their own land, and other institutions, forms, and ceremonies, will
tend to this great result.

[Footnote 38: This was the third Bill of the Session, and was
founded on the Resolutions, _ante_, 12th April, 1858, note 26.
The Government of India was transferred from the dual
jurisdiction of the Company and the Board of Control, to the
Secretary of State for India in Council, the members of the
Council (after the provisions for representing vested interests
should have lapsed) to be appointed by the Secretary of State.
A certain term of residence in India was to be a necessary
qualification, and the members were to be rendered incapable
of sitting in Parliament, and with a tenure of office as
assured as that of judges under the Act of Settlement.]

[Footnote 39: The letter is ante-dated. The 24th of June was a
Thursday.]

[Footnote 40: In consequence of the polluted condition of
the Thames, the Government carried a measure enabling the
Metropolitan Board of Works, at a cost of L3,000,000, to
purify "that noble river, the present state of which is little
creditable to a great country, and seriously prejudicial
to the health and comfort of the inhabitants of the
Metropolis."--Extract from the Queen's Speech, at the close of
the Session.]

[Pageheading: INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE]

[Pageheading: THE SOVEREIGN'S PREROGATIVES]

_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

OSBORNE, _8th July 1858_.

The Queen in reading in the papers yesterday, on her way here from the
camp, the Debate in the House of Commons of the previous night, was
shocked to find that in several important points her Government have
surrendered the prerogatives of the Crown. She will only refer to the
clauses concerning the Indian Civil Service and the right of peace and
war.

With respect to the first, the regulations under which servants of
the Crown are to be admitted or examined have always been an undoubted
right and duty of the Executive; by the clause introduced by Lord
Stanley the system of "Competitive Examination" has been confirmed by
Act of Parliament. That system may be right or wrong; it has since
its introduction been carried on under the Orders in Council; now
the Crown and Government are to be deprived of any authority in the
matter, and the whole examinations, selection, and appointments,
etc., etc., are to be vested in the Civil Commissioners und