CHAPTER XXI.

LORD HARDWICKE.

"_February 28th, 1852._--Read Lord Derby's speech last night in the House of Lords. He talks of giving much attention to social improvements. I wish I could see reason to hope that he would go earnestly to work at the Post Office. He might, if he would, obtain a reputation for his administration in that department at least."

"_March 2nd._--Lord Hardwicke, the new Postmaster-General (whose patent, however, is not yet completed), came to the office with Lord Clanricarde. It was understood that they would go through the office together; but I afterwards found that Lord Hardwicke preferred waiting till his patent was made out, so none of us saw him. Lord Clanricarde tells me that, on his explaining to Lord Hardwicke my position in the office, and the opposition between Maberly and myself, Lord Hardwicke said the opposition was a good thing, as it would secure his hearing both sides of the question."

"_March 8th._--Lord Hardwicke entered on his duties to-day. Maberly was with him the greater part of the time he spent at the office. Before leaving, he sent a message to say that he would 'have the pleasure of making my acquaintance' early next morning."

"_March 9th._--Lord Hardwicke received me in a very friendly manner, spoke in high terms of penny postage, said that he understood that all the improvements were introduced by myself, and expressed his intention to extend improvement still further, especially mentioning the complete abolition of money prepayment. He told me that Maberly had spoken to him on the importance of a division of our duties, but Lord Hardwicke said he should take no steps in the matter until he was more familiar with the subject, and that in the mean time he wished everything to proceed as before; adding that it would be very gratifying to him if he could be the means of establishing cordiality between Maberly and myself."

"_March 10th._--Tilley came from Maberly with overtures of peace and amity. He says that Maberly is quite unhappy in consequence of the recent measures, and requested him (Tilley) to ask me if I had any objection to propose a division of duties. I replied that I should willingly consider the subject, and discuss it with Tilley or with Colonel Maberly himself, if the latter preferred my so doing, and expressed a general desire to meet his wishes as far as possible."

Shortly afterwards I transacted business for the first time, save on a trifling matter, with my new official superior, who had informed me that he should attend the office daily and work hard. My first experience was, as will be seen, of a mixed character. It must be borne in mind that Lord Hardwicke had been accustomed to the strict discipline of a man-of-war:--

"_March 13th._--Laid several important minutes before the Postmaster-General. He expressed his concurrence in all, and earnest approval of some; but, instead of signing them and returning them to me, as Lord Clanricarde would have done, he said he should keep them, and send them, when signed, with other papers, to Colonel Maberly, in order that they might be properly entered; and on my explaining that I always sent the minutes to be entered, after which they went to Colonel Maberly, the Postmaster-General intimated, in rather a peremptory manner, that he must do his own business in his own way."

"_March 18th._--Gave Lord Hardwicke a statement of my duties and responsibilities, he having called upon the chief officers to do the like."

The minute examination which is, doubtless, indispensable on board a man-of-war, was less profitable in the Post Office:--

"_March 20th._-- We are suffering much inconvenience from the manner in which Lord Hardwicke delays his decision on the minutes: those left with him on the 13th instant are not yet returned. He appears to be making the mistake of attempting too much. He is calling for all sorts of returns, some on unimportant matters, _e.g._, the number of fires lighted daily in the office, and seems unwilling to rely sufficiently on the recommendations of his advisers."

"_March 23rd._--In discussing the proposed reduction in the Colonial postage, the Postmaster-General was very complimentary as to the accuracy of my financial predictions as regards former measures."

"_March 26th._--The Postmaster-General, instead of simply approving our minutes, is apt to add instructions which render the whole impracticable. I find, however, a readiness on his part to alter his minutes on their impracticability being pointed out."

Meantime, old sources of trouble beginning to reopen,[96] a conversation ensued between Lord Hardwicke and myself relative to the division of duties. He again expressed a desire to place matters on a more satisfactory footing, but appeared to have a notion that Colonel Maberly's authority must be in some degree superior to mine. "There cannot," said he, "be two kings in Brentford;" and on my pointing out that in the Treasury and other departments there were two secretaries of equal authority, he replied, "If you are to be joint secretaries, I'll make you shake hands and sit in the same room." How far harmony would have been improved by compulsory association I am not able to determine, as the experiment was never tried. The conversation continued as follows:--

"He again spoke in strong terms of the value of my services, and proceeded in so open and unreserved a manner that I thought it best to tell him of the conditions under which I accepted office, and of the manner in which the late Government had from time to time postponed the fulfilment of its engagements. My statement produced an evident effect on Lord Hardwicke. He said he was very glad I had communicated these facts to him; that he should consider what I had said confidential, though he should probably speak to Lord Derby on the subject."

I had the more hope of his intercession in my favour because I found that he was intimate with Mr. Warburton, of whom he spoke in the highest possible terms. The hope, however, was soon crushed:--

"_April 13th._--Warburton came into my room before seeing the Postmaster-General [the appointment had been made by me with his lordship's sanction], but, as he thought it better not to come up again, I arranged to call upon him in the evening, when I found that, although the Postmaster-General had spoken well of me, Warburton has no hope whatever of his adopting any more decided course than a division of duties between Maberly and myself; so that chance is gone."

"_May 3rd._--The Postmaster-General has sent me a minute referring to my statement of the work in hand, and requesting that I will not enter on any new subject without his previous direction. As he was then at the office, I immediately applied to him for an explanation, when I found that he had sent a similar minute to Maberly, and that his object was to secure that he should at all times know what was going on. He says (all in good temper) that hitherto I have really been Postmaster-General, but that he intends to be Postmaster-General himself; adding, however, that he has no intention of obstructing improvement. His notion was that it would be practicable for me to apply for the authority in question, even before entering on the preliminary investigation of the subject, but I satisfied him that this was impossible; and the understanding now is that I am to make the requisite application as early as possible.... In the course of an interview a good deal of plain speaking occurred in a half-joking manner. Among other things, I told him that, if he obstructed improvements, I should leave him."

If I had had any misgiving as to the manner in which my plain speaking had been received, it could scarcely have outlived the following:--

"_May 4th._--The Postmaster-General has sent Maberly and myself the following, which came written on a large sheet of paper like a minute:--

"'_To Celebrate the Queen's Birthday._

"'The Master-General of the Post Office requests the honour of Colonel Maberly's and Mr. Rowland Hill's company at dinner on the 13th of May, at a quarter before eight o'clock.

"'Full dress.'"[97]

It was curious that this act of politeness should be followed immediately by an act of discipline:--

"The same hour which brought this good-natured invitation brought also a demand for my latch-key of the private door of the General Post Office. The Postmaster-General has given up his own latch-key, and has required every one else to do the same. I am not sure that this is not a necessary precaution."

Be this as it may, the safeguard was not long maintained, the latch-keys being quietly redistributed in the interregnum that followed Lord Hardwicke's retirement, and never afterwards reclaimed.

The necessity for my appearing at Lord Hardwicke's party in court dress led to a discovery, which, though somewhat annoying at the time, I can afford to laugh at now. Calling for correspondence which had taken place three or four years before with the Lord Chamberlain, and which, as I understood, for I had never seen the papers, regulated my official costume, I found that, while Colonel Maberly was placed in the third, I had been assigned to the fifth or lowest class, the Secretaries for Ireland and Scotland, my acknowledged inferiors in position, being placed in the fourth. I had no difficulty in deciding on the authorship of this arrangement, nor in conjecturing why, contrary to rule, the papers had been withheld. On my calling the Postmaster-General's attention to the matter, he took it up warmly, expressing an opinion that I should be placed in the same class with Colonel Maberly, and directing me to prepare a minute accordingly, though, as formalities had to be gone through, the change could not be made in time for the dinner.[98] I suppose, however, Lord Hardwicke must have forgotten the matter. My own attention was soon absorbed in things of more importance; and nothing was done until the matter was set right of itself on my promotion to the sole secretaryship. I could not but admire at the dinner the discreet arrangement made by our host to prevent jealousy between Colonel Maberly and me, the former being placed at one end of the table, the latter at the other, while his lordship sat precisely in the middle.

To return to ordinary matters. Certainly my Post Office experience had never yet long run smooth, and the ripple soon came:--

"_June 10th._--In a minute of Saturday last, on the Prussian treaty, which, I hope, is now finally settled, I mentioned, as I had done in former minutes, that I had seen Chevalier Bunsen on a point of difference. In confirming the minute, the Postmaster-General made an exception as regards my seeing Chevalier Bunsen, adding a direction that, in future, when any foreign minister came to the Post Office, he, the Postmaster-General, should be informed, with a view, as afterwards explained, of seeing the minister himself. Even if necessary--which it was not--neither the time, just as I had satisfactorily concluded a very difficult treaty, nor the manner, was well chosen. To-day, on inquiring how the Postmaster-General wished me to proceed when he was absent from the office, viz., whether I should delay the business or transact it myself, and report proceedings on his arrival, he expressed a desire that I should, in his absence, inform the 'Chief Secretary,' meaning Colonel Maberly, of the minister's visit, so as to give him the option of the interview; an instruction which was particularly absurd, seeing that the very negotiation in question had been transferred to me [from Colonel Maberly].... To this I replied that I should, of course, follow the Postmaster-General's instructions as regards communicating with himself, but that I must decline informing Colonel Maberly, as my doing so would be equivalent to an acknowledgment of subordination to the latter. On this the Postmaster-General declared an intention of writing a minute, making my position really subordinate to Colonel Maberly's, again using his favourite expression, 'there cannot be two kings in Brentford'--that there must be a first authority, a second, and a third; that to have two equal authorities was contrary to his views of discipline, &c., &c. I acquiesced in the general proposition, but reminded him of Lord Clanricarde's opinion, that it was desirable Colonel Maberly should be induced to retire; adding that, during the last few years Lord Clanricarde was in office, I was in effect the Chief Secretary; and suggesting that, if Colonel Maberly were retained, and it was necessary to place one above the other, the proper course would be to ascertain which of us was best qualified for the superior appointment, and to act accordingly. I said also that there would be no great difficulty in deciding the question of superiority, for that he would find, on referring to the minutes, that Lord Clanricarde was in the habit of requiring my opinion in nearly all Colonel Maberly's difficult cases; and when, as frequently happened, we advised differently, in nine instances out of ten my advice was adopted, and Colonel Maberly's rejected. As all this seemed to produce little effect, I proposed to defer the question for the present, and proceeded with the other business."

Among the minutes which I submitted to him was one which, after reading it, he pronounced a "most masterly statement," declaring his intention to act in accordance with its recommendation, and praising the minute on various grounds. My Journal thus continues:--

"On finding that he was so much delighted with it, I reverted to our conversation as to my position.... This appeared to take him aback, and he replied, 'Well, well, I must write my minute;[99] but I don't think I shall make you subordinate to Colonel Maberly, though I must have a difference. I don't think you'll object to what I intend; and, if you should, I sha'n't be at all offended by your appealing to the First Lord of the Treasury.'"

The minute, accordingly, appeared in a very mitigated form, so that the main objection left in it was to the persistent designation of Colonel Maberly as Chief Secretary, a title unknown in the office, authorized by no warrant or other document, and sure to lead to further trouble.

For the present, however, I determined to let matters rest, as I came to the conclusion that further attempts would be useless, and very probably injurious.

I need not say that I scanned the political horizon[100] at this time with great interest:--

"_July 26th._--Circumstanced as I am, I have, of course, anxiously watched the elections, now nearly completed. I fear the result is such as to enable Ministers to retain their places for some time."

The restrictions laid upon me by the Postmaster-General greatly lessened my work, and gave me a relief with which I might have been well pleased, could I have been satisfied as to consequences. The new distribution of duties, however, was ill-judged; and, though partly corrected on my representation, remained seriously obstructive to improvement.

My forebodings as to the result of the elections were not confirmed:--

"_November 23rd._--The Postmaster-General has decided to defer for the present the whole question of Colonial postage. He talked openly to me of a doubt of the Ministry continuing in office."

"_December 15th._--The Postmaster-General tells me that it is very probable that the Ministry will be thrown out by the division on the Budget, and spoke of the views of the Government in so unreserved a manner, that I thought it right to remind him that my political views and connections were those of the opposite party. He said he knew that very well, but still went on to speak of the views, expectations and intentions of the Cabinet."

"_December 17th._--The division last night was against the Ministers. Brotherton, who has just called at the office, tells me that they will certainly resign to-day."

"_December 20th._--The Postmaster-General has appointed a hot Orange partizan of the present Government (not previously in the service) to succeed Creagh (recently dead) as President of the Dublin Money Order Office. I know, from what he has told me, that he has done this unwillingly, being, I suspect, pressed thereto by the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Cornwall and I had recommended the next in seniority, who happens to be a good man. Notwithstanding this, and one or two other cases, Lord Hardwicke has, on the whole, used his patronage well."

I must, in fairness, add that the gentleman whose appointment seemed at the time so objectionable proved a very good officer.

At this time of doubt as to who might be my new official superior, and what the position I might hold with him, I perused with great satisfaction an important document just issued:--

"_December 28th._--The Report on the East Indian Post Office contains, among other matters, the following testimony in favour of uniformity of rate. It is curious to contrast the evidence of the officials there and here on the question, especially when the greater distances and inferior means of conveyance in our Indian Empire are considered.

"'34. Uniformity of postage, without reference to distance, is recommended by its simplicity, by its fairness, and by the facilities it gives for the introduction of other improvements into the department. Combined with a low rate of charge, it forms the conspicuous and chief benefit, which the monopoly of the carriage of letters enables the Government to confer upon the whole body of its subjects, by almost annihilating distance, and placing it within the power of every individual to communicate freely with all parts of the empire. It makes the Post Office what, under any other system, it can never be--the unrestricted means of diffusing knowledge, extending commerce, and promoting in every way the social and intellectual improvement of the people. It is no longer an experiment, having been introduced with eminent success into the United Kingdom, as well as into the United States of America, France, Spain, and Russia. It is advocated by every officer of experience connected with the department in India, and by every individual who has been consulted in the course of this inquiry, and it has already been recommended by three out of the four subordinate Governments.'"

I may add that the recommendation of the Commission was soon afterwards carried into effect; so that, with the exception of some outlying portions, a low uniform rate of postage was established over the length and breadth of our vast Indian Empire.