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435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
106
Mr.
Palmer
was
installed
at
the
Post-Office
on
the
day
of
the
change,
under
the
title
of
Controller-General.
It
was
arranged
that
his
salary
should
be
1,500l.
a-year,
together
with
a
commission
of
two
and
a
half
per
cent.
upon
any
excess
of
net
revenue
over
240,000l.--the
sum
at
which
the
annual
proceeds
of
the
Post-Office
stood
at
the
date
of
his
appointment.
The
rates
of
postage,
as
we
have
before
incidentally
pointed
out,
were
slightly
raised--an
addition
of
a
penny
to
each
charge;
but,
notwithstanding
this,
the
number
of
letters
began
at
once,
and
most
perceptibly,
to
increase.
So
great
was
the
improvement
in
security
and
speed,
that,
for
once,
the
additions
to
the
charges
were
borne
ungrudgingly.
Coaches
were
applied
for
without
loss
of
time
by
the
municipalities
of
many
of
our
largest
towns,[59]
and
when
they
were
granted--as
they
appear
to
have
been
in
most
of
the
instances--they
were
started
at
the
rate
of
six
miles
an
hour.
This
official
rate
of
speed
was
subsequently
increased
to
eight,
then
to
nine,
and
at
length
to
ten
miles
an
hour.[60]
The
opposition
to
Mr.
Palmer's
scheme,
manifested
by
the
Post-Office
officials
before
it
was
adopted,
does
not
seem
to
have
given
way
before
the
manifest
success
attending
its
introduction.
Perhaps
Mr.
Palmer's
presence
at
the
Council
Board
did
not
conduce
to
the
desirable
unanimity
of
feeling.
However
it
was,
he
appears
for
some
time
to
have
contended
single-handed
with
officials
determinately
opposed
to
him.
When
goaded
and
tormented
by
them,
he
fell
into
their
snares,
and
attempted
to
carry
his
measures
by
indirect
means.
In
1792,
when
his
plans
had
been
in
operation
about
eight
years,
and
were
beginning
to
show
every
element
of
success,
it
was
deemed
desirable
that
he
should
surrender
his
appointment.
A
pension
of
3,000l.
was
granted
to
him
in
consideration
of
his
valuable
services.
Subsequently
he
memorialized
the
Government,
setting
forth
that
his
pension
fell
far
short
of
the
emoluments
which
had
been
promised
to
him,
but
he
did
not
meet
with
success.
Mr.
Palmer
never
ceased
to
protest
against
this
treatment;
and
his
son,
Major-General
Palmer,
frequently
urged
his
claims
before
Parliament,
until,
in
1813,
after
a
struggle
of
twenty
years,
the
House
of
Commons
voted
him
a
grant
of
50,000l.
Mr.
Palmer
died
in
1818.
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