The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-04 00:00:00

THE CASE O ' COLONEL DYCE
S OMBRE.

TO THE EaITOR OF TEE SUN.

sea,—fhe very to e-eere and as I feel unmerited cen-
sure cast upon toy 'conduct towards Mr. Dyce Sombre,
by the Lord Piano slior in his recent judgment, coupled
with the improper and unwarranted aspersions of Mr.
Bethel in the course.. of his arguments (aspersions which
no alleged privilege of the bar can possibly justify),
render it essential that I should in vindication of my
own character enter into a plain and simple statement
of my connexion with Colonel Dyce Sombre, from the
time of our first acquainta.nee up to the latest period.
My acquain Lance with Mr. Dyce Sombre commenced at
Brussels in elle year 1844. A certificate had previously
been signed by nine of t'ae most eminent physicians of
Paris as to the perfect soundness of his mind and full
capacity to manage hes own affairs. In common, I be-
lieve, with most of the medical world I felt considerable
interest in tt e case., which formed a topic of general con-
versation at the ti me; my own professional experience
more particeelarly with respect to mental diseases induced
me to adopt, the v.ews of the Parisian physicians, and to
believe that, Mr. `sombre was at that period perfectly sane,
and I deeply sympathised with a person who had for a
considerabl e period exercised sovereign power, and who
had experi eneed such lamentable vicissitudes of fortune.
At that pe clod, however, I entertained not the slightest
idea of a closer intimacy with him, or of in any way
undertakiteg the management of his affairs. My circum-
stances we re, and I am happy to say still are, perfectly
independer it. I suggested to Mr. Sombre that he
should su' omit himself to the examination of the most
eminent raedical men in any metropolis which he might
happen e 3 visit, in order to accumulate the greatest pos-
sible bed y of unexceptionable evidence on his case, and
that disieterested and gratuitous advice constituted the
only part which I at that time took in the transaction.
I again aset him at Brussels in April, 1845, when I be-
came on much more intimate terms with him. In the
interval he had acted on my advice, and had been ex-
amined by the Medical Council of St. Petersburgh, at the
desire of the Minister of the Interior of Russia, and he
produced to me a certificate signed by ten of
the most celebrated physicians of that country,
that he (Mr. Dyce Sombre) " was in a perfect
state of mind." A similar certificate had been also
obtained from several members of the faculty at Brussels;
and, with such powerful evidence in addition to that
which had previously been obtained, I had no doubt
that my former opinion as to his sanity was perfectly
correct. He represented to me the painful position, nay,
the eomparative state of destitution in which he was
placed, the sufferings he had undergone, and he feelingly
depicted the degradation (as he justly termed it) of
having a scanty allowance irregularly doled out to him
through a medical gentleman appointed by the Court of
Chancery, who actually received 5,0001. per annum out
of Colonel Dyce Sombre's fortune, from which he was in
the first instance to pay all his own private expenses,
and then to apply the balance for Colonel Sombre's be-
nefit in such manner as he deemed most advisable, as
may appear by the letter of the Lord Chancellor's
private secretary to Colonel Dyce Sombre of the 22d
January, 1845. This gentleman who, as I have been
informed, bad attained the mature age of twenty-two
years when invested with such extraordinary powers,
lived at Paris while Mr. Sombre resided at Brus-
eels, and it was therefore impossible that his ad-
vice could be of any real utility. Colonel
Dyce Sombre expressed his anxious desire to be
emancipated from what he was pleased to term the con-
trol of this medical incubus. He also spoke of the pecu-
niary difficulties in which he was then involved in con-
sequence of his declining to receive money from such a
quarter. Entertaining a deep sympathy at his unme-
rited sufferings, I was induced at his urgent request to
advance him 500 L sterling on no other security than his
I 0 U, which sum was paid to him in the month of
May, 1805, through Mr. De Poer, of Brussels, who drew
on my bankers, Messrs. Cox and Co., of Craig's-court,
Charing-cross, and in the month of August following I
transmitted to Baden Baden, where he was then resid-
ing, a further sum of 100/. through the same agency, a
pretty good proof that I at least did not consider him of
unsound mind. These sums were paid to me in Decem-
ber last, with interest at the rate of five per cent. per
annum. More than two years after, Mr. Sombre was
placed in the receipt of his entire surplus fortune (about
one-half of which was absorbed in the allowance of
4,0001. per annum to the Honourable Mrs. Sombre and
the expenses of management in the Court of Chancery),
which allowance was mainly obtained through my
instrumentality and exertions. And I also enabled
him to get rid of his medical attendant, and thus effected
a saving of 500/. per annum from his estate. In July
1145, two months after I had made the first advance of
5001., Mr. Sombre urgently requested that I would un-
dertake the entire management of his affairs, and offered
to make any reasonable recorapence for my services. He
represented his utter friendlessness; that there were none
to act on his behalf in whom he could place the slightest
reliance (Mr. Goldsmith, the father-in-law of Lord
Lyndhurst, through whom the petition of 1844 had been
presented, and who was to have received 20,0001. in the
event of the commission being superseded, was no longer
in communication with him); and that he was without
the support of assistance he so urgently required. He
offered to pay we for my services, and the necessarily
heavy expenditure I would have to encounter in conduct-
ing the transaction, the sum of 10,0001. in the event of
the commission being superseded within a limited period.
I felt that, under the entire circumstances of the case,
the sum so gratuitously and repeatedly offered was
by no means extravagant or unreasonable, consider-
ing the importance of the object to be attained, the
great wealth of Mr. Sombre, and the proverbial
delays and expenses of Chancery. proceedings.
If I did not succeed, I could receive no remu-
neration for my services, or even repayment of the
heavy costs to which I might eventually be put. If Mr.
Sombre was of unsound mind, the contract would be
utterly valueless, I could not of course recover any
claim from a lunatic, nor would he be in a position to
pay me, but if as I (in common with the physicians of
Paris, St. Petersburgh, and Brussels) supposed and
believed he was perfectly sane and under no legal
disability, he was quite competent to enter into a valid
contract, and there could be no greater impropriety in
making a fair agreement with him than with any other
person whatsoever. And in this opinion I am fully borne
out by the report of Doctors Bright and Southey, for-
warded to the Lord Chancellor in August, 1e47, in
which they say :
" In conclusion, we are bound to admit, that we were
unable to elicit any possible delusions under which Mr.
Dyce Sombre labours, though, at the same time, we re-
gret to add, that we feel no confidence that be is entirely
tree from such delusions.
"So far as respects the management of property we
entertain no doubt of his competency to take care of it,
and we think that if ho were entrusted with the surplus
of his unappropriated income, one great cause of unea-
siness would be removed."
I cannot, therefore, conceive there was any " pltmder-
ing " in the transaction, or conduct deserving of the
harsh observations that have been applied to it. In
pursuance of this arrangement I entered actively
upon the duties I had undertaken, and although
I did not succeed in obtaining a supersedeas of
the commission, I yet procured for him a con-
siderable accession of his income, he being placed, as
I have already stated, in receipt of his entire surplus in-
come, and tLe medical attendant being dispensed with'
Th April, 1848, Mr. Sombre stated that our agree-
ment had. ended, as he was not discharged from the
jurisdiction of the court within the stipulated time, and
he thought, notwithstanding the great advantages he
had derived from my exertions, that I had no further
claim upon him. I thought ()there ise, inasmuch as tie
had declined following my advice, and coming to
England to s.ubrnit himself to the examination of emi-
nent English physicians, which refusal he justified on
the ground that the Court of Chancery had broken
faith with him on a former occasion, when Lord Lynd-
hurst sanctioned his arrest, although protection to his
person had been granted. We disagreed on these
points, and I totally withdrew from the management
of his affairs, and all communications ceased between
Mr. Dyce Sombre and myself. I thought myself
aggrieved by his conduct, and;that I had not been fairly
treated, inasmuch as having placed himself in my
hands, and my remuneration being contingent on suc-
cess, he was bound implicitly to follow my instructions.
I moreover stated to his tree friends, Lord Comber-
mere and Mr. Princeps, that I would be quite satisfied
to receive the actual expenses out of pocket, and the
various sums I had from time to time paid to him.
This reasonable proposition was not then acceded to,
although highly approved of by all his friends.
The petition of 1848 was presented without my
knowledge, privity, or consent, and I was not in any
manner concerned in the proceedings that took place.
This fact will sufficiently appear From the affidavit of
Mr. Charles Shadwull (brother to the Vice, Chancellor of
England), sworn the 18th January last, in which the
following passage occurs:—" And I say that in the pre-
parine of the said petition, in the presenting of the same,
and in every other proceeding consequent thereon, I
have been wholly instructed by the said D. 0. D.
Sombre, and not by any other person acting on his
behalf except the counsel I have instructed in this
matter."

This petition was dismissed, and Colonel Sombre sub-
sequently applied for my advice and assistance, which I
peremptorily refused, except upon the terms in being
paid the money I had advanced and the expenses I bad
incurred on his account. I also thought that I was
entitled to remuneration for my great trouble, but this
was not pressed, although every gentleman ac-
quainted with the circumstances of the case fully parti-
cipated-in the opinion to which Mr. C. Shadwell gave
expression in a letter addressed to me, dated the Ist
December last, in which he says:—" In short I cannot
but feel that without such an active and zealous friend
as you have proved in the management of this matter,
Mr. Dyce Sombre would now be in the same unpro-
tected, friendless, and needy state as he was when you
first took him by the hand and entered upon the subject
at Brussels. I have thought it but right to state thus
much, in common justice to you."
The matter was referred to arbitration, Mr. Princeps
consenting to act on behalf of Mr. Sombre, while I
named Major Richardson. After a minute and search-
ing investigation these gentlemen decided that 2,140/.
should be paid to me for expenses and cash advanced, a
portion immediately and the remainder by instalments. I
should say that I had previously informed the arbitra-
tors that I did not wish to inconvenience Mr. Dyce
Sombre in any degree, on which account it was (I have
reason to believe) settled that the payment should be
made at remote intervals. During that reference Colonel
Sombre submitted to me the names of six gentlemen
whoae unanimous report as to his sanity formed
the basis of the last petition. In the choice
of these gentlemen I had no part whatever—
I never consulted a medical practitioner in England as
to his mental capacity. Having in 1845, and ever. since,
,become thoroughly convinced that he did not labour
under any insane delusion whatsoever, but that he was