he `overland route'--the Mediterranean, Suez, and the Red Sea--
in 1835. A line of communication was subsequently extended to China and
Australia. In the following year the reduction of the stamp-duty on
newspapers to one penny led to a great increase in that branch of the
service.

"But now approached the time for the greatest reform of all--that
reduction of postage of which I have already spoken--namely, the uniform
rate of _one penny_ for all inland letters not exceeding a certain
weight.

"The average postage of a letter in 1837 was 8 pence three farthings.
Owing to the heavy rates the net proceeds of the Department had remained
stationary for nearly twenty years. To mend this state of matters, Sir
Rowland Hill fought his long and famous fight, the particulars of which
I may not enter on just now, but which culminated in victory in 1840,
when the Penny Post was established throughout the kingdom. Sir Rowland
still (1879) lives to witness the thorough success of his daring and
beneficent innovation! It is impossible to form a just estimate of the
value of cheap postage to the nation,--I may say, to the world. Trade
has been increased, correspondence extended, intelligence deepened, and
mental activity stimulated.

"The immediate result of the change was to raise the number of letters
passing through the post from seventy-six millions in 1839 to one
hundred and sixty-nine millions in 1840. Another result was the entire
cessation of the illicit smuggling of letters. Despite penal laws, some
carriers had been doing as large a business in illegal conveyance of
letters as the Post-Office itself! One seizure made, a single bag in
the warehouse of a well-known London carrier, revealed eleven hundred
such letters! The horrified head of the firm hastened to the
Postmaster-General, and offered immediate payment of 500 pounds to
escape the penalties incurred. The money was accepted, and the letters
were all passed through the Post-Office the same night!

"Sir Rowland--then Mr--Hill had said that the Post-Office was `capable
of performing a distinguished part in the great work of national
education.' His prophetic words have been more than justified. People
who never wrote letters before write them now. Those who wrote only a
few letters now write hundreds. Only grave and important subjects were
formerly treated of by letter, now we send the most trifling as well as
the most weighty matters by the penny post