Saw the Duke.  I told him what the Chairs had said.  He said he always thought Lord William would not succeed.  Who could we get to replace him?  He had always thought it did not signify as long as we had one man in India; but we must have one.  I told him that, seeing the difficulty of selection, I had thought it right to tell him what was likely to happen.  I should not be much surprised if he thought of Lord Tweddale, whom he thought of for Ireland.  I do not know him at all.

December 6.

Read Sir W. Rumbold’s letters, and the minutes in Council on the Hyderabad case.  Sir W. is a cunning, clever man.  Sir Ch.  Metcalfe shows too much prejudice against Sir W. Rumbold; but he was at Hyderabad at the time, and he may be right.  I suspect it was a disgraceful business.

December 9.

Loch has got a cadetship for me.  Colonel Baillie lends it.  He postpones a nomination till next year in order to oblige me.  I have thanked Loch, and begged him to thank Colonel Baillie.

Wrote to Lady Belfast to tell her Mr. Verner had his cadetship.  Begged her to make his family and friends understand thoroughly that this was a private favour I had led her to expect long before the discussion of the Catholic question.

Wrote to Lord Hertford and enclosed an extract from my letter to Lady Belfast.

Read a letter from Sir J. Malcolm, who is again troubled by Sir J. P. Grant.  He enclosed a letter of his upon the subject to Lord W. Bentinck.  The concluding paragraph of this letter refers to a letter from Lord William of June 18, at which time the spirit of the Bengal army continued bad.

Read a letter from Jones, who will set himself to work about the navigation of the Indus.  He says a Mr. Walter Hamilton speaks of the river being navigable for vessels of 200 tons to Lahore, and that from Lahore to the mouth of the river, 700 miles, is only a voyage of twelve days.  And no British flag has ever floated upon the waters of this river!  Please God it shall, and in triumph, to the source of all its tributary streams.

December 11.

Read a letter from Lord Bathurst respecting the recall of Sir J. P. Grant.  He had imagined I had said he had resigned.  He seems surprised I should have supposed it possible a judge should be recalled without a formal meeting of the Privy Council.  I reminded him of Sir T. Claridge’s case, not half so strong as that of Sir J. P. Grant.

December 12.

Read Fraser’s travels.

December 13.

A letter from Sir J. Malcolm, by which it seems that my letter to him of February 21 has been copied and become public:  much to his annoyance. [Footnote:  This was the letter with the expression about a wild elephant between two tame ones which afterwards attracted so much criticism.  It was intended as a private letter to Sir J. Malcolm, but by a mistake of one of his secretaries was copied as an official communication.]