The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

52 LIFE OF SIR ROWLAND HILL. [1847
thought it necessary that they
should be issued under
the signature of Colonel Maberly. With the Post-
master-General's consent, the document subsequently
appeared in the newspapers. Of the Reports called
for by this circular, about one-half were received
within six months, and these gave information as to
the state of things in about one hundred and twenty
of the largest provincial towns. They showed all
sorts of anomalies, though not quite
so much room
for improvement as I had expected. I was convinced,
however, that the very issue of the circular had caused
considerable improvements to be at once made. My
progress, nevertheless, continued to be clogged with
difficulties :
''February 3rd. The present arrangements do not work well in
some important particulars. I have no ready means of learning
what is being done in Maberly's department, in consequence of
which we sometimes play at cross purposes, and there is much
delay. ... At the risk of being considered '
impracticable,' I
must try to put things on a different footing."
"February 6th. I feel very uneasy at the slow progress made,
but, circumstanced as I am, it is impossible to go faster."
My moral difficulties found a physical parallel :
"February 8th. Returning to Brighton [where I still continued
to
live] by the 5 p.m. express train, was stopped by a sudden snow-
storm. With two engines we were three and a-half hours in advancing
three miles from Three Bridges. We came to a dead stand
near to the Balcombe Tunnel; remained there till i a.m., unable
to proceed or return, when, an engine having arrived, and all the
passengers having been crammed into three carriages, we returned
to Three Bridges, leaving the remainder of the train in the snow.
Sat up all night at 'The Fox.' Next morning, the line being open to
London soon after ten, I returned to town. The other passengers, I
found, on my return to Brighton at night, did not complete their
journey till 4 p.m. (having been twenty-three hours on the way)."
A few days later, being invited by
the Guardian