Itttrrs to tyt dIritnr.
FIRST-CLASS MEN.
Regents Park, 17th April 1859.
Sin—I sympathize strongly with your intelligent correspondent J. J. in his letter on " First-Class Men in Second-Clasa Places." Nothing would be more beneficial than the possession of a power in the people of bringing forward and employing in the highest posts of the State those talents of dis- tinguished men, which seem developed abroad and not at home, but which, after the occasion has called them forth, are for the most part left unfruit- ful. We are now evidently in a transition state ; our constitution, or at least its working elements, are on the eve of great changes; and there is no source of improvement from which more can be hoped than from the efforts ofphilosophical journalists like yourself to bring into consideration every principle likely to call forth the highest talent and direct it to the public service. I agree with Mr. Buckle in thinking that political science is in a backward state. Mr. John Stuart Mill, in his recent article in Fraser's Magazine for April, reviewing Mr. John Austen's Plea for the Constitution, in the second column p. 502, seems to point out a method in which the electoral judgment might be brought to bear on raising the most qualified men to their fitting position. I should be glad to hear your own and your correspondent J. J. M.'s opinions on it. It is certainly a subject worthy of all the energy of reformers. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, F. D.
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