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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
148
Mr.
Hill,
in
his
able
pamphlet,
exhausted
the
subject.
By
a
variety
of
arguments,
he
urged
upon
the
nation
a
trial
of
his
plans--begged
for
an
unobstructed
and
cheap
circulation
of
letters,
expressing
his
most
deliberate
conviction,[87]
that
the
Post-Office,
"rendered
feeble
and
inefficient
by
erroneous
financial
arrangements,"
was
"capable
of
performing
a
distinguished
part
in
the
great
work
of
national
education,"
and
of
becoming
a
benefaction
and
blessing
to
mankind.
He
left
the
following
proposals
to
the
judgment
of
the
nation:--(1)
A
large
diminution
in
the
rates
of
postage,
say
even
to
one
penny
per
letter
weighing
not
more
than
half
an
ounce.
(2)
Increased
speed
in
the
delivery
of
letters.
(3)
More
frequent
opportunities
for
the
despatch
of
letters.
And
(4)
Simplification
in
the
operations
of
the
Post-Office,
with
the
object
of
economy
in
the
management.
The
fundamental
feature
in
the
new
scheme
was,
of
course,
the
proposal
that
the
rate
of
postage
should
be
uniform,
and
charged
according
to
weight.
No
wonder
that
the
scheme,
of
which,
in
our
own
order,
we
have
just
attempted
an
outline,
roused
feelings
of
delight
and
approbation
from
the
people
at
large,
throughout
the
length
and
breadth
of
the
land.
Still
less
is
it
a
matter
of
surprise
that
the
Government
and
the
Post-Office
authorities,
in
charge
of
the
revenue,
should
stand
aghast
at
the
prospect
of
being
called
upon
to
sanction
what
they
considered
so
suicidal
a
policy.
Lord
Lichfield,
the
Postmaster-General
at
the
time,
speaking
for
the
Post-Office
authorities,
as
to
its
practicability,
described
the
proposal
in
the
House
of
Lords,[88]
"of
all
the
wild
and
visionary
schemes
which
I
have
ever
heard
of,
it
is
the
most
extravagant."
On
a
subsequent
occasion,
his
opinion
having
been
subjected
for
six
months
to
the
mellowing
influence
of
time,
he
is
less
confident,
but
says
that,
if
the
plan
succeeds
(in
the
anticipated
increase
of
letters),
"the
walls
of
the
Post-Office
would
burst--the
whole
area
on
which
the
building
stands
would
not
be
large
enough
to
receive
the
clerks
and
the
letters."[89]
On
the
one
side,
many
well-known
names[90]
were
ranked
in
opposition,
who
believed
that
the
scheme,
among
other
drawbacks,
would
not
only
absorb
the
existing
revenue,
but
would
have
to
be
supported
by
a
ruinous
subsidy
from
the
Exchequer.
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