Lord John Manners was a poet, and a poetic revenge was to be wreaked on him by one of his victims. The generous impulse which had prompted the defeated men to subscribe for a Christmas dinner for those who had suffered for them, had been promptly strangled by the officials acting under the direction of the Postmaster-General. So it was attempted to raise a small sum for the distressed men by the sale outside the Post-Office gates of a leaflet bearing the following impression:—
THE LOCKED-OUT SORTERS OF THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE
To Lord John Manners, Her Majesty’s Postmaster-General
What ails my lord to seek his doom,
Why hurl into the winter gloom
His slaves of Want and Pain?
Art thou not of noble blood—
And noble only to be good?—
Then why insult thy name?
Didst thou not write with poet’s flame