CHAPTER XXVII.

POSTMASTERS-GENERAL, 1855 TO 1860.

LORD CANNING.

Towards the close of 1855 I learnt with extreme regret of the approaching withdrawal of Lord Canning, just then appointed Governor-General of India; my only consolation being the conviction that in the high and arduous duties to which he was now called, the great talents, high principles, strict conscientiousness, and unwearied industry, with which I had happily been brought into such intimate relation, would extend to a vast empire the benefits they had conferred on a single department.

The close of his career as Postmaster-General was highly characteristic. For some reason it was convenient to the Government that he should retain his office until the very day of his departure for the East. Doubtless it was expected that this retention would be little more than nominal, or that, at most, he would attend to none but the most pressing business, leaving to his successor all such affairs as admitted of delay. When I found that he continued to transact business just as usual, while I knew that he must be encumbered with every kind of preparation, official, personal and domestic, I earnestly pressed that course upon him, but in vain; he would leave no arrears, and every question, great or small, which he had been accustomed to decide, was submitted to him as usual, to the last hour of his remaining in the country. Nor was decision even then made heedlessly or hurriedly, but, as before, after full understanding. This was, however, the easier to him because of his remarkable quickness of apprehension, which enabled him to seize one's conceptions almost more rapidly than they could be set forth; and I may add that with this happy quality he combined the invaluable power of perceiving, as it were by intuition, how ideas supplied for a special case might be made applicable to general purposes.

Of his eminent services in India it is not for me to speak, but, as an instance of attention to matters of detail, I may mention what I afterwards learnt from Lord Elgin, that at the period of his greatest labour and anxiety, viz., in the very height of the mutiny, he wrote long minutes with his own hand. I had always remarked his very strict attention to the precise wording of the papers he was called upon to sign, and indeed often thought it overstrained; but I believe he had at once an earnest desire that his exact meaning should be made clear, and a most delicate perception of the difference produced by the slightest variation of terms. In common with the whole world, I regarded his premature death as a severe national calamity. He was earnest and energetic in the moral reform of the Post Office, and, had his life been longer spared, might perhaps have been the moral reformer of India.[216]

DUKE OF ARGYLL.

I must not be supposed, however, to imply that the department was unhappy in its new chief, since the Duke of Argyll showed in his office powers not unworthy of his distinguished predecessor, combined with equal diligence and equal conscientiousness. In him I found a no less striking quickness of apprehension and promptitude in generalization, while his facility in composition struck me with amazement. It would sometimes happen that in a case where he deemed it indispensable to reply to an application by an autograph letter, he received from me a long and complicated verbal explanation, involving much of technicality and detail, and then sat down and wrote off sheet after sheet, which, when handed to me for perusal, showed that he had completely mastered the subject, and had set it forth with admirable force and clearness. This latter part of his performance was the more wonderful to me because of my own deficiency; for I have always found the satisfactory exposition of a new plan far more difficult than its device or its elaboration.[217] I have only to add that I was sorry when his tenure of office came to a close. He left what is, I believe, very unusual, a written expression of regret at separation. His letter was as follows:--

"Post Office, February 27, 1858.

MY DEAR SIR,--I hope to see you on Monday at the Office, when I shall probably introduce my successor to yourself and the assistant secretaries.

"Meanwhile I must express to you my regret on account of the change which removes me from official intercourse with you. I have had much satisfaction in that intercourse. It is a great pleasure to work in an office where every question is so thoroughly and carefully considered as by you; and you have every reason to be satisfied with the invaluable social benefits which you have been the means of conferring upon the people through the Office with which you have been so long connected.

"I am, my dear Sir, "Yours very truly, "ARGYLL."

LORD COLCHESTER.

Lord Colchester, who succeeded the Duke of Argyll on the change of administration in March, 1858, I found an earnest and painstaking man, diligent in the careful perusal of all minutes submitted to him, and even of the enclosures (often dry and long) with which they were necessarily accompanied; patient in listening to any suggestion, however new, and to any details, however complicated; and ready to adopt any improvement. Of all those under whom I served no one was kinder in manner, or showed more consideration for the feelings of others. Lastly, he had a positive detestation for every kind of job, and never hesitated to resist pressure on this subject from whatever quarter.

LORD ELGIN.

Of the high administrative powers of Lord Elgin, who entered office in June, 1859, it would be quite superfluous to speak; suffice it to say that I found him equally diligent, candid, and trustful with his predecessor, and remarkably calm and dispassionate in his judgments. On entering upon his office, he said he wished to explain what he thought should be the relation between himself and me. In details he did not intend to interfere at all, thinking that the head of a department might better employ his time than in dealing with these; but, before determining to go further, he had thought it his duty to make careful inquiry as to whether I were a man on whose advice full reliance could be placed, and being satisfied on that point, he intended to throw the responsibility upon me--at least until he should have performed the long, difficult, and perhaps impossible task of making himself acquainted with the immense details of the department--by acting on my recommendation on all points, save perhaps in some exceptional case, where he should see strong reason to the contrary. Happily, to the best of my recollection, no such exception ever occurred. I have only to add that his kindness of manner accorded with the fulness of his confidence.

With 1859 closed the twentieth year since my entrance into the service of the Government in relation to Post Office management; or, striking out the years during which I had been excluded from my work, the sixteenth of my actual service in that department. During this time, as may be remembered, I had served under Mr. Baring and Mr. Goulburn at the Treasury, Lord Clanricarde, Lord Hardwicke, Lord Canning, the Duke of Argyll, Lord Colchester, and Lord Elgin, at the Post Office. Whoever has followed me thus far will have perceived that my estimation of my successive superiors, whether correct or otherwise, has varied considerably; but I believe all will agree that I may justly regard myself as having been, on the whole, very fortunate; as having had to deal, for the most part, with great intelligence, zeal, and honour, and as having met with almost unvarying courtesy and kindness, and not unfrequently enjoyed firm and earnest support. I must add my full belief that, had the power rested with my immediate superiors, I should have escaped the long interruption to my tenure of office, and have been spared the greater part of that protracted and exhausting contest which undermined my health.

It was not, however, until the last year of this period that I began to feel that permanent failure in strength which, combined with other circumstances, compelled me five years afterwards to withdraw at once and finally from my post. In this year (1859) after a careful consultation on my case by three eminent medical men, it was laid down that henceforth I must limit my days of work to four in the week. Amidst anxiety on this point, however, I had the satisfaction of believing myself pretty firmly established in public opinion, and in the confidence of Government. Two years before I had, without any movement whatever on my part, been elected a member of the Royal Society, my recommendation being signed by the Duke of Argyll, the Astronomer Royal, Sir Roderick Murchison, and several other distinguished members; this honour being followed a year later by my admission to that inner circle, the Royal Society Club. Later still, viz., in 1867, I had the honour to be elected a member of the Council of the Royal Society, though increasing infirmity soon compelled me to withdraw.

Early in 1860,--the twenty-fourth year, I may observe, from that in which my attention was first seriously turned to the reform of the Post Office,--Her Majesty was pleased to confer upon me the honour of Knight Commander of the Bath; an honour at once unsolicited and unexpected. The first notification of this gracious intention was received in the following letter from Lord Elgin, then Postmaster-General:--

"30th January, 1860.

"MY DEAR MR. HILL,--I beg leave to enclose for your perusal a note which I have received from Lord Palmerston.

"Permit me at the same time to assure you of the great pleasure which I experience in conveying to you this proof of Her Majesty's appreciation of your distinguished services.

"Very sincerely yours, "ELGIN AND KINCARDINE."

[_Enclosure._]

"94, Piccadilly, 30th January, 1860.

"MY DEAR LORD ELGIN,--I have much pleasure in informing you that the Queen has been graciously pleased to approve of Mr. Rowland Hill being made a Knight Commander of the Civil Order of the Bath.

"Yours sincerely, "PALMERSTON."

By a pleasing coincidence, of which I was, however, at the moment quite unaware, the honour of C.B. was conferred at the time of my formal installation on one of my former pupils, Major Beecher, for important services in India.

The close of the period which I have been describing found the department in a highly satisfactory state. The various improvements which had been effected since progress had become unembarrassed were already producing very manifest results. The public convenience had been in many ways promoted, and various arrangements for its further extension were in steady progress; the revenue, already large, gave every promise of continued increase; the numerous improvements in relation to the health, comfort, and remuneration of the staff, and above all the rule of promotion by absolute merit--modified only by seniority in cases where merit was equal--now recognised as in full force, had gradually diffused such a spirit throughout the department as seemed to have secured vigorous and harmonious action. All, in short, was working smoothly;[218] and I well remember the satisfaction which Mr. Tilley, the senior Assistant Secretary, who up to this time had uniformly given me earnest and efficient support, expressed at the general state of the service, so different from what he had once known; remarking that now every one seemed to do his duty as a matter of course. I did not then foresee how serious a change was at hand. Of this, however, I shall speak but very briefly.

LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY.

In February, 1860, there came upon me that severe illness of which I have more than once spoken by anticipation; an illness which, commencing with forty-eight hours of nearly continuous insensibility,[219] not only confined me to my house and prostrated my bodily strength, but, what was far worse, rendered me for a long time quite incapable of any serious mental action, save by such spasmodic effort as was at once both painful and injurious for the present, and hazardous for the future. In short, I was compelled to be absent from duty, with but little exception, and that only under imperative necessity, for several months. Fondly believing that the peaceful state just spoken of would endure, I did not anticipate any very serious positive consequences from my absence, though, of course, I knew it must delay the progress of improvement. Circumstances, however, proved untoward. Lurking discontent was fanned into a flame by a breath from without; and this, occurring during my disability--no accidental coincidence, as I believe--gave opportunity for the revival of those cabals, higher up in the office, which had so frequently interfered with good order, and made improvement difficult. At this critical period the office of Postmaster-General unfortunately became vacant, by the appointment of Lord Elgin to the direction of our expedition to China, and for a time there was a sort of interregnum, during which the duties of the office were provisionally discharged by the Duke of Argyll, who, however, had at the same time other demands on his attention. When, at length, a permanent appointment was made, in the person of Lord Stanley of Alderley, I had not the good fortune to obtain from him that confidence and support which I had enjoyed with his predecessors. I will not now dwell upon what followed. The facts are upon record, and the time may come when it will be proper that they should appear. Let it suffice for the present to say that I had to oppose a fourth cabal, occurring, like its predecessors, at a period of temporary weakness on my part; had again--and now without the support from the head of the department which I had previously received--to enter into contests--contests ever increasing in severity, which I had no longer the strength to maintain; and that, after a series of fruitless efforts, I found my health so grievously and hopelessly impaired as to compel me seriously to consider the question of final retirement from that important and almost absorbing task in which I had so long been engaged.

Before proceeding, however, to the concluding part of my narrative I must give some account of the improvements effected in the interim. Of course, in a period of such difficulty the progress of improvement was comparatively slow; and though the Department continued steadily to advance in its fiscal results, and in its beneficial effects on public convenience, this was due in a much higher degree to past reforms than to changes made at the time.

It is due, however, to Mr. Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, to state that during these contests I had the advantage of his support and countenance so far as he was able to exercise independent action, and I received from him the following very gratifying letter:--

"11, Downing Street, "Whitehall, Jan. 24, 1861.

"DEAR SIR R. HILL,--I have read your completed Minute, and though I am to see you to-morrow, I must, without waiting, say I have read it with a deep sense of pain, and some of shame, in reviewing what has happened.

"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 kind by no means 'pays,' I believe that I have and I hope still to have, the honour of sharing it with you.

"I hope you have sent your Minute to the Duke of Argyll.

"I am very thankful that you are once more at your post, and remain,

"Most truly yours, "W. E. GLADSTONE."