“If it should really turn out that your anticipations as to maintaining the revenue are realised, your triumph will be great indeed: one half of it will be more than I expect; but on this point there must, after all, be much speculative uncertainty, and my only regret was that our finances were not in a better state to make useful experiments. I shall watch the result with great interest, and beg you will believe me,
“Dear Sir,
“Yours very truly,
“Ashburton.
“Rowland Hill, Esq.
“I hope the principle of prepayment will be stoutly maintained. Any relaxation must be very temporary and with a large additional charge. Without this the scheme will not work. The plan of postage-stamps seems to my mind the best. The post-officers should sell them, and as everybody must put his letter into some office, he may there also buy his stamp.”
About a fortnight later, I was summoned to take my part in a very gratifying proceeding at Wolverhampton, where a subscription had been raised to present me with a handsome silver candelabrum, which bore the following inscription:—
“To Rowland Hill, Esq., presented by the inhabitants of Wolverhampton, in testimony of their high sense of his public services, as the Founder and able Advocate of the Plan of Universal Penny Postage, A.D. 1839.”