The bag and the mail came this morning and kept us very busy. But there was less matter for action here than usual. On the whole the intelligence looks rather better. The most important movements are on the Mississippi, and they are more encouraging. My letters from my son John was likewise cheerful, and he sent me a quarterly account which maker the first return of nett income on my own property since I left, now two years. I was occupied making up my books. At one o’clock I went out in the carriage to call and take up Mr Evarts at Edwards’s. Hotel. We called at the Temple to see Mr Lush, who has been employed in our law cases but he was not at home. The we went to see Sir Robert Phillimore when we found at home. He was very civil and offered courtesies to Mr Evarts. Thence to see Mr Ellice whom we found at luncheon. He asked us in and kept talking with us an hour. As usual he presently runs into American politics. He is a prodigious talker and he soon forgets the proper limits of his dialogue. He finally spoke with such extreme violence of the President’s proclamation, that I felt myself compromised in listening to it. I signified to him with some warmth that I could not stay and hear such things said, which reduced his time, and we soon afterwards took leave. This is the first occasion since I have been in England where in private society any body has forgotten himself in my presence. As this old gentleman is above eighty years old, perhaps it may be pardoned. Thence we called on Sir Roundell Palmer, and so hence. In the evening quiet at home. I read more of Kinglake. He abounds more and more in his rational conceit, so much as completely to shake confidence in the correctness of his narration.