* * * * * *
But assuming that the facts are as I gather from the questions of the honourable gentleman, I do not see how those facts can place the Post Office under the necessity of calling upon the British public to do that which is quite impracticable.
* * * * * *
“Chairman.—What course has been taken?—The course which appears to have been taken is this, that the Post Office issued the notice I have read in the course of the last April, and that it was withdrawn almost immediately after, in consequence, as it appears to me, of the ridicule which the proceeding brought upon the Post Office.” [25]
The proceedings of the Committee, as I have already stated, were brought to a rather abrupt conclusion, so as to prevent, for the moment, an elaborate Report. Nevertheless the power to say enough to acquit both the Treasury and Post Office was obviously in the hands of the majority, had it felt warranted in such a course; or again, if the inquiry were judged incomplete, nothing could have been easier than to procure the reappointment of the Committee in the following session, and so to obtain abundant time for the formal acquittal of both departments, together with an equally complete condemnation of myself. Neither course, however, was taken. The Committee merely reported what it had done, regretted its inability, for want of time, to report its opinion, but gave the evidence and various correspondence, and entertained no doubt that both the Treasury and the Post Office would give my proposals the fullest consideration.[26] The reader must imagine for himself, if he can, the grounds on which the Committee had to rest when they expressed such confidence. All I need say here is, that I can point to but little in subsequent events to relieve his perplexity.
My pamphlet continued as follows:—
“In conclusion, I must repeat that if in this pamphlet I have limited my attention to portions only of the late evidence, the selection is made merely for brevity. It would be impossible, without extending these remarks to a most tedious length, even to touch upon all the points in debate. There is not a single one, however, I most emphatically declare, from the discussion of which I have the least disposition to shrink; nor, I maintain, a single material point on which my positions were shaken by the Post Office evidence—all apparent effect of the kind being referable to such misrepresentation, distortion, or suppression, however unwittingly employed, as has been exposed in these pages.
“Under these circumstances, what remains for me to do? So long as there is no opportunity of advancing the public benefit, and so long as the absence of all power relieves me in justice from all responsibility, it is my earnest wish to retire from labours so heavy as those in which I have now for many years been engaged;—to avoid conflicts which, though I have not shrunk from them when necessary, have always been repugnant to my feelings and remote from my habits of life;—and, if possible, to recruit that health which both these causes have seriously impaired.” [27]
The preparation of the pamphlet from which I have drawn the foregoing account could not, of course, begin until the appearance of the printed report of the Committee’s proceedings, which was not until more than three months after their close. The interim allowed me a period for needful rest, and was not quite without features of interest.
On September 7th I received a letter from the Spanish Minister in London, requesting information desired by his Government, with a view to the introduction of the postage-stamp into Spain. Such information I was, of course, most happy to supply; the more so as I felt that the very use of the stamp must involve a certain amount of uniformity, and, as a consequence, tend to low rates.