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decreased, whereas, according to the growth of population, it ought to have increased to the extent of nearly £600,000 a year. From an estimate of letters which passed through the London twopenny post, as well as from some other data, Mr. Hill calculated that a year's transmission of letters and newspapers was about 96 millions of the former and 30 millions of the latter; also that of the letters about 7,400,000 contributed nothing to the revenue, they being franked by Members of Parliament and Government officials. By the returns subsequently obtained from Hastings and other Post-towns at the instance of Mr. Hill (a namesake of one of the Hastings mail-guards) the calculation by that gentleman was somewhat excessive, the total of chargeable letters delivered in the United Kingdom in 1838, being in round numbers 76 millions. This was the last complete year of the old system. Seeing, however, that until that year no accurate number of the letters had been recorded, Mr. Hill's estimate was sufficiently near the truth for his purpose. Then, with some niceties of calculation of receipts and expenditure he endeavoured to show that the average cost of receiving, transmitting and delivering a letter being but the fraction of a penny, a uniform rate of a penny for letters of a certain weight would produce a profit even on the old numbers, and that about a six-fold increase would allow for the additional working expenses, and bring up the revenue to what it was before. He proposed, therefore, that there should be a uniform rate of one penny on all letters not exceeding half an ounce, and an extra penny for each additional half ounce; that the letters should be prepaid; that stamped envelopes should be sold to the public, inclusive of the postage; and that franking should be abolished. He contended that such an arrangement would simplify the then complicated accounts, destroy the well-known illicit traffic in letters by carriers and others, lessen the temptation to dishonesty, and preserve the sanctity of correspondence from the eyes of officials who had theretofore been bound to examine letters to ascertain their contents. The scheme was denounced by the leading officials as absurd and visionary, and the Postmaster-General (Lord Lichfield) declared in the House of Lords that "Of all the wild and ruinous schemes I ever heard of it is the most extravagant. The mails will have to carry twelve-times as much weight; the walls of the Post-office would burst, and the whole area in which the ​building​ stands would not be large enough to receive the clerks and letters." The public, however, did not view the proposal in the same light, and during the session of 1838, no fewer than 2000 petitions were sent up to the House of Commons. A Select Committee was appointed, and after 60 or 70 sittings, a favourable report was presented, and at length the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. F. T. Baring) brought in a Bill to carry the committee's recommendation into effect. The measure was passed by a majority of 100, and became law on the 17th of August; but, as a temporary provision, the London twopenny post was reduced on the 4th of December to a penny, and a uniform rate of 4d. was charged on all other letters except where a lower rate already existed. In the week previous to this change the number of letters received in Hastings was about 1750, which at 6 3/4d, (the average at that time), would amount to a little over £50; and supposing the number despatched to be equal, the week's receipts, as concerned Hastings alone, would be something over £100. To this sum might be added a nearly similar amount for St. Leonards; for although the letters in that district were fewer in number, they were usually higher in price, in consequence of the more aristocratic character of the town, and the larger amount of foreign correspondence. But if the revenue of the Post-office was at the average of 6 3/4d. per letter, the net cost of conveyance and delivery was but a fraction of a penny; so that the profit derived was enormous; and in some of the petitions for Mr. Hill's postal reform it was urged that so large a revenue raised in that manner was a grievous tax upon education and a great bane to commerce. To this may now be added the saying of elderly people that the correspondence of courting couples in those days was a too expensive luxury to be much indulged in. I happen to know a case where the advice given to one party by another was to send foreign letters by a route which cost a shilling instead of by another which cost 1/10 being the immediate cause of breaking off a matrimonial engagement. The facts of this case, if related, would be stranger than fiction, but this is not the place for them. Epistolary courtship, however, was not always so expensive under the old postal system as has been here set forth; for Cupid is proverbially a sly boy, and he many times found the means to correspond secretly and gratuitously, notwithstanding the great vigilance observed in the examination of newspapers, previously described. There was also another mode of cheating the Post-office, of which the cunning Cupid was, doubtless, very guilty; and as it was one of these freaks which led to the adoption of the Penny Postage, it seemeth to the purpose that the story should be repeated here. Rowland Hill, whilst holding a Government situation, was allowed a customary holiday, and when he was spending this with his friends in the country he observed a servant give back a letter to the postman, with the remark that she could not afford to pay tenpence for it. Mr. Hill's sympathetic feelings prompted him to call back the postman and pay the postage of the letter, even against the girl's remonstrance. "Oh! sir," she said, "you might as well have saved your money; there is nothing in it; he has put a cross on the outside to show he is all right, and that is all I wanted to know." "Well," thought Mr. Hill, "this accounts for the numerous letters which are returned to the Post-office. Give cheap postage, and the revenue, as well as the public, will be the gainer."

During the interim of a fourpenny postage (Dec. 5/39 to Jan. 10/40) the Government offered premiums of £2,000 and £1,000 for the best designs for postage stamps. The competitors were so numerous (upwards of 2,6000) and the designs were so various, that the Lords of the Treasury could not adopt any one of the specific plans proposed without modification and combination with other arrangements. They therefore revoked their original offer, and decided to give £100 each to the authors of the four most suitable designs. There were Messrs. Bogardus and Coffin (who acted together), Benjamin Cheverton, Henry Cole, and Charles Whiting. Their Lordships directed that as soon as the multifarious and novel machinery could be constructed, there should be stamped covers of half a sheet of 4to letter-paper, stamped paper of a lozenge form which stationers might manufacture into envelopes, stamps stuck on any description of paper sent to the Stamp-office for the purpose, and small adhesive stamps to be applied to the outside of letters. These stamps did not come into use until the 6th of May, 1840, but on the preceding 10th of January the Treasury Minute came into operation for the charge of all prepaid letters, whether by local or general post, to be 1d. for half an ounce, 2d. for an ounce, and so on up to sixteen ounces. On that welcomed 10th of January there passed through the General Post-office, notwithstanding the great commercial depression then prevalent, 112,000 letters, or four times the number ever despatched before at the same period of the year. Yet, so unwilling were the heads of departments to believe in the ultimate success of the scheme, that Col. Maberly, some time after, stated that in the very first week of the change it was evident that it must fail. The public did not think so, however, for in their enthusiasm they sent thousands of letters with the words on the outside, "Thank Rowland Hill for this." Of the progress of this great postal reform I may have more to say further on, but for the present I will confine myself to 1839 - the year mainly under consideration.

As in most cases one reform begets another, so, no sooner had we got the penny postage, than we - that is to say the people of Hastings and St. Leonards - began to move for a day- mail. On Wednesday, Dec. 11th, the Mayor (F. Smith, Esq.), convened a meeting in the Town Hall, which was not so numerously attended as the importance of the subject would seem to demand. Mr. Bond, as the first speaker, combatted some of the objections which had been raised out of doors. One of these was that to convert one of the day coaches into a mail (mails paying no tolls) would cause deficit of £700 a year in the toll between Hastings and London, which would be a serious injury to vested interests. He understood however, that the coaches were then running only four days in the week, and that after Christmas the running would be reduced to three days. He thought if a day-mail were established there would either be another coach put on, or the running of the others would be so augmented as to prevent the contemplated defalcation. Another objection that had been started was that the worthy cits had denounced day mails as the greatest bores in modern existence; as, just when they are leaving their counting-houses for the smoking turtle or capon, in come the day mails with orders to be attended to. This objection Mr. Bond regarded as a trivial one. He looked upon a day mail as not only important in a commercial view, but also as affording great advantages to those who visited Hastings and St. Leonards for health or relaxation. Mr. Bond further remarked that foreign mails were frequently landed at Hastings, and that he need not enlarge upon the importance of such letters reaching their destination as quickly as possible. Dr. Mac Cabe concurred with what had been urged, and regarding the subject in connection with his own profession, he conceived it of the utmost importance that persons should be able to obtain frequent information of the health of their relatives and friends. Mr. C. Duke reminded the meeting that letters arriving in London in the morning were detained there for 14 hours before they were again despatched to complete the journey to Hastings. He submitted that this borough ought to be put on a par with Brighton and Dover, both of which towns had day-mails. Mr. North had just returned from the Post-office, where he had made enquiries on the subject. The only person, as he conceived, that would be inconvenienced by the establishment of a day-mail was the Postmaster, (Mr. Woods), whose present duties he (Mr. North) could testify were greater than his remuneration. He would suggest that the proposed memorial should be as brief as possible, and strictly confined to Hastings; for if they included Tunbridge-Wells and other places, probably none would get it. - A memorial was then drawn up, to be signed by the inhabitants, and copies of the same to be sent to the Borough Members (Planta and Hollond) with a request that they would communicate with the Postmaster General.

The day-mail so earnestly desired was ultimately obtained, but I was not connected with the Post-office at that time, nor, indeed in December when its advocacy was put forth by the meeting just described. I had left Hastings a few months before to seek a home in a far-off land; and, as described in Chap XX., to be driven back, disabled, by the greatest and most persistent storm of that very stormy year. It is now my purpose to give some account of the other disastrous storms which affected the southern coast during 1839. On the 2nd of January a terrific gale assailed our shore to the serious detriment of four vessels which were delivering cargoes of coals and merchandise. These were the William Pitt sloop, the Louisa schooner, the Queen Victoria brig, and the Sussex sloop. As the tide rolled heavily in the vessels were all hauled out to the buoys, except the William Pitt, which could not be floated. The gale increased to a hurricane, and the three floated vessels came again to the beach, their crews being saved only by the utmost exertions. Had the Sussex passed the East groyne, as it was feared she would, she must have been dashed to pieces. As it was, they were all greatly damaged, but, with the exception of the schooner, which became a complete wreck, they were afterwards repaired. Three other vessels also belonging to Hastings, and owned by one firm (Messrs. J. Bayley & Co.) encountered the gale while at sea, and their crews had a terrible tale to tell. The brig Thwaites was caught on the northern coast and blown 200 miles over the North Sea. She lost her anchors, cables, bulwarks, small-boat and both masts. The sea made a clean breach over the vessel, and the crew, with only two gallons of fresh water for ten days, suffered terible hardships. The wreck was towed into Harwich on the 18th day. Five other ships were passed, dismasted, and on their beam-ends. The brig Telemachus (a vessel so familiar to Hastings people) was towed into Yarmouth with loss of mainmast and other tackle. The third vessel was the brig Pelican (another familiar name). This brig caught fire while on her way from London to Boston, and was extensively damaged, the flames not being subdued until after four hours' incessant exertion. These serious and simultaneous losses of one and the same firm seemed to illustrate the old saying that mishaps rarely come singly. The following lines were sent to a county newspaper by "E.Y.," of St. Leonards.

"Drenched by the brine, on the deck they stood,
While round them roared the angry flood,
And then the strong and lofty mast,
Bent like a reed before the blast,
As white the howling surges rose,
Like hosts of dreaded angry foes,
Most vivid ws the lightning's flash,
And awful was the thunder's crash.
It seemed as though the fiends of hell
Where (sic) holding there their carnival.
The hissing foam around them flew,
And skies though dark, yet blacker grew,
And high above the tottering mast,
The waves were lifted by the blast.
"Breakers ahead!" The shout was heard,
But barely came the warning word,
When, with a loud and sudden shock,
They struck upon a hidden rock.
The yeilded (sic) mast with tearing sweep
Fell headlong in the seething deep,
Hurling the seamen on the wave
That fain would bear them to their grave;
And then was heard above the roar
The echo of a scream on shore.
A frantic cry for help was there,
With outstretched arms, as though at pray'r.
The hard-clenched hand, the starting eye,
Both told the tale of agony.
His dying child, with frantic clasp,
The father caught within his grasp.
They called on God their souls to bless,
Whilst raging seas were pitiless.
The yawning seam, the crashing rope
Defiance bade to lingering hope;
One look of wild despair was given,
One last short cry arose to Heaven."

About the equinoctial period twenty-two boats sailed from Hastings to the western coast on a mackerel voyage, and one of the luggers named Adolphus anchored off Plymouth on Good Friday, when Mr. Harman (master) John Streeter and James Nash went on shore with a pilot, and there remained till eleven p.m. At that hour the boat put off with the three Hastings men and three men belonging to Plymouth. The boat capsized, and the whole of the men were drowned except Nash, who was completely exhausted when rescued. The event caused a feeling of sadness among all the fishing population of both towns, the boats at home being made the signal of grief by flying a token at half-mast.

So far as I can remember - and I have no note to the contrary - our fishermen were not over fortunate in their catches during that cold and trying spring but on the 20th of May there was an immense catch of mackerel in the Seine-nets at St. Leonards, a large sum of money being made by their sale at 6d. to 8d. each.

The 2nd of April was a cold and snowy day, and a sharp frost, with icicles, was seen on the 2nd of May, but on the 17th of June and the 7th of July, two most terrific thunder-storms occurred, the first continuing from 8 till 12 p.m., and the second lasting also a period of four hours. The inhabitants were in the utmost state of fear, but the damage in each case was comparatively small.

The destructive storms of the 31st of March and 19th to 26th of July have already been dwelt upon, and the next abnormal visitation was on the 17th of September, when a terrific gale blew down chimneys and hoardings, and was followed by a week of sunless skies and flooding rains which destroyed the hops and impeded commerce.

There being no ship-​building​ in Hastings at the time I am writing worthy of the term, it may be of interest to add a few more particulars as applying to that important branch of industry in the year 1839. The two ship-yards of Thwaites and Winter's and Ransom and Ridley's were still in activity, and the latter firm was noted for the construction of smart yacht-like schooners with rakish masts, and specially designed for the fruit trade in the Mediterranean. Two of these, the Monkey and Nonpareil were greatly damaged by a storm that followed on the heels of that which on the 2nd of January wrecked the four vessels at Hastings as already described. On the 17th of the same month a brig was launched by Ransom and Ridley, named after Her Majesty, and built for a Mr. Diplock, of Brighton; and at the end of the year, namely Dec. 29th, another of the saucy-looking schooners, named The Torch, was launched from the same yard. As a last word on shipping matters for that year. It may be stated that about the 15th of August The Fearless Government steamer arrived off the town to survey the coast in pursuit of the best position for a harbour of refuge, and on the 20 th of November another Government steamer The Boxer, performed a similar duty which inspired the inhabitants with the hope that something even yet would be done towards the construction of a harbour. I have bare need to say that the hope proved delusive (sic) so far as Government were concerned, and equally non-effective were the proceedings of the local standing-committee for the furtherance of the object. They met at the Town Hall on the 27th of February, but accomplished nothing, and after that the subject seemed to die through inanition. But this harbour question reminds one that the harbour at Dover was at the same time the scene of a phenomenal occurrence. On the 16th of February there occurred the lowest flood-tide ever witnessed by the oldest of the inhabitants. The water was so shallow that the Channel packets could not be floated out of the harbour, and the mails and passengers had to be put on board the vessels which crossed from the other side.

That the construction of a harbour at Hastings would have realised all the benefits believed in by some of its sanguine promoters is open to doubt; but I am of opinion that the immediate decline and subsequent collapse of the ship-​building​ trade was a cir-