At Colonel Maberly's suggestion, I placed my own clerks, and those of the Money Order Office, in all about two hundred and thirty, under his command; thus making a total force of upwards of thirteen hundred men. "_April 8th._--Iron bars are being put to the lower windows, and special precautions taken against fire. Goldsmiths' Hall, and other buildings which command the entrances to the Post Office, will be occupied with our people. These preparations, and the excitement they produce, are a sad hindrance to business." "_April 10th._--In coming to the office accompanied the Chartist procession down Holborn Hill, crossing it without difficulty at the bottom. The lower windows and doors of the office are defended by bars of iron and planks. Upwards of thirteen hundred of our people, a large portion of whom are well armed, are divided into small parties, each with its officer, and written instructions have been issued for their guidance. The excitement is too great for much work to be done. About one o'clock the Postmaster-General told me that Fergus O'Connor was arrested, but this afterwards proved to be a mistake. Another report, which for a while received credit, spoke of the disaffection of the Guards, but about two o'clock certain information arrived to the effect that the meeting had quietly dispersed, and that the threatened processions were abandoned. Soon after four I left, but the clerks and others were detained till the mails had been despatched. On my return home I noticed much excitement in the streets, and nearly all the shops were closed." APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XVI. GENERAL PROGRESS. Having narrated the transfer of the Money Order Department to my superintendence, I now proceed to more general transactions, and for their description give the following letter to Mr. Baring:-- "General Post Office, January 24th, 1848. "MY DEAR SIR,--I think the enclosed will interest you. You will not fail to remark the effect of the do-nothing policy of 1842, and of all, except the latter part, of 1843. The great increase in subsequent years is owing mainly to the extension of the rural distribution, which goes on with such rapidity that in the last year we brought more than one thousand places within the range of the Post Office system. No one would _now_ question the policy of the measure which you proposed, except, perhaps, on the ground that it did not go far enough. "The increased facilities afforded of late years are proving far more profitable than even I had anticipated.