Rev. Enoch Barker,

Rev. Sir,

Your favour of the 29th Sept. would have received an earlier notice had not I and Mr. Smith been absent from Newmarket.

Having seen Mr. Smith, Mr. & Mrs. Kirk I am to inform you they re-affirm their former statements, as made known to you in my letter of the 28th Sept.¹

With reference to yours of the 29th, I regret to say that, in my opinion, it is verbose, involved, offensive, contradictory, and so very unsatisfactory that I cannot discredit the statements of the parties above named. ["parties" is crossed out].

I am happy to repeat "Your conduct furnishes me with a complete refutation of the slander," which they allege to have been uttered by you.

Concluding, with this, my correspondence on this unpleasant affair.

I am, Rev. Sir,

yours with all due respect

Thomas Baker

¹ Apparently, this slander was in part related to Rev. Baker's refusal to see his daughter Mary Anne as she was dying (W2855). See W2971, W2975, W2984, W2986, and W2894 for further correspondence between Rev. Baker and Rev. Barker.