On the following morning, before proceeding to Greenock, I paid a visit to the large ship-yard of Messrs. Napier, employing several hundred men. When I was about to leave, the foreman of a gang of workmen busily employed in constructing a large iron vessel came forward and demanded in a loud voice, "Three cheers for Rowland Hill;" a call responded to by what seemed to my gratified ears a unanimous shout. Thus encouraged, I went to Greenock. The meeting was held in a large church, the chairman occupying the pulpit; a usual arrangement, as I was assured, in Scotland. On rising to speak I was received, so said the newspapers, "with enthusiastic applause;" the same being repeated when I sat down.[75] Of what I said I will merely remark that justice, gratitude, and sympathy for my suffering friend, combined to draw from me my best efforts. On the following day, after inspecting the post office both at Greenock and Glasgow, I set out on my return, very agreeably disappointed in the expectations with which I had gone forth. I must not close this account without mentioning that the result of the subscription was the purchase of an annuity of £500 for Mr. Wallace's life. On the 19th of the month the question of the total abolition of Sunday duty was shortly discussed in the House of Lords; Lords Malmesbury, Clanricarde, and Brougham speaking against the measure, while the Bishop of Oxford and Lord Harrowby spoke cautiously in its favour. On the same day my friend Mr. Matthew Forster, at my request, moved in the Commons for the several reports on the question of Sunday duty. To this motion the Government at once acceded. I cannot mention Mr. Forster without adding that the friendliness which he had shown me from my first acquaintance with him continued with steady increase to the end of his life; that, in short, I stand indebted to him and to his family for much kindness and much valuable aid. Two days later, the Postmaster-General having offered to a deputation from Edinburgh a Parliamentary Committee on the subject, this proposal (at the recommendation of the Secretary to the Lord's Day Society) was declined; a conclusive proof of conscious weakness. "_April 10th._--This morning's _Herald_ contains an account of a meeting at Exeter Hall to petition for total abolition. Few men of weight appear to have been present, and the whole proceedings were in a subdued tone. One of the speakers, in describing what I have done, spoke of it as a step in the right direction. Their resolutions, of course, contain various misrepresentations."