The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the History of Penny Postage, Vol. 2 (of 2)

CHAPTER XV.

APPOINTMENT TO POST OFFICE (1846).

Although I was confident that the return of the Liberals to power was but a question of time, it followed so rapidly upon the events already mentioned as almost to take me, and I suppose many others, by surprise. After holding office somewhat less than five years, Sir Robert Peel found himself without adequate support in the House which had raised him to power, and on the 29th of the month in which I received my testimonial he resigned.

Although I became aware, by repeated conversations which I had had with my friend Mr. Hawes, who was a member of the new Government, that he confidently reckoned upon my recall, yet, knowing that he could have no direct power in the matter, I was desirous of further evidence as to the intentions of the new administration. Mr. Warburton, who was always believed to have great influence with Liberals in power as well as out of power, undertook to communicate with the Government. On July 30th he wrote word that he had had an interview with the new Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Charles Wood, now Lord Halifax), and would be glad to see me on the morrow. Of his oral communication I have retained no record, but according to my recollection the Chancellor had spoken of difficulties—had thought that the best post for me would be, not at the Treasury as before, but at the Post Office, into which, however, he did not yet see how my introduction could be managed without disturbance to the department. In short, the matter was a problem, and time would be required for its solution. I resolved, therefore, to make good use of the interim, and entering on the longest holiday I had ever known, went abroad for that change of scene and thought which alone could fit me for the arduous duties in which I expected soon to be engaged.

Meantime, some events of interest passed at home. On August 22nd Mr. Duncombe, in the House of Commons, again complained of the management of the Post Office. In the course of the debate Mr. Parker (Secretary to the Treasury) stated that the new Postmaster-General (Lord Clanricarde) had found “the whole establishment in a most unsatisfactory condition.” [31] Mr. Hume, in terms highly complimentary to me, urged my recall. The Premier (Lord John Russell) admitted “that he was by no means satisfied with the state of the Post Office, nor did he think the plans of reform instituted by Mr. Hill had been sufficiently carried out;[32] and Mr. Warburton, referring to Lord John Russell’s admission, strongly urged my reappointment to office.

My first intimation of this debate was received in a letter from Mr. Warburton, of which the following is the closing passage:—

On November 2nd, five days after my return from abroad, I received a letter from Mr. Warburton, of which the following is the substance. He had just seen Lord Clanricarde (at his request), who said that, knowing Mr. Warburton’s interest in me and in Post Office matters, he wished to have some conversation with him before negotiating directly with me. There were difficulties in the way of giving me any high existing office in the Post Office, and objections thereto. The office of secretary, for instance, was so loaded with detail, that if given to me, whose office should be to advise, suggest, and consider of improvements, my utility would be destroyed. On the other hand, there were objections to an office of the nature held before, on account of antagonism with the Post Office. His lordship thought the fittest appointment would be one constituting me the adviser of the Postmaster-General. He thought that such an office, which every day’s experience convinced him was necessary, might be constituted by himself at once. Mr. Warburton informed his lordship that, from some conversation he had had with me, he knew that I would not accept any office from the Government which might be regarded as a mode of putting me on the shelf; but that if an office of permanence and dignity, connecting me with the Post Office—not placing me under the secretary—and giving me sufficient weight to carry out my plans of improvement, were offered, it would be accepted; that the office suggested by his lordship wanted permanence. I might be dismissed, as before, by some cabal of the officers of the department. They would bide their time until a Postmaster-General should be appointed who would cashier me. If the office were ephemeral, I could be of no utility; resistance to my proposed measures would be protracted until they could be defeated by a change of dynasty. He added that, on his (Mr. W.’s) suggestion, Lord Clanricarde would have an interview with me on the subject. Mr. Warburton obtained Lord Clanricarde’s permission to repeat to me what had passed.

Having procured an appointment with Lord Clanricarde, I called upon him two days later; but of my conversation with him on this occasion, and at a second interview, I have no further record than the following:—“Saw Lord Clanricarde twice during the negotiation; much pleased with his straightforward, business-like manner.” I remember, however, that I suggested for his lordship’s consideration the revival of the title assigned to Palmer, viz., Surveyor-General of the Post Office, and that in consequence of his inquiry as to the circumstances of Palmer’s appointment, I undertook to send him a report on the subject.

On the following day, I received a letter from his lordship, in which, after expressing a wish to hear my more considered opinion of the proposal which he had intimated to me, he continued as follows:—

Objection having arisen to the revival of Palmer’s official title, and my position being, as I well knew, matter of grave importance to my efficiency in office, I wrote to Mr. Warburton on the 17th, but was prevented by his illness at the time from receiving that immediate assistance which in health he was always so ready, I might say so eager, to give.

Meantime, the negotiation was carried on by Mr. Hawes, who was at once a member of the Government, and exceedingly zealous for my interests; but in the course of it a vexatious mistake occurred, which was by no means without injurious effect. Knowing how difficult it would be for me, after all that had passed, to co-operate either harmoniously or successfully with Colonel Maberly, I urged the importance of the step actually taken eight years later, viz., of removing him to some other office. To this it was replied that there was no post available for the purpose, save at lower salary than he was then receiving; and as the loss involved was said to be £300 a-year, I expressed my perfect willingness to sacrifice that sum for the purpose of indemnification. My salary at the Treasury, it may be remembered, was £1,500 a-year (the same as that of the Secretary to the Post Office); and I now said that I was ready to accept £1,200, provided only that my position were such as would enable me to carry out promptly and efficiently the remaining parts of my plan. Unluckily for me, it came to pass that, while my offer as to salary was caught at, the accompanying stipulation was somehow set aside; the definite proposal being that I should take office as Secretary to the Postmaster-General with a salary of £1,200 a-year; thus placing me in a lower position than that which I had previously occupied at the Treasury. When I pointed out this to Mr. Hawes, he expressed his regret at the perverse form the thing had taken, but saying that the error could not now be retrieved, gave it as his earnest advice that I should accept the proposal as it stood. Upon my objecting to this, he urged that the arrangement was but temporary; for that as soon as I should have demonstrated my fitness for the entire control of the department, I should doubtless be placed at the head. As I still resisted, his urgency increased. He warned me that, if I now declined, my plans might remain for ever incomplete, for that no second opportunity was likely to be offered; and he concluded with the words, “Let me implore you to accept it.” To such an exhortation from a kind and valued friend I could not return an abrupt answer, and though grievously disconcerted at what had occurred, I promised to consider the matter.

Here, then, I found myself in a painful dilemma. On the one side I was called on to accept a lower position than before, and thus to maintain from inferior ground a contest which had almost worn me out when the ground was equal; to consent to carry out my plans, if at all, through wearisome controversy, over factitious obstacles, and by reluctant hands; perhaps to break down in the trial, and thus leave my work still undone. On the other hand, could I let slip this, my sole chance, as it appeared, of at least attempting to complete the great task on which I had entered? Could I disappoint the friends who had striven so earnestly on my behalf, and for the promotion of my great object? Could I forget the noble subscription raised for me by the public, and seem to show, by my acts, that I preferred emolument to achievement, or doggedly stood out for unimportant distinctions of title or position?[33] The question was a very difficult one, and though, after much consideration, I felt inclined to give way, I resolved first to consult all such of my brothers as were within reach. The result in each case was curiously identical, though for some reason, now forgotten, I had to consult them severally. Each began with an indignant ejaculation at the terms as they stood, and a declaration that they could not be accepted; but each, after hearing the matter to the end, came to the conclusion that, unworthy as was the treatment to which I was subjected, it would not do to forego what might prove to be my only opportunity of completing my great work. Since my own conviction accorded with theirs, I wrote to Mr. Hawes in acceptance of the offer. As the letter fully sets forth my reasons for this step, I give it in extenso:—

Two days afterwards I received a letter from the Postmaster-General, requesting that I would call upon him on the following Saturday. Having meantime inquired of Mr. Warburton whether there were any further information which he thought it important for me to receive before this interview, I had a letter from him, in which he mentioned that he had told Lord Clanricarde of my acceptance of the offer made by Government, accompanying his announcement with the remark that those whom I had consulted had been in doubt as to the advice they should give, fearing that Colonel Maberly would be able to thwart me in my exertions. Mr. Warburton’s letter then proceeded as follows:—

A few days later, having in the meantime called on the Postmaster-General, I received my formal appointment. As I had again cast in my lot with the Post Office, I withdrew, of course, from my previous employments, resigning all my directorships, already three in number.

I was now in my fifty-second year, and in the tenth from that in which I first took Post Office reform seriously into my thoughts. I need not say that the interval had been a period of very hard work, that a decade in my life was in every sense gone; in short, that I was already somewhat old for the heavy work of reform that still lay before me.

CHAPTER XVI.

JOINT SECRETARYSHIP. (1846-1848.)

The scene of my labours was henceforth to be in that institution which had so long been the centre of my thoughts; and though the post assigned me would, as I knew, give me but limited power for attaining the ends I had in view, I still hoped by patience and perseverance to make fair progress. I now resumed the Journal which for four years had been suspended:—

As we passed through Newgate Street, there was a little incident of some amusement. The way being blocked, there arose some of the abusive language usually heard on such occasions against those who, being immediately ahead, seem to stop the way; and the Postmaster-General and his new secretary came in for their full share. Upon looking back we found that the abuse came from the driver of a mail-cart, who was thus unconsciously railing at his official superiors. Lord Clanricarde burst into a hearty laugh; showing, what I have often remarked, that men under heavy official pressure seem more than commonly pleased with a little fun.

This was at least a satisfactory beginning, but what was to follow? While I resolved that nothing should be wanting on my part to maintain harmony, I could not but form, from the past, unsatisfactory expectations as to the future. How far these misgivings were justified will appear presently; and yet I should willingly suppress much of the evidence on this point but for fear of misleading future reformers. It is important that any one meditating such a course as mine should know what that course really was; so that before entering on his work he may count the cost. How soon difficulties are forgotten by mere bystanders was curiously shown in my case by an article some few years later in the “Edinburgh Review,” on Mr. Charles Dickens’s story of “Little Dorrit.” Few periodicals rendered me more important service than this—in none did it seem less probable that the nature and extent of my struggles would be underrated; and yet my course was cited as one notoriously demonstrating the injustice of those attacks on official jealousy which have rendered “Circumlocution Office” a familiar term. Mr. Dickens’s amusing reply will be found in “Household Words,” Vol. XVI, p. 97, and it may be added that it contains a short, but true and lively, sketch of my early struggles. Prior, therefore, to describing the improvements which I was gradually able to introduce, I shall endeavour to give a specimen of the circumstances which, for years after my restoration to office, made progress so tardy:—

To show how much this minute was likely to hamper me, it is only necessary to state that it forbade me to demand any papers whatever, or to send for any officer, without first enumerating my wants in a minute, which was to receive the sanction of the Postmaster-General, and then be sent to Colonel Maberly for him to give it effect. As it was impracticable for me, when entering on any investigation, to foresee what papers or what officers I should require to consult, or even to know what papers were in existence, it is obvious that by such a rule my proceedings would be so clogged as to render satisfactory progress impracticable:—

With regard to the supposed necessity for restriction, I soon learnt that not only the assistant-secretary, but also several of the clerks in the secretary’s office, could obtain necessary papers without the least difficulty. I must add that, while at the Treasury, I had similar freedom in relation to the papers there, and even to the officers of the Post Office, and I can truly aver that, so far from abusing the opportunities thus given, I had been careful to avoid everything that could in the least degree infringe the discipline of either department. Subsequent discoveries, however, led me to understand what strong reasons there must have been for obtaining from the Postmaster-General an order rendering access to papers as limited as possible. For, while I really shunned all knowledge on the subject, I could not avoid receiving from casual observation ample confirmation of the suspicions that I entertained three years before as to the extent to which the Parliamentary Committee of 1843 was misled.[34]

Restriction became the more galling because, in the very nature of things, the pressure of work was more than enough.

The reader, who has observed how speedily the withdrawal of my friends from power in 1841 was followed by intrigues to thwart my progress, undermine my credit, and remove me from my post, will be little surprised at the manifestations recorded above. At the time of the first cabal, I was in the weakness of isolation; this, the second, was formed when I was in the weakness of a novel position; and it will be found hereafter that other such seasons were chosen as times for similar proceedings. I felt too truly that a struggle was to come, and I could not yet foretell how far I should be supported in it by the Postmaster-General.

I had scarcely got my department into somewhat smoother working, when I was called upon to deal with applicants of two separate kinds: first, deputations from letter-carriers and stampers, suggesting improvements and applying for increase of wages; all of whom, for the sake of discipline, I declined receiving without the express sanction of the Postmaster-General; and, secondly, from persons claiming compensation for inventions or devices already included more or less explicitly in my published plan. The most remarkable amongst these claimants was a lady, who informed me by letter that the plan of penny postage originated with her, and begged that I would be so obliging as to aid her in obtaining due compensation from Government!

Meantime I went to work with a view to the extension of those facilities on which I had laid so much stress:—

These instructions, when completed, were sanctioned by the Postmaster-General, who, however, thought it necessary that they should be issued under the signature of Colonel Maberly. With the Postmaster-General’s consent, the document subsequently appeared in the newspapers. Of the Reports called for by this circular, about one-half were received within six months, and these gave information as to the state of things in about one hundred and twenty of the largest provincial towns. They showed all sorts of anomalies, though not quite so much room for improvement as I had expected. I was convinced, however, that the very issue of the circular had caused considerable improvements to be at once made. My progress, nevertheless, continued to be clogged with difficulties:—

My moral difficulties found a physical parallel:—

A few days later, being invited by the Guardian Society at Liverpool to a public dinner, I took opportunity, in my speech of thanks, to explain to a certain extent the duties and powers of the Post Office, misapprehension as to which led then, and doubtless leads still, to unprofitable correspondence, withdrawing attention from practical improvements to futile discussion. I found it particularly necessary to show why suggestions, however valuable, cannot be suddenly adopted, since, in so vast and complex a machine as the Post Office, which must not for one hour be arrested in its motion, it is indispensable to make such preliminary examination and complete arrangement as will yield full security that the change will throw nothing out of gear, but work smoothly from the first. I showed that, while some of the improvements called for by my Liverpool friends seemed feasible, others could not be made.

Thus, it had been demanded that letters should no longer be carried past the office from which they were to be distributed to some office further on, whence they would have to return, but that the distributing office should receive them at once. This demand, not then new, nor yet worn out, I had to meet by showing that the letters for one office were at such times mixed up with those for other offices, and therefore could not be dropped in passing, while the delay in sorting could not be absolutely prevented unless every post town in the United Kingdom made up a bag for every other post town, which, as there were then about one thousand post towns in all, would involve the daily despatch, transmission, and opening of a million of bags in each direction, an immense majority of which would contain no letters whatever. At the same time I assured my auditors that I should do my best to render the Post Office as useful as possible, and that I would carefully inquire into all the defects in its management which they had brought to my notice.[35] To this task I addressed myself on the morrow.

Even here, however, I found old impediments to the progress of improvement; for when I proposed to Mr. Banning, the postmaster of Liverpool, to keep open the Money Order Office to a later hour without waiting for instructions from London, my advice was met by the presentation, though with many apologies, of the Postmaster-General’s restrictive minute, the issue of which had been previously condemned, but unfortunately not revoked. One consequence was that I refrained, for the time, from attempting improvements at Manchester, lest I should encounter another copy of the minute there. On my return I pressed on the Postmaster-General the importance of reconsidering the arrangements affecting my position before his leaving town, which he promised to do, perhaps the more readily because he was much pleased with what I had effected at Liverpool. The consideration, however, produced no immediate result.

This transaction, though apparently but of local importance, I have narrated at some length, because it shows how the progress of improvement was clogged, and how much my time was occupied in watching lest that which I had carefully planned should be marred in working. Other difficulties will appear as I proceed with my narrative:—

When, however, the Postmaster-General was more at leisure we sometimes got on apace:—

Not liking this anomalous state of things, I consulted confidentially with Mr. Jones Loyd, mentioning also my uneasiness at the slow progress of improvement, and referring to the expectations held out to me through him and Mr. Warburton before I entered the Post Office.[36] These expectations, however, I did not suppose were likely soon to be fulfilled, as I had just learnt that a large addition was about to be made to Colonel Maberly’s staff. Mr. Loyd, while recognising the expectations held out to me, advised me temperately to press the Postmaster-General to assign to me a department, or at least to leave in my hands till ripe for his own decision all matters connected with any specific improvement which may be assigned to me. On this advice I resolved to act as occasions arose. I presently had further evidence that I was advancing in the confidence of my official superiors. The Postmaster-General placed the secretarial management of the Money Order Department in my hands, and directed that all returns to Parliament should be submitted to me before being sent to the Treasury, with free leave for me to attack any such as seemed unfair to penny postage, while the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his place in Parliament, spoke highly of my services.

At the same time, I felt obliged to remind the Postmaster-General of our slow progress. I again called his attention to the delay of my measures after their leaving my hands; showed, in short, that all my measures were standing still, and told him I was very anxious to bring some one improvement to a successful issue, a view in which he agreed, thinking, however, that much had already been effected. As regards minor matters this was true enough, but my continued anxiety was justified by the fact that I had now been nearly four months in office without being able to bring into effect any improvement important enough to require the sanction of the Treasury.

On April 1st of this year, in accordance with the wish of the Postmaster-General, I went to Bristol. As what I found there may be regarded as a specimen, by no means an unfavourable one, of the state of things at the provincial offices generally, I describe it. The first delivery of the day, by far the most important of all, was not completed until twelve o’clock; the letter-carriers, as I was informed, often staying after departure from the office to take their breakfast before commencing their rounds. I was able to show how at a small cost (only £125 a year) it might be completed by nine. The office itself I found small, badly lighted, and worse ventilated. The day mail thence to London was nearly useless, its contents for London delivery being on the morning of my inquiry only sixty-four letters, thirty-seven of which might have been sent by the previous mail on the mere payment of the extra penny. The impression regarding this mail, both in and out of the office, agreed exactly with my evidence in 1843, viz., that all day mails, to be efficient for their purpose, should start as late as is consistent with their reaching London in time for their letters to be forwarded by the evening mails. The satisfaction I felt in such improvements as I had been able to make on the spot was much enhanced by my receiving at the termination of my visit the thanks of both clerks and letter-carriers for the new arrangements.

To return to the subject of obstruction:—

The paper thus retarded I soon found was one amongst many, all of them more or less important to a right understanding of the work on which I was specially engaged. Application, however, to the Postmaster-General for the maintenance of direct communication produced no other effect than an injunction to Colonel Maberly’s department against further delay.

In the midst of these troubles, petty in themselves, but trying to my health and very injurious in the delay they produced, I saw, for the first time, a fellow-labourer in the great cause of postal improvement, who, in establishing the overland route to India, had surmounted formidable difficulties and rendered invaluable services, without, I fear, securing either to himself or his family any proportionate recompense. My record of the interview is very brief:—

A means of preventing, to a considerable extent, injurious measures in the Post Office being taken without my knowledge was hit upon almost accidentally. Upon my mentioning to Mr. Parker, then Secretary to the Treasury, that many of the applications from the Post Office to his department were made without my cognizance, and offering, with the sanction of the Postmaster-General, to go down once a week or so to the Treasury to assist him in his decisions upon them, the offer was gladly accepted, the more so as the augmentations recently made in the Post Office salaries were producing corresponding demands from other quarters. Yet further confidence was shown when the new practice at the Treasury started a fresh difficulty, viz., as to what was to be done when my opinion was against measures which the Postmaster-General had recommended without consulting me. Upon my applying to Lord Clanricarde for instructions, he told me that he wished me to have no scruples as to any measures, but to advise against them unhesitatingly if so inclined.

Notwithstanding this confidence, however, the anomalous arrangement of the department remained fruitful in mischief; indeed every practised man knows that where proceedings are vitiated at their source no subsequent vigilance suffices for their effectual correction. In my case, moreover, vigilance on such points was maintained at the sacrifice of progress in improvement. Parliamentary returns moved for about this time by members hostile to my plans, and demanded in such form as to mislead, were accelerated, while one moved for by Mr. Warburton in such form as to secure a true statement was kept back. Though, by great effort, I procured from the Postmaster-General an order for modification in two of the fallacious returns, yet, after all, one of them actually went forth with all its errors retained.

After many details on this vexatious topic, my Journal proceeds as follows:—

So long as this twofold authority continued, it was impracticable for the Postmaster-General, unless endowed with a more exact memory for details than can be reasonably expected in a Cabinet Minister, to avoid inconsistency in his own proceedings. Thus after having obtained his acceptance of an advantageous offer from the Brighton Railway Company, I learnt to my amazement that the offer had been refused. On inquiring into the matter, I found out that this was the result of counter advice of which I knew nothing.

It has been seen that errors thus arising found their way into Parliamentary returns; they even affected legislative enactment. In a bill sent up from the Post Office to the Treasury for introduction into Parliament, I had advised the insertion of clauses authorizing the Treasury to relax or abolish the rule fixing a maximum to the weight of a letter, but at the same time establishing restrictions—as, for instance, prepayment of postage on all heavy letters—to prevent abuse of the new rule by the public. The solicitor of the Post Office, however, so drew the bill as to supersede the Treasury exercise of this power by a clause making the abolition absolute, and at the same time omitting the proposed safeguards. As the bill was never submitted to my examination in a complete form, it became law with this defect. Fortunately, the practical consequences were not very serious, the public probably remaining for the most part quite unaware of its new liberty or, rather, licence. Some wag, however, getting hold of the fact, turned it to account for his amusement, posting in Ireland a bundle of old clothes, directed to London, which being of course refused by the addressee, as the postage demanded was no less than £4. 11s., had to be carried back according to rule to the place of despatch; the double conveyance being necessarily made gratis, as the sender naturally took care not to be known. I need not say that at the first opportunity the Act was amended.

A very far more serious evil was reported to me shortly afterwards; namely, that a clerk in the Money Order Office in Manchester had been detected in several frauds. My informant attributed the loss of letters, &c., mainly to the absence of investigation as to character, arising out of the system of patronage. He added that he pointed out this as the chief cause of the evil to Lord Lowther soon after his appointment.

To heedlessness in appointment was unfortunately added laxity in discipline:—