The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-22 00:00:00

- • • -
LIVERPOOL GUARDIAN SOCIETY
Allt, ROWLAND l' ILL IN LIVI-AIPOOL.

/1•••••....

On Friday evening last, the Guardian Society of thi:
town, established in 1823, for th proteci., of fade,
celebrated its twenty-fourth .truer: ary by a public
dinner, at Eastwood's R ,yal iletel, a here ersardy one
hundred and forty af•ntlem, n were entertained with all
the substantials and elegancies which that first• rate
house is so well-kno ,n to afford. More than usual in-
terest was excited on the present occasion by the fact
that Rowland Hill, Esq , the distinguish( d eriginater of
the Penny Postage system, had accepted the society's
invitation to dine with them.
The chair was occupied by \I r. Denton, the Presidsn.
of the Society for the past year. On his right sat George
Hall Lawrence. Esq., Mayor of Liverpool, Mr. Coun-
cillor Tinne, and Mr. Councillor Parker ; on his left were
MRowland Hill, Esq., Mr. John Smith, of the Liverpool
Qcurart and Mr. Evens, the Soc;ety's, solicitor. At
same table we observed Mr. Manchester, President
of the Preston Guardian Society; Mr. Wahhew, Presi-
dent of the Houser, eaters' Guardian Society; Mr. Fran-
cis Venn, Sergeant at Mace of this b mough; Mr. Wrenn,
Treasurer of the Society; Mr. Coward, Mr. Condliffe,
and Mr. White. Immediately its front were Mr. Reay,
the Secretary of the Society; Mr. Cottam Secretary of
the Manchester Guardian Society ; Mr. Hemming, Se-
cretary of the Birmingham Guardian Society; and Mr.
Carr, Secretary of the Preston Guardian Society. The
vice-chair was occupied by Mr. Richard Crossley, in the
absence of Mr. J. IL Jeffery, the President elect. As
soon as the cloth was withdrawn, the Secretary read
letters of apology for unavoidable absence from Lord
Sandon, M.P , Sir Howard Douglas, M.P.,William
Brown, Esq., •M.P., Mr. Alderman Watkins, President
• of the Manchester Guardian Society, and other gentle- 1
• Men who had been invited.
The CIaaIRMAN proposed the health of the Clasen and
the other usual loyal and patriotic toasts.
Mr. JonN SmITII rose, and expressed the pleasure it
afforded him to have been requested by the committee
to propose the health of one of the greatest benefactors
of the country, and of the world—(Cheers)--the author
f cthe Penny Post System—(Cheers)—one who, though
zar.
from being an old man, was an old friend of his, viz.,
Rowland Hill.--(Loud cheering.) When Mr. Hill's
.J Pamphlet, advocating that noble measure, appeared,
ey which Mr. Hill had been good enough to send
to ° him followed him to Dublin, where he read it aloud
a social and fashionable party, whose attention was
rivetted to it as much as if it had been one of the
Meat Popular novels; the men of business felt keenly
tand he evils of the old system, the cost of correspondence,
of ca
trouble which one friend
.imposed upon another
be ~rrng letters to parties in towns they might
-sittngl those who had near and dear relations at a
• 015eanne were constantly annoyed by the long delays
tit; serious cost attending written communications with
he and even the young ladies were not un-
consci u
ys the advantages which the proposed
a(Lote Would confer in certain affaires du cccur.—
. ml laughter and cheers.) It was a high gratification
Illnay of
en the Liverpool Guardian Sociaty to have the opper-
sYstem. testify in. tseir gratitude to the author of that
The health of Mr. Hill was given amidst loud
aPPlause.
M„ ROWLAND HILL on rising to address the com-
pany was received with rapturous welcome.--(Entu 7
Ras* plaudits continuing fir some time-) lie hvegcrti,
lie thank ht,
A t friend Mr. Smith for the manner in which
e ha' Pron •company ut , and the
h
manner in which they had received the toast just given.
large fur tile
several reasons—first
-ad done himself the pleasure of accepting the in-
vitation with which the society had honoured him for
first, that he might in person acknow-
ledge the triendl interest the society had taken in
what so much concerned himself ; secondly, that he
might explain the nature of the duties attachieis to his
Present position in connexion with the Post-office ; and
.11,°ve all, that he fright investigate on the spot those
'''",eged defects in the postal arrangements of this to-
?initY, which had been so ably stated, from time to time,
ln the Liverpool Mercury. It was a matter of personal
becmvenience to himself that his duties in the
'''-°4t•office should be c'early understosd, as the
erroneous ideas which prevailed respecting them held
Involved him in a correspondence which occupied time
which ought to be devoted to other subjects. His duties
frowere to advise the Postmaster General, on all points
which his Lordship might be pleased to direc. his.
hattention, and to carry out gradually the remainder of
ieown system of Post-office improvement, of which
any rate was only one feature. Without a ge-
nera l understanding to this effect, he need scarcely say
that he should not have felt justified in accepting office.
(Cheers.) Of the management of the present details be
had no control whatever. But though a slight considera-
tion would show that it was impossible that he could ex
ercise any direct power in the Post-office, he had the
good fortune to serve under a nobleman who, with ex•
cellent business habits, united a thorough appreciation of
the duties and responsibilities of his important office, and
who was sincerely desirous of making the institution,
•over which he presides, as useful to the public as pos-
sible. He wished to convey to his hearers some idea of
the magnitude of the institution. Were he merely to
state that so many millions of letters passed through the
post-office in a year, no one could form any accurate con-
ception of the reality. The best mode probably to con-
vey any idea of the whole, would be for him to describe
some part. For iestance, last night, when he left Lon-
don, he was at Euston-square when the mail was brought
in to go by the train, this being only one of many
which are dispatched by railways. It was considered an
exceedingly light mail ; but small as it was, it literally
filled six large omnibuses • and the heavy mails for-
Warded on a Saturday night, filled nine carriages of a
similar description. Again, the number of dead letters
since the adoption of prepayment had become a very
small fraction—less than the two-hundredth part—of the
whole ; nevertheless the average amount of money found
in such letters, in coin, bank notes, and bills of exchange,
wafts 400,000/. per annum.—(Hear, hear.) Many thou-
aadll,;lBre cf Pounds were actually found in letters with no
therer
Whatever.—(Laughter.) The company would see,
leavn°.i'e, that in so vast a machine the difficulties in the
diffici,j,anY extensive change were very great. Another
tarwas, that the machine was constantly in mo-
oessft it never stood still night, or day, and the greatest
ini"tr.o rethought and calculation were therefore neces•
du in making alterations. In improving it would not
th., 0 snake a mistake ; that might stop it altogether ;
CaY could rarely try an experiment ; all must be inves
/ratd and settled with unerring certainty beforehand.
and steam engine became defective, it could be stopped,
Post- e requisite repairs made ; but not so with the
nouri:lfie He wished the society to bear these facts in
and t° to him some portion of that great
confidence which they had hitherto reposed in him,
assuringbtehens
Bliould that so far as he was concerned no time
of his nissrst in carrying out the remaining porno's
breeqrueirusieteditselz
liar defee"'"*--(Cheers.) With reference to the pecu-
iabniu
tthis neighbsurhood, he had not
)the
knowledge to say that all ch,
justify h. he thought he had heard enoug to
Prove-it, him in (Yin g that there was much room for im-
sothe e elt, whilst there were reasons for adhering to
Nadi:l,l6llg arrangements which, no doubt, appeared
should be's• It might seem to many absurd that letters
tended, e carried past a town r which they wre in-
4hsurd, and then brought backfo ; but it was note really
town Makin
arose
froze the impossibility of every
h were asout
guP a bag for every other town. There
of es one thousand post towns, and if every one
iuillie made up One thousand bags, there would be a
oft" 4°f bags ; in fact, more bags than letters. It had
make struck him that some pates should be taken to
gible the main features of the Post office system intelli-
,,erninto the '
peop.e. There was no department of Go-
PcoPleelit which carne so much into contact with the
erten,' and it was advisable that they should know what
were
Tietoents were capable of improvement and what
ties _ flt. His desire had ever been, in all the difficul-
do _an!lcopposition with which he had to struggle, to
be 413" to the institution, and he was happy to
eske able to say that even before he went to the Post-
sss, Instructitns had been sent to the surveyors to
in this
certain returns reference to the distribution
dutie:!teighbourhuod; though, owing to the many other
eating tade.(
been
nreY had to perform, these returns had not yet
the company
(hear, hear.) Perhaps it might be inter-
withthe to revert to a few facts connected
---(Chee change produced beb the plan of penny postage.
redue d rs') Immediately fore the introduction of the
ter e rate of postage the number of chargeable let-
including franks —delivered amounted to
seventylit
so_s_oiLfo,ur-
amounted million
amounted annually. Last year it had
a half, or t two hundred and ninety-nine millions and
quire feld the orioinal number. It would re-
fivefold :::bluding
revenue up to th more than 'that to bring the Post- office
e fernier gross amount; but less than
the nu k effect that object.At the present moment
r.nler of letters delivered in the London district,
tis-le-Grand,
munarptits,tng a circle of 12 miles round the Post-office, St.
bid system, was delivered in the whole United King-
dom-
was as great as that which, under the
twenTt3h..ee
iigntictreamaielliwoanssritapsitdly going on, and amounted
year compared with the
previous year. It was the opinionei of many gentlemen,
rate_ increased the
that the introduction of the
difficulty
of effectinggiveimephreoaypePmp,enntitaysg.e,latnsdvas said they
neloautc:dfaoc
could not afford to
lilies also ; but, in fact, improvements had
ge came into
Posed another more rapidly since the penny post,
operation than before. When the plan was first pr.-
posed, the large towns had only a single mail connecting
them with London : now they have two mails per day
Again—In England and Wales there were formerly only
.two thousand post-offices of every kind ; now there were
four thousand. There was a growing conviction in the
minds of all connected with the Post-office, that to make
the establishment profitable, they must make it as use-
ful as possible, and to that great Ant his best efforts
shoheuld
g.be devoted. Mr. Hill concluded amidst great
cerin
After some other toasts, the company separated a
little before twelve o'clock.

DEATH Or ADMIRAL SIR WILLOUGHBY
k•C.B.—This distinguished officer expired at Blackheath
LAKE,or
the 18th inst., aged seventy-four, and after a connexeion with
was the
the British navy of nearly sixty years duration. H
azcond eon of Sir James Hunter Lake, Bart. At an
nar 17_
o he entered the navy, and after a probationary service midshipman was appointed Lieutenant, November 22, 17YUr,
his other commissions being thus dated :—Commande
November 22, 1794 ; Post-Captain, January 4, 1796 ; llear-
Admiral, August 12, 1819; Vice-Admiral July 22, 1830;
and Admiral, November 23, 1841. Sir
Willoughby was
Captain of the Magnificent, in Sir Home Popham's squadron,
on the north coast of Spain, in 1812; and, during the Penin-
sular war, commanded a 'division of seamen and marines,
landed to en-operate with the guerillas. In some skirniislies
which ensued he was twice wounded. In 1812 Lc was
honourably mentioned for his services in the Lotidwi Gazette.
In 1824, during Lord Melville's Administration at the
Admiralty, he Was appointed Commander-in. Chief
on the
4
North American station, and in that capacity remained until
Sir Willoughby married, in 1795, the daughter of
ice-Admiral John AUBride. Ile was iu the enjoyment of a
l'en4l°4 of 300/. per annum, in addition to half pay.