Mr. D’Israeli says that the Government have evidence enough as to what is to be done, and that they want no more information. I believe he is egregiously mistaken, and that the evidence hitherto collected is sufficient to prove that things cannot remain in the present state, and that something must be done; but there is no evidence or suggestion as to what that _something_ must be (excepting only that the Superintendent of the Natural History, in the service of the Trustees, thinks that his present masters, or anything like them, are not desirable.) Now I have a great dread of these indefinite _somethings_. I fear that one or two members of the Government who have once walked through the Museum, or may have assisted at a meeting of Trustees, may think themselves quite competent to draw up a new constitution for this and other Museums, which pompously and plausibly proposed to the Houses of Parliament may be sanctioned, putting the British Museum and all its collections in a worse position than they are now, and rendering them less useful to the public. It seems, therefore, to me that you and Lord John should consider well the subject, and be prepared to advise the Government; and, if necessary, resist any scheme that might be lightly or rashly introduced to Parliament. I apprehend that, whatever be thought of Trustees, it will not be so easy to persuade the family Trustees of the Museum that they ought to be extinguished. I do not think that the Government have yet considered which are the collections that ought not to be removed from the present British Museum, and which are those that ought to be removed elsewhere. We may agree as to removing the Natural History collections; but is it quite clear we ought to keep ethnographical collections and works of mediæval or christian art? Has anyone thought how long it will be before what it may be decided upon to remove, can be removed, what is to be done in the meantime, and what alterations may be necessary in the present building to fit the space left empty by the removal of some collections for the reception of those which are to remain here? It seems to be generally considered desirable, if not necessary, that whenever the Museum or Museums are re-organised, lectures should be delivered by its officers. I humbly consider this a great mistake. No one can do more than one thing at a time well. A Keeper of collections will neglect them to prepare his lectures, and a lecturer will hurry through his lectures to attend to his collections; and if not more inclined to one than to the other of his two trades, the same man may be both a bad lecturer and bad Keeper of collections. As the ‘Jardin des Plantes’ at Paris is so much talked of here, with its numerous lectures, I trust some evidence will be taken of its condition and of the working of its organisation before we adopt it here.