CHAPTER XXI
REORGANISATION OF THE POSTMEN—THE PROVINCIAL POSTAL CLERKS—GENERAL CONDEMNATION OF THE DISMISSALS—THE NEWCASTLE INTERVIEW—AN M.P. AND THE POSTAL AGITATOR—THE RIGHT OF COMBINATION—CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. GLADSTONE ON RIGHT OF FREE MEETING—ANOTHER BLOW AT COMBINATION—RIGHT OF FREE MEETING CONCEDED BY MR. GLADSTONE—THE GRANTING OF AN INQUIRY.
The closer relationship between the postmen and the sorters, which it was hoped would become stronger and permanent, was broken off in June 1892. The postmen, besides not being in full agreement with the sorters on the Parliamentary policy, had now become strong enough to walk alone without any assistance, and struck out an independent line for themselves. They were fast recovering from the terrific blow sustained by the strike, and many of their dismissed comrades had been one by one reinstated through the indefatigable efforts of Mr. George Howell, M.P., who, both in the House and privately, worked hard for this end. It was owing to a vigorous attack on Sir James Fergusson in relation to his obduracy in this particular that he was caricatured in Punch for his pains. The postmen continued to make headway with their organisation. They were no longer beholden to the columns of the Post, having started an organ of their own, the Postman’s Gazette, June 1892. The Postman’s Gazette immediately proved of great assistance in disseminating the principles of their union among county and provincial men, and within a few months the gratifying result was shown in a membership of over seven thousand.
While the postmen’s organisation was thus pursuing the even tenor of its way, and waxing prosperous now that it had once more got on the smooth metals of a constitutional line of action, the postal clerks and the telegraphists were not idle. Soon after the introduction of the Raikes scheme, their disappointment with its provisions found vent in the preparation of a petition to the Postmaster-General; but his unlooked-for death, of course, prevented its being carried forward at the time. But shortly after Sir James Fergusson’s appointment application was made that he should receive a petition from the executive of the Postal Clerks’ Association on behalf of their class generally. In reply, a request was sent from the Secretary for a statement of their grievances, and this was duly submitted the day following. They were then met with the refusal of the authorities to receive petitions from an organised association not recognised by the department. For a while the postal clerks strove to obtain official recognition of their association, but to no purpose. The original petition was then printed and forwarded from each branch individually.
The postal clerks, like the postmen, had by this time recognised the necessity for a representative organ, and accordingly, in the same month, the Post-Office Journal was started, June 20, 1892. Owing to its similarity in title to the official Post-Office Circular, the department lodged an objection, so that the organ of the postal clerks had to be altered to the Postal Journal in March 1893. The postal clerks were prompt to recognise the blow that had been delivered against combination in the Post-Office by the dismissals of the chairman and secretary of the Fawcett Association, and one of the very first uses to which they put their new organ was to protest most strongly against what appeared to be an attack on the fundamental principle on which all postal organisations based their existence.
With the advent of the Liberal Postmaster-General, Mr. Arnold Morley, it was confidently expected that the wrong done by his predecessor would at once be righted. Preparations were immediately set afoot, therefore, to acquaint Mr. Arnold Morley with this their principal demand, the reinstatement of their wrongfully-dismissed leaders.
In the meantime W.E. Clery was making hay while the sun shone, and making the most of his new-found release from bondage by ventilating his own and the sorters’ grievance before the public. To this end he went to Newcastle on the eve of the election there, and arranged for a meeting of postal and other civil servants; and it was sought to obtain the Postmaster-General’s sanction for the meeting to be held. Mr. Arnold Morley, however, merely sent a stereotyped telegram to the effect that those of the Newcastle staff who desired the meeting must forward application to him through the local postmaster. It had been hoped that the required answer to Sir James Fergusson could have been given in a public meeting of civil servants. The Postmaster-General’s reply and the manner of it were the first indication that it was not a change of methods but only of men. The public meeting convened by Clery was held August 31, 1892, and the late Postmaster-General and his successor in office came in for some free criticising. Mr. John Morley was the Liberal candidate for Newcastle in this election, and it was as much with a view to buttonholing the party chief as of holding the meeting that Clery had come down from London. He met Mr. Morley by appointment to discuss two points indicated by him in his request for an interview; the question of civil rights for civil servants, and the means of dealing with discontent in the Post-Office. Mr. John Morley expressed himself very fairly and very freely on the two vexed questions, and promising to support the demand for inquiry, led his interviewer to believe that he had no sort of sympathy with the action of the late Postmaster-General. This attitude of the Liberal leader was taken as setting a good example to his namesake at St. Martin’s-le-Grand; and a manifesto to the civil and postal servants of Newcastle was issued the same day by W. E. Clery, in which he urged that they, as Government servants, had no option but to vote for Mr. Morley and do their best to secure his return. There were five hundred Civil Service voters in Newcastle, and in Civil Service circles it is held that this manifesto secured the return of the author of the famous “Newcastle programme.” It should be stated here that Mr. Pandeli Ralli, Mr. Morley’s opponent, declined Clery’s request for an interview.
The question of the dismissals was now becoming widely public, and Clery himself spared no pains to advertise the fact of the harsh and unmerited dismissal of himself and Cheesman from that “civil servitude” which they were only seeking to improve up to the level of model employment. The London Trades Council adopted a resolution urging the new Postmaster-General to reinstate the chairman and secretary of the sorters’ organisation. But the Liberal Postmaster-General evidently felt himself bound by the decision of his Tory predecessor, and declined to reinstate in the service officers who had been dismissed for “conduct directly subversive of discipline.” At the same time the Postmaster-General claimed to reserve “to himself the right of considering on its merits the general question of the rights of civil servants in regard to the electoral franchise.” Clery immediately seized on this as an opportunity of approaching Mr. Gladstone, and drew his attention to it in a letter. The dictatorial attitude taken up by Mr. Arnold Morley over this question of the franchise was by many interpreted as a menace. Postal and civil servants had hitherto been under the impression that no electoral disabilities now remained which any minister desiring to hamper the freedom of election might take advantage of legally. And as this was a vexed question concerning at least 200,000 electors in the Government service, Mr. Gladstone, as Prime Minister, was asked to give some information. As the important concession of free and unrestricted public meeting for postal servants afterwards granted by the Prime Minister was undoubtedly resultant on the action taken by W. E. Clery, the text of his letter to Mr. Gladstone is here given:—
“8 Eagle Court, St. John’s Lane, E.C.,
August 31, 1892.
“Sir,—I beg to draw your attention to what purports to be the reply of the Postmaster-General to a resolution adopted by the executive of the London Trades Council. In this letter, written by the secretary to the Post-Office, it is stated that Mr. Morley reserves ‘to himself the right to consider on its merits the question of the position of the servants of the Post-Office in respect to the Parliamentary franchise.’ I beg to ask if, in your opinion, Mr. Arnold Morley has any right of interfering with the exercise of the Parliamentary franchise by his subordinates; if so, from whence he derives his power, and what are the limitations, if any, of his interference? I need hardly remind you that the removal of the electoral disabilities of civil servants was effected by two measures. One, which was passed in 1868, removed all disabilities, and a supplemental Act in 1874 removed all remaining disabilities. Many, like myself, are under the impression that none remain now under which Mr. Arnold Morley or any other minister who may desire to hamper electoral freedom, may derive the legal power of doing so; and as this is a vexed question which immediately concerns at least 200,000 electors in the Civil Service of the United Kingdom—because the Acts for the removal of electoral disabilities of civil servants are common to all departments—I hope that you will be able to favour me with some definite information on this constitutional problem.—I am, sir, your obedient servant,