The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

208 LIFE OF SIR ROWLAND HILL. [1852
third, I had been assigned to the fifth or lowest class,
the Secretaries for Ireland and Scotland, my acknow-
ledged inferiors in position, being placed
in the fourth.
I had no difficulty in deciding on the authorship ot
this arrangement, nor in conjecturing why, contrary to
rule, the papers had been withheld. On my calling
the Postmaster-General's attention to the matter, he
took it up warmly, expressing an opinion that I should
be placed in the same class with Colonel Maberly,
and directing me to prepare a minute accordingly,
though, as formalities had to be gone through, the
change could not be made in time for the dinner.* I
suppose, however, Lord Hardwicke must have forgotten
the matter. My own attention was soon
absorbed in things of more importance ; and nothing
was done until the matter was set right of itself on my
promotion to the sole secretaryship. I could not but
admire at the dinner the discreet arrangement made
by our host to prevent jealousy between Colonel
Maberly and me, the former being placed at one
end of the table, the latter at the other, while his
lordship sat precisely in the middle.
To return to ordinary matters. Certainly my Post
Office experience had never yet long run smooth, and
the ripple soon came :
"June loth. In a minute of Saturday last, on the Prussian treaty,
which, I hope, is now finally settled, I mentioned, as I had done in
former minutes, that I had seen Chevalier Bunsen on a point of
difference. In confirming the minute, the Postmaster-General made
an exception as regards my seeing Chevalier Bunsen, adding a
direction that, in future, when any foreign minister came to the
Post Office, he, the Postmaster-General, should be informed, with a
* "I am to prepare a minute on the subject ; but as no change can be made
without the consent of the Queen, there is no chance of setting the matter right
before the dinner. It is altogether a foolish business, but it would be unwise to
let matters continue as they are." Sir R. Hill's Journal. ED.