It was resolved at this meeting that a deputation should wait upon the Permanent Secretary, Sir Arthur Blackwood; but in answer to their request for an interview it was curtly intimated to them that their memorial had been duly considered by the Postmaster-General, that he could not comply with their request, nor did he see any good in granting the interview asked for. By some means Clery got the answer so as to keep it to himself till the last moment, but by it he was decided to call another general meeting that same evening. There were such whisperings and a pretence at mystery on Clery’s part that expectation was roused to the highest pitch, and a few minutes after eight o’clock the meeting-room was crammed almost to suffocation. Not since the days of the movement twelve or fourteen years before had such enthusiasm prevailed among a meeting assembled within the precincts of the General Post-Office. The silence of fourteen years was broken, and, like the cheers of a beleaguered garrison who see the relief expedition within sight, the shouts of the crowded meeting testified to the new hope that had been aroused by the announcement that their petition “held the field.” The convener and chairman of the meeting, Clery, had in his discursive and picturesque fashion gone over every single point of the petition which had been forwarded, and at last, after a rhetorical pause, he announced that he had received a reply which justified him making the declaration that the “petition held the field.” This phrase became memorable to some extent from that moment because of the electrical effect and the enormous enthusiasm it momentarily produced. But it amounted to nothing more than a subtle trick of rhetoric on the part of the speaker, the success of which was not wholly effaced even by the subsequent disappointment when they learnt that the Postmaster-General had met their demands with an unequivocal refusal on every point. Their petition held the field only in so far as that not a single reason had been advanced against it. The feeling of mingled anger and disappointment which had taken possession of the meeting immediately after Clery’s announcement was quickly turned to one of determination to press their claims still further despite the official rebuff. Another petition was forthwith prepared asking for a reconsideration of the various points, but this met with no better fate.