Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/57

 In all H. H's measures for promoting Imperial Penny Postage, he received warm support from Lord Charles Beresford, who foresaw the imperative necessity of drawing the Colonies closer to the Mother Country, at a time when hardly anyone could be found to take the matter seriously. In Lord Charles Beresford's memoirs he writes:

"At Christmas, 1898, Mr Henniker Heaton's indomitable perseverance had resulted in the establishment of Penny Postage in every part of the British Empire except Australia and New Zealand. Lord Randolph Churchill and myself were hearty supporters of Henniker Heaton, who gave to each of us a golden penny in commemoration of the event."

An interesting letter from Lord Charles Beresford, written on board H.M.S. "Bulwark" at Lagos Bay, in 1906, may here be included:

Thank you for your most interesting letter of the 7th. You richly deserve all the grateful appreciation which your countrymen show you on every possible occasion. Well done, indeed well done. You are one of the forlorn hopes of the Conservative Party, and all your friends will be delighted that you have been again returned to Parliament, not only for your own sake, but for the sake of the country, and those splendid and brilliant reforms you have unvaryingly pushed for and won for the Line of Communication by Post.

I told Balfour, before I left, that I thought the Liberal Party would come in far greater numbers than was anticipated, and that they would be in far longer than was anticipated, but I never imagined the slump would be so terrific.