The National Register.
London, England, 1817-04-28 00:00:00

POST OFFICE.

The following Statement respecting the origin of the
ret•ent disputes in this establishment is copied from a
Sunday Paper:—
M r .slater retiring from the fate me Department on account
of ill health, Mr. The-iger succeeded him in regular rotation,
nod had the controul of toe. Ake in the absence of Mr. Ste,u.
The clerks under laic notes, in turn, had to attend on duty as
early as five o'clock in the waning, to revel% e the mails.'
On such occasions it was their en 1,,m to semi to a public
house, close at hand, for a bison of tea milli toast. This
practice of many years was, all at Mitt', ordered by Mr. The
siger, to be discontim.t.,l, and the injunction to that etlect
was catered in the regabstion hook. Iu detianee of this or,
der, the following morning one Gf the young nom in attend.'
once indulged himself in the office with hi. 11'411111 breakfast.
Mu. T. enquired of him if he had not ItAti the order book,
and if he w:.‘ not aware of the prohibition of tea and toast
brow/Ott into the office into in future. The cloak ad.'
nutted his knowledge of the order, bit: pleaded the necessity
of his accustomed break fact to eatable nen to go through the
falignit of five hours lanorions ditty. Mr. T. persisted in ex-
acting obedience to his or•ler ; and the young man as firaily
resolved not to comply with it. Witaont further ceremony,
Mr. T. gave orders fur the clerk's suspension from office.
'Flue latter denied his right to do so, until he had called a
Board on his conduct, or had received orders to that vileet
front superior anthority. Mr. T. considered he had now to
tic al with open mutiny, and calling a messenger, who was also
a constable, he gave the clerk into hi: custody. A fehow
clerk, wishing to interfere its tat our of his colleague, remarked
on the severity of air. T.'s conduct, upon which he also wa,
mitered into custu•ly. Upon this the whole of the clerks of
the Inland Office addressed a round raliln to Mr. Freeting,
commenting, with ~reat freedom, on the arbitrary eimduet Oi.
Mr. Thesiger, contrasting the happy ti sses of Mr. Slater with
those of his successor, and prtioning for the liberation of 'heir
ii flow clerks, and for their immediate return to their daft.
'llr. Freeling did not hesitate to comply with the request of
the memorialist:, and to signify that Mr. Th-siger had es
ceedeil his authority in suspending anal arresting the clerks
without first calling a hoard on their conduct. The clerks
having again resumed their duty, :end of mime also the 1..,n
amid !wed', the sight was too much for Mr. Thesiger to bear ;
he left the gentlemen at tea whilst lie thought proper to turn
07t. In fact, he absented entirely from the 'Ave, and
addressed a letter of several sheets of paper to the Postmaster
General, setting forth, in a high-flown strain, the great griev-
ances ht• had I:16°1mld under; painting in glowing colours
the perils of insubordination; accusing a principal in the
office with mismanagement of its affairs; charging Mr. Des-
Insronelt with employing tile clerks of the office its Isis private
CC:MC(I-11i, as an agent for newspapers scot to the country;
and titian,' representing the the whole office were under
obligations to him, from alpha to °outgo. To give Mr. T an
opportunity of proving his statements, a Hoard was allowed,
and the Marquis or Salisbury and Lord Chichester boils at-
tended in their capacities as liontmaster General. Mr. The-
siger's volionisposs epistle was read over to him, and he was
called upon, in the presence of all the persons implicated, to
atabstattiaate his charges ; but, unfortunately fur the accuser, he
was not ante to make good his case in any single instance to
the satisfaction of the Postmaster General. It was admitted,
on the part of Mr. Desboroit,gli, that clerks belonging to the
Post Office were frequently employed by hint in the was
noticed ; but, in all instances, it was out of the hours of on-
siness. With respect to the obligatioua alluded to, the Post-
asasler General observed, that from us mock as they could
onderdauti of Mr.T.'s Gre,k, they supposed him to intim
that every person connected with the Post Office, lions the
highest to the lowest, was his eh btor, and that they (the Post-
master General) must, of course, be included ; lint on slant
account they a ere at a loss to say. The result of the Board
was, an order to Mr. Fretting, to communicate in writing In
Mr. Thesiger, that, in future, Isis service's at the post Office
would he dispeused with. Mr. Thesiger, however, is so far
froPIII being satisfied with the tea and turn-nal business, as he
calls at, tisat he threatens, wider the auspices of a Noble
.% tortoni, to brim; his complaints before the House of Com-