Gordon compared his plans for rural reform in Ireland to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833, and ended his letter with the claim that if this was done, the unity of the United Kingdom would be preserved as the Irish would appreciate this great act of justice and the Irish independence movement would cease to exist as "they would have nothing more to seek from agitation". Besides championing land reform in Ireland, Gordon spent the winter of 1880–81 in London socialising with his family and his few friends such as Florence Nightingale and Alfred Tennyson.