y mind, and I turned my attention in consequence to the
state of the government at the present moment--to the state of the royal
authority--to the composition of the royal household--and to all those
circumstances which were likely to come under my consideration, in case
I were called upon to assist in advising the composition of another
administration. I confess, that it appeared to me impossible that any
set of men should take charge of her majesty's government without having
the usual influence and control over the establishment of the royal
household--that influence and control which their immediate predecessors
in office had exercised before them. As the royal household was formed
by their predecessors in office, the possession of that influence and
that control over it appeared to me to be absolutely necessary, to let
the public see that the ministers who were about to enter upon office
had and possessed the entire confidence of her majesty. I considered
well the nature of the formation of the royal household under the civil
list act passed at the commencement of her majesty's reign. I considered
well the difference between the household of a queen-consort and the
household of a queen-regnant. The queen-consort not being a political
person in the same light as a queen-regnant, I considered the
construction of her majesty's household--I considered who filled offices
in it--I considered all the circumstances attendant on the influence of
the household, and the degree of confidence which it might be necessary
for the government to repose in the members of it. I was sensible of the
serious and anxious nature of the charge which the minister in
possession of that control and influence over her majesty's household
would have laid upon him. I was sensible that in everything which he
did, and in every step which he took as to the household, he ought to
consult not only the honour of her majesty's crown, and her royal state
and dignity, but also her social condition, her ease, her convenience,
her comfort--in short, everything which tended to the solace and
happiness of her life. I reflected on all these considerations as
particularly incumbent on the ministers who should take charge of the
affairs of this country; I reflected on the age, the sex, the situation,
and the comparative inexperience, of the sovereign on the throne; and I
must say that if I had been, or if I was to be, the first person to be
consulted, with respec