e necessary for you to be in
attendance, for the purpose of serving, if requested, on a
railway committee.'

"I trust that the committee of selection will not think that I
am prompted by any feeling of disrespect towards them, or
towards the House of Commons, when I inform them that it is my
intention not to serve on any committees except such as may be
appointed with reference to the affairs of Ireland.

"I accepted a seat in the House of Commons, in the hope of
being thereby enabled to assist in improving the condition of
the land of my birth. So long as I continued to believe that I
could serve Ireland effectually in the House of Commons, I
shrank from none of the labours which are connected with the
varied functions of that assembly. During twelve years I
attended Parliament with an assiduity of which I might feel
disposed to boast, if the time so consumed by the House and by
myself had been productive of results useful to my native
country.

"Experience and observation at length forced upon my mind the
conviction that the British Parliament is incompetent through
want of knowledge, if not, through want of inclination, to
legislate wisely for Ireland, and that our national interests
can be protected and fostered only through the instrumentality
of an Irish legislature.

"Since this conviction has established itself in my mind I have
felt persuaded that the labours of the Irish members, though of
little avail in the British Parliament, might, if applied in
Ireland with prudence and energy, be effectual in obtaining for
the Irish people their national rights.

"I have reason to believe that in this opinion a very large
majority of my constituents concur. To them alone I hold myself
responsible for the performance of my parliamentary duty. If
they had disapproved of my continued absence from the House of
Commons, I should have felt it my duty to have withdrawn from
the representation of the county of Limerick; but I have the
satisfaction of thinking that I not only consult the interests,
but also comply with the wishes of my constituents in declining
to engage in the struggles of English party, or to involve
myself in the details of English legislation.

"While such have been the general impressions under which I have
absented myself during nearly two y