I have no doubt that in the discharge of my official duties I have made mistakes. No human judgment is infallible, nor can any man expect that all will recognize the reasons which, to him, seem to mark out clearly the line of action and of duty. It has happened, too, that my official life as Chief Executive of this State has been crowded thick with perplexities and difficulties, and I could not hope, amid such surroundings, to avoid errors or escape criticisms. If I have, on the one hand, made mistakes, I have not, on the other, complained of just and fair disagreement or disapproval, nor have I, when my own judgment and conscience approved my actions, cowered or quailed before criticism or clamor. And my experience has, I trust, broadened the horizon of my views, as it has certainly strengthened my faith in the just judgment of a generous and intelligent people. One thing I can confidently assert here in your presence. That is, that I have steadily endeavored to deserve the respect and regard of the people of Kansas. I have never cared—I never shall care—whether any person eulogizes my official life as brilliant or distinguished, so that all good citizens shall say that it was clean, just, safe, honest, and industrious. This is the only praise I hope to deserve or seek to win; this is the aim and end of my ambition. I come before a Republican State Convention as a candidate for office, for the last time. I recognize the propriety and justice of the sentiment which forbids a Governor to aspire to a third term, and if, by the confidence, partiality and generosity of the people of Kansas, I shall be again elected to the office I now hold, I shall, at the close of my term, gladly return to the work and duty abandoned at their call, and as a private citizen will continue to labor for the success of the glorious party you represent, and to advance the interests of this imperial commonwealth.