Sir, I claim my bottle of good claret (letter, Mar 9). Page 209 of Punch (Vol VI of 1844) contains the following piece: “Foreign Affairs. It is a common idea that the most laconic despatch ever issued was that sent by Caesar to the Horse-Guards at Rome, containing the three memorable words ‘Veni, vidi, vici,’ and perhaps, until our own day, no like instance of brevity has been found. The despatch of Sir Charles Napier, after the capture of Scinde, to Lord Ellenborough, both for brevity and truth, is, however, far beyond it. The despatch consisted of one emphatic word — ‘Peccavi’, ‘I have Scinde’ [sinned]”.
Steven Roberts
Harrow, Middx