Page:The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago.djvu/167

Rh and no one, I presume, would regret the small amount of revenue which would he sacrificed in obtaining so desirable a result.

It appears, then, that whenever an interchange of communication shall take place under the proposed arrangements, the expense of postage may be divided between the two parties, or defrayed entirely by one or by the other, as may be mutually agreed upon, which is precisely the state of things at present; but that when the communication is one-sided, the obligation to pay the postage will lie with the writer instead of the receiver of the letter; and this, in my opinion, is a change very much wanted, as no one ought to have it in his power to compel another to incur an expense, however small. But this desirable restriction will, I contend, operate very rarely to prevent correspondence, and in no instance disadvantageously to society; for with every desire to examine the question fairly and candidly, I really am at a loss to discover any case in which it is desirable for one person to write to another at the expense of the latter, and in which, under a rate of postage almost nominal, necessity, or good feeling, would not secure a reply.

But if, in some cases beyond my foresight, the principle of uniform payment in advance should prove restrictive of legitimate correspondence, a counterbalance will be found in the removal of those feelings of delicacy towards the purse of one's friend, on the one hand, and his feelings, on the other, which at present so often prevent the sending of a letter. The experience of every Member of Parliament will prove that numberless applications for franks are made on such grounds.

The result of a very careful examination of the subject is the conviction that the proposed payment in advance would probably not be restrictive of correspondence at all, and certainly not to any appreciable extent; unaccompanied by a reduction of postage, and an accelerated rate of delivery, it undoubtedly would meet with great opposition, but this is not the measure proposed.

Perhaps, indeed, without requiring payment in advance, the rates of postage might be reduced to two-pence, but the delivery could not be rapid; and surely there can be no doubt whether