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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
183
The
second,
increased
speed
in
the
delivery
of
letters;
and
the
third,
consisting
of
provisions
for
greater
facility
in
the
despatch
of
letters,
were
not
attempted,
or,
if
attempted,
only
in
the
slightest
degree.
With
regard
to
the
simplifications
of
the
operations
of
the
Post-Office,
which
formed
the
fourth
great
item,
little
or
nothing
was
done,
though
that
little
was
rendered
easy
of
accomplishment
by
the
uniformity
of
postage-rates.
Not
only
was
the
scheme
not
fairly
worked,
and
the
improvements
only
partially
carried
out,
but
they
were
crippled
in
their
operation
by
officials
who,
if
not
hostile,
were
half-hearted
and
far
from
anxious
for
a
successful
issue.
The
natural
difficulties
in
the
way
of
the
measure
were
numerous
enough
without
the
addition
of
official
opposition.
Trade
was
flourishing
when
the
Postage
Bill
was
carried;
it
was
fearfully
depressed
in
the
first
year
of
penny
postage.
It
is
well,
as
Miss
Martineau
points
out,
that
none
foreknew
the
heavy
reverse
which
was
at
hand,
and
the
long
and
painful
depression
that
ensued
after
the
passing
of
the
Act,
for
none
might
then
have
had
the
courage
to
go
into
the
enterprise.
This
circumstance,
accounting,
as
it
does,
for
some
of
the
deficit
in
the
first
and
second
years,
also
served
to
test
the
real
principles
of
the
reform.[111]
Mr.
Hill's
plan,
though
given
over
to
the
apathy
and
vis
inertiæ
of
the
authorities--to
"the
unwilling
horses
of
the
Post-Office,"
as
Mr.
Baring
subsequently
designated
them--really
worked
well,
though
at
a
loss,
when
everything
else
was
working
ill.
Moreover,
the
tendency
of
cheap
communication
to
improve
the
general
revenue
of
the
country
was
clearly
apparent
so
early
as
1842;
and
this
is
a
fact
which
ought
not
to
be
lost
sight
of
for
a
moment.
The
reduction
of
postage-rates
was
to
the
community
a
reduction
of
taxation;
the
capital
released
was
driven
into
other
and
perhaps
more
legitimate
channels.
The
Exchequer
lost
revenue
from
one
source,
but
it
gained
it
in
other
ways,
as
a
consequence
on
the
outlay
at
the
Post-Office.
In
1842,
there
was
an
acknowledged
loss
to
the
Post-Office
revenue
of
900,000l.
In
the
same
year,
no
serious
defalcation
appeared
in
the
general
accounts
of
the
country,
notwithstanding
the
extent
of
the
depression
in
trade.
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