Seven days later I find the following entry:—
“May 28th.—To-day Lord John Russell sent a blank sheet of paper, which some impudent fellow had addressed to him, using a label which had evidently been used before, for the features were entirely washed away. Nevertheless, it was passed at the Post Office. Whiting, the printer, also sent a note his brother had received from Brighton, the stamp of which was so slightly obliterated that the mark was scarcely visible, and by night would almost certainly pass.”
This took me next day to the Post Office, where I remained during the two busiest hours of the day, witnessing operations. I give the following extract:—
“May 29th.—The tricks with the stamps are, Mr. Bokenham says, abating; and, practically, he thinks there is no danger of their being used twice, now that ink for obliteration has been supplied to the deputy-postmasters from the Central Office—a measure which I advised in the first instance.”
Nevertheless, more than a fortnight later, I find the following entry:—
“Pressly[298] assured me that he continually receives letters the stamps of which have not been cancelled. That he has sent them so frequently to Colonel Maberly that he does not like to send any more, lest it should be thought annoying. He gave me one recently received.”
Meantime, as the red ink seemed inefficacious, black ink was tried; and, for a time, this appeared to be effectual.
Additional security was also sought in legislation; advantage being taken by Mr. Timm, the Solicitor to the Stamp Office, of a bill then preparing on postal affairs, to introduce a clause enabling the Postmaster-General to open any letter bearing a forged stamp, or a stamp used for the second time; but as the Chancellor of the Exchequer felt sure that Parliament would not grant such a power, the clause, very much to Mr. Timm’s regret and my own, was struck out. We were, therefore, thrown back upon chemical and mechanical means of defence. It soon appeared that these must be put into further requisition, Mr. Donovan, a chemist of Dublin, having succeeded in removing the effacing black mark without injuring the stamp below. The stamp, it must be remembered, had been impressed by powerful machinery, and likewise had had time to dry; while the obliteration was produced only by hand, and remained fresh. Again, therefore, I had to call in Mr. Phillips. He came accompanied by Dr. Clark, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Aberdeen, who had kindly volunteered his services, and who suggested a number of experiments, which Mr. Phillips undertook to try. On the same day, however, Mr. Phillips reported favourably of a new kind of ink devised by a Mr. Parsons, informing me, nevertheless, that it had yet to be subjected to various tests.
At this juncture came a formal report from the Post Office, stating that the red ink was found to be removable, and asking for instructions. The statement, though necessarily made as a matter of form, came to me as a mere truism; but the request for instructions was more easily made than complied with; for about the same time Mr. Parsons’ ink yielded to the skill of Messrs. Perkins and Co., contractors for the supply of adhesive stamps; who, however, reported in turn, that they had prepared two other kinds of ink, either of which they thought would answer the purpose. I lost no time in setting Mr. Phillips to work on the subject; and, in my anxiety, went so far as to trouble the greatest chemist of the age. Kindly giving me the needful attention, though in an extremely depressed state of health, the result of excessive labour—a fact, of course, unknown to me when I made my application—Mr. Faraday approved of the course which I submitted to him, viz., that an aqueous ink should be used, both for the stamps and for obliteration, so soon as the stock of stamps now on hand should be exhausted, and that, in the mean time, obliteration should be made with black printing-ink. As the stock of covers was so large that, considering its little favour with the public, it was likely to last some years; and as, in dealing with those, an oleaginous effacing ink was indispensable, while, nevertheless, it would be impracticable to have two kinds of effacing ink in use at the same time, it was important to procure a destructible oleaginous ink to be used meanwhile in printing the adhesive stamps. I accordingly requested Mr. Phillips, and also Mr. Bacon, of the firm of Perkins and Co., to undertake the task; which they did.
The new oleaginous ink, produced on the above application, seemed at first to answer well; but past failure led me to doubt present results. Meantime, endless suggestions were coming from various quarters, all requiring to be more or less considered, and many plausible enough to deserve trial, but all ending, sooner or later, in failure. The worry of this continued succession of hope and disappointment made me at last almost afraid to enter my office; where I foreknew that some untoward report must be awaiting me.