I had then already sat five years in the House of Commons.

I assisted humbly in the emancipation of the Roman Catholics, and have learned by the legislative troubles of just half a century that those whom we then invited to sit with us in Parliament have been in all things our worst enemies.

But what then?
Had we benefited only those who love us, would not the sinners also,--or even the Tories,--have done as much as that?
But such memories are of no avail now.

I write to say that after so much of active political life, I will at last retire.

My friends when they see me inspecting a pigsty or picking a peach are apt to remind me that I can still stand on my legs, and with more of compliment than of kindness will argue therefore that I ought still to undertake active duties in Parliament.