SIR,--There can be no doubt in regard to the proper destination of those
surplus millions, the fitting disposition of which, I am informed, is
involving you in no little perplexity. They seem in a special manner to
furnish the legitimate answer to the almost universal cry, now going
forth, for "Free Education." Here then is your opportunity. And it is a
magnificent one. Your surplus will enable a wise and paternal Government
to give not merely education, free of cost, to every child in the three
kingdoms, but will supply it with ample means to infuse the very highest
culture attainable into the very dregs of the population. Spanish,
Italian, German, Russian, French, Chinese, together with riding,
dancing, painting in oil colours, hydrostatics, and the elements of
Court etiquette, will, henceforth, comprise the curriculum of the
veriest gutter-child.
Can you, Sir, contemplate such a brilliant, such a soul-stirring
prospect unmoved? That you cannot, and will at once hand over your
useful millions for the purpose of carrying into effect the above modest
but magnificent scheme, is the firm belief of yours suggestively,