he did it in consequence of Mr. Benett swearing that the farmers and landholders would be ruined; and as for himself, he would pack up his awls and go to France! Heaven forbid! O, dire misfortune for England! Worse than an earthquake! It is to John Benett's oath not to Mr. Wellesley's vole, that the poor must look. And so Mr. Benett did recommend little barley mixture! He is much attached to mixture! Mixtures for the back, mixtures for the belly! and all from Pythouse! If the mixture for the belly be as pleasant to the palate, as the mixture for the back is to the touch, it must be a mess for the Gods!

I should not have noticed your letter had there been any thing of more importance in the paper. But there is such a falling off! The combatants of the quill have all deserted their colours; I must therefore direct my attention to you, and shall employ my pen as the Romans (to preserve their dexterity) did their javelins, discharge them against a post, and that is you,

MY OLD HEART.

To the Freeholders of the County of Wilts.

GENTLEMEN,

I CONGRATULATE you on the victory you have achieved, and on the moderation you have manifested-on the laurels you have won, and on the way that you have worn them! You have, indeed, done well and wonderfully! The conquest you have effected, is, indeed, a glorious one; whether we con. sider its motive, its object, or the means by which it has been accomplished. Its motive was love of country; a desire to see your county independent, like those which surround it-nothing selfish or sinister, not hatred to any one man as such, more than to another; it was on public principles you acted, even when defending the private character of a gentleman from the calumnies with which it had been assailed. Your object, like your motive, was good; it was by a vigorous effort to rescue your country from the thraldom in which it had been kept for nearly half a century by a few individuals, who, though they may be very amiable and respectable in private life, had no right to usurp an authority over you, a power that they now attempted to perpetuate, and which would have deprived you of the rights to which you were born, or which your industry had acquired, and which you sought to transmit to your posterity. For nearly half a century these rights have not been recognised; you have been transferred from one man to another, like sheep or oxen, but with less ceremony; cattle must be collected before they can be disposed of, but you are trans

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ferred without so much trouble-without your knowledge, though against your wills! The age of usurpation is goneyou have rescued the character of your county, and established your own! You have shewn what men can do, when they are resolved to be free; and the way in which you accomplished the independence of your county, shews that you deserve it. The means by which you wrought your deliverance were of a kind that shewed you understood the nature of the blessing for which you were contending; in every way they were legal and honourable, nor varied from the straight line which the constitution has drawn between the exercise of right, and an infringement on privilege. On your part there was no "confused noise of the warrior, nor garments rolled in blood," you came in cheerful procession, and departed like men who were satisfied they had discharged their consciences to their country and to posterity. On your part there was no martial array, no bludgeons, no concealed swords, none of you were bound in sureties to keep the peace! You conducted yourselves with order, and you have the praise of it.

The printers of the Salisbury Journal, Messrs. Brodie and Dowding, gentlemen of sterling probity, intelligence, and candour, and whose strong attachment to the cause you have espoused can no longer be doubted, in complimenting the Sheriff and county magistrates for their excellent arrangements, and the city magistrates for their precautions, have paid an equal compliment to you; for the arrangements of the one, and the precautions of the other, would have lost all their excellence, had they been ineffectual. In fact, there was no riot, there was no disturbance throughout the county, but what has been traced to the supporters of the retiring Candidate, on the assertions of some, and the affidavits of others. And I am credibly informed, that Mr. B. on complaining of the clamour and noise that was made on his appearing in the city, was judiciously replied to by the magistrate whom he addressed on the occasion," that if he heard of any riot, that he would attend in person, and the party to whom it was attributable, should be made examples of; but clamour was not riot, and if persons were determined to wear conspicuously about them, colours offensive to the eye of the populace, he would not be answerable for the consequences; and he thought the best way to prevent disturbance and riot was to remove them; for, if people saw what they disliked, they would express their ab horrence of it, and he possessed no authority to prevent it," There was no necessity for the worthy magistrate's interference, and, if there had, it must have been solely attributed to those men who were hired, and horsed, and fed, and armed, to intimidate those who were freeholders, and to excite disturbance

amongst those who were not. I appeal to Mr. Smith, of Westbury, and to the gentlemen who were with him, when the leader of the horse, with his followers, attempted to ride him down, and which they would have done but for the railing which the Under-Sheriff had caused to be placed round the hustings. In fact, so peaceably were the inhabitants of Salisbury and Wilton known to be, that the lie of the day is, that a man was hired from Portsmouth, at twelve shillings per week, by Mr. Wellesley, to create a tumult, as the people shewed no disposition to be guilty of any outrage.

Now, Gentlemen, I must lead you back a little; for after this admission of the Editors of the Journal in behalf of the peaceable demeanour of the people; after the affidavits read from the hustings, and by which it is clearly proved that the aggressors were not persons friendly to Mr. Wellesley; after the disgraceful scenes that you witnessed at the place of Election, you no doubt wonder how any man of common sense and common honesty, in a speech delivered by him at the White Hart on the evening of Mr. Benett's declining the Poll, could assert "that a system of terror had been established throughout the county, by which many freeholders had been intimidated, and dared not to exercise their franchise in his favour." Now, gentlemen, to you that have seen the whole transactions of this contest, does it not appear astonishing that any man can use such language, though in a company even of partisans? It must appear more strange to you that it should have been published, and with an insinuation that Mr. Wellesley had acquired his Election by " violence!" After this, gentlemen, I need not ask you to pay no respect to the speaker or his speechment. Messrs. Brodie and Dowding tell you that they do not believe that there was any thing of the kind; and at a Special Meeting of the Mayor and Justices of the City of New Sarum, held in the Council Chamber on the third of July, for the express purpose of thanking the High Constables, and Sub-Constables for their attendance during the election, it is expressly stated in the resolution of thanks that "the preservation of the public peace of the City was completely effected, and the disgraceful scenes of riot, too common on such occasions, were prevented." After reading this, gentlemen, I shall only astonish you once more, and that is by two quotations, from two advertisements purporting to be Mr. Benett's, in which he thanks the High Sheriff of the county, his Under-Sheriff, the Magistrates of the county, of New Sarum and Wilton, the officers of Police, and the horsemen who attended him, "for the suppression of tumult and commotion, by which the freedom of election was

violated, and the lives of many of his friends endangered, and in which many of them incurred great personal danger?" So much for the advertisements of Mr. Benett, if they are his, but that I will not believe, or else he cannot have the honourable mind which the speechment maker gives him. They cannot be his. They were written by some "indescribable hireling writer"-" some man of desperate fortune," -who, beaten from the field, took that method of shewing the mildness of his temper, and the philosophy of his mind. On Mr. Benett I cast no reflection; he has been badly advised, and badly supported,; and, as far as I ought, I pity his fallen fortunes. He has to thank the Moon-Raker's effusions, and all the rest of his writers, for his overthrow: had they written less, and acted a little more, he might have been in a situation where, with all the charity of which I am master, I should not like to see him. Every thing that has been said about him, has been called forth by their weekly communications to the press; while a fair chance of reply has not been allowed to his opponents. If our enemies wear swords, we must wear them too; and he that gives the first thrust, must justify the second-both are attributable to them -in every thing they have been unsuccessful-they courted discomfiture, and they have got it; and all the harm I now wish them is-fortitude and resignation.

Mr. Benett throws out an insinuation, that at some future period he may again appear as a candidate for the county: and the report of to-day is that some other gentleman intends offering himself on the next vacancy. This is no more than what you had a right to expect. It is no more than a beaten school-boy's trick,-" I won't fight any more now, but I'll have it out with you to-morrow; and if I don't, brother Dick shall." This is all the triumph we allow a runaway it is the swan-song of defeat. You will see no new starters; the Quorum and the Clubs have had their bellyfull. If so eager for another, why did they not stay and see the present one out. Let me advise them to make the most of their time, and diligently improve the opportunity you have given them of acquiring some of those excellent qualifications which Mr. Benett possesses for the improvement of your county. Let the Representatives you have chosen be the objects of your entire confidence: they have made a trial of your affections, and there is no man that beheld them -that heard them-can doubt of their making you a corresponding return. Should they act otherwise, gentlemen, you shall not fail to see it noticed. And now I have only to thank you for the patience and attention with which you have read my letters to you-for the joy you have expressed

at their effects for the personal attentions I have received from many of you, especially from those whom I had been accustomed to treat as adversaries, but which name we have exchanged for that of friend, and the endearments of friendship.

Gentlemen, for the present, I most respectfully bid you farewell, and shall ever continue to prove myself your faithful friend, TITUS TRUEMAN.

Saturday, 4th July, 1818.

Mr. Benett to the Freeholders of the County of Wilts. GENTLEMEN,

The heat of contention having in some degree subsided, I trust the remarks I consider it my duty to submit to you, on the subject of the late Election, will be attentively examined, even by those who have hitherto been opposed to me.

I decline replying to the scandalous productions of hireling writers, which were industriously and widely circulated; I trusted that my character was well known to you, and that it would be justly appreciated. I am now, however, induced to notice the address of Mr. Wellesley, dated the 3rd of July, in which he says, "you have refused to wear the chains with which it was attempted to shackle you, and have for ever secured your independence."

Gentlemen, I would ask who offered you chains? and where is now your independence? Does Mr. Wellesley arrogate to himself, and to his supporters, all the independence of Wiltshire?

That word independence, which has been prostituted for the purposes of the contest, may still be re-echoed by Mr. Wellesley; it has already served his end by deceiving the mul titude, and securing his election for Wiltshire, and it has left the borough of St. Ives for another independent man.

The representation of the county of Wilts is intended to be in future the appendage of one family, and its independence has become a bye-word amongst all people. By whom has this been effected ? Not by me or my supporters. I offered myself as a Candidate for your representation, with the legiti mate pretensions of being a private gentleman, of a family as ancient, as bonourable, and independent as any in this county; having resided my whole life amongst you, and endeavoured to perform all the duties attached to my station.

I had no Treasury influence, no high alliances, no immode rate fortune to boast of. The whole of my interest in the county of Wilts proceeded from the affections of those who have long known me as their friend, whose attachment cannot