The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

1850] MR. MATTHEW FORSTER. 149
said I will merely remark that justice, gratitude, and
sympathy for my suffering friend, combined to draw
from me my best efforts. On the following day,
after inspecting the post office both at Greenock and
Glasgow, I set out on my return, very agreeably
with which I had
disappointed in the expectations
gone forth. I must not close this account without
mentioning that the result of the subscription was
the purchase of an annuity of ^500 for Mr. Wallace's
life.
On the i Qth of the month the question of the total
abolition of Sunday duty was shortly discussed in the
House of Lords ; Lords Malmesbury, Clanricarde,
and Brougham speaking against the measure, while
the Bishop of Oxford and Lord Harrowby spoke
cautiously in its favour. On the same day my friend
Mr. Matthew Forster, at my request, moved in the
Commons for the several reports on the question of
Sunday duty. To this motion the Government at
once acceded. I cannot mention Mr. Forster without
adding
that the friendliness which he had shown me
from my first acquaintance
with him continued with
steady increase to the end of his life ; that, in short,
I stand indebted to him and to his family for much
kindness and much valuable aid.
Two days later, the Postmaster-General having
offered to a deputation from Edinburgh a Parlia-
mentary Committee on the subject, this proposal (at
the recommendation of the Secretary to the Lord's
Day Society) was declined ; a conclusive proof of
conscious weakness.
" April loth. This morning's Herald contains an account of a
meeting at Exeter Hall to petition for total abolition. Few men of
weight appear to have been present, and the whole proceedings were
in a subdued tone. One of the speakers, in describing what I have