* * Not everyone (certainly not I) realised that Cardinal
Manning was once a clerk in the Colonial Office. It was immediately after he came down from Balliol—in December, 1830—and he held the appointment for only two years. The present Parliamentary Secretary, Col. Rees-Williams, is having search made in the files to see what traces of the future Cardinal's civil service career remain in the form of minutes. It is not very likely that any do, since Manning did not stay long enough to rise above a quite junior position. Sidney Webb, on the other hand, whose activities are also being investigated, may well have left his mark, for he was at the Colonial Office from x881 to x1191—some preparation for his return there as Secretary of State in x929. Whatever minutes Webb did leave will certainly not lack point and pungency.
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