His fortune to mend turn'd a minister's tool,
Made a rogue of himself, of his voters a fool!
Now good Mr. Editor, I think it right

To avert all those evils, which hover in sight;
And if they'll but list to my friendly advice,
The county I'll save from these ills in a trice!
Brimfull of my plan, I sat down, wrote a letter,
For matter and style, there never was better;
Although it was plain to see which way I leant,
Not one being in ten could divine what I meant.
As soon as I wrote it, I sent it to you,

And had on the whole a disint'rested view;
My motives so pure, you cannot suppose
Mr. Wellesley's pretensions I meant to oppose!
I only just thought that by blasting his fame,

I should make him return by the way that he came.
But the lad was too stiff, my courage too small,
For he always recover'd his strength by a fall!
And as we'd no Herc'les to squeeze out his breath,
We found 'twas in vain to tease him to death.
So I then wheel'd about, chang'd my mode of attack,
Smoothly smil'd in his face, left off stabbing the back
Requested a moment the loan of his ear,

And whisper'd "retire!" but unwilling to hear;
I determined at once that nothing should hush it,
And published my letter, determin'd "to crush it;"
And just as I though I'd accomplish'd my aim,
A wretch they call Candidus, that is his name,
Most vilely abus'd me; I could not but fret,
For his letter he sent to the Salisbury Gazette;
And he swears the next week that my letter in verse,
At least what remains on't; he means to rehearse."

Devizes, April 22, 1818.

To the Freeholders of the County of Wilts.
GENTLEMEN,

YOUR County, which in point of wealth, is equal to any, and for the bravery and public spirit of its inhabitants, inferior to none in the country, is at this time become an object of great interest with all those who are anxious for the public welfare. You have been so long as I can remember, the sport of those men who now compose the RUMP of the Deptford and Beckhampton clubs; who have divided between them the profits of your votes. Let us now look for a moment upon the scene which the county at present exhibits to our view. There are three Candidates for your suffrages at the next election; Mr. Methuen, Mr. Long Wellesley, and Mr. John Benett; the two former gentlemen have had seats in the Commons House of Parliament for many years, therefore the votes which they have given there is the best possible proof you can have of their principles; any professions from them now would be worse than useless; there cannot exist a doubt in the mind of

any rational man, that as they have hitherto done, so they will continue to do.

The only question then for your consideration, is, whether you are likely to mend the matter by making an effort to elect Mr. John Benett, who has never yet had a seat in that assembly. I have looked in vain to discover any thing like a patriotic feeling in the addresses of this new man; but I find that all the Candidates rest their claim to your support merely upon that indefinite term,-their independent principles.

But, gentlemen, as we possess much better proofs than any professions, it becomes our duty now as the guardians of the public, to divest ourselves of every personal consideration; to Îay aside the irritation and prejudice of partisans, and dispassionately examine the truth. Has Mr. Benett been a supporter of the ministers in their profligate expenditure, and insupportable system of taxation; or has he not? When the ministers were about to pass that cruel law, the Corn Bill, in opposition to the voice of a great majority of the nation, (which law has since in its operation caused the death of thousands by actual starvation, and reduced hundreds of thousands to a state of pauperism)-did not this Mr. Benett voluntarily tender his services, and give the most unaccountable evidence before the committees of the House of Lords and Commons, in favour of that cruel Corn Bill? Did not this Mr. Benett draw up a petition and procure a number of signatures which he got presented to the House of Commons, in support of this ministerial measure, "That he and the petitioners had cheerfully paid all "the taxes for the prosecution of the war; and further added, "that they would continue cheerfully to pay those taxes in "time of peace, provided that they were protected by a legis"lative enactment to keep up the price of corn?" Has not Mr. Benett upon all occasions given his unqualified and blind support to all the measures of the ministers? Has he ever upon any one, amongst the numerous occasions that have offered in the county of Wilts, joined in any one petition that reprobated the conduct of ministers or opposed their measures? His advocates may and do say, although he has never opposed the ministers or their ruinous system of taxation, yet he has always opposed the parsons; that he has not only petitioned, but he has also written and published several pamphlets against tythes.

Now my friends and fellow countrymen have been the dupes of interested and designing men long enough; let us therefore fairly and candidly inquire into the motives for this enmity to, and his persecution of, the clergy, and this great hostility of

Mr. Benett to tythes, whilst they remained in the possession of the clergy; and if it should be found that he has been all along pursuing his own private interest; if his object was to enrich the great landholder only, whilst he professed that it was to benefit the public and relieve the farmer, then we shall come to a just conclusion, and know how to estimate the value that is likely to be derived from his future exertions.

Some few years since this Mr. John Benett purchased the tythes of Enford, in this county, and the moment he got them into his own hands, he doubled the rent of them to his tenants; and at this time he makes his own tenants pay for those very tythes treble the rent that the former proprietor (a stranger) ever received for them. Thus we have in Mr. Benett's own conduct the clearest evidence of the great injury that would fall upon the farmer and the public, if he were to succeed in his object of wresting the tythes from the clergy, and placing them in the possession of such rapacious land-holders as himself.

This same Mr. Benett, who, as you see, never loses sight of his own interest, even whilst he appears to be solely actuated for the public good, has screwed up the rent of his farms to a higher pitch than any other land-holder in the county, and has ground down the wages of labourers lower than any other farmer in the county, thereby increasing the number of paupers in a greater degree than any of his cotemporaries. The knowledge of these facts being pretty general in that part of the county where Mr. Benett resides, it is not at all surprising that he should so frequently meet with such specimens of British independence as the following, in the course of his canvass, vis.-In soliciting the vote of a humble but reputable freeholder in the city of Salisbury, he obtained this reply-" Sir, you have done all in your power to take away my bread, and "were I to vote you into the House of Commons, you might in "return endeavour to pass laws to take away my life. Begone, you shall not have my vote.

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Although I shall never feel it necessary to apologise for offering my sentiments to the freeholders or the inhabitants of my native county, yet I should not have intruded myself upon this occasion, if i had not been called upon to contradict a most infamous report, propagated by the agents of Mr. Benett, and I fear sanctioned by himself, "That he had my support "in the present contest.' Gentlemen, if I should ever change my nature, and prefer slavery to liberty; if I should prefer arbitrary power to mild and equal laws; if I should ever wish to see the price of provisions enhanced for the benefit of the

few, to the destruction of the many; then, and not till then, will Mr. Benett have my support.

I am, Gentlemen, for the present,
Your obedient servant,

Midleton Cottage, April 29, 1818.

H. HUNT.

To the Freeholders of the County of Wilts.
GENTLEMEN,

I FIRST solicited the honour of representing you in the ensuing Parliament, professing a rigid adherence to all the principles of our invaluable constitution, and a zealous regard to all the local concerns of the county, with which, during my past life, I have endeavoured to make myself acquainted.

My eminently successful canvass in every district of the county (which I still continue), convinces me that you confide in that profession, and that your deliberate judgment is not unfavourable to my cause.

Resting unalterably on that independence, which has ever been cherished by the freeholders of Wiltshire, I hope to obtain your free and unbiassed suffrages, and to preserve your good opinion by my permanent regard to it.

May 2, 1818.

I shall ever remain, Gentlemen,
Your obliged and devoted servant,
JOHN BENETT.

To the Freeholders of the County of Wilts.
GENTLEMEN,

HAVING been called upon by an advertisement, signed by several magistrates, to explain the meaning of the words "Notorious Quorum," contained in a paragraph in one of my addresses to you, I take the liberty of requesting the favour of you to re-peruse that paragraph, which I here subjoin :

"I have heard of, and indeed seen, extracts from a sup "pressed publication, printed copies of which I know have "been confided to the care of a magistrate who formed a con"spicuous feature in that notorious Quorum, which do not "abandon either magisterial pomp or authority during their 66 canvass in favour of one of the Candidates for the honour of "representing the county of Wilts in Parliament."

I question, if, after an attentive perusal of the foregoing paragraph, the most subtle legal adviser could induce any dis

interested person to entertain an opinion that it "casts a "general aspersion upon the magistracy of the county of "Wilts," for whom, generally, I feel the greatest reverence and respect.

But when magisterial authority has been had recourse to during the present canvass, when suppressed public documents are disseminated, and when my private character is aspersed by a magistrate, accompanied by others, I feel fully justified in declaring my determination not to retract the applicable phrase of "notorious Quorum ;" which, however, I have no hesitation in saying I did not mean to apply to very many of the gentlemen whose names appear to the advertisement of the 21st inst.

I now declare that I will not trouble the public with any further notice of this subject. If any gentleman shall feel himself displeased with my conduct, I shall be happy to defend or explain it so far as the courtesy due from one gentleman to another may require.

I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
Your most obedient humble servant,
W. LONG WELLESLEY.

To the Printers of the Salisbury and Winchester Journal

GENTLEMEN,

THOUGH I have hitherto abstained from noticing any of the allusions to myself, contained in the various letters which have appeared in your journal, and other papers, on the subject of the ensuing election for the representation of this county; and though I most solemnly declare that I have neither written nor sanctioned the writing or publication of any of those letters, I am now most reluctantly called before the public to reply to the vile calumny of a Mr. John Fisher, who, not content with having induced me, by the fair promises of his superior management in the cultivation of one of my farms, to suffer him to expend the greater part of five years' rent of the same farm, in the extravagant enlargement of a (before) substantial farm-house, and in other buildings, that he might live in a splendour superior to all its former tenants; which money was expended for his benefit alone during the early part of a ten years' lease, though no clause existed in that lease to such effect; who, when the price of grain fell below what he ever expected, took advantage of my having