_To the Right Hon. George Canning._

London, April 10, 1827.

My dear Mr. Canning,--I have received your letter of
this evening, informing me that the king had desired
you to lay before his majesty a plan for the re-construction
of the administration; and that, in executing
these commands, it was your wish to adhere to the
principles on which Lord Liverpool's government had
so long acted together. I anxiously desire to be able
to serve his majesty, as I have done hitherto in his
cabinet, with the same colleagues. But before I can
give an answer to your obliging proposition, I should
wish to know who the person is you intend to propose
to his majesty as the head of the government?

Ever, my dear Mr. Canning, yours most sincerely,

WELLINGTON.

On the next day came the following from Mr. Canning:--

_To his Grace the Duke of Wellington._

Foreign Office, April 11, 1897.

My dear Duke of Wellington,--I believed it to be
so generally understood, that the king usually intrusts