218
��NOTES BY THE WAY.
��might perhaps be more justly characterized as ' Sedition made easy.' .... Prepayment by means of a stamp or stamped cover is universally admitted to be quite the reverse of convenient, foreign to the habits of the people, and likely, however slight the payment may be, to excite some dissatisfaction in the poorer classes, and occasion difficulties to all."
It will be remembered that, preparatory to the adoption of the penny rate, a maximum inland rate of 4d. was begun on the 5th of December, 1839. This led to a great increase in the number of letters : 33 per cent, in England and Wales, 51 in Scotland, and 52 in Ireland. After the plan had been in operation a week it was decided to abolish the privilege of franking ; and on the 10th of January, 1840, Penny Postage was established. On the evening of that day at St. Martin's-le- Grand crowds pressed, scuffled, and fought to get first to the window to pay for their letters. Formerly, Henry Cole, relates Sir Henry Cole, " one window sufficed. On this evening six windows, with two receivers at each, were bombarded by applicants." At last eight openings were made. " To the credit of the Post Office, not a single person lost the post, and we learnt that on this evening upwards of 3,000 letters had been posted in St. Martin's- le-Grand between five and six." The mob, delighted at the energy displayed by the officers, gave one cheer for the Post Office, and another for Rowland Hill. At the close of the day Hill had the satisfaction of knowing that 112,000 letters had been dispatched from that office, of which all but 13,000 had been prepaid.
Previous to the introduction of stamps Hill proposed the issue of penny stamped covers for letters ; they were to be of special paper, with lines of thread or silk stretched through its substance as a preventive of forgery. Upon this Mr. Dilke re- quested Mr. Dickinson, the inventor, to manufacture so much of this threaded paper as would be sufficient for an entire issue of The Athenasum, and the number for April 28th, 1838, appeared with these blue threads inserted in the substance of the paper. A copy is now before me, and the lines still remain perfectly distinct.
In May, 1840, the first issue of postage stamps took place. In ' N. & Q.' of the 13th of December, 1884, Mr. Algernon Graves states that the commission to engrave the first postage stamp was originally given to Charles Heath ; but, as he feared his eyesight was not good enough for such fine work, he handed it over to his son Frederick. Mr. Graves was told that the price agreed upon was QOL
The jubilee of the first issue of postage stamps was celebrated on the 19th of May, 1890, by a Philatelic Exhibition, which was opened in the Portman Rooms by the late Duke of Edinburgh. The exhibits included the famous book of curious addresses, which is one of the objects of interest to privileged visitors to the Post
��Dilkc issues
The
Atherueum
on threaded
paper.
��Algernon
Graves and
the first
postage
stamp.
��Philatelic Exhibition.
�� �
