Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/234

 General expressed themselves as favourable to the object, but regretted that the finances of the country did not then admit of the additional expenditure. America was anxious from the first to adopt Anglo-American Penny Postage, but England held back on the plea of loss of revenue. An offer was made by H. H., Lord Blyth, Mr Andrew Carnegie, the late Sir Edward Sassoon, and Mr John Wanamaker to guarantee the loss of revenue for the first five years; but this offer was refused.

In 1907, H. H. was travelling in Australia when he received a letter from Mr George Meyer, the progressive P.M.G. of the United States, expressing his anxiety for the establishment of an Anglo-American Penny Post. Immediately on receipt of this letter, H. H. sent a long cable to Mr Meyer, and caught the next ship back to England in order to pursue the campaign.

In 1908 the Franco-British Exhibition was held in London. Lord Blyth was Chairman of the Organizing Committee, and H. H. suggested to him that it would be a fitting moment while President Fallières was in London to approach the P.M.G. with renewed demands for a Franco-British Penny Post. Accordingly Lord Blyth—who, following H. H.'s action in the House of Commons, had prepared a similar list of members of the House of Lords in favour of Penny Postage to France—addressed a letter to the P.M.G. strongly urging its adoption. The P.M.G., Mr Sydney Buxton, wrote to him privately saying that it was a most inopportune moment as the P.O. was already considering penny postage to America and the exploiting also of the claims of France would jeopardize both projects.