PILLARS OF THE PAST 309 



the Ordnance, he had been a member of the Govern- 

 ment, and therefore was not unacquainted with the 

 drift of pubHc business. 



Young, vigorous, experienced, and Lichfield's per- 

 sonal friend, Maberly was the very man to give effect 

 to his chief's ideas of progress, and even of reform. 

 He did his best. There has, probably, been no more 

 painstaking officer of the department than the Colonel 

 — none who stamped his mind more thoroughly on 

 every minute and draft that came before him. He 

 was made a Commissioner of Audit in 1854. 



In person, Maberly was tall, broad-shouldered, and 

 soldierly. Mr. Henry E. Page, who, in the late 

 forties or very early fifties, daily took papers to him 

 for instructions, speaks of him, as others have done, 

 with affectionate regard, to this day. ' He certainly 

 secured the strong personal attachment of many of his 

 officers,' writes Mr. Page. ' Perhaps a good way of 

 putting it would be by saying that not a few of us felt 

 proud of serving under him, and had a most loyal 

 liking for him as our chief.' 



As a soldier, the Colonel could express himself with 

 directness and force. Mr. Hodder, in his ' Life of Sir 

 George Burns,'* relates the particulars of a discussion 

 regarding a proposal of Burns to carry the mails 

 without charge (as he did for many years) between 

 Glasgow and Belfast : 



'When Colonel Maberly heard the offer, he ex- 

 claimed, " Burns, you are a fool !" However, he sent 



* ' Sir George Burns, Bart.' Hodder and Stoughton, 1890. 



