A TEST OF “THE LABOUR MARKET”—THE UGLY DUCKLING OF
TRADES UNIONISM—MR. GEO. HOWELL’S ASSISTANCE—FURTHER
DEMONSTRATIONS—THE DEPARTURE OF BOOTH.
Notwithstanding the numerous strong expressions of public opinion evoked
by the recent meeting of the 18th November 1873, the Government showed
no disposition to meet the moderate demands put forward in the petition
to the House of Commons. The authorities particularly seemed bent on
resisting the claims of the men. Acting on instructions issued in a
Treasury Minute issued under the previous Government, they extensively
advertised for persons to fill the places of the letter-carriers. Yet,
as a matter of fact, there were no such vacancies as alleged in the
public advertisements, unless the department contemplated dismissing the
existing staff wholesale. The ostensible reason given was an experiment
to “test the labour market.” There was a rush of applications, but there
was a cruel insincerity in the whole business. A large proportion failed
to pass the medical examination, while others who had passed were so
disgusted at the neglect they received, and the time they were kept
waiting in suspense, that they refused to attend for final approval.
There had been something like twelve hundred applicants originally,
and of these only nineteen were finally passed as suitable for the
situations. The fact spoke for itself, and confirmed the opinion,
generally entertained, that it was nothing more than an attempt to damage
and discredit the case of the men, and intimidate and discourage the
“agitators.”
If this experiment to “test the labour market” did nothing more, it
tended to promote still further the feeling of misunderstanding in the
minds of the general public, and assisted to obscure the issue.
However, the aggrieved postal employés, as represented on the London
Trades Council, were accredited trades unionists. The trades unionists of
the Metropolis, little as they understood their case, were compelled to
take them into partnership.
By this time the efforts made by the postal employés had attracted
considerable attention from every quarter; but trades unionists generally
were almost as much at a loss to understand the precise nature of their
claims as were most people, and there was much need for information.
From the press reports and allusions to the matter in Parliament from
time to time, a vague notion existed that postal employés were badly
paid, and wanted better treatment, but little was known as to the real
objects sought, or of the means by which they were to be obtained. The
peculiarity of their position, the fact of their not being handicraftsmen
in the generally-accepted sense of the term, caused their movement still
to be looked on as the ugly duckling of trades unionism, and many were
against allowing its claim for kinship. It was principally due to Mr.
George Howell that this feeling of misunderstanding was removed. The
condition of the postal employés and their battle for liberty was for the
first time brought prominently before the trades unionists of the country
at the Sheffield Trades Union Congress, January 1874. Mr. George Howell
was secretary of the “Trades Parliamentary Committee,” and as a special
delegate of the Postal Society, he read a paper which most clearly
and convincingly showed that postal servants were in need of sympathy
and moral assistance from the organised labour of the country. To the
majority present it came as a revelation that those in Government employ
were so restricted in the matter of civil rights. In thanking Mr. Howell
for his valuable paper, they desired to express their sympathy with the
movement of the postal employés for increased pay, better regulation of
the hours of labour, the abolition of Sunday work, and a just system of
promotion. The Congress recommended their cause to the trades societies
of the United Kingdom, as well worthy of support.
The first General Election of 1873-4 had come and gone, and Mr. Gladstone
found himself again returned to power, but with a majority of only forty.
He immediately dissolved the House, and forthwith appealed to the country
a second time.
The country was again in the throes of a General Election, and towards
the fag-end, and before the result was certain for either party, another
meeting of postal employés was called again at Exeter Hall. Meantime a
written letter was sent by the Society’s secretary, Hawkins, to every
Parliamentary candidate, asking for support in their demands. Nearly one
hundred of those who gave their pledge were eventually returned to the
new Parliament.
When it became known that preparations were in progress for holding
another meeting, the authorities issued an official edict threatening
with the penalties of insubordination any one found attending. They liked
the Cannon Street Hotel meeting but little for the unenviable publicity
it gave the department, but the prospect of the Exeter Hall meeting they
liked still less. The meeting was again “proclaimed,” but a full two
thousand attended, notwithstanding. Again there was music and banners,
and a procession through the streets, and two thousand or more filled
the vast space confronting the historic platform. Mr. Mundella took the
chair on this occasion, and was supported by several Tory M.P.’s just
returned triumphant from the poll. There was among them Mr. Ritchie, Mr.
William Forsyth, Captain Bedford Pim, and Sir Charles Dilke. There were
a number of eminent clergymen, among them the Rev. John Kennedy, D.D.,
and the Rev. Hugh Allen. The latter reverend gentleman generally prefaced
his remarks at postal meetings with the words, “Those who distribute the
correspondence of the country, distribute the wealth of the country,
and their pay should be in proportion to their responsibility.” This
agreeable sentiment was at once appropriated as the motto of the
movement, and it figured on the stationery, and more than once on their
banner. There was also the Rev. John Murphy, well known at the time as
the “Bishop of Lambeth,” who had assisted right through the struggle till
now. Altogether the platform presented a gathering of eminent men of
almost every degree.
Mr. Mundella, as chairman, was just about finishing his address when the
herculean form of Charles Bradlaugh was seen hurriedly pressing his way
on to the platform. As the heretic agitator took his seat not far from
that region of the platform sanctified by the presence of so many clerics
of different denominations, there were some signs of dissent among some
of the postmen in front. It almost immediately subsided with a wave of
the chairman’s hand; and at Booth’s request Mr. Bradlaugh was given
fourth place among the speakers, as he had to leave early. The several
other speakers spoke, and it came to Bradlaugh’s turn. But immediately
his huge form rose from the chair there was a hostile demonstration which
gradually swelled in volume. Mr. Mundella requested the postal leader,
who was sitting beside him, not to insist on Mr. Bradlaugh being heard.
Charles Bradlaugh himself, always considerate in the interests of his
friends and those whom he wanted to assist, thought his speaking might
mar the success of the meeting, and made as if to leave the platform;
the “booing” and groaning continuing meanwhile. They had not till now
been ashamed to listen to and take counsel from the freethought lecturer
“Iconoclast,” and many who now groaned at him had cheered him to the echo
when it suited them. The hostile demonstration was probably only their
way of paying a compliment to their reverend friends on the platform,
though there were one or two, at least, among them who had come to assist
in this good cause who would not have hesitated there and then to burn
the heretic amidst a bonfire of his own godless pamphlets kindled with
the light of sacred truth.
“You see, Mr. Booth, they will not hear him,” said Mr. Mundella, rather
testily. But “Bulldog” Booth, as he was now known among his intimates,
was not to be beaten. “Then dissolve the meeting, sir,” said he stoutly.
“But they will hear him.”
The chairman rose and succeeded in calming the storm; and Mr. Bradlaugh
essayed to speak. He had always been an active sympathiser with the
postmen and the postal movement. It was not the first time he had stood
before them. Once on his feet with a determination to make himself heard,
he would not be denied. A towering figure, a leonine head, and huge,
pale, clean-shaven face, with its mastiff’s mouth, he looked as ugly
as Mirabeau, and as tremendous. Yet there was the charm of simplicity
and a conviction of earnestness in his utterance, which made them feel
ashamed at his reception. He spoke for four minutes, and adjured them to
maintain the principle of combination; to stick together, to exercise
their rights as citizens and to use their votes, and to support those
who supported them. When he had finished, Bradlaugh received probably as
loud an ovation as any who followed. A number of the clerical friends
of the postmen naturally took the line of denunciation against forced
Sunday labour, and their utterances for the most part were curiously
reminiscent of those speeches on the self-same topic on that same
platform twenty-five years before.
Among other eminent labour leaders and Radical politicians of the day
there figured George Howell, who never failed the postmen in their need,
and who had interviewed perhaps more members of Parliament and the heads
of the Government than any other public man; for at this period it had
particularly fallen to Mr. Howell’s lot to represent their case in this
manner.
Shortly after this great Exeter Hall meeting the society published a
balance-sheet, which clearly showed the enormous amount of work involved
in the previous two years’ crusade. During the two years of agitation,
numerous meetings, both reported and unreported, had been held; they
had carried the war into almost every part of the kingdom, they had
interviewed public men innumerable, prepared and got signed three monster
petitions to Parliament, and attained to the dignity and importance of
occupying the time and attention of the House of Commons more than once.
The general correspondence of the society during the two years of its
existence had involved the writing of no less than 2546 letters; while to
the public press communications to the tune of nearly 2000 had been sent
out. But, altogether, during the two years nearly 14,000 communications
were addressed to Parliamentary candidates, M.P.’s, public men, and
others. Truly, the Post-Office had been made to direct its hand against
itself. Among the list of subscribers were the names of several public
men, including Canon Liddon and Sir Charles Dilke.
The organisation of combined postal servants was now being perfected in
various ways. Interviewing members of Parliament, both privately and at
the House, was now almost of daily occurrence; and Booth and the various
others were on terms of intimacy with most of the prominent men of the
day.
It was this time a Conservative Government in power, and those members
who wished to show a desire to redeem their promises convened a
conference of the known Parliamentary friends to the postal cause. For
the Exeter Hall meetings had had a marked effect on the press and the
public. The conference was therefore called at the Westminster Palace
Hotel, a stone’s-throw from the House itself. It was to be quite public,
and reporters admitted. A deputation of the aggrieved men attended to
urge their case once more. Mr. Roebuck was this time in the chair; and
Mr. Stavely Hill and numerous other influential and well-known M.P.’s
formed the self-appointed jury. Booth once more went over the old ground
of their grievances; and Haley, another postal agitator, also gave an
able exposition of their simple claims, which appeared to impress them
favourably. The immediate result of the conference was that Mr. Roebuck,
on behalf of his colleagues, promised to do an indefinite something as
soon as found convenient.
They so far redeemed their pledge and showed their confidence in the
justice of the postal claims as to privately urge the Government to take
up the matter. For a month or so there was a superficial quietude among
the discontented men. There were no meetings, but the postmen and the
letter-sorters were subscribing to the general fund. There was no further
interference on the part of the officials, probably from the fact that
they were now beginning to recognise that the movement was too strong,
and rendered stronger by press sympathy and public support. Eventually
Mr. Roebuck—“Tear ’em,” as he was called in reference to his pugnacity in
the House—brought up the matter of the postal case for inquiry on the
Estimates. Booth, Haley, and the rest of the leaders of the agitation
were found a place under the gallery, by the side of Sir John Tilly,
the secretary, and Mr. Scudamore; for in some things the House is no
respecter of persons. The debate was eminently interesting, and brought
out all the points of the postal case in a marked degree.
The reply of the Government was unfavourable; and the argument, which has
done duty so many times since, that there was really no just cause for
complaint, was then used for the first time, and set an easy precedent,
which nearly all succeeding Postmasters-General faithfully followed.
After the debate the leaders of the agitation crowded round the members
in the lobby, Roebuck particularly was besieged by the disappointed men;
but he shook himself free of them with the air of a man who had done his
duty, and was determined to court failure no further. “Tear ’em” Roebuck
was evidently chagrined and as annoyed as his clients, and he turned on
them almost with a snarl. “You see I can do no more; the Government won’t
interfere,” said he, and strutted away. The Government had left them
to their fate; but pressure was privately brought to bear on Lord John
Manners, who was now Postmaster-General. The refusal of the Government
to interfere on behalf of the oppressed and aggrieved postal employés
after all the promises of the Tory party, and after all the patronage
extended to them publicly, resulted in such a feeling of resentment and
disappointment among all classes of the service, that Booth the leader
had the utmost difficulty in holding his followers in check. There was,
indeed, one abortive attempt at a strike among the Hull postmen, and the
spark might have ignited the whole had Booth and his associates given
encouragement to it. It wanted but a breath from the agitators at this
moment to fan the whole into a blaze.
Booth during this time never lost heart; he was as indefatigable as ever;
scarcely a day passed but what he interviewed somebody or was himself
interviewed. He had carried the art of interviewing to such an extent
that he several times personated the secretary of the postal movement,
Hawkins, for the purpose of getting editors and pressmen to say a word
or two in behalf of the baffled, but as yet not defeated, agitation.
By personating his own secretary in getting himself interviewed he thus
evaded the official rule which forbade any postal servant communicating
with the press, and which there is little doubt would have been
mercilessly enforced against any one in the service caught doing it
too openly. But however little they had to expect from the permanent
officials, they felt that with a Postmaster-General as representative of
the party from which only recently they had received so much sympathy and
patronage, active hostility would not be allowed to be carried too far.
Moreover, they felt pretty safe in conjecturing that, come what may, what
the law officers of the late administration had hesitated to carry to a
completion would not in a hurry be resorted to under the new Government
of the party which included so many tried and pledged friends of postal
reform. True, the Conservative Government, which the postal vote had
in some measure helped to bring back to power, had so far disappointed
them in not at once taking up their case as they were led to believe it
would. But they were aware that their grievances were still occupying the
attention of a large number of the members on both sides of the House,
and that a large amount of influence was being brought to bear on the
Postmaster-General. From Lord John Manners there was still something to
be hoped for. And this hope was sustained by the plausible rumour that
the Government’s refusal to inquire into their grievances was only a
diplomatic way of empowering the Postmaster-General to do all that might
be found to be necessary towards ameliorating the conditions of the
service over which he had been put to rule. Yet the cloven hoof peeped
out in an unexpected manner, and sooner than was to be looked for.
Lord John Manners, so long as he was in opposition, had not declined to
be counted among the Tory supporters of Booth and the postal agitation,
he having replied in favourable terms to letters and circulars soliciting
his support towards obtaining the asked-for inquiry. There is perhaps
always some allowance to be made for one newly taking office, and
inconsistency is to an extent allowable, if not to be looked for. But
it came as a surprise and something of a shock to Booth especially to
learn that the new Postmaster-General, resisting all overtures from
those of his own party, was about to set his face uncompromisingly
against their claims and against the representatives who might urge
them. Certainly, on the face of it, it seemed a wonderfully gracious act
in a Postmaster-General to consent to receive a deputation of the men
for the purpose of hearing once more from their own lips the story of
their grievances he was already so well acquainted with. An application
for an interview had been sent forward, in itself perhaps a piece of
audacity almost unheard of, and to the surprise of the men themselves
it was intimated that the interview would be granted. It was granted,
but only with the condition that Booth should not be present. By the
time that this was announced Booth had got over his first surprise,
and was quite prepared for the intended snub, but scarcely for the
unjustifiable insult which followed. It had been previously arranged that
he should lead the deputation, but it was now officially conveyed to him
that the Postmaster-General, while willing to see a deputation of the
letter-carriers and sorters, must refuse to receive Booth “on account of
his official bad character.” There was a feeling among the force that if
the Postmaster-General would not see the leader the deputation ought not
to go forward, but Booth put himself out of the question, and advised
them to meet the head of the department and to obtain what advantage was
possible. It was therefore decided to do so; but the undeserved insult,
though inflicted on the man, was none the less felt to be aimed at the
principle of combination, and their hopes were overshadowed with the
suspicion that the interview was granted mainly for the purpose of better
marking the agitators for future reference. The Postmaster-General’s
treatment of Booth was scarcely likely to reassure them or to maintain
their confidence in his fairmindedness. Throughout the agitation Booth
had been careful not to run foul of his superiors on official matters,
and his official character had been good enough to please Lord John
Manners and his party before the last General Election.
The deputation to the Postmaster-General was memorable if only from
the fact that this was the very first occasion the public head of the
department had ever consented to receive representatives of the working
staff. It looked like a concession, and as such would read well in the
Tory press especially. But the men in their hearts were prepared for
the disappointment which was to follow, and anticipated that it was
the Postmaster-General himself who intended to get the most out of the
interview.
A few weeks afterwards, about the beginning of August, a scheme was
announced. But it proved to be nothing more than an inflated bubble
which, when pricked, contained only a few paltry advantages for the
letter-carriers. The advantages were small enough in all conscience,
amounting to some small increase in pay and benefits as to stripes for
good conduct.
But small as were the benefits, the letter-carriers so appreciated them
that they decided to continue the agitation no further, and Booth, not
without reluctance, resigned his position as the postmen’s leader. The
only return Booth got for all the labour and all the responsibility
he had taken on himself was that he was left with a debt of £35—a
no insignificant amount to one in his position. By the aid of one of
his friends he was able to obtain a loan, and with a characteristic
independence paid it off without troubling the men with his private
affairs. It was not that his followers proved ungrateful; they simply
did not know the condition in which the agitation had stranded him; and
perhaps he was too proud to inform them. There was the usual effort to
testimonialise him and those who had most assisted him; but the thing
was badly managed. An illuminated address was already prepared for
Booth, and it was shown to him at his private house. There was also a
purse of money subscribed, which would have proved a little fortune to
him in the predicament, but there was some little sordid dispute among
one or two who fancied themselves entitled to an equal share. This
treatment so aroused the contempt of Booth that, seizing the illuminated
address, which he regarded as more than conventionally insincere in the
circumstances, he passionately tore it to fragments before them and flung
it into their faces, ordering them to leave the house immediately. He
refused to touch a penny-piece of the money subscribed; but instead set
himself steadily to work to pay off the debts he had incurred on account
of his connection with the agitation. So far, if the department wanted
its revenge, it had it now.
Booth having freed himself from debt, shortly afterwards, owing to
failing health, applied for and obtained the small pension of about eight
shillings a week he was entitled to. And so departed one of the most
persistent as well as one of the most courageously-consistent agitators
the Post-Office or any other Government department has ever been troubled
with. Booth’s career as an agitator had been a brief one, but it had
been as brilliant as it was brief. And perhaps, after all, there was
some truth in his claim that he had largely assisted to overturn two
Governments and put in another.