A history of postal agitation from fifty years ago till the present day

by H. G. Swift

The audacity of openly and undisguisedly rushing into print in the face of what were supposed to be most hard and fast regulations against it, caused in the minds of many no little anxiety as to the safety of the author. There were even some protests from the committee, and at least one resignation. But the men as fully appreciated the necessity of some explanatory information on the subject as did the writer, and almost every one possessed himself of a copy, if only to try and discern through the chink in the door of the treasure-chamber what proportion of the promised treasure should be his, and to speculate as to his chances of getting it in the sweet by-and-by. The pamphlet undoubtedly did good, and had no inconsiderable educational value, while it strengthened the conviction that their cause was a just one, and their course a safe one. The recent general meeting at which it was thought that every one had arrived at a perfect understanding had left much to be desired in the way of information, and the majority came away from that meeting with as varied and divergent opinions as if a text of Scripture had been under discussion. It was indeed only to be expected. It is a peculiar quality of the human mind that the more a given printed text is discussed and debated the less definite is the understanding upon it. There is scarcely a paragraph in the daily newspaper as to the literal and actual meaning of which a heated discussion, and possibly sectarian differences, could not centre upon. There had been all sorts of rumours bandied about and opinions expressed about this wonderful scheme, till at last, while every one agreed to believe that it was next to divinely inspired and that the spirit of the dead lawgiver still hovered about it, very distinct differences prevailed as to the meaning and bearing of particular paragraphs. Every man had his own pet paragraph, and wore it about his person in his waistcoat pocket or elsewhere, as a Mohammedan wears texts of the Koran, for ready reference and the confusion of one of opposite view. It was to meet this state of things that Clery very sensibly conceived the idea of supplying a long-felt want at threepence per copy.

The publication of this pamphlet was for the most part thought the most daring thing that Clery had ever attempted, especially as it was so unblushingly offered for sale within the Post-Office itself, and under the very noses of the authorities. None knew what would become of the man who could fly in the face of one of the most cherished traditions of officialism; for it had never yet been doubted that the same rules which governed the action of “communicating with the public press” covered such a case as this, and was sufficient to proclaim the author an outlaw. But the writer himself, so far from acting in ignorance of existing rules on the subject, in this very pamphlet challenged the authority of the Postmaster-General in this matter of personal liberty, and in one movement swept the musty cobwebs of tradition aside. In this pamphlet it was incidentally pointed out for the first time that there was absolutely no prohibition against an officer of the Post-Office being, if he chose, actually connected with the public press while performing his official duties. The whole matter had been immersed in obscurity; not one person in five thousand could have quoted the rule which was supposed to overshadow their actions in this respect. But herein for the first time it was shown that the minute issued by the Treasury so recently as 1875, and adopted by the Postmaster-General as a rule of the postal service—and which had been regarded as a menace because not understood—was directed against “Unauthorised Communications to the Public Press of Information derived from Official Sources.” It was scarcely likely that the rule would be so strained in the present instance; and if it were Clery was prepared to fight it.

Certain it is that Clery in no way enhanced his character in the service by taking up such an exposed position. His character officially indeed had been represented as scarcely anything to be proud of; he met with scant leniency at the hands of those over him, and it was rumoured that his days would not be long in the land, that is, of the postal service. It is said that during this troublous period he was “suspended” no less than thirteen times. Then, to the surprise of every one, the supervising officials especially, young Clery, the agitator, was suddenly informed that Mr. Raikes, the Postmaster-General, had expressed a desire to see him. Such a proceeding on the part of any former Postmaster-General was wholly unheard of; and if it was regarded as infra dig. for the gilded figurehead of a great public department to voluntarily and unasked grant an interview to an underling so low down in the rungs of the service, the subordinate himself was to gain a little more credit and respect from that moment. The youth was doing the ordinary work of the juniors at the time, and his duty had to be provided for by the superintendent of his branch, to enable him to gratify the Postmaster-General’s extraordinary request for an interview with this agitating subordinate, whose notoriety had reached the august ears. He had but to step across St. Martin’s-le-Grand to find himself in the presence of Mr. Cecil Raikes, and that gentleman he found all smiles instead of all frowns, as he had been led to anticipate, and a welcoming nod reassured him that at least the Postmaster-General was not about to order him to be bow-strung on the spot.

“I have sent for you, Mr. Clery,” said the Postmaster-General, eyeing the stripling whose height was by no means dwarfed by Mr. Raikes’s own six feet three or four inches, “principally because I wanted to satisfy my curiosity. You have such an exceptionally bad official character that it made me curious to see what you are like.” This private interview lasted an hour or more; and many points were discussed between them; and from that interview it is probable that Mr. Raikes learnt more of the actual grievances of the staff than he might have learnt in a month through the ordinary channels, and wading through memorials and petitions. It was the very first time in the annals of the Post-Office that a Postmaster-General had invited an agitator into his presence; but it is more than probable that Mr. Raikes had some knowledge of the man before he met him. He must have learnt something of his antecedents, his connections, and his character beforehand; and when he met the youthful agitator face to face, it is likely in a man of Mr. Raikes’s disposition that he felt some sort of a sympathy with the ambitious and energetic youth whose literary aspirations were to an extent a reflex of those of his own earlier days. For Mr. Raikes himself had been an industrious literary hand, a leader-writer for the Standard, a poet, and a playwright. But over and above all that it is only reasonable to think that Mr. Raikes’s principal motive was to gather first-hand and in an informal way, from an accredited authority, the leading agitator himself, what really were the grievances of the postal side of the service. In selecting Clery he selected a ready and a logical exponent of the case. If Clery was not flattered, he certainly went away with a better understanding of Mr. Raikes than before. His and others’ estimate of the Postmaster-General had been based on a misconception of him; his utterances in regard to him, though always as respectful as the official regulations demanded, betrayed the impression that Mr. Raikes was one of whom they had to expect scant consideration.

Meanwhile the Fawcett Scheme Committee were not idle, and proceeded with the work of organising the men on a more definite basis; voluntary subscriptions per man being collected systematically, and the principles of trades unionism quietly disseminated. Clery and his immediate following were now agreed that the time had arrived when the sorting force should set an example to other postal servants who were not yet organised by combining on trades-union lines. The project was privately discussed in all its bearings; meetings were held in every available nook and corner, at Clery’s residence and elsewhere, till at last a definite resolution was decided on, to be moved at the next general meeting. A requisition was sent to the Postmaster-General for the use of one of the branches in which to hold it, and this was accompanied with the polite request that one or two newspaper reporters might be allowed to be present.

It was a rather cool request under the circumstances, and very naturally, perhaps, Mr. Raikes at first demurred. But eventually the little matter was negotiated; and the use of the Foreign Newspaper Branch was given them, and reporters were allowed to be present to take notes of the proceedings. This was a distinct concession, which was thought to be as much due to Mr. Raikes’s desire to be generous as to the pertinacity of the men’s representatives. Perhaps the significance of this little concession may be better understood when it is remembered that the resolution which Clery and his supporters had decided to submit at that general meeting within the Post-Office building was to the effect, “That the time had arrived for the sorting force to combine on trades-union principles.”

In moving this, reliance was doubtless placed on the fact that previously Mr. Raikes in the House of Commons had proclaimed his belief that civil servants had a right to combine for mutual benefit. At this time, before it became fashionable for Tory ministers to express such tolerant views in regard to the claims of labour and the recognition of trades-union doctrines, such a declaration was perhaps a little remarkable.

The meeting was accordingly held on December 11, 1889, practically under the smiling patronage of the Postmaster-General, whose action and whose judgment was to afford food for criticism. It was the greatest gathering that had ever assembled within the General Post-Office, far exceeding even the one of ten or eleven years before, which had been called by Booth the postman. The Foreign Branch, which was not used after eight o’clock ordinarily, was on this occasion literally packed almost to suffocation with considerably over two thousand men of all grades. The wildfire of enthusiasm permeated the meeting from the first moment till the last. Men from every district office and from every branch squeezed themselves into the place, and climbed even into the girders of the roof, and the very weight of the enormous mass of humanity almost constituted a grave danger, of which, however, they were not at the time cognisant. Subsequently, when Mr. Raikes went over the building and visited the scene of that memorable meeting, he observed, “What! over two thousand men here! It is a wonder the floor stood the strain.”