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Sra,—The Devizes Gazette for December 15th contains the report of a Radical meeting at Seend in support of the Home-rule movement, at which addresses were given by Mr. Fuller, M.P. for West Wilts, and others. In the course of the proceedings, a violent speech was made by Mr. Payton, of Trowbridge, in which he is reported to have said :—" They had heard of the Marquis of Lansdowne, against whom he should not hesitate to say a great deal. The rule upon his estate had been that nobody upon it could marry without asking the permission of the landlord's agent, and nobody could stay upon the estate even for a day or two without that same permission." "In three years no less than 221,000 families were evicted from their homes, and the object of the Government and of the Crimes Bill was to enable the landlords to keep on doing it." "He had visited Mitchelatown, which was a grand place, and would have been a far better town if it had not been for the cursed Countess of Kingston, and he said it with all respect to her." " The priests and the National League combined were the guardians of law and order. If any man came to his house and turned out his wife and family, he would knock his brains out, and not be long about it." " They wanted local self-government in England as well as in Ireland. Why in the devil should Lord Tomnoddy, or the squires, or the parsons do all the county busi- ness, and the ratepayers have no voice in it P" " As for that tyrant Balfour, he would not regret to bear that he was dead. He did not wish him to die by violent means, but it would be a blessing for him and for many if he did die." No protest was offered against these outrageous remarks by Mr. Faller, M.P., whose son is, I believe, the Gladstonian candidate for that division of Wilts in which Lord Lansdowne's estates lie. A Wiltshire corre- spondent has informed me that Mr. Payton is an accredited Gladstonian lecturer in that district. This seems so unlikely, that I invite the contradiction of so incredible a state of affairs.—
I am, Sir, &c., X.
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