The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-22 00:00:00

TO TILE EDITOR OF TILE SUN.

Sits,—lt was far from my desire to bring my name before
the public in connection with this painful matter, which no
one can more regret than myself ; but Mr Hooker's letter
in your columns of Tuesday leaves me no alternative, in
common justice to Mr Burnaby, but to reply thereto, and
give my statement of this unfortunate affair.
I have for some time past had a shooting arrangement
with the plaintiff, Mr Hooker, he finding the land and I
paying all the other expenses, including gamekeeper. I
very seldom avail myself of this shooting, and when I do
generally stop at a farm in the neighbourhood belonging
to my father. In September last I had invited Mr Burnaby
and Lieut. Adderley (another brother officer), and upon
their coming down I asked Mr Hooker to meet them. We
dined together, and in the course of conversation after din-
ner Mr Burnaby and Mr Hooker, who are both gentlemen
of athletic proportions, discussed various subjects in con-
nection with throwing weights, and each boasted of his
strength; some trials took place between them, and Mr
Hooker to some extent lost his temper, but at the close of
the evening all parted on friendly terms, arranging to
meet on the following day and shoot together. We did
not meet in the early part of the day, as arranged, but
eventually came together, and upon Mr Hooker propos-
ing to shoot over some ground that we had been trying
prior to our meeting, Mr Burnaby objected, say-
ing we Should find no birds, to which Mr
Hooker replied " that he did not understand
shooting there, although, perhaps, he might in his own
country," adding some taunting expressions as to Mr Bur-
naby's shooting. 'We had very little sport, and Mr Bur-
naby about 2 o'clock in the day made an observation to the
effect that he should advise me to give up the shooting.
This seemed greatly to annoy Mr Hooker, who asked Mr
Burnaby what he meant by interfering between him and
myself, and also if Mr Burnaby imagined that he (Mr
Hooker) had been over the ground before, to which the lat-
ter replied that he thought it probable ho had. This remark
appeared to further annoy Mr Hooker, who lost his temper,
asked Mr Burnaby If he intended to call him a poacher, say-
ing, " that although ho might be an architect he got his
living honestly. and did not, as Mr Burnaby did, make
money by swindling his brother officers, attending prize
fights, and going into training for all sorts of blackguard
affairs," that he, Mr Burnaby, " wished to get up a quar-
rel," and then taunted him with being afraid to hit him for
fear of getting slicking, adding, "if I did lick you you'd
take the law of me." Upon this being said Mr Burnaby
fired off his gun and offered to fight the quarrel out, when
Mr Hooker said, " If you hit me, I'll blow your brains out.''

From this moment the dispute was carried through on
both sides in a spirit of bitterness which, although most
lamentable, it was futile to attempt to moderate. To me the
quarrel was from the first a source of regret, knowing as I
did both parties, having been acquainted for some years
with Mr Hooker, and Mr Burnaby being my brother officer
and guest. I did my best to make peace, and, having spoken
to Mr Burnaby, who professed himself willing to adopt
any course myself and Mr Adderley would suggest, I re-
peatedly spoke to Mr Hooker, and urged upon him to apolo-
gise for the gross insult he had offered to my friend in apply-
ing the term " swindler" to him ; and this term I insisted
he should withdraw. Mr Hooker, however, positively re.
fused to give any apology or to withdraw the word ; and,
after again conferring with Mr Adderley, we both felt we
must leave matters to take their course, and that we had no
alternative but to intimate to Mr Burnaby that he was, in
our opinion, bound to resent the affront, and some two hours
after the commencement of the quarrel, during which time
both Mr Adderley and myself had anxiously attempted to
amicably arrange matters, Mr Burnaby went up to Mr
Hooker and demanded an apology, to which Mr Hooker
replied "That ho would not apologise to a bully like him-
self." lVhat afterwards took place has been described by
Mr Burnaby in his letter, which has already appeared in
The Sun, and I am prepared to pledge my word of honour
to its strict accuracy. I state most positively that Mr
Hooker was never upon the ground at all; that Mr
Burnaby kinked him twice only; those kicks were adminis-
tered behind ; and Mr Burnaby did not strike Mr Hooker
until the latter had seized his leg, and was endeavouring to
throw him over. I wish to add that the statement I have
now made I furnished to Mr Burnaby's solicitors; that Mr
Adderley and myself attended the trial of the case, and both
were prepared to give evidence to the effect of my present
statement. I cannot, of thy own knowledge, state
whether the oiler to settle upon payment of £5O
was made, except that Mr Burnaby himself so
informed me when in the court, and stated he had refused
to compromise the matter.
I must express my regret at addressing you at this
length, but I feel that I have only one course to pursue,
and that is to place the correct facts before the public. I
should have as readily done so had Mr Burnaby been in the
wrong, and I only regret finding myself called upon to give
the most explicit denial of the accuracy of Mr Hooker's
statement, as it again appeared in his letter of to-day—and,
in addition, I avail myself of this opportunity of publicly
contradicting the allegation advanced by Mr Hooker to
the effect that I introduced tho name of, or hinted at, Mr
Burnaby's having been mistaken for another gentleman.
In making these remarks, I feel that a very faithful state-
ment of a scab of this description can seldom be expected
from the immediate parties.
In conclusion, I wish to add that Mr Adderley is ac-
quainted with the purport of this letter. and that I have
his authority for saying that the statement I now beg the
favour of your affording a place in your columns is, in his
opinion, strictly correct.--I have the honour to remain, sir,
your most obedient servant,
H. E. WESTCAR,
Royal Horse Guards, Regent's-park Barracks, Dec. 20.