Following the 1 cent envelope came the 2 cent, being identical in every respect save the expressed value and color, and emanating from the same source as its two predecessors. The Report of 1899 gives the date of issue of this envelope as the 2nd January, 1899, and, as the corresponding value in the adhesive set was a deep violet, we should expect the envelope stamp to follow suit. This it did, but was almost immediately followed by an issue in bright red, because of the reduction of the domestic letter rate from 3 cents to 2 cents. It will be remembered that when Imperial Penny Postage was inaugurated on December 25, 1898, it was almost immediately announced that the internal postage in Canada would be reduced to the 2 cent rate on and from the 1st January, 1899. As the Postal Union requirements called for carmine as the color of the stamp for the domestic letter rate, the change from violet was necessary in the Canadian 2 cent stamp, but owing to the large stock of the violet stamps on hand and the surcharging of the 3 cent stamps down to 2 cent value, the change in color from violet to carmine did not take place in the adhesives for some eight months. Not so with the envelopes; the new 2 cent ones were about to be issued and had been printed to the amount of 10,000 in dark violet. But with the change in rates and therefore in color requirements, orders were given to print further supplies of the 2 cent envelope in red, and the latter color therefore appeared about a week after the violet stamp. We have gone thus into detail in the matter in order to make it evident why the violet stamp was so short lived, and why the change was made. This seems necessary because such a furor was created at the time, when it became known that the issue of violet envelopes was small, and speculation ran high; the Government was accused of speculating in them and of putting them in the hands of favored ones, and finally, as in the case of the alleged speculation in the Jubilee stamps, the matter came up in Parliament. The following is an extract from the official report of the debates in the House of Commons at Ottawa:[215]-- ISSUE OF STAMPED ENVELOPES. Mr. Hughes asked: 1. When will the present 2 cent purple stamped envelope cease to be issued, and the red issued in its place? 2. How many 2 cent purple envelopes were issued, and how many distributed? At what offices were they distributed, how many at each office? Are there any more to be distributed, and if so, where will they be distributed? 3. Is it the intention of the Government to issue an entire new set of stamped envelopes to replace those at present in use? If so, when? * * *