For more than eight years, the people of Great Britain have enjoyed the
blessing of Cheap Postage. A literary gentleman of England, in a letter to
his friend in Boston, dated London, March 23, 1848, says—“Our Post Office
Reform is our greatest measure for fifty years, not only political, but
educational for the English mind and affections. If you had any experience
of the exquisite convenience of the thing, your speech would wax eloquent
to advocate it. With your increasing population, a similar measure must
soon pay; and it will undoubtedly increase the welfare and _solidarité_ of
the United States.”
Mr. Laing, a writer of eminence, said four years ago, “This measure will
be the great historical distinction of the reign of Victoria I. Every
mother in the kingdom, who has children earning their bread at a distance,
lays her head upon her pillow at night with a feeling of gratitude for
this blessing.”
An American gentleman, writing from London, in 1844, says, “It is hardly
possible to overrate the value of this [cheap postage] in regard to the
exertion of moral power. At a trifling expense one can carry on a
correspondence with all parts of the kingdom. It saves time, facilitates
business, and brings kindred minds in contact. How long will our
enlightened government adhere to its absurd system?”
The London Committee, who got up a national testimonial for Mr. Rowland
Hill, speak of cheap postage as “a measure which has opened the blessings
of free correspondence to the teacher of religion, the man of science and
literature, the merchant and trader, and the whole British nation,
especially to the poorest and most defenceless portion of it—a measure
which is _the greatest boon conferred in modern times on all the social
interests of the civilized world_.”
The unspeakable benefits conferred by cheap postage upon the people, are
equalled by its complete success as a governmental measure. The gross
receipts of the British Post-office had remained about stationary for
thirty years, ranging always in the neighborhood of two millions and a
quarter sterling. In the year 1839, the last year of the old system, the
gross income was £2,390,763. In the year 1847, under the new system, it
was £1,978,293, that is, only £413,470 short of the receipts under the old
system. A letter from Mr. Joseph Hume, M. P., to Dr. Thomas H. Webb, of
Boston, dated London, March 3, 1848, says, “I am informed by the General
Post-office, that the gross revenue this year will equal, it is expected,
the gross amount of the postage in the year before the postage was
reduced.” Mr. Hume also encloses a tabular statement of the increase of
letters, together with a copy of the Parliamentary return, made the
present year, showing the fiscal condition and continued success of the
Post-office. He sends also, a copy of a note which he had just written to
Mr. Bancroft, our Minister at the Court of St. James, as follows:
(COPY.)
Bry. Square, 2d March, 1848.
_My Dear Sir_,
I have the pleasure to send you the copy of a paper I have prepared, at
the request of Mr. Webb, of Boston, to show the progress of increase of
the number of letters by the post-office here, since the reduction of the
postage, and I hope it may induce your government to adopt the same
course.
I am not aware of any reform, amongst the many reforms that I have
promoted during the last forty years, that has had, and will have better
results towards the improvement of this country, morally, socially and
commercially.
I wish as much as possible that the communication by letters, newspapers
and pamphlets, should pass between the United States and Great Britain as
between Great Britain and Ireland, as the intercommunication of knowledge
and kindly feelings must be the result, tending to the promotion of
friendly intercourse, and to maintain peace, so desirable to all
countries.
Any further information on this subject shall be freely and with pleasure
supplied by, yours, sincerely,
(Signed) JOSEPH HUME.
His Excellency George Bancroft.