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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
146
Thus,
an
Edinburgh
letter,
costing
the
Post-Office
an
infinitesimal
fraction
of
a
farthing,
was
charged
one
shilling
and
three-halfpence
to
the
public,
while
a
letter
for
Louth,
costing
the
Post-Office
fifty
times
as
much,
was
charged
to
the
public
at
the
rate
of
tenpence!
Nothing
was
clearer,
therefore,
that
if
Mr.
Hill's
propositions
were
opposed
(and
his
opponents
did
not
advocate
the
payment
according
to
the
actual
cost
of
transit),
that
those
who
were
adverse
to
them
must
fall
into
the
absurdity
of
recognising
as
just
an
arrangement
which
charged
the
highest
price
for
the
cheapest
business!
At
first
sight
it
looked
extravagant,
that
persons
residing
at
Penzance
or
near
the
Giant's
Causeway,
at
Watford
or
Wick,
should
pay
equal
postage
for
their
letters.
The
intrinsic
value
of
the
conveyance
of
a
letter,
it
must
be
admitted,
is
a
very
different
thing
from
its
cost,
the
value
being
exactly
equal
to
the
time,
trouble,
and
expense
saved
to
the
correspondents,
of
which,
perhaps,
the
only
measure
appeared
to
be
the
actual
distance.
Looked
at
more
narrowly,
however,
in
the
clear
light
of
Mr.
Hill's
investigations,
it
became
obvious
that
it
was
really
"a
nearer
approximation
to
perfect
justice"[85]
to
allow
distant
places
to
feel
the
benefits
of
the
measure;
passing
over
the
little
inequalities
to
which
it
might
give
rise;
while
all
might
pay
such
a
sum
as
would
cover
the
expenses
in
each
and
every
case.[86]
Mr.
Hill
succeeded
likewise
in
proving
many
of
the
facts
adverted
to
in
the
preceding
chapter.
He
showed
that
the
high
rates
were
so
excessive
(not
only
varied
according
to
distance,
but
doubled
if
there
was
an
enclosure,
with
fourfold
postage
if
the
letter
exceeded
an
ounce
in
weight)
as
greatly
to
diminish,
where
they
did
not
absolutely
prevent,
correspondence.
Not
only
so,
but
the
high
rate
created
an
illicit
traffic,
involving
all
classes
of
the
country
in
the
meshes
of
a
systematically
clandestine
trade.
These
facts
and
their
results
on
the
public
revenue
shine
out
of
the
pamphlet
as
clear
as
noonday.
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