“It is with great concern I hear the state of your health is such as to prevent you from resuming your duties.
“I enclose a copy of the letter I have sent to the Treasury on the subject of your resignation, which expresses my opinion of the great value of your services, and I have only again to assure you how sensible I am of the loss which the Department has sustained, and of my sincere regret at the cause of your retirement.”
The enclosure was as follows:—
“4th March, 1864.
“My Lords,—I have received a communication from Sir R. Hill, together with a medical certificate, from which it appears that he has derived no benefit from his leave of absence; and that the state of his health is such as to render it unsafe for him to resume his duties; and in which I am informed that he has already forwarded his resignation of the office as Secretary of the Post Office.
“Under these circumstances, I have no choice left but to accept his resignation; but I cannot do so without expressing my regret that the country should be deprived of the services of this distinguished public servant.
“For the introduction of penny postage alone—a measure which, in itself, and in all its ramifications, has conferred such vast benefits on all classes of the community, and with which the name of Sir Rowland Hill will ever be identified—he deserves the gratitude of his country—indeed of the civilized world, which, no doubt, will not be niggardly expressed.
“But it is rather my province as Postmaster-General to state simply the high opinion I entertain of the able manner in which Sir Rowland Hill, so long as his health permitted, performed his duties in this Department, and feeling satisfied that your lordships will concur with me, I have no hesitation in recommending you to grant him at once a retiring allowance equal to his full salary, a step which the Superannuation Act enables you to take.”
My reply, written on the same day, was as follows:—