Star.
London, England, 1805-01-26 00:00:00

TO TUE GENTLEMEN, CLERGY, AND FREEHOLDERS
OF THE COUNTY Of HERTFORD.
AT a Period of Life when retirement Might be
tboeght the better part of wifdom, and when reafoos of a
private and affl.cting Laura &equality the mind, in Tome degree,
fur fcenes of huitle and aClivity, I owe an apology to my family
and to m vielf, for prefurning, at (uch a moment, to appear again
on the public Rage. •fo you, Gentlemen, I owe ooze, as you cact-
i not be 'goof.= that there are cireumftances peculiarly connect-
ed with mi, late finiation iu the county, which warrant a de-
parture from common rules, had en ilk me to your fair and fa-
. vourable conSderation. The refolt of that explanation, which it
is incumbent on me ID give, mull depend on yourfelves, and I
i. wait for it with an anxiety proportioned to its importance. For,:
little as I may have profited in other points of knowledge, I
RI
.t have been 'taught this leffon at leaft, in the School of Politics,
not haftily to anticipate the public opinion on any events 1
i' which may arife. In juftice, however, to you, Gentlemen,
and to myfelf. I cannot Seel wholly indifferent to that which
Ili has recently occurred. The unfortunate death of W. Lambe,
I regretted by no one more lincerely than by myfelf, haa created a
vacancy in the reprefinitation of our County, and calls upon you
once more for the ezercife of your choice, at an earlier period than
j could have been forefeen in the common cootie of things; and the
judgment which you are fuppofed to have formed of my Parlia-
mentary conduct not three years fince, might well have deterred
a Iti, :oho .iv...: o!-,ferver of the Wilsey of the times, from 'Mimi le
a., air a, charadcr of a Candidate. But if, during this short in-
. terval, a corm/kte revolution has taken place in the public mind;
--if the feittitnents which you yourfelves are known very gene-
rally to have expreffcd, almoft from the moment when the left
returns were Paled: have not been idle words, and the grand points
•
t on which the tiarioo.then appeared to be divided, are now become
ithe i.entre of our common onion, the Randard round which we
i... arc rallying, with all our zeal and all our power;.-cif the very
fame tiles which have Was made the pretext for coodenuting
me, b..v: (ince been tripled In their amount, almoft without
, . a murmur, and the imperious necellties of our fituation have
seconded us to ficrificrs never experienced beitrreit-eif you are
;• at length convinced that there •is no fatty for Great Britain
, but in war, at: U.(l fo malignant aid usprincipled an enemy as
France, fo treacherous a Friend as the Peace of Amiens, and if
thefe raraortlioary effala have been produced, not by the change
in any °Onions of mine, hut by the found fenfe of the People of
Fuglan.l, r,,ufcil from the :et hargy of ti mid councils, to a jolt view
of their true intetelli, aid fetioufly Impreffed with the dangers
which furround them, it is too much fur me to hope, from the
juftice and liberality of my Countrymen, that, under fuel) cir-
comilances, I :nay look for a return of that confidence which I
have ever fludi,d to &terve, by the avowal of featiments now
ibecome their own, and by endeavouring to infpire thole energies
. . which arc now confeficd by all to he effential to the fain/ion of
our country. 18 itter myfelf, Genthmen, that there are none
among y u whom the freedom of this appeal can poffibly offend. It
• is addreff d not to your pants, but to your melon, your memory,
and yu r j.olgment, with a lair reference to the well known event,
of the awful period in which we live, confirming, at every Rage
t the truth of tilde opinions, and of tinge principles which have
uniformly adluated my public condudt. It is made without re-
(erre, and without fear. at a moment when it behoves you molt
to fcrutinife the character: of thole whom you are difpored to
truft 4 and (may I fay it without prefumption) it is founded in the
1 reafonable claims of a plain independent man, who has dedicated
the better part of his hie to your fervice without the molt diftant
with of gr..tifying any private intereft of hi. own. If he has been
influenced by ambition, it is an ambition of that fort which you
may encourage without hazard, and he may avow without blame.
Such, Gentl:men, is the language which I have no (cruple to
bold, even to thole who, retaining fornewhat (till of former pre-
judices, may be halt inclined to favour my sultan prctenfions :
but to the liberal and the candid, the Weaning and the kill, to
thole valuable and experienced friends by whom I have been Cup-
/coned in various trials, I fubmit with cheerfulnefs my atilt, and
my honour, iu the firm perfuafion, that whatever they may think
of the prudence of this frank and -untLifguifed declaration, they
will give me credit, at hat, for that fineerity which can alone re-
commend tne to the diflinguillied honour of becoming once more
the kgitimate Re..refentative of the County of Her:font. I am,
with the high, it rcfped, Gentlemen,
Bayfordbury, Your faithful humble Servant,
jasotary aj, tilos. WM. ;lAKER.