The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

1853] COMMISSION FOR REVISING SALARIES. 221
the first time since his holiday and mine commenced. . . . He
entered on the subject of my letter of the i6th August. He told
me that he had received Mr. Hodgson's letter ; that immediately on
his return to town he saw the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the
subject, and had, with some reluctance, called also on the Commander-in-Chief
(here he noted the fact, of which I was aware, that
three vacant colonelcies had arisen) ; that he was not at liberty to
state what had passed at the interview, but that it had satisfied him
of the high probability that, in a few months, if not weeks, Government
would be able to offer Colonel Maberly the appointment of
Chairman of the Board of Audit; and that though he must be
understood as not pledging himself that such would be the case, and
still less that Colonel M. would accept the offer if made, he had
made up his mind to advise me to wait. Incidentally, he named
Christmas as the probable maximum time. He added that he
thought there would be great difficulty in adopting
either of the
temporary expedients suggested in my letter of the i6th August,
more especially the first, and that he hoped to obviate the necessity
altogether. After urging the unfairness of making my position con-
tingent on Colonel M.'s decision, and suggesting the immediate
adoption of the first alternative in my letter, which, while perfectly
fair, would probably make Colonel M. the more ready to accept the
offer, I inquired whether, in the event of his refusing, the Post-
master-General would be prepared then to adopt such alternative ;
to which he replied that he certainly should ;
but that he had reason
to believe that the offer would not be refused, accompanied, as it
would be, with such addition to the salary attached to the office as
may be required to make up
the amount Colonel M. now receives.
In conclusion, I thanked the Postmaster-General, and promised
carefully
to consider his advice."
The period of suspense which followed the above
communication was agreeably broken by the visit of
the Treasury Commission, which came to inquire into
Post Office salaries, &c. The Commissioners were
Lord Elcho, Sir Stafford Northcote, Sir Charles
Trevelyan, and Mr. Hoffay. My Journal
scribes the mode of my examination :
thus de-
"December 2nd. The Commissioners concluded my evidence.
. . . Matters are conducted in a very pleasant, though discursive-