In recognition of his distinguished services as a statesman and a man of letters.
"I will not affect to be ignorant that there is no identity, I believe, in political opinion between this corporation and the great political party with which I am intimately connected. Therefore, my Lord Provost, I feel that in taking the course which you and the corporation have so graciously pursued to-day, you are in fact paying a homage, a healthy homage, to that public life which is the soul of a free State, and that by conferring this distinction upon me you wish to show that if an individual in this country devotes his life and his best energies in order to maintain and if possible increase the power and prosperity of our common country, whatever may be your political opinions, which exertions are in your opinion worthy of your respect and regard. And permit me to say, my Lord Provost, that I think that you and similar public bodies of vast antiquity and importance take a wise course in that behalf, because there is no higher award and greater encouragement to public men than public manifestations like the present, that they are respected and recognised by independent bodies of their fellow citizens."