The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-12 00:00:00

LIEUTENANT MUNRO'S CASE.

The following is the entire letter from Lieutenant Munro,
extracts of which were read by Mr. T. Duncombe in the de-
bate last night :

" March 3, 1844.
" Sir,—Although I have not the honour of being ac-
quainted with you, yet, as I know your readiness to sym-
pathise with those who may (often for some wise purpose
be visited by Providence with severe and sudden affliction,
beg leave to lay before you the following particulars of my
unhappy case, as I am desirous of their being published ; and
I hope that a perusal of them may remove from the minds of
many good men much of the prejudice that I believe to have
been engendered against me by the falsehoods that have been
industriously circulated upon the very melancholy subject,
• and also of drawing the attention of Government to the ne-
cessity, as well as justice, of protecting officers who may be
grossly insulted, by the obvious benefit that must arise from
inserting a clause in the articles of war, forbidding all officers
from giving or receiving challenges upon pain of losing their
commissions, and instituting a competent court before which
officers who consider that they had been insulted, or injured
in their characters, may lay their complaints for in-
vestigation, redress, or advice; the establishing such
a point would in all probability put an effectual stop
to the lamentable practice of duelling; at present there
is a trap laid for all gentlemen who have the
honour to bear her Majesty's commission, into which the
most inoffensive man who ever lived might fall when he least
expected it. Few officers know anything of the civil or cri-
minal laws of the country, but there are also few but know
what an officer has to expect should he pass unnoticed a gross
personal insult ; and too many have seen, the wretched and
piteous object that an officer becomes who may be supposed
to have shown a want of courage in action, or in resenting
an insult. The scorned existence of such unfortunate men
is too frightful to contemplate, as they are generally ami-
able and most sensitive ; their unhappy lives are frequently
terminated by insanity and suicide, or they sink into a pre-
mature grave from indescribable and concealed misery. I
have to observe that I am most anxious to avoid giving
offence to any of the great and good men that comprise her
Majesty's Government, and I hope I may be pardoned for
publicly expressing to the Duke of Wellington my most un-
bounded gratitude.
" I will not attempt to describe my own most unhappy
state of mind, since I have been forced to fly from my coun-
try, my profession, and my beloved wife, children, father,
mother, and relations; but those who have known me from
my childhood, and my gallant comrades, can conceive what
I have suffered. I had a happy and a contented home, my
utmost and constant endeavours were directed to perform, to
the best of my power, my duties to my God, to all men,
and also as a faithful subject to her most gracious Majesty,
and lam now a marked and wretched exile. It has been'
said that I was to enter a foreign service, and I have occa-
sionally in my solitude and wretchedness thought of doing
so ; but my heart and affections are, and ever will remain,
with my kindred and my country, and I do not think that I
need be ashamed of owning that when alone I have shed
many a bitter tear for what has happened, but which I could
not prevent ; yet I have a great consolation in the assurance
that my merciful and all-seeing Maker will hold me guiltless
of the abominable and horrible crime which erring men, like
myself, lay to my charge.
` Most unfortunately I undertook, in 1839, to act as agent
for Lieut.-Colonel Fawcett ; and that,with the view of saving
the expenses necessarily attendant upon employing a legal
agent (during his absence in India), and to serve him to the
utmost of my ability. Among other things which I had
to perform for him, was looking after two houses which be-
longed to his wife. The houses in question were let to a
Mrs. Smith. of 37, Devonshire-place, Brighton, and she had
taken one of them off Lieut.-Colonel Fawcett's hands before
he sailed. It was occupied by a person who was considered
an ineligible tenant. Lieut.-Colonel Fawcett was anxious to
sell the house in question. About a year and a half after his
departure for India, Mrs. Smith wrote to inform me that her
tenant had failed, that she could not get her rent, and had
had a great deal of trouble with him, and she begged at the
same time that I would request Lieut.-Colonel Fawcett to
forego his claim to 50/. of her rent, as she had taken the
house to meet his views, and with the insolvent, a bad
tenant, in it. As Mrs. Smith was an old tenant of Mrs.
Fawcett's father, and as she assisted in endeavouring to ob-
tain a purchaser for the house, I considered myself justified
in recommending that the 50/. alluded to should be deducted
from the rent she had agreed to pay. In due time I received
an answer from Lieut.-Colonel Fawcett to the effect that,
if I could sell the house, and if Mrs. Smith had paid her
rent regularly, that I might forego his claim to 50/.
Through Mrs. Smith's exertions and my own, I had then
received several offers for the house, but had rejected them,
as I expected to get a higher price than had been offered.
Soon after the time alluded to, I ,received overtures upon
account of a Miss Howard, who was Aesirous of buying the
house, as she had previously lived in it. These offers were
the most advantageous that I had obtained ; and, after several
interviews with Miss Howard's friends, I agreed to sell the
house to her for 2,000/., being 2001. ove the price that I
had authority to sell it for. When my power of attorney
came to be examined by Miss Howard's agent, it appeared
(having been written out by Lieutenant-Colonel Fawcett
himself) that I was not empowered to sell the house ; but, in
order to keep so eligible a buyer, I let the house to her for a
year for 100/., upon condition of her purchasing it as soon as
I could obtain the proper authority from China to sell it. I
wrote without delay for a new power, and also stated what I
had done. By return of the mail I received another power
of attorney, which was also written by Lieutenant-Colonel
Fawcett, but which the legal gentlemen employed by both
parties agreed in saying did not enable me to complete the sale ;
but, being most anxious to retain so good an offer, I again
let the house to Miss Howard for another year, upon the
condition of her purchasing it for 2,000/., as soon as the
sale could be ef*cted, or upon Lieutenant-Colonel Fawcett's
return from China, which was expected in the course of last
summer, and, to get the matter prepared by his arrival, 1
obtained the title-deeds from Messrs. Cox and Co., the army
agents, in presence of Mrs. Fawcett, who had returned from
Calcutta when her husband was about proceeding from
thence to China. When the title-deeds were examined,
some time in the beginning of last year, the legal agents in-
formed me that they were faulty. I did everything I could
to save unnecessary expenses being incurred, and stopped
the affair from proceeding until Lieutenant-Colonel Fawcett
should arrive in England ; but, previous to his arrival,
I received a letter from Miss Howard, stating that the house
was in such a dilapidated condition, that her friends advised
her not to give 2,000/. for it; and hoping that I would allow
her 2001. to put it into a proper state of repair. I replied
that I could not deviate from the agreement ; and I have now
to observe that, when the agreement was duly signed, I in-
timated to Mrs. Smith that, as she had paid her rents, and
as the house was considered to ho sold, Lieutenant-Colonel
Fawcett had let her off paying the 50/. formerly alluded to.
I soon after received another letter from Miss Howard, to al
low her 100/. to repair the house. I again replied that, how-
ever ready I might be to do so if the house belonged to my-
self, I felt myself so strongly bound to protect Lieutenant-
Colonel Fawcett's interest in his absence, that I must insist
upon the agreement being strictly adhered to. Soon after
that answer the amount agreed upon, viz., 2,0004 was
placed in Miss Howard's agent's hands by her, to complete
with
the day
him,
the purchase,:but which had to be deferred until Lieutenant-
Colonel Fawcett's arrival. He came to London in the begin-
the delay
about the sale of the house, and said that it was then in his
hands. I also informed him that I had been so fortunate as
to have been principally instrumental in having saved a
considerable suns for him through my exertions as his agent,
and as a trustee for Mrs. Fawcett's father's property, as
immediately
P v
• well as several other matters in which I had very nafintegr °hi s l s t
Arrival. Jml ;
made
him
acquainted called
upon
effec-
tually served him. I requested that he would take an early
opportunity of examining his bankers' account, to see the
sums that I had paid to his credit, which he did in a few
days. I also accompanied him into the City, to examine
some accounts, which it was necessary for him to see, to un-
derstand fully all I had done in his absence. After having
done so, lie said that I had been very fortunate in my en-
deavours to serve him ; and he requested me to call upon him
as soon as I could, to explain to him what some small sums
th e person
50 of
that
the nameirs '
were that I had paid to his credit. I did so, most unfortu-
1.
nately, on the evening of the 26th of last June. I have now
to.mention that when I accompanied Lieut.-Colonel Fawcett
into the City, that he hinted to me he had some suspicions
upon his mind that were of a most unhappy nature. When
I called upon him on the evening of the 29th ofJune he ap- ,
of Romer in the room, who was sent away as soon as
peared considerably
entered, although upon previous occasions he had remained.
hise excited. There
wits' but the I think that I was expected ; and from the accounts being at
once entered upon, and from other circumstances, I believe
that the gross insult that was put upon me afterwards, was
premeditated; the small
satisfaction;sums previously alluded to were
soon explained to
Smith was allowed for the loss she had sustained from taking
Warwick-house with a bad tenant in it, was made the subject
upon which a quarrel was to be effected. I endeavoured re-
peatedly to make him understand that it was strictly in con-
formity with his own directions that Mrs. Smith had been
let off paying 50/., as well as to draw his attention to the im-
portant services I had rendered him in other matters and the
high price I had obtained for the house, but he
kept constantly reverting to the case of the 50/.,
and insinuated repeatedly that I had neglected his
interest, and had allowed myself to be bamboozled
by Mrs. Smith. I have no doubt but that he
was anxious to leave London for some reason
or other ; for he said frequently, that if lie could only get
away, and get rid of the house, that he would sell it for
1,600/., and that he would force the lawyers to do so by the
power of at that he had sent to me from China, &c. I