I feel that I can be of no further service to the Convention and will therefore not move."[13] There was a pause of consternation.

The Chairman intervened and the debate proceeded, and was carried on through the week.

During its course a letter to the Chairman from the Bishop of Ross was circulated to us, most dexterous in exposition, most affecting in the tone of its conclusion.

It can be read in the Report of the Convention and it cannot with justice be quoted except at full length--so admirable is the linking of argument.

It need only be said here that it was an appeal "to my fellow-Nationalists who have already made great concessions" to yield, for the sake of a settlement, this further point, and that the appeal was signed "from my sick-bed, not far removed from my death-bed." That eloquent voice and subtle brain could ill be spared from our assembly: but the letter came too late.