“_January 18th, 1842._—Mr. —— reports that Lord L. is very apprehensive of attacks in Parliament for the no-progress hitherto made, and uneasy as to the working of his registration scheme. That in this state of mind he is inclined to rely more and more on Maberly, a tendency which he, ——, thinks has been promoted by the officials having persuaded him that the activity of the Merchants’ Committee, and the pressure from the public generally, is attributed to myself. —— says Lord L. works very hard, getting up frequently at six in the morning, but that his attention is given to small matters, and that he constantly changes his objects. This account agrees so well with the spirit manifested in Lord L.’s Report on registration that I cannot doubt its accuracy. Unfortunately Lord L. is both cold and suspicious, otherwise I would go to him and trust to the effect of a plain, open and straightforward statement of the whole case. With such a man as Mr. Baring such would be the true policy; with Lord Lowther it would be useless, perhaps mischievous. “_January 27th, 1842._—Having prepared another letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I sent it in this morning.[320] In this letter I take no notice of the Postmaster-General’s Report, but renew my offer to undertake the registration, and, in so doing, state distinctly that I am ready to submit to the ‘_immediate_’ authority of the Postmaster-General, so that there is no longer any pretence for misunderstanding my intentions. I also enumerate several important and urgent measures of Post Office improvement which have occupied my attention while the question of registration has been pending, and propose to submit the details for consideration if the decision should be still further delayed. I think this letter will make it very difficult for them to prevent the progress of the measure if they are so disposed.” My reason for entering into this detail on the subject of registration was that, as already implied, it was my proceedings on this subject which caused me the loss of my post. I had, it appeared, crossed with my advice a strong wish of the Postmaster-General’s. This, as I was afterwards told, was never forgiven, but became, more than any other single circumstance, the ground of the demand which he is said to have made soon afterwards for my dismissal. I have only to add that, even when my opposition was set aside, the course recommended by the Post Office was not taken; the warner was dismissed, but the warning was remembered; and though Lord Lowther remained Postmaster-General as much as three years after my removal, his plan of high-feed compulsory registration was never carried into effect.