Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
181
In
the
first
year
of
penny
postage,
notwithstanding
all
the
confident
prophecies
to
the
contrary
from
those
who
might
have
been
supposed
to
have
had
means
of
judging,
the
net
proceeds
of
the
Post-Office
were
between
four
and
five
hundred
thousand
pounds,
whilst
the
number
of
letters
actually
sent
was
tripled.
Against
a
million
and
a
half
yearly
revenue
of
the
previous
year,
there
certainly
appeared
an
enormous
deficit;
but
till
all
other
arguments
were
exhausted,
it
ought
not
to
have
been
considered
either
evidence
or
proof
of
the
failure
of
cheap
postage.
In
the
first
instance,
the
Post-Office
authorities
said
the
scheme
would
not
pay
its
expenses:
a
year
sufficed
to
prove
their
mistake.
It
was
then
said
that
the
revenue
sacrificed
would
never
be
recovered,
and
accidental
circumstances,
of
which
we
shall
presently
speak,
favoured
for
a
time
this
view:
the
argument,
however,
was
based
on
erroneous
views,
as
subsequent
events
have
sufficiently
shown.
Bad
as
things
appeared,
there
were,
nevertheless,
many
significant
signs
at
the
end
of
two
years
that
the
gross
revenue
under
the
old
would
soon
be
reached
under
the
new
system,
and
even
prospects
that
the
past
net
revenue
might
still
be
recoverable.
Both
these
anticipations
have
now
been
entirely
realized.
With
a
tenfold--nay,
in
many
cases,
a
hundredfold--gain
to
different
classes
of
the
community--with
the
Post-Office
supplying
more
situations
by
thousands
than
under
the
ancien
régime,
the
old
gross
revenue
was
passed
in
1850-1,
and
the
net
revenue
was
reached
last
year.
Moreover,
every
complaint
under
this
head
has
long
since
been
silenced.
Many
considerations
went
to
hinder
the
early
growth
of
the
revenue;
and
it
is
to
some
of
these
considerations
that
we
must
now
turn
for
a
moment.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
