In 1852, the crowds coming to pay their respects at the lying-in-state of the Duke of Wellington got out of hand and it was reported that one or two people had been crushed to death. There was criticism of the police, and Hay had a paragraph inserted into the newspapers claiming that Mayne had been responsible. Mayne was, unsurprisingly, furious. In 1853, Hay submitted plans for police reorganisation to the Home Office without first showing them to Mayne.
