Kaleidoscopiana Wiltoniensia; OR, VIEWS OF WILTSHIRE; CONTAINING ALL THE ADVERTISEMENTS, LETTERS, SQUIBS, SONGS, &c. &c. During The ELECTION, JUNE 1818. To the Gentlemen, Clergy, Yeomanry, and Freeholders of the County of Wilts. GENTLEMEN, IN consequence of the continued rumours that a dissolution of Parliament will soon take place, I feel it a duty incumbent on me to communicate to you that it is not my intention again to solicit the high and distinguished honour with which I have been invested by you in three successive Parliaments. Ill health has been the constant result of my attendance in the House of Commons during the last three years; and, as I am conscious of my inability to pay that strict attention to those Parliamentary duties which you have a right to expect from your Representatives, I trust you will be disposed to applaud rather than to condemn the motive which compels me to make this candid avowal of my determination. In thus publicly taking leave of you, I avail myself of the opportunity to return you my warmest thanks for the very liberal and repeated marks of favour and support, which I have experienced from you during the time I have had the honour to represent you; and I am willing to hope the confidence you have so generously reposed in me has on no occasion been misplaced. B It is some consolation to me to reflect that, although I may so soon be placed in a more humble and contracted sphere of life, I may yet be of service to my native county; and whatever duties I may have still left me to discharge, your welfare and prosperity will be the constant objects of my attention. With every sentiment of gratitude and respect, I am, Gentlemen, your obliged and devoted servant, Ashton, Feb. 20, 1818. R. LONG. To the Noblemen, Gentlemen, Clergy, Yeomanry, and Freeholders of the County of Wilts. As a dissolution appears likely soon to take place, I should feel myself deficient in due respect to my constituents, from whom I have so uniformly received such flattering and independent support, were I now to delay declaring my intention of again aspiring to the highest object of a country gentleman's ambition-the distinguished honour of representing my native county in Parliament. My public conduct is before you: I shall, therefore, not obtrude any professions on your notice, further than to express my warmest feelings of gratitude for the manner in which you have already returned me to the House of Commons; and to express my honest hope, that the confidence so generously reposed in me, has, on no occasion, been abused, and that your local interest in particular have not been impaired by my indifference or inattention. Most earnestly and respectfully soliciting the renewal of your former support, and begging to apologize for not waiting on all of you in person at the present moment, owing to public and county business in the House of Commons, I have the honour to remain, Your grateful and devoted servant, PAUL METHUEN. 42, Upper Grosvenor-st. Feb. 27. To the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, and Freeholders of the County of Wilts. GENTLEMEN, MR. LONG having publicly declared his intention to decline the future representation of this county, I take this early opportunity of offering myself to your notice, and of requesting the favour of your support at the ensuing Election. Should you confer on me the distinguished honour to which I aspire, of representing this truly independent county in Parliament, the strongest expression of my gratitude will be found in the conscientious, diligent, and independent discharge of the duties of that important trust. Whenever a dissolution of the present Parliament takes place, I will embrace the earliest opportunity of personally renewing my request. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, Pythouse, Feb, 23, 1818. JOHN BENETT. To the Noblemen, Gentlemen, Clergy, and Freeholders of the County of Wilts. GENTLEMEN, AN advertisement in the Courier newspaper of this evening, soliciting your votes at the impending General Election, in consequence, as is there stated, of Mr. Long, one of your present members, having publicly signified his intention of retiring, makes it necessary for me not to delay the expres sion of my anxious desire to represent your county in Par liament. In thus declaring myself a Candidate for this high and distinguished situation, I am governed not so much by any political motives, as by the ambition of restoring to the house of Draycot an honour which has been so frequently confer red upon various branches of that ancient Wiltshire family. I will take the earliest opportunity, which the attention to my duties in Parliament will permit, of paying my respects in person to all the freeholders of the county. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, Very faithfully yours, London, Feb. 25, 1818. W. LONG WELLESLEY. THE Freeholders of Wiltshire are earnestly entreated to be on their guard against giving PREMATURE PROMISES to either of the Candidates who at present have offered themselves to succeed Mr. Long. WILTSHIRE ELECTION. Ar a Meeting of Freeholders held in the Guildhall of the Town of Calne, on Friday the 6th of March, 1818; Mr. THOS. STRETCH, one of the Guild Stewards being called to the Chair, The following Resolutions were entered into: 1st-That the enormous expenses attending Election Contests deter honest and independent men, of moderate fortunes, from offering their services to the country in the Commons House of Parliament, where their talents might be the most effectually exerted for the public good. 2nd-That we will attend the Election and exercise the right of voting in favour of those Candidates whose public principles we most approve, at our own expense. 3rd-That the best service which every freeholder can render to his country, who is not ashamed to be treated and carried to the poll at the expense of the Candidate, is to stay at home. 4th-That the Chairman be requested to sign these Resolutions on behalf of the meeting, and have them printed in the county paper, in the hope that similar ones being generally adopted, without attempting to impose either persons or principles on any one, will induce those who are best qualified to serve the country in Parliament, to become candidates, relying for success not on their wealth, but on their principles. THOS. STRETCH, Chairman. To the Freeholders of the County of Wilts. GENTLEMEN, SINCE I last had the honour of addressing you, I have attended the Assizes in this county; and have also canvassed the city of Salisbury, the several towns of Wilton, Warminster, and Downton, and some of the adjoining villages. The kind reception which I have universally received, and the almost unanimous promise of support which has been given to me, have made a deep and lasting impression on my mind. Nothing can be more gratifying to me than the warm expres sions of personal esteem with which I have been honoured in every part of this my native county. I am proud to say, that I have hitherto passed my life in Wiltshire, performing the duties attached to a private station, and I now hope, that by your kind and active exertions, I shall shortly be placed in the most exalted station of public trust to which an independent man can aspire. I shall not relax in my exertions I have the honour to remain Pythouse, March 14, 1818. To Fulwar Craven, Esq. Chilton House, Wilts. SIR, WE, your neighbours, freeholders, and others of the County of Wilts, having observed in the last Salisbury and Winchester Journal, that R. Long, Esq. does not intend to offer himself again to represent the county in Parliament, and having witnessed your activity as a magistrate, and upon all public occasions, and fully believing you to be possessed of an independency of mind as well as of fortune, hope you will have the goodness to gratify our wishes by offering yourself as a candidate at the next General Election, or upon the first occasion that may present itself. And, Sir, we require only one pledge from you, which is, that you on no account suffer yourself to be tempted to sacrifice your property in the pursuit, to the injury of your family, the evil example of all good men, and the risk of those services which can alone be performed by persons who enter the House of Commons freed from the dread of future expense. And we are, Sir, Your very obedient humble servants, John Williams' Fras. Williams Thos. Stroud John Williams, jun. Thos. Chouls Wm. Williams Wm. Aldridge George Church Richard Church John Hunt Watts February 28th, 1818. Jos. Atherton Wm. Hallett Ambrose Alexander Richard Read Thos. Gould |