they could have supposed possible. They found their postage expenditure to be mounting up to many pounds in the year; and a multitude of them, who had not before considered the matter, now saw how right it was that the aristocracy should pay their share towards a tax which had hitherto never touched them, while it bore hardly upon the poorest in the land who could read and write.

The results of the plan after a year's adoption were as encouraging as could be at all expected under the unfavourable circumstances of commercial distress, and of the plan being tried by halves. The reduction of postage was tried, without the accompanying condition of improved facilities in the transmission and delivery of letters; and large expenses were incurred which had nothing to do with the new plan, but which went into the general account of the Post-office. The increase in the number of chargeable letters was two and a half fold, and these yielded more than half the former gross revenue of the Post-office; the increase of expense in connection with the plan was about £44,000, and the actual net revenue was £465,000-a falling off of nearly three-fourths from the former net revenue. Mr. Hill had predicted a state of things somewhat less favourable than this as the result of the first year's experiment, under these particular heads; but he had hoped that the profitable parts of his plan would have been tried, as well as those which must bring present loss. Those who understood the matter, however, had now no further doubt of ultimate success, even in regard to the pecuniary returns of the Post-office, while the increased facilities for business, for the promotion of science and the arts, and for family intercourse, were felt and acknowledged in the remotest corners of the British Islands. As Mr. Hill had himself the pleasure of knowing, the postman had now to make long rounds through humble districts where, heretofore, his knock was seldom heard.' As for the number of letters sent by post, it appears to have been at this time more than double what it was before the reduction of postage. There was reason to suppose, that if the plan was fairly tried, five years would suffice to restore the gross revenue of the Post-office, while the advantages to other branches of the

revenue would be meantime perpetually on the increase. The proportion of prepaid letters was continually on the increase as people learned to manage their own share of the plan; and this incessantly diminished the labour of the Post-office. The transmission of small sums of money by Post-office orders was becoming more and more common, not only aiding the transaction of business, but carrying comfort into thousands of humble homes. The stamps themselves became a convenient form of small currency. The illicit conveyance of letters ceased at once, when the Post-office became the cheapest means of conveyance. Thus the prospect was cheering in every way but one. The one drawback was that the plan was not fairly worked. The Post-office authorities were hostile to the change; and neither the existing government nor that which succeeded it supported Mr. Hill. Even while he was engaged under the Melbourne ministry, to superintend the working of his own plan, it was adopted only by halves; and immediately on the succession of the Peel administration, he was dismissed, and the scheme left, as far as the public would allow it, to the mercy of the hostile Post-office authorities.

At the end of three years, no part of Mr. Hill's plan had been fully tried but that of the reduction of postage. Little was done towards the simplification of arrangements or the introduction of economy; and almost nothing in regard to increased speed in the delivery, or facility for the dispatch of letters. The times were fearfully bad; yet, according to a return made to the House of Lords, the results were that the gross revenue had reached two-thirds of its old amount, and that the net revenue of the Postoffice was increasing from year to year, while every other branch of revenue was decreasing. But Mr. Hill was only for a time cast out and discouraged. All parties became convinced at last, as the public at large were throughout, that he was essential to the working of his own plan; and he was solicited to return to his task of superintendence in the Post-office. Since that time various reforms and beneficial arrangements have been introduced; and even his ultimate scheme of a parcel-post is in partial operation. In time, the nation will have the whole.

Meanwhile it hardly needs to be pointed out, that though the fiscal results of the plan are those which must be first considered by parliament and other branches of the government, they are not those which are most important to the nation at large. It is all very well that the revenue should rise to what it was before, and that increase should be perceptible in other branches of the revenue from the stimulus of aid afforded to commerce; but the nation is far more deeply interested in the operation of the scheme on the promotion of science, on the daily convenience to millions of persons, and especially on the domestic morals of the people. The blessings which have thus accrued are too vast for estimate. It is believed most firmly by those who know best-by those whose walk is among the great middle and greater lower classes of society-that no one has done so much as Mr. Rowland Hill in our time in drawing closer the domestic ties of the nation, and extending the influences of home over the wide-spreading, stirring, and most diverse interests of social life in our own country. And from our own country, the blessing is reaching many more; and cheap postage is becoming established in one nation after another, extending the benefits of the invention among myriads of men who have, not yet heard the name of its author. The poet's shilling given in the Lake District was well laid out.

CHAPTER XVI.

Privilege of Parliament-State of the Case-The Sheriffs-The House -The Court of Queen's Bench-Bill of Enactment-Unsatisfactory Conclusion-Imbecility of the Administration-Queen's SpeechFinance Last Resort-The Budget-Fixed Corn-duty proposedDefeat on the Sugar-duties-Vote of Want of Confidence-Dissolution of Parliament.

ONE of the last subjects of importance discussed in parliament before the Melbourne ministry went out of power was the privilege question, the origin of which has been. related. On account of some amusing incidents which

attended the discussion, and of the intricacy of the question, the press and the public treated the matter with a levity or an indifference which appear much out of place amidst the seriousness of an historical review. The grave truth of the case was that an apparent incompatibility had arisen between the privileges of the Commons and the rights of the subject; and the Court of Queen's Bench and parliament were directly at issue. The affair had become what is called a dead-lock. No one could see how a step could be taken in any direction but into deadly mischief; and yet it was necessary that something should be done.

In November 1836, Chief-justice Denman had declared from the bench his opinion that the authority of the House of Commons could not justify the publication of a libel; whereas the House and its officers maintained that the publisher of their reports was not subject to action for libel, as he published under the authority of the parliament; and the question of the powers and privileges of parliament could not be brought into discussion or decision before any other court or tribunal than parliament itself, without subjecting the parties concerned to the displeasure and the penalties of parliament for a high breach of its privileges. This was the decision arrived at by the special committee which reported on the subject in May 1837.

The case now stood thus. Messrs. Hansard, the parliamentary printers, had published certain reports on prisons, in one of which a book, published by J. J. Stockdale, was called obscene and disgusting in the extreme.' Stockdale prosecuted the Hansards for a libel. The Hansards pleaded the authority of parliament. The judge, Chiefjustice Denman, declared that parliament could not authorise the publication of libels on individuals. Parliament not only insisted that it could publish what it pleased, but that itself was the sole judge of its own powers and privileges, and that for any person to call them in question in any court was a high breach of privilege. Both parties supposed themselves engaged in vindicating the liberty of the subject-Lord Denman believing that he was saving individuals from being

oppressed by the most powerful body in the realm; and the House of Commons believing that the liberty of the subject was essentially involved in the liberties of the representative and legislative body.

Stockdale continued his prosecution of the Hansards. The Hansards, who put themselves under the protection of the House, were directed to plead. The verdict was given against them, and damages were assessed which the House directed the Hansards to pay; because, having pleaded, they could not repudiate the result of the trial.

On the 31st of July 1839, the Hansards informed the House that they were threatened with a similar action by another person, in relation to another report. They were this time desired to take no notice, to make no preparations, as the action threatened would be regarded by the House as a breach of its privileges, and punished accordingly. The matter was supposed to be settled by the person said to be aggrieved in the report declaring that he had never had any intention of prosecuting the printers. But Stockdale was not quiet yet. Before August was out, he brought a third action for the same libel-the sale of every fresh copy being considered in law a separate publication of the libel. The Hansards were directed by the speaker to let matters take their course; and they merely served Stockdale with a formal notice of the resolutions of the House of Commons of May 1837 and August 1839. The damages were laid at £50,000. As the Hansards would not plead, judgment went against them by default; and a jury in the sheriff's court assessed the damages at £600.

The sheriffs were brought into the affair sorely against their will; and it was their embarrassing predicament which caused the mirth of the newspapers throughout the rest of the transaction. The sheriffs of Londontogether constituting one sheriff of Middlesex — were Messrs. William Evans and John Wheelton. First, they petitioned the courts to allow time, before the assessing of the damages, that parliament might be in session; but no delay was permitted, and they were obliged to proceed to the assessment on the 12th of November. Stockdale then pressed them on, and they were compelled to seize the