[John Wilks, Liberal politician.] Autograph Letter Signed to James Silk Buckingham, regarding his own reasons for retiring from Parliament, and Buckingham's coming 'extensive undertaking' (a tour of North America).

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter begins: 'Want of health induced me to retire from Parliament in opposition to the wishes of my kind constituents and hurrying me from Town as soon as my votes had been given for the Liberal candidates at the Kent Surrey Essex and Middlesex Elections - unavoidably deprived me of the interesting though mournful pleasure of attending your final lecture at Finsbury Chapel. There should I have desired to be present and publicly to have expressed my intense sympathy and cordial esteem.' While he is unable to bid Buckingham farewell, he hopes that 'every doubt and fear that may flit athwart your mind may be disappointed and that every hope of a prosperous progress and happy conclusion may be surpassed'. He ends with pious wishes for Buckingham's 'protracted pilgrimage and arduous toils'. In 1837 Buckingham retired from Parliament, where he had been Member for Sheffield since 1832, and went on a four-year tour of North America.