conduct equitably,
and to pronounce on the whole taken together.

"If the people of Leeds think proper to repose in me that confidence
which is necessary to the proper discharge of the duties of a
representative, I hope that I shall not abuse it. If it be their
pleasure to fetter their members by positive promises, it is in
their power to do so. I can only say that on such terms I cannot
conscientiously serve them.

"I hope, and feel assured, that the sincerity with which I make this
explicit declaration, will, if it deprive me of the votes of my friends
at Leeds, secure to me what I value far more highly, their esteem.

"Believe me ever, my dear Sir,

"Your most faithful Servant,

"T. B. MACAULAY."

This frank announcement, taken by many as a slight, and by some as a
downright challenge, produced remonstrances which, after the interval of
a week, were answered by Macaulay in a second letter; worth reprinting
if it were only for the sake of his fine parody upon the popular cry
which for two years past had been the watchword of Reformers.

"I was perfectly aware that the avowal of my feelings on the subject of
pledges was not likely to advance my interest at Leeds. I was perfectly
aware that many of my most respectable friends were likely to differ
from me; and therefore I thought it the more necessary to make,
uninvited, an explicit declaration of my feelings. If ever there was
a time when public men were in an especial measure _bound to speak the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth_, to the people, this
is that time. Nothing is easier than for a candidate to avoid unpopular
topics as long as possible, and, when they are forced on him, to take
refuge in evasive and unmeaning phrases. Nothing is easier than for
him to give extravagant promises while an election is depending, and to
forget them as soon as the return is made. I will take no such course.
I do not wish to obtain a single vote on false pretences. Under the
old system I have never been the flatterer of the great. Under the new
system I will not be the flatterer of the people. The truth, or what
appears to me to be such, may sometimes be distasteful to those whose
good opinion I most value. I shall nevertheless always abide by it, and
trust to their good sense, to their second thoughts, to the force of
reason, and the progress of time. If, after all, their decision should
be unfavourable to me, I shall submit to that decision with fortitu