X
1] CUBDEN'S VII OF .

JR POSITION. 367

“4d of the snomalons position in which I was left when 1846.
Ur consultations ended ist antumn, Had it not been Zr 42.
for the potato panic, which dawned upon us within a few
Weeks after we came to the wise decision respecting my own
"ourse of action, I should then have been bound by the
Uecensity of circumstances to have abandoned my publio
“oer. That providential dispensation opened out a pro-‘Pect
 of 5 speedy termination of our agitation, which has not
been disappointed, I therefore made arrangements of a
“mporary kind for the management of my private concerns.
This, I concluded, was understood by you and my other privy
*ouncillors, But the arrangement was only provisional ; and
"OW that I trust we are really drawing towards a virtual
“ttlement, of the Corn question, my private concerns again
Press upon my attention. I am in a false situation, and
Very day increases its difficulty. My prominent position
Sefore the world leads the public to expect that I shall
‘ake g leading part in futare political affairs, for which I do
10% foe] in health or gpirits to be equal, and which private
®nsiderations render altogether impossible.
“The truth is, that accident, quite as much as any merit
0 my own part, has forced me gradually into a notoriety
for which I bave not naturally much taste; but which,
Wider 4) circumstances, is a soorce of continued mental em-~
berrassment to me. How to escape from the dilemma has
been for months the subject of cogitation with me. My own
Ndgment leads irresistibly to one solution of the difficulty,
by Tetiring from Parliament as soon as the corn question is
fe. 1 observe your allusion to a public demonstration ;
"Ud the jdes of a testimonial has reached me through so
Many channels, that it would be affectation to conceal from
Myself that something of the kind is in contemplation. I
ig not, I confess, sanguine ahout the success of such an
“Tort, pecuniarily speaking, on the part of my friends. Public