‘Oh, very well then.’ Arthur opened the next letter and felt his heart sink as he recognised the handwriting. It was from his mother, Lady Mornington, in London. She began by congratulating him on his new position before moving swiftly on to make the first of her recommendations on behalf of those who were deserving of Arthur’s patronage. Arthur read to the bottom of the page, and then leafed through the other sheets.

‘By God, there’s over four pages of requests here!’

Stoper leaned forward. ‘That is highly unusual, sir. Might I ask who the letter is from?’

‘My mother.’

‘Ah, a matter of some delicacy then.’

‘You can’t imagine.’ Arthur tapped the letter and smiled ruefully. ‘And where does a letter from one’s mother fit into your scheme of political expediency?’

‘Mothers are a special case. I would advise you to attend to it at once, sir.’

Arthur took a deep breath and prepared to read the whole letter in detail. He gestured to the piled correspondence. ‘I’d be obliged if you took those with you and dealt with them. I shall be busy enough with this one letter as it is.’

Despite the Duke of Richmond’s aspiration to find the best men for the jobs, it soon became clear that this was no more than a pious hope. It seemed that any person with whom Arthur had ever been remotely connected had written to him with a favour to ask. There was even a letter from Richard asking if some post might be found for a boatman who had served him when he was Governor General of India. Accordingly Stoper was left to apply his system for dealing with such requests while Arthur turned his attention to other tasks.

The first of these was the delicate matter of dealing with a request from the city councillors who wished to hold a parade through the streets of Dublin to celebrate the battle of Vinegar Hill.The mayor and a small deputation of corporate worthies came to Arthur’s office to seek his permission and co-operation for the parade. As soon as formal greetings had been exchanged the mayor, a tall, broad man with red cheeks, spread out a street map of the capital across Arthur’s desk.