“Admiralty House, Plymouth Dock, Nov. 20, 1820.

“MY DEAR BROTHER,—­I am much obliged by your kind letter, and wish I could give you in return anything good, or worth detailing.  The fact is, the people are mad, and the world is mad; and where it will end, the Lord only knows; but as sure as we live, the days of trouble are very fast approaching, when there will be much contention and much bloodshed, and changes out of all measure and human calculation.  You and I have no choice.  Loyalty is all our duty, and we shall, no doubt, stick to it.  As for myself, you may well think me D.D.,[15] for I am burnt, and kicked, and torn in pieces for many nights; but here I am, quite whole, sound, and merry, in spite of them all, poor fools!  In a fortnight they will fain know how to make amends.  They have a particular dislike to me, and I am glad of it.  We shall live to see it changed.”

With the command at Plymouth, Lord Exmouth’s public life may be considered to have ended; for though he shrunk from no duty which his rank and character imposed upon him, he would not submit to become a political partizan.  This decision, so happy for his peace, was the result of his habitual judgment and feeling.  In a letter before alluded to, which he wrote for his eldest son before he went to Algiers, he observed, that though not rich, he would be independent, and enjoined him never to entangle himself with party politics.  While none more firmly supported the great principles upon which the security and welfare of the country rest, he chose always to keep the high position of an independent British nobleman.  The splendid rewards which his services had obtained for him, he received, not as from any particular administration, but from his country; and he felt himself entitled to assert the same independence in the House of Lords, which he had always displayed as a commander.  Thus, by a conduct equally prudent and honourable, he secured, through periods of great political excitement, an exemption almost singular, for a man in his position, from the attacks of party.

At the same time, his best services were always at the command of the Government, who frequently availed themselves of his judgment and experience.  Few important questions occurred in connection with his own profession, upon which he was not consulted.  Most of these were necessarily confidential; but the following may with propriety be noticed.  In 1818, when the extreme difficulties of the country demanded the utmost possible retrenchment, it was proposed, among other measures of economy, to destroy Pendennis Castle.  Two commissioners, sent to survey and report upon this step, were instructed to communicate first with Lord Exmouth.  His opinion decided the preservation of this noble fortress; which is at once so important from its position, and so interesting for its heroic defence, when, in the great rebellion, it obtained the honourable distinction of being the last stronghold of loyalty.