I asked him to consider the expediency of dividing the territory as now
into three unequal Presidencies, of giving to the Governor-General the
labour of superintending the Administration in detail of the Bengal
Presidency--of having Members of Council. I told him there were many minor
points of detail discoverable only by those employed at home, which
required and must receive amendment. Such, for instance, is the
interpretation given to the Act of Parliament, by which a _regulation_ must
be sanctioned or rejected _in extenso,_ there being no power to alter a
word, or to reject part and take the rest.

Mr. Elphinstone seems to dread a long peace in India. We hold everything
together by the Native Army, and we cannot retain that unless we retain the
affections of the European officers. In the present state of our finances
this is difficult.


_July 1._

At half-past five received a letter from the Chairman, and the draft
relative to the removal of the Governor from Calcutta. The Court wished to
have it back to-day. That was impossible; but they have omitted words I
inserted in the _précis,_ and must restore, declaring that had the removal
been legal, still the Members of Council would have been ordered back. I
have now been obliged to give reasons for this addition, and the reasons
will be so much worse, as matters of record, that I have suggested to the
Chairman he had better substitute a draft containing the words.

I think we must detain the _Pallas_ that it may take out both letters--this
and the one relating to the leases which is not yet prepared, or we must