and Austria also entered into one of these Unions. It might have been expected that our Government would eagerly embrace the opportunity of forming such a postal federation, embracing the whole Empire. But the authorities seemed to be still under the old delusion that the higher the rate the larger the revenue; and for many years we had to pay more than twice as much as fore4ners paid on letters to some of our most important Colonies.
It is not for me to write a lengthy account of the movement for instituting a uniform penny rate for any distance, small or great, throughout the length and breadth of the British dominions. But there are times when a man must speak of his work, and Imperial Penny Postage is an essential part of my subject.
In 1886 the following was the state of affairs: The cost of posting a letter from France, Germany, or Russia to India was 2½d., while the charge from the United Kingdom to India was 5d. The Postmaster-General was supplied with a list of forty British Colonies to which the postage from France, Germany, or Russia was half the rate charged from England. We paid 4d. to South Africa and 6d. to Australia. One agent boasted that he saved £1,800 a year by posting in France British letters for the Colonies. At that moment certain foreign Powers were exhausting every device to oust us from the Colonial, African, and Asiatic markets.
Imperial Penny Postage.
In 1886 I moved a resolution in the House of Commons inviting the Government to open negotiations for universal or world-wide penny postage, and 142 members voted for it. The Liberal Government, influenced by the Post-Office, was hostile. But the press of all shades called next morning for penny postage within the British Empire at least. It was like one of those grand passages of Handel where choir, organ, and orchestra give out a phrase in unison, and wood, string, brass, and voices utter a single note. It
