should be so; she cannot help desiring to see an honour, founded in affection and free choice, restored to a family, whose ancestry had been ever dear to the county of Wilts, and to whom that county was equally endeared. Such, gentlemen, were my views, and such her desires; and being, as you all know, a very bad husband (laughing), yet taking a particular pleasure in every thing that can gratify her wishes, I am determined to spare neither labour nor expense to ac complish the object of our mutual ambition: such, gentlemen, were my motives for coming down amongst you; I hope they are strictly honourable. (Hear, hear.) Such as no man need be ashamed of. (Hear, hear.) But aware that probably the heads of the great families might appear as a candidate, I wrote to Mr. Estcourt and Mr. Penruddocke on the subject; offering instantly to decline if they felt disposed to come forward, and promised I would give them my inte rest. On their refusal I continued my canvass, and am proud to say it has been a successful one; and though given to understand that the ancient and great families of the county were opposed to me, Mrs. Penruddocke volunteered to can vass for me; and you now see in the chair a relative of the immediate descendant and representative of Mr. Goddard, your once revered and beloved member. I need not inform you, gentlemen, this has not been the treatment which I have invariably received. You know in what way I have been maligned. You have read, no doubt, as well as heard of the conduct of my opponents. For noticing this, I have been accused of contemning the magistracy; but this, like all the other charges, has not even the shadow of a shade to support it. There is no man in the world holds the magistracy of this county in higher respect than I do; no man venerates them more! But this respect is confined to them when acting in their proper sphere; when they step beyond that, and the magistrate emerges into the partisan, you will agree with me that all respect should terminate with it. I have been accused (and what have I not been accused of?) of be ing a bad and oppressive landlord. My tenants know the contrary, and have come forward spontaneously to deny the charge. They could do no other; I love my tenants, from the richest to the poorest: they know it; they live in my affections; and I live in theirs. It has been said that they were compelled to do what they did, to testify their respect for me; but than this nothing can be more false. My tenants compelled indeed! They are freemen, and not slaves; many of them rich landlords; most of them rich enough to be so; and all of them as independent in mind as their landlord! (Bravo, bravo.) And you must not think me un grateful in not thanking them for what they have done; nay, at no period of my life have I been less cautious in my conduct towards them; they did their duty to me; I have always endeavoured to do mine by them. But, lest it should be supposed that I wished to influence the freeholders of Wilts by a long list of grateful tenantry, I wrote to my other tenants and forbade positively forbade such testimonial on my behalf. I trust you, gentlemen, are too independent: I know you are too independent in mind, to be led away by the reproaches cast upon a man; and I trust you will never be biassed by any thing expressed in his praise. My first advice to you is my last, "judge for yourselves." (Bravo, bravo.) You will think by this time that I have trespassed too long upon your time. (No, no.) I shall just make one observation more. Much has been said about the agricultural and manufacturing interests, and the necessity having a man possessed of local knowledge to represent the county. "Local interest" too have been made use of. For my part, gentlemen, I should always be averse to making any distinction between Agriculture and Trade. I see no reason for dividing what nature and necessity have so happily united. They are so mutually dependent that the one cannot prosper without the other, nor decline without experiencing a reverse. If the agricultural interest is to be a commanding one in Wilts, you may expect to hear of nothing bat duties on Spanish wool: what then becomes of the ma nufacturing interest? While my worthy friends. of North Wilts, would have as good reason to exclaim, "Od rabbit it, let us have a tax on Dutch cheese." The mind of a representative for this large county should be free from (excuse the phrase) all local partialities; he should embrace the interests of the whole without exception, otherwise the county would be like that city when in a state of siege, where every man proposed as necessary for its defence what particularly belonged to his own trade, A man of local interests can be but the representative of half his constituents. Local knowledge, gentlemen, is-simply a knowledge of place; and local interest, nothing but getting the best price for what grows upon it. (laughing.) Now, gentlemen, I have thus endeavoured to explain to you my motives for appearing among you; I have endeavoured to vindicate myself from the charges alleged against me, the way in which 1 have conducted myself, the way in which I mean to act. What I am now going to say looks like dictating, and if you please, gentlemen, let it be so. If you believe me capable of acting as my enemies have represented; if youbelieve me to be the bad husband, the oppressive laud Jord, the ministerial tool, that they have représented me to be, reject me at once, and in a way that will bar the hope of return. But if you believe on the contrary, that I am not such a monster; if you approve of my motives in coming forward, and of the principles by which I shall be guided, then, gentlemen, I am happy at having an opportunity while returning you thanks for drinking my health, of at the same time soliciting your interest now, and your vote at the ensuing election. During the delivery of this speech, Mr. Wellesley was warmly cheered by the company, who entered into his views, and participated in his feelings. After which, a song written expressly for the occasion, was sung by Mr. Foster, and which, from the very exquisite style in which it was performed, received a double encore. The chairman gave "The County of Wilts,"-drank with three times three. After which, John Seagrim, jun. Esq. of Wilton, in a most eloquent and impressive speech, forcibly recommended to the meeting the neces sity of a hearty co-operation in the cause in which they had engaged, and concluded with that good old electioneering toast, "A long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether, which was drank with loud plaudits. Bishop's beautiful ode, "Fill boys and drink about," was sung by the gentlemen with fine effect. A number of appropriate toasts were given; and the singing was delightful. Amongst the songs pecu liarly attractive, were those of Mr. Lacy, who sang "Who deeply drinks of wine," with the greatest taste and judg ment; and "The battle of Salamanca," by Mr. Foster, who gave it with his more than accustomed excellence. Harmony and hilarity detained the company until the sun, which saw them at his setting, beheld them pleased and jovial,-when rising he was scattering around him in rich profusion the rays of the morning. The company did not separate till nine the next morning, nor then entirely. To the Printers of the Salisbury and Winchester Journal. GENTLEMEN, A REPORT having been published of what fell from me at a dinner given by my friends at Marlborough, I think it necessary to correct an error in that report. I never said I had written" to Mr. Estcourt." I did say I had written to Mr. Penruddocke, offering to decline after I had commenced my canvass, and to give him my interest should he think proper to become a candidate for the honour of representing the county of Wilts. I also stated reasons why I should have waved my pretensions in favour of such men as himself, Mr. Estcourt, Mr. Goddard, and others. It is from a scrupulous desire of not appearing incorrect in my statements to the public that I trouble you with these remarks. I am, Gentlemen, your obedient humble servant, Draycol-House, May 15, 1818. To the Printers of the Salisbury and Winchester Journal. GENTLEMEN, I LAMENT that in your last Journal you failed of detailing the effusions of brilliant eloquence, and the generous hospitality, by which one of our Candidates has deemed it expedient to distinguish himself at the present crisis of his fortune. You gave but a meagre account of the grand entertain. ment at Marlborough, to which the freeholders in his interest, and many who are not freeholders, were admitted at five shillings per head; where every thing was decorated with laurel, and where the mirrors exhibited inscriptions judiciously selected and highly appropriate; where the venison both for size and flavour excelled all that had before been seen or tasted; where the wines were of the best quality, and the supply most ample; where, to make the treat complete, there were singers from London and Bath and Salisbury; and where the speeches, and the toasts, and the sentiments, and the songs, were made for the occasion, and were highly correct and tasteful. All this has really happened at Marlborough. Whatever may be the current of future events, it will form an epoch in our county history. It will either be a lesson or the matter of emulation to future Candidates, and yet you have hitherto but briefly noticed it in your widely-circulated Journal. The gentleman whose exalted name afforded a character to the day, was observed in a new light by every anxious specIn his canvass he had generally appeared like one of our ancient Plantagenets, who was aspiring to the throne by a sort of elective title; tator. "Standing 'tween two Clergymen, But now all was song and merriment and joviality. The feast was prolonged far beyond the ordinary hour of separation, till in the glowing description of the historian, who saw what he records, the sun was scattering around him in rich profusion the rays of the morning. This to the guests at five shillings per head must have been ecstatic joy; for "Light is the dance, and doubly sweet the lays, It is new in the Chronicles of Wiltshire that a gentleman aspiring to the honour of representing us should deem it necessary to afford an entertainment almost gratuitously to any assemblage of persons, or that on such an occasion he should make a display of his power of elocution to set forth his high pretensions, to emblazon his unquestioned merits, or to recapitulate imaginary calumnies for the purpose of confuting them. I rejoice that the names of many freeholders will not go down to posterity with the account of that rare festivity. I heartily rejoice that no descendant of our old champion, Mr. Goddard, nor any one inheriting the spirit of his glorious triumph can be truly mentioned as present on that occasion. Any public orator must have learnt but little of the pedigrees of our county families, and indeed have been a stranger to our county, if he asserted that "the gentleman in the chair "was the immediate descendant and representative of Mr. "Goddard, our once revered and beloved member." I am confident that no true descendants of Mr. Goddard, and not many of that class which is justly jealous of the independence of the county, would accept such entertainment from a candidate soliciting their support. They would not patiently have heard him boast of the vast and over-bearing weight of his influence and fortune, that even when a poor man he might have enjoyed the honour of a peerage which he seems to despise, and that now there is scarcely a rotten borough which he might not command. That having resolved to make Wiltshire the place of his constant residence, he had therefore determined at the dissolution of Parliament to offer himself for the county: that he was ambitious of representing it; and that as the resignation of one of the sitting members had offered an earlier opportunity for application than the dissolution, he therefore seized it, seeking to restore that honour to the house of his lady. The freeholders of Wiltshire will well consider these pretensions hardily advanced and now deliberately recorded. They will consider how far they should prevail against the solicitations of a gentleman whose family is perhaps as ancient in the county, and his property certainly as adequate to the station which he aspires to, as any member for the county could boast of in the recollection of the oldest among us. But they will remember that he deduces no advantage to his cause from wealth, from descent, or from connection: None from the intimate acquaintance with our local interests which he has acquired during a life spent in our service in various public capacities, and in those pursuits which are best suited to the rank and natural habits of a resident proprietor. He makes a liberal appeal to the independent sense of his native |