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.

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_.

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

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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. The List of Illustrations paginations were │ │ changed accordingly. │ │ │ │ Footnote numbers [1] on pages 68, 186 and 188 are duplicated in │ │ the original text and have no corresponding footnotes. │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘