THE LIFE
OF
SIR ROWLAND HILL
K.C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., ETC.
AND THE
HISTORY OF PENNY POSTAGE.

BY
SIR ROWLAND HILL

AND

HIS NEPHEW

GEORGE BIRKBECK HILL, D.C.L.
AUTHOR OF
“DR. JOHNSON: HIS FRIENDS AND HIS CRITICS,” ETC.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

LONDON:

THOS. DE LA RUE & CO.

110, BUNHILL ROW.

1880

(The right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved.)

PRINTED BY

THOMAS DE LA RUE AND CO., BUNHILL ROW,

LONDON.

CONTENTS OF SECOND VOLUME.

BOOK II. (Continued.)

CHAPTER XII.

COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY (1843).

“State and Prospects of Penny Postage,” 1—Examined before the Committee, 2—The “Fallacious Return,” 4—Charge for the Packet Service, 5—Treaty with France, 6—Colonel Maberly’s Evidence, 7—Dockwra, Allen, and Palmer, 9—Australian Letters and India, 10—Committee’s Report, 12—Spain and Russia, 13—Letters from Sydney Smith and Miss Martineau, 14.

CHAPTER XIII.

RAILWAY DIRECTION (1843-1846).

Director and then Chairman of the Brighton Railway Company, 16—Examination of Railway Officers, 18—Enforcement of Penalties, 19—Three Codes of Signals. Safety of the Line, 20—Excursion and Express Trains, 21—Postal facilities for Brighton, 22—Value of Shares. Resignation of Chairmanship, 23—Offer from the South-Western Company, 24—Parliament and the Railways, 25.

CHAPTER XIV.

NATIONAL TESTIMONIAL (1844-1846).

United States, 27—Mazzini and Sir James Graham, 28—“A Penny Post,” by John Hill, 29—Subscriptions to the Testimonial, 29—Income Tax Commissioners, 30—Mr. Cobden and the Anti-Corn Law League, 31—Presentation of Testimonial, 32.

CHAPTER XV.

APPOINTMENT TO POST OFFICE (1846).

The New Ministry, 37—Lord Clanricarde Postmaster-General, 38—Mr. Warburton, 39—Appointment offered, 40—Mr. Hawes, 41—A Painful Dilemma, 42—Letter to Mr. Hawes. Appointment accepted, 43—Promise of Promotion, 46.

CHAPTER XVI.

JOINT SECRETARYSHIP (1846-1848).

The “Edinburgh Review” and Mr. Charles Dickens, 48—Restrictive Minute, 49—Cabals, 51—Snowed up, 52—The Post Office a vast Machine, 53—Liverpool Town Council, 54—Lord Clanricarde’s Boldness, 55—Bristol Post Office, 57—Lieutenant Waghorn, 59—A Bundle of old Clothes by Post, 61—Applications for Increase of Salary, 63—Statistics, 64—Book Post. Proposed System of Promotion, 65—Railway Legislation, 66—Money Order Department, 70—Offensive Minute. Mr. Cobden’s Advice, 73—Savings in Stationery, 76—Arrears of Money Orders, 77—Carelessness in Remittance, 78—Attempted Robbery, 79—Frauds, 80—Esquires in Low Life, 81—Joseph Ady, 82—Telegraph, 83—Chartists, 84.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XVI.

General Progress. Letter to Mr. Baring, 85—Number of Letters from 1839 to 1847, 86—Book Post. Professor De Morgan, 87—Evasion of Postage, 88—Scale of Salaries. The Interpretation of a Fortnight’s Holiday, 89—Letter-boxes, 90—Railway Notices. Sir Erskine May, 91—United States, 92—France, Revolution of 1848, 93—Belgium, 94.

CHAPTER XVII.

EFFORTS FOR IMPROVEMENT IN POSITION (1848-1849).

Discordant action in the Post Office, 95—Claim for Promotion, 96—Lord John Russell on Penny Postage, 98—The Ministry in Danger, 99—Great Increase of Expenditure, 100—Formal Application for Promotion, 101—The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s unreasonable Demand, 103—Health again fails, 105.

CHAPTER XVIII.

SUNDAY RELIEF (1849-1850).

Sunday Labour in Post Office, 107—Bath Post Office, 108—Closing of Money Order Offices, 109—Other Measures of Relief. “Forward Letters,” 110—Minute on Reduction of Sunday Labour, 111—Lord’s Day Society, 113—Treachery in the Camp, 115—Bishop of London, 116—City Meeting, 118—Publication of Minute, 121—No Compulsion. Extracts from Private Journal, 123—Hon. and Rev. Grantham Yorke. Insubordination, 128—Slanders of Lord’s Day Society, 129—The first Sunday on the new Plan, 131—Anonymous Letters, 134—Lord John Russell, 135—Further Slanders of the Lord’s Day Society, 136—Railway Sorting, 137—Suburban Sunday Delivery, 138—General Thompson and Dr. Vaughan, 139—Meetings of Surveyors, 140—Further Sunday relief, 141—Cabals, 143—Demand for total Abolition of Sunday Labour, 144—Mr. Wallace. Visit to Greenock, 148—Mr. Matthew Forster, 149—The Times, 151—Lord Ashley’s Motion, 155—No Sunday Deliveries, 158—Commission on Sunday Labour, 160.

CHAPTER XIX.

PARTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN POSITION (1850-1851).

The Word of a Minister, 163—Renewed Claim for Promotion, 164—Mr. Warburton, 165—Mr. Cobden, 166—Mr. Hume, 167—Sir C. Wood, 169—Application for an Assistant-Secretary, 170—Mr. Frederic Hill—his Services as an Inspector of Prisons, 171—Ministry in Danger, 173—Increase of Salary, 174—Death of Mr. T. W. Hill. Mr. Frederic Hill’s Appointment, 176—Staff of Clerks, 177.