Chapter IX

[In the Summer of 1833, as has been shown, Rowland Hill had gone abroad for the benefit of his health. In the Prefatory Memoir to the History of Penny Postage, he thus carries down from that date the history of his life to the year when his great occupation first took strong hold of his mind.]

“I had spent some weeks in France, without, however, having
gone further than Orleans (travelling was slow in those days),
when an opportunity for such a change as I was revolving in my
mind happened to present itself. A project was forming for the
colonisation of the then unoccupied territory now called South
Australia, the prime mover being the late Mr. Edward Gibbon
Wakefield, with whom I had previously some acquaintance, and
who, indeed, had shown me a year before a prospectus of his
enterprise, in which, however, all places for names, whether
directors or officers, were then vacant. Meeting him now in
France, I was invited by him to join in the scheme, being also
assured that several men of high character and position had
already done so. His proposal was that, in the event of his
project being launched, I should be secretary in England; while
another gentleman, the late Mr. Gouger, was to be secretary
in the new colony. Though very unwilling to cut my holiday so
short, yet fearing that if I missed this opportunity I might
not soon find another equally promising, I determined on
accepting the offer, and went forthwith to my work.

“The change was obviously a very great one, and it was to be
seen how far my past training, if I may apply the term to
what was in so large a degree fortuitous, had fitted me for
the duties that now devolved upon me. Necessity had taught
me diligence, punctuality, and perseverance; and combined
with inclination, and perhaps some natural aptitude, it had
cultivated in me the power and habit of invention, created a
certain versatility, and armed me with boldness to surmount
obstacles, to disregard mere conventionalisms, and to feel and
exercise a certain independence of spirit. I had also been
led to acquire a power of influencing and directing others,
and of holding subordinates to responsibility. In my new
occupation all these powers and habits were to find abundant
exercise; and the question naturally arises in my mind whether,
considering all that lay before me, the course of circumstances
by which they had been formed or strengthened was not more
fortunate than the training which would have been given by
a more premeditated and systematic mode of proceeding, with
ample means at command. Had I been more regularly prepared for
the profession I was leaving, should I have been equally able
to perform what I afterwards accomplished, or indeed equally
fitted to make those improvements in school management of which
I have already spoken, and which, however trivial some of
them may appear in these more advanced days, were at the time
decided and even bold innovations?[80]

“Before going on to my proceedings in reference to the South
Australian Association, I will, for the sake of convenience,
mention two passages which occurred in the midst of them;
and here I will take the liberty to remark that, though I
had ceased to take part in formal education, I nevertheless
bore the general object constantly in mind, and made all my
subsequent efforts more or less subservient thereto.

“In the year 1834 I took, with others, an active part in
proposing that total abolition of the stamp duty on newspapers
which was effected about twenty-five years later: and I
endeavoured to show, I still think correctly, that this might
be done with little or no loss to the revenue. It must be
remembered that there was then a heavy duty on advertisements,
and my expectation was that the field for advertising would so
increase, and thereby so multiply advertisements, as soon to
restore the whole fiscal produce of newspapers to its former
amount. In estimating the probable increase in the number of
newspapers, I applied a principle on which I subsequently
relied in reference to postal reform, viz., that the cheapening
of an article in general demand does not as a rule diminish the
total public expenditure thereon, the increased consumption
making up for the diminished price. Perhaps the actual state of
things (1869), though the matter is complicated by the repeal
of the advertisement duty, may be regarded as sufficient to
show that such expectation was not unreasonable. These views
I set forth when I went up in a deputation to the Chancellor
of the Exchequer; and the late Lord Monteagle, who then held
the office, not only did me the honour to listen with much
attention, but requested that he might be supplied with further
information on the subject—a request with which I complied as
soon as I could collect the necessary materials. The result, as
may be remembered, was not the total abolition, but a reduction
of the stamp duty, from about threepence-halfpenny (net) to one
penny; an excellent measure in itself, yet but feebly tending
to that recuperation for which I looked; since the retention
of any duty left a serious obstacle to the multiplication of
journals, a fact abundantly shown _e converso_ by subsequent
events. My argument on the subject will be found in full in the
‘Companion to the Newspaper’ for June 1st, 1834; where also,
I may observe, may be seen the first suggestion of stamped
covers, though not in relation to letters. The suggestion came
from the editor, Mr. Charles Knight, and was indeed in some
sort indispensable to the plan of total abolition, since the
unstamped newspapers would not be transmissible by post without
payment; and this, if made in money, would seriously add to the
trouble of transmission. Of course, adhesive stamps were as yet
undreamt of.

“In looking over the paper referred to, I find that, at the
time when I drew it up, London was the only town in Great
Britain which produced a daily newspaper; that there were but
six other towns with papers issued oftener than once per week;
only two of the six being in England, viz., Liverpool and
Canterbury.

“The other passage referred to is my addressing a letter
to Lord Brougham, in April, 1834, on the subject of pauper
education. The bill subsequently called the New Poor Law was
then in progress through Parliament, and the intended changes
seemed to me to afford an opportunity, not to be neglected,
for improving the education of pauper children, then for the
most part in a wretched state, the schoolmasters being very
frequently themselves paupers. To suggest this improvement was
the object of my letter.

“I pointed out that the union of parishes, combined with the
proposed classification of paupers (a design unfortunately
but very imperfectly realized), would bring together large
numbers of pauper children, and thus facilitate their
education. By reference to the report of the Commissioners,
I showed that children educated in workhouses became for the
most part paupers for life; while in the few parishes where
good education had already been established, few remained
chargeable beyond the age of childhood; that by making good
education general, one great source of pauperism would be
stopped; and that even as regarded immediate benefit, if
industrial occupation were introduced into the schools, the
expense of maintaining the children would be partly defrayed by
the results of their labour, while such occupation instead of
retarding would even promote their intellectual progress. After
urging some further considerations, I concluded by offering
any assistance that I could give in forming a complete plan.
Perhaps amidst Lord Brougham’s multitudinous duties he had no
attention to spare for the proposal; perhaps the difficulty
with which the actual changes were made, and the outcry long
maintained against them, may have indisposed Government to
any further innovation. But whatever may be the explanation,
I cannot avoid speculating on the amount of the benefit which
might by this time have resulted from the suggestion, had it
been adopted and efficiently worked. How much pauperism and how
much crime might have been prevented![81]

“To return now to the subject of South Australian Colonisation.
The main principles on which it was intended to proceed were,
first, that the colony should from its very establishment be
self-supporting (a condition hitherto unheard of); secondly,
that means should be taken to keep the colonists from that
dispersion which had so often produced grievous suffering and a
fearful mortality; thirdly, that no convicts should be admitted
into the colony; fourthly, that means should be taken for the
immigration of a sufficient number of free labourers; and,
lastly, that in the selection of these the numbers of the sexes
should be kept equal. It is only necessary to add that, with
a view to discourage dispersion and to supply an emigration
fund, the price of land was to be fixed comparatively high,
probably at one pound per acre. All these provisions will be
found embodied in the Act of Parliament eventually passed on
the subject (4th and 5th William IV., chap. 95).

“As I found Mr. Wakefield’s report relative to the high
character of the association fully supported by the facts, I
joined it with great satisfaction.

“Hoping to avoid the expense, difficulties, uncertainty, and
delay of an application to Parliament, the association applied
to the Colonial Secretary for a charter; which, however, was
refused, partly on the alleged ground of want of precedent.
As there was no remedy, we took the necessary measures for
carrying a bill through Parliament. But here the obstacles were
so many, that earnest and able as were those who undertook the
management of the bill, viz., Colonel Torrens, Mr. Whitmore,
and Mr. (now Sir William) Hutt, there would have been but small
chance of success without some one to take upon him, as it
were, the drudgery of the process. Such aid we were fortunate
enough to command in the person of my brother Matthew, who
had been elected to the first reformed Parliament as member
for Hull. By the joint efforts of all, the bill was at length
carried through both Houses.

“Commissioners to put the Act in execution were appointed by
the Crown, May 5th, 1835; the chairman being Colonel Torrens,
and Sir William Hutt and Sir John Lefevre being two of the
commissioners. To this body I was appointed Secretary. To
colonise, without any assistance from Government, an almost
unknown wilderness, was a sufficiently difficult task; but
the difficulties of the commission were increased by certain
stipulations which Government, doubtless a little uneasy at the
novel project of independent colonisation, had thought proper
to impose.[82] One of these was the preliminary investment
in Government securities of the sum of £55,000, £35,000 to
be produced by sale of land, and the remaining £20,000 to
be raised on the security both of further sales and of the
colonial revenue; the investment in full to precede the
exercise of any of the general powers and authorities under
the Act. As no surveys had yet been made, the province indeed
being very little known, and as even the site of the capital
could not yet be fixed on, compliance with such requirements
was obviously difficult, and the difficulty was increased by
the want of funds with which to pay preliminary expenses; but
by great effort the necessary means were secured before the
close of November in the same year,[83] And here, in justice,
it must be mentioned, that in the great work of founding the
colony, the Commissioners were materially assisted by the
formation of the South Australian Company, due mainly to the
exertions of Mr. G. F. Angas.

“Under all circumstances, however, the early surveying of the
land was very important; while, at the same time, economy
restricted the choice of surveyors mainly to those embarking
in the enterprise on other grounds. The selection having been
made, however, and the staff sent out, we hoped for the best;
but disappointment followed. The survey made slow progress,
and demands came home for such an increase of force as in
that early stage would have swamped the whole enterprise.
These, fortunately, my previous practice in surveying enabled
me successfully to oppose; but it was not until a new chief
surveyor had been sent out, in the person of Lieutenant (now
General) Frome, R.E., and a new governor with ampler powers
than his predecessor, that matters were at length put right.[84]

“The payments to ship-owners and ship-surgeons were regulated
by the number of emigrants conveyed; but as the occurrence
of births and deaths produced considerable variation during
the voyage, it became important to determine at what period
the number should be ascertained. I advised that this should
be done, not, as was customary, at the beginning of the
voyage, but at its close, so as to supply a strong motive to
the maintenance of the general health aboard ship. This plan
being adopted answered so well, that the number that arrived
in the colony often exceeded that recorded at departure; the
births on board having outnumbered the deaths. Not thinking
it well, however, to trust entirely to this arrangement, I
took, under authority of the Commissioners, every care to have
both ship and provisions effectually surveyed. On both points
a controversy frequently occurred which it may be well to
mention. I always took care that the requirements authorised by
the Commissioners should be emphatically urged on the attention
of the contractors, and constantly received assurance that they
were fully understood, and should be fully acted upon; but when
defects and blemishes were brought to light by the accuracy of
the survey, and the stipulated consequences enforced, an outcry
arose, as if the connection between promise and performance
were an unheard-of and most unwarrantable innovation. After
a time, however, as our practice became recognised, evasive
attempts grew rare, the first expense being found to be the
least.

“Another difficulty arose from unpunctuality in time of
sailing, the ships chartered to convey emigrants being too
often unprepared when the appointed day arrived. The first
means adopted to obtain punctuality was to stipulate for fines
in case of delay; but the artificial nature of this arrangement
rendered its maintenance difficult. Excuses were tendered,
often plausible, sometimes substantial, so that their rejection
was hard, while at the same time, whether the penalty were
enforced or remitted, the passengers by the particular ship
suffered all the inconvenience of delay. To remedy these evils,
the rule now established was, that whenever the day for sailing
arrived, whether the vessel were ready or not, the expense of
boarding and maintaining the emigrants was to be borne by the
ship-owners. This gave such a motive to punctuality that delay
became infrequent, while, at the worst, detained passengers
were relieved from all loss save that of time. I may add that
the combined effect of our precautions was that no emigrant
ship was lost, nor even sustained any serious accident.

“Yet further to expedite the despatch of emigrants, I procured
one additional arrangement. At this early period the sailing
of chartered ships being but monthly, the interval was
inconveniently long; so that persons who had made up their
minds to emigrate were often kept for two or three weeks
in that unsettled state which inevitably precedes a great
removal. To furnish intermediate opportunity, I induced the
Commissioners to give notice to ship-owners that if they
were willing to submit to the conditions imposed on vessels
chartered by the Commissioners, at the same time undertaking
the conveyance at the lowest rate yet tendered and accepted,
any unappropriated space should be occupied, in whole or in
part, by such emigrants as might be on hand.

“In short, the whole scheme—in which, however, I must admit
that my share was but subordinate—worked so well that in the
year when I withdrew from my connection with the colony, though
this was only the fourth year of the despatch of settlers,
the sales of land produced as much as £170,000, the number
of chartered ships being thirty-eight, and that of emigrants
upwards of five thousand.

“Subsequently, indeed, difficulties arose, serious indications
of which had appeared before I ceased to be secretary. The
expenditure in the colony, notwithstanding every precaution
taken at home, had begun to exceed the authorised estimates,
and this eventually compelled the Commissioners to seek aid
from the Government; the consequence being that the management
of the colony was in effect transferred to the Colonial
Office. The debt, however, then contracted was, I believe,
subsequently discharged, and if so, the colony may fairly
be said to have been from the first self-supporting, being
certainly the first, and perhaps the only, colony that could
claim that honour.

“As regards the political system of the colony, I may be
allowed to mention that when the Commissioners, in their third
annual report, recommended Government to grant it municipal
institutions, the recommendation included at my suggestion the
plan[85] which has been already spoken of[86] as devised by my
father many years before, and has recently been more known to
the world in connection with the name of Mr. Hare. This plan
was adopted at the time, though abandoned at a later period.

“As this secretaryship was my first public employment, and as
the estimation in which I was held at its close was important,
if not essential to my subsequent course, I may, perhaps, be
pardoned if I give here the letter in which my resignation
was acknowledged, and my services referred to. I have only to
add that, heavy as were my duties during the four years of my
secretaryship, and the year or two that preceded my formal
appointment to that post, I was also engaged, throughout the
whole period, at one or other of two arduous undertakings.
Of the former I shall speak presently; the latter was Postal
reform; my facts being collected, my plan devised, my pamphlet
written, and my case established before a parliamentary
committee, more than a year before I left my post.

“‘South Australian Colonisation Office,
“‘Adelphi Terrace,[87] September 27, 1839.

“‘SIR,—The Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia beg
to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 16th instant,
tendering your resignation as Secretary to their Board; an
appointment in the Treasury having been conferred upon you by
Her Majesty’s Government

“‘In communicating their acceptance of your resignation, and
in conveying to you their thanks for the zeal, energy, and
talent which you have uniformly displayed in the discharge of
your duties as Secretary, the Commissioners cannot forego the
satisfaction of recording their high appreciation of your
successful exertions, in systematising the general business
of the Commission, and in devising, framing, and carrying
into effect the arduous and complicated arrangements of the
Department of Emigration.

“‘Though sensible of the loss they have suffered in being
deprived of that combination of theoretical and practical
ability which you have manifested in conducting their business,
yet the Commissioners, while expressing their individual
regret, cannot withhold from you their sincere congratulations
upon the advancement you have obtained through the important
service which you have rendered to the public.

“‘I have the honour to be, Sir,

“‘Your most obedient servant,

“‘ROBERT TORRENS,
_Chairman of the Commission_.

“‘ROWLAND HILL, Esq. &c. &c. &c.’

“The former of my two interludes—if I may so style a piece of downright hard work—was an improvement of the printing machine, which I took in hand when it yet seemed doubtful whether the South Australian enterprise would yield me an income. My attention to the subject of printing, I may here observe, arose from my connection with the Useful Knowledge Society, then so actively engaged in promoting and cheapening popular literature.

“Every one knows that about twenty years before this period the process of printing, at least in the largest offices, had been almost revolutionized by the admirable machine invented in great part by the late Mr. Edward Cowper, afterwards Professor Cowper of King’s College, London; with whom, I may add, I became acquainted about this time, and whom to know was to regard and esteem. At the time when I turned my thoughts earnestly to the subject, the machines then in use (for by this time great improvements had been made in the original invention, partly by Mr. Cowper himself, partly by others, particularly by Mr. Applegarth), could throw off in the hour, instead of the two hundred and fifty single impressions, to which the Stanhope press, the best in previous use, was limited, eight hundred sheets thoroughly well printed on both sides, or four thousand of such quality as was admissible in newspapers, printed on one side.

“Meantime, however, an important improvement had been made in the manufacture of paper, viz., that of Fourdrinier; and it occurred to me that advantage might be taken of this to construct a printing machine capable of working at much higher speed. By Fourdrinier’s machine, as is well known, paper is produced, not in single sheets, as by the former mode, but in long scrolls, capable, I believe, of almost indefinite extension; and I perceived that by their use, one, and probably the only insuperable obstacle to a rotatory machine, was removed. I perceived also that such machine would have a double advantage; its greater speed being produced by a far smaller expenditure of power.

“The difficulties to be surmounted, however, were neither small nor few. The plan implied the necessity of attaching the types to a roller; which, again, involved a change in their form, and also devices to keep them firmly in place against the combined power of gravity and what is called, or rather miscalled, centrifugal force. Another difficulty regarded the supply and proper distribution of the ink, for which no interval could be left, as the process of printing off was to be absolutely continuous. As my invention was not practically adopted, and has been in a great measure superseded by later improvements, I forbear details, referring the curious either to my specification, which is dated August 12th, 1835, and numbered 6762; a printed copy of which may be procured at the Patent Office, or to the ‘Repertory of Patent Inventions,’ No. 35, where the machine is accurately and lucidly described.

“It is but just to record, that in giving my invention a practical shape, I was constantly and ably assisted by my brother Edwin, who, I may here add, afterwards became known as the originator of the machine for folding envelopes, which attracted so much attention at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Many of the minor parts, essential, however, to the efficient working of our printing machine, were of his device and construction, and in my necessary absence the work proceeded under his superintendence.

“At length, as is already implied, the machine was completed, and the patent secured. Its operation was repeatedly shown to members of the trade and others interested in the matter; the work produced, though at high speed, being pronounced beautiful, and that which is technically called the register accurate perhaps beyond parallel, while its action was so rapid that even when worked by hand it threw off double impressions of the size of the _Globe_ newspaper at the rate of eight thousand per hour, or nearly ten-fold the number produced at the same time by the reciprocating machine; nay, more, during this very process it could concurrently throw off eight thousand single impressions from each of its two rollers; thus making up thirty-two thousand single impressions in all.

“It remains to be explained why the invention never came into general use.”

[It was Sir Rowland Hill’s wish that the passage which next followed in the Prefatory Memoir should be enlarged. He was not well enough himself to make the additions which he desired, but he supplied his son, Mr. Pearson Hill, with the necessary information and documents. After suggesting in a manuscript marginal note the changes which should be made, he added: “I leave this in my son’s hands, who will best know how to deal with it.” Mr. Pearson Hill has accordingly supplied me with the following statement:—]

“The practical difficulties to the employment of the machine
for the printing of newspapers—the work for which it was
especially fitted—were all in a fair way of being removed. A
provisional contract, which is still in our possession, had
even been entered into with certain parties to provide my
father with the means of rapidly casting curved stereotype
plates, similar to those now used for printing newspapers, when
he found himself face to face with what proved an insuperable
difficulty on the part of the Stamp Office.

“In those days, and indeed for many years after, newspapers
were charged with Stamp Duty. By the requirements of the Inland
Revenue Department, every separate sheet on which a newspaper
was printed had to bear an impressed stamp—the separate sheets
being sent to the Stamp Office to be so impressed, and then
returned to the various newspaper printing offices ready for
use.

“This necessity for cutting the paper into separate sheets
before printing, of course, was absolutely inconsistent with
printing the newspaper from a continuous scroll. My father
applied, therefore, to the Treasury to make arrangements to
allow the stamp to be affixed by machinery as the scroll passed
through the press (as was indeed done years afterwards), but
his request was refused.[88] This decision on the part of the
Treasury deferred for something like five-and-thirty years the
introduction of the present rotatory printing-press.

“The following is a copy of his memorial to the Treasury, and
of the answer that he received:—

To

_The Right Honorable the Chancellor of the Exchequer_.

The Memorial of

ROWLAND HILL.

Sheweth,

That your Memorialist has recently obtained His Majesty’s
Letters Patent for certain improvements in the method of
letter-press printing by machinery, the object of which
improvements, besides considerable economy, is a very
greatly increased speed in the printing of newspapers, but
which object cannot be fully realized unless a change can
be permitted in the manner of impressing the Government
Stamp upon the newspapers printed by his machines, inasmuch
as it is an important part of his plan to make use of the
paper, not in separate sheets but in very long scrolls,
_i.e._, in the state it is first produced by the modern
paper-making machines, each long scroll as it passes
rapidly through the printing-machine receiving a series of
repetitions of the letter-press.

Further that

Your Memorialist’s

apparatus is so constructed that one complete impression,
and no more, is produced by one revolution of the machine,
since the types necessary to the printing of a complete
impression are arranged around a cylinder, whose surface
is by the said types, with the addition of proper marginal
spaces, wholly covered, so that each revolution of this
cylinder gives exactly one impression.

Also

That the Government Stamp could readily be attached to
the printing cylinder of your Memorialist’s machine, so
that each revolution of the cylinder giving an impression
of the type, should necessarily give an impression of the
Stamp also; and that there are contrivances well known to
machinists, and extensively used by them, by which the
number of turns made by a machine can be recorded without
chance of error or possibility of fraud. The Gas Meter is
the most familiar instance, and upon its accuracy the Gas
Companies stake their important interests without doubt or
hesitation.

That

Under these circumstances your Memorialist ventures to
hope that in the Bill now before Parliament for the
consolidation of the Stamp Acts, a power may be given to
the Commissioners of Stamps to make such arrangements as
they may deem advisable for affording to your Memorialist
and to the Public the advantages which the use of his
improved printing machine offers.

Your Memorialist takes the liberty to enclose the draft of
a clause for consideration.

COPY OF ENCLOSURE.

178.—And whereas it is expedient that no obstacle should
be presented to the introduction of improvements in
machinery for printing newspapers; and that to this end it
is desirable that a provision should be made for allowing
newspaper stamps to be affixed to the paper before it is
cut up into separate sheets: Be it therefore enacted, That
it shall be lawful for any printer of newspapers to stamp
his own paper (either as it passes through the printing
machine, or in such other way as he may prefer), provided
he can satisfy the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes that
no danger of a fraud on the Revenue will arise in his case.

COPY OF REPLY.

Treasury Chambers, 18th June, 1836.

SIR,

Having laid before the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s
Treasury your Memorial praying that a Clause may be
inserted into the New Stamp Bill, allowing the printers of
newspapers themselves to impress the necessary Stamps on
their papers, I am directed to acquaint you that My Lords
cannot comply with your request.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

A. G. SPEARMAN.

Mr. Rowland Hill, 2, Burton Crescent.

“It may not be without interest to the public to show how
easily ‘insuperable’ official objections can be overcome, when
those who raise them desire it. Many years afterwards, when
the proprietors of a London newspaper were making improvements
in their printing machinery, and required the very facility
for which my father had vainly contended, the Board of Inland
Revenue, as I am told, on looking into the Act of Parliament
on the matter, found that though the printing of the impressed
stamp at the same time as the rest of the newspaper was clearly
illegal, the only parties who could proceed against any
newspaper proprietor so offending were the Commissioners of
Inland Revenue themselves. Now as the Commissioners had made
up their minds to allow the change, not only was an intimation
given to the proprietors of the newspaper in question that they
would not be interfered with, but the officers of the Stamp
Office—Mr. Edwin Hill especially—gave most valuable assistance
in devising the means of carrying out the improved (though
decidedly illegal) arrangement.

“I may add that at the Caxton Exhibition in 1877, a copy
of my father’s patent, as well as a type cylinder, inking
apparatus, and such other portions of his printing machine as,
after a lapse of forty-two years, could be got together, were
exhibited, and are now to be seen by any one interested in the
matter in the South Kensington Museum.”

[Though the employment of his printing machine for newspaper work was rendered impossible by the obstacle described above, it might still have been available for other purposes, had he been able to give it his attention. He thus continues his narrative:—]

“It was about this time that I began to entertain distinct
hopes, however slight as yet their foundation, of employment
in relation to postal affairs; and as usual in cases of
great difficulty, I consulted my father and my brothers on
the subject of future proceedings. I represented that I
found myself unable to continue my duties in relation to the
Australian Commission, and, at the same time, both to take
effectual means for establishing the success of the printing
machine, and to labour efficiently at my project for postal
reform. Here was grave matter for consideration, the invention
having already cost a large amount of labour, spread over a
whole year, from both my brother and myself, besides £2,000
in hard cash; while, on the other hand, postal prospects, in
which every one present took a deep interest, all having
indeed already laboured with me in the cause, were regarded as
promising. It was inquired whether my brother, who had thus
far assisted me in the printing machine, could not himself
carry the matter to completion; but unhappily his health was
at that time in too depressed a state to leave any hope that
he could alone surmount obstacles so formidable. Here I may
remark that, at one time or other, every member of our family
has fallen, at least once in his life, through excessive labour
and anxiety, into severe, protracted, and even dangerous
illness—illness involving consequences which nothing but our
unshaken union could have enabled us to support. After long and
careful consideration, they concurred in advising that the Post
Office should be preferred to the printing machine; and as this
recommendation seconded my own opinion, I decided to act upon
it.

“I have only to say, in conclusion, that a printer of the
highest standing in his trade, induced, I suppose, partly by
what I had done in this matter, partly by a general knowledge
of my antecedents, offered me in 1839 a very advantageous
partnership,[89] which I should certainly have accepted, but
that it would have involved my refusal of the offer which
Government had just then made me, viz., of a post in the
Treasury for the prosecution of my plan of postal reform.”[90]

[This account of Rowland Hill’s printing-press may be well brought to an end by the following extract from a letter which he wrote to his wife on July 17th, 1835:—]

“I have a good account to give of the printing machine. We have
now completed the single machine, and the night before last we
gave it a trial. It worked better than I hoped even, and fully
established, I think, the correctness of the views we have
entertained. Miss D——, who left for Birmingham this morning,
has taken with her the scroll of paper which was printed....
It will be forwarded to you. I need not ask you to take care
of it, and to return it when you come back to me. Some day or
other it may be a great curiosity.”