Copy of a letter : "Claremont" [near Esher], to Spencer Perceval, 1809 Oct. 28.

Concerning his purported objection to an offer to Lord Wellesley to be First Lord of the Treasury; quoting from letters received from Lord Wellesley in which he learned..."to my infinite astonishment, that Intelligence had reached him, 'that he had been proposed by you to be First Lord of the Treasury; that the whole of the cabinet had concurred in that appointment; that it would also have been acceptable to His Majesty; but that my single voice had opposed it, - and that my resignation had frustrated the arrangement' I am utterly at a loss to imagine from what source this intelligence can have been derived; or on what it is founded...Undoubtedly Lord Wellesley's name has been mentioned in casual conversations, both by you and others, among the candidates for the Successor to the D. of P's Situation : - but never, so far as I understood, as an authorized proposal; never by anyone - never by yourself (in my hearing) in a way to lead me to imagine that you thought it an eligible appointment. I certainly should have inferred directly otherwise from all that I ever heard you say upon the Subject. The last branch of the communication made to Lord Wellesley - that my resignation defeated his appointment - I confess passes my comprehension : - an appointment agreed upon by all the cabinet - sanctioned by the King's approbation - and defeated by the resignation of the person who is supposed singly to have objected to it. All that I can say upon this point is, that my resignation certainly was not intended to have any such effect. That resignation was founded on grounds wholly independent of the mere appointment of a Successor to the D. of P.;" concluding, "As Lord Wellesley appears to be under the impression that what he has heard has been communicated to him from authority, and as I am at the same time perfectly persuaded that you cannot have had any knowledge of a communication so entirely unfounded, I have thought it right to let you know the substance of his report to me, and of what I write to him."