I beg to assure you that I am most sensible to the liberality which I
have experienced from the Government in other as well as in pecuniary
matters, and that I am very highly gratified by the consideration
(undeserved by me, I fear) which they have displayed in the present
instance. And if I now request permission to decline the honor offered
to me, I trust I may make it fully understood that it is not because I
value it lightly or because I am not anxious to receive honors from
such a source.
The unalterable custom of this country has attached a certain degree
of light consideration to titles of honor which are not supported by
considerable fortune; or at least, it calls for the display of such an
establishment as may not be conveniently supported by even a
comfortable income. The provision attached to my official situation,
and the liberality of the King towards one of the members of my
family, have placed me in a position of great comfort. These
circumstances however have bound me to consider myself as the devoted
servant of the country, and to debar myself from efforts to increase
my fortune which might otherwise have been open to me. I do not look
forward therefore to any material increase of income, and that which I
enjoy at present is hardly sufficient, in my opinion, to support
respectably the honor which you and Lord John Russell have proposed to
confer upon me.
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