“September 6th.—Called on Mr. Stephen [the late Right Hon. Sir James Stephen, K.C.B.] at the Colonial Office on some postage business. He assures me that I shall find Mr. Goulburn very pleasant to transact business with—a man of high honour and of great skill in details. Mr. [now Sir John] Lefevre, whom I afterwards saw at the Board of Trade, gave a similar account of him.”
The first part of this favourable opinion was, in a measure, confirmed the same day:—
“This afternoon I had my first interview with Mr. Goulburn: he received me with great civility, and inquired as to the nature of my engagement, duties, &c. He appeared somewhat at a loss to know what I could have to do, and was not a little surprised when I told him that seventy-two cases had been referred to me in the month of August alone. He seemed to think that my plan was fully introduced, and did not, as it appeared to me, learn with much satisfaction that much remained to be done. We went through three or four papers that were pressing, and he readily acquiesced in all my recommendations. He is to consider whether the business hereafter shall be conducted with himself or with one of the secretaries. I inquired if he saw any objection to my communicating with Lord Lowther; he replied, that he thought the more I conferred with Lord Lowther the better.”
The next day’s record was also satisfactory:—
“September 7th.—Had my first interview with Sir George Clerk, the new Secretary, and was received with great politeness.”
Presently, however, came passages of a somewhat different character:—
“September 13th.—Called on Lord Lowther. Stated my own desire, and that of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that I should communicate freely with him on postage matters. He did not appear to me to meet the advance cordially; but it is said that he is habitually cold, reserved, and cautious. He told me that, his patent not being made out, he was not yet authorised to act, and appeared to desire that I should understand that to be a reason for restricted communication at present. I found that he had read my paper ‘on the results of the plan,’ &c., and the attack upon it, but he expressed no opinion on either. Altogether, I do not consider the interview very satisfactory.”
In a few days practical results of the change began to appear. An application which I made to the Post Office for needful information was declined, on the alleged authority of the new Postmaster-General, unless made according to forms which would have made the actual slow progress intolerably slower; and, at the same time, papers arriving at the Treasury from the Post Office, which hitherto had been all handed over to me, were now almost entirely withheld. On the former point, however, matters were set right for the time by a second interview with Lord Lowther, who, I found, had acted in the belief that he was merely continuing the previous practice, and who appeared annoyed at having been misled. By his authority I wrote a letter to Colonel Maberly, referring alike to his lordship’s intentions, and to the Treasury Minute in which my right for immediate information was distinctly laid down. My letter, which I wished to soften as much as possible, contained the following passage:—
“Let me add, that though clearly entitled to act as I have done, I would at once have given up my claim and adopted the suggestion contained in your note, if I were not convinced that to resort to the formality of Treasury Minutes in the numerous instances in which inquiry is necessary would seriously retard the progress of business.”
The former order being thus re-established at the Post Office, there remained to seek a similar restoration at the Treasury. Here, however, Mr. (now Sir Charles) Trevelyan (Assistant Secretary to the Treasury) had kindly intervened on my behalf, strongly recommending that the opportunity of checking the Post Office expenditure should not be taken from me, and had procured from Sir George Clerk a promise to consult with Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Goulburn on the subject. As no further result was obtained, I wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, suggesting that, in my present lack of employment, I should either proceed with measures for the further introduction of my plans, or that if this were at the time impracticable, I should be allowed an interval of entire repose after the heavy labours of the last two years. This letter produced an immediate effect, Mr. Trevelyan, Sir George Clerk, and even the Chancellor of the Exchequer all speaking to me on the subject in the course of the same day; explanations were given, arrangements made (a kind of compromise which I hoped would, in operation, gradually put all things right), and the desired holiday most readily granted. “Everything,” says my Journal, “was said in the most polite and, to all appearance, friendly manner, and altogether things have assumed a much more favourable aspect.”