It may not be amiss to remark here that this demand, which has often been repeated, is generally based on a false analogy. Penny postage, it is contended, is eminently successful at home, therefore it must needs succeed abroad; distance is not taken into account on land, therefore it need not be reckoned by sea; home letters have multiplied enormously under reduced rates in the United Kingdom, and the same result may be counted on in our correspondence with the most distant colonies. Here it is forgotten that before a penny postage was established at home it was ascertained that a penny charge was more than sufficient to defray all expenses, while no such proof has been given with regard to expenses abroad. Distance by land was not disregarded until it was shown that the variation in cost was far too small to be expressed in the lowest coin of the realm. Moreover, where very great distances are concerned, where in the nature of things answer is slow, multiplication of letters is but moderately affected by the lowering of rate. When contractors will undertake to carry letters to India or Australia for the same charge as to Glasgow or Aberdeen--starting at fixed times and proceeding at the highest practicable speed--ocean penny postage will become a practical question. Till then the consideration must, I fear, be postponed. On the subject of the deputation my Journal thus continues:-- "The Postmaster-General explained the intentions of the Government on the subject. The Treasury authority for the sixpenny rate has now been received; it postpones, however, the extension of the measure to any of the colonies till the necessary negotiations have been entered into with those not under our control." Here, too, it may be useful to touch on a popular misconception. It is commonly supposed that the Home Government can of its own authority make changes as regards colonial postage, whereas, save in some of the smallest colonies, such changes must await the consent of the Colonial Governments. "_March 5th, 1853._--The _Times_ of this morning contains an admirable leader on the above subject [the general reduction of Colonial Postage]. A little complaining at the hardship of charging a penny for carrying a newspaper to the antipodes must be forgiven." From this article I make the following extracts:--