“HATHERTON.
“The Viscount Ingestre, M.P., &c.”
“Teddesley, February 11th, 1859.
“My Dear Ingestre—
“My attention has been called to a paragraph in the Daily News to the following effect:—
“‘Lord Ingestre, and Mr. Lygon, and Mr. Dowdeswell, formerly M.P. for Tewkesbury, addressed an assembly of farmers from a window opposite the Corn Exchange, Worcester, on Saturday afternoon. In the course of Lord Ingestre’s observations, he said the idea of bringing forward Mr. Calthorpe as a representative for the Eastern Division of Worcestershire was hatched by Lord Hatherton, at his seat at Teddesley, and then communicated to Lord Ward, who gave a ready acquiescence to the suggestion.’”
“What purely accidental conversation I may have had with Lord Ward about East Worcestershire Election, at a visit he paid here—just after Lord Northwick’s death—in pursuance of an engagement made a fortnight before, it is unnecessary for me to relate. But the statement that ‘the idea of bringing forward Mr. Calthorpe as a representative of East Worcestershire was hatched by me at this place,’ or anywhere else, is without a shadow of foundation.
I never was consulted or likely to be about the choice of a candidate: and except one letter from a customary correspondent conveying to me the information that Mr. Calthorpe’s friends had resolved to bring him forward, of which I then heard for the first time, I never had with any one any kind of communication respecting his election.
“I am sure that after this statement, you will pardon my enquiry whether you have been correctly reported in the above paragraph—and if so—on what authority you have made such a statement?