Bankes's letter is full of kind and grateful expressions towards me. Indeed, we have always been on very friendly and confidential terms. I have expressed my regret at his resolution. I told him I think he acts upon mistaken views, and I assure him that in whatever position he may stand towards the Board, it will afford me much pleasure and advantage to remain on the same terms with him. The Duke will be angry, and I do not think Bankes will soon get an office again. _December 2._ Read for an hour at the Cabinet room. There is a curious account of a conversation between De Rigny and an Austrian friend at Smyrna. De Rigny thinks very ill of the Government, and of the state of France. He too wants the Rhine! He judges truly enough of the results of the treaty. 'England, Austria, and France will talk, but nothing will be done.' He says Russia was very foolish not to go on. She might have dared anything. However, the army seems to have suffered severely. They acknowledge the loss of 130,000 men in the two campaigns. Diebitch has partly evacuated Adrianople, leaving there, however, 6,000 sick and a battalion. The plague spreads in the Principalities, and they do not know how to get the troops out of Turkey. Zuylen de Neyvelt and others give a very bad account of the state of Constantinople. They say the Turkish Empire _cannot_ hold together. I do not like Lord Stuart's account of the state of the French Ministry. They will bring in Villele, who is an able man, and he may save them; but theirs is a desperate game. The French seem to be disposed to go along with us in negotiating with the Emperor of Brazil [Footnote: _i.e._ with the Emperor Don Pedro, father of the ultimately successful candidate for the Portuguese throne, Donna Maria de Gloria.] for the recognition of Miguel. There would be a stipulation for amnesty, &c. _December 3._ The Chairs talked of Lord William Bentinck. They are very much out of humour with him and heartily wish he was at home. He has neither written privately nor publicly, except upon trifling matters, for five months. He has declared his opinion in favour of colonisation. He is very unpopular. On the subject of Sir W. Rumbold he and Sir Ch. Metcalfe are very hostile, taking extreme views on the different sides. This hostility upon one subject will lead to difference upon others. The Government is not respected--and certainly there has been no moment when it was of more importance that the head of the Government should be respected than when it is necessary to effect a great economical reform. They describe the feeling at Madras as being still worse. There they did not think the governor an _honest man_.