The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

1850] THE "TIMES." 153
clerks as a present means of relieving twenty times that number; and
he showed his reasons for anticipating that no measure could ulti-
mately be more effective in abridging Sunday labour altogether than
that now proposed. All this was in vain. He was, as our readers
know, decried, denounced, and stigmatized as a Sabbath-breaker and
apostate; although his very proposition was actually one .of a wellconsidered
series for diminishing Sunday labour throughout the
kingdom.
-
" Now, let the results be marked, for certainly never was popular
delusion more conspicuously displayed. To begin with the particular
incident complained of : Mr. Hill had always stated that the neces-
sity for the extra labour would be brief, whereas his assailants declared
that the expedient would inevitably tend to nationalize Sabbath-
breaking and demoralize the whole State. On Sunday, the 28th of
October, the additional force of twenty-five men was first employed ;
on the 6th of January following it was reduced to thirteen; on the
1 3th of the same month to three ; and on the very next Sunday it was
dispensed with altogether, having effected its objects within the space
of three months. So much for the '
evil' done. Now let us see what
good was brought by it.
" By the device" and execution of these measures five hundred and
seventy-six provincial post offices have experienced a total positive
relief of about seven and a quarter hours each Sunday, and upwards
of four thousand dependent offices have received a similar relief of
about seven hours. Estimated in relation to individuals, the effect
of the measures has been to give to five thousand eight hundred and
twenty-nine persons an average Sunday relief of five and three-quarter
hours each; that is to say, nearly six thousand people have been
relieved from nearly six hours' work every Sunday by the operation of
a scheme which was denounced as a deliberate encouragement to
Sabbath-breaking and profanity. Nor have the results ended here,
for, as if to complete the exposure, the new arrangements have
actually led to a discontinuance even of that existing labour which
they were described as augmenting in perpetuity. The Sunday force
regularly employed in the Post Office before the famous provisions of
Mr. Rowland Hill's scheme amounted to twenty-seven men. On the
first day of operations under the new system this, to the scandal and
horror of the public, was increased to fifty-two. To be sure some four
thousand or five thousand were relieved in other quarters by the
same regulation ; but this little compensation was altogether over-
looked in the great iniquity. But what followed ? Not only was this
additional force dispensed with in toto before three months had