ion
of body, shall prevent my protesting against the most dangerous
precedent which this House ever made. We talk much--I think, a great
deal too much--of the wisdom of our ancestors. I wish we could imitate
the courage of our ancestors. They were not ready to lay their liberties
at the foot of the Crown upon every vain or imaginary alarm.' He begged
the majority not to give, by the adoption of a policy of coercion, the
opponents of law and order the opportunity of saying, 'When we ask for
redress you refuse all innovation; when the Crown asks for protection
you sanction a new code.'

All protests, as usual, were thrown away, and the bill was passed. Lord
John resumed his literary tasks, and as a matter of fact only once
addressed the House in the course of the next two years. He repeatedly
declared his intention of entirely giving up politics and devoting his
time to literature and travel. Many friends urged him to relinquish such
an idea. Moore's poetical 'Remonstrance,' which gladdened Lord John not
a little at the moment, is so well known that we need scarcely quote
more than the closing lines:

Thus gifted, thou never canst sleep in the shade;
If the stirring of genius, the music of fame,
And the charm of thy cause have not power to persuade,
Yet think how to freedom thou'rt pledged by thy name.
Like the boughs of that laurel, by Delphi's decree
Set apart for the fane and its service divine,
All the branches that spring from the old Russell tree
Are by Liberty claimed for the use of her shrine.'

Lord John's literary labours began at this time to be considerable. He
also enlarged his knowledge of the world by giving free play to his love
of foreign travel.

[Sidenote: FEELING HIS WAY]

A general election occurred in the summer of 1818, and it proved that
though the Tories were weakened they still had a majority. Lord John,
with his uncle Lord William Russell, were, however, returned for
Tavistock. Public affairs in 1819 were of a kind to draw him from his
retirement, and as a matter of fact it was in that year that his
speeches began to attract more than passing notice. He spoke briefly in
favour of reducing the number of the Lords of the Admiralty, advocated
an inquiry into domestic and foreign policy, protested against the
surrender of the town of Parga, on the coast of Epirus, to the Turks,
and made an energetic speech against the prevailing bribery and
corrupt