of the present rebellion and conflict, and that the one they propose to substitute would be so much better and capable of repairing the mischief which the government of the Company has caused by its alleged mismanagement. I have no prejudice or partiality for the Company, but I believe any great change at this moment to be fraught with danger, and that the notion of improving the state of affairs by the abolition of what is called the double government is a mere delusion.[1] Footnote 1: [The experience of nearly thirty years has proved that these gloomy forebodings were unfounded. The Government and the condition of the Indian Empire have undergone enormous changes in that interval of time, but upon the whole the suppression of the military revolt of 1857 has placed British authority in India upon a more secure basis, the loyalty of the native princes to the Crown has increased, the native population is more enlightened and more prosperous, and the dangers which may still threaten the British Empire in India are not those which struck the mind of Mr. Greville in 1858. He himself, however, soon changed his opinion. See entry of the 12th March, _infra._] _January 16th._--I went to The Grange on Tuesday and returned yesterday morning, when I was met by the news of an attempted assassination of the Emperor Napoleon, whose escape seems to have been providential. It is since I last wrote anything here that we have received the news from India of Wyndham's defeat at Cawnpore, and of Sir Colin's subsequent victory, but we are not yet informed of the details so as to be able to pass a judgement on these events, and upon Wyndham's conduct. It may be doubted, however, whether the small defeat in the one case is not more prejudicial than the considerable victory in the other is advantageous; and the inference to be derived from the whole is to my mind of a gloomy character, for I think unless we can manage to pour into India an unceasing stream of fresh troops for an indefinite period, we shall succumb in the contest by the mere weight of numbers, and the question is, whether we shall be able to do this, which seems to me exceedingly doubtful. The Government appear never to have been sufficiently alive to the danger and the difficulties of this warfare, and have contented themselves with going on leisurely and lazily, preparing reinforcements to be sent out from time to time, but have never thought it incumbent on them to make the extraordinary efforts that the case imperatively demands. [Sidenote: LORD JOHN RUSSELL IN OPPOSITION.]