FOOTNOTES:
[130] Life of Sir James Graham. By Mr. T. MacCullagh Torrens, vol. ii.
[131] Postmaster-General's First Report, p. 35.
[132] So late as the year 1842, a letter posted at any London receiving-house after two in the afternoon was not delivered at Islington until the next morning.—Postmaster-General's Second Report.
[133] See Address by the late Mr. Robert Stephenson on his election to the Presidency of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1855, given in the Appendix to the larger edition of Mr. Smiles' Life of George Stephenson, and also a reply to it from the Inspector-General of Mails.—Postmaster-General's Second Report, pp. 45-55.
[134] Appendix to Postmaster-General's Second Report, p. 51.
[135] Fifth Report, Appendix, pp. 43-8.
[136] During the progress of one of these negotiations the following memorandum, written by Mr. Bancroft, American Minister, is so characteristic of his people that we are tempted to amuse our readers with its reproduction entire.—Postmaster-General's First Report, Appendix, p. 83. "Approved as far as 'the rate for sea.' What follows is superfluous and objectionable. Make your rates (England) to your colonies and possessions, and foreign countries, what you please, high or low, one sea-rate or a dozen, or none at all; one inland rate or a dozen, or none at all. What your people pay we are willing to pay, but not more, and vice versâ. Our security is, that we pay what your people pay from the same place for the same benefit, and vice versâ."
[137] In America letters are certainly carried much greater distances, at the uniform charge of three cents, than with us for a penny; but it must be borne in mind that there are no official deliveries of letters in the United States.
[138] It is possible that this useful measure may be delayed. However it is, the Post-Office machinery is ready for this incidental application, and it is surely thrifty to make the most of available resources, though they may have been originally provided for very different purposes.