"It will not accord with my sentiments," the address proceeds to say, "to express myself in the usual terms of zeal and fidelity of an election candidate; inasmuch as that the principle of previous assurances has frequently, in the exercise of the functions of a representative, have been either forgotten or occasionally abandoned; but I hope it will not be considered vaunting in me to assert that that zeal and the fidelity which have manifested themselves in the discharge of my duty to my clients, will not be abated in supporting a more important trust—the cause of the public!"
In the Oracle of April 7th is an address put forth by friends on the part of Mr. D. W. Smith, who is at the moment absent. It is "to the free and independent electors of the County of Durham, the East Riding of the County of York, and the County of Simcoe." It runs as follows: "The friends of the Hon. D. W. Smith beg leave to offer that gentleman to represent you in the ensuing Parliament. His honour, integrity and ability, and the essential services which, in different capacities, he hath rendered to the Province, are so well known and felt that his friends consider the mentioning of his name only to be the most powerful solicitation which they can use on the present occasion, to obtain for him your favour and suffrage." To this address the following paragraph is added on May the 5th: "The friends of Mr. Smith consider it as their duty further to intimate, that from late accounts received from him in England, it was his determination to set out from that country so as to arrive here early in the summer of this present year."
On the 2nd of May Mr. Macdonell's address came out. He speaks like a practised orator, accustomed to the outside as well as the interior of the House. He delivers himself in the following vigorous style:—
"To the Worthy Inhabitants of the East Riding of the County of York, and Counties of Durham and Simcoe: Friends and Fellow Subjects. In addressing you by appellations unusual, I believe, on similar occasions, no affectation of singularity has dictated the innovation: my terms flow from a more dignified principle, a purer source of ideas, from a sentiment of liberal and extensive affection, which embraces and contemplates not only such of you as by law are qualified to vote, but also such as a contracted and short-sighted policy has restrained from the immediate enjoyment of that privilege. Your interests, inseparably the same, and alike dear and interesting to me, have always been equally my care; and your good-will shall indiscriminately be gratifying, whether accompanied with the ability of advancing my present pursuit, or confined to the wishes of my succeeding in it.
"The anxious anticipation of events, which has engaged so many persons unto such early struggles to supplant me, forces me also to anticipate the dissolution of parliament, in declaring my disposition to continue (if supported by my friends at the next general election) in that situation which I have now the honour of filling in parliament; a situation, which the majority of suffrages which placed me in it, justifies the honest pride of supposing, was not obtained without merit, and inspires the natural confidence of presuming, will not be lost without a fault.
"I stoop with reluctance, gentlemen, to animadvert upon some puny fabrications calculated to mislead your judgment, and alienate your favour. It has been said that I am canvassing for a seat elsewhere. No! gentlemen: the satisfaction, the pride, of representing that division of this Province, which, comprehending the capital, is consequently the political head, is to me, too captivating an object of political ambition to suffer the view of it to be intercepted in my imagination for a moment, by the prospect of any inferior representation. Be assured, therefore, gentlemen, that I shall not forsake my present post, until you or life shall have forsaken me.
"Another calumny of a darker hue has been fabricated. I have been represented as inimical to the provincial statute which restrains many worthy persons migrating into this Province from voting at elections, under a residence of seven years. A more insidious, a more bare-faced falsehood, never issued from the lips of malice; for during every session of my sitting in parliament, I have been the warmest, and loudest advocate for repealing that statute and for rendering taxation and representation reciprocal.
"I shall notice a third expedient, in attempting which, detraction (by resorting to an imposture so gross as to carry its own refutation upon the very face of it) has effectually avowed its own impotency:—It has been whispered that I have endeavoured to increase the general rate of assessments within the Home District. Wretched misrepresentation! I should have been my own enemy indeed, if I had lent myself to such a measure. On the contrary; my maxim has been, and shall ever continue to be, that so much of the public burden as possible should be shifted from the shoulders of the industrious farmers and mechanics, upon those of the more opulent classes of the community; persons with large salaries and lucrative employments: the shallow artifice of these exploded lies suggests this natural reflection, that slander could find no real foundation to build upon, when reduced to the necessity of rearing its fabrics upon visions.
"To conclude, gentlemen, I have no interests separate from yours, no country but that which we inhabit in common. In all situations, under all circumstances, I have been the friend of the people and the votary of their rights. I have never changed with the times, nor shifted sides with the occasion; and you may therefore reasonably confide that I shall always be, gentlemen, your most devoted and most attached servant, A. Macdonell, York, 2nd May, 1804."
An attempt had also been made to induce Mr. R. Henderson to become a candidate at this election. He explained the reason why he declined to come forward, in the following card:—"The subscriber thinks it a duty incumbent on him thus publicly to notify his friends who wished him to stand as a candidate at the ensuing election for York and its adjacent counties; that he declines standing, having special business that causes his absence at the time of the election. He hopes that his friends will be pleased to accept of his grateful acknowledgments for the honour they wished to confer on him. But as there are several candidates who solicit the suffrages of the Public, they cannot be at a loss. He leaves you, gentlemen, to the freedom of your own will. He has only to observe that were he present on the day of election, he would give his vote to the Honourable David William Smith. I am, Gentlemen, your obedient and obliged servant, R. Henderson, York, 26th May, 1804."