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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
214
The
English
people,
it
must
be
added,
all
along
objected
less
to
the
power
which
the
Government
possessed
in
the
exertion
of
their
discretion,
than
to
the
manner
in
which
that
power
was
exercised.
Mr.
Duncombe's
statements
during
the
earlier
stages
of
the
discussions,
relating
to
the
"secret
office"--never
denied--could
not
be
forgotten
by
the
public
when
they
intrusted
their
letters
to
the
custody
of
the
Post-Office.
The
revelations
in
question
caused
a
perfect
paroxysm
of
national
anger,
because
it
was
felt,
throughout
the
length
and
breadth
of
the
land,
that
such
arrangements
were
repugnant
to
every
feeling
of
Englishmen.
Had
the
officers
of
the
Government
broken
open
letters
in
the
same
way
as,
under
certain
circumstances,
the
law
allows
the
sheriff's
officers
to
break
open
houses
and
writing-desks,
there
might
still
have
been
complainings,
but
these
complainings
would
neither
have
been
so
loud
nor
yet
so
justifiable.[129]
There
was
something
in
the
melting
apparatus,
in
the
tobacco-pipe,
in
the
forged
plaster
of
paris
seals,
in
the
official
letter-picker,
and
in
the
place
where,
and
manner
how,
he
did
his
work,
utterly
disgusting
to
John
Bull,
and
most
unsuitable
to
the
atmosphere
of
England.
The
law,
it
is
true,
remains
unaltered,
but
it
is
believed
to
be
virtually
a
dead
letter.
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