Letter : "Foreign Office"[London] to [the Duke of Portland], 1809 Mar. 24.

Concerning the reasons for his proposed resignation; offering his "sincere opinions as to the situation of your Grace's Government, and the conclusions to which those opinions lead me...No man (I apprehend) can skirt his eyes to the plain fact that the Government has sunk in Public opinion since the end of the last Session of Parliament. The Convention of Cintra was according to my own Judgment and belief, the primary cause of this change, the unfortunate result of the Spanish Campaign confirmed it;" discussing his opinion of where the blame lies for the failure of the Government; saying "the evil appears to me to have arisen from a Spirit of Compromise, from a desire to avoid meeting difficulties in front and a hope of getting round them by management - principles of action utterly unsuited (in my humble opinion) to a Government acting in such times as these...that the Government as at present constituted does not appear to me equal to the great task which it has to perform;" explaining that the reason for his proposed resignation stems from a decision relating to the Convention of Cintra that was made in his absence and continuing to lay out the case for his disagreements with his colleagues; offering to talk with him about the subjects discussed in the letter.