The publication of this pamphlet was for the most part thought the most daring thing that Clery had ever attempted, especially as it was so unblushingly offered for sale within the Post-Office itself, and under the very noses of the authorities. None knew what would become of the man who could fly in the face of one of the most cherished traditions of officialism; for it had never yet been doubted that the same rules which governed the action of “communicating with the public press” covered such a case as this, and was sufficient to proclaim the author an outlaw. But the writer himself, so far from acting in ignorance of existing rules on the subject, in this very pamphlet challenged the authority of the Postmaster-General in this matter of personal liberty, and in one movement swept the musty cobwebs of tradition aside. In this pamphlet it was incidentally pointed out for the first time that there was absolutely no prohibition against an officer of the Post-Office being, if he chose, actually connected with the public press while performing his official duties. The whole matter had been immersed in obscurity; not one person in five thousand could have quoted the rule which was supposed to overshadow their actions in this respect. But herein for the first time it was shown that the minute issued by the Treasury so recently as 1875, and adopted by the Postmaster-General as a rule of the postal service—and which had been regarded as a menace because not understood—was directed against “Unauthorised Communications to the Public Press of Information derived from Official Sources.” It was scarcely likely that the rule would be so strained in the present instance; and if it were Clery was prepared to fight it.