CHAPTER VII.

STAMPS. (1840.)

As the arrangements for printing the stamps advanced, it became apparent that it would be necessary to appoint some well-qualified person to superintend the process, manage the machinery, &c. My thoughts turned to my brother Edwin;[292] and my recommendation being favourably received, and the consequent inquiries being answered as satisfactorily as I was well assured they must be, the Chancellor of the Exchequer informed me, about a fortnight later, that he had made the appointment. The salary he mentioned was £500 or £600 a-year; but, at my brother’s wish, I informed him that the smaller sum would be preferred, provided that the sacrifice might avail to secure him efficient assistance; an arrangement to which the Chancellor readily consented.[293] This appointment promised no small relief to me; as hitherto much of the time urgently demanded for more important business had been necessarily given to merely mechanical arrangements, since I could not and did not find in uninterested persons those zealous efforts and that watchful care which were essential to combined rapidity and security.

Much, however, still, and indeed for a long time afterwards, inevitably devolved upon me, which would be commonly supposed to be altogether out of my range. Naturally I was regarded by everybody as responsible for an innovation made on my advice. It would be beyond measure tedious to describe or even enumerate, the efforts and precautions for which I was called upon to give efficiency to the operation of my plan, and at the same time secure it against that various trickery to which innovation necessarily opens the door. Of course, too, each novelty in proceeding was admitted with more or less difficulty. Thus, for instance, though it was obviously desirable that the paper to be used as covers should, before issuing, be cut into the proper shape (machine-made envelopes were not yet thought of), yet that preliminary was objected to, because of the additional trouble it would give, not only in cutting, but also in counting. It really cost me a considerable portion of three several days, to say nothing of some trial of temper, to carry the point.

Towards the end of the following month (April) Mulready’s design, together with the stamps intended for Post Office use, was formally approved. Of this design I may remark, that though it brought so much ridicule[294] on the artist and his employers, yet it was regarded very favourably, before issuing, by the Royal Academicians, to whom it was presented when they assembled in council. Neither is the discrepancy hard to explain, since that which is really beautiful so often wearies by endless repetition.[295] I will mention here that the public rejection of the Mulready envelope was so complete as to necessitate the destruction of nearly all the vast number prepared for issue. It is a curious fact that a machine had to be constructed for the purpose; the attempt to do the work by fire in close stoves (fear of robbery forbade the use of open ones) having absolutely failed.

Of course my watch on the number of letters was unceasing, the result being very variable; sometimes encouraging, and sometimes so unsatisfactory as to cause me no small uneasiness; a feeling not much soothed by information that the plan, as I was informed in confidence by Mr. Gordon (Secretary to the Treasury), was already pronounced at the Post Office a total failure.

On March 12th the first parliamentary return on the subject was obtained; when it appeared that the increase in the number of chargeable letters was somewhat less than two and a quarter-fold. Certainly I had expected more, and was obliged, in my disappointment, to fall back on my general confidence in the soundness of my views, deriving, however, some encouragement from finding that the average postage, instead of being only 1¼_d._, as I had calculated, proved to be nearly 1½_d._; a difference which, however trifling in appearance, would, when multiplied, as it already had to be, by a hundred and fifty millions, tell sensibly in the result. This, also, enabled me to correct my calculation as to the increase in the number of letters necessary to sustain the gross revenue; which I now reduced from five-fold to four and three-quarters-fold; a reduction fully justified eleven years later by the result.[296]

A Treasury Minute of April 22nd appointed the 6th of the following month as the day when prepayment by stamps should begin; the alternative of prepayment in money being left for the present, so as to allow time for the public to fall quietly into the new practice. Mr. Baring, indeed, having but little faith in the expected preference of the public for stamps, offered to promote their use by making them the only means of prepayment; but, independently of my confidence in their acceptability, I preferred that the two modes, money and stamps, should contend for public favour on equal terms.

A difficulty, however, arose here, for which I was quite unprepared, and which may still excite wonder. Objection was raised in the department to the sale of stamps at the three Chief Offices, viz., of London, Dublin, and Edinburgh. I can only suppose that official dignity was touched, the feeling excited being such as might arise on board a man-of-war at a proposal to intrude bales of merchandise on “Her Majesty’s Quarter-deck.”

The issue of stamps, however, began, as appointed, on the 1st of May. Great, I had the satisfaction of hearing, was the bustle at the Stamp Office; the sale on this one day amounting to £2,500. It was clear, therefore, that this practice, so “inconvenient and foreign to the habits of Englishmen,” was at least to have trial. So far all was well; but now began a series of troubles, against which I had striven to provide, but necessarily through the instrumentality of others little interested in their prevention.

Six days later, I received information that no stamps had been issued to any of the receiving-houses in London. On inquiring into the cause of this omission, I found that in the Treasury letter, giving instructions on the subject, the important word _not_ had been omitted, so that whereas the minute directed that the issue should not be delayed on account of certain preliminaries, the letter directed that it should.

Two days later, a new difficulty appeared. The objection raised at the Stamp Office to perform the duty of cutting up into single covers the entire sheets which came from the press, had prevented the construction of proper machinery for the purpose; and now a contest arose between two departments, the Stamp Office persisting in issuing the sheets uncut, and the Post Office very properly refusing to supply its receivers with them until cut. The consequence of this antagonism was that the cutting had to be carried on throughout the following Sunday. I secured, however, an additional machine for the Monday, and the promise of another for the Wednesday. Nevertheless, the delay produced considerable dissatisfaction; the stamps issued having fallen, to a great extent, into the hands of private venders, who naturally took advantage of the demand to sell at a profit.

A week later, the issue threatened to come to a standstill; the Post Office, though it had in writing undertaken the duty of distributing the stamped covers, now declaring such distribution beyond its power. My inquiries merely produced a repetition of this declaration; the nature of the obstacle I failed to learn. As I was unwilling to call in the authority of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who, indeed, at this time was so much occupied as to be almost inaccessible, I could but urge and remonstrate; and it was some time before this produced the desired effect. Even a month after the first issue, the London receivers remained still unsupplied, the Post Office alleging that it could not obtain stamps, and the Stamp Office declaring that it had complied, and more than complied, with all requisitions. The only thing beyond doubt was that blame rested somewhere; but where, it was hard to discover; the more so, as each department was too much out of temper to allow of easy interrogation. I scarcely need add that troubles more or less similar to these continued to arise from time to time.

Meanwhile, the actual production could scarcely keep pace with the public demand; the less so as this took the unexpected form already implied; adhesive stamps so fast rising in preference, that the great stock of covers which had been prepared proved of comparatively little value. The presses actually at work were producing more than half a million of stamps per day, but this was insufficient, and sudden addition was not practicable, since, by a relay of hands, the work was already carried on by night and by day without intermission. Of course, such pressure was not without its evils; some of the work being inaccurately and even carelessly executed, so that I began to fear that forgery might be successfully attempted. My apprehensions, however, happily proved groundless; only two attempts, so far as I know, ever having been made, and both of a very bungling character, though in one the author was cunning enough to escape personal detection. In the other, which occurred in Ireland, the offender was convicted and punished; the detection occurred through the fact that a young man had written to his sweetheart under one of the forged stamps, and enclosed another for her use in reply.

Amidst these anxieties another arose, which proved far more durable and more troublesome. This proceeded from the difficulty of making the obliteration of the stamp complete and effectual. All the penny stamps, it must be observed, were at this time printed in black; the obliterating ink being red; used, I suppose, because that colour had long been employed in the Post Office to indicate prepayment. Of course the danger was, first, lest obliteration should be omitted; and, secondly, lest the effacing marks should afterwards be removed. Even on the first point there was a good deal to complain of in the outset; so much so that a certain amount of discredit began to attach to stamps as a whole. The Post Office replied to complaints by saying that every care was taken; and no doubt serious difficulties would arise in introducing a new mode, where so many persons were concerned; these, too, being spread far and wide over the kingdom.

An extract from my Journal, a few days later, shows how matters were getting on:—

“_May 21st._—Several more cases of stamps wholly unobliterated, or very nearly so, have come within my knowledge; and all sorts of tricks are being played by the public, who are exercising their ingenuity in devising contrivances for removing the obliterative stamp, by chemical agents and other means. One contrivance is to wash over the stamp, before the letter is posted, with isinglass, or something else which acts as a varnish, and as the obliterating stamp falls on this varnish, it is easily removed with soap and water. Tricks of this kind are quite sufficiently numerous to produce great annoyance; but I doubt whether it is more than the exercise of a little ingenuity which will speedily be directed to other objects. I am making every effort, however, with the aid of Phillips, the chemist,[297] and others, to prevent these frauds, and I trust I shall succeed.”

Seven days later I find the following entry:—

“_May 28th._—To-day Lord John Russell sent a blank sheet of paper, which some impudent fellow had addressed to him, using a label which had evidently been used before, for the features were entirely washed away. Nevertheless, it was passed at the Post Office. Whiting, the printer, also sent a note his brother had received from Brighton, the stamp of which was so slightly obliterated that the mark was scarcely visible, and by night would almost certainly pass.”

This took me next day to the Post Office, where I remained during the two busiest hours of the day, witnessing operations. I give the following extract:—

“_May 29th._—The tricks with the stamps are, Mr. Bokenham says, abating; and, practically, he thinks there is no danger of their being used twice, now that ink for obliteration has been supplied to the deputy-postmasters from the Central Office—a measure which I advised in the first instance.”

Nevertheless, more than a fortnight later, I find the following entry:—

“Pressly[298] assured me that he continually receives letters the stamps of which have not been cancelled. That he has sent them so frequently to Colonel Maberly that he does not like to send any more, lest it should be thought annoying. He gave me one recently received.”

Meantime, as the red ink seemed inefficacious, black ink was tried; and, for a time, this appeared to be effectual.

Additional security was also sought in legislation; advantage being taken by Mr. Timm, the Solicitor to the Stamp Office, of a bill then preparing on postal affairs, to introduce a clause enabling the Postmaster-General to open any letter bearing a forged stamp, or a stamp used for the second time; but as the Chancellor of the Exchequer felt sure that Parliament would not grant such a power, the clause, very much to Mr. Timm’s regret and my own, was struck out. We were, therefore, thrown back upon chemical and mechanical means of defence. It soon appeared that these must be put into further requisition, Mr. Donovan, a chemist of Dublin, having succeeded in removing the effacing black mark without injuring the stamp below. The stamp, it must be remembered, had been impressed by powerful machinery, and likewise had had time to dry; while the obliteration was produced only by hand, and remained fresh. Again, therefore, I had to call in Mr. Phillips. He came accompanied by Dr. Clark, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Aberdeen, who had kindly volunteered his services, and who suggested a number of experiments, which Mr. Phillips undertook to try. On the same day, however, Mr. Phillips reported favourably of a new kind of ink devised by a Mr. Parsons, informing me, nevertheless, that it had yet to be subjected to various tests.

At this juncture came a formal report from the Post Office, stating that the red ink was found to be removable, and asking for instructions. The statement, though necessarily made as a matter of form, came to me as a mere truism; but the request for instructions was more easily made than complied with; for about the same time Mr. Parsons’ ink yielded to the skill of Messrs. Perkins and Co., contractors for the supply of adhesive stamps; who, however, reported in turn, that they had prepared two other kinds of ink, either of which they thought would answer the purpose. I lost no time in setting Mr. Phillips to work on the subject; and, in my anxiety, went so far as to trouble the greatest chemist of the age. Kindly giving me the needful attention, though in an extremely depressed state of health, the result of excessive labour—a fact, of course, unknown to me when I made my application—Mr. Faraday approved of the course which I submitted to him, viz., that an aqueous ink should be used, both for the stamps and for obliteration, so soon as the stock of stamps now on hand should be exhausted, and that, in the mean time, obliteration should be made with black printing-ink. As the stock of covers was so large that, considering its little favour with the public, it was likely to last some years; and as, in dealing with those, an oleaginous effacing ink was indispensable, while, nevertheless, it would be impracticable to have two kinds of effacing ink in use at the same time, it was important to procure a destructible oleaginous ink to be used meanwhile in printing the adhesive stamps. I accordingly requested Mr. Phillips, and also Mr. Bacon, of the firm of Perkins and Co., to undertake the task; which they did.

The new oleaginous ink, produced on the above application, seemed at first to answer well; but past failure led me to doubt present results. Meantime, endless suggestions were coming from various quarters, all requiring to be more or less considered, and many plausible enough to deserve trial, but all ending, sooner or later, in failure. The worry of this continued succession of hope and disappointment made me at last almost afraid to enter my office; where I foreknew that some untoward report must be awaiting me.

At length I drew up a Report, containing all the information then possessed, and recommending, for the present, obliteration with good black printing-ink, prepared in a peculiar manner, and the printing of the adhesive stamps in coloured inks—blue, as before, for the twopenny ones, but red for the penny ones; both colours, however, to be oleaginous, but at the same time destructible; my aim being to render the obliteration so much more tenacious than the postage stamp that any attempt at removing the former must involve the destruction of the latter.

The new labels being thus far provided for, anxiety remained as to the stock of all kinds still on hand. It was still hoped, however, that thoroughly good printer’s-ink would answer the purpose sufficiently to prevent any serious abuse; but within three weeks from the date of my Report, a chemist named Watson had succeeded completely in the removal of this obliteration also. His process, however, though very simple, inexpensive, and effectual in relation, at least, to the black stamp, proved so slow as to demand nine minutes per label in its application; so that the danger to be apprehended was not very formidable. To prevent even this, however, Mr. Watson proposed an obliterating ink which he regarded as quite irremovable. So indeed it proved; but nevertheless its use was inadmissible, because it both injured the paper and obliterated the writing in its neighbourhood.

Mr. Watson’s attempts to remove the black ink from the red stamp seemed, after an interval of some weeks, to succeed. Fortunately, the success was only apparent, nor, so far as I am aware, has practical success been subsequently achieved by any one; so that the mode then adopted still remains in satisfactory use.

Still, however, temporary difficulties remained, and, yet worse, increased: the process of removing black from black, which Mr. Watson could carry on but slowly, my clerk, Mr. Ledingham, whose ingenuity had dealt effectually with many previous devices, succeeded in carrying on at the rate of one per minute; a rate quite quick enough to make knavery very profitable. After much thought I hit upon a device which is thus recorded in my Journal:—

“_November 9th._—It occurred to me that, as the means which were successful in removing the printing-ink obliterant were different from those which discharged Perkins’s ink, a secure ink might perhaps be obtained by simply mixing the two, and some trials made to-day lead me to hope that this plan will succeed. Perhaps certain ingredients of Perkins’s ink, added to the printing-ink, would do equally well.”

This device succeeded, the ink so formed proving to be indestructible. Now, at length, all seemed to be right; but one more difficulty yet remained. To enable this ink to dry with sufficient rapidity, it had been necessary to introduce a small quantity of volatile oil; and the smell thus produced was declared at the Post Office to be intolerable. Happily, means were soon found for removing the offence; and so, at length, a little before the close of the year, all requirements were met.

But the most grievous trouble that arose to me in connection with these cares remains to be told. When, from the causes already shown, and others yet to be described, I was almost overborne with labour and anxiety, there came a new trouble for which I was quite unprepared; and which, like the last straw, was enough to break the camel’s back. A blow aimed at my brother was a precursor of what subsequently befell myself, though with a difference that will presently appear. Before proceeding, I am bound to mention that, at a later period, and after time had brought about some personal change at the Stamp Office, everything was done to make amends for this wrong. My brother’s services were fully, nay, handsomely recognised, his powers greatly extended, and his emoluments enlarged.

“_Journal, June 29th._—A letter has been addressed by the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes to the Treasury, setting forth, and greatly exaggerating, the exertions of its own officers with regard to the postage stamps, saying not a word of Edwin’s exertions, which have been much greater than those of any one else, but adding that, as, from the unpopularity of the covers and envelopes, it will probably be unnecessary to manufacture any more, and as certain arrangements which they propose can be adopted with regard to the labels and stamped paper, it will be unnecessary to employ Edwin any longer. The fact is, that they are utterly ignorant of machinery and of the difficulties it presents, and are consequently unable to appreciate Edwin’s peculiar powers. In their opinion the whole difficulty consists in the distribution of the stamps and in going through certain forms for their registration. At the very moment that they propose to dispense with his services, Edwin is applying counters to Barnes’ presses, is improving the presses to be employed in stamping the paper of the public (which before he took them in hand were for this purpose quite worthless), and is preparing one of a superior construction. If the business is left in the hands of the Commissioners without such aid as Edwin gives, my opinion is that we shall soon be in a mess.”

After some delay, arising from the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s close occupation, I succeeded in laying the case fully before him. He at once expressed agreement in my view of the question, and the result was that, happily alike for my brother and for the public convenience, five months later the obnoxious letter was withdrawn; and my brother, though for a time subjected to more or less of annoyance, was never afterwards disturbed in his office. On the contrary, some years later his superintendence, originally confined to the postage department, was extended to the whole stamping system.[299]

Before leaving the subject of stamps, I must say a few words about the form in which the adhesive stamps are printed, and the mode of their production. It may be necessary to inform those who buy stamps only in small quantities—probably the great mass of her Majesty’s subjects—that, as I originally proposed,[300] the whole sheet of penny stamps contains two hundred and forty, the equivalent, of course, of £1; and that as each row contains twelve stamps, the £1 is easily divisible into shillings, while the shillings, in like manner, may be promptly reduced to pieces worth respectively sixpence, fourpence, twopence, or a single penny. In the outset it was foreseen that the stamps might be used in ordinary payments.

As regards the production of stamps, it must be premised that two qualities were indispensable; first, cheapness; secondly, security against imitation. To obtain this latter quality, it was necessary to have excellence both of design and of workmanship, together with exact uniformity in the whole number issued—requirements which made extreme cheapness difficult.

The Queen’s head was first engraved by hand on a single matrix; the effigy being encompassed with lines too fine for any hand, or even any but the most delicate machinery to engrave. The matrix being subsequently hardened, was employed to produce impressions on a soft steel roller of sufficient circumference to receive twelve; and this being hardened in turn, was used, under very heavy pressure, to produce and repeat its counterpart on a steel-plate, to such extent that this, when used in printing, produced at each impression two hundred and forty stamps; all this being of course done, as machinists will at once perceive, according to the process invented by the late Mr. Perkins.

In this manner there were produced in the first fifteen years more than three thousand millions of stamps; all, as being derived from the same matrix, of course absolutely uniform. At the end of that time it was thought desirable to create a second matrix, but as this was obtained by transfer from the first—save that the lines were deepened by hand—the deviation from identity was at most very slight. With plates procured from this, the process, however, being somewhat modified, there had been printed, up to July, 1867, more than seven thousand millions of stamps; thus making up a total of considerably more than ten thousand millions, in all of which the impression is, for all practical purposes, absolutely uniform.[301]

Now it will easily be perceived that, if imitation cannot be effected without resort to the means described above, as used in the production of the stamps, forgery is in effect impracticable; since no forger can have the command of very powerful, delicate, and therefore costly machinery, requiring for its management skilful, and therefore highly-paid, workmen. If the Queen’s head alone constituted the effigy, something in imitation might be done by the aid of lithography, or some other such copying process; but this fails when applied to the extremely delicate lines already mentioned as constituting the background; which in the lithographer’s hands do but smirch the paper.

Another difficulty is thrown in the way of the forger by the letters placed at the four corners of each stamp; which will be found to vary in every one of the two hundred and forty impressions comprised in a sheet; the necessary modification being made in each steel-plate by means of a hand punch. By this arrangement the forger is compelled either to resort to the like complexity, or to issue his counterfeits in single stamps, all identical in their lettering; a proceeding which, if carried to any remunerative extent, would inevitably lead to detection. Of the additional security derived from the use of a portrait in the stamp, an advantage long ago recognised in coinage, it will suffice to remark that of all depictions a portrait is perhaps the one in which change, however slight, is most easily discovered, especially by those who have it continually before their eye. We all know that no strange face could have more than a moment’s chance of passing for that of a familiar friend.