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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
230
Under
the
Earl
of
Elgin,
the
British
Post-Office
endeavoured
to
form
conventions
with
foreign
countries,
the
object
in
all
cases
being
the
increase
of
postal
facilities.
In
the
case
of
Spain
and
Portugal,
the
authorities
seem
to
have
been
successful,
and
partially
so
with
the
German
Postal
Union.
An
attempt
to
renew
negotiations
with
the
United
States
calls
for
mention
here.
The
advocates
of
ocean
penny
postage
(of
which
so
much
was
heard
some
years
previously--not
only
a
desirable,
but
a
practicable
scheme)
may
thus
obtain
some
idea
of
the
difficulty
of
coming
to
any
reasonable
arrangement
between
the
two
countries.
We
have
already
stated
that
a
former
Postmaster-General
urged
upon
the
Government
of
the
United
States
the
necessity
of
reduction
in
the
rates
of
postage
of
letters
circulating
from
one
country
to
the
other,
but
was
unsuccessful
at
the
time.[136]
In
1859,
the
Postmaster-General
of
the
United
States
(Mr.
Holt)
communicated
to
the
English
Department
his
concurrence
in
the
principle
of
a
reduction
in
the
postage
of
British
letters
from
twenty-four
to
twelve
cents,
providing
that
England
would
give
America
the
lion's
share
of
the
proposed
postage!
The
United
States'
Government
would
agree
to
the
change
provided
the
new
rate
be
apportioned
as
follows,
viz.:--
United
States'
Inland
Postage
3
cents.
Sea
Rate
of
Postage
7
"
British
Inland
Postage
2
"
The
Earl
of
Elgin
objected
to
this
proposal
as
not
equitable.
He
argued,
with
perfect
truth
and
fairness,
that
each
country
ought
to
be
remunerated
according
to
the
value
of
the
service
it
rendered,
and
that,
whether
the
inland
service
was
considered
(where
the
three
items
of
collection,
conveyance,[137]
and
delivery
must
be
taken
into
account),
or
the
sea
service
(undoubtedly
better
worked
and
regulated
with
us
than
in
America),
this
country
had
a
fair
claim
to
a
larger
share
of
postage
than
the
United
States.
As,
however,
an
unrestricted
intercourse
between
the
two
countries
was
far
more
important
than
a
nice
adjustment
in
the
revision
of
the
postage,
the
English
Postmaster-General
would
only
press
for
equality,
and
proposed
the
following
division:--
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