[19] As the passage is slightly condensed, quotation marks are not employed. The words generally—whole sentences sometimes—are, however, Miss Martineau's own.
[20] Written while yet the fate of the Franklin Expedition was an unsolved mystery.
[21] The two sorts of post were kept quite distinct, the business of the general post and that of the local posts being carried on in separate buildings and by different staffs. It was not till the postal reform had been established some years that Rowland Hill was able to persuade the authorities of the wisdom of that amalgamation of the two which formed an important feature of his plan.
[22] “Hansard,” cxlvi. 189.
[23] Travelling as well as postage has cheapened. A fourth part of £6 is 30s.—the price of each “inside place.” To-day a first-class railway return ticket between Deal and London costs less than half 30s.
[24] Fourteen franks a day was the number each M.P. could issue.
[25] “The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago,” p. 6.
[26] “Life,” i. 135. Peel voted against the Penny Postage Bill; and even that kindly friend to the poorer classes, the “good” Lord Shaftesbury—then Lord Ashley—followed Sir Robert's example.
[27] That is, of calculating the amount of postage to be levied on each letter.
[28] “The Origin of Postage Stamps,” p. 17. By Pearson Hill.