His hopes were realised. In 1846 the Peel Administration fell, and Lord John (afterwards Earl) Russell became Prime Minister. The public voice, clearly echoed in the Press, demanded Rowland Hill's recall to office, there to complete his reform.[174]
One of the first intimations he received of his [Pg 212] probable restoration was a letter from Mr Warburton advising him to be “within call if wanted.” A discussion had risen overnight in Parliament. Mr Duncombe had complained of the management of the Post Office, and so had Mr Parker, the Secretary to the Treasury6. The new Postmaster-General, Lord Clanricarde, it was reported, had found “the whole establishment in a most unsatisfactory condition”; and the new Prime Minister himself was “by no means satisfied with the state of the Post Office,” and did not “think the plans of reform instituted by Mr Hill had been sufficiently7 carried out.” Messrs Hume and Warburton urged Mr Hill's recall.[175]
Several of the good friends who had worked so well for the reform both within and without Parliament also approached the new Government, which, indeed, was not slow to act; and my father entered, not, as before, the Treasury, but his fitter field of work—the Post Office. The whirligig of time was indeed bringing in his revenges. An entire decade had elapsed since the reformer, then hopeful and enthusiastic, inwardly digested the cabful of volumes sent him by Mr Wallace, and dictated10 to Mrs Hill the pages of [Pg 213] “Post Office Reform.” He had at the time been denied admission to the Post Office when seeking for information as to the working of the old system he was destined11 to destroy. He now found himself installed within the official precincts, and in something resembling authority there.
Thus before the passing of the year 1846 he was able to comment yet further in his diary on the curious parallel between his own treatment and that of Dockwra and Palmer. “Both these remarkable12 men,” he wrote, “saw their plans adopted, were themselves engaged to work them out, and subsequently, on the complaint of the Post Office, were turned adrift by the Treasury.” We “were all alike in the fact of dismissal.... I alone was so far favoured as to be recalled to aid in the completion of my plan.”[176]
At the time when Dockwra, the most hardly used of all, was driven from office a ruined man, and with the further aggravation13 of responsibility for the costs of a trial which had been decided14 unjustly against him, the “merry monarch's” numerous progeny15 were being lavishly16 provided for out of the national purse. The contrast between their treatment and that of the man who had been one of the greatest benefactors17 to his country renders his case doubly hard.
In an interview which Mr Warburton had with the Postmaster-General preparatory to Rowland Hill's appointment, the Member for Bridport pointed18 to the fact that his friend was now fifty-one years of [Pg 214] age, and that it would be most unfair to call on him to throw up his present assured position only to run risk of being presently “shelved”; and further urged the desirability of creating for him the post of Adviser19 to the Post Office, in order that his time should not be wasted in mere20 routine duty. At the same time, Mr Warburton stipulated21 that Rowland Hill should not be made subordinate to the inimical permanent head of the Office. Had Mr Warburton's advice been followed, it would have been well for the incompleted plan, the reformer, and the public service. Rowland Hill himself suggested, by way of official designation, the revival22 of Palmer's old title of Surveyor-General to the Post Office; but the proposal was not received with favour. Ultimately he was given the post of Secretary to the Postmaster-General, a title especially created for him, which lapsed9 altogether when at last he succeeded to Colonel Maberly's vacated chair. The new office was of inferior rank and of smaller salary than his rival's; and, as a natural consequence, the old hindrances23 and thwartings were revived, and minor24 reforms were frequently set aside or made to wait for several years longer. Happily, it was now too late for the penny post itself to be swept away; the country would not have allowed it; and in this, the seventh year of its establishment, its author was glad to record that the number of letters delivered within 12 miles of St Martin's-le-Grand was already equal to that delivered under the old system throughout the whole United Kingdom.
By 1846 Rowland Hill was occupying a better [Pg 215] pecuniary25 position than when in 1839 he went to the Treasury. He had made his mark in the railway world; and just when rumours26 of his retirement27 therefrom were gaining ground, the South Western Railway Board of Directors offered him the managership of that line. The salary proposed was unusually high, and the invitation was transparently28 veiled under a Desdemona-like request that he would recommend to the Board some one with qualifications “as much like your own as possible.” But he declined this and other flattering offers, resigned his three directorships, and thus relinquished29 a far larger income than that which the Government asked him to accept. The monetary30 sacrifice, however, counted for little when weighed in the balance against the prospect31 of working out his plan.
His first interview with Lord Clanricarde was a very pleasant one; and he left his new chief's presence much impressed with his straightforward32, business-like manner.
On this first day at St Martin's-le-Grand's Colonel Maberly and Rowland Hill met, and went through the ceremony of shaking hands. But the old animosity still possessed33 considerable vitality34. The hatchet35 was but partially interred36.
With Lord Clanricarde my father worked harmoniously37; the diarist after one especially satisfactory interview writing that he “never met with a public man who is less afraid of a novel and decided course of action.”
Early in his postal38 career, my father, by Lord Clanricarde's wish, went to Bristol to reorganise [Pg 216] the Post Office there, the first of several similar missions to other towns. In nearly every case he found one condition of things prevailing39: an office small, badly lighted, badly ventilated, and with defective40 sanitary41 arrangements; the delivery of letters irregular and unnecessarily late; the mail trains leaving the provincial42 towns at inconvenient43 hours; and other vexatious regulations, or lack of regulations. He found that by an annual expenditure44 of ￡125 Bristol's chief delivery of the day could be completed by nine in the morning instead of by noon. Although unable to carry out all the improvements needed, he effected a good deal, and on the termination of his visit received the thanks of the clerks and letter-carriers.[177]
In 1847 a thorough revision of the money order system was entrusted45 to him; and, thenceforth, that office came entirely47 under his control. Seventeen years later, Lord Clanricarde, in the Upper House, paid his former lieutenant48, then about to retire, a handsome tribute of praise, saying, among other things, that, but for Mr Hill, the business of that office could hardly have been much longer carried on. No balance had been struck, and no one knew what assets were in hand. On passing under Mr Hill's management, the system was altered: four or five entries for each order were made instead of eleven; and official defalcation49 or fraud, once common, was now no more heard of.[178]
[Pg 217]
Lord Clanricarde placed the management of that office under my father's command in order that the latter should have a free hand; and it was settled that all returns to Parliament should be submitted to Rowland Hill before being sent to the Treasury, with leave to attack any that seemed unfair to penny postage. Previous to this act of friendliness50 and justice on the Postmaster-General's part, papers had generally been submitted to the permanent head of the office and even to officers of lower rank, but had been withheld51 from the reformer's observation.[179]
“Eternal vigilance” is said to be the necessary price to pay for the preservation52 of our liberties; and, half a century ago, a like vigilance had to be exercised whenever and wherever the interests of the postal reform were concerned.
The arrears53 in the Money Order Departments of [Pg 218] the London and provincial offices were so serious that to clear them off would, it was declared, fully55 employ thirty-five men for four years. The Post Office had always maintained that the Money Order Department yielded a large profit; but a return sent to Parliament in 1848 showed that the expenditure of the year before the change of management exceeded the receipts by more than ￡10,000. In 1849 my father expressed “a confident expectation” that in the course of the year the Money Order Office would become self-supporting. By 1850 that hope was realised. By 1852 the office showed a profit of ￡11,664, thereby56, in six years, converting the previous loss into a gain of more than ￡22,000;[180] and during the last year of Rowland Hill's life (1878-79) the profits were ￡39,000.
A reduction of size in the money order forms and letters of advice, and the abolition57 of duplicate advices effected a considerable saving in stationery58 alone; while the reduction of fees and the greater facilities for the transmission of money given by cheap postage raised the amount sent, in ten years only, twenty-fold. In 1839 about ￡313,000 passed through the post; and in 1864, the year of my father's resignation, ￡16,494,000. By 1879 the sum had risen to ￡27,000,000; and it has gone on steadily59 increasing.
Perhaps the following extract from Rowland Hill's journal is satisfactory, as showing improvement in account-keeping, etc. “July 8th, 1853.—A recent return to Parliament of the number and cost of prosecutions60 [for Post Office offences] from 1848 to [Pg 219] 1852 inclusive, shows an enormous decrease—nearly, I think, in the ratio of three to one. This very satisfactory result is, I believe, mainly owing to the improved arrangements in the Money Order Office.”[181]
The new postal system, indeed, caused almost a revolution in official account-keeping. Under the old system the accounts of the provincial postmasters were usually from three to six months in arrear54, and no vouchers61 were demanded for the proper disbursement62 of the money with which the postmasters were credited. In consequence of this dilatoriness63, the officials themselves were often ignorant of the actual state of affairs, or were sometimes tempted64 to divert the public funds to their own pockets, while the revenue was further injured by the delay in remitting66 balances. Under the new system each postmaster rendered his account weekly, showing proper vouchers for receipts and payments and the money left in hand, to the smallest possible sum. This improvement was accompanied by lighter67 work to a smaller number of men, and a fair allowance of holiday to each of them.
When, in 1851, my father's attention was turned to the question of facilitating life insurance for the benefit of the staff, and especially of its humbler members, it was arranged with Sir George Cornwall Lewis,[182] at that time Chancellor68 of the Exchequer69, that, to aid in making up the requisite70 funds, the proceeds of unclaimed money orders, then averaging [Pg 220] ￡1,100 a year, and all such money found in “dead” letters as could not be returned to their writers, should be used. Accumulations brought the fund up to about ￡12,000. In this manner “The Post Office Widows' and Orphans71' Fund Society” was placed on a firm footing. A portion of the void order fund was also employed in rescuing from difficulties another society in the London office called “The Letter-Carriers' Burial Fund.”[183]
Although in 1857 my father, with the approval of Lord Colchester, the then Postmaster-General, had proposed the extension of the money order system to the Colonies, it was not till the Canadian Government took the initiative in 1859 that the Treasury consented to try the experiment. It proved so successful that the measure was gradually extended to all the other colonies, and even to some foreign countries.
Like Palmer, Rowland Hill was a born organiser, and work such as that effected in the Money Order Office was so thoroughly72 congenial that it could scarcely fail to be successful. The race of born organisers can hardly be extinct. Is it vain to hope that one may yet arise to set in order the said-to-be-unprofitable Post Office Savings73 Bank, whose abolition is sometimes threatened? As a teacher of thrift74 to one of the least thrifty75 of nations, [Pg 221] it is an institution that should be mended rather than ended. Mending must surely be possible when, for example, each transaction of that Bank costs 7.55d. exclusive of postage—or so we are told—while other savings banks can do their work at a far lower price.[184]
The following story is illustrative of the strange want of common-sense which distinguishes the race, especially when posting missives. “Mr Ramsey, (missing-letter clerk),” writes Rowland Hill in his diary of 27th May 1847, “has brought me a packet containing whole banknotes to the amount of ￡1,500 so carelessly made up that they had all slipped out, and the packet was addressed to some country house in Hereford, no post-town being named. It had found its way, after much delay, into the post office at Ross, and had been sent to London by the postmistress.”
It is not often that the head of so dignified76 and peaceful an institution as the Post Office is seen in a maimed condition, and that condition the result of fierce combat. Nevertheless, in that stirring time known as “the year of revolutions” (1848), a newly-appointed chief of the French Post Office, in the pleasant person of M. Thayer, arrived in this country on official business. He came supported on crutches77, having been badly wounded in the foot during the June insurrection in Paris. He told us that his family came originally from London, and that one of our streets was named after them. If, as was surmised78, he made a pilgrimage to Marylebone [Pg 222] to discover it, it must have looked to one fresh from Paris a rather dismal79 thoroughfare.
About 1849 Rowland Hill instituted periodical meetings of the Post Office Surveyors to discuss questions which had hitherto been settled by the slower method of writing minutes. These postal parliaments were so satisfactory that henceforth they were often held. They proved “both profitable and pleasant, increased the interest of the surveyors in the work of improvement, and by the collision of many opinions, broke down prejudices, and overthrew80 obstacles.”
One of the greatest boons81 which, under my father's lead, was secured to the letter-carriers, sorters, postmasters, and others, all over the kingdom, was the all but total abolition of Post Office Sunday labour. In a single day 450 offices in England and Wales were relieved of a material portion of their Sunday duties. Three months later the measure was extended to Ireland and Scotland, 234 additional offices being similarly relieved. While these arrangements were in process of settlement, Rowland Hill, in the autumn of 1849, resolved to still further curtail83 Sunday labour. Hitherto the relief had been carried out in the Money Order Department only, but it was now decided to close the offices entirely between the hours of ten and five. To make this easier, it became necessary to provide for the transmission of a certain class of letters through London on the Sunday, and to ask a few men to lend their services on this account. Compulsion there was none: every man was a volunteer; and for this absence of force my father, from beginning to end of the movement, [Pg 223] resolutely84 bargained. Previous to the enactment85 of this measure of relief, 27 men had been regularly employed every Sunday at the General Post Office. Their number was temporarily increased to 52 in order that some 5,829 men—all of whom were compulsory86 workers—should elsewhere be relieved, each of some five-and-three-quarters hours of labour every “day of rest.” In a few months, all the arrangements being complete, and the plan got into working order, the London staff was reduced to little more than half the number employed before the change was made. Ultimately, the services even of this tiny contingent87 were reduced, four men sufficing; and Sunday labour at the Post Office was cut down to its minimum amount—a state of things which remained undisturbed during my father's connection with that great public Department.
The actual bearing of this beneficent reform was, strange to say, very generally misunderstood, and perhaps more especially by “The Lord's Day Society.” Thus for some months Rowland Hill was publicly denounced as a “Sabbath-breaker” and a friend and accomplice88 of His Satanic Majesty89. The misunderstanding was not altogether discouraged by some of the old Post Office irreconcilables; but it is only fair to the memory of the chief opponent to record the fact that when the ill-feeling was at its height Colonel Maberly called his clerks together, told them that, owing to unjust attacks, the Department was in danger, and exhorted90 them to stand forth46 in its defence.[185]
[Pg 224]
When the turmoil91 began the Postmaster-General was inclined to side with some of the leading officials who advocated compulsion should the number volunteering for the London work be insufficient92. Happily, the supply was more than ample. But when the trouble subsided93 Lord Clanricarde generously admitted that he had been wrong and my father right.
Some of the provincial postmasters and other officials, misunderstanding the case, joined in the [Pg 225] clamour, and went far on the way to defeat a measure planned for their relief. Others were more discerning, and the postmaster of Plymouth wrote to say that at his office alone thirty men would be relieved by an enactment which was “one of the most important in the annals of the Post Office.”
The agitation94 showed how prone95 is the public to fly to wrong conclusions. Here was Rowland Hill striving to diminish Sunday work, and being denounced as if he was seeking to increase it! It goes without saying that, during the agitation, numerous letters, generally anonymous96, and sometimes violently abusive, deluged97 the Department, and especially the author of the relief; and that not even Rowland Hill's family were spared the pain of receiving from candid98 and, of course, entirely unknown friends letters of the most detestable description. Truly, the ways of the unco gude are past finding out.
While the conflict raged, many of the clergy99 proved no wiser than the generality of their flocks, and were quite as vituperative100. Others, to their honour be it recorded, tried hard to stem the tide of ignorance and bigotry101. Among these enlightened men were the Hon. and Rev8. Grantham Yorke, rector of St Philip's, Birmingham; the Professor Henslow already mentioned; and Dr Vaughan, then head-master of Harrow and, later, Dean of Llandaff. All three, although at the time personal strangers, wrote letters which did their authors infinite credit, and which the recipient102 valued highly. The veteran free-trader, General Peronnet Thompson, also contributed [Pg 226] a series of able articles on the subject to the then existing Sun.
Some of the newspapers at first misunderstood the question quite as thoroughly as did the public; but, so far as we ever knew, only the Leeds Mercury—unto whose editor, in common with other editors, had been sent a copy of the published report on the reduction of Sunday labour—had the frankness to express regret for having misrepresented the situation.[186] Other newspapers were throughout more discriminating103; and the Times, in its issue of 25th April 1850, contained an admirable and lengthy104 exposition of the case stated with very great clearness and ability.[187]
“Carrying out a plan of relief which I had suggested as a more general measure when at the Treasury,” says Rowland Hill in his diary, “ I proposed [Pg 227] to substitute a late Saturday night delivery in the nearer suburbs for that on Sunday morning. By this plan more than a hundred men would be forthwith released from Sunday duty in the metropolitan105 district alone.”[188] He further comments, perhaps a little slyly, on the “notable fact that while so much has been said by the London merchants and bankers against a delivery where their places of business are, of course, closed, not a word has been said against a delivery in the suburbs where they live.”[189]
To give further relief to Sunday labour, Rowland Hill proposed “so to arrange the work as to have the greatest practicable amount of sorting done in the travelling offices on the railways; the earlier portion ending by five on Sunday morning, and the later not beginning till nine on Sunday evening. The pursuit of this object led to a singular device.”[190] He was puzzling over the problem how to deal with letters belonging to good-sized towns too near to London to allow of sorting on the way. The railway in case was the London and North-Western; the towns St Albans and Watford. The thought suddenly flashed upon him that the easiest way out of the difficulty would be to let the down night mail train to Liverpool receive the St Albans and Watford up mails to London; and that on arrival at some more remote town on the road to Liverpool they [Pg 228] should be transferred, sorted, to an up train to be carried to London. No time would be really lost to the public, because, while the letters were performing the double journey their destined recipients106 would be in bed; nor would any additional expense or trouble be incurred107. The plan was a success, was extended to other railways, and the apparently108 eccentric proceeding109 long since became a matter of everyday occurrence.
In 1851 prepayment in money of postage on inland letters was abolished at all those provincial offices where it had thus far been allowed. Early in the following year the abolition was extended to Dublin, next to Edinburgh, and, last of all, to London—thus completing, throughout the United Kingdom, the establishment of prepayment by stamps alone, and thereby greatly simplifying the proceedings110 at all offices. To save trouble to the senders of many circulars, the chief office, St Martin's-le-Grand, continued to receive prepayment in money from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M., in sums of not less than ￡2 at a time: an arrangement, later, extended to other offices.
An extract from Rowland Hill's diary, under date 29th October 1851, says: “A clerkship at Hong-Kong having become vacant by death, the Postmaster-General has, on my recommendation, determined111 not to fill it, and to employ part of the saving thus effected in giving to the postmaster and each of the remaining clerks in turn leave of absence for a year and a half,[191] with full salary, and an allowance [Pg 229] of ￡100 towards the expense of the voyage. By these means, while ample force will still be left, the poor fellows will have the opportunity of recruiting their health.”
Early in 1852 Rowland Hill also writes in his diary that “The Postmaster-General has sanctioned a measure of mine which, I expect, will have the effect of converting the railway stations in all the larger towns into gratuitous112 receiving offices.” The plan, convenient as it has proved, was, however, long in being carried out.
The agitation to extend penny postage beyond the limits of the British Isles113 is much older than many people suppose. Far back in the 'forties Elihu Burritt[192] strove long and manfully in the cause of “ocean penny postage”; and in my father's diary, [Pg 230] under date 5th March 1853, it is recorded that the Postmaster-General received a deputation “which came to urge the extension of penny postage to the Colonies.”[193] It was a reform long delayed; and as usual the Post Office was reproached for not moving with the times, etc. That a large portion of the blame lay rather with the great steamship114 companies, which have never failed to charge heavily for conveyance115 of the mails, is far too little considered.
But the great steamship companies are not alone in causing the Post Office to be made a scapegoat116 for their own sins in the way of exacting118 heavy payments. In 1853 Rowland Hill gave evidence before a Parliamentary committee to consider railway and [Pg 231] canal charges; and showed that, owing to the strained relations between the Post Office and the railway companies, the use of trains for mail conveyance was so restricted as to injure the public and even the companies themselves; also that, while the cost of carrying passengers and goods had been greatly reduced on the railways, the charge for carrying the mails had grown by nearly 300 per cent., although their weight had increased by only 140 per cent. He also laid before the Committee a Bill—approved by two successive Postmasters-General—framed to prescribe reasonable rates, and laying down a better principle of arbitration119 in respect of trains run at hours fixed120 by the Postmaster-General. The Committee, as shown by their Report, mainly adopted Rowland Hill's views, which were indeed perfectly121 just, and, if adopted, would, in his estimation, have reduced the annual expenditure in railway conveyance—then about ￡360,000—by at least ￡100,000. The proposals were made to secure fair rates of charge in all new railway bills, but it was intended to extend the arrangement eventually to already existing railways. But the railway influence in Parliament was too strong to allow adoption122 of these improvements; and attempts subsequently made were unavailing to alter the injurious law enacted123 early in the railway era, and intended to last only till experience of the working of the lines should have afforded the requisite data for laying down a scale of charges.[194] Being of opinion that, in order to serve the public more effectually, far greater [Pg 232] use should be made of the railways, the reformer tried to procure124 for the Post Office the unrestricted use of all trains for a moderate fixed charge. Owing, however, to the existing law, the uncertainty125 of rates of payment, the excessive awards frequently made, and other causes, this useful measure was not adopted, with the result that the subsidies126 to the companies went on increasing in magnitude.
In the same year the Great Northern Railway had spontaneously begun to run a train at night, at such speed as to outstrip127 the night mail on the London and North-Western line. Believing that the object was to tempt65 the public into agitating128 for the use of the rival train and line, my father applied129 to the North-Western Railway company for such acceleration130 as would obviate131 the possibility of such a demand being made. He also suggested the introduction of what are now called limited mails; but this idea was not adopted for some years.[195] Till the acceleration was accomplished132 the answer to a letter leaving London by the night mail for Edinburgh or Glasgow could not be received till the afternoon of the next day but one.
Increased speed, however, was found to produce unpunctuality, misunderstandings, and other evils; and the public grew dissatisfied. Of course the railway companies blamed the Post Office, and, equally, of [Pg 233] course, though with better reason, the Post Office blamed the railway companies. My father proposed that each side should be subjected to fines whenever irregularity occurred, and that punctuality should receive reward. But the proposal was not accepted. In 1855, however, the attempt was again made to induce the railway companies to agree to the payment of mutual133 penalties in case of unpunctuality, coupled with reward to the companies, but not to the Office, for punctual performance. Only one company—the North British—accepted the proposal, the result being that the instances of irregularity were in half a year brought down from 112 to 9, the company at the same time receiving a reward of ￡400.
Later, the railway companies agreed to accelerate their night mails between London and Edinburgh and Glasgow. An additional payment of some ￡15,000 a year had to be made, but the benefit to the two countries was so great that the outlay134 was not grudged135. The effort to extend a like boon82 to Ireland was not so successful. The companies which had begun with moderate demands, suddenly asked for lessened136 acceleration and increased remuneration; and the Government adopted their views in preference to those of the Postmaster-General and the postal reformer. As a natural consequence, an annual subsidy137 of over ￡100,000 had to be paid in addition to the necessary cost of provision for letter-sorting in the trains and steamships138. Punctuality also was often disregarded, and penalties were suspended on the score of insufficient pier139 accommodation at Holyhead.
[Pg 234]
Some of the companies were short-sighted enough to refuse what would have been remunerative140 work offered by the Post Office. On one short line of 23 miles, ￡3,000 per annum was demanded for the carriage of a night mail; and, although the Office offered to furnish a train of its own, as by law any one was entitled to do, and to pay the appointed tolls141, though legally exempt142 from so doing—such payment to be settled by arbitration—the proposal was rejected. Ultimately, a more circuitous143 route was adopted at a third of the cost first demanded.
There was great need of reorganisation and common-sense rearrangement in these matters. Why, for instance, when carrying a letter between Land's End and John O'Groat's should twenty-one separate contracts, irrespective of engagements with rural messengers and of plans for the conveyance of mail-bags to and from railway stations and post offices, have been required?
With a view to the reduction of these extravagant144 subsidies, Rowland Hill proposed that “Government should, on ample security, and to a limited extent, advance loans on the terms on which it could itself borrow to such companies as were willing to adopt a reasonable tariff145 of charge for postal services.” He hoped by these means to reduce the annual payments to the companies by about ￡250,000. The Duke of Argyll, then Postmaster-General, and Mr Hutchinson, Chairman of the Stock Exchange, highly approved of the plan; but, though it evoked146 much interest, and came up again as a public question more than once in later years, no progress was made. Were State [Pg 235] purchase of the railways to become the law of the land, solution of the difficulty might yet be discovered.
One of the measures Rowland Hill hoped to see accomplished was the conveyance of mails on one of the principal lines by special trains absolutely limited to Post Office service. The cost would be moderate if the companies could be induced to join in an arrangement under which, the bare additional expense in each instance being ascertained147 by a neutral authority, a certain fixed multiple of that amount should be paid. Captain (afterwards Sir Douglas) Galton, of the Board of Trade, and Sir William Cubitt heartily148 approved of the plan, the latter estimating the cost in question at 1s. to 1s. 3d. a mile, and advising that two and a half times that amount should be offered. Under this rule the Post Office would pay less for the whole train than it already paid for a small part of one. The plan of charge by fixed scale found little favour with the companies; but the proposed special mail service was ultimately adopted.
The Postmaster-General (Lord Canning's) Commission in 1853 on the Packet Service—which included among its members Lord Canning himself and the then Sir Stafford Northcote—did much useful work, and published an able Report giving a brief history of “contract mail-packets”; explaining why, under older conditions, heavy subsidies were necessary, and expressing their opinion that, as now the steamers so employed carry passengers and freight, these large subsidies could no longer be required. When a new route has been opened for the extension of commerce, [Pg 236] further continuance of the Service, unless desirable on account of important political reasons, should depend on its tendency to become self-supporting. Among other recommendations made were the omission149 in future contracts of many conditions whose effect is increase of cost; a reduction of the contract to an undertaking150 (subject to penalties for failure) to convey the mails at fixed periods and with a certain degree of speed, and an agreement that, except in the case of a new route, contracts should not be allowed to exist for a long period.
When at last the management of the Packet Service was transferred from the Admiralty to the Post Office, a useful—indeed necessary—reform was accomplished. While in the hands of the former Department, the Service had become a source of very heavy expense, owing, in great part, to its extension for political reasons very far beyond postal requirements.
Great inconvenience had resulted also from the slight control possessed by the Post Office over the Service. In 1857, for example, the contract with the West Indian Packet Company was renewed without the knowledge of either the Postmaster-General or of Rowland Hill. The absence in the contracts of stipulations as to punctuality likewise had ill effects. The most punctual service at this time was that between Devonport and the Cape117 of Good Hope, as the union Steamship Company, into whose contract such stipulations had been introduced in strong form, made during 1859 every one of its voyages within the appointed time.
[Pg 237]
Investigation151 of the Packet Service accounts showed how abundant was the room for diminution152 of cost. The annual charge to the Home Government for conveying the mails to and from Honduras was, as a consequence, readily cut down from ￡8,000 to ￡2,000, and eventually to ￡1,500. There had always been a heavy loss on the foreign and colonial service. That to the Cape of Good Hope and Natal153 was reduced in six years from ￡28,000 to ￡5,400 per annum. Much of the merit of this diminution of cost, as regards the Packet Service, was always attributed by my father to his youngest brother Frederic; and while that department remained under the latter's control the large annual loss was reduced by more than ￡200,000—one-half the sum—by the cutting down of expenditure, the other half by increased yield from the correspondence. The cost to the British taxpayer154 was further lightened by calling upon the colonists155, who had hitherto been exempt from all such charges, henceforth to bear their fair share of the expense. Thus both punctuality and economy were insisted upon.
About 1857 a persistent156 demand arose for a mail service to Australia by the Panama route, the Press vigorously taking up the agitation, and the Government being accused of “red tapeism” because they did not move in the matter, or not until the outcry grew so loud that it was deemed expedient157 to apply to the shipping158 agencies for tenders. Being one day at the Athen?um Club, Rowland Hill met a friend, a man of superior education and varied159 knowledge, who had long held an important post in the Far East, almost [Pg 238] on the shores of the Pacific. “Why,” asked this friend, “do you not establish an Australian mail by the Panama route?” “Why should we?” was the counter-question. “Because it is the shortest,” replied the friend. At once Rowland Hill proposed an adjournment160 to the drawing-room, where stood a large globe; the test of measurement was applied, and thereupon was demonstrated the fallacy of a widespread popular belief, founded on ignorance of the enormous width of the Pacific Ocean—a belief, as this anecdote161 shows, shared even by some of those who have dwelt within reach of its waters.[196]
But convincing friends was of far less moment than convincing the public; and Rowland Hill drew up a Report on the subject which, backed by the Postmaster-General, Lord Colchester, had the desired effect of preventing, for the time being, what would have been a heavy and useless expenditure of public money.[197]
[Pg 239]
It is found that great public ceremonies affect the weekly returns of the number of letters passing through the post. Sometimes the result is a perceptible increase; at other times a decrease. The funeral of the great Duke of Wellington was held on the 18th November 1852, and “all London” was in the streets to look at it. The weekly return, published on the 22nd, showed that the number of letters dispatched by the evening mail from the metropolis162 on that memorable163 18th fell off by about 100,000. The next day's letters were probably increased by an extra 10,000. The revolutionary year, 1848, also had a deteriorating164 influence on correspondence, the return published in 1849 for the previous twelvemonths showing a smaller increase than, under ordinary circumstances, might have been expected.
In 1853 Docker's ingenious apparatus165 for the exchange of mail-bags at those railway stations through which trains pass without stopping was introduced. The process is described by the postal reformer as follows:—“The bags to be forwarded, being suspended from a projecting arm at the station, are so knocked off by a projection166 from the train as to fall into a net which is attached to the mail carriage, and is for the moment stretched out to receive them; while, at the same time, the bags to be left behind, being hung out from the mail carriage, are in like manner so struck off as to be caught in a net fixed at the station; the whole of this complex movement being so instantaneous that the uninformed eye cannot follow it.” It was this inability to understand [Pg 240] the movement which led to a ridiculous error. On the first day of the experiment people assembled in crowds to witness it. At Northallerton “half Yorkshire” gathered—according to the mail inspector—and many were under the impression that the outgoing set of bags they saw hanging to the projecting arm in readiness for absorption by the passing train, and the incoming set hanging out from the mail carriage, ready to be caught in the net fixed at the station, were one and the same thing. Though what useful purpose could be served by the mere “giving a lift” of a hundred yards or so to one solitary167 set of bags is rather hard to perceive.
AN EARLY TRAVELLING POST OFFICE WITH MAIL BAGS EXCHANGE APPARATUS.
By permission of the Proprietors168 of the “City Press.”
The invention was not altogether a success, very heavy bags—especially when the trains were running at great speed—being sometimes held responsible for the occurrence of rather serious accidents. It even became necessary to cease using the apparatus till the defect, whatever it might be, could be put right. Several remedies were suggested, but none proved effectual till my brother, then only twenty-one years of age, hit upon a simple contrivance which removed all difficulties, and thenceforth the exchange-bag apparatus worked well. Sir William Cubitt, who had unsuccessfully striven to rectify169 matters, generously eulogised his youthful rival's work.
The stamp-obliterating170 machines which superseded171 the old practice of obliteration172 by hand were also my brother's invention. In former days the man who could stamp the greatest number of letters in a given time was usually invited to exhibit his prowess when visitors were shown over the office. [Pg 241] The old process had never turned out impressions conspicuous173 for legibility, and means of improvement had been for some time under consideration. But it was a trial presided over by Lord Campbell in 1856 which precipitated174 matters. An important question turned upon the exact date at which a letter had been posted, but the obliterating stamp on the envelope was too indistinct to furnish the necessary evidence. Lord Campbell sharply animadverted upon the failure, and his strictures caused the Duke of Argyll—then Postmaster-General—to write to Rowland Hill upon the subject. The use of inferior ink was supposed to be responsible for the trouble, and various experiments were tried, without effecting any marked beneficial result. Objection was made to abolition of the human hand as stamper on the ground that thus far it had proved to be the fastest worker. Then my brother's mechanical skill came to the rescue, and complaints as to clearness and legibility soon became rare.[198] By the machines the obliterations were made faster than by the best hand-work, the increase of speed being at least 50 per cent. About the year 1903 my brother's machines began, I am told, to be superseded by others which are said to do the work faster even than his. Judging by some of the obliterations lately made, presumably by these later machines, it is evident that, so far as clearness and legibility are concerned, the newer process is not superior to the older.
My brother was a born mechanician, and, like [Pg 242] our uncle Edwin Hill, could, out of an active brain, evolve almost any machine for which, in some emergency, there seemed to be need. To give free scope to Pearson's obvious bent175, our father had, in his son's early youth, caused a large four-stalled stable adjoining our house at Hampstead to be altered into a well-equipped workshop; and in this many a long evening was spent, the window being often lighted up some hours after the rest of the family had retired176 to bed, and my brother being occasionally obliged to sing out, through the one open pane177, a cheery “good-night” to the passing policeman, who paused to see if a burglarious conspiracy178 was being devised during the nocturnal small hours, from the convenient vantage-ground of the outhouse.
The dream of my brother's life was to become a civil engineer, for which profession, indeed, few young men could have been better fitted; and the dream seemed to approach accomplishment179 when, during a visit to our father, Sir William (afterwards first Lord) Armstrong spoke180 most highly of Pearson's achievements—he had just put into completed form two long-projected small inventions—and offered to take the youth into his own works at Newcastle-on-Tyne. But the dream was never destined to find realisation. Sir William's visit and proposal made a fitting opportunity for the putting to my brother of a serious question which had been in our father's head for some time. In his son's integrity, ability, and affection, Rowland Hill had absolute trust. Were the younger man but working with him at the Post [Pg 243] Office, the elder knew he could rely on unswerving support, on unwavering fidelity181. The choice of callings was laid before my brother: life as a civil engineer—a profession in which his abilities could not fail to command success—or the less ambitious career of a clerk at St Martin's-le-Grand. Our father would not dwell upon his own strong leaning towards the latter course, but with the ever-present mental image of harassing182 official intrigues against himself and his hard-won reform, it is not difficult to picture with what conflicting emotions he must have waited his son's decision. This was left entirely in the young man's hands; and he chose the part which he knew would best serve his father. The cherished dream was allowed to melt into nothingness, and my brother began his postal career not as a favoured, but as an ordinary clerk, though one always near at hand, and always in the complete confidence of his immediate183 chief. Whatever regrets for the more congenial life Pearson may have harboured, he never, to my knowledge, gave them audible expression, nor could any father have had a more loyal son. When, many years later, it seemed desirable that some official should be appointed to report on the value of the mechanical inventions periodically offered to the Post Office, and to supervise those already in operation, it seemed when my brother was selected for that post as if he had only received his due, and that merely in part.
He had also administrative184 ability of no mean order; and when only twenty-eight years of age was selected by the Postmaster-General to go to [Pg 244] Mauritius to reorganise the post office there, which through mismanagement had gradually drifted into a state of confusion, apparently beyond rectification185 by the island authorities. He speedily brought the office into good working order; but perhaps his Mauritian labours will be best remembered by his substitution of certain civilised stamps—like those then used in some of the West Indian isles—in place of the trumpery186 red and blue, penny and twopenny, productions which were the handiwork of some local artist, and which are now so rare that they command amazingly large sums of money in the philatelist world.
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1
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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2
aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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3
longingly
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| adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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aggravation
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| n.烦恼，恼火 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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progeny
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| n.后代，子孙；结果 | |
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lavishly
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| adv.慷慨地，大方地 | |
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benefactors
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| n.捐助者，施主( benefactor的名词复数 )；恩人 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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20
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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21
stipulated
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| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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22
revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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23
hindrances
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| 阻碍者( hindrance的名词复数 )； 障碍物； 受到妨碍的状态 | |
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24
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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25
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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27
retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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transparently
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| 明亮地，显然地，易觉察地 | |
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29
relinquished
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| 交出，让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 )； 放弃 | |
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30
monetary
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| adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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32
straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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33
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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35
hatchet
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| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
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interred
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| v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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harmoniously
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| 和谐地，调和地 | |
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postal
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| adj.邮政的，邮局的 | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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40
defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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41
sanitary
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| adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的 | |
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42
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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43
inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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44
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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45
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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48
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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49
defalcation
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| n.盗用公款，挪用公款，贪污 | |
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50
friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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51
withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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52
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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53
arrears
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| n.到期未付之债，拖欠的款项；待做的工作 | |
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54
arrear
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| n.欠款 | |
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55
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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56
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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57
abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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58
stationery
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| n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封 | |
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59
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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60
prosecutions
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| 起诉( prosecution的名词复数 )； 原告； 实施； 从事 | |
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61
vouchers
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| n.凭证( voucher的名词复数 )；证人；证件；收据 | |
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62
disbursement
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| n.支付，付款 | |
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63
dilatoriness
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| n.迟缓，拖延 | |
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64
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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65
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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66
remitting
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| v.免除（债务），宽恕( remit的现在分词 )；使某事缓和；寄回，传送 | |
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67
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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68
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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69
exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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70
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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71
orphans
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| 孤儿( orphan的名词复数 ) | |
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72
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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73
savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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74
thrift
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| adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约 | |
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75
thrifty
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| adj.节俭的；兴旺的；健壮的 | |
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76
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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77
crutches
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| n.拐杖, 支柱 v.支撑 | |
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78
surmised
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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79
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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80
overthrew
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| overthrow的过去式 | |
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81
boons
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| n.恩惠( boon的名词复数 )；福利；非常有用的东西；益处 | |
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82
boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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83
curtail
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| vt.截短，缩短；削减 | |
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84
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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85
enactment
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| n.演出，担任…角色；制订，通过 | |
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86
compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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87
contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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88
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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89
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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90
exhorted
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| v.劝告，劝说( exhort的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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91
turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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92
insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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93
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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94
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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95
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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96
anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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97
deluged
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| v.使淹没( deluge的过去式和过去分词 )；淹没；被洪水般涌来的事物所淹没；穷于应付 | |
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98
candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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99
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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100
vituperative
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| adj.谩骂的；斥责的 | |
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101
bigotry
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| n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等 | |
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102
recipient
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| a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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103
discriminating
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| a.有辨别能力的 | |
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104
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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105
metropolitan
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| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
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106
recipients
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| adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器 | |
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107
incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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108
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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109
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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111
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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112
gratuitous
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| adj.无偿的，免费的；无缘无故的，不必要的 | |
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113
isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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114
steamship
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| n.汽船，轮船 | |
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115
conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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116
scapegoat
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| n.替罪的羔羊，替人顶罪者；v.使…成为替罪羊 | |
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117
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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118
exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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119
arbitration
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| n.调停，仲裁 | |
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120
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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121
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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122
adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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123
enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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124
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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125
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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126
subsidies
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| n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 ) | |
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127
outstrip
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| v.超过，跑过 | |
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agitating
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| 搅动( agitate的现在分词 )； 激怒； 使焦虑不安； （尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而）激烈争论 | |
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129
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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130
acceleration
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| n.加速，加速度 | |
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131
obviate
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| v.除去，排除，避免，预防 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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outlay
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| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
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grudged
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| 怀恨（grudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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136
lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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137
subsidy
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| n.补助金，津贴 | |
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138
steamships
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| n.汽船，大轮船( steamship的名词复数 ) | |
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139
pier
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| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
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remunerative
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| adj.有报酬的 | |
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141
tolls
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| （缓慢而有规律的）钟声( toll的名词复数 )； 通行费； 损耗； （战争、灾难等造成的）毁坏 | |
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exempt
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| adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者 | |
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circuitous
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| adj.迂回的路的，迂曲的，绕行的 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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tariff
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| n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表 | |
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evoked
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| [医]诱发的 | |
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147
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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150
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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151
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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152
diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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153
natal
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| adj.出生的，先天的 | |
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154
taxpayer
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| n.纳税人 | |
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155
colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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156
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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157
expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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158
shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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159
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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160
adjournment
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| 休会； 延期； 休会期； 休庭期 | |
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161
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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162
metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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163
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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164
deteriorating
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| 恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 ) | |
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165
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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166
projection
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| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
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167
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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168
proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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169
rectify
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| v.订正，矫正，改正 | |
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170
obliterating
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| v.除去( obliterate的现在分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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171
superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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172
obliteration
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| n.涂去，删除；管腔闭合 | |
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173
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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174
precipitated
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| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
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175
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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176
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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pane
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| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
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178
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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179
accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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180
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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181
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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182
harassing
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| v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人） | |
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183
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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184
administrative
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| adj.行政的，管理的 | |
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185
rectification
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| n. 改正, 改订, 矫正 | |
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186
trumpery
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| n.无价值的杂物；adj.（物品）中看不中用的 | |
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