"MY DEAR MR. HILL,--The good fruits of improvement described in the Second Annual Report of the Postmaster-General, and especially in the section headed 'Staff of Officers,' are a rich reward to my brother Commissioners and myself for any assistance we may have given in producing them; and it is especially gratifying to know that the anticipated result of giving to this large body of public officers a higher interest in their profession, and an increased self-respect, and of bringing them more fully under the influence of the wholesome stimulants to human action, has been attained. We did what we could; but much the largest share belongs to Lord Canning and yourself, and Mr. Tilley[163] and your brother, and other distinguished officers of the department, who not only cordially co-operated with the Commissioners of Inquiry in framing the plan, but, what is far more difficult and important, _carried it into actual effect_ with characteristic firmness and prudence. "Sincerely yours, "C. E. Trevelyan. "ROWLAND HILL, Esq., "&c., &c., &c." My own strong feeling of the value of the improvement I find thus expressed a year and a half later:-- Extract from a letter to the Duke of Argyll, dated October 2nd, 1857:-- "While referring to Treasury authority in justification of the course adopted, I think it right to add that my own opinion is entirely in accordance with that authority; nay, that I am convinced that some of the more difficult improvements recently effected--that, for instance, which has already had so beneficial an effect on the London early delivery--could not have been accomplished under the old system of promotion." _Health._