While they were awaiting Mr. Gladstone’s definite reply, the Postmaster-General carried his pretensions one step further. A general meeting was arranged for on November 23, to consider the status and pay of the London postal force, and in connection with this they forwarded a petition to be allowed to have their exiled chairman and secretary present. To this request a refusal was given, and the meeting was therefore abandoned. From this it was evident that the Liberal Postmaster-General was determined to drive home Sir James Fergusson’s sentence of excommunication as far as possible. But with a view to testing still further the Postmaster-General’s attitude of mind towards their association and its two ostracised leaders, the sorters in December 1892 forwarded a petition asking for an interview to discuss the matter of their civil rights and reinstatement, at which Messrs. Clery and Cheesman might be allowed to be present. This was signed practically by the whole of the London sorters, but in vain. Mr. Arnold Morley would not budge an inch towards conciliation. The policy of reinstatement was from this time adopted more strenuously than ever, and it indeed became accepted as the middle plank in their platform. They obtained sympathy and support in unlooked-for quarters, numerous public men and public bodies giving encouragement in various ways, and their persistency in the prosecution of their central claim elevating them to a position of respect among all trades-union bodies. The question of civil rights arising out of the dismissals was accepted by the Metropolitan Radical Federation for discussion at a public meeting held in January 1893. It was at this meeting that the long-waited-for reply from Mr. Gladstone anent the Postmaster-General’s attitude in regard to electoral rights was read. But the missive was so unsatisfactorily Gladstonian in its evasiveness that, beyond implying that nothing was to be apprehended from Mr. Arnold Morley’s pretensions, it was difficult of ordinary understanding. There had been a wait of four months before Downing Street remembered its promise; and it was only then remembered by the indefatigable postal agitator Clery rapping at the front door with another postman’s knock. He wrote again to Mr. Gladstone, and on January 11 received in reply the following communication:— “10 DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, _January 11, 1893_. “SIR,—I am desired by Mr. Gladstone to acknowledge the receipt of your letter. He is not at present aware of any intention to change the legal status of civil servants, or that public opinion has opened the question of such a change, which is quite apart from the discussion of ordinary administrative improvements.—I am, sir, your obedient servant, “SPENCER LYTTELTON.”