Gurwood replied on 1 August engaging directly with the Duke's concerns. It was because the dispatches related to such important events as well as to the Duke's character and fame that the exact truth should be told: 'posterity' would otherwise be led into error 'by the imagination of historians.' As to the truths that might give offence to nations or individuals, they could 'with a diligent exercise of caution, under your Grace's guidance, be omitted as the general will supply ample authority.' No-one felt a stronger desire than he did to 'place the monument of truth before the world' but he would always regret 'occasioning any trouble or uneasiness to your Grace in so doing.' He suggested three possibilities: to continue publication under the Duke's direction; to continue printing and to deposit the whole with the Duke for private consumption; to discontinue the project altogether.