The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-11 00:00:00

LIEUT.-COLONEL DICKSON AND 21TE

EARL OF WILTON,

ht 's
The following additional correspondoce
been ll'anded to us for publication :

War-office, Nov. 17, 18,58.
My Lord,—ln acknowledging the receipt of yet sa•
lordship's letter of the 16th inst., recommendin g
Major Walker to be lieut.-colonel of the 2d Tows r
ittainlets Militia, vice Dickson displaced, I have tile
honour to acquaint you that I deem it expedient to
give the latter officer one more opportunity of
withdrawing his refusal to resign his commission.
In communicating this to him, your lordship win
inform him my instruction that he be displaced in
consequence of his refusal to resign was based on
the grounds that while in command of the regiment
he did not administer the interior affairs of the
corps, more particularly those connected with the
officers' mess, with that good judgment and um e-
mitting attention and superintendence which the
regulations of the service enjoin, and which it is
my duty to enforce.
It is on these grounds alone that I came to this
decision, and should Colonel Dickson still decline to
avail himself of this opportunity of resigning, now
for the last time presented to him, I shall feel it my
duty to adhere to the decision that he be displaced.
I have the honour to be, my lord, your lordship's
obedient servant, (Signed) J. PEEL.
To Field Marshal the Viscount Combermere,
G.C.8., &c.

10, Stanhope-terrace, Hyde-park-gardens,
Nov. 25, 1858.
Sir,—l have the hcnour to acknowledge the re-
ceipt of your letter of the 20th inst., together with
a copy of a letter addressed by the Secretary for
War to Viscount Combermere, and in reply I beg
you will inform his lordship that in vindication of
my own honour and standing in the service I
adhere to my determination not to resign ipy com-
mission, as I feel confident that when fairly brought,
as I intend to_be, face to face-with my accusers, I
shall be able to prove that the charges of Colonel
the Earl of Wilton are as frivolous as they are false,
and as an officer and a gentleman I have never dis-
graced a profession to which it has been my pi ide
for so many years to belong.
This determination, I am happy to say, is tip:
proved of by every military man and a large circle
of friends who have done me the honour to look into
all the circumstances and correspondence connected
with the case, independent of which, having taken
legal advice on the subject, I hereby solemnly pro-
test against the Secretary for War's sentence, as
being contrary to law—vide Militia Act. 55 Geo.
111., c. 168, secs. 1,2, which require due notice of
any offence involving punishment being served
upon the accused within six months after the dis-
embodiment of the regiment; and as my offence, if
proved, after all, is admitted to be only an error of
judgment with regard to the mess by Gen. Peel,
and that took place in 1855-6, during the embodi-
ment of the regiment, and as no notice whatever
has subsequently been delivered to me, the illegality
of the recent and partial proceedings, and my
threatened displacement founded upon them, is as
undeniable as it is unprecedented.—l am, sir, your
very obedient servant,
(Signed) LOTHIAN S. DICKSON,
Lieut.-Colonel 2d Tower Hamlets Militia,
Deputy-Lieut. and J. P. for Middlesex.
Bertie Williams Wynn, Esq., Clevk to
Tower Hamlets Lieutenancy.