results to be derived
therefrom.--The Queen nominates John Thomas (the fittest man she, much
inquiring, can hear tell of in her three kingdoms) President of the
Poor-Law Board, Under Secretary of the Colonies, Under, or perhaps
even Upper Secretary of what she and her Premier find suitablest for a
working head so eminent, a talent so precious; and grants him, by her
direct authority, seat and vote in Parliament so long as he holds that
office. Upper Secretaries, having more to do in Parliament, and being
so bound to be in favor there, would, I suppose, at least till new times
and habits come, be expected to be chosen from among the _People's_
Members as at present. But whether the Prime Minister himself is, in all
times, bound to be first a People's Member; and which, or how many,
of his Secretaries and subordinates he might be allowed to take as
_Queen's_ Members, my authority does not say,--perhaps has not himself
settled; the project being yet in mere outline or foreshadow, the
practical embodiment in all details to be fixed by authorities much more
competent than he. The soul of his project is, That the Crown also have
power to elect a few members to Parliament.

From which project, however wisely it were embodied, there could
probably, at first or all at once, no great "accession of intellect" to
the Government Offices ensue; though a little might, even at first, and
a little is always precious: but in its ulterior operation, were that
faithfully developed, and wisely presided over, I fancy an immense
accession of intellect might ensue;--nay a natural ingress might thereby
be opened to all manner of accessions, and the actual flower of whatever
intellect the British Nation had might be attracted towards Downing
Street, and continue flowing steadily thither! For, let us see a little
what effects this simple change carries in it the possibilities of. Here
are beneficent germs, which the presence of one truly wise man as Chief
Minister, steadily fostering them for even a few years, with the sacred
fidelity and vigilance that would beseem him, might ripen into living
practices and habitual facts, invaluable to us all.

What it is that Secretaries of State, Managers of Colonial
Establishments, of Home and Foreign Government interests, have really
and truly to do in Parliament, might admit of various estimate in these
times. An apt debater in Parliament is by no means certain to be an able
administrator of Colonies, of