‘Sir,—You are perhaps astonished at my not having acknowledged the receipt of your letter of the 4th inst. Let me give you my reasons; I hope you will find them legitimate, and that you will consider my silence to be the effect of my prudence. ‘The notorious question of _General Warrants_ for the arrest of persons and seizure of their papers, has at last been determined, and it is decided that in scarcely any instance may a person and his papers be seized, except for high treason against the king and country. But it has also been decided that unauthorised persons, convicted of corresponding in cypher with foreign countries, are liable to arrest and to have their papers seized, and to be judged according to the nature of their correspondence. This decision, which I cannot but admit as being very just and very reasonable, has checked my zeal, and has even caused me some alarm, and especially since the rupture between Messieurs Pitt and Temple. The one may, ere long, be called to the ministry, suspect me, and cause me to be arrested for the sake of vexing the other; add to this, that as Messieurs Pitt and Temple do not at any time spare the ministers in office, I am equally liable to being suspected and inconvenienced by the latter. You must be aware of the evil results were I arrested with all the old secret correspondence!... Under these circumstances I deemed it wiser to keep still and thus remove the slightest cause for suspicion.... What will most astonish is this, that the ministers actually in office, in their anxiety for popularity, have acted against the opinion, the wishes, and the orders of the King, in causing the repeal, by the House of Commons, of the Acts of Parliament whereby fresh taxes have been imposed in America, the people having rebelled to a degree without parallel in history; and they have had the assurance to make use of their resources and favour at Court for the purpose of securing votes! In this remarkable business they have made so sorrowful a personage as his Britannic Majesty play a part similar to that assigned in Virgil’s Æneid to King Latinus. Truly, they treat the King as if he were a silly child, incapable of discerning what is of advantage to the State, and they do not in the least conceal their views in the matter.... The King is incensed against his mother (the Princess of Wales), and his favourite (Lord Bute); but they do not know how to form a new ministry that will be well considered and durable. The King will have nothing to do with Mr. Pitt just now, and is even very angry with him in consequence of what he has dared to say and substantiate in the House of Commons—that the Americans were not rebels, seeing that the King, or the late ministry and parliament, had broken faith with them; that