I submitted at the same time that mode of gradual introduction of my plan which appeared almost immediately afterwards in the second edition of my pamphlet; and, as time would be required for the preliminary arrangements necessarily extending over the whole country, I suggested its experimental application, in the meantime, to the local correspondence of the London District, containing, as I pointed out, one-twelfth part of the whole population of the United Kingdom.
To return to my interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I must admit that the hopes with which it began were considerably damped before its close. I was at least made very distinctly aware that Government had by no means made up its mind to the adoption of my plan. This was very disappointing, for I could not but feel that unless the plan were voluntarily taken up by Government, its introduction would have to encounter serious obstacles, and would be attended with grave disadvantages. If the public must be called on to enforce attention on a reluctant Government, even supposing the call to be answered, the plan would have to be adopted in such shape and in such manner as the public voice might demand, little thanks meantime being given for the concession; whereas if Government kept the matter entirely in its own hands, it might proceed tentatively, and therefore safely; lowering the rates with caution, and meanwhile removing anomalies, increasing facilities, extending operations, and taking all other measures tending to enlarge public convenience, to increase correspondence, and to sustain the revenue; while every succeeding improvement would come with a grace, and be received with gratitude. To this hour I regret that this course was not taken; believing that by it much misunderstanding, nay, much animosity, would have been prevented, much trouble saved, facilities more promptly secured, and even the loss of revenue, which, in the year following the adoption of my plan compelled a temporary augmentation of other duties, altogether avoided.
Almost as soon as I laid my plan before Government, I took into council a few trusty friends, and thus had the benefit of various criticisms, and of some suggestions. Of all those I consulted there was no one whose reply I awaited with greater anxiety than that of Mr. Wallace, already recognised as the leading Post Office reformer of the day. Would he not treat me as an intruder on his domain, a poacher on his manor? Would he not at best give me but a cold approval, keeping his heart all the while for his own device? His prompt reply brought full relief. It was couched in kind and encouraging language, and conveyed his hearty concurrence in the main features of my plan. In recognising the generosity of his conduct, I felt also that a great point was gained. Nor did the sequel fail to confirm the first impression. Mr. Wallace gave me all the advantage of his position, and laboured through three anxious years to promote my views as earnestly as if they had been his own.
Within a few days from my sending in the supplementary paper to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I had occasion again to trouble him. Mr. Labouchere having given notice of motion for a bill to amend the Post Office Laws, it seemed important that my plan, unless the Government itself were going to take it up, should be forthwith presented to the public, with a view to its producing some effect on the contemplated legislation; and it became necessary to inquire whether it would be proper to publish the paper. I thought, moreover, that if the Government seriously entertained my project, such intention would be given as a reason for withholding leave of publication; and that thus I should obtain some indication on the subject. I was informed that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had no objection whatever to its publication; and so I brought out my little work with all speed.
Meanwhile I had received many encouraging letters, some from private friends, and others from persons to whom I was less known, or not known at all. Amongst those which gave me the most satisfaction was one from Colonel Colby, who, in expressing approval of my paper, gave me also some account of exertions previously made by himself with a view to the gradual reduction of postage rates for long distances. A second letter was from Mr. Raikes Currie, who afterwards was a member of the Parliamentary Committee appointed to consider my plan, and a third from Professor Empson, of Haileybury College, who reported that he had heard my plan spoken of in Edinburgh, at a dinner at the Lord Advocate’s, in the most favourable terms; and who undertook to speak about it, within a few hours, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, “if he can listen to anything and anybody except banks and bankers.” Now that penny postage has long been an established fact, and that doubt of its practicability has disappeared in the certainty of success, the circumstances just mentioned may seem trivial; but in the midst of the anxiety that attended its incipient course, every indication of advancing favour was eagerly received and carefully recorded.
Meanwhile, however, a proceeding of yet greater importance had taken place. Soon after the private circulation of my pamphlet, I received a summons to give evidence before the Commission for Post Office Inquiry already mentioned, which was now collecting matter for its ninth report, (the subject being the London Twopenny Post, though the term comprehended also the threepenny delivery). The Commissioners were the late Lord Bessborough (then Lord Duncannon), Lord Taunton (then Mr. Labouchere), and the Duke of Somerset (then Lord Seymour). I need not say that their invitation was gladly accepted; my first examination took place on February 13th, 1837; and in my evidence I pointed out the principal defects, in the existing system of distribution within the London district.
The first was that the deliveries were too few and too slow; and the second, that all letters, whencesoever collected or whithersoever going, had, with some trifling exceptions, to be sent primarily to the central office in St. Martin’s-le-Grand. It will hardly be believed now that, by the combined effect of these two mal-arrangements, the time required for an interchange of letters within London itself was, on the average, little less than fifteen hours; while between London and Tottenham, the distance from the central office being under seven miles, and the road supplied with coaches passing to and fro at all hours of the day, the average was as high as nearly twenty-five hours.
In the way of remedies, I proposed, first, that the rate, supposing the postage to be prepaid, should be reduced from twopence or threepence to one penny; secondly, that the deliveries should be made hourly; the necessary facilities to be afforded by the establishment of district offices, and the combining in one body the two sets of letter carriers then employed,—the one in delivering the local, or, as they were called, the twopenny post letters, the others those arriving from without the district, which were called general post letters. These several improvements, I scarcely need say, have now been effected, though after long delay, to be hereafter explained.
Considering the comparatively small amount of reduction to be made on the district letters, leaving the postage, on the average, at nearly one-half of its existing rate, I did not estimate the consequent increase in number, even supposing all facilities to be afforded, at more than three-fold. I may observe, in passing, that it is now (1867) more than seven-fold.
For further facility I suggested that improvement in the nomenclature of streets which is now in progress; and I may here mention that as the suggestion was fruitless at the time, I took occasion at a later period, when the bill to establish the Board of Works was in hand, to obtain the insertion of the clause giving the requisite powers.