fifty. In our House I doubt whether there are twenty.


_May 30._

Chairs. Lord W. Bentinck seems to be so ill as to make it doubtful whether
he can remain in India should he recover. The letter is dated January 27.
He was then in danger. The vessel did not leave Calcutta till the 30th. The
news then was that he was better, and had sat up for six hours. It was a
_coup de soleil_.

London Bridge Committee.

The Duke showed me a letter from Lord Rosslyn, accepting most cordially the
Privy Seal.

I suppose we shall have a Council on Monday, or on some early day next
week, for me to give it up.


_June 1._

To the Cabinet room.

There is a report that Varna [Footnote: Varna was in the hands of the
Russians, having been taken in the previous campaign.] is _cernée_ by
40,000 men, Bazardjik taken, the Russians running from Karasan, and from
6,000 to 8,000 Russians, who had been thrown over the Danube at Hirsova,
driven into it at Czernavoda by the garrison of Silistria. [Footnote: These
reports seem to have been unfounded. Soon after this date the decisive