Sir Francis evidently took great interest in the affairs of Rodney, and on 7th June, 1783, moved an address to the King that a 'lasting provision' might be made for the gallant Admiral; but, on the Government's undertaking to see after it, he withdrew his motion. He opposed the Peace, and argued 'with energy' against it; but, as the report from which I quote merely 'preserves the substance of the argument without the _declamation_,' we are unfortunately deprived of this specimen of the Baronet's eloquence. In November of the same year he seconded the Address in reply to the King's speech, declaring his confidence in the Administration, his desire to alleviate the burdens of the people, his abhorrence of smuggling, as to which he said he spoke with some authority, living as he did in a maritime county; and, having spoken with tenderness of the natives of India, whose grievances the Government had promised to redress, he concluded with a warm eulogy of the unparalleled successes of Lord Rodney. Nor did he neglect the arts of peace; deriving as he did an almost princely income from the mines which lay within sight of his mansion, he was ever on the watch for opportunities for developing mining prosperity, and promoting the moral and social welfare of the miner. He was deeply interested, too, in improving the means of locomotion in the county, and in 1809 laid the first rail of the iron tramway designed to connect Portreath on the northern shore of Cornwall with the Gwennap mines. Moreover, he was a liberal patron of the fine arts,[61] and his edition of Carew's 'Survey of Cornwall,' enriched with Tonkin's notes, and published in 1811, is one amongst many instances of his public spirit, and his interest in the affairs of his county. He lived to the good old age of seventy-seven, but the end came at last; and on his way to London, to attend in his place in the House of Peers, he was seized with paralysis at Exeter. He managed to reach town, but died at his residence, Stratheden House, South Place, Knightsbridge, nearly opposite the Hyde Park Cavalry Barracks, on the 5th February, 1835. These were the days before railways, and the tale is still told in the west country of the magnificent procession, with its 'outriders and ten pages on horseback,' which wended its way at a walking-pace from London to Tehidy, a distance of 300 odd miles, accomplished in twelve days.