The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

1852] MR. COBDEN 1 99
suggestion impracticable. He alleged that two secretaries
were necessary, and that consequently any
retiring allowance to Colonel Maberly must be an
additional charge on the revenue, an addition which
Mr. Hume was not prepared to defend, though Mr.
Cobden was. Mr. Hume subsequently confirmed this
statement of his views, and while assuring me that
the Chancellor of the Exchequer spoke very highly
of me, and promised promotion at the first opportunity,
he himself was of opinion that nothing could
be done at present, and so counselled patience. He
forgot that such advice to a man tottering
and almost
sinking under his load is much more easily given than
received.
The mysterious allusion in Mr. Cobden s letter was
never fully explained to me.
As the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the late
conference, had assigned as a reason for Colonel
Maberly's retention that the foreign negotiations
were under his charge, I no sooner arrived at the
office than I called upon
the head clerk of that
department for a specific statement on the subject,
when it appeared that of all the negotiations then
in hand, eleven in number, every one, without ex-
ception,
was under mine.
" February i^th. Without committing Cobden, I put the
question plainly to the Postmaster-General, as to whether he was
still of opinion that, in the event of Colonel Maberly's retirement,
I should be able to manage the department without other aid than
that of the two assistant-secretaries. He answered emphatically in
the affirmative, and on my adding that there was an impression
on the minds of some of my friends that the appointment of
another secretary would be necessary, he authorised me to state
the contrary in his name, and volunteered to speak to the Chancellor
of the Exchequer on the subject, under the impression that my
friends must have been misled by some mistake on his part."