The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

APPENDIX N. 493
MEMORANDUM.
A low and uniform rate of postage forms the most essential
feature of my plan of postal reform, and I have no hesitation in
stating that its conception originated wholly with myself. To guard
against future error I ask permission to place on record a brief
statement of facts.
The principle of uniformity of rate, now that it has been in
successful operation for nearly a quarter of a century, appears,
perhaps, simple and obvious; but so far from its having been, as
it is sometimes supposed, the happy thought of a moment, it was
the result of most laborious investigation on my part. Indeed, a
slight consideration will show that its conception necessarily involved
a previous discovery viz., that the cost per letter of mere transit
within the limits of the United Kingdom was practically inappre-
ciable, or, at least, that it was not dependent mainly on distance ;
being, in fact, quite as much dependent on the number of letters
contained in the particular mail as on the distance that mail was
carried. Indeed, it was shown, from careful investigation, that the
cost of mere conveyance, even for so great a distance as from
London to Edinburgh, was only the thirty-sixth part of a penny per
letter. From this and other facts, it followed that a uniform rate
was more just than one varying according to distance. The con-
venience of uniformity was obvious.
I may add that when I first entered on the investigations pre-
paratory to the construction of my plan, I myself had no conception
of the practicability of a uniform rate, and that the discovery referred
to above was as startling to myself as it proved when
announced to the public at large.
A reference to my original pamphlet a copy of which is, I
presume, still in your Lordships' possession or to my evidence
before the Select Committee of 1838, appointed to inquire into the
practicability of my plans, will show the various steps by which I
arrived at the conclusion that a uniform penny rate was at once just
and practicable.
There is but one other person, so far as I am aware, to whom the
suggestion of a uniform penny rate has, with even the slightest
plausibility, ever been assigned I refer to the late Mr. Wallace,
formerly Member for Greenock, and Chairman of the Select Committee
on Postage in 1838; but though Mr. Wallace frequently
urged, among other useful reforms, a great reduction in the postal
charges, I can say from personal knowledge that he had no idea