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 HEADS AND TAILS 
 
 IN 
 
 THE CIVIL SEBYICE. 
 
 BY 
 
 A CIVIL SERVANT 
 
 EPIGRAM, 
 
 By the Rt. Hon. R. LOWE, 'presumably composcdinjronl of a mirror. 
 
 " To govern men, O Roman ! was thy care — 
 To crush the mighty and the weak to spare ; 
 While Britain's sons a cheaper glory seek — 
 To spare the mighty, and to crush the weak I " 
 
 LONDON :
 
 NOTE. 
 
 The Author alone is reponsible for whatever 
 appears on the following pages. There is 
 nothing put forward as a matter of fact, except 
 in perfect good faith, and a belief in its prac- 
 tical accuracy. If, through inadvertence 
 or error, there should prove to be any excep- 
 tion to this rule, he would be much obliged 
 to any one who would point it out, that it 
 may be immediately rectified. He does not, 
 however, at all anticipate that such a thing 
 will happen, the circumstances alluded to 
 being of common notoriety, and generally 
 supported by authentic references. 
 
 The Author is strongly sensible to the in- 
 justice and WTong of circulating incorrect 
 statements about, or misrepresenting public 
 men, but he admits no obligation to protect 
 them from the results of deeds and words 
 for which they, in their sphere, as he in his, 
 are, and alone are, responsible.
 
 HEADS AND TAILS IN THE 
 CIVIL SEE VICE. 
 
 " O, it is excellent 
 To have a giant's strength ; but it is tyrannous 
 To use it like a giant." 
 
 Measure for Measure. 
 
 When the Liberal Government was formed in the year 1868, 
 one of the numerous tasks which it set itself to accomplish 
 was the reform of the Civil Service, with a view to the abolition 
 of the evils of patronage, and the reduction of the national ex- 
 penditure. The doing of this devolved, in chief, upon Mr. 
 Eobert Lowe, a politician of eminence as a scholar, and of con- 
 spicuous independence and individuality of character. He has 
 the reputation of having been '* a man of war from his youth,", 
 being gifted, apparently, with a natural fondness for making 
 enemies ; and, although having been repeatedly obliged to con- 
 fess to failure in dealing with public matters in the past, he 
 has been not the less boastful ot his success, and — '* smelling 
 the battle afar off" — defiant as to the future. 
 
 But that kind of disposition, while possible for a cypher or 
 a unit in society, cannot prevail to more than a limited extent 
 in Parliamentary and Ministerial life, where tact is wanted as 
 well as touf^hness, and a deficiency of suaviter in modo is not 
 compensated for by a double allowance oi for titer in re. Hence, 
 it came to pass that when arrangements were being made for 
 the new Ministry in the beginning of 1880, and a very few 
 weeks after Mr. Lowe had iaformed the country what " we " 
 were going to do if "we" w^ere returned to office — ("Put 
 it down a we, my Lord," as Mr. Weller, Senr., said, 
 *' put it down a we ! ") — the country was further made 
 acquainted with the fact that the right honourable gentleman 
 was to be raised to the peerage — a raising to an elevated position 
 and a wearing of a distinctive headgear, remarkably suggestive, 
 under the circumstances, of two similar honours conferred in 
 village schools upon small boys who have been misconducting 
 themselves. The "most intellectual man of the day," as he
 
 has been called, was therefore to be known in future, not by any 
 such irreverent titles as '' Lucifer Lowe," '* Bicycle Bob," or 
 " The Right Honourable the "White Ferret," but, in accordance 
 with his new dignity, as " The Right Honourable Viscount 
 Sherbrooke." 
 
 Since the transmigration of his soul from the carnal atmos- 
 phere, or at least, associations, ol the Lower House, to the 
 more ethereal region above, the public have not heard so much 
 either of or from him, as had been their wont ; it may therefore 
 be charitably supposed that the change has done him good, 
 unless indeed the improvement had really taken place before, 
 necessitating an alteration in his external habitation, 
 and that the metamorphosis was not wholly dissimilar to that 
 of one of whom it was briefly but tenderly said : 
 
 " Here lies poor Martha Gwynne, 
 Who was so very pure within, 
 That she broke the shell of her outer skin, 
 And hatched herself a cherubim." 
 
 But, assuming that this was the case with Mr. Lowe, and 
 that at the time that he broke the shell of his outer skin, and 
 hatched himself, what may be described as a parliamentary 
 cherubim, he had already attained to a degree of ** purity 
 within," not inferior to that of the above-mentioned lamented 
 lady, he could have done so but at a very recent date ; because 
 it was only in the month of November previous that he ac- 
 knowledged that he was " a hardened villain" — a statement, the 
 accuracy of which it is believed, has never been denied or 
 called in question — and that '' he would retain any thing he had 
 done." There was, however, one thing at least that he had 
 done which he did not desire to retain, for he had 
 admitted as much several years before. Nevertheless, 
 there was a special reason why he would not have retained it, 
 a reason which will be mentioned in due course, and it does not 
 affect his own personal willingness in the matter. It is in con- 
 sequence of this that his name is here introduced, he having 
 been the originator of the circumstances to the consideration 
 of which this book is devoted, and he never having in any way 
 revoked them, or except for the reason given, expressed any 
 desire to do so, or any regret that he had recommended them. 
 
 That the evils of patronage, which, till he took the matter in 
 tiand,nad disfigured the Civil Servije, should be abolished, it was 
 determined to throw the Service open to the public by means of 
 competitive examination in certain branches of study ; and this 
 encouragement to education was what was to have been ex- 
 
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 UJUC 
 
 ^] 
 
 v„/-
 
 pected from one, who in his own person was so signal a success 
 in scholarship, and who had likewise been successful in organ- 
 izing an able system of education at the Antipodes. Such a 
 mode of entering the public service was at the same time con- 
 sistent with the numerous other plans in existence during the 
 twenty or thirty years preceding and succeeding that period, 
 for the same purpose ot advancing the cause of education. 
 
 But, except with regard to the abolition of patronage, the 
 Civil Service had not much to gain from the new method. It 
 led to a process of cramming for a time, and to attain a given 
 object, which was probably too much of a system in itself, to 
 fairly represent a candidate's actual attainments ; there was 
 no practical purpose to be served by the acquirement of know- 
 ledge that would not afterwards be wanted ; and in the non- 
 continuance of the habit of study after the examination was 
 once past, there was not any certainty that what had been 
 learned, under a process of high-pressure, would be event- 
 ually remembered, and that the mind of the recipient of so 
 much book-lore would not be analogous to that kettle of water 
 from which the tea was made, and of which the servant-gal 
 replied to her mistress's remonstrance about its temperature, 
 '*It have a-biled, mum." 
 
 With the view of carrying out the second purpose, viz., that 
 of the reduction of the national expenditure, Mr. Lowe recom- 
 mended the employment in Government offices of a second 
 class of men, to be in subordination to the former class or 
 regular staff, and whose duties, it was intended, should consist 
 of simple matters, chiefly of a routine character. The word 
 ** men " has been used for convenience, but men could scarcely 
 have been in Mr. Lowe's mind at the time, because his object 
 was to dispense with all those characteristics of creatures 
 belonging to the animal kingdom, in which for practical pur- 
 poses, they are inferior to contrivances made from the mineral 
 kingdom, and only to fall back upon their human qualities 
 when mechanical contrivances would not answer. His 
 invention maj^ be described as a Patent Combination Boblowe 
 Humano- Machine, which would be remarkably effective in 
 saving the public revenue, as it would do the work of human 
 beings with human faculties and intelligence, but at the small 
 cost of an ordinary mechanical apparatus. Thus the Patent 
 Combination Boblowe Humano-Machine would have no appe- 
 tite, and consequently, would never require to eat or drink, 
 and the expense of keeping it clean and in working order would 
 be extremely limited : its mental faculties would be only half
 
 6 
 
 of those of a human heiiig — the half required for the public 
 service, and none for itself — and consequently, it would require 
 nothing whatever in the way of intellectual food — no news- 
 papers, no periodicals, no magazines, no books or pamphlets 
 of any kind, no concerts or musical entertainments, or instru- 
 ments of whatsoever description, no paintings or photo- 
 graphs, or steel or wood engravings, or oleographs or litho- 
 graphs, or other class of pictures, and no visits to museums, 
 or galleries, or institutions of an educational nature. It 
 would never be ill or out of order in any way, and would 
 therefore require no sick-leave during the whole course 
 of its existence ; and as it would have no relations or 
 friends, or affairs of a personal or private character neces- 
 sitating absence from business, the same advantages would 
 arise in respect to that circumstance also. It would not 
 want any holidays at any time, as these are requisite only 
 in the case of human beings who, having bodies subject to 
 infirmities, and minds that become jaded and anxious, find 
 medicine for both the one and the other in occasional change 
 of air and scene ; it would require nothing better in the way of 
 a house than a shanty or shed to keep off the rain, and even 
 that was not of much consequence, and, of course, a home 
 was too ridiculous to think about. Obviously, it could have no 
 garden, and would have no greater need for flowers than for 
 furniture. It would not require any clock or watch, because 
 there is generally some cock-crowing going on somewhere, or 
 a railway whistle, and every morning, invariably, the milkman 
 on his rounds, shrieking out as a reminder, down the area-, 
 steps, like the yell of a lost Indian, ** Milk, B. Lowe!" No 
 amount of tribulation in its neighbourhood would move its 
 bowels of compassion, because it would have no bowels of 
 compassion to move, in which respect it would closely resem- 
 ble its inventor ; and, as the most enthusiastic revivalist 
 would not expect that a machine could be influenced even by 
 the softest of dulcimers or the loudest of trombones, it would 
 never be appealed to for subscriptions, or subjected to expenses 
 in connection with church or with chapel, temple or tabernacle, 
 " barracks," Bethel, or bazaar. It would not require to marry, 
 and therefore, as it would not have a wife or children to provide 
 for, the insignificant expense it entailed at the outset would not 
 be enhanced, though it kept in working order for thirty or forty 
 years: when, by dint of long labour it had become defective, and 
 had ceased to be useful, as it would only have to be thrown out 
 into the street, in would need no pension or superannuation
 
 to 
 
 ^ ^3 ^ 
 
 ^3 
 
 to 
 
 V
 
 of any kind ; and, finally, in consequence of its having never 
 been married, there would be no possibility that, after it had 
 gone back to the earth from whence it was originally taken, 
 widow or orphan would make application to the Government 
 for pecuniary aid. 
 
 The Patent Combination Boblowe Humano-Machine was a 
 wonderful invention for doing public work, and at the same 
 time saving public money, the advantages of which are seen 
 to greatest advantage by contrasting it with the regulations 
 applying to ordinary staff clerks, appointed at the same time 
 in Government offices, or those who were already established 
 there, these being in every case human beings, pure and 
 simple — very ! 
 
 The latter had salaries which commencing under different 
 circumstances, at ^680, £90, £100, or perhaps as high as £250 
 a year, increased annually till they attained to sums of 
 several hundreds of pounds. 
 
 Their hours of attendance were not restricted bv any invari- 
 able rule, unpunctuality in arrival to the extent of half-an- 
 hour, or an hour, being very common in some places, with in 
 others, or perhaps in the same ones, early departure, or 
 absence during the day. 
 
 In cases of illness, they could obtain leave of absence, or 
 remain away without it, for any time, from ah hour to six 
 months. A feeling of giddiness on reaching business in the 
 morning was sufficient reason for a trip to Gravesend, *' a cold 
 in the head " for several weeks' absence, a medical certificate, 
 ** of no use to any one but the owner," for half-a-year. Cessa- 
 tion, or diminution of salary under such circumstances was, 
 of course, a thing unheard of. 
 
 In time of bereavement, or domestic affliction, or for attend- 
 ing to urgent private affairs, leave of absence was obtained with 
 equal facility, for varying periods, according to the nature of 
 the case, of hours, days or weeks — possibly months also. 
 
 Holidays were, and still are, abundant, extending over four, 
 six, or eight weeks, in addition to extra days, such as Christ- 
 mas, Easter, or the Queen's Birthday. 
 
 At the close of their official career. Civil Service officials 
 retire with a pension, which may be as much as their full 
 salary has amounted to ; or, should their labours be dispensed 
 with at an early period of their lives, their appointment being 
 regarded as something in the nature of the presentation of a 
 freehold, they are provided with a comfortable income for the 
 remainder, without any pretence of earning it at all. Thus,
 
 8 
 
 one Government being in power to-day, may make certain 
 regulations under which men will be engaged ; and twenty 
 years hence, another Government may decide on introducing 
 what it deems improvements, for the purpose of carrying out 
 which, those who are appointed now, will then be got rid of, 
 and compensated accordingly. 
 
 It was Mr. Lowe's great boast that while he had been in 
 office, he had saved fourteen millions of money ; though as he 
 was not equally emphatic in pointing out exactly how, when, 
 and where the saving had been effected, it is not easy 
 to accord to him anv particular credit for the achievement. 
 
 He may have done good service in that respect, or he may 
 not ; but w^hile the matter is doubtful, there are other things 
 that admit of no doubt at all. One of these (see Keport of the 
 Playfair Commission) is that, in order to attain his end, he did 
 not scruple to resort to such cowardly and unworthy means 
 (see epigram) as the cutting down the pay from about 36s. a 
 week to 30s., regardless of the agreement under which they 
 were serving, of a large body of men, till after weeks of agita- 
 tion he had to restore them to their former position and yield up 
 what he had till then, withheld. A second thing equally sure is 
 that, whatever economies were introduced, the national expen- 
 diture has mounted up in about fourteen years from seventy to 
 eighty-eight millions; a third, that instead of Mr. Lowe's being re- 
 garded as a faithful and capable steward of the public property , who 
 is entitled, in an eminent degree, to public gratitude, his name 
 is a bye-word for scorn and contempt ; while, as has been 
 mentioned, on the re-formation of the Ministry of which he 
 had previously been so conspicuous and, acccording to his 
 own account, so valuable, a member, and just after he had 
 promised what ** we " were going to do if '' we " were returned 
 to office, it w^as found convenient to make him a viscount ; 
 and a fourth thing that admits of no doubt is that when he 
 was giving evidence before the Playfair Commission about his 
 wonderful Civil Service invention — the Patent Combination 
 Boblowe Humano-Machine — he admitted that the whole plan 
 was a mistake, and that, had he at the time known what he 
 then knew, he would never have recommended it. 
 
 With referee ce to the last point, it is characteristic of the 
 man, that the reason why his invention did not answer his 
 expectations, was because he could not keep it secret. His 
 apparatus would not work because he could not succeed in 
 destroying that human feature that was situated inside its 
 mouth. Ho could not keep the tongue quiet -, a machine with
 
 the power of human speesh, and that would talk, was no 
 proper machine at all ; hence, after the lapse of four years, 
 during which it had been incessantly jabbering, he was bound 
 to confess that it was, as above stated, " a mistake."* Referring 
 to his patent machines, he said, '' One thing we overlooked 
 was the danger of collecting a very large body of persons 
 HAVING FEiENDS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, having a particular 
 interest, and that interest being to obtain better terms with 
 the Government. I think that we overlooked the politi- 
 cal ASPECT OF THE QUESTION. Certain gentlemen have 
 found it very expedient to make political capital out of the 
 ALLEGED grievances of these writers ; and I now think that it 
 is a pity that there were collected together some 3,000 persons, 
 or something of the kind, for this sort of employment, all 
 having a common interest to press upon the Government — the 
 raising of their wages." 
 
 Whatever claim Mr. Lowe has to be called the most 
 intellectual man of the day, and however great his talents in 
 certain directions, his lack of honour is not more conspicuous 
 than his signal mental deficiency in other directions. His 
 Patent Combination Machine is a case in point. What 
 statesman of ordinary intelligence would suppose it possible to 
 collect together many hundreds of men, not necessarily young, 
 but often middle-aged, from all social ranks, in some cases 
 highly-educated men, or having wide and long experience, or 
 perhaps young and with the needs and aspirations of youth, 
 and while availing himself of all their characteristics which 
 were human, to serve his own purpose, insisting on treating 
 them as mere machines when it came to a question of pay- 
 ment ? The plan could only possibly succeed in the long run 
 by its being kept secret, and his machines icould talk ; ^ while 
 he, bemg denied by nature any of the gift of tact, but having an 
 extra allowance of churhshness in its place, kept on provoking 
 them to make more and more noise, instead of seeing 
 that he could have silenced them altogether by the simple 
 process of putting a small amount of sweetmeat in their 
 mouths, and threatening to take it away if they did not 
 be quiet. 
 
 In spite of the right honourable Robert's great achievements 
 at the Exchequer, Mr. Gladstone apparently did not think that 
 
 * Two days after the MS. of this book was placed in tbe hands of the 
 printer, the author's attention was called to a notice in the paper that 
 on the evening of that same day, some of the machines had been jabbering at the 
 Westminster Town Hall, under the presidency of Mr. J. H. Puleston, M.P.
 
 10 
 
 there would be any considerable gain by his continuing to 
 achieve in the same way, and so he took his place himself some 
 time before the Ministry went out of office. With Mr. 
 Gladstone at the Treasury, the machines jabbered as usual, 
 at that time, with such effect that he made two concessions to 
 them, namely, in favour of leave of absence in case of sick- 
 ness, and for holidays. These concessions by Mr. Gladstone, 
 entitle him to be regarded somewhat more favourably than any 
 of the other Chancellors with whom the machines have had to 
 do ; apart from which circumstance, those who are anxious to 
 see abuses cut down, and reforms instituted, can scfircely in 
 fairness to him, be hard in their criticisms, because he is the 
 great political reformer of the day, at the same time not 
 possessed of the offensive manners that distinguished Mr. Lowe; 
 and as, whenever great reforms are brought about, somebody 
 must necessarily suffer, at least for a time, there is no ground 
 for complaint on that score, provided the grievances are 
 redressed after a sufficient time has elapsed for them to be 
 accurately estimated Sir Stafford Northcote is not entitled 
 to any considerateness of criticism, because during all the 
 years that he was Chancellor, from 1874 to 1880, he never 
 made any concession whatever to the Patent Combination 
 Machines, while he would never have had sufficient capacity 
 to have invented them himself. Mr. Childers has not, thus 
 far, held the same office long, and it remains to be seen whether 
 or not he will have good sense enough to remove an evil, now 
 of many years' standing. At present for his views on the 
 subject, we are dependent upon his evidence given before the 
 PJayfair Commission which sat from 1874 to 1876. 
 
 When Mr. Lowe invented his Patent Machine, he required 
 a name for it ; and in the same way as Mr. Maskelyne 
 applied to, in some respects, a similar invention, the now 
 familiar name of ** Zee," Mr. Lowe called his by the 
 term " Writer." This word has two ordinary significations, 
 one being of a literary character, in which sense it implies 
 *' Author," and the other simply '' one who writes," a term 
 equally applicable to every one, both in and out of the Civil 
 Service ; there is likewise a third signification familiar in 
 legal circles, and refers to a class of men employed in solicitors' 
 offices for the engrossing of deeds and so on, the term being 
 used in contradistinction to that of *' clerks," who are, 
 practically, themselves, solicitors. It was, presumably, in the 
 third sense that the term " writer " was used by Mr. Lowe, 
 with reference to his Patent Combination Copying Machines,
 
 11 
 
 though when on the occasion of the Playfair Commission, 
 Civil Service matters were well sifted, it was discovered that 
 the machines were not simply copying machines at all, but 
 as a fact, Assista?it Clerks, though regarded, nevertheless, by 
 the Government, in the light of machines, in order that they 
 might be treated accordingly. Ostensibly engaged for the 
 purpose of mere copying, it had been the custom, notwith- 
 standing, for the heads of departments to assign them any 
 duties requiring to be done which they were capable of 
 doing, and about ten years ago, orders were issued by the 
 Government to confirm the practice — " that whenever a 
 vacancy occurred in the ranks of the clerks, it was to be filled 
 by a ' writer,' if he was able to do the work." No alteration, 
 however, was made in their pay, or in their general treatment, 
 and hence appears the reason for retaining the term by which 
 they were officially known. Mr. Childers, in his evidence before 
 Dr. Playfair, advocated having two distinct classes in addition 
 to the regular clerks, namely, " copyists," and ** writers" 
 — the latter '* a term," he said, "now perfectly well under- 
 stood," the men to whom it referred being for a much higher 
 class of work than the former. He was quite right in saying 
 that the term '' writer" was now perfectly well understood, 
 and the definition itself indicates the reason for its permanent 
 use. It meant simply unpaid cleeks — those who should 
 regularly do the work of the public in the various Goverment 
 offices, but without being remunerated for it. If two men 
 were engaged in the same room and at the same table, one 
 receiving several hundred pounds a year and privileges to 
 match, and the other, after deducting, say, sixpence for a 
 railway ticket, four shillings and sixpence a day, and the latter 
 remonstrated against the injustice of his not being properly 
 paid, he would be met with the taunt that he was a " writer," 
 and therefore not entitled to be ; that he was, in fact, a Patent 
 Combination Boblowe Humano-Machine, invented for the 
 express purpose of transacting public business with human 
 faculties and human skill in return for the treatment accorded 
 to a machine ! Hence it is easy to see why there should be 
 retained what is in reality an insulting epithet, because the 
 true and characteristic definition of "Assistant Clerks" would 
 be too suggestive of the fitting salaries to which such officers 
 would be, and in fact are, entitled. 
 
 Injustice, oppression, deception, and insult have character- 
 ized the treatment accorded to the Assistant Clerks ever since 
 they have had any official existence. The purpose of this
 
 12 
 
 brochure is to do somethiufy towards improving their position 
 by the three following methods ; To advise themselves as to 
 their mode of procedure ; To enlist the sympathy of the House 
 of Commons on their behalf ; and, To warn the Government of 
 its folly in the course that it has hitherto pursued. An allusion 
 is made on plate 12, which, though professedly humorous, is 
 not without a substratum of reality, to the feeling of desperation 
 that the unjust and tyrannical conduct of the Government has 
 engendered, and that, sooner or later, they may feel the effects 
 of in ways they do not anticipate, if they persistently follow 
 the same line of conduct in the future. We hear from time to 
 time of dynamite explosions, and they are immediately set 
 down to Fenians ; no one seems ever to entertain a moment's 
 thought that they may be the work of exasperated Civil Service 
 clerkii. The writer of this is not in a position to attribute any 
 past event of the kind to the men whose circumstances are 
 under consideration, and probably, had they been the authors 
 of it, he would not be made aware of the fact ; but he very 
 well knows that for some time the performance of such deeds 
 have been in contemplation within their ranks, that all accounts 
 of those that do occur are carefully scanned from feelings of 
 personal interest, and that the opening up of negotiations with 
 O'Donovan Kossa for the sale of the services which the EngHsh 
 Government has used for years, but refuses to pay for, is an 
 event within measurable distance. The vn:iter's mind was 
 running on this subject as he read an article on Whit-Monday 
 in the Bailij Telegraph, strongly reflecting on the cowardice 
 and so on of the perpetrators of the then recent outrages. _ The 
 Editor assumed that, of course, they were the workof Eenians ; 
 but then he himself is not accustomed to work without being 
 paid, and if he was just to suppose a case of which he was the 
 subject, perhaps he might come to the conclusion that his in- 
 ferences are not, after all, so assuredly correct. Let him 
 suppose himself writing leader after leader, day after day, week 
 after week, and year after year, and instead of being paid for 
 them, being kept in a perpetual state of semi-starvation of body 
 and mind, and deprived of the necessaries of hfe, because 
 his employers, who were merely agents on behalf of others, 
 whose money they appropriated for themselves and for their 
 friends with great hberahty, refused to pay him what he had 
 earned, in order that they might figure before the world as 
 patriotic statesmen. It is doubtful if there are not at the 
 present time Assistant Clerks who have been subject to similar 
 treatment for ten or even twelve years ; and is it to be expected
 
 13 
 
 that they will go on and on, honourably, industriously, and 
 loyally, with a knowledge and habitual consciousness of money 
 being due to them from the Government, the amount of which 
 every year grows larger, and never feel stung with 
 indignation at the conduct of the half-dozen men who so wrong 
 them ? As each year the debt becomes larger, so each year 
 adds to the amount which eventually will have to be paid be- 
 fore the matter is finally settled ; for whenever an improved 
 system is introduced, and the Assistant Clerks are treated 
 with what may be considered fairness and honour, the terms 
 must date backward to the commencement of their career to 
 be accepted by them as satisfactory, as there would be no cir- 
 cumstances to constitute a claim for change at all that would 
 not of necessity be of a retrospective character. Consequently 
 every year adds to the spirit Of discontent ; and although, as a 
 whole, these men are respectable and loyal in their deport- 
 ment, " Surely oppression maketha wisemanmad," and there 
 may come a time when even their patience will stretch no 
 longer, and if the Government change not its conduct, it will 
 have to yield to force that which it denies to remonstrance 
 and a sense of propriety. 
 
 The writer takes this opportunity of appeahng to Honour- 
 able Members of the House of Commons, .that they, as 
 custodians of the public purse, and the persons really 
 responsible to the nation for the due expenditure of the money 
 levied in taxes, will bring the matter of the Assistant Clerks in 
 the Civil Service prominently forward, and compel the Minis- 
 try to treat them in a manner that shall be in accordance with 
 justice and statesmanship. Let them consider the sheer folly 
 and stupidity of having fifteen hundred or two thousand men 
 scattered through all the pubhc oJOBices, and acquainted with 
 all the details of Government work — men, as a body, possessed 
 of large and varied experience in all callings of life, and 
 instead of being, if only as a matter of policy, treated in that 
 concihatory manner that would be a safeguard against their 
 knowledge and position being used hostilely towards the Govern- 
 ment, being systematically insulted and plundered, and kept 
 **on the raw" by a mode of treatment that is in distinct 
 opposition to official opinions expressed in Blue Books, 
 and that not a single Minister or ex-Minister, could, or would 
 even dare, to attempt to justify before any public tribunal, 
 where he was subjected to cross-examination. They may 
 attempt on certain occasions, and in certain places, to justify 
 their conduct by the use of the official kaleidofecope ; but on
 
 such occasions they keep it in their own hands, and all their 
 attempted justification would be scattered to the winds, 
 directly the instrument was held by any one else. The explana- 
 tion of the illustration is this : There are various principles on 
 which to found regulations , and these are so metimes of an opposite 
 character ; and the Government, instead of making up its 
 mind as to which is the sound and true principle to go 
 upon in each case, and then applying it universally, puts all 
 these principles into its kaleidoscope, forms a pattern, and 
 holds it up to pubhc view to explain its conduct with regard 
 to one class of its servants : and, then, in order to explain and 
 justify its conduct to another class, gives the instrument a turn so 
 that the pattern is formed by all its constituent features being 
 placed in a directly opposite position with regard to each 
 other, to that which they before occupied. Thus, one princi- 
 ple is that men should be fairly remunerated for the services 
 they render, wholly irrespective of the consideration whether 
 or not others could be found to do the work at a lower rate, 
 the opposing principle being that the Government, in the dis- 
 charge of its duty to the country, is bound to get its work 
 done at the lowest price at which it is procurable. Applying 
 this practically, when a pattern is required on which to make 
 the regulations for highly-placed and highly-paid servants, the 
 kaleidoscope is so held that the first principle is in 
 the ascendant, and the second one below, but as soon as a 
 pattern is wanted for . the poorest men employed, the in- 
 strument is turned upside down, and the two principles are 
 reversed. 
 
 A second brace of principles is that of the recognition and 
 non-recognition of the obligations of marriage. ''As the clerk 
 gets older, when his responsibilities in life increase" are the 
 words that Dr. Play fair applied to the upper principle -con- 
 stituent in the pattern formed by the official kaleidoscope 
 when he advocated rapidly risintr salaries for the akeady 
 better paid men ; but when a pattern is wanted for those 
 who only assist them, or do the work that they leave undone, 
 this conspicuous feature is whisked out of the instrument 
 altogether, and sent up the official sleeve, till some one 
 else's claims are under consideration, when it is all ready 
 to be whisked back again to its former place. The Govern- 
 ment practically decrees that the Assistant Clerks shall re- 
 main unmarried, or that if they are already married or 
 presume to marry, their rash and wicked conduct shall be 
 punished by a sure and certain descent in the social scale,
 
 15 
 
 as that sum of money which at their first engagement was 
 sufficient only for the requirements of one person has to 
 be made to do duty for two, three, half-a-dozen, or a dozen, as 
 the case may be. An illustration of this is seen in the 
 frontispiece, which was suggested by a clever and telling 
 sketch of Messrs. Cassell and Co.'s, in the prospectus of their 
 Popular Educator i a work recommended by Mr. Lowe for 
 the study of working men. It suggests a third batch of 
 principles, namely, the cultivation of education. The House 
 of Commons is asked to sanction the spending, during the 
 current financial year, of upwards of three million pounds of 
 public money for the purpose of educating those who render 
 nothing in return ; while others, who for many years have 
 been engaged in giving good service to the Government, are 
 not paid sufficiently to justify their spending a penny a day on 
 a newspaper. Selt-culture is impossible, for materials are 
 wanting ; and as during their official hours they only earn 
 enough to pay for a dinner and tea, they must afterwards look 
 about for some other way of occupying their '' spare" time so 
 as to earn supper, and breakfast for the next morning. The 
 author has known of one of these Assistant Clerks, who, during 
 the winter, when his associates in the office had left business to 
 spend the evening in comfortable homes, had to^o, in order to 
 earn a trifle more money, fifty miles or thereabouts into the 
 country to play on the stage of a provincial theatre, and returnin 
 the cold and dark on the following day, so as to be at business at 
 the regular hour. In the absence of any knowledge as to the 
 name of the play in which he performed, we will suppose that 
 it was The Luxurious Lord and the Violent Virgin; or, Villainy 
 Vanquished and Virtue Victorious ; and we will hope that the 
 sequel prefigures the actor's own ultimate triumph over the 
 myrmidons whom he has so long served, and that he will 
 *' live happy ever after." The constant want of money in a 
 home so familiarises its occupants with the contemplation of 
 things undone that ought to be done, as naturally to induce a 
 feeling of despondency and despair; and this, coupled with an 
 absence of any influence of a mental or religious character calcu- 
 lated to elevate, deadens the sense of right and wrong, pro- 
 ducing a feeling of recklessness and a general demorahsation. 
 Let Members of Parhament contemplate the figures in the 
 lower line of the frontispiece, and know that to produce such 
 effects in the case of the Assistant Clerks in the Civil Service 
 has been the constant policy of successive Governments, who 
 are never weary of heaping up expenditure for educational
 
 16 
 
 purposes on behalf of those who have no direct claim upon 
 them ; and let those Members recollect that if the figures 
 sketched are not actual representations of living realities, no 
 thanks are due to the Government that they are not so, as 
 Messrs. Lowe, Gladstone, Northcote, Childers, and Co., with 
 their subordinates have done their best to produce them ; and, 
 directly or indirectly, they are doing it at this present moment. 
 Let them deny it if they can. 
 
 Allusion has been made to the concessions granted by Mr. 
 Gladstone, during his previous term of office as Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer, in the matter of sick-leave and holidays ; but 
 in keeping with the spirit of malignity which has marked the 
 treatment of the Assistant Clerks ever since they have been 
 employed, these small concessions are not made without 
 decided drawbacks. In case of illness, a medical certificate 
 must be obtained, to enable the holder of it to be paid for his 
 time of absence, the sum received will then be only three- 
 fourths of the regular amount, and the leave granted under 
 such circumstances will not be allowed to exceed twelve days 
 in a year. There are many instances in which a man might 
 be excused from attendance for a day or two, when his illness 
 is so apparent to everyone, that a certificate is unnecessary ; 
 and if he is then compelled to procure it, it may involve him 
 in an expense that makes it cost more than it is worth. If a 
 violent tooth-ache rendered him unable to work, and induced 
 him to leave for home at two o'clock instead of four, when 
 next he received his dole, a deduction would be made for two 
 hours' absence, because, in compliance with the law of the 
 Medes and Persians, which altereth not — the Medes and 
 Persians in this case being the aforesaid Lowe, Gladstone, 
 Northcote, Childers and Co., and their subs — a devoted and 
 conscientious discharge of duty to the public, renders it 
 imperative that the latter should not be subjected to taxation to 
 pay a man who is away ill, and that the eight hundred 
 millions of the National Debt should not be enhanced from the 
 same cause, by the addition of the unnecessary and unproduc- 
 tive sum of one shilHng and eight pence ! If, however, the 
 sick man likes to pay half-a-guinea for a duly qualified medical 
 practitioner to certify that his face is twice the usual size, he 
 wiJl be allowed to receive fifteen pence, or three-quarters of 
 twenty pence, in which case the public will be com- 
 pelled, nolens volejis, to face the exaction, and when the 
 fifteen-penny yoke is fixed upon its shoulders, to **grin and 
 bear it."
 
 17 
 
 The concession, on account of holidays is, one day without 
 loss of pay, for every twenty-four of approved work, but, 
 collectively, they must not exceed twelve days in a year, so 
 that nothing can be carried forward from the previous twelve 
 months, without a corresponding loss in the present one. 
 The effect of this is immaterial in the case of short engage- 
 ments, but its irksomeness is felfc when a clerk is perma- 
 nently engaged in the same office ; as, should he desire to take 
 all his humble holidays at one time, he must necessarily wait 
 till December to be able to do so. This regulation, it must be 
 admitted, is not without its advantages ; for should the man 
 have a fondness for the country, and an eye for artistic beauty, 
 he may, by going away at the end of the year, obtain a far 
 better view of the effect of a snow-storm over a wide area, 
 than he could hope for in London, while if he prefers the 
 sea-side and likes bathing, he will probably find the rent of 
 lodgings less then than at any other season, and the tempera- 
 ture of the water eminently calculated to stimulate his health. 
 But such is the perverseness of human nature — and the 
 human nature of the Assistant Clerks is no exception to 
 the rule — that instead of being thankful for these privileges, 
 the ingrates are unreasonable enough to wish to be able to 
 find what little modicum of happiness is procurable from their 
 small and inexpensive vacation, at the same time of the year 
 that other persons like to find their larger supply ; and they 
 are even willing to forego the ecstasy derivable from the con- 
 templation of a sno wed-up cowshed, or the stimulating of 
 their epidermis by the congealed billows of the stormy main, 
 for the sake of a little relaxation during the more genial 
 period between May and October. In keeping with this malig- 
 nant regulation, which nevertheless, is all of a piece with the 
 treatment of the Assistant Clerks in other respects, is the 
 refusal to pay them for their holidays till after their 
 close. Thus, one day's leave being given without loss 
 of pay for twenty-four days' work, it is evident that 
 twenty-four days' work earns twenty- five days' pay ; but if a 
 man does this twenty-four days' work, and wishes, and obtains 
 leave to take a day's hoHday, instead of his receiving the twenty- 
 five days' pay which he has earned, the authorities say, " No, 
 twenty-four days only have elapsed, you can only have twenty- 
 four days' pay : the twenty-fifth day must elapse also before 
 you will be entitled to receive the twenty-fifth day's pay," 
 notwithstanding the fact that the twenty-fifth day was a day 
 of leave of absence in which no work was done. Apply the 
 
 B
 
 18 
 
 principle to the case of a man who has worked only for four 
 weeks, which terminate on a Saturday, and that he is not 
 required longer in the office, he would still be entitled to a 
 holiday on the following Monday (and the Civil Service 
 Commissioners expect that he will take his holidays wherever 
 he has earned them) ; instead of giving him the money that 
 he had earned and letting him get what enjoyment he could 
 out of his day's leave, the Department in which he had 
 served would insist on paying him up to Saturday only, when 
 his engagement practically terminated, and although Monday 
 was avowedly a holiday for which he was to receive payment, 
 it would require that he made a business of going specially to 
 the office on that or on some other day, at whatever cost of time 
 or money in order to get the day's pay which had been earned 
 by the four weeks' labour terminating on the previous 
 Saturday. When this regulation is applied to a fortnight's 
 holiday, its injustice and petty tyranny are not less 
 apparent, an illustration of which may b(^ given. The Author 
 knew a clerk whose '* holidays " were taken on this wise : he 
 had a week in reserve from the previous year which he had 
 not utilised, and having some friends who were going during 
 the summer to a country town some distance from London, 
 he determined to go with them, and took a ticket accordingly, 
 available to return at the close of his holidays. He received 
 his customary weekly dole, and being, of course, in a condition 
 of chronic impecuniosity, he had nothing material to take with 
 him beyond that regular Saturday allowance. He had earned a 
 fortnight's pay in addition, and was entitled to receive it, but 
 for the reason given, it was refused. Hence, he had to go with 
 what little he possessed, and trust to chance as to how he got 
 on. His friends were better off than he, and probably money 
 went faster than he had intended it should. After a week he 
 had to find an excuse for coming up to London, the real reason 
 of his doing so, being to get the salary that had become due 
 while he was aioay ; he then returned, and when at length, 
 his *' twelve days' leave ivithoiit loss of pay " for the year's work 
 came to a close, it consisted of six days instead of twelve 
 (owing to the season at which it was taken), less one broken 
 day for a special visit to London, and at the cost of a second 
 and unnecessary long-journey return ticket. This may be 
 taken as a fair specimen of the line of conduct that has been 
 pursued with unvarying regularity by successive Governments, 
 whose members desire to pose before the public as looking 
 after its pecuniary interests, towards a large, and honourable,
 
 19 
 
 and capable body of their servants, and it would probably be 
 vain to look into the treatment received by recognised 
 and convicted criminals in gaols throughout the country 
 to find anything at all on a footing with it for official 
 venom ; while how much benefit the taxpayer derives 
 from it may be judged from the fact that it is only 
 adopted in dealing with those whose pay is of the lowest, 
 nothing of the kind being ever thought of for men who 
 luxuriate in salaries of many hundred pounds a year. But 
 of the various occasions when the conduct of the Government 
 in its dealings with the Assistant Clerks is disgraceful, per- 
 haps the most shameful of all is that at the time of domestic 
 affliction. In all classes of society some consideration is com- 
 monly shown to those who are the subjects of it, and as 
 regards the highly-paid clerks in the Civil Service, they can 
 always, at such times, have a certain amount of indulgence, 
 in the form of absence for a few days or weeks. Not so, the 
 Assistant Clerks ; with them such times only serve to show to 
 greater effect the incandescent brilliancy of the lofty patriotism of 
 England's great statesmen ! Not one day's absence is allowed 
 without loss of pay, and consequently, if a nian is away, 
 however urgent and sacred may be the cause which occasions 
 his absence, down upon him the magnanimous -ones swoop, 
 like vultures on their quarry, and snatch away every penny of 
 the money that he would otherwise receive. It may be that 
 a beloved wife or child is at the point of death, or a father or 
 mother; it may be that their illness is aggravated by very 
 painful attendant circumstances, and followed by death ; and the 
 time is one not only of mental and bodily strain, but of heavy 
 pecuniary outlay, which has to be met by sorae unknown 
 process — as four and sixpence a day will not admit of provid- 
 ing for such extravagances as doctors and undertakers. 
 Nevertheless, when all is over, and the man, weary in body and 
 dejected in mind, returns to his desk, Lowe and Gladstone, 
 and Northcote and Childers, if not in their own 
 persons, through their agents, figuratively fly at his 
 throat, and will not release their Shylock-grip till they 
 have scrupulously and conscientiously taken measures to 
 prevent the British nation being robbed of a sou, by having 
 to pay for the services of one who, instead of doing its work, 
 as he was supposed to be doing, was in reality watching 
 beside a dying bed, or mourning over an open grave ! ^ Then, 
 with consciences clear in the faithful discharge of their duty 
 to their constituents and the country, Lowe could fitly, in the
 
 20 
 
 House, express his regret, as on the occasion of the Cave of 
 Adullam episode, that the Bible is not more known than it 
 is ; Northcote can take the chair at the Annual Meeting of the 
 Bible Society, and eloquently dwell upon the blessed in- 
 fluences of the Scriptures on the moral character of the King 
 of the Cannibal Islands and his Finance Minister ; and 
 Gladstone can read the Lessons in Hawarden Church, while a 
 crowded congregation listens to his impressive and sonorous 
 tones, as he utters the solemn admonition : " Eob not the 
 poor BECAUSE HE IS POOR : neither oppress the afflicted in the 
 gate : for the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of 
 those that spoiled them." 
 
 It has been stated that the Blue Book evidence is in opposi- 
 tion to such treatment at is here described, and that 
 Ministers would quite fail in cadeavouring to justify it as a 
 consistent and proper course ; furthermore, it is a fact that, in 
 rendering his report eight years ago. Dr. Play fair remarked 
 that no one wished to preserve this part of the scheme. 
 Whether by " this part of the scheme " is to be understood 
 the unconditional employment of a large body of Assistant 
 Clerks, gathered from all classes, and occupying a semi- 
 detached position in the Service, or simply the employing them 
 on the unjust terms that had prevailed hitherto, it is to be 
 remarked that although, according to that report, no one 
 w^ished to preserve it, it has been preserved till the present 
 time, and there is no prospect of its abolition by the spon- 
 taneous action of the Government ; at the same time, so far 
 as the writer is concerned, though he has known many men 
 in various positions in the Civil Service for many years, he 
 has no remembrance of hearing a single opinion expressed 
 against the mode of employment in itself, or that it ought to 
 be done away with, neither does he know the least reason why 
 it should be. The failure, in his view, is not on account 
 of the system, but in the manner of its application, for 
 it is a radically good system, with much to recommend it 
 to all concerned, being in the case of the clerks, a boon to 
 many necessitous persons, who are glad to put into any port 
 under stress of weather, and in the case of the pubhc, 
 a legitimate means of getting a great deal of good work 
 done at about fifty per cent, under its actual value. If 
 this was properly managed there is no reason why it should 
 not be entirely successful, but it is essential that the mode 
 adopted should be characterized by upright conduct, and by 
 intelligence, and not by crafty and fraudulent manoeuvring
 
 21 
 
 directed with malignity of disposition towards the procuring 
 of labour under false pretences, and employing it in such a 
 manner that it must not be talked about, because it will not 
 bear the light of day. 
 
 Subjoined are some suggestions as to the method of putting a 
 stop to the disquietude that prevails, and that is likely to 
 prevail, while the system is maintained under existing circum- 
 stances — a method that being just and judicious to all con- 
 cerned, is calculated to confer signal benefits, both upon the 
 clerks who are the servants, and upon the public who are their 
 employers. The proposed regulations are made so as to be as 
 far as possible of general applicability in all offices. 
 
 [Suggested Kegulations.] 
 
 Object to be Attained. 
 
 There being considerable variation in the amount 
 of work to be performed in the public offices of the 
 Civil Service, that amount at certain seasons, or upon 
 particular occasions, being largely in excess of the 
 usual supply, and much of this and of the ordinary 
 work being of a simple and easily-acquired character, 
 for which special educational qualifications are not 
 necessary : and further, there being a.large floating 
 population of persons in many stations of life desir- 
 ous of obtaining employment, though but of a 
 temporary or subordinate kind, it is deemed ad- 
 visable in the interests of the public, especially in 
 respect of the saving of money, to utilize the services 
 of this floating population by drawing from it a 
 supplementary class of clerks, who, it is expected, 
 will regard the Civil Service as a temporary accommo- 
 dation, and not as a means of obtaining a permanent 
 livelihood; and who, though perhaps in fact, as a 
 matter of mutual convenience, remaining in^ it for 
 a long period, will not, from the particular circum- 
 stances under which they are engaged, ever have a 
 right to claim, or to look forward to, the higher 
 privileges accorded to the regular staff, who enter 
 under more difficult and exacting conditions. 
 
 Conditions of Entrance into the Service. 
 
 These shall be much the same as to qualifications as 
 are already in force with regard to the class known
 
 t22 
 
 [Suggested Kegulations, continued.] 
 
 as " writers " or " copyists," but no one shall be ad- 
 mitted who is not a fairly good and neat penman. 
 No one shall be admitted under 25 years of age, so as 
 to ensure that candidates shall have had some 
 useful experience elsewhere and to exclude inex- 
 perienced lads of 19 or 20, who would be apt to 
 settle down and regard the public service as their 
 life-long career. "No one shall be admitted above 50 
 years of age. 
 
 Title and Natuee of Duties. 
 
 The official title by which the supplementary 
 class of Civil servants is known shall be consistent 
 with the duties they will have to perform, and their 
 duties shall be consistent with their title. They are 
 not to be one thing and to be called another, in 
 order to avoid paying them for what they do. They 
 will be required to assist in any of the duties of a 
 clerkly character that have to be done, and that are 
 within their capacity, these not being of the nature of 
 " accomplishments," and beyond the ability of the 
 regular staff. Their duties will be assigned them at 
 the discretion of the head of the department in 
 which they are engaged, and they will be called 
 " Assistant Clerks." 
 
 Hours of Attendance. 
 
 The hours of attendance to be uniformly 9 to 5, 
 except on Saturdays, one hour being the extreme 
 limit for rest and refreshment ; on Saturdays, 9 to 
 2, without any break. A total of 45 hours in the 
 office, or 40 hours of actual work during the week, 
 for any clerk engaged in the Civil Service is sufficient 
 to entitle him to thereby earn a livelihood, accord- 
 ing to his official position, whatever it may be ; giving 
 less than that number, he has not such claim, for the 
 time is too short, and leaves enough at his disposal 
 to engage in other pursuits. Furthermore, the 
 Government has no right to take the pick of a man's 
 time for itself, and compel him to seek other employ- 
 ment in addition, in order to get a living.
 
 23 
 [Suggested Regulations, continued.] 
 
 Eemuneeation. 
 
 Pay to be for the first year lOd. an hour for 45 
 hours weekly, making £1 17s. 6d. In case of a 
 clerk's rerDaining for more than a year, an advance 
 of 5 per cent., or one half-penny an hour, to be made 
 on commencing the second ; and should he remain 
 till its close, the total increment to be not less than 
 £5 for the year. Under similar circumstances, a 
 corresponding advance to be made in the third year, 
 and so on for a period not exceeding twenty years, 
 or the attaining to the age of 60. 
 
 Tenuee of Office. 
 
 No constancy of occupation to be promised for 
 the first three years ; but after a clerk has been 
 actually employed in one or more offices for that 
 period of time, without anything occurring to occasion 
 the removal of his name from the Register, he shall, 
 when not elsewhere engaged, be regarded as on the 
 staff of the Civil Service Commission, and shall re- 
 ceive half-pay during such periods : it will devolve 
 on heads of departments to keep the Civil Service 
 Commissioners as well informed as they can as to 
 the length of time they require the services of 
 Assistant Clerks, and as to when they anticipate dis- 
 missing them, and also on the Civil Service Commis- 
 sioners themselves to avoid having a superabundance 
 of names of persons whom they have no likelihood of 
 employing. 
 
 Holidays. 
 
 The system of holidays without loss of pay being, in 
 the case of clerks whose engagements are temporary 
 and variable, open to objections, shall not be adopted ; 
 but in its place there shall be a corresponding 
 augmentation of salary, — the clerk being then at 
 liberty, by losing his pay during the time of absence, 
 to have any day or number of days' holiday he likes, 
 subject to the convenience of the department in 
 which he serves, and not exceeding, say, a month 
 in a year. The time of taking these shall be settled 
 by arrangement with his superior officer, without
 
 24 
 
 [Suggested Kegulations, co7itinued.] 
 
 unreasonable demands on either side. The allow- 
 ance by this method, would be, instead of one day 
 for every twenty-four days, one shilling for every 
 twenty-four shillings, and one penny for every 
 twenty-four pence ; the advantages v^ill be so 
 obvious to those concerned that explanation is 
 unnecessary. 
 
 Sick Leave. 
 
 In case of simple ailments, the head of a depart- 
 ment shall have authority to grant leave of absence 
 for a day or two, without loss of pay, if he considers 
 it to be necessary. If the illness be of a more 
 serious character, a medical certificate shall be re- 
 quired, and payment shall then be made to the 
 extent of three-fourths of the regular amount. The 
 limit for this indulgence to be twelve days in a year 
 during the first three years, twenty-four days 
 afterwards. 
 
 Special Leave. 
 In case of domestic affliction or bereavement, or 
 the having to attend to such imperative duties as 
 the proving of a v^ill, the necessary leave of absence 
 shall be granted by the head ol a department, who 
 shall be made acquainted with the circumstances 
 under which the favour is sought. The assigning of 
 any. limit for this leave would be liable to abuse, 
 and must therefore be left to the discretion of the 
 chief; but speaking generally, as the concession is 
 made only in unavoidable and extreme cases, it 
 should scarcely be less to an Assistant Clerk than to 
 one permanently established. 
 
 Eetieing Allowance. 
 
 The regulations as to retiring allowance to be 
 consistent with those dealing with other matters : 
 the principle being borne in mind that the Assistant 
 Clerks are not formally acknowledged as part of the 
 regular establishment, the amount of pension or 
 superannuation accorded them shall not be such as 
 to offer any inducement to them to remain in the 
 service permanently, instead of bettering their
 
 25 
 
 [Suggested Eegulations, continued.] 
 
 position elsewhere ; and to this end facilities shall be 
 afforded to leave at any time without sustaining 
 consequent loss; but there being a recognised 
 obligation on the part of the Government to pay to 
 all well-placed men something in excess of that 
 which is monthly and yearly received by them, in 
 view of their need at that time of life when they 
 shall be beyond work, the same obligation shall be 
 recognised in the case of those who assist them in 
 their duties, and the claim of these also shall be 
 admitted to a grant, the amount of which is to be 
 arrived at by the same method of calculation adopted 
 in the case of the others. A scale of commutation, 
 however, shall be provided, available at any period, 
 that no man, having served for a certain time shall 
 have reason to feel that by continuing in the same 
 place he will affect a gain on his past services that 
 he will lose if he goes away, the advantage to the 
 Government being in his leaving rather than in his 
 remaining, so that some one else may take his place 
 at a lower rate of pay than he would be entitled to 
 by continuing. No Assistant Clerk^ shall have any 
 claim for retiring allowance during the first three 
 years of service ; but if remaining after that time, 
 his claim shall date from his first appointment. 
 
 Tempoeary Eetirement. 
 
 It being the custom in some cases for Assistant 
 Clerks, on the close of an engagement in one office, 
 and on some better employment of a temporary 
 character offering itself elsewhere, to avail them- 
 selves of the opportunity, and to return afterwards 
 to Cannon Eow, such practice shall not be interfered 
 with, provided the clerk does not, on his going away, 
 commute the pension which he may have earned ; 
 but no one after the break shall be allowed any 
 advantage of his past services : the period of his 
 re-engagement shall be the date from which to cal- 
 culate any privileges for prolonged service, while if 
 he commutes his pension, his name shall be removed 
 from the Eegister, and he shall be ineligible for 
 future employment under any conditions whatever.
 
 26 
 
 [Suggested Regulations, continued.] 
 
 Locality. 
 
 The foregoing regulations shall apply as fully as 
 possible to all Assistant Clerks, irrespective of 
 whether they are employed perpetually in a single 
 office, or in more than one, their services being 
 recognised as being of equal value in both cases. 
 
 By the adoption of such a code of regulations as the above 
 every occasion of unjust and unreasonable treatment is re- 
 moved, at the same time that the public has the benefit of 
 good service from able men at a large reduction from its actual 
 value. The transaction is in the nature of " a bargain," in 
 which case a sale takes place under such circumstances that 
 without anything of a fraudulent character, each party con- 
 cerned derives a benefit which he could not obtain in the 
 ordinary way of business. 
 
 Reference has repeatedly been made to the dishonest and 
 deceptive character of the system as now in force, and the 
 following extracts will be sufficient to justify the expressions 
 used, though evidence could be multiplied to an indefinite 
 extent. 
 
 Extract from Dr. Playfair's Report, 1876. 
 
 " The division of labour contemplated by the establish- 
 ment of Civil Service writers is wholly inadequate, and has 
 failed." 
 
 Extract from Regulations of Civil Service 
 Commissioners, 1881. 
 
 " Copyists, as a rule, are not meant to be employed upon 
 any work except mere copying or routine work, under the 
 direct supervision of established officers." 
 
 Extract from Letter of •* Permanent Clerk " in 
 Times, 1882. 
 
 *' Considerably over 1,000 writers (too hastily termed 
 * Copyists ' by the Civil Service Commissioners .... a 
 term which * My Lords' do not wholly adhere to), doing 
 clerks' work, but receiving pay at the fixed rate of lOd. an 
 hour, a rate which the Playfair Commissioners themselves 
 declared to be utterly inadequate if the writers were to be
 
 27 
 
 retained on the work for which the new class were to be 
 created. This is the grievance, Sir. Is it possible that men 
 can go on working year after year under a sense of gross 
 injustice without being discontented and demoralized ? There 
 is no denying the fact that the writers are, for all practical 
 purposes, permanently employed, and yet the State, while 
 reaping an enor\nous advantage by their services, refuses to 
 grant them adequate remuneration, or any of the privileges 
 which are accorded to the very humblest member of the establish- 
 ment. In my own office, for instance — the General Kegister 
 Office — there is a permanent staff of writers, acknowledged by 
 the Treasury as such, and the vacancies in which are filled up 
 in the same way as in either of the permanent classes of the 
 same ofnce. Some of these men have been ten years in the 
 service, and the chiefs are continually lamenting their inability 
 to do anything for such old yet ill-paid servants. To show the 
 capabilities of the class in question, I may mention that out of 
 four of these writers serving as census clerks at the present 
 time, three are heads of rooms at the Census Office, and the 
 fourth is employed in the Accountant's branch, and not long 
 since compiled an excellent article on the census for Cham- 
 bers' Journal, which won the approval of the Kegistrar 
 General." 
 
 The last extract strongly supports, in a few lines, a variety of 
 points put forth in this book. Among others, the maUgnant 
 venom that denies to valuable and honourable servants the 
 privileges that without question, and as a matter of course, are 
 accorded to the door-keepers and messengers, the system of mis- 
 representation in obtaining men under the pretence of " copy- 
 ing " for high-class work^ and the demoralization that is to be 
 looked for in those so treated. Patient, industrious, and 
 loyal, they have during their whole career proved themselves 
 to be ; but who could blind their eyes to the fact that there is 
 one argument to which English Governments yield implicitly 
 — namely, that of force, and that if one official concerned was only 
 subjected at their hands to, say, a sound caning, the evils which 
 have been borne unresistingly for ten or a dozen years, would 
 immediately disappear ? That is a mode of attaining reforms 
 that, unhappily, appeals to the sympathies of ruling men of 
 both political parties, and it is their wont to cultivate disorder 
 by refusing demands till such means have been resorted to. 
 The Conservatives have never ceased to taunt Mr. Gladstone 
 with having disestablished the Irish Church, as a reply to the 
 Clerkenwell explosion ; but for all their taunts, such was their
 
 2b 
 
 own policy a year before, in the matter of the extension of the 
 franchise. The claims of justice and intelligence were met 
 with opposition and ridicule ; but the obstinate men who would 
 not yield to right or reason or remonstrance, yielded without 
 a struggle or a word, as soon as the Park railings came down. 
 It is deeply lamentable that such perverseness should charac- 
 terize those in high position, yet so it does ; and to orderly and 
 law-abiding persons there is the melancholy reflection that far 
 into the future, those Hyde Park railings will tell their own 
 tale, and be an incentive to violence and disorder. 
 
 As far as the treatment of the Assistant Clerks in the Civil 
 Service is concerned, there is nothing to be said in favour of 
 either political party, the so-called Liberals being as bad as 
 the Conservatives ; and it will not be out of place to introduce 
 here a remark of a present Cabinet Minister, made on the 
 8th of January, 1880, when the former Government was in 
 power, and then to go on to consider in particular some of the 
 views expressed before the Playfair Commission by the present 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Childers. Speaking at the 
 Annual Meeting of the Liberal Association of St. Mary's Ward, 
 Birmingham, Mr. Chamberlain said, " The present Govern- 
 ment regarded considerations of humanity and justice as the 
 characteristics of weak philanthropists like Mr. Gladstone, 
 which ought not to enter into the consideration of statesmen 
 like Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury." Mr. Chamberlain 
 is apparently an advocate for justice and philanthropy ; more- 
 over, he has had much experience as a manufacturer of screws : 
 perhaps he will " monopolize " what others have left undone, 
 and supply the Assistant Clerks with screios of the most 
 approved pattern. 
 
 An examination of Mr. Childers' evidence on the occasion 
 alluded to will show that he is a firm believer in the virtues 
 of the double action official kaleidoscope — in fact double or 
 treble, or quadruple action, according to the designs wanted. 
 There were to be two classes of Assistant Clerks, such, pre- 
 sumably, as those mentioned in the extract above, quoted from a 
 ** Permanent Clerk," and those who are bona fide copyists and 
 that only. The first were to be known as " writers," the 
 second as "copyists." The term ''writer," as originally 
 intended, and when meant to apply only to those who should 
 be employed on similar duties to the class known in legal 
 offices by the same name, was excusable, and not necessarily 
 offensive; but there is not the smallest justification for its 
 application to men, officially and formally recognised as
 
 29 
 
 engaged on higher duties. There is no purpose to be served 
 by calhng them by any other name than a correct one, unless 
 the object is insult, or to get their services v^ithout paying for 
 them. The plan of dividing them into two classes is not less 
 objectionable, the idea being to recognise the upper of the two 
 as being officially *' established." Something of this kind was 
 carried into effect in the formation of the " Lower Division," 
 the members of which have been complaining of the treatment 
 they receive, ever since they have been established. They 
 are subject to conditions sufficiently improved to lift them 
 in some respects a trifle above the ordinary Assistant Clerks ; 
 at the same time they are not treated well enough for 
 an officially recognised position. It is difficult to see how the 
 arrangement affects any substantial good at all. Certainly, if 
 there are any advantages from it, they are very inadequate. 
 When a clerk of the Lower Division receives an appointment, 
 he remains permanently in the same office, and is supposed 
 not to do any simply routine work ; and the convenience of 
 having a class of Assistant Clerks, consists in their adaptability 
 to the changing circumstances of various offices in which they 
 are from time to time engaged. The method of having 
 copyists for copying only, answers well enoagh in certain 
 places ; but as the class is wanted for general utility anywhere, 
 and not for specific service in two or three isolated localities, 
 the gain in one direction of having them is more than outset 
 by the loss in another. The saving of money is the object in 
 view in this plan, but it is not a justifiable one, as there is no 
 reason why the Grovernment should recognise the expenses 
 of marriage and of advancing life, and the value of prolonged 
 service in every branch and class of its employes, with the 
 exception of those who are engaged in transcribing, and refuse 
 to do it in their case — even on the assumption that they did 
 no work whatever of a higher character. If there started in 
 the service of the Government at one time a clerk with 
 £250 a year, another with £100 a year, an Assistant Clerk 
 with 30/- a week, a messenger or hall-keeper, a telegraph 
 clerk, male or female, a policeman* and a letter carrier, 
 the Government would in every case give year by year in- 
 creasing remuneration, v/ith the solitary exception of to the 
 Assistant Clerk, and to him they would persistently deny it ; 
 although in the course of, say, ten years, the value of his 
 service rendered, as judged by the amounts paid to others, 
 
 * Read in papers of 1st instant the debate in the House of Commons the day- 
 previous on the subject of Police Superannuation. July, 188^.
 
 30 
 
 would be perhaps ^1,000, £1,500, or £2,000 in excess of what 
 he had received. For this line of conduct there is not a tittle 
 of justification ; and it is only to be accounted for by observing 
 the malignity that actuated Mr. Ldwc when he originated it, 
 and that his successors in office have seemed so anxious to 
 emulate. Another point of Mr. Childers' policy was with 
 regard to pensions, and there he was as incoherent and un- 
 judicial as in other things. He has no sound, fixed principles 
 on which to regulate the Government action in the matter. 
 He advances as an argument against giving pensions to Assis- 
 tant Clerks, that they do not expect it when they enter the 
 service. What a reason to advance ! The statement may be 
 true to some extent, because it is not unlikely that it may 
 happen that when a man enters the service, being wholly 
 inexperienced as to its duties, it is not his intention to remain 
 for more than a brief period, though, when once there, he 
 settles down, and finding himself amongst thousands of others 
 who gain a respectable livelihood in the same way, and there 
 being no lack of employment, he keeps on from year to year. 
 Nevertheless, though he remained for thirty years, and during 
 the whole period had not received money enough to meet the 
 current expenses of life, he ought to have no pension, accord- 
 ing to Mr. Childers' view, because he had not expected to 
 receive one when he had entered thirty years before, quite 
 ignorant of what was before him! Mr. Childers, however, 
 speaks reproachfully and regretfully of those persons who 
 *• unfortunately do not — are not accustomed to make provision 
 for their old age," a practice undoubtedly very common where 
 they have no means with which to make such provision, and 
 where they are perpetually deprived by their employers of the 
 money which they earn by the labours of successive years ! 
 And it may even be these reckless, improvident people who, 
 when they are in present need, accept the employment offered 
 by the Government without stipulating before they do half an 
 hour's work, that they shall be superannuated thirty years 
 hence. Eeckless servants, not to bargain for pay before they 
 had any idea they were going to work for it ! Extravagant em- 
 ployers, to give remuneration to servants who have not stipu- 
 lated for it before they had any idea that it was going to be 
 earned ! Mr. Childers has another luminous idea on the subject ; 
 he speaks about the Assistant Clerks coming from the class of 
 life loho are accustomed to provide for their old age in other ways! 
 Now, what class of life is that ? The term is used 
 in contradistinction to the other class or classes who provide
 
 31 
 
 for their old age by living on the public money — earned or un- 
 earned as the case may be. Does the class mean gentlemen of 
 abundant private means? does it mean professional men ? does it 
 mean tradesjnen ? does it mean loafers, or paupers, or mechanics 
 or criminals ? The term is equally applicable to all these, but 
 in no in stance can it be properly considered applicable to those of 
 v^hom it is used. If the Assistant Clerks are gentlemen 
 possessed of private resources, as some of them are, the 
 term applied to them means that, though engaged for a life- 
 time in the public service, their labours are not to be paid 
 for. but the country is to " sponge " on their personal property, 
 and make them v7ork on philanthropic principles, because, 
 according to the views of Mr. Childers, although the richest 
 country in the world, it cannot afford to pay for the necessaries 
 of life to those who serve in the various departments of the 
 State — in reality, the more correct explanation being that, 
 those in authority so squander the national revenue 
 that there is not enough left to be commonly honest with. 
 If the Assistant Clerks come from the ranks of men connected 
 with the professions or with trade, though these provide for 
 their old age with surplus earnings, or by building up a business 
 that will go on when they are beyond work, they cannot follow 
 their example, because far from having surplus earnings, they 
 have deplorably insufficient ones, and their built-up business, 
 so to speak, through long years, the Government persistently 
 denies the existenence of, because it desires to appropriate it 
 on the quiet (vide Lowe). There is a class of society best 
 described as " loafers/' they being parasitic creatures of mean- 
 spirited dispositions, who would be most willing to provide for 
 their old age, or their middle age either, at any one else's 
 expense, no matter whose. Perhaps Mr. Childers thinks that 
 the Assistant Clerks in the Civil Service belong to this denom- 
 ination, though if he does, it is probable that ''the wish is 
 father to the thought," because if they are loafers, it is not 
 because they do not industriously earn a livelihood, but 
 because, though earning it, their remuneration is withheld, 
 that by demoralizing them to the extent of driving them to loaf 
 upon others, the cost of their sustenance may not appear in 
 the Exchequer accounts. Then, there are the regular 
 ** paupers,^' a class to provide for whom heavy local rates are 
 levied, they having no other means of getting a living — a class, 
 doubtless, that includes our friend whose portrait is sketched 
 on the cover, and who, not having been pensioned at the end- 
 of thiity years' service because he had not bargained for it
 
 32 
 
 before he began, and having, "unfortunately, been accustomed 
 to make no provision for his old age," as he had nothing to 
 make it with, lias naturally drifted into that mode of termin- 
 ating his earthly career. The mechanic class, in, some cases, 
 make a certain kind of provision for the future, by small sums 
 put by into friendly societies or clubs, but their circumstances 
 are not at all analogous to that of Civil Service clerks. Their 
 position in life, their tastes, inclinations and social requirements 
 are widely different, and they are far from being entirely 
 self-supporting. A man who is regarded and recognised as being 
 a workman is open to receipt of assistance in a variety of ways, 
 assistance that he not only thinks it no indignity to accept, 
 but looks for as a right, and he often gets paid much in excess 
 of what Government Assistant Clerks do. One of these being 
 under the necessity of availing himself of the services of a 
 mechanic, would probably have to pay him half as much again 
 for his day's work as he himself received. Lastly, there is 
 the criminal mode of providing for old age, a mode adopted 
 by Mr. Fagin and others, for the details of whose pursuits the 
 reader is referred to governors of gaols, and the pages of the 
 Newgate Calendar, While Mr. Childers is emphatically 
 opposed to providing anything in the nature of superannuation 
 for those whose needs are greatest, he has advocated giving 
 them, when dismissed, a certain (or uncertain) sum of money 
 as a gratuity — his idea probably being that they are so ex- 
 tremely childish that a lump sum, however inadequate for the 
 purpose for which it is supposed to be given, would so dazzle 
 their eyes that they would go away contentedly, and only find 
 out their mistake when it was too late to rectify it. The 
 proposal can be taken for what it is worth ; as, though made 
 about ten years ago, it has never been put into force or sanc- 
 tioned, during the whole succeeding period. 
 
 Now, for the kaleidoscope ! What is his scheming for ? 
 Simply this : there is an enormous list of large pensions 
 paid to men who do nothing for them, and who have already 
 received large payment for, oftentimes, very questionable 
 services. If the Assistant Clerks' names appear on this Pension 
 List, it will grow to such a length as to arouse public atten- 
 tion, and influence political life, and there is not much doubt 
 as to which pensions the public would in that case be most 
 desirous to see dispensed with. The object, therefore, to be 
 borne in mind is to keep down the length as much as possible, 
 so that an expansive breadth may be enjoyed without the same 
 risk of discovery a.nd interference. Mr. Childers himself fully
 
 33 
 
 acts up to his avowed principles. His owa name is the only 
 one ol the Ministry down upon the list, and this is for the sum 
 of £1,133 a year, his pay when in office being £5,000. The 
 length of his official service is somewhere about a quarter of 
 thirty years, and the quality is of about the same stamp as the 
 quantity. It would be easy to enlarge on his shortcomings, 
 while any services from him of a high character are un- 
 known. The remarks quoted are sufficient in themselves to 
 exhibit that lack of capacity which is equally conspicuous in 
 other things ; and it was while pondering over his silly ideas 
 about the providing for their old age in other ways by those 
 whom he was anxious to prevent having even a sufficiency for 
 their daily present needs, that the writer's mind ran over some 
 of the ''other ways" that they might be supposed to adopt. 
 Sketches of these will be found on the following pages. The 
 first one is intended specially to illustrate the noble principle 
 of keeping on a man till he is no longer any good — say, till his 
 sight is defective — and then unceremoniously despatching him, 
 unpaid for the past, and unprovided for, for the future. The 
 other sketches require no explanation. 
 
 A few words in conclusion to the *' Tails " in the Civil 
 Service themselves, so much having been said about them and 
 about the treatment to which they are subjected by the 
 " Heads." Do not give way eithee to despair or to dyna- 
 mite. Undoubtedly, a settlement of this question could be 
 precipitated by an appeal to force; and under the circum- 
 stances a very little of it would go a long way. Only so 
 recently as the 23rd of last June, appeared one more statement 
 on the hackneyed subject of the influence of the Clerkenwell 
 outrage about twenty years since, on Mr. Gladstone's legisla- 
 tion. Mr. Gladstone's views on such events might perhaps be 
 not unfairly described thus : " If no actual wrong exists, 
 outrages will be unavailing to attain desired objects ; but if 
 wrongs do exist that require removal, and those who should 
 remove them are indifferent, outrages may serve the pur- 
 pose of arresting their attention and stimulating them to 
 the discharge of their duty." This principle being admitted, 
 its application to your circumstances, ye Tails ! is very easy. 
 The wrongs under which you have suffered for years past are 
 perfectly notorious, and, as has been already pointed out, there 
 can be found no kind of excuse for them, even in official 
 quarters. Not only so, but there is abundant evidence that 
 those who are really your worst enemies are fully conscious 
 how hopeless it is to attempt to perpetuate those wrongs for 
 

 
 34 
 
 more than a limited period, unless secrecy can be maintained. 
 Hence, if justification or excuse on the above ground were 
 wanted for outrage at your hands, it is to be found in abun- 
 dance in official documents ; hut this circumstance at the same 
 time iiidicates its needlessness. You have only to gain 
 publicity, and by carrying on a judicious agitation your 
 cause will assuredly be won. There are various means of 
 doing so, which it is not necessary here to explain in detail ; this 
 book advocates your claims with force, and probably supplies 
 you with more argument and fact in a small space than can 
 be found elsewhere. It seems to the Author of it that yon 
 would do well, not only every one of you to procure a copy of 
 it for himself, but, as your circumstances admit of it, to send 
 copies to your friends throughout the country, and induce 
 them, north and south, and east and west, to bring it before 
 Members of Parliament, and ask them to withhold their votes 
 from those who will not pledge themselves to press the 
 matter upon the attention of the Government till the evils are 
 swept away, and a just and satisfactory policy substituted in 
 their place. The Author would be glad to know to what ex- 
 tent the views herein stated meet your approbation, and to 
 what extent you have become purchasers of the book. To 
 that end he would be glad to receive from the *' Tails " in each 
 London Department, a letter stating how many of them there 
 are in such Department, how long, on the average, they have been 
 in the Service, and how many copies they have them- 
 selves procured, as by this he can form a definite opinion as 
 to whether they are sufficiently alive to their own interests as 
 he views them, for it to be worth his while to consider them 
 further. He judges it not too much for him to expect that if 
 the '* Tails " approve of and value this effort on their behalf 
 they will determine that there shall be no risk of his being 
 money out of pocket in consequence, even if the time and 
 labour devoted to it bring no return — the latter experience 
 one which they understand so well — and to that end 
 that they will, at as early a date as is convenient, buy 
 up the first edition. If this should be done, and the sale 
 further stimulated elsewhere, so as distinctly to arouse public 
 interest, there is a great deal in the background which 
 can be brought forward, the difficulty being out of such 
 exuberance of material to know what to select ; but the effort 
 and the expense involved cannot be continued, if those to 
 whose interests they are devoted are too little in accord with 
 the writer, for them to care to do more than spend a quarter
 
 35 
 
 of an hour over a borrowed copy, and then lay it aside to be 
 forgotten. 
 
 The Author firmly believes that without any appeals to force, 
 it is fully within thepowerof the Assistant Clerks to obtain proper 
 terms from the Government — terms that shall not only pro- 
 vide for the future, but shall pay for the past — if only they put 
 their shoulder to the wheel, and quit themselves like 
 men ; to this course he urges them, though, till he has an 
 opportunity of forming some opinion as to how far what he 
 has already written is received, he abstains from going further 
 into the matter — contenting himself with the exhortation to 
 them to appropriate and to ad:ipfc to their own circumstances 
 the war-song of the Grand Old Man in the encounter which, 
 with the exception of the pulliug down of the railings, imme- 
 diately preceded the passing of the Reform Act of 1867. 
 " Time is on our side ; all the social forces are arrayed against 
 our opponents ; and though for a while the banner which we 
 carry may droop over our sinking heads, it shall be carried, 
 'ere long, in the sight of Heaven, and in the sight of Great 
 Britain, by the firm hands of the Assistant Clerks in all 
 the Government offices, to a certain and a not-far-distant 
 victory." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 *^* In accordance with various of the foregoing remarks, especially the 
 •' Note " on the opening page, it was at first intended to puhlish this book in 
 the ordinary course ; on second considerations, however, the writer has 
 determined to defer doing so till he has had an opportunity of observing the 
 reception it meets with from those whom it immediately concerns, and who 
 can have a copy of it sent to them direct upon their forwarding a postal order 
 for the sum of one shilling and sixpence and an addressed and stamped (l|d.) 
 label for pasting on, to *' R. S. R., care of Mr. Gaultier, 17, Paternoster 
 Square, E.G."
 
 /pi ink 6/je Government cau/c/ part mt/^ ^ .^rjn af-^ 
 
 -^te^ 30 years^ service wit/iout any sc/perannuc/tior?. 
 
 / uroa/d ^/ve h/m a //berctf gratuity if //e cam e 
 
 from t//e c/as6 w/)o are accustomed -60 prou'/c/e 
 
 for their o/cf age //? other ways 
 
 /f.^ lioK /i CE CmiP£f{S ,
 
 ECHO^ In ot/ier ways'! 
 One of th^rr).
 
 C/o \ ci^y c/cf c/o \
 
 
 EXETER 
 
 BIB LE SOCIE TY 
 NNUALMEETma 
 
 irS tatfordN nrtJiKote 
 in the choir. 
 
 Anc/ one more . 
 
 Pharaoh (to J&pu&af-iori of fsraeJites toucAr>y 
 supply of straw.) "That's all ^'oure want- 
 -edfor''!!!
 
 s 
 
 And a S/xt/j
 
 general! 
 
 ujELECjnON 
 
 '^CONSERVATIVES 
 
 PERIOD 
 
 /REPOSEJ 
 
 -^ 
 
 Anc^ o seyent/f^
 
 10 
 
 
 ^^..,>^ 
 
 And an eigfjt/]
 
 // 
 
 <J*^ — 
 
 ''It is unfurtunatcly the 
 ca6e that persons afjomc 
 classes of life do not -arc 
 not accusromcd to ma/ce 
 provision for old acjc^/ 
 
 with oHitrs it IS the castani 
 to do JO . and (tit facitdits . 
 for it arcnoiv iicry^roat: " 
 
 RT. HON. H.C.B. CWLOERS.
 
 CLOAK ROOM 
 
 ( FT 
 
 /a. 
 
 \ \ ^ \ 
 
 LAST SCENE OF ALL 
 
 That enc/s ih/s strange wentCui histon^ : 
 Sans so (a re/, sans savincfs, sails pension, sans wiCv, 
 Sans child , sans hope, sans /kar sans obligation . 
 Sans re/norse 11! 
 
 *'Lesr, WHEN oa/t LAvesr hopl ts ru-n, ye ^^^^^ lf^^^f% 
 
 And l£ARN AT LENGTH IN SOME DARK HOUR. HOW MUCH THt , 
 
 WHETCHEO DARB,
 
 ./
 
 i-*.ii)r