You are doubtless aware that the proposition originally made to me by the Government in 1839 was, that I should receive the sum of 25,000_l._ for the labour and responsibility to be imposed upon me in the superintendence, direction and completion of the intended edifice, and that I was induced to accede conditionally to that proposition, in the belief that it was made to me in the absence of a due appreciation of the enormous extent of that labour and responsibility, and that any attempt on my part, at that time, to prove the inadequacy of the sum proposed would have been fruitless. I was further induced to take this course from having then entered upon the duties of my appointment as architect of the New Palace, for more than nineteen months, when I had already made extensive and costly arrangements to enable me to carry on the works; so that if, instead of acceding conditionally to the proposition, I had adopted the alternative of relinquishing the employment, which at the time occurred to me, I could not have done so without a considerable sacrifice. I preferred, therefore, to postpone all further application on the subject, until I should be in a condition to prove incontestably the full extent of my services, and then to rely upon the Government for a just and liberal determination of the question. As it is possible that you may not be acquainted with the whole of the circumstances under which this proposition was made to me, I think it right to trouble you with the following short narrative of the transaction:-- When my original design for the New Palace at Westminster had been approved, and the original estimate had been subjected to a searching examination by the department of Woods and Works, and some discussion also, as I was informed, had taken place in a Committee of the House of Commons respecting my remuneration, the Government, in 1837, conferred upon me the appointment of architect, to carry into effect that design, but without making any stipulation whatever relative to the remuneration for my services; and I was ordered to proceed immediately with the work, which I accordingly commenced on the 3rd of July in that year. As this order was conveyed to me unconditionally, I had no reason to doubt but that my remuneration would be of the customary amount. On the 1st March, however, in the year 1839, I had the first official intimation that such was not proposed to be the case, in a letter, which I then received from the Office of Woods, enclosing a copy of a letter to that effect from the Lords of the Treasury to the Commissioners of Woods, &c., of the 29th of the preceding month, no explanation having been required of me, nor any previous communication even made to me, upon the subject.