In the following August the question was again forced upon me, by a demand of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the complete consolidation of the two corps of letter-carriers;[57] a measure involving also the establishment of hourly deliveries and district offices, all important features of my plan. Knowing that the required change, which, unless made with the greatest care, would inevitably excite great discontent among the clerks, sorters, letter-carriers, and others, could not be safely attempted under present arrangements, I again spoke to the Postmaster-General on the subject of my promotion, but obtained no satisfactory reply. Checked and encumbered too as my progress had been, a review of it made about this time showed that, however imperfect in its great features, it was nevertheless, in the aggregate, greater than I myself had been conscious of. In fact, I found that most of the improvements included in the list of agenda, which I had laid before the Committee of 1843, were either completed or at least in progress. Still, as I felt it indispensable that my greater reforms also should go forward, I continued from time to time to urge that important change which the condition of my engagement gave me a right to demand; and as the year drew to its close without any step being taken in reference to my claims, I naturally became more impatient. Instead of the six months which had been spoken of as my probable time of probation, two whole years had now elapsed. I could not but regard this interpretation of the virtual promise as more than sufficiently loose.