Note 196 — Chapter XIV

I had served my constituents, I thought, well and faithfully for two Parliaments. I had fought to obtain reciprocity from foreign nations, before we repealed our Navigation Laws, the only time when we could have had any hope of obtaining it unless the statesmen of other nations became as enlightened as our own; and, having been defeated, I was then doing my utmost to assist in obtaining for them from our own Legislature, relief from the unjust and oppressive burdens with which they had been saddled during a period of protection; consequently, I could not but feel keenly the determined opposition which they, the Shipowners—men of my own class—for whom I had worked so strenuously, had organised against my return to Parliament.