POSTMASTERS-GENERAL, 1855 TO 1860.
LORD CANNING.
Towards the close of 1855 I learnt with extreme regret of the
approaching withdrawal of Lord Canning, just then appointed
Governor-General of India; my only consolation being the conviction
that in the high and arduous duties to which he was now called, the
great talents, high principles, strict conscientiousness, and unwearied
industry, with which I had happily been brought into such intimate
relation, would extend to a vast empire the benefits they had conferred
on a single department.
The close of his career as Postmaster-General was highly
characteristic. For some reason it was convenient to the Government
that he should retain his office until the very day of his departure
for the East. Doubtless it was expected that this retention would be
little more than nominal, or that, at most, he would attend to none but
the most pressing business, leaving to his successor all such affairs
as admitted of delay. When I found that he continued to transact
business just as usual, while I knew that he must be encumbered with
every kind of preparation, official, personal and domestic, I earnestly
pressed that course upon him, but in vain; he would leave no arrears,
and every question, great or small, which he had been accustomed
to decide, was submitted to him as usual, to the last hour of his
remaining in the country. Nor was decision even then made heedlessly or
hurriedly, but, as before, after full understanding. This was, however,
the easier to him because of his remarkable quickness of apprehension,
which enabled him to seize one's conceptions almost more rapidly than
they could be set forth; and I may add that with this happy quality he
combined the invaluable power of perceiving, as it were by intuition,
how ideas supplied for a special case might be made applicable to
general purposes.
Of his eminent services in India it is not for me to speak, but, as
an instance of attention to matters of detail, I may mention what I
afterwards learnt from Lord Elgin, that at the period of his greatest
labour and anxiety, viz., in the very height of the mutiny, he wrote
long minutes with his own hand. I had always remarked his very strict
attention to the precise wording of the papers he was called upon to
sign, and indeed often thought it overstrained; but I believe he had at
once an earnest desire that his exact meaning should be made clear, and
a most delicate perception of the difference produced by the slightest
variation of terms. In common with the whole world, I regarded his
premature death as a severe national calamity. He was earnest and
energetic in the moral reform of the Post Office, and, had his life
been longer spared, might perhaps have been the moral reformer of
India.[216]
DUKE OF ARGYLL.
I must not be supposed, however, to imply that the department was
unhappy in its new chief, since the Duke of Argyll showed in his office
powers not unworthy of his distinguished predecessor, combined with
equal diligence and equal conscientiousness. In him I found a no less
striking quickness of apprehension and promptitude in generalization,
while his facility in composition struck me with amazement. It would
sometimes happen that in a case where he deemed it indispensable to
reply to an application by an autograph letter, he received from me a
long and complicated verbal explanation, involving much of technicality
and detail, and then sat down and wrote off sheet after sheet, which,
when handed to me for perusal, showed that he had completely mastered
the subject, and had set it forth with admirable force and clearness.
This latter part of his performance was the more wonderful to me
because of my own deficiency; for I have always found the satisfactory
exposition of a new plan far more difficult than its device or its
elaboration.[217] I have only to add that I was sorry when his tenure
of office came to a close. He left what is, I believe, very unusual, a
written expression of regret at separation. His letter was as follows:--
"Post Office, February 27, 1858.
MY DEAR SIR,--I hope to see you on Monday at the Office, when I
shall probably introduce my successor to yourself and the assistant
secretaries.
"Meanwhile I must express to you my regret on account of the change
which removes me from official intercourse with you. I have had
much satisfaction in that intercourse. It is a great pleasure
to work in an office where every question is so thoroughly and
carefully considered as by you; and you have every reason to be
satisfied with the invaluable social benefits which you have been
the means of conferring upon the people through the Office with
which you have been so long connected.
"I am, my dear Sir,
"Yours very truly,
"ARGYLL."
LORD COLCHESTER.
Lord Colchester, who succeeded the Duke of Argyll on the change of
administration in March, 1858, I found an earnest and painstaking
man, diligent in the careful perusal of all minutes submitted to him,
and even of the enclosures (often dry and long) with which they were
necessarily accompanied; patient in listening to any suggestion,
however new, and to any details, however complicated; and ready to
adopt any improvement. Of all those under whom I served no one was
kinder in manner, or showed more consideration for the feelings of
others. Lastly, he had a positive detestation for every kind of job,
and never hesitated to resist pressure on this subject from whatever
quarter.
LORD ELGIN.
Of the high administrative powers of Lord Elgin, who entered office
in June, 1859, it would be quite superfluous to speak; suffice it to
say that I found him equally diligent, candid, and trustful with his
predecessor, and remarkably calm and dispassionate in his judgments. On
entering upon his office, he said he wished to explain what he thought
should be the relation between himself and me. In details he did not
intend to interfere at all, thinking that the head of a department
might better employ his time than in dealing with these; but, before
determining to go further, he had thought it his duty to make careful
inquiry as to whether I were a man on whose advice full reliance could
be placed, and being satisfied on that point, he intended to throw
the responsibility upon me--at least until he should have performed
the long, difficult, and perhaps impossible task of making himself
acquainted with the immense details of the department--by acting on my
recommendation on all points, save perhaps in some exceptional case,
where he should see strong reason to the contrary. Happily, to the best
of my recollection, no such exception ever occurred. I have only to add
that his kindness of manner accorded with the fulness of his confidence.
With 1859 closed the twentieth year since my entrance into the service
of the Government in relation to Post Office management; or, striking
out the years during which I had been excluded from my work, the
sixteenth of my actual service in that department. During this time,
as may be remembered, I had served under Mr. Baring and Mr. Goulburn
at the Treasury, Lord Clanricarde, Lord Hardwicke, Lord Canning, the
Duke of Argyll, Lord Colchester, and Lord Elgin, at the Post Office.
Whoever has followed me thus far will have perceived that my estimation
of my successive superiors, whether correct or otherwise, has varied
considerably; but I believe all will agree that I may justly regard
myself as having been, on the whole, very fortunate; as having had to
deal, for the most part, with great intelligence, zeal, and honour,
and as having met with almost unvarying courtesy and kindness, and
not unfrequently enjoyed firm and earnest support. I must add my full
belief that, had the power rested with my immediate superiors, I should
have escaped the long interruption to my tenure of office, and have
been spared the greater part of that protracted and exhausting contest
which undermined my health.
It was not, however, until the last year of this period that I began
to feel that permanent failure in strength which, combined with other
circumstances, compelled me five years afterwards to withdraw at
once and finally from my post. In this year (1859) after a careful
consultation on my case by three eminent medical men, it was laid
down that henceforth I must limit my days of work to four in the
week. Amidst anxiety on this point, however, I had the satisfaction
of believing myself pretty firmly established in public opinion, and
in the confidence of Government. Two years before I had, without
any movement whatever on my part, been elected a member of the
Royal Society, my recommendation being signed by the Duke of Argyll,
the Astronomer Royal, Sir Roderick Murchison, and several other
distinguished members; this honour being followed a year later by my
admission to that inner circle, the Royal Society Club. Later still,
viz., in 1867, I had the honour to be elected a member of the Council
of the Royal Society, though increasing infirmity soon compelled me to
withdraw.
Early in 1860,--the twenty-fourth year, I may observe, from that in
which my attention was first seriously turned to the reform of the Post
Office,--Her Majesty was pleased to confer upon me the honour of Knight
Commander of the Bath; an honour at once unsolicited and unexpected.
The first notification of this gracious intention was received in the
following letter from Lord Elgin, then Postmaster-General:--
"30th January, 1860.
"MY DEAR MR. HILL,--I beg leave to enclose for your perusal a note
which I have received from Lord Palmerston.
"Permit me at the same time to assure you of the great pleasure
which I experience in conveying to you this proof of Her Majesty's
appreciation of your distinguished services.
"Very sincerely yours,
"ELGIN AND KINCARDINE."
[_Enclosure._]
"94, Piccadilly, 30th January, 1860.
"MY DEAR LORD ELGIN,--I have much pleasure in informing you that
the Queen has been graciously pleased to approve of Mr. Rowland
Hill being made a Knight Commander of the Civil Order of the Bath.
"Yours sincerely,
"PALMERSTON."
By a pleasing coincidence, of which I was, however, at the moment quite
unaware, the honour of C.B. was conferred at the time of my formal
installation on one of my former pupils, Major Beecher, for important
services in India.
The close of the period which I have been describing found the
department in a highly satisfactory state. The various improvements
which had been effected since progress had become unembarrassed were
already producing very manifest results. The public convenience had
been in many ways promoted, and various arrangements for its further
extension were in steady progress; the revenue, already large, gave
every promise of continued increase; the numerous improvements in
relation to the health, comfort, and remuneration of the staff, and
above all the rule of promotion by absolute merit--modified only by
seniority in cases where merit was equal--now recognised as in full
force, had gradually diffused such a spirit throughout the department
as seemed to have secured vigorous and harmonious action. All, in
short, was working smoothly;[218] and I well remember the satisfaction
which Mr. Tilley, the senior Assistant Secretary, who up to this time
had uniformly given me earnest and efficient support, expressed at
the general state of the service, so different from what he had once
known; remarking that now every one seemed to do his duty as a matter
of course. I did not then foresee how serious a change was at hand. Of
this, however, I shall speak but very briefly.
LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY.
In February, 1860, there came upon me that severe illness of
which I have more than once spoken by anticipation; an illness
which, commencing with forty-eight hours of nearly continuous
insensibility,[219] not only confined me to my house and prostrated my
bodily strength, but, what was far worse, rendered me for a long time
quite incapable of any serious mental action, save by such spasmodic
effort as was at once both painful and injurious for the present,
and hazardous for the future. In short, I was compelled to be absent
from duty, with but little exception, and that only under imperative
necessity, for several months. Fondly believing that the peaceful state
just spoken of would endure, I did not anticipate any very serious
positive consequences from my absence, though, of course, I knew it
must delay the progress of improvement. Circumstances, however, proved
untoward. Lurking discontent was fanned into a flame by a breath from
without; and this, occurring during my disability--no accidental
coincidence, as I believe--gave opportunity for the revival of those
cabals, higher up in the office, which had so frequently interfered
with good order, and made improvement difficult. At this critical
period the office of Postmaster-General unfortunately became vacant,
by the appointment of Lord Elgin to the direction of our expedition
to China, and for a time there was a sort of interregnum, during
which the duties of the office were provisionally discharged by the
Duke of Argyll, who, however, had at the same time other demands on
his attention. When, at length, a permanent appointment was made, in
the person of Lord Stanley of Alderley, I had not the good fortune to
obtain from him that confidence and support which I had enjoyed with
his predecessors. I will not now dwell upon what followed. The facts
are upon record, and the time may come when it will be proper that they
should appear. Let it suffice for the present to say that I had to
oppose a fourth cabal, occurring, like its predecessors, at a period of
temporary weakness on my part; had again--and now without the support
from the head of the department which I had previously received--to
enter into contests--contests ever increasing in severity, which I
had no longer the strength to maintain; and that, after a series of
fruitless efforts, I found my health so grievously and hopelessly
impaired as to compel me seriously to consider the question of final
retirement from that important and almost absorbing task in which I had
so long been engaged.
Before proceeding, however, to the concluding part of my narrative I
must give some account of the improvements effected in the interim. Of
course, in a period of such difficulty the progress of improvement was
comparatively slow; and though the Department continued steadily to
advance in its fiscal results, and in its beneficial effects on public
convenience, this was due in a much higher degree to past reforms than
to changes made at the time.
It is due, however, to Mr. Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer,
to state that during these contests I had the advantage of his support
and countenance so far as he was able to exercise independent action,
and I received from him the following very gratifying letter:--
"11, Downing Street,
"Whitehall, Jan. 24, 1861.
"DEAR SIR R. HILL,--I have read your completed Minute, and though I
am to see you to-morrow, I must, without waiting, say I have read
it with a deep sense of pain, and some of shame, in reviewing what
has happened.
"If you are at present under odium for the gallant stand you make
on behalf of the public interests, at a period too when chivalry
of that kind by no means 'pays,' I believe that I have and I hope
still to have, the honour of sharing it with you.
"I hope you have sent your Minute to the Duke of Argyll.
"I am very thankful that you are once more at your post, and remain,
"Most truly yours,
"W. E. GLADSTONE."