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On this statement the Times' reviewer comments as follows:--

'If many old scandals may be revived with impunity, there are
some that cannot. Mr Duncombe the younger has hit on one which
affects several gentlemen still living, and his injurious version
of it cannot be neutralized or atoned for by an apology to one.
We call attention to it in the hope that any more serious notice
will be rendered needless by the simple exposure of its
inaccuracies.

'It is difficult to conceive a more inexcusable misstatement, for
the case was fully reported,[36] and the public judgment
perfectly coincided with the verdict. Lord de Ros was not abroad
when the scandal was set afloat. He went abroad after the scene
at Graham's had set all London talking, and he returned in
consequence of a peremptory call from his friends. He was most
reluctantly induced to take the required steps for the
vindication of his character; and it is preposterous to suppose
that any little coterie would have dreamt of accusing a man of
his rank and position with the view of driving a skilful player
from the field. His accusers were not challenged. Neither were
they volunteers. They became his accusers, because they formed
the Whist party at which he was first openly denounced. They
signed a paper particularizing their charge, and offered to refer
the question to a tribunal of gentlemen, with the Duke of
Wellington or Lord Wharncliffe to preside. Would a little
coterie, who lived by gambling, have made this offer? Or would
Lord de Ros have refused it if he had been the intended victim of
a conspiracy? Lord Henry Bentinck signed the paper, appeared as
a witness, and took quite as active a part in the proceedings as
any of the four, except Mr Cumming, who undertook the sole legal
liability by admitting the publication of the paper.

[36] The Times of February 11 and 13, 1837.

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