ght to explain the transaction, as I have always
been able to explain it, and to cast back the vile charge of
dishonesty on those who dared to make it. That my father was a
merchant in the city of Edinburgh, and that he engaged in disastrous
business speculations commencing in the inflated times of 1825 and
1826, terminating ten years afterwards in his failure, is undoubtedly
true. And it is, unhappily, also true, that he did hold a public
office, and that funds connected with that office were, at the moment
of his sequestration, mixed up with his private funds, to the extent,
I believe, of two thousand eight hundred pounds. For this sum four
relatives and friends were sureties, and they paid the money. Part of
that money has been repaid; every sixpence of it will be paid, and
paid shortly. Property has been long set aside for the payment of that
debt to its utmost farthing. My father felt that while that money
remained unpaid there was a brand on himself and his family, and he
has wrought, wrought as few men have wrought, to pay off, not only
that, but other obligations of a sacred character. Many a bill of
exchange, the proceeds of his labour, has he sent to old creditors who
were in need of what he owed. For myself, sir, I have felt equally
bound with my father; as his eldest son I felt that the fruits of my
industry should stand pledged until every penny of those debts was
paid and the honour of my family vindicated. An honourable member
opposite, whom I regret to hear cheering on the person who made the
attack, might have known that, under the legal advice of his
relative, I long ago secured that in the event of my death before the
accomplishment of our long-cherished purpose, after the payment of my
own obligations, the full discharge of those sacred debts of my father
should stand as a first charge on my ample estate. Debts, sir, which I
was no more bound in law to pay than any gentleman who hears me. For
the painful transaction to which I have been forced to allude, I am no
more responsible than any gentleman in this assembly. It happened in
1836; I was at that time but seventeen years of age, I was totally
unconnected with it, but, young as I was, I felt then, as I feel now,
the obligation it laid upon me, and I vowed that I should never rest
until every penny had been paid. There are those present who have
known my every action since I set foot in this country; they know I
have not eaten the bread of idleness,