The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

394 LIFE OF SIR ROWLAND HILL. [1864
Upon receiving Mr. Gladstone's reply
I wrote to
the Treasury a letter in which I requested attention to
the point in I question. also enclosed a memorandum
the facts of the case. Both documents
recapitulating
will be found in the Appendix (N). My object in
marking as " Immediate " the letter containing the
above memorandum was that it might be laid before
Parliament as soon as possible after the publication of
the unfortunate error which it was intended to correct ;
and more particularly that this might be done before
the Easter holidays, then close at hand. This point
Mr. Gladstone was kind enough to secure ; and in a
few days my letter, with the memorandum, appeared
in the public papers. Moreover, he assured me,
in a private letter, that it was not intended in the
Treasury minute to put a negation on my claim to
originality.
Lord Palmerston's notice relative to a pension to
my wife produced a good deal of discussion amongst
my friends ; and owing to their earnest advice an
address from Lady Hill to the Queen was prepared,
and a communication made to Lord Palmerston on the
subject. A meeting was then held, and arrangements
were made for postponing further proceedings in
Parliament till after Easter. With these and the
after proceedings connected with the Parliamentary
grant, except as to my unavoidable correspondence
with Mr. Moffatt, I took no part whatever, but left the
matter entirely in the hands of my friends.* The
purport of Lady Hill's address to the Queen was to
* In Sir R. Hill's Journal for June 23rd there is the following entry : " Received
a letter from Mr. Joseph Parkes, giving a brief account of the negociations with
Government on the subject of the Parliamentary grant, in which he states that a
Baronetcy, in lieu of the grant, was offered, but declined by my friends. This is
the first intimation I have had of the kind. Wrote to say that I fully confirm the
views taken by himself and Mr. Forster as to the Baronetcy. "
ED.