Any impression, however, which I might have made soon faded away, the Society within three weeks again urging their plan, under the erroneous notion that they had found an answer to my objection, and pressing me to undertake it, “as the only man capable of giving it effect.” Of course I could only point out the error and decline their request.

Measures were thus in progress for giving a vast amount of Sunday relief throughout the country. Much had been already done, more was in hand, and, judging by the past, I saw reasonable ground to hope that the completion of this would open the way, as in the end it did, to yet further benefit. Of course I could not but be aware that the important change now preparing had in it an element of danger. The transit of letters through London on the Sunday, if taken alone, would necessarily be considered as an increase of Sunday work, the more so as the “practical officers” maintained, contrary to my opinion, that at least a temporary addition to the present force was essential to the plan. It was to be feared, therefore, that London would be more struck with a slight increase of Sunday employment in its own office than with any decrease, however great, in all the other offices of the kingdom; and that if London should sound the alarm on a subject where Englishmen feel rather than think, an angry excitement would spread throughout the country; an evil so formidable as to require that every precaution should be taken against it. Above all, it was desirable that no partial rumour should precede the complete enunciation of the plan; since its sole chance of ready acceptance, and indeed its true justifiability, depended upon its character as a whole. Consequently, every one of those to whom knowledge was necessarily intrusted had been strictly enjoined to secrecy. Unhappily, there must have been treachery in the camp; not that I ever had the means of fixing this charge on any individual, or that I ever was solicitous to do so; but of the fact itself there was abundant evidence.

On September 27th my wife and I, by way of keeping the twenty-second anniversary of our wedding, had taken a walk together as far as Hendon, but after spending some time pleasantly there, we found the rest of our pleasure marred by rumours of approaching trouble—rumours too well confirmed on the following day.

The statement that the Lord Mayor had proceeded in this questionable manner proved to be untrue, but of the Bishop’s part in the matter there was no doubt. I could not but think it strange that one who had himself to exercise authority and maintain discipline should feel warranted, on an ex-parte statement, without even ascertaining whether this extraordinary appeal had been preceded by proper application to the proper authority, should feel warranted, I say, to give the sanction of his high authority to a proceeding which, in the case of his own clergy, he would justly have regarded as irregular and insubordinate.

As usual in difficulties, I sought aid from my own family:—

In an able article which appeared in the Times about six months later, and which is quoted in its proper place, the delusion of the day is justly compared to the infatuation which, two hundred years ago, overspread England, led to such fearful injustice, and produced so much unmerited suffering, from the calumnious breathings of so coarse a miscreant as Titus Oates. Doubtless two centuries had not passed away for nothing; a great amelioration of manners had taken place, both in deceivers and in deceived; but, great as was the difference in degree, the present movement was in kind the same thing again. History once more repeated itself. Only let the accusation be monstrous enough, the asseveration sufficiently bold, and the invention of circumstances tolerably plausible, there is still a large fraction of the public to whom disproof is for a time impossible of reception; the mist of error so entirely blinding that the most glaring correctives passed unnoticed—nay, unseen; while there is another class, perhaps almost equally large, which hides its better knowledge, overawed by general prejudice; so that while denunciation is clamorous and confident, defence is but slow, feeble, and timorous.

We afterwards called together on an old and valued friend in the City, hoping that we might rely on him, as one frequently taking part in public affairs, to speak in defence of the measure at the meeting convened by the Lord Mayor.

The City meeting was unanimous against the measure; the agitation was evidently very powerful, and the most absurd and erroneous statements were abroad. One circumstance, however, gave partial explanation of the stir. We all know that in the heat of debate, as well as in the heat of wine, suppressed feelings are apt to come forth; and some of the speeches at this meeting showed, not very obscurely, a motive to agitation of which I was not previously aware, and which certainly assorted but ill with the religious considerations so much dwelt upon. It appeared that, by the existing arrangements, the London merchant occasionally got his letters from the East or West Indies or other distant places on Monday morning, while the Liverpool merchant did not get his till Monday evening; so that there was an interval of which, by the aid of the telegraph, the London merchant could take advantage for his special benefit. By the change contemplated, the two deliveries would be made at the same time, and the local advantage be therefore lost. I must not be supposed to attribute this low motive to the meeting generally, still less to the public at large, though probably it had its influence on more persons than would have been willing to acknowledge it even to themselves. As we proceed, too, it will be manifest that other motives were at work of an order but little more elevated. Meantime, as Government intended, notwithstanding the clamour, to go forward with the measure, it was necessary promptly to secure the means.

Of course the sole ground of complaint from the clerks and letter-carriers was the expectation, real or pretended, that Sunday attendance would be compelled. Such an expedient had never entered into my mind; for, first, I should have held such compulsion too high a price to pay for the advantage; and, secondly, I anticipated no difficulty whatever in obtaining volunteers.

Three days later, being asked by Colonel Maberly if it was my intention that none but volunteers should be taken, and being urged by Mr. Bokenham (the head of the department immediately concerned) to allow of compulsion, with a warning that otherwise men would hardly be procured, I replied that I would rather give up the measure than compel a single man to attend. On the morrow I had again support from a very important quarter:—

But pending the beneficial effect which such articles might gradually produce upon the middle classes, the state of mind in the class whence letter-carriers and messengers are drawn remained matter of anxiety. On the day on which the article appeared there was a straw to show which way the wind was blowing; and however ludicrous the incident appears now that the storm is passed, it was not half so funny at the moment.

The following day, however, brought more support from the press:—

This was immediately followed by support from a quarter of yet more direct importance:—

At the same conference I had to report that as yet only three volunteers had come forward for the new work; but, again expressing my strong objection to compulsion, I mentioned a device for simplifying the sorting by which I was confident the work might be performed by unpractised hands. Though Colonel Maberly still preferred compulsion, the Chancellor of the Exchequer authorized an experimental trial of the plan, which, with the aid of two of my nephews, I made without delay, and in two days carried so far as to obtain satisfactory results; a fact, doubtless, not lost on the regular force.

The time appointed for the actual change being now close at hand, definite and binding arrangements were indispensable. The duties were accordingly divided by mutual agreement amongst Mr. Tilley, Mr. Bokenham, and myself. I was, however, confident of success, as by this time a large number of volunteers had come forward, so that we had to make a selection, the men chosen being principally from the secretary’s office. The readiness to volunteer from this division of the service proceeded, as I had the gratification to learn, from a step taken by Colonel Maberly, who, calling his clerks together, addressed them in a speech in which he pointed out that the department was in danger through unjust attacks, and called upon them to stand forth in its defence.

On the morrow I conferred again with the Postmaster-General relative to the arrangements in question, when he communicated to me, in strict confidence, that he feared there was a decided leaning towards the insubordinate men on the part of certain important officials whom he named.

After recording these transactions, my Journal thus continues:—

It is remarkable that while the only firm stand against compulsion was made by myself, it was upon me that the blame of this imaginary compulsion was chiefly laid; against me that the most unscrupulous asseverations were uttered, and the bitterest reproaches directed. I had been for a long time earnestly and successfully engaged in reducing the Sunday labour of the department throughout the United Kingdom.[62] Hundreds of persons, through measures adopted on my recommendation, had been released from the greater part of their Sunday duty. I had, in fact, been strenuously, though quietly, doing the very work of the Lord’s Day Society; and, now, because a further important measure in the same direction required a small temporary addition to the Sunday force of the London office alone, this even being so arranged as that all engaged would be released from duty an hour before the usual time for the commencement of Divine Service, I was denounced as the chief enemy of the due observance of the Sunday, and charged with a wicked intention to compel, whereas, on the contrary, I was doing my very best to prevent compulsion. These attacks, too, so painful and injurious to myself, were no less endangering the great measure of relief which I was striving to carry through. As I have said, the public could not yet think—it only felt. Under such circumstances I was bound to be most heedful lest any act or even acquiescence on my part, real or apparent, might give, or seem to give, ground, however slight, for just imputation.

Mr. Bokenham had twice applied to me to obtain for him a peremptory order from the Postmaster-General to carry out the measure; adding that, if this were done, he felt sure his men would come forward from good-feeling towards himself. This I had, of course, refused; but it now occurred to me (October 13th) that, if the order were accompanied with permission to select volunteers, not only from within the office, but also, if necessary, from the world at large, Mr. Bokenham’s desire might be safely granted, since it was impossible that, with so wide a choice, there should be the slightest difficulty in obtaining the necessary aid. Upon my explaining this proposed course to Mr. Bokenham, he expressed his desire to have it carried out. I learned from him, however, much to my chagrin, that he received a verbal order to compel attendance; but upon my stating to him the Postmaster-General’s promise to the contrary, he said he should apply for further instructions before taking any steps. I accordingly wrote a minute in which I stated my unabated confidence in my plan of sorting, and my readiness to undertake the responsibility of its execution if the Postmaster-General should so decide. Having shown this to Mr. Tilley, who had been present throughout the conversation, and who at once vouched for the accuracy of the statements contained therein, I went straight to Brighton, obtained without difficulty the requisite powers for Mr. Bokenham, and the Postmaster-General’s approval of the whole minute, he “viewing it as a very satisfactory mode of reconciling the voluntary principle with a peremptory order to Bokenham, and expressing himself much indebted to me for the trouble I had taken.”

All now seemed to be satisfactorily arranged for action; but three days later new doubts arose, the Postmaster-General informing me that Mr. Bokenham had withdrawn from his engagement to me, and that he himself had thought it necessary to issue a positive order, upon which he had no doubt the new duty would be executed, and, as he confidently hoped, by volunteers. After mentioning that he had overlooked the phrase in my minute relative to volunteers from without, he advised that, supposing Mr. Bokenham should express no distrust of his power, I should now leave the matter in his hands. I could not but feel anxious lest his lordship’s authorisation to Mr. Bokenham should include that compulsion which I so strongly deprecated. When I got sight of the instructions referred to in his letter, I found that I was not mistaken. I at once replied (see Appendix E), informing him how I had become pledged to the opposite course, declaring myself still ready to undertake the responsibility of the sorting by volunteers, provided I received the powers which had been conferred on Mr. Bokenham, and repeating my earnest desire that the improvement should be abandoned altogether rather than we should “run the risk of compelling any one to do that to which he has a conscientious objection.”

My anxiety on the subject was not without reason:—

Lord John Russell, in the main, confirmed my view as to the employment of volunteers exclusively. The Postmaster-General informed me that he had spoken seriously to Mr. Bokenham, and hoped for good results. I pointed out to the Postmaster-General that, though his order for the execution of the plan was peremptory, yet, considering the ample field given for obtaining volunteers, it could not possibly enjoin compulsion; with which conclusion he agreed.

Meantime the work of agitation did not relax:—

Still, whatever the present pain, I was confident of succeeding in the end, provided there was no flinching; but it was of the first importance to have a complete and definite understanding as to the mode of action. Vacillation must be brought to an end, if possible, and, fortunately, it was decided the next day that I should undertake the duty, with authority to raise volunteers in and out of the office. I consequently began at once to make needful arrangements, when Mr. Bokenham, informing me that for certain reasons it would be easier for him to obtain volunteers than he had supposed, expressed a desire to try again. The next day he undertook in writing to discharge the duty by the aid of volunteers alone. This offer, with a minute of my own, I despatched to the Postmaster-General, again at Brighton, who wrote me word next day that he had approved my minute “with great satisfaction.”

This promise Mr. Yorke handsomely fulfilled, and not without good effect, though public feeling was still too strong to allow of immediate success.

On the same day that I saw Mr. Yorke there were more inflammatory notices at the churches; but to these no printer’s name was attached. It was no wonder that symptoms of direct insubordination began to appear in the department. The gas in Mr. Bokenham’s office was on one occasion suddenly put out, and one of the volunteers for the Sunday duty was hooted. I could not but feel great anxiety as to the issue, since an open outbreak would have thrown all into confusion; nor can I deem it even now needless to point out that when any considerable portion of the public, acting upon an ex-parte statement, and hastily assuming that that which is not promptly denied must needs be true, takes upon itself to countenance discontent in an important Government department, it must, at least, produce in the department itself great anxiety and the waste of much valuable time, and may expose the whole country to the risk of most serious inconvenience. Some months afterwards the Postmaster-General admitted that he was now satisfied that we should have had a strike in the Inland Office if the men had had the slightest pretext for it; and that if he had forced any one to attend on Sundays, which he says —— pressed him to do, it would, no doubt, have furnished the pretext.

On the following day I became aware of one source of misconception among the men, and, through them, among the public. Mr. Bokenham admitted that, when he communicated to his clerks the Postmaster-General’s positive order for the Sunday transmission, he withheld the minute that limited the service to volunteers, and thus raised, and in some degree justified, the cry that compulsion would be employed.

Meanwhile the trouble thus excited in St. Martin’s-le-Grand was extending to the provincial offices, at one of which the postmaster had gone so far as to issue, under his own signature, a hand-bill against the measure.[63] Meanwhile one postmaster, at least, took a very different course:—

All such support was very important at a time when opposition was so strong, and, I must add, so unscrupulous:—

The following is the text of this strange exhortation:—

As usual, in these exhortations to bold defiance, the printer’s name was cautiously suppressed.

While so much was doing to abuse the public mind, official reserve prevented my taking the most direct means for its correction:—

After all that has been described, the reader will not be surprised at the next passage from my Journal. I must first state, however, that ere this the time for hesitation was past, the labour of preparation concluded, and the day of actual trial come:—

Ill though I was, nevertheless I was eagerly desirous of information as to the success of the first experiment, particularly as to whether the force engaged had proved, as I expected, ample. I had ascertained the previous day “that no more carriages, drivers, guards, &c., would be employed in conveying the bags from and to the stations than heretofore on a Sunday; the only difference will be that four-wheeled carriages with two horses will be substituted for two-wheeled carriages with one horse.” Mr. Bokenham wrote up from the office that the work not having been quite completed by ten o’clock, though twenty minutes more would have sufficed, he had requested ten of the force to return in the evening to finish; a necessity arising, however, from the fact that the number of letters was 18,000 or 20,000 more than usual on the Sunday. He added, that, “the men were all in excellent humour, and exerted themselves to their utmost.”

On the following day, when, though better, I was unable to leave home, I looked with anxiety into the morning papers to learn what would be the complexion of their reports in the absence of that information which I had been forbidden to supply; and, with concern, I found my unsatisfactory anticipations confirmed. Even the Times, which had hitherto given us so much support, headed its article with “Commencement of Sunday labour in the Post Office”; made it appear that it was intended to make a despatch by the day mails, but that the attempt failed; represented the attendance as compulsory, and stated that not less than fifty men were employed in the additional duties, the actual number being only twenty-five. Handbills, too, were publicly distributed by letter-carriers, attacking not only me, but also the Postmaster-General, and even the Government.

Amidst so many difficulties on one side it was natural that those on the other should be overlooked. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had written to me saying that he did not see the necessary connection between Sunday relief in the provinces and the Sunday transmission of letters through London; intimating, in short, that we might retain the one and abandon the other. In reply, I informed him that I could not have ventured to propose the one change without the other, reminded him that there were two parties to be considered in the matter, referred for further explanation to my minute of the previous February, repeated my conviction that by the use of proper means the additional force at the Chief Office could be altogether dispensed with, reported satisfactory results thus far, and forwarded, as evidence of relief at the provincial offices, the letter lately received from the postmaster of Plymouth.

On the day after writing this letter, being still confined to the house, I received a note from the Postmaster-General, informing me that he was much pressed to issue an order for compelling attendance, and that he wished me to consider the question before he next came to the office. On going myself to the office on the following day, I learnt that a larger Sunday force had been applied for by Mr. Bokenham, partly with a view to completing the work in the morning, and partly to enable him to work the men on alternate Sundays only. He wished the number to be raised to forty, which, by alternation, would be in effect five less than the number I had proposed; yet I hesitated to agree to the change, knowing how the matter would be misrepresented abroad.

Even the authority of the Premier, however, did not remove all difficulties, for on my suggesting to Mr. Bokenham that he should offer a new inducement to volunteers, he again urged that, instead of this, I should consent to a compulsory attendance in rotation. Upon my refusal, he asked permission to warn the men that, unless there were sufficient volunteers, compulsion would be resorted to; offering, as I still refused, to do this in his own name, without implicating me. Of course I stood firm to my point.

When the second Sunday had passed much as the first, I again offered, with a view to avoid further importunity, to undertake the work myself; but scarcely had I done this when a new difficulty arose, for which, however, I was not altogether unprepared. An eminent printer, who had offered me the aid of fifty of his men, deemed it prudent to withdraw, as he saw reason to believe that if he persisted in his offer it would lose him some important custom.[64] At the same time I was warned by anonymous letters (of one of which a copy is given in Appendix F), of treacherous conduct within the office, and upon my reporting this to the Postmaster-General, learnt that he had received the same warning in a letter not anonymous.[65] I had come to him, however, prepared with a memorandum showing the results for which I was ready to make myself responsible, and also the conditions which I deemed essential to success; and, of course, I stood quite prepared to go on. My offer was the more opportune as Mr. Bokenham, who arrived in the midst of our conversation, informed the Postmaster-General, when I had withdrawn, that he could not remain responsible for the new work, even on the Sunday next ensuing. My offer, therefore, was, with some modification, accepted. I felt more confident in the charge, because I had devised a means of reducing the number of bags—the chief difficulty on the previous Sunday—from six hundred to one hundred, and because I had learnt from Mr. Tilley that all such volunteers as he had spoken to had renewed their engagement. He himself was ready to go on, and even Mr. Bokenham, though shrinking from the chief responsibility, was, like Mr. Tilley, willing to undertake the share of duty allotted to him according to our first arrangement.[66] The only remaining doubt was whether the Premier might not decide upon a complete abandonment of the plan.

This was, however, with one modification, viz., that if the office did not supply the requisite number of volunteers, the deficiency should be made up from other Government departments. Happily no such necessity arose, as the number of volunteers from the office itself who presented themselves on the conditions I had been authorised to offer, was more than necessary. Seeing this, Mr. Bokenham for the third time undertook the duty, at first only for the next Sunday, but within two days for permanence. Accordingly the next Sunday, though the additional force still did not exceed twenty-five men, the number of letters, however, being somewhat less than the week before, the whole work was completed in the morning, so as to release all engaged in it by ten o’clock for the whole day. In short, the difficulty had so completely passed away that three days afterwards Mr. Bokenham came to inquire if I should be likely to make any change in duties during the next three Sundays, as he wished to leave town; and upon my doubting the safety of his withdrawal at such a time, gave it as his opinion that there was no danger. Among the circumstances tending to this satisfactory result was, doubtless, an authority which I had obtained from the Postmaster-General to form a permanent corps of volunteers, principally from other Government offices, who were to receive a month’s pay whether called upon for actual service or not. The Stamp and Record Offices alone were ready to supply thirty-five men, or ten more than needful. I could not, however, fully share in Mr. Bokenham’s confidence. Only four days before, inflammatory handbills had been distributed within the office, one being deposited at each sorter’s place, while a sub-sorter was selling, at a halfpenny per copy, an abusive song attacking myself; proceedings which, as the Postmaster-General remarked in calling for investigation, showed that there must be great neglect in the discipline of the office.

There continued, likewise, a daily issue of placards, which were exhibited chiefly on the churches and in certain shop-windows, one of these latter being nearly opposite my room. A few of these placards were avowedly issued by the Lord’s Day Society, but most of them were anonymous. All had the appearance of being concocted more or less in the Post Office, and all evinced an utter disregard of truth. I retain to this day a collection of these mendacious papers, which, though large, is nevertheless incomplete. The strike among the men urged in some of them never went further than the refusal, on the part of the guards, on one occasion, to assist in placing the bags in the carriages at the Post Office; in consequence of which, even before I knew the fact, they were all suspended from employment by the Postmaster-General.

However, as the Sunday duty was now permanently off my hands, I had leisure to direct my attention towards those measures for diminishing its amount, which formed an integral part of my plan. One of these was so to arrange the work as to have the greatest practicable amount of sorting done in the travelling offices on the railways; the earlier portion ending by five on Sunday morning, and the latter not beginning till nine on Sunday evening. The pursuit of this object led to a singular device. One portion of the correspondence passing through London on the Sunday, viz., that from towns too near to London to allow of time for sorting on the way, seemed incapable of being brought within this arrangement; but while I was preparing a minute on the subject, in which my brother Arthur was assisting me, I suddenly startled him, so he now reports, by exclaiming: “A light breaks in upon me.” I had just conceived the first notion of the device referred to above, which, strange as it may seem, really answers its purpose very well. This was that the down mail-trains on Saturday night should take up these letters at the different towns on their respective routes, thus conveying them, in the first instance, in a direction opposite to their final destination, but subsequently transferring them to the up-trains for conveyance to town. Thus the down night train to Liverpool would receive successively the up-mails of St. Albans and Watford, and on arrival at a more remote town would transfer them all to the up-train, which would carry them back to London. By this arrangement the required opportunity for sorting the letters was obtained. Indirect as is the route, no time whatever is lost to the public, which to this day, I believe, remains quite unaware that letters are carried away from London by one night train only to be brought back by another. Another point for relief was a Sunday morning delivery in the suburbs of London, employing about four hundred men, against which, amidst all the hubbub of the time, not a word had been said.[67] It occurred to me that, as a means of immediately reducing the work, the district cross posts might be dispensed with on Sundays, which could be done without inconvenience.

The Postmaster-General was delighted with an arrangement that reduced Sunday work in the London district, and at once agreed to putting down the cross posts—a change which released eleven men. He was inclined, indeed, as a punishment to the agitators, to abolish the Sunday morning delivery without giving anything in its place; but, upon my advice, this project was abandoned. Accordingly, carrying out a plan of relief which I had suggested, as a more general measure, when at the Treasury,[68] I proposed to substitute a late Saturday night delivery in the nearer suburbs for that on Sunday morning. By this plan more than a hundred men would be forthwith released from Sunday duty in the metropolitan district alone, while further investigation promised additional benefit. Within a fortnight I was able to submit a minute recommending the measure in detail; and to this the Postmaster-General gave his sanction, though he sadly wished to punish the public in the manner I have mentioned.

Further measures of relief soon followed:—