Copy of a letter : "Howick", to Mr. Perceval, 1809 Sept. 26.

Declining to participate in the formation of a new administration; acknowledging his letter of the 23rd requesting he come to London to discuss the formation of a new Government; declining to return to London as the command for him to return was not personally delivered by the King, "But when it is proposed to me to communicate with His Majesty's present Ministers, for the purpose of forming a combined administration with them, I feel that I should be wanting both in duty to His Majesty and in fairness to them, if I did not frankly and at once declare that such an union is, with respect to me, under the present circumstances, impossible. This being the answer that I find myself under the necessity of giving, my appearance in London would be of no advantage, and might possibly at a moment like the present, be attended with some inconvenience. I have thought it better therefore to request that you would have the goodness to lay my duty at the feet of His Majesty, humbly entreating Him not to attribute to any want of attachment to His Royal person, or to diminished zeal for His Service, my declining a communication which, upon the terms proposed, can lead to no useful result, and which might be of serious detriment to the Country, if an consequence of a less decisive answer from me, any further delay should take place in the formation of a settled Government.