The just intention that animated Mr. Fawcett in his recommendations was shown by his actually offering, in one case at least, more than was demanded of him, and more than he was compelled to give in any instance. True, his liberality in this respect extended to only one section of the service—the London sorting force; but the fact remains that he might easily have withheld all that he so freely gave. Had he been less liberal-minded, he might, with as much excuse and with as much success probably, have adopted the uncompromising attitude of every predecessor in office. Whatever compelling influence there might have been which resulted in the Fawcett scheme proceeded from the telegraphists’ agitation of that period, though it is more natural to believe that Mr. Fawcett acted throughout independently, and was moved from purely just and liberal motives.

Unfortunately, however, it must be said, though there is excuse in abundance, that his good intention was hardly balanced by a due sense of proportion. That was the principal internal fault of the scheme. While it naturally satisfied the sorters for the time, it brought little more than disappointment to the telegraphists, who expected so much more than was apportioned them. It left the postmen and the auxiliary postmen just where they were before in point of pay, their only share being a prospect of partaking of the minor advantages, such as payment for overtime and sacred days, which presumably were now to be enjoyed in common by all classes. A measure which, by its fault of disproportion, must inevitably engender the jealousy of the less favoured against their comrades in the service, could not be regarded as a final settlement. It was successful only to an extent as a temporary solution of an existing difficulty, but not as the ultimate settlement for all time of a troublesome problem. Probably its author would have claimed no more for it than this; but even on these grounds it might have gone further. That this scheme, costing the country as it did £152,000 per annum, and affecting ten thousand servants, was not made to go further, so as to bring some measure of material benefit to the postmen and auxiliaries and others, was to be regretted. Doubtless Mr. Fawcett felt that he had gone far enough in recommending benefits involving such a reduction on the yearly profits of the Post-Office; but a little closer consideration of the conditions of the letter-carrier class at that time might have averted the trouble among them which arose later on. There is this, however, to be said in extenuation of its shortcomings in respect to the letter-carriers. They either did not take Mr. Fawcett’s invitation to state their grievances as seriously addressed to themselves, or, from some misunderstanding, their case was not put as fully and as convincingly as it might. The Postmaster-General therefore possibly felt justified in thinking that the letter-carriers were more or less satisfied with their position and prospects, and he was not induced to go out of his way on their behalf. With the letter-sorters the matter was rather different; they had responded, even if none too vigorously, with the result, as has been shown, that the five shillings taken off their weekly wage some years before by Lord John Manners was now restored to them. That was the single advantage by which they scored over the letter-carriers. The strength and the justice of the Fawcett scheme lay principally in the fact that new privileges were to be enjoyed in common; that at least every man in the Post-Office could claim payment for Christmas Day and Good Friday; and that payment for extra duty was adjusted in fair proportion to his salary. These were in themselves no inconsiderable advantages, which were worth being thankful for.

Such, at least, they would have been, only that the unfortunate fact remained that most of these advantages for some unexplained reason were for long withheld by the authorities who administered the scheme. The advantages and benefits intended for the sorting force were precisely and definitely laid down; but the department, either thinking that the force did not merit justice in such full doses, or from some mistaken conception as to the spirit and letter of Mr. Fawcett’s measure, did not give them the full benefit of it there and then. Indeed, it even came to be contended that the Fawcett scheme was never meant to apply to the London postal staff. The men had been taught to be grateful for small mercies. They had been willing to open their mouth and shut their eyes, inspired by the new hope of getting something, just as they had prepared themselves never more to expect anything else than to live and die in the service, discontented and ill-treated to the last. The generous offer of an immediate small monetary benefit overwhelmed them. They were in the position of the pauper coming in for a windfall who is content so long as he gets only a portion, reserving till later his inquiries as to the peculations of others and the extent to which he has been robbed by the good kind guardians meanwhile. It is sufficient to say that very little of the advantages set forth in the scheme, which was said to cost so much, was interpreted to apply to them. In the matter of payment for extra duty even they found themselves no better off, while every other expectation that the scheme had raised slowly dwindled at last into a vague sense of disappointment and a loss of faith in the justice of the Post-Office stewards. Resentment did not come until the actual discovery later on that they had been cheated out of Mr. Fawcett’s good intention. It was not till the blind Postmaster-General was still and voiceless in the quietude of the grave that the suspicion took definite shape that some of his principal benefits had been so long withheld from them. It was that discovery and that conviction which furnished the real primary reason for the starting of a further great agitation in a few years’ time. It is only necessary, however, to refer to this in passing; that forms a portion of the narrative to be told presently. The scheme therefore failed in its effect through being applied only in a too niggardly fashion by those who administered it. It was made to fail mainly because of that; but its failure was partly due to its own internal defects.

One fault of the Fawcett scheme—one which was not discovered until some long time afterwards, but which was destined to prove the source of further trouble—was its ambiguity in several of its terms as applied to the “sorting clerks” and “sorters.” On the face of it the textual phrasing of the scheme was clear and precise enough, and there is no reason to doubt that both Mr. Fawcett and the Lords of the Treasury meant to be perfectly and honestly unambiguous. Yet owing, it may be supposed, to the lack of efficient organisation among those whom it most benefited, the full value of the measure was not so fully examined as it might have been. The sorters especially were only too glad to receive without criticism, and without looking such an unexpected gift-horse in the mouth, any remedy for their present grievances. And so the letter-sorting staff ate the lotus leaf of contentment, and for a long time were too busy with self-congratulation to have any suspicion of the doubt which was to by-and-by arise as to whether they were enjoying all that they were entitled to by the textual warrant and by the intention of their benefactor. The manner of its application and its interpretation by the officials was never questioned, therefore, until several years later, when the expansion of the service and the growing requirements of the force made it only too evident that the Fawcett scheme, conceived and inspired though it was in the most generous spirit, was impossible of adaptation for all time.

That the London sorters were identical with the “sorting clerks” alluded to specifically in the scheme the sorters themselves had little doubt, while they had a vague impression that they were now given something nearly approaching to equality with the telegraphists. But they were not induced to inquire further, or to examine the terms of their bond more closely yet awhile. This was not the result of their apathy so much, however, as their want of knowledge about the scheme itself. A notion prevailed that the printed scheme was something forbidden to the minor officials, and as unobtainable as the sibylline books. In fact, it was not till fully eight years later that it came to be discovered that it could be obtained in the ordinary way as a Parliamentary publication. It was reserved till 1889 to definitely inquire for themselves whether they had or had not received the full benefits secured to them under its provisions. And even then it seemed that the dead benefactor was to be robbed of the credit and the honour that were due to him. In fact, as will be learnt, little less than an insult was to be offered to the memory of the dead statesman.

CHAPTER XII

BEGINNINGS OF THE TELEGRAPHISTS’ MOVEMENT—AN EARLY ATTEMPT AT A STRIKE—A COUP D’ÉTAT—“SCUDAMORE’S FOLLY.”

At this point it is necessary to go back a number of years to gather in a trailing strand that has yet to be spliced into the body of the narrative. As has already been noted, the spirit of discontent and agitation in the Post-Office had strongly manifested itself in various ways before the year 1870. For nearly twenty-five years trouble in the postal ranks had shown itself from time to time. And the taking over of the telegraphs by the Government, and placing the old companies’ staffs under the wing of the Post-Office, was to recruit new forces for the army of discontent. If the men thus taken over had had a little more consideration shown them from the outset, perhaps much of the future trouble which from the first moment was set brewing might have been arrested. But it was not so, despite the promises held out to them, and it was not long before they realised that they were to remain a neglected body.