The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

2l6 LIFE OF SIR ROWLAND HILL. [1853
invitation to office in 1846, my stipulation as to assurance
of sufficient authority, the promises given me on
this point and the expectation of speedy promotion held
out, my own reluctance to accede to office without a
more material guaranty, and my concession to the
opinion of my friends, in particular Mr. Warburton,
Lord Overstone, Mr. Hawes, and Mr. Raikes Currie.
After observing that even Lord Clanricarde's kind-
ness and confidence had failed to counteract the
radical badness of the arrangement, I proceeded as
follows :
" Looking then back upon the events of the six years during which
my promised promotion has been delayed, I feel bound to state that,
if in December, 1846, I could have foreseen what has occurred, I
could not have accepted the offer then made, nor do I believe that
under like circumstances my friends would have advised me to the
step."
After speaking of the improvements effected by my
brother and myself in the Money Order Department,
and showing that this success established the probability
of improvement under the same management
in the Post Office generally, I mentioned that, owing to
the rapid augmentation in the number of letters, no
doubt was entertained in the department that in a
short time a most expensive outlay, probably not less
than half-a-million, would be required for a new post
office, a necessity which I did not doubt might, under
better arrangements, be averted for years,
if not removed
altogether.
I grounded my expectation on the
fact that under the management of my brother and
myself a similar and yet more pressing necessity had
been so averted in the Money Order likewise pointed out
I
Department.
that, even supposing a new
building to be afterwards necessary, it was important
that its erection should be delayed until the carrying of