“November 8th, 1841.—Saw Lord Lowther. He defends the Post Office plan so earnestly that I suspect it must be his own. At length, however, he partially admitted its defects, and listened rather impatiently to mine [my plan, not my defects, which would perhaps have had patient hearing]. Having an engagement, he requested me to come again to-morrow. One thing surprised me much—he could not see that an increase of lost letters, if only proportionate to the increase of letters transmitted, argued no increase of risk.”
To illustrate this further, I will mention here that, whereas the number of money letters passing through the office had increased (according to Colonel Maberly) by ten-fold, the number of missing money letters (as shown by a Parliamentary Return obtained a few months later) was no more than five and a-half-fold; so that the risk in transmission, the only thing really in question, had very sensibly diminished. This improvement was the more remarkable, both because previously to the establishment of Penny Postage the number of such losses was in rapid increase, and because, as already mentioned, the Post Office subsequently discontinued a practice of gratuitously registering all letters supposed to contain articles of value.
When I again called on Lord Lowther as requested, I found him still decidedly averse to lowering the registration fee, though otherwise half inclined to adopt my plan. As he desired further information, I undertook to send him my former Reports on the subject, as also the draft Report then in preparation, which I accordingly did. The draft, however, was returned without acquiescence, and his lordship’s note seemed to me to be written in no friendly spirit. In consequence, I consulted with my brothers and other friends.
“November 23rd, 1841.—They all agree with me as to the necessity of adopting decisive measures with a view of ascertaining whether or not the further improvements which form important parts of my plan are to be carried out fairly and speedily, and if not, that a regard to my own reputation will require me to resign. Also that the present is a case in which I should make a stand, without, however, pushing matters to an extreme all at once.”
I accordingly sent in my Report,[317] next day, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, together with a letter,[318] in which I offered my services, under the approval of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Postmaster-General, to carry the proposed measures into effect, undertaking the whole responsibility, and guaranteeing that there should be neither a stoppage of the mails nor any additional expense beyond the amount of the additional fees.
“November 24th, 1841.—Wrote also to the Postmaster-General, expressing regret that I had not had the good fortune to satisfy him as to the practicability of the measures which I had recommended, and a hope that a proposal (viz., the above) with which I had accompanied the Report would remove his objections.
“November 25th, 1841.—The Chancellor of the Exchequer has read my Report, but apparently with little attention, for he is by no means master of the subject; he seems to consider the plan objectionable, but gives reasons for objecting to it which ought to recommend it. Among others, that almost everybody would take receipts, that is to say, that the gross revenue would be increased nearly fifty per cent! He appears to think, with the Post Office people, that the main object in view is to keep down the quantity of business. My offer to undertake the registration had evidently been overlooked. I called special attention to it, however, and the whole matter is to be referred privately to the Postmaster-General. I begged that it might be referred officially, in order that the objections, if any, might be recorded, but this was over-ruled, at least for the present.”
The Post Office bugbear of an overwhelming number of registered letters, which was to produce prodigious trouble and disorder at the “forward offices,” I exposed in a supplementary Report.[319]
As gradually appeared, however, instead of pushing forward an important improvement, I was only strengthening Post Office hostility. My reports, together with one subsequently received from the Postmaster-General, were placed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the hands of Mr. Trevelyan; who sent for me on December 29th, 1841, to talk over the matter. Unluckily, however, he had not read my reports, being deterred by their unavoidable length, but called on me to give him their pith. To make this summary more conclusive, I proposed, first, to examine the report sent in by the Postmaster-General; and at length, though Mr. Trevelyan doubted Mr. Goulburn’s approbation, I prevailed upon him, by the mere plea of justice, to allow me to read it. I found, however, that while it did not establish a single ground of objection to my plan, it was written in a most hostile spirit, treating my offer to undertake the necessary organization with scorn; and absurdly representing it as one which would supersede the authority of the Postmaster-General. It was intimated, nevertheless, that the plan itself would be carried into execution if required, though it would lead to all sorts of evils; a prediction which I knew it would be very easy for the Post Office to fulfil. Mr. Trevelyan, after considering all that I laid before him, told me that he agreed entirely with me, and had advised Mr. Goulburn accordingly.
Meantime, I had received some information from a private source:—