (“Autobiography,” i. 337, 338.) The remarks are -the outcome of Herbert Spencer's perusal of a biographical sketch -of the celebrated engineer, John Ericsson. In this occurred a -significant passage: “When a friend spoke to him with regret -of his not having been graduated from some technical institute, -he answered that the fact, on the other hand, was very fortunate. -If he had taken a course at such an institution, he would have -acquired such a belief in authority that he would never have been -able to develop originality and make his own way in physics and -mechanics.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> -In writing of the discontents which occasionally troubled the -postal peace during the mid-nineteenth century, it must be clearly -understood that no allusion is intended to those of later times. -In this story of an old reform the latest year at the Post Office -is 1864; therefore, since this is a chronicle of “ancient history” only, -comments on the troubles of modern days, which the chronicler -does not profess to understand, shall be scrupulously avoided.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> -He never wasted his time in reading the attacks, even when -some good-natured friend occasionally asked: “Have you seen what -Blank has just written about you?”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 328.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> -Some of us enjoyed a capital view of the eclipse at Swindon -in fine weather and pleasant company. Our friend, Mr W. H. Wills, -who was also present, wrote an amusing account of the eclipse—appending -to it, however, a pretty story which never happened—in -<i>Household Words</i>. The eclipse was soon over, but the great -astronomical treat of the year was, of course, Donati's unforgettable -comet, “a thing of beauty,” though unfortunately not “a joy for -ever,” which blazed magnificently in the northern hemisphere for -some few weeks.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 334.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> -Here was another reformer from outside the Post Office. Yet -one more was Sir Douglas Galton, who first proposed that the Post -Office should take over the telegraphic system. His father-in-law, -Mr Nicholson of Waverley Abbey, sent the then Captain Galton's -paper on the subject to Rowland Hill in 1852. The communication -being private, my father replied also privately, giving the project -encouragement, and leaving Captain Galton to take the next step. -He submitted his plan to the Board of Trade, whence it was -referred to the Post Office. The Postmaster-General, Lord -Hardwicke, did not view the scheme with favour, and it was -dropped, to be resumed later within the Office itself. Had Captain -Galton's proposals been resolutely taken up in 1852, the British -taxpayers might have been spared the heavy burden laid upon them -when, nearly twenty years later, the State purchase of the Telegraphs -was effected “at a cost at once so superfluous and so enormous.” -(“Life,” ii. 251, 252.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 335.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> -“Report of the Select Committee on Postage (1843),” p. 41. -Also “Life,” ii. 336.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> -Professor de Morgan was one of the many literary and scientific -men who took an interest in the book-post when first proposed. -At the outset it was intended that no writing of any sort, not even -the name of owner or donor, should be inscribed in a volume -so sent, but the Professor descanted so ably and wittily on the -hardship of thus ruling out of transit an innocent book, merely -because, a century or more ago, some hand had written on its -fly-leaf, “Anne Pryse, her boke; God give her grace therein to -loke,” that not even the hardest-hearted official, and certainly not -my father, could have said him nay; and by this time any writing, -short of a letter, is allowed. The Professor had a wonderfully-shaped -head, his forehead towards the top being abnormally -prominent. He was devoted to mathematics, and gave much time -to their study; thus it used to be said by those who could not -otherwise account for his strange appearance, that the harder he -worked at his favourite study the keener grew the contest between -the restraining frontal bones and protruding brain, the latter -perceptibly winning the day. A delightful talker was this great -mathematician, also a pugilistic person, and on occasion not above -using his fists with effect. One day he was summoned for an -assault, and duly appeared in the police court. “I was walking -quietly along the street,” began the victim, “when Professor de -Morgan came straight up to me——” “That's a lie!” exclaimed -the disgusted mathematician. “I came up to you at an angle of -forty-five degrees.” This anecdote has been given to several eminent -men, but Professor de Morgan was its real hero.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> -By shear ability, industry, and steadiness, Mr Bokenham had -worked himself up from a humble position to high rank in the Post -Office. One day a rough but pleasant-looking man of the lower -agricultural class came to London from his and Mr Bokenham's -native East Anglia, and called at St Martin's-le-Grand. “What! -Bill Bokenham live in a house of this size!” he exclaimed. He -had taken the imposing, but far from beautiful edifice built in 1829 -for his cousin's private residence.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 288.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> -In Edmund Yates's “Recollections” many pleasant stories are -told of Lord Clanricarde, to whose kindness indeed the author owed -his appointment to the Post Office.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> -“The close of his career as Postmaster-General,” wrote my -father many years later, “was highly characteristic. For some -reason it was convenient to the Government that he should retain -his office until the very day of his departure for the East. Doubtless -it was expected that this retention would be little more than nominal, -or that, at most, he would attend to none but the most pressing -business, leaving to his successor all such affairs as admitted of -delay. When I found that he continued to transact business just -as usual, while I knew that he must be encumbered with every kind -of preparation, official, personal, and domestic, I earnestly pressed -that course upon him, but in vain; he would leave no arrears, and -every question, great or small, which he had been accustomed to -decide was submitted to him as usual to the last hour of his -remaining in the country. Nor was decision even then made -heedlessly or hurriedly, but, as before, after full understanding. -... In common with the whole world, I regarded his premature -death as a severe national calamity. He was earnest and energetic -in the moral reform of the Post Office, and had his life been longer -spared, might perhaps have been the moral reformer of India.... -That such a man, after acquiring a thorough knowledge of myself, -should have selected me for the difficult and responsible post of -Secretary to the Post Office, and have continued throughout my -attached friend, is to me a source of the highest gratification.” -(“Life,” ii. 353-355.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> -He had been still further crippled in 1860 by a paralytic -seizure which necessitated entire abstention from work for many -months, and from which he rallied, but with impaired health, -although he lived some nineteen years longer.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 353-363. Yates, in his “Recollections,” gives a -vivid character sketch of this political head of the office. The -portrait is not flattering. But then Yates, who, like other subordinates -at St Martin's-le-Grand, had grievances of his own against -the man who was probably the most unpopular Postmaster-General -of his century, does not mince his words.</p></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> - <h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ac noindent">THE SUNSET OF LIFE</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> February 1864, Rowland Hill sent in his resignation -to the Lords of the Treasury. Thenceforward, -he retired from public life, though he continued to take -a keen interest in all political and social questions, and -especially in all that concerned the Post Office.<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> In -drawing his pen-portrait, it is better that the judgment -of a few of those who knew him well should -be quoted, rather than that of one so nearly related -to him as his present biographer.</p> - -<div class="figcenter bord"><a name="i_286.jpg" id="i_286.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_286.jpg" width="509" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">SIR ROWLAND HILL.<br /> - <i>From a Portrait in</i> “<span class="smcap">The Graphic</span>.”</div> -</div> - -<p>In the concluding part to the “Life of Sir -Rowland Hill and History of Penny Postage,” partly -edited, partly written by Dr G. Birkbeck Hill, the -latter, while reviewing the situation, justly holds -that “In the Post Office certainly” his uncle “should -have had no master over him at any time.” ... -“Under the able chiefs whom he served from 1854 -to 1860, he worked with full contentment.” When -“this happy period came to an end, with the appointment -of” the Postmaster-General under whom he -found it impossible to work, “his force was once -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> -more, and for the last time, squandered. How -strangely and how sadly was this man thwarted in -the high aim of his life! He longed for power; but -it was for the power to carry through his great -scheme. 'My plan' was often on his lips, and -ever in his thoughts. His strong mind was made -up that it should succeed.”... “There was in him -a rare combination of enthusiasm and practical power. -He clearly saw every difficulty that lay in his path, -and yet he went on with unshaken firmness. In -everything but in work he was the most temperate -of men. His health was greatly shattered by his -excessive toils and his long struggles. For the last -few years of his life he never left his house, and -never even left the floor on which his sleeping -room was. But in the midst of this confinement, -in all the weakness of old age and sickness, he -wrote: 'I accept the evil with the good, and frankly -regard the latter as by far the weightier of the -two. Could I repeat my course, I should sacrifice -as much as before, and regard myself as richly -repaid by the result.' With these high qualities -was united perfect integrity. He was the most -upright and the most truthful of men. He was -often careless of any gain to himself, but the good -of the State never for one moment did he disregard. -His rule was stern, yet never without consideration -for the feelings of others. No one who was under -him ever felt his self-respect wounded by his chief.<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> -He left behind him in all ranks of the service a -strong sense of public duty which outlived even the -evil days which came after him. One of the men -who long served under him bore this high testimony -to the character of his old chief: 'Sir Rowland Hill -was very generous with his own money, and very -close with public money. He would have been -more popular had he been generous with the public -money and close with his own.'”<a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a></p> - -<p>When Mr Gladstone was Chancellor of the -Exchequer, my father often worked with him, their -relations being most harmonious. Shortly before the -postal reformer's resignation, the great statesman -wrote that “he stands pre-eminent and alone among -all the members of the Civil Service as a benefactor -to the nation.” At another time Mr Gladstone -assured his friend that “the support you have had -from me has been the very best that I could give, -but had it been much better and more effective, it -would not have been equal to your deserts and -claims.” And at a later season, when Rowland Hill -was suffering from an especially virulent outbreak -of the misrepresentation and petty insults which fall -to the lot of all fearlessly honest, job-detesting men, -the sympathising Chancellor wrote: “If you are at -present under odium for the gallant stand you make -on behalf of the public interests, at a period, too, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> -when chivalry of that sort by no means 'pays,' I -believe that I have, and I hope still to have, the -honour of sharing it with you.”<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> -Writing soon after -my father's death, the then leader of the Opposition -used words which Rowland Hill's descendants have -always prized. “In some respects his lot was one -peculiarly happy even as among public benefactors, -for his great plan ran like wildfire through the -civilised world; and never, perhaps, was a local -invention (for such it was) and improvement applied -in the lifetime of its author to the advantage of such -vast multitudes of his fellow-creatures.” Ten years -later, the same kindly critic, in the course of a -speech delivered at Saltney in October 1889, said: -“In the days of my youth a labouring man, the -father of a family, was practically prohibited from -corresponding with the members of his household -who might be away. By the skill and courage and -genius of Sir Rowland Hill, correspondence is now -within reach of all, and the circulation of intelligence -is greatly facilitated.”<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a></p> - -<p>A very busy man himself, my father was naturally -full of admiration for Gladstone's marvellous capacity -for work and for attending to a number of different -things at once. One day, when the Secretary to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> -the Post Office went to Downing Street to transact -some departmental business with the Chancellor of -the Exchequer, he found the latter engaged with -his private secretaries, every one of whom was hard -at work, a sculptor being meanwhile employed upon -a bust for which the great man was too much -occupied to give regular sittings. Every now and -then during my father's interview, Mrs Gladstone, -almost, if not quite, as hard-working as her husband, -came in and out, each time on some errand of -importance, and all the while letters and messengers -and other people were arriving or departing. Yet -the Chancellor of the Exchequer seemed able to -keep that wonderful brain of his as clear as if his -attention had been wholly concentrated on the -business about which his postal visitor had come, -and this was soon discussed and settled in Gladstone's -own clear and concise manner, notwithstanding the -should-have-been-bewildering surroundings, which -would have driven my father all but distracted. A -characteristic, everyday scene of that strenuous life.</p> - -<p>On Rowland Hill's retirement, he received many -letters of sympathy and of grateful recognition of -his services from old friends and former colleagues, -most of them being men of distinguished career. -They form a valuable collection of autographs, which -would have been far larger had not many of his -early acquaintances, those especially who worked -heartily and well during the late 'thirties to help -forward the reform, passed over already to the -majority. One letter was from Lord Monteagle, who, -as Mr Spring Rice, Chancellor of the Exchequer in -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> -the Melbourne Administration, had proposed Penny -Postage in the Budget of 1839.</p> - -<p>Prolonged rest gave back to Rowland Hill some -of his old strength, and allowed him to serve on -the Royal Commission on Railways, and to show -while so employed that his mind had lost none of -its clearness. He was also able on several occasions -to attend the meetings of the Political Economy -Club and other congenial functions, and he followed -with keen interest the doings of the Royal -Astronomical Society, to which he had belonged for -more than half a century.<a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> -He also spent much -time in preparing the lengthy autobiography on -whose pages I have largely drawn in writing this -story of his reform. He survived his retirement -from the Post Office fifteen years; and time, with -its happy tendency to obliterate memory of wrongs, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> -enabled him to look back on the old days of storm -and stress with chastened feelings. Over several of -his old opponents the grave had closed, and for the -rest, many years had passed since they and he had -played at move and counter-move. Thus, when the -only son of one of his bitterest adversaries died -under especially sad circumstances, the news called -forth the aged recluse's ever ready sympathy, and -prompted him to send the bereaved parent a genuinely -heartfelt message of condolence. Increasing age and -infirmities did not induce melancholy or pessimistic -leanings, and although he never ceased to feel regret -that his plan had not been carried out in its entirety—a -regret with which every reformer, successful or -otherwise, is likely to sympathise—he was able in -one of the concluding passages of his Autobiography -to write thus cheerfully of his own position and -that of his forerunners in the same field: “When I -compare my experience with that of other reformers -or inventors, I ought to regard myself as supremely -fortunate. Amongst those who have laboured to -effect great improvements, how many have felt their -success limited to the fact that by their efforts seed -was sown which in another age would germinate -and bear fruit! How many have by their innovations -exposed themselves to obliquy, ridicule, perhaps even -to the scorn and abhorrence of at least their own -generation; and, alas, how few have lived to see -their predictions more than verified, their success -amply acknowledged, and their deeds formally and -gracefully rewarded!”<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> - -<p>Owing to the still quieter life which, during his -very latest years, he was obliged to lead through -broken health, advancing age, and the partial loneliness -caused by the passing hence of his two eldest -brothers, one of his children, and nearly all his most -intimate friends, he was nearly forgotten by the -public, or at any rate by that vastly preponderating -younger portion of it, which rarely studies “the -history of our own times,” or is only dimly aware -that Rowland Hill had “done something to the -Post Office.” Many people believed him to be dead, -others that he was living in a retirement not altogether -voluntary. Thus one day he was greatly amused -while reading his morning paper, to learn that at a -spiritualist meeting his wraith had been summoned -from the vasty deep, and asked to give its opinion -on the then management of the Post Office. The -helm at that time was in the hands of one of the -bitterest of his old opponents, and sundry things -had lately taken place—notably, if memory serves -me aright, in the way of extravagant telegraphs -purchase—of which he strongly disapproved. But -that fact by no means prevented the spirit from -expressing entire satisfaction with everything and -everybody at St Martin's-le-Grand, or from singling -out for particular commendation the then novel -invention of halfpenny postcards. These the living -man cordially detested as being, to his thinking, a -mischievous departure from his principle of uniformity -of rate.<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> -Later, he so far conformed to the growing -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> -partiality for postcards as to keep a packet or two -on hand, but they diminished in number very slowly, -and he was ever wont to find fault with the -unfastidious taste of that large portion of mankind -which writes descriptions of its maladies, details of -its private affairs, and moral reflections on the foibles -of its family or friends, so that all who run, or, at -any rate, sort and deliver, may read.</p> - -<p>During the quarter-century which elapsed between -Rowland Hill's appointment to the Treasury and his -resignation of the chief secretaryship to the Post -Office, many generous tributes were paid him by the -public in acknowledgment of the good accomplished -by the postal reform.</p> - -<p>The year after the establishment of penny postage, -Wolverhampton, Liverpool, and Glasgow, each sent -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> -him a handsome piece of plate, the Liverpool gift, -a silver salver, being accompanied by a letter from -Mr Egerton Smith, the editor of the local <i>Mercury</i>. -Mr Smith told my father that the salver had been -purchased with the pence contributed by several -thousands of his fellow-townsmen, and that Mr -Mayer, in whose works it had been made, and by -whom it was delivered into the postal reformer's -hands, had waived all considerations of profit, and -worked out of pure gratitude. The other pieces of -plate were also accompanied by addresses couched -in the kindliest of terms.</p> - -<p>From Cupar Fife came a beautiful edition of the -complete works of Sir Walter Scott—ninety-eight -volumes in all. In each is a fly-leaf stating for whom -and for what services this unique edition was prepared, -the inscription being as complimentary as were -the inscriptions accompanying the other testimonials. -My father was a lifelong admirer of Scott; and -when the Cupar Fife Testimonial Committee wrote -to ask what form their tribute should take, he was -unfeignedly glad to please his Scots admirers by -choosing the works of their most honoured author, -and, at the same time, by possessing them, to realise -a very many years long dream of his own. As -young men, he and his brothers had always welcomed -each successive work as it fell from pen and press, -duly receiving their copy direct from the publishers, -and straightway devouring it. Younger generations -have decided that Scott is “dry.” Had they lived -in those dark, early decades of the nineteenth century, -when literature was perhaps at its poorest level, they -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> -also might have greeted with enthusiasm the creations -of “the Great Unknown,” and wondered who could -be their author.<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> -My father set so high a value on -these beautiful presentation volumes that, from the -first, he laid down a stringent rule that not one of -them should leave the house, no matter who might -wish to borrow it.</p> - -<p>The National Testimonial—to which allusion has -already been made—was raised about three years -after Rowland Hill's dismissal from the Treasury, -and before his restoration to office by Lord John -Russell's Administration, by which time the country -had given the new postal system a trial, and found -out its merits. In 1845 Sir George Larpent, in the -name of the Mercantile Committee, sent my father -a copy of its Resolutions, together with a cheque for -£10,000, the final presentation being deferred till the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> -accounts should be made up. This was done in June -1846, on the occasion of a public dinner at which were -assembled Rowland Hill's aged father, his only son—then -a lad of fourteen—and his brothers, in addition -to many of those good friends who had done yeoman -service for the reform. The idea of the testimonial -originated with Mr John Estlin,<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> -an eminent surgeon -of Bristol, and was speedily taken up in London by -<i>The Inquirer</i>, the article advocating it being written -by the editor, the Rev. Wm. Hinks. The appeal -once started was responded to by the country cordially -and generously.</p> - -<p>Many pleasant little anecdotes show how heartily -the poorer classes appreciated both reform and -reformer. Being, in 1853, on a tour in Scotland, my -father one day employed a poor journeyman tailor of -Dunoon to mend a torn coat. Somehow the old man -found out who was its wearer, and no amount of -persuasion would induce him to accept payment for -the rent he so skilfully made good. A similar case -occurred somewhat earlier, when we were staying at -Beaumaris; while a “humble admirer” who gave no -name wrote, a few years later than the presentation -of the National Testimonial, to say that at the time -he had been too poor to subscribe, but now sent a -donation, which he begged my father to accept. His -identity was never revealed. Another man wrote a -letter of thanks from a distant colony, and not -knowing the right address, inscribed the cover -“To him who gave us all the Penny Post.” Even -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> -M. Grasset, when in a similar difficulty, directed his -envelope from Paris to “Rowland Hill—where he -is.” That these apologies for addresses can be reproduced -is proof that the missives reached their -destination.<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a></p> - -<p>It would be easy to add to these stories; their -name is legion.</p> - -<p>Tributes like these touched my father even more -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> -deeply than the bestowal of public honours, although -he also prized these as showing that his work was -appreciated in all grades of life. Moreover, in those -now far-off days, “honours” were bestowed more -sparingly and with greater discrimination than later -came to be the case; and merit was considered of -more account than money-bags. Thus in 1860 -Rowland Hill was made a K.C.B., the suggestion of -that step being understood to lie with Lords Palmerston -and Elgin (the then Postmaster-General), for the -recipient had not been previously sounded, and the -gift came as a surprise.</p> - -<p>After my father's retirement, the bestowal of -honours recommenced, though he did <i>not</i> assume the -title of “Lord Queen's head,” as Mr Punch suggested -he should do were a peerage offered to him—which -was not at all likely to be done. At Oxford he -received the honorary degree of D.C.L.,<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> -and a little -later was presented by the then Prince of Wales with -the first Albert Gold Medal issued by the Society of -Arts. The following year, when Rowland Hill was -dining at Marlborough House, the Prince reminded -him of the presentation. Upon which the guest told -his host a little story which was news to H.R.H., and -greatly amused him. The successive blows required -for obtaining high relief on the medal had shattered -the die before the work was completed. There was -not time to make another die, as it was found impossible -to postpone the ceremony. At the moment of -presentation, however, the recipient only, and not the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> -donor, was aware that it was an empty box which, -with much interchange of compliments, passed from -the royal hands into those of the commoner.</p> - -<p>From Longton, in the Staffordshire Potteries, came -a pair of very handsome vases. When the workmen -engaged in making them learned for whom they -were intended, they bargained that, by way of contribution -to the present, they should give their labour -gratuitously.</p> - -<p>An address to Rowland Hill was voted at a -town's meeting at Liverpool, and this was followed -by the gift of some valuable pictures. Their selection -being left to my father himself, he chose three, -one work each, by friends of long standing—his ex-pupil -Creswick, and Messrs Cooke and Clarkson Stanfield, -all famous Royal Academicians. Three statues -of the postal reformer have been erected, the first -at Birmingham, where, soon after his resignation, a -town's meeting was held to consider how to do honour -to the man whose home had once been there, the -originator of the movement being another ex-pupil, -Mr James Lloyd of the well-known banking family. -From Kidderminster his fellow-townsmen sent my -father word that they were about to pay him the -same compliment they had already paid to another -Kidderminster man, the famous preacher, Richard -Baxter. But this newer statue, like the one by -Onslow Ford in London,<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> -was not put up till after the -reformer's death. Of the three, the Kidderminster -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> -statue, by Thomas Brock, R.A., is by far the best, the -portrait being good and the pose characteristic. -Mr Brock has also done justice to his subject's -strongest point, the broad, massive head suggestive -of the large, well-balanced brain within. That the -others were not successful as likenesses is not -surprising. Even when living he was difficult to -portray, a little bust by Brodie, R.S.A., when Rowland -Hill was about fifty, being perhaps next best to -Brock's. The small bust in Westminster Abbey set -up in the side chapel where my father lies is absolutely -unrecognisable. Another posthumous portrait was -the engraving published by Vinter (Lithographer to -the Queen). It was taken from a photograph then -quite a quarter-century old. Photography in the early -'fifties was comparatively a young art. Portraits were -often woeful caricatures; and the photograph in our -possession was rather faded, so that the lithographer -had no easy task before him. Still, the likeness was -a fair one, though the best of all—and they were -admirable—were an engraving published by Messrs -Kelly of the “Post Office Directory,” and one which -appeared in the <i>Graphic</i>.</p> - -<div class="figcenter bord"><a name="i_301.jpg" id="i_301.jpg"></a> - <img src="images/i_301.jpg" width="450" height="600" - alt="" /> - <div class="caption">THE STATUE, KIDDERMINSTER.<br /> - By Thomas Brock, R.A.<br /> - <i>From a Photograph by the late T. Ball.</i></div> -</div> - -<p>In June 1879, less than three months before his -death, the Freedom of the City of London was -bestowed upon the veteran reformer. By this time -he had grown much too infirm to go to the Guildhall -to receive the honour in accordance with long-established -custom. The Court of Common Council -therefore considerately waived precedent, and sent to -Hampstead a deputation of five gentlemen,<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> -headed by -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> -the City Chamberlain, who made an eloquent address, -briefly describing the benefits achieved by the postal -reform, while offering its dying author “the right -hand of fellowship in the name of the Corporation.” -My father was just able to sign the Register, but the -autograph is evidence of the near approach to dissolution -of the hand that traced it.</p> - -<p>On the 27th of August in the same year he passed -away in the presence of his devoted wife, who, barely -a year his junior, had borne up bravely and hardly -left his bedside, and of one other person. Almost his -last act of consciousness was, while holding her hand -in his, to feel for the wedding ring he had placed upon -it nearly fifty-two years before.</p> - -<p>My father's noblest monument is his reform which -outlives him, and which no reactionary Administration -should be permitted to sweep away. The next -noblest is the “Rowland Hill Benevolent Fund,” -whose chief promoters were Sir James Whitehead and -Mr R. K. Causton, and was the fruit of a subscription -raised soon after the postal reformer's death, doubled, -eleven years later, by the proceeds of the two Penny -Postage Jubilee celebrations, the one at the Guildhall -and the other at the South Kensington Museum, in -1890. Had it been possible to consult the dead man's -wishes as to the use to be made of this fund, he -would certainly have given his voice for the purpose -to which it is dedicated—the relief of those among -the Post Office employees who, through ill-health, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> -old age, or other causes, have broken down, and are -wholly or nearly destitute. For, having himself -graduated in the stern school of poverty, he too -had known its pinch, and could feel for the poor -as the poor are ever readiest to feel.</p> - -<p>My father's fittest epitaph is contained in the -following poem which appeared in <i>Punch</i> soon after -his death. His family have always, and rightly, -considered that no more eloquent or appreciative -obituary notice could have been penned.</p> - - -<p class="ac noident">In Memoriam</p> - -<p class="ac noindent larger">ROWLAND HILL</p> - -<p class="ac noindent">ORIGINATOR OF CHEAP POSTAGE</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="hanging">Born at Kidderminster, 3rd December 1795. Died at Hampstead, 27th -August 1879. Buried in Westminster Abbey, by the side of James -Watt, Thursday, 4th September.</p></div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">No question this of worthy's right to lie</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">With England's worthiest, by the side of him</div> - <div class="verse">Whose brooding brain brought under mastery</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">The wasted strength of the Steam giant grim.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Like labours—his who tamed by sea and land</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Power, Space, and Time, to needs of human kind,</div> - <div class="verse">That bodies might be stronger, nearer hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">And his who multiplied mind's links with mind.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Breaking the barriers that, of different height</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">For rich and poor, were barriers still for all;</div> - <div class="verse">Till “out of mind” was one with “out of sight,”</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">And parted souls oft parted past recall.</div> - </div> - - <p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Freeing from tax unwise the interchange</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Of distant mind with mind and mart with mart;</div> - <div class="verse">Releasing thought from bars that clipped its range;</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Lightening a load felt most i' the weakest part.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">What if the wings he made so strong and wide</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Bear burdens with their blessings? Own that all</div> - <div class="verse">For which his bold thought we oft hear decried,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Of laden bag, too frequent postman's call,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Is nothing to the threads of love and light</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Shot, thanks to him, through life's web dark and wide,</div> - <div class="verse">Nor only where he first unsealed men's sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">But far as pulse of time and flow of tide!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Was it a little thing to think this out?</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Yet none till he had hit upon the thought;</div> - <div class="verse">And, the thought brought to birth, came sneer and flout</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Of all his insight saw, his wisdom taught.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">All office doors were closed against him—hard;</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">All office heads were closed against him too.</div> - <div class="verse">He had but worked, like others, for reward.</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">“The thing was all a dream.” “It would not do.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But this was not a vaguely dreaming man,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">A windbag of the known Utopian kind;</div> - <div class="verse">He had thought out, wrought out, in full, his plan;</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">'Twas the far-seeing fighting with the blind.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And the far-seeing won his way at last,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Though pig-headed Obstruction's force died hard;</div> - <div class="verse">Denied his due, official bitters cast,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Into the cup wrung slowly from their guard.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But not until the country, wiser far</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Than those who ruled it, with an angry cry,</div> - <div class="verse">Seeing its soldiers 'gainst it waging war,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">At last said resolutely, “Stand you by!</div> - </div> - - <p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">“And let him in to do what he has said,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">And you do not, and will not let him do.”</div> - <div class="verse">And so at last the fight he fought was sped,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Thought at less cost freer and further flew.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And all the world was kindlier, closer knit,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">And all man's written word can bring to man</div> - <div class="verse">Had easier ways of transit made for it,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">And none sat silent under poortith's ban</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">When severed from his own, as in old days.</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">And this we owe to one sagacious brain,</div> - <div class="verse">By one kind heart well guided, that in ways</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Of life laborious sturdy strength had ta'en.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And his reward came, late, but sweeter so,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">In the wide sway that his wise thought had won:</div> - <div class="verse">He was as one whose seed to tree should grow,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Who hears him blest that sowed it 'gainst the sun.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">So love and honour made his grey hairs bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">And while most things he hoped to fulness came,</div> - <div class="verse">And many ills he warred with were set right,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Good work and good life joined to crown his name.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And now that he is dead we see how great</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">The good work done, the good life lived how brave,</div> - <div class="verse">And through all crosses hold him blest of fate,</div> - <div class="verse indent-1_5">Placing this wreath upon his honoured grave!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class="ar">—<i>Punch</i>, 20th September 1879</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> -On leaving office he drew up a short paper entitled, “Results -of Postal Reform,” a copy of which appears in the Appendix.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> -He was, indeed, never likely to err as once did the unpopular -Postmaster-General who summoned to his presence the head of one -of the departments to give an explanation of some difficult matter -that was under consideration. The interview was bound to be -lengthy, but the unfortunate man was not invited to take a chair, -till Rowland Hill, who was also present, rose, and, by way of silent -protest against an ill-bred action, remained standing. Then both -men were asked to sit down.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 411-414.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 363, 400.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> -It is well to reproduce these remarks of one who could -remember the old postal system, because among the younger -generations who know nothing of it, a belief seems to be prevalent -that the plan of penny postage was merely an elaboration of the -little local posts. Gladstone was thirty when the great postal reform -was established, and was therefore fully qualified to speak of it as -he did.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> -His love for “the Queen of all the Sciences” was gratified one -cloudless day in the late autumn of his life by following through his -telescope the progress of a transit of Mercury, which he enjoyed -with an enthusiasm that was positively boyish. An early lesson in -astronomy had been given him one wintry night by his father, who, -with the little lad, had been taking a long walk into the country. On -their return, young Rowland, being tired, finished the journey seated -on his father's back, his arms clasped round the paternal neck. -Darkness came on, and in the clear sky the stars presently shone -out brilliantly. The two wayfarers by and by passed beside a large -pond, in which, the evening being windless, the stars were reflected. -Seeing how admirable an astral map the placid waters made, the -father stopped and pointed out the constellations therein reproduced, -naming them to his little son. The boy eagerly learned the lesson, -but his joy was somewhat tempered by the dread lest he should fall -into what, to his childish fancy, looked like a fathomless black abyss. -Happily, his father had a firm grasp of Rowland's clinging arms, and -no accident befell him.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> -“Life,” ii. 401.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> -A more recent instance of killing a man before he is dead, and -raising his spirit to talk at a <i>séance</i>, was that of Mr Sherman, the -American statesman. His ghost expatiated eloquently on the beauties -and delights of Heaven—with which region, as he was still in the -land of the living, he could hardly have made acquaintance—and -altogether uttered much unedifying nonsense. The following -veracious anecdotes show what hazy views on history, postal or -otherwise, some children, and even their elders, entertain. A school -mistress who had recently passed with honours through one of our -“Seminaries of Useless Knowledge,” was asked by a small pupil if -Rowland Hill had not invented the penny post. “No, my dear,” -answered the learned instructress. “The penny post has been -established in this country for hundreds of years. All that Rowland -Hill did was to put the Queen's head on to a penny stamp.” The -other story is of a recent <i>viva voce</i> examination in English history at -one of our large public schools. “Who was Rowland Hill?” was the -question. “Rowland Hill,” came without hesitation the reply, though -not from the grand-nephew who was present and is responsible for -the tale, “was a man who was burned for heresy.” Could the boy -have been thinking of Rowland Taylor, a Marian martyr? The fact -that my father was not exactly orthodox, lends piquancy to the story.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> -While we were children our father used often to read aloud to -us—as a schoolmaster and elocutionist he was a proficient in that -comparatively rare art—and in course of time we thus became -acquainted with nearly all these books. He probably missed the -occasional lengthy introductory chapters and other parts which well -bear pruning, for memory holds no record of their undeniable -tediousness. We certainly did not find Scott “dry.” Why should -we? Through him we came to know chivalric Saladin, David of -Huntingdon, and tawny-haired Richard of the Lion's heart; to love -the noble Rebecca, and to assist at the siege of Torquilstone Castle; -to look on at the great fight between the Clan Chattan and the -Clan Quhele, and to mourn over Rothesay's slow, cruel doing to -death; to know kings and queens, and companies of gallant knights -and lovely ladies, and free-booters like Rob Roy and Robin Hood, -and wits and eccentric characters who were amusing without being -vulgar or impossible. Also was it not Sir Walter who “discovered” -Scotland for our delight, and through that discovery contributed -largely to his native land's prosperity?</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> -The Mercantile Committee suggested a National Testimonial -in March 1844, but Mr Estlin's proposal was yet earlier.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> -A third letter to the postal reformer, also delivered, came -directed to the General Post Office to “Mr Owl O Neill.” Owing -to the present spread of education, the once numerous (and -genuine) specimens of eccentric spelling are yearly growing fewer, -so that the calling of “blind man”—as the official decipherer of -illegible and ill-spelled addresses is not very appropriately termed—is -likely to become obsolete. It would surely have given any -ordinary mortal a headache to turn “Uncon” into Hong-Kong, -“Ilawait” into Isle of Wight, “I Vicum” into High Wycombe, -“Searhoo Skur” into Soho Square, or “Vallop a Razzor” into -Valparaiso. Education will also deprive us of insufficiently -addressed letters. “Miss Queene Victoria of England” did -perhaps reach her then youthful Majesty from some Colonial or -American would-be correspondent; but what could have been done -with the letter intended for “My Uncle Jon in London,” or that -to “Mr Michl Darcy in the town of England”? The following -pair of addresses are unmistakably Hibernian. “Dennis Belcher, -Mill Street, Co. Cork. As you turn the corner to Tom Mantel's -field, where Jack Gallavan's horse was drowned in the bog-hole,” -and “Mr John Sullivan, North Street, Boston. He's a man with -a crutch. Bedad, I think that'll find him.” That the French -Post Office also required the services of “blind man” these strange -addresses, taken from Larouse's “Dictionnaire du XIX<sup>e</sup> Siècle,” -vol. xii. p. 1,497, demonstrate. The first, “À monsieur mon fils à -Paris,” reached its destination because it was called for at the chief -office, where it had been detained, by a young man whose explanation -satisfied the enquiring official. Whether the letter addressed to -Lyon, and arriving at a time of thaw, “À M. M., demeurant dans -la maison auprès de laquelle il y a un tas de neige” was delivered is -not so certain.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> -He had long before added to his name the justly-prized initials -of F.R.S. and F.R.A.S.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> -This last statue had not long been unveiled when the street -boys—so reported one of our newspapers—began to adorn the -pedestal with postage stamps.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> -These were Mr Washington Lyon, mover of the resolution; -Sir John Bennett, the seconder; Mr Peter M'Kinley, the Chairman -of General Purposes Committee; Mr (afterwards Sir Benjamin) -Scott, F.R.A.S., the City Chamberlain; and Mr (afterwards Sir -John) Monckton, F.S.A., the Town Clerk.</p></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> - <h2><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ac noindent">RESULTS OF POSTAL REFORM</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Before</span> stating the results of Postal Reform it may be -convenient that I should briefly enumerate the more -important organic improvements effected. They are as -follows:</p> - -<p>1. A very large reduction in the Rates of Postage on all -correspondence, whether Inland, Foreign, or Colonial. As -instances in point, it may be stated that letters are now -conveyed from any part of the United Kingdom to any other -part—even from the Channel Islands to the Shetland Isles—at -one-fourth of the charge previously levied on letters -passing between post towns only a few miles apart;<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> and -that the rate formerly charged for this slight distance—viz. -4d.—now suffices to carry a letter from any part of the -United Kingdom to any part of France, Algeria included.</p> - -<p>2. The adoption of charge by weight, which, by abolishing -the charge for mere enclosures, in effect largely extended -the reduction of rates.</p> - -<p>3. Arrangements which have led to the almost universal -resort to prepayment of correspondence, and that by means -of stamps.</p> - -<p>4. The simplification of the mechanism and accounts of -the department generally, by the above and other means.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span></p> - -<p>5. The establishment of the Book Post (including in its -operation all printed and much M.S. matter), at very low -rates; and its modified extension to our Colonies, and to -many foreign countries.</p> - -<p>6. Increased security in the transmission of valuable -letters afforded, and temptation to the letter-carriers and -others greatly diminished, by reducing the Registration Fee -from 1s. to 4d., by making registration of letters containing -coin compulsory, and by other means.</p> - -<p>7. A reduction to about one-third in the cost—including -postage—of Money Orders, combined with a great extension -and improvement of the system.</p> - -<p>8. More frequent and more rapid communication between -the Metropolis and the larger provincial towns; as also -between one provincial town and another.</p> - -<p>9. A vast extension of the Rural Distribution—many -thousands of places, and probably some millions of inhabitants -having for the first time been included within the Postal -System.</p> - -<p>10. A great extension of free deliveries. Before the -adoption of Penny Postage, many considerable towns, and -portions of nearly all the larger towns, had either no delivery -at all, or deliveries on condition of an extra charge.</p> - -<p>11. Greatly increased facilities afforded for the transmission -of Foreign and Colonial Correspondence; by improved -treaties with foreign countries, by a better arrangement -of the Packet service, by sorting on board and other -means.</p> - -<p>12. A more prompt dispatch of letters when posted, and -a more prompt delivery on arrival.</p> - -<p>13. The division of London and its suburbs into Ten -Postal Districts, by which, and other measures, communication -within the 12-miles circle has been greatly facilitated, -and the most important delivery of the day has, generally -speaking, been accelerated as much as two hours.</p> - -<p>14. Concurrently with these improvements, the condition -of the employees has been materially improved; their -labours, especially on the Sunday, having been very generally -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> -reduced, their salaries increased, their chances of promotion -augmented, and other important advantages afforded them.</p> - - -<p class="ac noindent">RESULTS</p> - -<p>My pamphlet on “Post Office Reform” was written in -the year 1836. During the preceding twenty years—viz., -from 1815 to 1835 inclusive—<i>there was no increase whatever -in the Post Office revenue, whether gross or net</i>, and -therefore, in all probability, none in the number of letters; -and though there was a slight increase in the revenue, -and doubtless in the number of letters, between 1835 and -the establishment of Penny Postage early in 1840—an -increase chiefly due, in my opinion, to the adoption of -part of my plan, viz., the establishment of Day Mails to -and from London—yet, during the whole period of twenty-four -years immediately preceding the adoption of Penny -Postage, the revenue, whether gross or net, and the number -of letters, were, in effect, stationary.</p> - -<p>Contrast with this the rate of increase under the new -system which has been in operation during a period of -about equal length. In the first year of Penny Postage -the letters more than doubled, and though since then the -increase has, of course, been less rapid, yet it has been so -steady that, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of trade, every -year, without exception, has shown a considerable advance -on the preceding year, and the first year's number is now -nearly quadrupled. As regards revenue, there was, of course, -at first a large falling off—about a million in gross and -still more in net revenue. Since then, however, the revenue, -whether gross or net, has rapidly advanced, till now it even -exceeds its former amount, the rate of increase, both of -letters and revenue, still remaining undiminished.</p> - -<p>In short, a comparison of the year 1863 with 1838 (the -last complete year under the old system) shows that the -number of chargeable letters has risen from 76,000,000 to -642,000,000; and that the revenue, at first so much impaired, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> -has not only recovered its original amount, but risen, the -gross from £2,346,000 to about £3,870,000, and the net -from £1,660,000 to about £1,790,000.<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a></p> - -<p>The expectations I held out before the change were, -that eventually, under the operation of my plans, the number -of letters would increase fivefold, the gross revenue would -be the same as before, while the net revenue would sustain -a loss of about £300,000. The preceding statement shows -that the letters have increased, not fivefold, but nearly -eight-and-a-half-fold; that the gross revenue, instead of -remaining the same, has increased by about £1,500,000; -while the net revenue, instead of falling £300,000, has risen -more than £100,000.</p> - -<p>While the revenue of the Post Office has thus more -than recovered its former amount, the indirect benefit to -the general revenue of the country arising from the greatly -increased facilities afforded to commercial transactions, -though incapable of exact estimate, must be very large. -Perhaps it is not too much to assume that, all things -considered, the vast benefit of cheap, rapid, and extended -postal communication has been obtained, even as regards -the past, without fiscal loss. For the future there must be -a large and ever-increasing gain.</p> - -<p>The indirect benefit referred to is partly manifested -in the development of the Money Order System, under -which, since the year 1839, the annual amount transmitted -has risen from £313,000 to £16,494,000, that is, fifty-two-fold.</p> - -<p>An important collateral benefit of the new system is -to be found in the cessation of that contraband conveyance -which once prevailed so far that habitual breach of -the postal law had become a thing of course.</p> - -<p>It may be added that the organisation thus so greatly -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> -improved and extended for postal purposes stands available -for other objects; and, passing over minor matters, has -already been applied with great advantage to the new -system of Savings Banks.</p> - -<p>Lastly, the improvements briefly referred to above, with -all their commercial, educational, and social benefits, have -now been adopted, in greater or less degree—and that -through the mere force of example—by the whole civilised -world.</p> - -<p>I cannot conclude this summary without gratefully acknowledging -the cordial co-operation and zealous aid -afforded me in the discharge of my arduous duties. I must -especially refer to many among the superior officers of the -department—men whose ability would do credit to any -service, and whose zeal could not be greater if their -object were private instead of public benefit.</p> - -<p class="ar"><span class="smcap">Rowland Hill.</span></p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Hampstead</span>,<br /> -<i>23rd February 1864</i>.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> -When my plan was published, the lowest General Post rate was -4d.; but while the plan was under the consideration of Government -the rate between post towns not more than 8 miles asunder was reduced -from 4d. to 2d.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="noindent"><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> -In this comparison of revenue, the mode of calculation in use -before the adoption of Penny Postage has, of course, been retained—that -is to say, the cost of the Packets on the one hand, and the produce of the -impressed Newspaper Stamps on the other, have been excluded. The -amounts for 1863 are, to some extent, estimated, the accounts not having -as yet been fully made up.</p></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> - <h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> -</div> - -<ul class="index"> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Abbott</span>, Sec. P.O., Scotland, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Aberdeen, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Abolition of postal tolls over Menai and Conway bridges - and Scottish border, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">of money prepayment, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Account-keeping, official (blunders in), <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">postal, <a href="#Page_62">62-64</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">practically revolutionised, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Accountant-General, the, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Adelaide, South Australia, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Adhesive stamps. (See Postage stamps)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Admiralty, the, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Advertisement duty, the, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Adviser to the P.O., <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Afghanistan, war in, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Aggrieved lady, an, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Air-gun, the, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Airy, Sir G. B., Astronomer Royal, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Albert Gold Medal, story of an, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Algeria, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Algerine Ambassador, the, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Allen, Ralph, postal reformer, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>All the Year Round</i>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Amalgamation of two corps of letter-carriers, the, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Ambassador's bag,” the, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Ambleside, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> American Chamber of Commerce, the, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— colonies, revolt of the, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">and the paper-duty stamp, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— rancher, an, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Amiens, the Peace of, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Angas, Mr G. F., <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Anne Pryse, her boke,” <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Annual motion, Mr Villiers', <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Reports of the Postmaster-General, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Annular eclipse of the sun, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Anonymous letters, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Anti-Corn-Law Catechism,” the, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">League, the, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Appointments, the power to make, transferred to Post Office, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">excellent appointments made by Colonel Maberly, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">best rules for, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Archer's perforation patent, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Argyll, Duke of. (See Postmasters-General)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Armstrong, Sir Wm. (Lord Armstrong), <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Army and Navy, the, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">letters and money orders (Crimean War), <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Arnott, Dr Niel, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Artist, a puzzled, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Ashburton, Lord, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Ashley, Lord. (See Shaftesbury)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Ashurst, Mr Wm., <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “As if they were all M.P.s,” <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Association for abolition of taxes on knowledge, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Astronomical Society, the Royal, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Astronomy, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">an early lesson in, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Athenæum Club, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">newspaper, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Atterbury, trial of Bishop, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Auction sale of lost articles, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Augean stable, an, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Augier, M., <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Australia, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">mails to, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Austria, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Authors who draw on their imagination for their facts, <a href="#Page_186">186-189</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Autobiographic Sketches,” De Quincey, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Average postage on letters, the, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Back-stairs</span> influence, <a href="#Page_178">178-181</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bacon, Mr (Messrs Perkins, Bacon & Co.), <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bad bargains, the State's, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Baden adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Baines family, the (_Leeds Mercury_), <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Baker, Sir B., <a href="#Page_261">261</a> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> -</li> - -<li class="indx"> Balcombe, Miss B., <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bancroft, United States' historian, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bandiera, the brothers, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bankers' franks, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Barbary Corsairs, The,” <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Baring brothers, the, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Sir F., <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">a zealous chief, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">first interview with, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">discusses terms of engagement with R. H., <a href="#Page_149">149-153</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his friendly attitude, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">distrusts principle of prepayment, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">suggests compulsory use of stamps, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">satisfied with result of tentative rate, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">uneasy at increase of expenditure, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his indignation at R. H.'s dismissal, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">dreads possible raising of postal rates, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">on suggested revival of old system, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Barnaby Rudge,” <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bates, Mr (Messrs Baring Brothers), <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bath, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bavaria adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Baxter, Richard, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Beaumaris, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Bedchamber Difficulty,” the, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Belated letter, a, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Belgians, King of the, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Belgium, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bennett, Sir J., <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bentham, Jeremy, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bentinck, Mr, M.P., <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bernadotte, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bertram, Mr, “Some Memories of Books,” <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bianconi, “the Palmer of Ireland,” <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bible, the, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Birmingham, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Blackstone on our criminal code, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Black wall, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Blanc, Louis, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Blind man,” the, in England and France, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Blue Books, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">a model one, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Blue Coat School, the, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Board of Stamps and Taxes (Inland Revenue), the, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Trade, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Works, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bodichon, Mme. B. L. S., <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bokenham, Mr, Head of the Circulation Department, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bolton-King, Mr, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Bomba,” King, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bonner, post official, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, A. and H. B., <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Book post, the, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Boswell's “Life of Johnson,” <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bourbons, the, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bowring, Sir J., <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Boythorn, Mr, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brandram, Mr, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brawne, Fanny, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brazil adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Breakdown prophesied, a, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bremen adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brewin, Mr, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bridport, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brierley Hill, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bright, John, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brighton, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182-184</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brindley, Jas., <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bristol, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> British Linen Co., the, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “British Postal Guide,” the, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brobdingnagian and Lilliputian letters, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brock, Thos., R.A., <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brodie, Wm., R.S.A., <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brompton, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brookes, Mr, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brougham, Lord, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brown, Sir Wm., <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Browning, Eliz. Barrett, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bruce Castle, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Brunswick adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Budget of 1839, penny postage proposed in the, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Building and correspondence, relative sizes of, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Bull-baiting, etc., <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Burgoyne, Sir J., <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Burke, Edmund, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Burritt, Elihu, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Busy day, a, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Butler, S., “Hudibras,” <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Cabful</span> of Blue Books, a, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Calais, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Calverley, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Cambridge, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Princess Mary of, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Campbell-Bannerman, Lady, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Campbell, Lord, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Canada, postal rates to, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">extension of Money Order System to, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Canals and Railway charges, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Candling” letters, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Canning, Lord. (See Postmasters-General)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Cape of Good Hope, Steamship Co., <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></li> - -<li class="indx"> Carlyle, Thos., <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Carrick-on-Shannon, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Carriers and others as smugglers, <a href="#Page_66">66-69</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Carroll, Lewis,” <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Carter, Rev. J., <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Castle Rackrent,” etc., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Catholic Emancipation, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— gentleman despoiled, a, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Causton, Mr R. K., M.P., <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Caxton Exhibition, the, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Celestial and other postal arrangements, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Census return (1841), <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Century of progress,” the, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Chadwick, Sir E., <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Chalmers, Mr, M.P., <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Jas., <a href="#Page_189">189-193</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, P., <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Chambers' Encyclopædia,” <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Wm. and Robert, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Chancellors of the Exchequer—</li> -<li class="isub2">Spring Rice (Lord Monteagle), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> -<li class="isub2">Sir F. Baring, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149-153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> -<li class="isub2">H. Goulburn, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> -<li class="isub2">Sir Geo. Cornwall Lewis, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> -<li class="isub2">B. Disraeli, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>. (See also Disraeli)</li> -<li class="isub2">Gladstone, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>. (See also Gladstone)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Chancery Lane, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Change of style, the,” <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Channel Isles, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Charing Cross and Brompton, postage between, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Charles II., <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Chartist Day,” <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Chaucer, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Chester, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Chevalier, M., <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Cheverton, Mr, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Chile adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> China, war with, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Cholera at Haddington, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Christmas-boxes, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Chronicles,” Second Book of, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Civil Service Commissioners and examinations, <a href="#Page_257">257-261</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— war in the United States predicted, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Claimants to authorship of postal reform or postage - stamps, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189-195</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Clanricarde, Lord. (See Postmasters-General)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Clark, Professor, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Sir Jas., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Thos., <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Claude, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Clerks, duties of, under old system, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Coaches. (See Mail coaches)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Cobden, R., <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his letters to R. H., <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Club, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Coin-bearing letters, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Colby, General, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Colchester, Lord. (See Postmasters-General)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Cole, Mr (Sir Henry), <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Coleridge, S. T., <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Collection of postage in coin, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Colonial penny postage, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Colonies, the, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Comet of 1858, the, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Commission on Packet Service, the, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— on Railways, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— to revise salaries of postal employees, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Commissioners, Civil Service. (See Civil Service, etc.)</li> - -<li class="indx"> —— of Inland Revenue, Reports of the, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— of Post Office Inquiry, the, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Committee of Inquiry (1788), <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— on Postage, the Select (1838), <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67-69</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, - <a href="#Page_121">121-130</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">on Postage (1843), <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— on canal and railway charges, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Compulsory prepayment of postage, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Congestion at St Martin's-le-Grand, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Conservatives and Peelites, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Constantinople, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Conveyance of inland mails. (See Mails)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Conway bridge, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Cooke, Wm., R.A., <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Corn Laws, the, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Corporal punishment abolished at Hazelwood, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Correction “removed by order,” a, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Correspondence and building: should they agree in size? <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Cost of conveyance of letters between London and Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Coulson, Mr, <a href="#Page_34">34</a> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span></li> - -<li class="indx"> Cowper, Mr E., <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Cox, David, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Craik, Mrs (Mulock, Miss), <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Creswick, Thos., R.A., <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Crimean War, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Criminal Capitalists,” Edwin Hill, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Croker, J. W., <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Cross-posts, the, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Crowd” of petitions, a, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Crowe family, the, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Crump, Mrs Lucy, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Crusaders and others, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Cubitt, Sir Wm., <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Cupar-Fife, testimonial from, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap"><i>Daily News</i></span>, the, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Daily Packet List</i>, the, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Darian Scheme, the, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Davenport, Mrs, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Davy's, Sir H., mother and Penzance, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Dead” letters, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">auction sale at office of, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Deal, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Debating society, a youthful, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “De Comburendo Heretico” Act, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Decrease of price: increase of consumption, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— of prosecutions for theft, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Definition of local penny post area, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Degree of D.C.L. (Oxon.), <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> De La Rue & Co., Messrs, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Deliveries, acceleration and greater frequency of, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Denis Duval,” Thackeray, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Denman, Lord, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Denmark adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Deputation to Lord Melbourne, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Deputy Comptroller of the Penny Post, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Designs for postage stamps, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Détenu</i>, a, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Dickens, Chas., <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Dickinson” paper, the, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Dictionary of National Biography,” the, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “<i>Dictionnaire du XIX<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>,” <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Dilke, C. W., antiquary, journalist, etc., <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Dillon, Mr (Messrs Morrison and Dillon), <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Dining in hall, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Discontent at P.O., <a href="#Page_262">262-265</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">at tentative rate, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Discourse on Our Digestive Organs,” a, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Dismal Science,” the, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Disraeli, B. (Lord Beaconsfield), viii., <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Distribution an only function, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Districts, London divided into, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Docker's mail-bags exchange apparatus, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Dockwra, Wm., postal reformer, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">inventor of local penny posts, introduces delivery of letters, - divides city and suburbs into postal districts, opens over 400 - receiving offices, introduces parcel post, etc., his rates - lasting till 1801, then raised to swell war-tax, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">falls victim to Duke of York's jealousy, loses situation, ruined - by law-suit, pensioned, pension revoked, he sinks into - poverty, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his penny post falls upon evil days, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">remarks on his dismissal, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Dodd, Rev. Dr, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Donati's comet, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Dover Castle, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Doyle, Sir A. C., “The Great Shadow,” <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Drayton Grammar School, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Dubost, M., <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Dublin, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Dudley, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Duncannon, Lord, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Duncombe, T., M.P., <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Dundee, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Dunoon, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Duty stamp on newspapers, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Eagerness</span> for postal reform among the poor, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Eclipse, Mr Wills and the, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Economy, how best secured, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Edgeworth, Maria, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">one letter to, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">cost of letter conveyance to, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">a mail-coach's postal burden, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">postal revenue larger than that of Portugal, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, the, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Edison, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Education, impetus given to, <a href="#Page_166">166-168</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Edwards, Mr E., <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Egerton-Smith, Mr, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Egypt, postal rates to, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Eight hours movement, an, <a href="#Page_253">253</a> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></li> - -<li class="indx"> Elcho, Lord, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Elgin, Lord. (See Postmasters-General)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Ellis, Mr Wm., <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Elmore, A., R.A., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Emery, Mr, his evidence, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Emigrants and emigrant ships, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Employees, number of, in London, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Encyclopædia Britannica,” the (ninth edition), mistakes in article - on Post Office, <a href="#Page_186">186-189</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Engaged to marry your Prince of Wales,” <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, letters in, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li> -<li class="isub2">(See also Number of letters)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Envelopes, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Eothen, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Episode of a wedding ring, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Epping, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Ericsson, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Essays of a Birmingham Manufacturer” (Sargent), <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Esther, The Book of,” <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Estlin, Mr J., <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Etymology, lecture on, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Euclid's Elements, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Evasions, losses, and thefts, <a href="#Page_57">57-60</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66-69</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272-275</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Every division should be self-supporting, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Examinations, Civil Service, <a href="#Page_257">257-261</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Exchange of bags apparatus (Docker's), <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Excursion and express trains, etc., <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Executions outside Newgate, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Expenditure, increase of, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170-172</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Extension of penny postage to Colonies, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Facilitating</span> life insurance for staff, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Facts and Estimates as to the Increase of Letters,” <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Faggot vote, a new kind of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Fallacious return,” the, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Faraday, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Feats on the Fiords,” <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Fergusson, Sir Wm., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Field, Mr E. W., <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Fifty Years of Public Life,” <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Fire at Hazelwood, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> First letter posted under new system, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Fitzgerald, Lord, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Fitzmaurice, Lord, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Foot and horse posts, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Footman prefers public to domestic service, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Forchammer, Professor, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Ford, Onslow, R.A., <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Foreign letters, reduction in postage of, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">foreign postal revenues, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— pupils, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Forging gun barrels, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Forster, Mr M., M.P.; Mr J., M.P., <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Forth bridge, the, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Forty miles an hour, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Four ounces weight limit, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> France, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">old postal system, <a href="#Page_155">155-157</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">travelling in during the 'thirties, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Francis, Mr J. C., <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Franco-German War, the, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Frankfort adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Franking system, the, <a href="#Page_42">42-44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">proposed return to, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Franklin Expedition, the, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Frauds and Evasions. (See evasions, etc.)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Freedom of the City of London, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Free library, etc., at Wolverhampton, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">at Hampstead, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— trade and protection, <a href="#Page_ix">ix.</a>, <a href="#Page_x">x.</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— traders favour postal reform, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Fremantle, Sir T., <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> French Post Office, the, <a href="#Page_155">155-158</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— revolutions. (See Revolution, etc.)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Frenchman, a brave, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Fry, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Funeral of the Duke of Wellington, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Gallenga</span>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Galton, Sir D., <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Garibaldi, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Gavin, Dr, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Gazette</i>, the, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> George I., <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">III., <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> German Postal Union, the, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Germany, street letter-boxes in, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Gibbets, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Gibraltar, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Gladstone, Mrs, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, W. E., <a href="#Page_ix">ix.</a>, <a href="#Page_x">x.</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Glasgow, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Gledstanes, Mr, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Globe</i>, the, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Gordon riots, the, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Goulburn, H. (See Chancellors of the Exchequer) - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span></li> - -<li class="indx"> Gradual instalments, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Graham, Thos., Master of the Mint, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Grahamising” letters, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Graphic</i>, the, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Grasset, M., <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Gravesend, newspapers sent <i>viâ</i>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Great Exhibition of 1851, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">of 1862, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Northern Railway, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Great Shadow, The,”—Conan Doyle, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Greece, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Greenock's first member, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>. (See also Wallace, etc.)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Gregory XIII., Pope, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Grimgribber Rifle Corps,” the, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Grote, Geo., M.P., <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Guildhall, the, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Guy Mannering,” <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Hackney</span>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Haddington, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hale, Sir Matthew, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Half-ounce letters of eccentric weight, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">half-ounce limit, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hall, Captain Basil, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hall-door letter-boxes, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hamburg adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hampstead, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hanover adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Hansard,” <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hardwick, Lord. (See Postmasters-General)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Harley, Dr G., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Harlowe, another Clarissa, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hasker, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hawes, Sir B., <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hazelwood school and system, <a href="#Page_12">12-16</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Heart of Midlothian, The,” <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Henslow, Professor, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Henson, G., <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Her Majesty's Mails”—W. Lewins, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Here comes Dickens!” <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hereford, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Herschel family, the, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> High postal rates mean total prohibition, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Highgate, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hill, Alfred, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Arthur, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— brothers, <a href="#Page_8">8-16</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Caroline (born Pearson), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Mr Wallace's congratulations, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">“mother of penny postage,” <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">her help, unselfishness, and courage, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the wedding ring, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hill, Caroline (Mrs Clark), <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Edwin, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his help, a mechanical genius, supervisor of stamps at Somerset - House, machines for folding and stamping newspapers, folding - envelopes, embossing Queen's head, etc., author of “Principles - of Currency,” “Criminal Capitalists,” etc., <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">anecdotes, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Frederick, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Dr G. B., author of “Life of Sir Rowland Hill,” and editor of - “The History of Penny Postage,” <a href="#Page_x">x</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, - <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286-288</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, James, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, John, postal reformer, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— ——, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— ——, the younger, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Matthew Davenport, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">helps reform, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">first Recorder of Birmingham, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">advises R. H. to publish pamphlet, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his reply to Croker, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">“prophets who can assist in fulfilment of their own - predictions,” <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">an admirable letter, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">on questioning Garibaldi, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Miss Octavia, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Pearson, his help in preparing this book, ix.; - pamphlets, etc., <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, - <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">on writings upon postal reform, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">perfects Docker's exchange-bags apparatus, is complemented by - Sir Wm. Cubitt, invents stamp-obliterating machine, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Sir Wm. Armstrong's offer, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">P. H. renounces true vocation and enters Post Office, appointed to - examine mechanical inventions sent there, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">reorganises Mauritius post office, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, R. and F., the Misses, authors of “Matthew Davenport Hill,”</li> -<li class="isub2">etc., <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Rev. Rowland, preacher, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Sir Rowland (Lord Hill), warrior, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— —— ——, Lord Mayor of London, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— —— ——, postal reformer, birth, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">weakly childhood, love of arithmetic, early ambition, helps in - school, <a href="#Page_8">8-16</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">writes “Public Education” <a href="#Page_14">14</a>; - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span></li> -<li class="isub2">scene-painter, etc., wins drawing prize, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">thrilling adventure, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">takes home news of Waterloo, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">joins Association for abolition of taxes on knowledge, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">becomes Secretary to South Australian Commission, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the rotatory printing press, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">a young lover, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">some of his friends, <a href="#Page_28">28-37</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his connection with the London and Brighton railway, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182-184</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the heavy burden of postal charges, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the franking system, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">first to propose letter postage stamps, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Coleridge's story, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">reformers before him, <a href="#Page_70">70-91</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">many callings, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his penny post not identical with that of Dockwra, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">on “the change of style,” <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">doing something to the mail-coaches, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">in mid-'twenties proposed travelling post office, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">later conveyance of mail matter by pneumatic tube, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">discussed application of lighter taxation to letters, his brothers' - help, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">M. D. H. advises writing pamphlet, Chas. Knight publishes it, M. D. - H.'s influential friends, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Mr Wallace and R. H., <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Blue Books, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">reasons out his plan, <a href="#Page_100">100-108</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Commissioners of P.O. Inquiry and R. H.'s evidence and plan, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">cost of conveyance of letters, <a href="#Page_102">102-105</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">pamphlet issued, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">plan privately submitted to Government and offered to them, - declined, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2"><i>Quarterly Review</i> attacks plan, M. D. H. defends it in - <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the great mercantile houses, Press, etc., support reform, <a href="#Page_116">116-118</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Parliamentary Committee formed, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H. under examination, <a href="#Page_119">119-120</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">in after years excuses P.O. hostility, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the Committee's good work, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">penny postage to be granted, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">writes two papers for Mercantile Committee, in House of Commons - during debate, door-keepers on voting prospects, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H. writes to Duke of Wellington, present at third reading of - Bill, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">in House of Lords during debate, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">appointment in Treasury, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the outsider as insider, old opponents later become - friends, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">adventures of a letter, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">terms of engagement, <a href="#Page_149">149-153</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">visits M. D. H. at Leicester, the latter's letter, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H.'s goal, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">first visit to P.O., <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">finds building defective, early attendance at Treasury, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">visits Paris, <a href="#Page_155">155-160</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">suggests adhesive stamps, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">accepts responsibility for prepayment, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">by stamps or money? stamp troubles last for twelve months, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">tentative rate satisfactory, uniform penny postage - established, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">congratulatory letters, <a href="#Page_162">162-163</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">royal visitors to P.O., <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">testimony to benefits of reform, <a href="#Page_166">166-169</a>, etc;</li> -<li class="isub2">delay in issue of stamps, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">lavish increase of expenditure, official evasions, <a href="#Page_171">171-176</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">visit to Newcastle-on-Tyne prevented, the “fallacious return,” <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">error in accounts, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">receives notice of dismissal, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">offers to work without salary, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">public indignant at dismissal, <a href="#Page_177">177-179</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H. and registration fee, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">leaves Treasury, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Lord Canning's curious revelation, <a href="#Page_xi">xi.</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">will Peel raise postal rates? <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">joins London and Brighton Railway Directorate, <a href="#Page_182">182-184</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">hears of M. de Valayer's invention, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Mr Chalmers' correspondence with R. H., <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H.'s proposals as to stamps, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Treasury decides to adopt them, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">stamp obliteration troubles, <a href="#Page_205">205-208</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">absurd fables, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Peel's Government falls, restoration to office of reformer - demanded, appointed to P.O., <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">compares his own case with that of Dockwra and Palmer, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Mr Warburton on terms, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H. willingly sacrifices good income for sake of reform, - interview with Lord Clanricarde and Colonel Maberly, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">reorganises Bristol post office, also entire Money Order System, - turns deficit into profit, many improvements effected, <a href="#Page_215">215-219</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">missives that go astray, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">relief of Sunday labour, <a href="#Page_222">222-227</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the Chartists, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">relief to Hong Kong officials, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">post offices at railway stations suggested, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Parliamentary Committee on railway and canal charges, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">efforts to obtain reasonable railway terms, <a href="#Page_230">230-235</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Steamship Co.'s heavy charges, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>; - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span></li> -<li class="isub2">tries to obtain use of all railway trains, an acceleration of - North-Western night mail train, and adoption of limited - mails, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">suggests fines for unpunctuality and rewards for punctuality, - etc., <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, etc.;</li> -<li class="isub2">also Government loans to Railway Companies, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">proposes trains limited to P.O. use, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Packet Service contracts: these often made without P.O. knowledge - or control, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">route to Australia by Panama longer than rival route, R. H.'s - report to that effect, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">exchange of mail-bags operation, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">stamp-obliteration experiments, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">workshop fitted up for P. H., who renounces prospects as civil - engineer, <a href="#Page_242">242-243</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H. examined by Commission to revise postal employees' - salaries, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">good work done by Commission, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Conservatives and Peelites, R. H. becomes Secretary to the - P.O., <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his love of organisation, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">encourages staff to independence of opinion: excellent results, - new post offices erected and old ones improved, provision - against fire made, building, etc., transferred to Board of - Works: consequent increase of expenditure, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">publication of “Annual Reports” begins, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">minor reforms made, postal reform adopted by many - countries, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H. advocates economy by better organisation, a medical officer - appointed, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">secures better terms for employees <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his doctor's footman, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">London divided into districts, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H. on Civil Service examinations, <a href="#Page_257">257-261</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">era of peace, discontent and threatening anonymous letters, libels - by dismissed officials, worse threats, R. H.'s coolness, - uneasiness of colleagues, <a href="#Page_262">262-265</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">lecture on the annular eclipse, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">P.O. volunteer corps, is introduced to inventor of Post Office - Savings Bank scheme, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">reform by gradual instalments, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">compulsory prepayment of postage, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">again recommends parcel post, pattern post established, - registration fee reduced, and compulsory prepayment at last - obtained, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">decrease of losses, tricks and evasions, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">old opponents friends, Messrs Bokenham, Page, etc., <a href="#Page_275">275-277</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H. and Garibaldi, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H. and a Danish professor, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">on successive Postmasters-General, <a href="#Page_280">280-285</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">final breakdown in health, resignation, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">pen-portraits and appreciations, <a href="#Page_286">286-289</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">letters of sympathy, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">joins Royal Commission on Railways, his early lesson in Astronomy, - prepares his autobiography, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his remarks on own career, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>; his spirit at a <i>séance</i>,<a href="#Page_293">293</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">honours, testimonials, etc., <a href="#Page_294">294-302</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">two stories of a torn coat, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">strange addresses, “Mr Owl O'Neill,” etc., <a href="#Page_298">298</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">vases from Longton, pictures from Liverpool, statues, etc., <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">photographs, etc., presentation of the Freedom of the City of - London, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">death, his two noblest monuments, two Jubilee celebrations, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his fittest epitaph, <a href="#Page_303">303-305</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">“Results of Postal Reform,” <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307-311</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hill, Sarah (Lea), <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— —— (Symonds), <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Thos. Wright, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Hillska Scola,” a, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hinks, Rev. Wm., <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “History of England, The,” Macaulay, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “History of Our Own Times, The,” Justin M'Carthy, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “History of the Post Office, The,” H. Joyce, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>,</li> -<li class="isub2"><a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “History of the Thirty Years' Peace, The,” H. Martineau, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hodnet, Shropshire, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hoffay, Mr, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hogarth, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Holland, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>. (See also Netherlands)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Holyhead, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Home Colonies and Extinction of Pauperism,” etc., <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">home colonies in Belgium and Holland, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hong Kong post office, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">clerks' holiday, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Honours, testimonials, etc., <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hood, “Gentle Tom,” <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hostility of P.O. (See Opposition, etc.)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Hourly deliveries, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> House of Commons, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Committee on Postage, <a href="#Page_121">121-130</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">debates on Penny Postage Bill, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></li> - -<li class="indx"> House of Lords, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">passes Penny Postage Bill, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Household Words</i>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Huddersfield, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Hudibras,” <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Huguenot Knight, Millais', <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hume, J., M.P., <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hungarian refugees, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Hungry 'Forties,” the, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hunt, Leigh, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hutchinson, Mr, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Hydrographer to the Admiralty, the, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Iceland</span>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Iddesley, Lord. (See Northcote, Sir S.)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Impetus to education and trade, <a href="#Page_166">166-169</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Improvement in locomotion, <a href="#Page_x">x.</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Improvements in Money Order system, account-keeping, holidays, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">in life insurance and other funds, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">in lot of letter-carriers, sorters, etc., <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, etc.</li> - -<li class="indx"> Income, a poor man's daily, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Increase of employment, pay, and prosperity, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">of postal expenditure, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">of deliveries, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">of facilities and speed in conveyance, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Indian Mutiny, the, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">P.O. becomes self-supporting, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Indignation at R. H.'s dismissal, <a href="#Page_177">177-179</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Industrial emancipation, Gladstone on, vii., viii.</li> - -<li class="indx"> Inglis, Sir R. H., M.P., <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Inland letters most profitable part of P.O. business, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Revenue Board, the, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Inquirer</i>, the, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Intercourse, Liberation of,” <a href="#Page_x">x.</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Invasion of the Crimea, The,” Kinglakes, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Ireland, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Irish famine, the, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— haymakers and harvesters, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— in Manchester, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Iron horse more formidable than foe on battlefield, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Jamaica</span> Bill, the, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> James II., <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Jansa, Herr, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Jefferson, President, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “John Halifax,” Miss Mulock, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> John O' Groat's, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Johnson, post official, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Dr, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Jones, Loyd (Lord Overstone), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Journal de St Pétersbourg, Le</i>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Joyce, Mr Herbert, “The History of the Post Office,” <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, - <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Jubilee, Queen Victoria's first, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— of the Uniform Penny Postage, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Jullien, M., <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Kaye</span>, Sir J., <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Keats, John, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Kelly, Messrs (“The London Directory”), <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Kidderminster, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> King Edward's head (postage stamp), <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Kinglakes, the, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Kinkel, Gottfried, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Knight, Charles, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">publishes “Post Office Reform,” <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">first to propose use of impressed stamp, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Kossuth, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Kubla Khan, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> Lachine Rapids, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <span class="smcap">Labouchere</span>, H. (Lord Taunton), <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lamb, Chas., <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lambeth, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Land's End, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Larousse, “<i>Dictionnaire du XIX<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>,” <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Larpent, Sir Geo., <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Last woman burnt, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lea, Provost, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Sarah (see Hill, Sarah);</li> -<li class="isub2">William, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Ledingham, Mr, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Leeds Mercury</i>, the, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lefevre, J. S. (First Lord Eversley), <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Leitrim, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Letter, adventures of a, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— boxes, door, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— carriers, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">improvement in lot of, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, etc.;</li> -<li class="isub2">letter-carrier and footman, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">amalgamation of two corps of, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the right sort of men as, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— folding a fine art, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— smuggling, <a href="#Page_66">66-69</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Letters, Conversations, and Recollections of S. T. Coleridge,” <a href="#Page_60">60</a> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Letters of George Birkbeck Hill,” Mrs L. Crump, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Letters subjected to protective rates, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">refused, mis-sent, etc., loss on, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">no delivery before Dockwra's time, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">losses of, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">number of, after reform, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">after extension of rural distribution, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">sorted <i>en route</i>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">strangely addressed, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lewins, Mr, “Her Majesty's Mails,” <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lewis, Sir G. C. (See Chancellors of the Exchequer)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Liberation of Intercourse, <a href="#Page_x">x.</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lichfield, Lord. (See Postmasters-General)</li> - -<li class="indx"> “Lie Waste,” the, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Life endurable but for its pleasures,” <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Life of Lord Granville,” Lord Fitzmaurice, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Life of Sir Rowland Hill, and History of Penny Postage,” G. B. Hill, - <a href="#Page_x">x.</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, etc.</li> - -<li class="indx"> Limited Liability Act, the, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lines, Mr, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Liverpool, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Liverpool Mercury</i>, the, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2"><i>Post and Mercury</i>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lloyd, Mr Jas., <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Local posts, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lombard Street office, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> London and Brighton railway, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182-184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— divided into postal districts by Dockwra, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">by Rowland Hill, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, pop. one-tenth, correspondence, one-fourth of the United - Kingdom, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>London School Magazine</i>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> London University, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Londonderry, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Long distance runs in the 'forties, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Longton, Staffordshire Potteries, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lonsdale, Lord. (See Postmasters-General)</li> - -<li class="indx"> “Lord Queen's Head,” <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Lord's Day Society's” mistaken action, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lords of the Treasury, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Losses of letters, etc., <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Loughton, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Louis Philippe, King, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Louis XIV., <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lowther, Lord. (See Postmasters-General)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Lubeck adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lyell, Sir Chas., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Lyon, Mr W., <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Maberly</span>, Colonel (Sec. to the P.O.) disapproves of postal - reform, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Yates on, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">commands at P.O. on “Chartist Day,” at time of Sunday labour - question, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">leaves P.O., <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">excellent appointments, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> MacAdam, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Macaulay, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Macdonald (_Times_), <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mackenzie family, the, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Madrid, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mahony, Mr, M.P., <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mails, the, by land—coaches, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82-90</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">railways, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">cost of conveyance of, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, etc., <a href="#Page_230">230-235</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, by sea. (See Packet Service)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Majority of <a href="#Page_102">102</a> for Penny Postage Bill, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Manchester, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">number of letters equals that of all Russia, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Manchester Guardian</i>, the, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Manchester School,” the, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mander, Mr J., <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Manning, “The Queen's Ancient Serjeant,” <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Manual of Geography,” a, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Map of Europe, political changes in, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Marco Polo's travels: the posts, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Margate postmaster's report, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Marian martyr, a, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Married Women's Property Act, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Martineau, Harriet, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Master of the Posts (Witherings), <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Matthew Davenport Hill,” by his daughters, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mauritius post office reorganised, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Maury, Mr, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mayer, Mr, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mayor, the Lord, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mazzini, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> M'Carthy, J., “History of Our Own Times,” etc., <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> M'Kinley, Mr P., <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mediterranean, postal rates to the, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Melbourne, Lord. (See Prime Ministers)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Mellor, Mr Justice, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mendi bridge, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mercantile Committee, the, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— houses and postal reform, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mercury, a transit of, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Merit, promotion by, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mexico, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mezzofanti, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Miles, Mr Pliny, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Milford, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mill, James and John Stuart, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Millais, Sir J. E., <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Millington's hospital, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Moffat, Mr Geo., M.P., <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Monckton, Sir G., <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Money Order System, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">how founded, unsatisfactory financial condition, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H. undertakes its management, it becomes self-supporting, - increase of business, decrease of fraud, unclaimed money - orders made use of, etc., <a href="#Page_216">216-222</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">extension of system to colonies, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Monteagle, Lord, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li> -<li class="isub2">(See also Spring Rice)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Morgan, Professor de, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Morley, John, M.P., vii.</li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Morning Chronicle</i>, the, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Morrison, Dillon, & Co., Messrs, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Mother of Penny Postage, the,” <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Mulready, W., R.A., <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his envelope, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Murray, R., postal reformer, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> My grandmother's brewings jeopardised, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Napier</span>, Sir Wm., <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Naples (the two Sicilies) adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Napoleon, story of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the <i>détenus</i>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Natal, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> National Gallery, the, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Navigation Act, repeal of the, <a href="#Page_ix">ix.</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Netherlands, the, adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “New Annual Directory for 1800, The,” <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Brunswick postmaster, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Newcastle-on-Tyne, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Newgate, executions outside, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> New Grenada adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— industries created, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— meaning of the word “post,” <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— South Wales, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— York, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Newsbearers, coaches as, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Newspapers, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57-60</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">stamp duty on, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li> -<li class="isub2">(See also Press)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Newton, Sir Isaac, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Nicholson, Mr, inventor, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Mr (Waverley Abbey), <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Nightingale, Florence, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Nineteenth Century</i>, the, <a href="#Page_x">x</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx"> Ninth part of a farthing, the, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Report of the Commissioners of P.O. Inquiry, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Nominations, system of, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Nonsense of a Penny post,” <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “No Rowland Hills wanted,” <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> North British Railway, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> North-Western Railway, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Northcote, Sir Stafford (Lord Iddesley), <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Northern diligence, the, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Norway, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Norwich, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Notes and Queries</i>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Number of letters after reform, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">in two years' time, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">in seventh year of reform number delivered in and round London - equal to those for the entire United Kingdom under old - system, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">after extension of rural distribution, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Obliteration</span> by hand (stamping), <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Ocean penny postage, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> O'Connell, Daniel, M.P., <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">M. J., M.P., <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Offer (R. H.'s) to give plan of postal reform to - Government, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">to give services at Treasury gratuitously, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Official account-keeping and “blunders,” <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Old opponents become friendly, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— postal system, the, <a href="#Page_39">39-69</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">in France, <a href="#Page_155">155-157</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Oldenburg adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Oldest and ablest officers, the,” <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “On the Collection of Postage by Means of Stamps,” <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Opening letters in the P.O., <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Opposition honest and dishonest, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120-122</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145-147</a>, - <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275-278</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Origin of Postage Stamps, The,” <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Oscar, Prince, <a href="#Page_14">14</a> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></li> - -<li class="indx"> Osler, Mr Follett, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Oswald, Dr and Miss, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Ounce limit, the first proposal, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Outsiders as reformers, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Owen, Robert, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Oxford, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> “<span class="smcap">Pace</span> that killed, the,” <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Pacific Ocean's enormous width, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Packet Service, the, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Commission sits on, contract mail-packets, etc., management - transferred to P.O., evils of Admiralty control, West Indian - packet service, Union Steamship Co., services to Cape of Good - Hope, Honduras, Natal, reductions in cost, Australia <i>viâ</i> - Panama not the shortest route, cost of - conveyance, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235-238</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">improved communication, foreign and colonial, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Page, Mr Wm., <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Messrs E. and H., <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Palmer, John, postal reformer, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">favours Bath, increases number of coaches, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">proposes abolition of foot and horse posts, causes stage to become - mail coaches, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">a visionary, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">placed in authority, by 1792 all coaches new, first quick coach to - Bath, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">robbery nearly ceases, traverses the entire kingdom, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">looks to newspaper and penny posts, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">coaches said to go at dangerous speed, reach highest level of - proficiency, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">are beaten by “iron horse,” <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">remarks on his dismissal, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">a born organiser, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Palmer of Ireland, The,” Bianconi, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Palmerston, Lord. (See Prime Ministers)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Panama, mails <i>viâ</i>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Panizzi, Sir Antonio, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Paper-duty, the, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">stamps for “the American Colonies,” <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Parcel post recommended, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Paris, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155-158</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Parker, Mr, M.P., <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Mr, M.P. (Sheffield), <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Society, the, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Parricide and matricide, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Parsons, Mr, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Mr J. M., <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Patent Office, the, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Patronage, relinquished, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Pattern post introduced, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Pattison, Mr J., <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Peabody: American philanthropist, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Peace of Amiens, the, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Peacock, Mr, Solicitor to the P.O., <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Pearson, Alex., <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Caroline, (see Hill);</li> -<li class="isub2">Clara, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Joseph, <a href="#Page_23">23-26</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Pease, Mr, M.P., <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Peculation rife under old system, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Peel, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> -<li class="isub2">(See also Prime Ministers)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Peelites and Conservatives, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Pegasus</i>, wreck of the, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Penny postage proposed in Budget of 1839, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">passes in Commons, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">in Lords, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">established, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">education encouraged, severed ties reknit, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">beneficial effect on trade, etc., <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">other than inland, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">and Garibaldi, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">two Jubilee celebrations, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— posts, Dockwra's, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">other local, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Perkins, Bacon, & Co., Messrs, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Peru adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Peter Plymley's Letters,” Sydney Smith, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Petitions in favour of penny postage, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Phillips, Professor, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Pickford, Messrs, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Pictures from Liverpool, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Pillar and wall letter-boxes. (See Street letter-boxes)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Pirate States and pirate raids, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Piron, M., <i>Sous Directeur des Postes aux Lettres</i>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, - <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Place, Mr, and “Post Office Reform,” <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Plampin, Admiral, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Plymouth, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the postmaster of, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Pneumatic tubes, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Poerio, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Political Economy Club, the, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— heads of P.O. no drones, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Poole, Mr S. L., “The Barbary Corsairs,” <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Poor Law Official Circular, The,” <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Poor sufferers from dear postage, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59-62</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Pope, Alex., <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Popular Tales,” Miss Edgeworth, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Portugal adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>; - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span></li> -<li class="isub2">postal revenue smaller than that of Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Post, new meaning of the word, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Postcards, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Post Circular</i>, the, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Post Office—account-keeping, <a href="#Page_62">62-64</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">authorities oppose reform, <a href="#Page_120">120-122</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, etc.;</li> -<li class="isub2">Money Order system during Crimean war, <a href="#Page_140">140</a> (see also Money Order - system); becomes servant to entire nation, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">only department not showing deficiency of revenue, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">P.O. <i>versus</i>Stamp Office, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Widows' and Orphans' Fund, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">transference of appointments to, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">unjust accusations against, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Post Office Directory, The,” <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— ——, Indian, self-supporting, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— —— Library and Literary Association, the, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Post Office of Fifty Years Ago, The,” <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Post Office Reform,” <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, - <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— —— Savings Bank, the, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— —— surveyors, the, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Offices, etc., great increase in number of, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— ——, Registrars' districts without, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— officials fear increase of business, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Postage “single,” “double,” “treble,” etc., <a href="#Page_49">49-52</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— stamps, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">impressed and embossed, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">description of adhesive, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">delay in issue, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">their collection, misleading accounts in the “Encyclopædia - Britannica,” and elsewhere, <a href="#Page_185">185-193</a>, etc.;</li> -<li class="isub2">envelopes, M. de Valayer's private post, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">doings of Sardinian P.O., <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">stamps on newspaper wrappers, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">stamps useless without uniformity of rate and prepayment, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, etc.;</li> -<li class="isub2">R. H.'s proposals, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, etc.;</li> -<li class="isub2">adhesive stamps recommended in “Post Office Reform,” and “Ninth - Report of the Commissioners of Post Office Inquiry,” official - approval of prepayment by stamps, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Treasury invites public to send in designs, results disappointing, - why monarch's portrait was chosen, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">precautions against forgery, <a href="#Page_197">197-199</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">description of stamp-making, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Messrs Perkins & Co. make stamps first forty years of new system, - are succeeded by Messrs De La Rue, stock nearly destroyed by - fire, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">changes of colour, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">why issue delayed, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">eagerly adopted when issued, where to stick Queen's head? - anecdotes, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">uncancelled stamps, the Mulready envelope, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">cleaning off obliterations, <a href="#Page_205">205-208</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">public interested, many experiments and suggestions, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the black penny becomes red, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">public prefer adhesive to embossed, absurd fables, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Postal Circular</i>, the, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Postal contribution to war-tax, the, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— districts, London divided into, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Postal Guide</i>, the <i>British</i>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Postal Parliament, a, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— rates. (See Postage “single,” etc., and other headings)</li> - -<li class="indx"> —— reform and reformers, <a href="#Page_70">70-90</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, etc.</li> - -<li class="indx"> —— revenue. (See Revenue, etc.)</li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Service, advantages of, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Union, the, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Postmaster-General on crutches, a, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Postmasters-General—</li> -<li class="isub2">Lord Lichfield, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> -<li class="isub2">—— Lowther, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> -<li class="isub2">—— Clanricarde, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215-219</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> -<li class="isub2">—— Hardwicke, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> -<li class="isub2">—— Canning, <a href="#Page_xi">xi.</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> -<li class="isub2">Duke of Argyll, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> -<li class="isub2">Lord Colchester, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> -<li class="isub2">—— Elgin, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> -<li class="isub2">A later Postmaster-General, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Postmen. (See Letter-carriers)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Potatoes at Kidderminster, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Prepayment of postage, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, - <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Press-gang, the, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Press, the, generally favours postal reform, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>; - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></li> -<li class="isub2">on R. H.'s dismissal, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li> -<li class="isub2">(See also newspapers)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Priestley, Joseph, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Prime Ministers—</li> -<li class="isub2">Lord Melbourne, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, - <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> -<li class="isub2">Sir Robert Peel, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> -<li class="isub2">Lord John Russell, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> -<li class="isub2">—— Palmerston, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> -<li class="isub2">W. E. Gladstone, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.</li> -<li class="isub2">(See also Chancellors of the Exchequer)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Prince of Wales, the, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Princess's portrait, a, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Principles of Currency,” Edwin Hill, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Printing press, the rotatory, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Private penny post, M. de Valayer's, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186-188</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Profitless expenditure, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60-62</a>, etc.</li> - -<li class="indx"> Promotion by merit, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Prophecies and prophets, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Protection applied to correspondence, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Protestant despoiler, a, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Prussia adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Public buildings barricaded, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Public Education,” <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Pulteney, Sir Wm., <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Punch</i>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303-305</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Pump, story of a, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Puritans, the, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <i><span class="smcap">Quarterly Review</span></i>, the, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Queen Adelaide, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Anne, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Caroline's trial, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Victoria, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Queen's head: postage stamp, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Quincey, De, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Radical</span> Row, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Radnor, Lord, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Raikes Currie, Mr, M.P., <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Railway, London and Brighton, etc. (See other headings)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Railways, supersede coaches, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">conveyance of mails by train dearer than by coach, mails first go - by rail (1838), <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">heavy subsidies to, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, etc.;</li> -<li class="isub2">sorting of letters on, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">applications made to, acceleration of night mails, companies demand - increased payments, twenty-one separate contracts, trains - limited to P.O. service, <a href="#Page_231">231-235</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">improved communication, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Ramsey, Mr, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Rea, Mr E., <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Recollections and Experiences,” E. Yates, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Recovery of gross revenue, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Reform Bill of 1832, the, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Reformer, the,” <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Registrars' districts without post offices, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Registration of letters, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">fees, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Registration, The Transfer of Land by,” <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Relays of horses, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Relief to Hong Kong officials, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Rennie, Sir J., <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Report of the Committee of Inquiry (1788), <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">of the Committee on Postage (1843), <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Reports of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">of the Commissioners of Post Office Inquiry, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">of the Select Committee on Postage (1838), <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, - <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123-126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Results of Postal Reform,” <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307-311</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Revenue from coaches, increase of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, National, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Postal, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">in seventeenth century, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, - <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">foreign, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Revolution, the French, of 1789, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">of 1848, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Richmond, the Duke of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Rintoul, R. S., the <i>Spectator</i>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his daughter, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Riots at Birmingham, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Ritchie, Mrs Richmond, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Roberts, David, R.A., <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Robespierre's Secretary, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Robinson Crusoe,” <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Roebuck, J. A., M.P., <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Rogers, S., “the banker poet,” <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Roget, Dr, “The Thesaurus,” <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Romance in a culvert, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">in a coach, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Romantic lawsuit, a, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Romilly, Sir S., <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Rowland Hill Benevolent Fund, The,” <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Rowland Hill: where he is,” <a href="#Page_298">298</a> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></li> - -<li class="indx"> Rufini, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Rural distribution, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Russell, Lord John (Earl Russell), <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> -<li class="isub2">(See also Prime Ministers)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Russia adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">number of letters in 1855, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">S. G. O.'s Letters</span>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Sabden, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Sabine, Sir E., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> St Alban's and Watford mails, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> St Colomb, Cornwall, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> St Helena, Napoleon at, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> St Martin's-le-Grand, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, - <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263-265</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> St Peter, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> St Priest, M., <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Salisbury, Lady, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Saltney, Gladstone at, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> San Francisco, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Sardinia, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Sargent, Mr. W. L., <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Saturday night deliveries, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Savages in England, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Savings Bank. (See Post Office, etc.)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Saxony adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Say, three generations, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Scholefield, Mr, M.P., <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Schoolmistress, an ill-informed, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Scotland, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Scotsman</i>, the, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Scott, Sir Benjamin, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Sir Walter, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Secretary to the P.O., Scotland, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Sedition made easy,” <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Seminaries of Useless Knowledge,” <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Settembrini, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Seven miles an hour! Preposterous! <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Seymour, Lord (Duke of Somerset), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Shaftesbury, Lord, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Sheffield, near Rotherham, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Sherman, Mr, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Shiel, Mr, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Shrewsbury, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Siberia, postal rates to, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Sibthorpe, Colonel, M.P., <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Sikes, Sir Chas., <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Simplicity <i>versus</i>complications, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Smeaton, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Smith, Mr B., M.P., <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Smith, John,” and friend's fraud, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Mr J. B., M.P., <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Southwood, Dr, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Sydney, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Smithfield and the martyrs, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Smuggling letters, <a href="#Page_66">66-69</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Smyth, Admiral, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Snooks! <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,” the, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— of Arts, the, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Some Memories of Books,” a story from, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Somerset House, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Somerville, Mary, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Sorters, improvement in their lot, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Sorting in travelling post offices, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Southampton, the press-gang at, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> South Australian Commission, the, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Kensington Museum, the, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> South-Western Railway Co.'s offer, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Spain, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Spanish gentlemen to the rescue, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Spectator</i>, the, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Spencer, Herbert, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Spirits called from the vasty deep, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Spring Rice. (See Chancellors of the Exchequer)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Spy, taken for a, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Squire's firewood, the, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Stamp obliteration, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Office <i>versus</i>P.O., <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Stamped covers, stamped paper, andstamps to be used separately,” <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Stamps and Taxes (Inland Revenue) Office, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, postage. (See Postage stamps)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Stanfield, Clarkson, R.A., <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Stanley Gibbons & Co., Messrs, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— of Alderley, Lord, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Stationery and walking-sticks, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Statues at Birmingham, Kidderminster, and London, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Steamship Co.'s. (See Packet Service)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Stephenson, Geo., <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Stockholm, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Story of Gladstone's Life, The,” <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Stow & Co., <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Stowe, John, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Stracheys, the, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Strangely addressed letters, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span></li> - -<li class="indx"> Street letter-boxes, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Sun</i>, the, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Sunday labour relief measures, <a href="#Page_222">222-227</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Survivals of the Old System, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Sweden, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Swift, Dean, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Swindon, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Switzerland adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Symondses, the, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Taunton</span>, Lord. (See Labouchere, Mr)</li> - -<li class="indx"> “Taxes on knowledge,” <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Taxing” letters, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Taylor, R. (Marian martyr), <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Telegraphs, State purchase of, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Telford, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Tentative fourpenny rate, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Tenth January 1840, scene at the General Post Office, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Testimonials and honours, <a href="#Page_294">294-302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Tettenhall Road and the culvert, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Thackeray, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Thayer, M., <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Theft, story of a, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “There go the Corn Laws!” <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Thesaurus, The,” Dr Roget, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Thompson, Colonel Perronet, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Sir H., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Thomson, Poulett, M.P. (Lord Sydenham), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Thornley, Mr Thos., M.P., <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Throckmorton, Mr, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Thurso, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Tichborne claimant, the, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Tilly, Sir J., <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> <i>Times</i>, the, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Tipping the little Hills with gold, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Torn coat, two stories of a, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Torrens, Colonel, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Sir R., <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Tottenham, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Travelling in France in the 'thirties, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— post offices, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Travers, Mr J., <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Treasury, the, invites public to send in designs for stamps, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, - <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Trevelyan, Sir Chas., <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Sir Geo., <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Trial by jury at school, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Tripolitan ambassador, the, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Trollope, Anthony, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Turner, J. W. M., R.A., <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Tuscany adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Twenty-one separate contracts, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Two sympathetic door-keepers, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Two Letters,” Gladstone's famous, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Two thousand petitions, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Twopenny post, the, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— rate, proposed and carried, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Tyburn, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Tyson, Mr, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Umbrella</span>, story of an, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Unclaimed money and valuables, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Uniformity of postal rates, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, etc.</li> - -<li class="indx"> “Union of my children has proved their strength, the,” <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— Steamship Co., the, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> United States, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">mails to, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">civil war predicted, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Unjust accusations, P.O., <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Unpaid letters in 1859, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Uselessness of postage stamps before 1840, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, etc.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Valayer</span>, M. de, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186-188</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Vases from Longton, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Vaughan, Dr, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Victorian women, the early, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Villiers, Hon. C. P., M.P., <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Vinter, Mr, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Virginia, the University of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Vision of mail-coaches, a, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Voluntary work at Hazelwood, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">at the P.O., <a href="#Page_222">222-224</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Volunteers, the P.O., <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Wages</span>, increase of. (See Improvements, etc.)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Wakefield, E. G., <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Walcheren Expedition, the, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wales, the Princess of, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wall letter-boxes. (See Street, etc.)</li> - -<li class="indx"> Wallace of Kelly, R., M.P., postal reformer, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">proposes charge by weight, public competition in mail coach - contracts, appointment of Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry - (Postage), establishment of day mails, registration of letters, - reduction of postal charges, more frequent mails, etc., <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">advocates R. H.'s plan, sends him Blue Books, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Chairman of Committee, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>; - <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></li> -<li class="isub2">his two casting votes, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">his zeal and toil, favours penny rate, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">supports Penny Postage Bill, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">writes to Mrs Hill on its passing, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">urges Lord Melbourne to give appointment to R. H., <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">retirement and death, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Walmsleys, the, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Walsall, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Walter Press,” the, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> War with France, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> War-tax, postal contribution to the, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Warburton, Hy., M.P., <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">serves on Parliamentary Committee and writes report, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">favours penny rate, “Philosopher Warburton” at home, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">on deputation to Lord Melbourne, questions Government in House, - “Penny Postage is to be granted,” <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">advises R. H. to attend debate, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">supports Bill, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">urges giving appointment to R. H., <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">and restoration to office, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">interviews Postmaster-General, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Watch-smuggling, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">a stolen, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Waterloo, the battle of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Watford and St Albans' mails, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Watson, Mr, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Watt, James, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Waverley,” <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wedding ring, episode of a, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Weighing letters, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Weight of chargeable letters one-fourth of the entire mail only, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">average carried and capable of being carried by coach, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wellington, Duke of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wesley, John, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> West Indian Packet Service, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> West, Mr, on Etymology, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Westminster, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the Hall, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">the Abbey, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wheatstone, Sir Chas., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Whitehead, Sir Jas., <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Whiting, Mr, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Widows' and Orphans' Fund, the P.O., <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wild and visionary scheme, a, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wilde, Sir Thos. (Lord Truro), <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wilkinson, Mr W. A., <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> William I., German Emperor, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> —— III., <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li> - -<li class="indx"> —— IV., <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wills, Mr W. H., <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">Mrs Wills, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wilson, Mr L. P., <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Window immortalised by Dickens, a, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Witch mania, the, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Witherings, postal reformer, gives new meaning to the word “post,” - made “Master of the Posts,” an able administrator, dismissed, - <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li> -<li class="isub2">remarks on his treatment, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wolverhampton, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wolves, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wood, Mr J. (Stamps and Taxes Office), <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, Mr G. W., M.P., <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Works of Reference, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wreckage, postal reform narrowly escapes, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wurtemberg adopts postal reform, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Wyon, Wm., R.A., <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Yates</span>, Edmund, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> “Year of Revolutions, The,” <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> York, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> ——, James, Duke of, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Yorke, Hon. and Rev. G., <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> - -<li class="indx"> Young, Arthur, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst"> <span class="smcap">Zerffi</span>, Dr, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li></ul> - - - - - -<p class="ac noindent p4 smaller"> -Printed at<br /> -The Edinburgh Press<br /> -9 and 11 Young Street -</p> - - -<div class="transnote p2"> - <h3>Transcriber's Note:</h3> - <ul> - <li>The original spelling, hyphenation, and punctuation have been retained, - with the exception of apparent typographical errors which have been - corrected.</li> - <li>Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.</li> - <li>Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant - form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.</li> - <li>Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved between paragraphs - and some illustrations have been moved closer to the text that - references them. The List of Illustrations paginations were - changed accordingly.</li> - <li>Footnote numbers [1] on pages 68, 186 and 188 are duplicated in the - original text and have no corresponding footnotes.</li> - </ul> -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sir Rowland Hill, by Eleanor C. 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