THE EARLY MAIL-CO ACHES 



173 



entering into an agreement to receive a percentage 

 in the event of success, and not one shilling if it 

 proved a failure. " None but an enthusiast," he 

 declared, " could have formed sucli a plan ; none 

 but an enthusiast could have carried it into 

 execution ; and I am confident that no man in 

 this country or any other could have done it but 

 that very individual, John Palmer." 



The report of this committee, recommending 

 an increased pension or a grant, was not adopted ; 

 but in 1801 

 Palmer him- 

 self entered 

 Parliament 

 and fought 

 his o w n 

 battles. He 

 l^rinted and 

 circulated 

 among the 

 members and 



in other circles a statement of his case, and in 

 the course of eight years expended no less a sum 

 than £13,000 in appeals for justice — in vain, and 

 it was left for his eldest son. Colonel Charles 

 Palmer, who succeeded him in the representa- 

 tion of Bath in 1808, to ^t last fight the question 

 to a victorious issue. In 1813 he secured for his 

 father an award of £50,000, and the continuance 

 during his life of the commission on Post Office 

 receipts originally agreed upon. 



In the meantime, Palmer had been variously 



ONE OF THREE MAIL-COACH HALFPENNIES STRUCK 

 AT BATH, 1797. 



