[108] “Fifth Report,” p. 16.
[109] “July 26th, 1853.—Called at Euston Square and saw Huish and Bruyères on the subject of a swift mail to the North. My notion is to run a train with only one or two carriages in addition to those required for the mail, and to stop only once in about forty miles.”
“July 28th.—Called again at Euston Square, and . . . proposed forty miles an hour, including stoppages, thus reaching Edinburgh by 7 a.m.”—Sir R. Hill’s Journal.—Ed.
[110] “It was said to old Bentley, upon the attacks against him, ‘Why, they’ll write you down.’ ‘No, Sir,’ he replied; ‘depend upon it, no man was ever written down but by himself.’”—“Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides.” 4th Edition, p. 280.—Ed.
[112] The newspaper stamp duty was finally abolished in 1870.—Ed.
[113] About five weeks earlier I find the following entry in Sir R. Hill’s Journal:—“May 30th, 1853.—Again pressed on the Postmaster-General the unfairness of transferring to the Post Office (as I fear is intended) the existing contracts for the Packet Service. . . . I fear the injustice will be committed nevertheless, Sir James Graham, who generally contrives to have his own way, having made up his mind to the thing with a view, I suspect, to give an appearance of retrenchment in the Admiralty expenditure.”—Ed.
[114] “Report,” p. 4.
[115] Lord Hardwicke would seem to have had a strong dislike to the book-post, to judge from the following entry in Sir R. Hill’s Journal:—
“June 15th, 1853.—Breakfasted with Chevalier Bunsen. He promises to urge on his Government the adoption of the Book-post. He told a characteristic anecdote of Lord Hardwicke. At the time Lord H. was Postmaster-General, Chevalier Bunsen met him at the Queen’s Drawing Room, where, it seems, if people talk at all, it must be in a low tone of voice. Lord Hardwicke asked what Chevalier Bunsen thought of ‘Hill’s Book-post,’ expressing his own dislike of the measure. Chevalier Bunsen defended it, on which Lord H. became excited, and talked so loud that the Queen despatched an attendant to point out to him that, if he wanted to converse, there was an adjoining room convenient for the purpose.”—Ed.