The typewriter had not then been invented, so everything
was copied by hand--a wearisome and deadening occupation where
very lengthy documents were concerned.
The older men in the Foreign Office were great sticklers for
observing all the traditional forms. Lord Granville, in obedience
to political pressure, had appointed the son of a leading
politician as one of his unpaid private secretaries. The youth had
been previously in his father's office in Leeds. On the day on
which he started work in the Foreign Office he was given a bundle
of letters to acknowledge. "You know, of course, the ordinary form
of acknowledgment," said his chief. "Just acknowledge all these,
and say that the matter will be attended to." When the young man
from Leeds brought the letters he had written, for signature that
evening, it was currently reported that they were all worded in
the same way: "Dear Sirs:--Your esteemed favour of yesterday's
date duly to hand, and contents noted. Our Lord Granville has your
matter in hand." The horror-stricken official gasped at such a
departure from established routine.
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