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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
152
Baring,
the
then
Chancellor
of
the
Exchequer,
proposed
a
Committee
"to
inquire
into
the
present
rates
or
modes
of
charging
postage,
with
a
view
to
such
reduction
thereof
as
may
be
made
without
injury
to
the
revenue;
and
for
this
purpose,
to
examine
especially
into
the
mode
recommended,
of
charging
and
collecting
postage,
in
a
pamphlet
by
Mr.
Rowland
Hill."
It
was
noticed
that
most
of
the
members
nominated
by
the
Chancellor
of
the
Exchequer
were
favourable
to
the
Government,
all
but
two--Lord
Lowther
and
Sir
Thomas
Fremantle--having
voted
for
the
Ballot.
The
Conservatives
did
not
grumble,
however,
as
on
this
subject
the
Government
was
conservative
enough.
The
Committee
sat
sixty-three
days,
concluding
their
deliberations
in
August,
1838.
They
examined
all
the
principal
officers
of
the
Post-Office
and
the
Stamp
Department,
and
eighty-three
independent
witnesses
of
different
pursuits
and
various
grades.
The
Post-Office
authorities
were
specially
invited
to
send
any
witnesses
they
might
choose;
and
as
the
Postmaster-General
and
the
Secretary
of
the
Post-Office
objected
to
the
penny
rate
as
likely
to
be
ruinous
to
the
revenue,
and
to
the
principle
of
uniformity
as
unfair
and
impossible,
we
may
be
certain
that
the
witnesses
sent
were
judiciously
chosen.
The
examination
was
by
no
means
ex
parte,
but
seems
to
have
been
carried
on
with
the
greatest
fairness.
Those
members
of
the
Committee
who
were
particularly
pledged
to
the
protection
of
the
revenue,
as
well
as
Lord
Lowther--who
had
a
thorough
knowledge
of
the
subject
from
having
sat
on
a
previous
Commission--appear
to
have
missed
no
opportunity
of
sifting
the
opinions
and
the
statements
of
each
witness.
The
members
of
the
Committee
did
their
work,
altogether,
with
zeal,
great
discrimination,
and
ability.
The
plan
and
the
favourable
witnesses
stood
the
scrutiny
with
wonderful
success;
and
Mr.
Hill
himself
bore
up,
under
what
George
Stephenson
regarded
as
the
greatest
crucial
test
to
which
mortal
man
can
be
subjected,
with
tact
and
firmness,
fully
proving,
in
evidence,
the
soundness
of
the
conclusions
on
which
judgment
had
to
be
passed.
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