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28More than that, he was self-contained and patient in the face of abuse and slander, and of lampoons on himself and his family, often asserting that in a free country there should be free speech and free thought. When the senate on one occasion demanded that cognizance be taken of such offences and those guilty of them, he said: “We have not enough spare time to warrant involving ourselves in more affairs; if you open this loophole you will find no time for any other business; it will be an excuse for laying everybody’s quarrels before you.” A most unassuming remark of his in the senate is also a matter of record: “If so and so criticizes me I shall take care to render an account of my acts and words; if he persists, our enmity will be mutual.”
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