CHESHAM PLACE, _19th March 1847._

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty. Lord John
Russell thinks it right to state to your Majesty that the prevailing
opinion in the Cabinet is that when the necessary business in the
House of Commons has been finished, a Dissolution of Parliament should
take place.

This course would be conformable to the usage from the passing of the
Septennial Act till 1830. From 1830 to the present year no House of
Commons has been allowed to continue six years. The Dissolutions of
Lord Grey in 1831 and 1832, of Sir Robert Peel in 1834, the death of
William the Fourth in 1837, Lord Melbourne's Dissolution in 1841, have
all interrupted the natural life of Parliaments. But all Governments
since the accession of the House of Hanover have been of opinion (with
one or two exceptions) that it is hazardous to allow a Parliament to
continue seven years, as circumstances may arise making a Dissolution
very detrimental to the public welfare.

These being general considerations, Lord John Russell would reserve
any decision on the subject till the moment shall arrive when a
Dissolution may appear to your Majesty's advisers to be the course
most likely to secure moderate and fair elections.

_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

_25th March 1847._

The Queen with pleasure approves the appointment of Lord Clarendon's
brother to the vacant stall at St Paul's. The Queen would, however,
draw Lord John's attention generally to the mode of filling up
those Church sinecures. She is quite aware how necessary it is for a
Minister to be able to recommend to such places persons of political
connections, but she thinks that where it can be done, it would be of
great use both to the Church and the country to give these places
of emolument to Churchmen distinguished for their _scientific
attainments_, who have neither the means nor the time to prosecute
their researches, whilst their labours might be of the greatest
importance to the country. Such person of this kind, for instance,
the Prince thinks, is a Mr Cureton, who has just published the _real_
epistles of St Ignatius, which he translated from the Syriac, and
is about to produce a Gospel of St Matthew which is considered the
undoubted original in the Coptic dialect, and other most important
documents lately acquired for the British Museum.

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_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._