[Illustration: _J. A. Vinter._} { _National Portrait Gallery._
Originator of the system of uniform Penny Postage with prepayment by stamps.]
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE GENERAL POST OFFICE AT THE TIME OF THE INTRODUCTION OF PENNY POSTAGE.]
Mr. Warburton and Mr. Wallace were the two members of Parliament who most warmly advocated the project of Rowland Hill. But credit is due to the courage shown by Mr. Spring Rice, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who, in the face of a deficit of three-quarters of a million, was bold enough to adopt the scheme and make provision for it in his Budget. Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Goulbourn criticised the proposal mainly on the ground that it involved a risk of loss to the revenue which ought not to be incurred in the existing state of the finances; but on a division the resolution was carried by a majority of 102, and the Bill carrying it into effect subsequently passed without a division. This reform, the offspring of the genius of an obscure mathematical teacher, and so modestly brought to light, has since been adopted by every civilised community in the world. To realise the boon thereby conferred on commercial and general intercourse it is only necessary to recall the postal regulations in force in Great Britain previous to 1839. Letters could not be prepaid; the charge for postage varied according to distance, and also according to the weight, shape, and size of letters. Thus, a letter posted in London for Brighton cost the recipient a fee of eightpence; the rate from London to Aberdeen was 1_s._ 3-1/2_d._, and to Belfast 1_s._ 4_d._ No wonder, then, that, in a time of expanding trade, the Chancellor of the Exchequer found himself supported in his proposal by countless petitions from commercial centres in favour of cheaper postage. But there was more than this: there was the flagrant injustice of the system of official franks. Members of the Government and of Parliament had the privilege of free postage, not only for their own letters but for those of their friends by simply writing their names on the cover. This privilege had grown to the dimensions of a gross abuse; people who enjoyed the friendship of a Minister were not the least shy of pestering him for franks; the revenue was defrauded, and those who were least able to bear the cost had to pay a high fee in order to recoup the Department for the loss on letters written by wealthy people.