Copy of a letter : "Foreign Office"[London], to Spencer Perceval, 1809 Sept. 9.

Referring to the contents of the letter from Perceval to the Duke of Portland dated July 13th and claiming it was "entirely new to me. If without the knowledge of them, I acquitted you of all blame, I of course can only say, after becoming acquainted with them that I regret their not having been communicated to me earlier. - I do not mean that I could have expected that Communication from you - and I feel, as I am sure you will, that the Duke of Portland could have had no other than the kindest intention towards all parties, in withholding it. But I do not the less regret the misunderstanding;" adding that he had no part in the resignation of the Duke of Portland "at this moment - and upon being consulted upon it beforehand, I stated (certainly with sufficient frankness) that I thought it would create new difficulties. That Resignation has nevertheless been brought about. As soon as I was informed of it, I hastened to withdraw a demand, the compliance with which, under these circumstances, would no longer be effectual to the whole of its original purpose. It is therefore no fault of mine that the demand has (if it has) been acted upon : and I am certainly not responsible for difficulties which I explicitly foretold - and the solution of which does not depend - and cannot, in fairness, be stated to depend - on me alone."