It appears that, when these works were first undertaken the estimate for the shell of the building only was 707,104_l._, and that Lord Bessborough, who was at that time Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests, and, as such, charged with the Department of Works, agreed that the remuneration to the architect should be 25,000_l._, and you state that you accepted that arrangement, but under protest that it was unprofessional. I have to state that my Lords have carefully examined into the circumstances which were likely to have influenced Lord Bessborough in fixing the remuneration of the architect at that sum, and they find that, for many years prior, the rate of commission paid by the Board of Works to the most eminent architects of the day was 3 per cent. They find that the attached architects of the Board of Works, viz., Sir John Soane, Sir Robert Smirke, and Mr. John Nash, were, by Treasury Regulations, paid at the rate of 3 per cent. on the public works executed under their direction. It is true that those gentlemen had also salaries of 500_l._ each attached to their offices, but those salaries were understood to be a remuneration for the professional advice, which they were expected to afford to the Government, for which they received no other pay, and not as any part of their remuneration as architects for the performance of works placed under their care. On these terms the following works were performed by those eminent architects:-- New Stamp and Legacy-Duty Office, Somerset House; Military Depot, Tooley Street; New Buildings, British Museum; New Post Office; Custom House (Restoration); New Courts of Judicature, Westminster; Insolvent Debtors’ Court; Committee Rooms, House of Lords; Library and Committee Rooms, House of Commons; Whitehall Chapel (Restoration); New State Paper Office; New Royal Mews, Pimlico; King’s Stand, Ascot; And my Lords find that the only exception to this rule was as regards the New Palace at Buckingham Gate. With regard to that work, Mr. Nash was paid at the regular rate of 3 per cent. up to September, 1826, when it was raised to 5 per cent., but for what reason my Lords have not been able to ascertain. My Lords further find that the allowance made by the Board of Works to the architects unattached to their establishment has been at the rate of 3 per cent., and that the following works were executed by Mr. Burton at that rate:-- New Stable Court, Westminster; New Stone House, Grenadier Guards, Westminster; Inclosing Ground, North Side, New Mews, Westminster;