Pembroke's, written nearly twenty years ago. It would seem as if I had
been a very wary person to preserve my papers so carefully. But this
is not the fact; I have been quite the reverse; thousands of papers,
letters from public men, which would have been most valuable to me now,
and documents, have I incautiously and thoughtlessly burnt. I will,
however, state how I came by _this_ letter, which I have now here in
this gaol. Soon after I came to Ilchester, I wrote home to my family, to
collect from amongst my papers, all letters and papers containing votes
of thanks that had been passed at public meetings all over the country,
and sent to me from various places, from almost every part of the
kingdom; particularly in the years 1816, 1817, 1818, 1819 and 1820. When
these papers came to me here, in looking them over I discovered three
from Lord Pembroke; and I was rather surprised at their being amongst
the number sent, as I had quite forgotten what subjects they were upon.
But, on opening them, I found that they all contained expressions of
approbation and thanks, for various offers that I had made during the
first French war, while an invasion was threatened. As soon as I had
examined them, I put them by, and never thought of them again, till I
came to write the account of my first offer. I was then going to state
the substance of the Lord Lieutenant's answer, as far as my memory would
serve me, but at that moment recollecting that I had some letters from
Lord Pembroke, I looked for them, and the very first upon which I laid
my hand was that which I have inserted above. Now, let the life and
fortune men produce, if they can, one such instance amongst them, of
patriotic and disinterested self-devotion as that which I evinced at
that time. It will be seen that I was just the same sort of man on the
16th of August, 1801, as I was on the 16th of August, 1819; just the
same sort of man that I am at this moment. In the first instance my
country was in danger; she was threatened by the invasion of a foreign
foe--that was enough; what was my conduct? I hurried to her assistance,