not then to learn how little this kind of hostility is
to be regarded, when it is provoked by the faithful discharge of duty.
When the storm was at the highest he wrote the following letter:--

"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 t