ciated, and the
Jubilee of which occurs in the present year, marks an important epoch in
the review which is now under consideration. To enter into a history of
the Penny Postage agitation would be beyond the scope of these pages.
Like all great schemes, the idea propounded was fought against inch by
inch, and the battle, so far as the objectors are concerned, remains a
memorial of the incapacity of a great portion of mankind to think out
any scheme on its merits. Whatever is new is sure to be opposed,
apparently on no other ground than that of novelty, and in this bearing
men are often not unlike some of the lower creatures in the scale of
animated nature, that start and fly from things which they have not seen
before, though they may have no more substance than that of a shadow.
However this may be, the Penny Postage measure has produced stupendous
results. In 1839, the year before the reduction of postage, the letters
passing through the post in the United Kingdom were 82,500,000. In 1840,
under the Penny Postage Scheme, the number immediately rose to nearly
169,000,000. That is to say, the letters were doubled in number. Ten
years later the number rose to 347,000,000, and in last year (1889)
the total number of letters passing through the Post Office in this
country was 1,558,000,000. In addition to the letters, however, the
following articles passed through the post last year--Book Packets and
Circulars, 412,000,000; Newspapers 152,000,000; Post Cards 201,000,000.

* * * * *

_Form of Petition used in agitation for the Uniform Penny Postage._

UNIFORM PENNY POSTAGE.

(FORM OF A PETITION.)

TO THE HONOURABLE THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL [_or_, THE COMMONS,
_as the case may be_] IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED:--

The humble Petition of the Undersigned [_to be filled up with the name
of Place, Corporation, &c._]

SHEWETH,

That your Petitioners earnestly desire an Uniform Penny Post, payable in
advance, as proposed by Rowland Hill, and recommended by the Report of
the Select Committee of the House of Commons.

That your Petitioners intreat your Honourable House to give speedy
effect to this Report. And your Petitioners will ever pray.

* * *

MOTHERS AND FATHERS that wish to hear from their absent children!

FRIENDS who are parted, that wish to write to each other!

EMIGRANTS that do not forget their native homes!

FARMERS that wish to kno