'Private and Confidential' autograph letter signed ('Robert Peel'), to Lord Lyndhurst, formerly the Lord Chancellor, expressing his determination not to serve again in a minority government, the reason for the failure of his First Ministry just over a month before [8 April 1835] ('...I think there has been a recent, manifest practical Proof that a Government cannot maintain its ground without a majority in the House of Commons [the Conservatives had had 290 against 368], however decided and cordial the Support which that Government may receive from the Crown and the House of Lords...') and declaring that he will not be a party to any proceeding merely calculated to defeat the [Melbourne Whig] Government rather than a bad measure, stating that if others have a different view they may act on it but they must not feel that it will impose on him any obligation to resume office in the event of its success and reiterating his opinion that 'the attempt to form a Government which has not such a Support from the house of Commons - or can acquire such a support, as may enable it to act systematically upon its principles, only makes matters worse...'; the letter begins with the assertion that the Duke of Wellington's memorandum was 'written without the slightest communication with' him, though it states clearly his opinion and with Peel returning some papers, 3 pages, top right-hand corner cut away without loss of text, inner fold splitting, remains of former mounting on blank last page, 4to, Whitehall, 20 May 1835