The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the History of Penny Postage, Vol. 1 (of 2)Hill, Rowland, Sir
History
The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the History of Penny Postage, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Hill, Rowland, Sir
Hill, Rowland, Sir, 1795-1879; Postal service -- Great Britain -- Rates
At an early hour, we were at work, I writing from his dictation. When
the letter was completed, I returned to town by the first conveyance,
reaching home in the middle of the night. The following is my brother’s
letter. I need not apologize for its insertion in full:—
“Leicester, Sept. 12, 1839.
“DEAR ROWLAND,—Before I give you my opinion, I think it better
to prevent the possibility of misapprehension, by putting in
writing the heads of what you have reported to me as having
occurred at the interview between the Chancellor of the
Exchequer and yourself on Tuesday, respecting your proposed
employment by the Government in carrying your plan of Post
Office reform into operation.
“You state that Mr. Baring, having regard to what had been
arranged between Lord Monteagle and himself, offered to engage
your services for two years for the sum of £500 per annum;
you, for that remuneration, undertaking to give up your whole
time to the public service. That on your expressing surprise
and dissatisfaction at this proposal, the offer was raised to
£800, and subsequently to £1,000 per annum. You state that
your answer to these proposals was, in substance, that you
were quite willing to give your services gratuitously, or to
postpone the question of remuneration until the experiment
shall be tried; but that you could not consent to enter upon
such an undertaking on a footing in any way inferior to that
of the Secretary to the Post Office. You explained, you say,
the object which you had in view in making this stipulation—you
felt that it was a necessary stipulation to insure you full
power to carry the measure into effect.
“I have carefully considered the whole matter in all its
bearings, and I cannot raise in my mind a doubt of the
propriety of your abiding by these terms; and I will set down,
as shortly as I can, the reasons which have occurred to me to
show that the course you have taken was the only one really
open to you.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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