French say--that is, of making them work fitly together to a fit end;
the same waste of power, therefore the same extravagance, and the same
poverty of result."

Enlarging on this congenial theme, and applying it to England and
English requirements, he promulged in 1868 a very revolutionary scheme
for Public Education. At the apex of the pyramid there should be a
Minister of Education. "Merely for administrative convenience he is,
indeed, indispensable. But it is even more important to have _a centre
in which to fix responsibility_." In 1886 he said to the teachers at
Westminster, "I know the Duke of Richmond told the House of Lords that,
as Lord President, he was Minister of Education--(laughter)--but really
the Duke of Richmond's sense of humour must have been slumbering when he
told the House of Lords that. A man is not Minister of Education by
taking the name, but by doing the functions. (Cheers.) To do the
functions he must put his mind to the subject of education; and so long
as Lord Presidents are what they are, and education is what it is, a
Lord President will not be a man who puts his mind to the subject of
education. A Vice-President is not, on the Lord President's own showing,
and cannot be, Minister for Education. He cannot be made responsible for
faults and neglects. Now what we want in a Minister for Education is
this--a centre where we can fix the responsibility." This great and
responsible officer, who presumably was to be a Cabinet Minister and
change with the changes of administration, was to preside over the whole
education of the country. The Universities, the Public Schools, the
Middle-Class Schools, and the Elementary Schools were all to be, in
greater or less degree, subject to his sway. The Minister was to be
assisted by a Council of Education, "comprising, without regard to
politics, the personages most proper to be heard on questions of public
education." It was to be, like the Council at the India Office,