During the suspension of the works, Mr. Babbage had been deprived of the use of his own drawings. Having in the meanwhile naturally speculated upon the general principles on which machinery for calculation might be constructed, _a principle of an entirely new kind_ occurred to him, the power of which over the most complicated arithmetical operations seemed nearly unbounded. This was the executing of analytical operations by means of an analytical-engine. On re-examining his drawings, when returned to him by the engineer, the new principle appeared to be limited only by the extent of the mechanism it might require. The invention of simpler mechanical means for performing the elementary operations of the engine, now derived a far greater importance than it had hitherto possessed; and should such simplifications be discovered, it seemed difficult to anticipate, or even to over-estimate, the vast results which might be attained. These new views acquired additional importance from their bearings upon the engine already partly executed for the Government; for, if such simplifications should be discovered, it might happen that the Analytical-Engine would execute with greater rapidity the calculations for which the Difference-Engine was intended; or that the Difference-Engine would itself be superseded by a far simpler mode of construction. Though these views might perhaps at that period have appeared visionary, they have subsequently been completely realized. To have allowed the construction of the Difference-Engine to be resumed, while these new conceptions were withheld from the Government, would have been improper; yet the state of uncertainty in which those views were then necessarily involved, rendered any written communication respecting their probable bearing on that engine, a task of very great difficulty. It therefore appeared to Mr. Babbage, that the most straightforward course was to ask for an interview with the head of the Government, and to communicate to him the exact state of the case. On the 26th September, 1834, Mr. Babbage requested an audience of Lord Melbourne, for the purpose of placing these views before him; his Lordship acceded to the request, but from some cause the interview was postponed; and soon after, the ministry went out of office, without the desired conference having taken place. The duration of the Duke of Wellington’s administration was short; and no decision on the subject of the _Difference_-Engine was obtained.