The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-25 00:00:00

SUICIDE

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

have read in your paper of this evening,
a letter on " Suicide," the writer of which, expresses
his opinion that no inquest should have been held
on the body of the poor boy Hawes, who precipitated
himself from the Monument. I entirely disagree
with J. J. in this opinion. Might it not have been
possible that he might have been treated cruelly by
his employers ? This was satisfactorily disproved by
the evidence, but the bare possibility of this having
been the case was sufficient to justify inquiry. The
fact of the existence of suicide to a large extent at
the present time, ought to be the subject of a wider
scrutiny, and affords room for the industry and
research of the enlightened and benevolent moralist.
An analysis of the previous education and habits of
every self-murderer, would lead undoubtedly to
the discovery of facts, which would be of
immense importance in the science of mental cul-
ture. The connection of the mind with the body,
and the dependence of the health of the one on
that of the other is a fact which does not generally
govern the instructor of youth in the principles of
education which he adopts, and it is easy to foresee
how amply this important fact would be illustrated,
and how many new and useful principles of educa-
tion might be extracted from such an analysis as I
have hinted at. I think few cases of self-murder
arise from insanity, (properly so called.) It is too
true that the buffetings of the world acting on a
succeptible temperament, will cause the mind to
revert to the only means of ridding itself of its
troubles, and in the dazzling prospect of oblivion,
the moral guilt attaching to the act of suicide is
too often overlooked. Not always is the self-mur-
derer worthy of our contempt, but rather ought he
to be the object of our sympathy. Each individual
case of suicide should incite us to aid in the good
cause of promoting human happiness on the amount
of which material depends the frequency of these
lamentable occurrences; and you will agree with me,
Mr. Editor, in saving that the mind which has been
properly trained by a healthy and vigorous educa-
tional process, is most fitted for the reception of
happy arid agreeable impressions.
That the day may soon arrive when every indi-
vidual in the State shall receive the blessings of such
an education is the devout hope of, Sir,

Your obedient servant,
W. R. H.

Oct. 23.

THE PENNY POSTAGE.

Amongst the objections to Mr. Hill's plan of pre-
payment, the following seems deserving of considera-
tion. It is contained in a pamphlet, by a Mr. Vim.
Cooper, published at Southampton, who states that he
is practically acquainted with all the details of the
Post-office business :

Four hundred and ninety-nine times out of five hun-
dred, the receivers of letters are the parties who ought to
pay the postage, and to compel the senders of letters to do
so, would impose additional labour on them by making it
necessary that they should keep accounts against those
with whom they correspond, the trouble of which, and the
risk of re-payment, would check, to a considerable extent,
the sending of letters.
We will take from the same pamphlet the Author's
suggestion as to the means of facilitating the labour
which stamped covers are intended to supersede :
The labour which stamped covers would supersede,
would be that which is consumed in taxing or marking
on each letter, the amount of postage chargeable on it,
and also that which occupies the time of a Postmaster
immediately before a mail is despatched, in ascertaining
the total amount of postage chargeable on all letters
for the delivery of a post town to which a mail bag is
about to be sent, and this, through the regulations of
the Post-office, is ascertained by a very difficult mental
process. A postmaster, in reckoning the postage on a
great number of letters, is unable to do so by adding small
numbers to each other, such as 10 and 9 are 19, and
2 are 21, and 4 are 25,-25 pence are 2s. Id. ; because,
perhaps, some letters are taxed Is. 4d., others 2s. 3d., or
or Is. Id., and the difficulty of ascertaining the aggregstc
amount of such sums, can be imagined by any accountant
being compelled to reckon a compound addition sum, not
by ascertaining the number of pence first, but by mentally
saying Is. 4d. and 2s. I 1 d. are 4s. 3d., and is. 10d. are
6s. Id., &c.
It is the invariable practice, after letters have been
sorted into boxes, preparatory to their being tied into
bundles and placed into mail bags, to ascertain, by rapidly
examining them, if the sorter' s duty has been correctly
performed ; this is an essential process to prevent letters
from being missent. It is well known, that if the number
of letters thus examined were required for any purpose, it
could be obtained during the examination, without at all di-
minishing the rapidity with which it takes place.
Now, let any one, (bearing in mind that charged
and forward letters must be sorted separately, that
the sorter's labour must be examined, and that
the process of examining and counting of letters
can with the utmost ease be performed together,) suppose
a low and uniform rate of postage introduced, such as
a penny under a certain weight, and the public allowed,
as at present, the privilege of optional payment of the
postage, the vast majority of letters would be unpaid,
and the postage, when delivered, would be one penny
each. Let such penny letters be stamped, sorted, but not
taxed, and during the necessary process of examining
those for the delivery of a post town, to which a letter
bag is about to be sent, let the number of such letters
be ascertained, and that number would be the amount
in pence, for which the Postmaster of that post town
would be accountable. By this means, the very labour
which stamped covers are intended to save, would he
unnecessary ; the revenue would be more correctly
secured than it is at present, for there would scarcely
be a mistake committed, and persons would enjoy the
privilege of paying for letters when posted, or when
delivered, as suited their convenience, or the nature of
their correspondence. With regard to paid letters, no
time is ever wasted in taxing them, since it is per-
formed while taking them in at the Post-office window.
Let such letters be marked in red ink, as at present,
and their number ascertained separately when about
to be placed in a letter bag, and the amount of pence,
for which the Postmaster would be accountable at
whose office they were paid, would be known by their
number. The few letters that would be double or
treble, liable to the charge of twopence or threepence
each, could have the numbers 2 or 3 marked on them
in red or black ink, according as they were paid or unpaid
when they were posted ; and such letters could be reckoned
each as two or three letters, when the Postmaster was as-
certaining the numbers about to be placed in a mail bag.
The ship and foreign letters could be also marked with
numbers, corresponding to the amount of pence charged
or chargeable on them for postage; thus Is. Bd. or 2a. 6d.
could be marked 20 or 30, and each letter so taxed, could
be reckoned as 20 or 30 letters.

_
By doing away entirely with keeping Post-office ac-
counts in pounds, shillings, and pence, and adopting the
above simple plan of accounting to the public revenue for
postage, a uniform Penny Postage could be immediately
introduced, without depriving the public of the very con-
venient mode of optional payment; this plan could be
learned by the dullest Post-office official in an hour, and
it possesses this immense advantage, that the public would
have to learn no other Post-office regulations than what
every one is at present acquainted with.
We may remark, that now that the attention of de-
-1 ver and practical men is directed to this subject, there
will, no doubt, be many modes discovered of abridging
labour, We have before suggested, and now repeat,
that whether the payment be made in advance or not,
a great portion of the business of sorting letters may be
performed by the public without any additional labour.
It will only be necessary to pitch boxes at the Post-office
for the different large towns or mail routes. For example,
one side of the hall of the Post-office might be divided into
three departments for England, Ireland, and Scotland ;
and these again might be divided into North, South,
East, and West. These subsidiary divisions might em-
. brace boxes for Cat lisle and York, for Dover and Has-
tings, for Yarmouth and Norwich, and for Bristol an]
Exeter. And if the people were to throw their letter.;
into the boxes so provided, half the labour of sorting the
letters might be spared. What an immense number of
people are crowded together in London, Liverpool,
Manchester, &c. Why not divide these large towns
into post districts, and make the public, in throwing
their letters into the post•office, sort them, as migiit
be intended, for one district or another of Lou-
don, Manchester, or Liverpool. A number of im-
provements, if not in this form, yet in some other, but
in this spirit, will doubtless now be made in this great
and useful branch of the Administration ; and the Mi-
nisters, aided by Mr. Hill, will deserve the applause
and gratitude of the present generation and of posterity
for achieving so great and good a work in spite of the
carping opposition of the extravagant, oppressive Tories,
who only study the best means of wasting the resources
of the people.

We have heard, with deep regret, that the Bishop
of this Diocese has appointed a rank Puseyite, in the
person of the Rev. Mr. Keebles, curate at Bisley, to the
Head Mastership of the Training School at Gloucester,
belonging to the Diocesan Board of Education. We arc
convinced many of the most zealous of our clergy will
feel hound in conscience to withdraw their countenance
from schools exposed to the anti-Scriptural influence
which this appointment will foster and extend.—.C/le/-
ten/tans (Conservative) Chronicle.
Trade is languishing. In Dundee there are
many excellent mechanics idle, and the manufacturing
population are not faring better, nor will they, we feAr,
for some time. In Montrose there are a considerable
number of flaxdressers and others out of employrne::t,
which is a state of circumstances new in this town. Iu
Arbroath, we hear of very many complaints ; and sonic
people say there is too much work doing without, and
too little with, orders. Several mill spinners say that
they cannot get the value of raw material for yarn. The
harvest has slightly eased the produce of the looms o
Forfar, Kirriernuir, Brechin, and the villages, but we
doubt that cloth will accumulate. We have every reason
to think that provisions will be cheaper and better than
last winter, hecause we do not depend on wheat so much
as oats in this quarter.—i lontruseßeview.