_From a print of that date._] Such being the case for reform from a popular point of view, it was hardly less urgent from a departmental one. The Post Office had then, as it has now, a monopoly of conveying correspondence; but the high rates charged had driven people to various means of infringing that monopoly. There had arisen all sorts of illegal and clandestine enterprises for carrying letters at cheap rates. It had been proved before the Committee which considered Mr. Hill's scheme that five-sixths of the correspondence between London and Manchester had been smuggled for many years; one great firm having despatched sixty-seven letters by unlawful agency for every one that went through the Post Office. Between 1815 and 1835 the population had increased by thirty per cent., and the stage-coach duty by 128 per cent., yet the revenue of the Post Office had remained stationary. The proposed reduction from an average rate of sixpence farthing to one penny was certainly a startling one. The Committee above referred to had recommended an uniform twopenny rate, but Spring Rice told the House of Commons that he had become convinced that the loss to the revenue (for no practical man, except, perhaps, Rowland Hill himself, doubted that loss there must be) would be less from a penny rate. He estimated in his Budget the sacrifice at about £700,000. [Sidenote: Its remarkable Success.] The wildest enthusiasts can never have contemplated what have been the actual results as revealed by the Post Office returns of 1895-6. In 1837 there were 80,000 letters and 44,000 newspapers delivered through the Post Office in the United Kingdom--a total of 124,000 deliveries. In the twelve months of 1895-6 the returns show that the deliveries (exclusive of telegrams) amounted to the stupendous figure of 3,031,553,196, representing 2,248 times the volume of business transacted in 1837, and producing a nett profit of £3,632,122. Certain races of primitive savages, it is said, have never acquired the art of counting beyond two; everything beyond a pair being reckoned as "plenty." Such figures as those quoted above baffle even ordinary civilised powers of calculation; very few persons are able to apprehend the idea of a million; much less can they grasp the reality of growth represented in thousands of millions. Perhaps, the magnitude of the Post Office business at the present day can be best illustrated by its miscarriages. The value of property found in letters opened in the Returned Letter Offices in 1896 amounted to £580,000. [Illustration: GENERAL POST OFFICE--NEW NORTH BUILDING. This building, completed in 1895, is occupied by the official, financial, and clerical staffs of the Post Office.] [Illustration: {_From an Engraving._ HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN LEAVING WINDSOR CASTLE FOR THE REVIEW, September 28, 1837.