The Express.
London, England, 1853-02-05 00:00:00

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LONDON. B.4TUBDA 1. FEBRUARY 3.

No person who lives in this age need ever despair
—if he has but a moderate time granted him—of
seeing re-produced all those forms of popular delu-
sion which render history so much like a romance.
historical wildcats have marvelled at the story of
JOHN OF LF.TDEN. They have been half incredulous
of the strange tales that are told of the power which
he possessed of persuading his followers that he was
accredited with a divine mission, while he was acting
in opposition to all laws divine and human.
But how does the delusion propagated by the
great Anabaptist " pale its ineffectual fire" before
the gigantic mendacity of JoE SMITH. How small
appear the features of the infatuation which pea-
Weald the German fanatics compared with those
which distinguish the believers in Mormonism and
the Coil-lane Ghost ! How many a reader of the
Gentleman's .I.layazine has said to himself mourn-
fully, after the perusal of that strange story, " Ah,
the march of intellect will never let us get up a ghost
like that again ! We have changed all that now."
Nevertheless, what was the Cock-lane Ghost com-
pared with the Rappers, who have been lately iu full
employment in the U ailed States? Where shall we find
in the trickery of past times anything so thoroughly
well-managed as the case of ELIZABETH SQUIRREL ?
And to come to the point to which we shall have
occasion to allude presently, how poor are the per-
formances of JOANNA SOUTHCOTE compared with the
audacious tours de force of the proprietor of the
Agapemone ?
We mention this establishment because it has
again emerged from the obscurity into which it had
sunk, partly on account of the disgust of that portion
of the world who believed in the monstrous tales
connected a ith the institution, and partly :rom the
indifference of those who did not. Both parties
were glad enough to dismiss fioni their memories de-
tails at once so strocionsand so humiliating. Nothing,
however, seems so vital as humbug. The Aga-
pemone has too much of this quality to die quietly.
The prophet of this "Abode of Love" has, it ap-
pears, been living—neglected, indeed, by the public
but " fooled to the top of his bent" by his devoted
partisans—in the same style as before.
One of these adherents, a Mr. JAMES Rouse, has,
it now appears, dwelt for the last five years in the
Agapemone. Oa entering, he, it is stated—accord-
ing to custom—handed over his property to the insti-
tution. If the tales which were some time back
current with regard to the place are true, he must
have made a similar surrender of all title to
his wife. However that may be, the
lady was, as well as her husband, an
inmate of the establishment. After five years abne-
gation of his property and liberty, Mr. Rouse got
tired. Custom dulls the edge of the keenest plea-
sures, and this gentleman at last became weary of
adoring a prophet in this commucity of love. The
plain truth of the matter, we shrewdly suspect, is,
that Mr. Rouse recovered his intellects which, pre-
sumably, were damaged before he entered the Aga-
pe/none. On becoming sane, he endeavoured of
course to get away, and ultimately, after some oppo-
sition, succeeded. Upon reaching the house of his
brother, it was determined that an attempt should be
made to rescue his wife, Mrs. Roust. The deliverers,
on proceeding towards theAgapemone forthat purpose,
encountered that lady in ono of the vehicles of the
establishment. She, evidently as sick as her hus-
band of the place and the treatment, was delighted
at the prospect of her release from captivity. This,
however, was only effected at the price of a severe
struggle, in which the lady suffered. Upon being
dragged from the hands of her gaoler., she was
driven rapidly off to a place of safety. The lovers
of the marvellous must be hard to please if, after
perusal of the above details, they are not satisfied,
for a time at least. The Agapemone is not a
sew fact in English society. The thing was exposed
some years back. Every sane person who read the
accounts of the exposure saw clearly enough that the
Agapemone must be something very like a house
full of lunatics—not precisely • lunatic asylum in
the legal and licensed sense, but an abode where all
the dwellers were essentially mad. There may have
been some doubt as to the madness of the head of the
establishment, but there could be none as to that of
his followers. A man who claims, if not divinity, a
divine mission—who exacts enormous contributions
from his followers—who is said to make use of
his influence for his very peculiar gratification—
may, it is true, clear himself from the charge
of insanity, but it will only be by having
another name, which scarcely sounds more eupho-
niously, affixed to his conduct. There can scarcely
be question as to the mental state of those who
submit themselves, soul and body, to his guidance.
How comes it then that this man has been allowed,
whether sane or not, to hold in durance the poor
creatures who have become inmates of his house,
without inquiry into the scenes there enacted ? How
is it that in England a husband is obliged to employ
violent means to liberate from custody a wife who
is impatient for deliverance ? How is it
that the husband himself is obliged to make
his escape from a place where he has no
wish to remain ? If so strict a watch is
kept over the inmates of the Agapeinone, we are
led to infer by the circumstances of the escape of
Mr. Rouse and the liberation of his wife, the fact
must have been well known in the neighbourhood.
How is it then that the authorities of the vicinity
have not interbred, so far as to invite a visit from
the Commissioners d Rainy! Is the " castle "

into which every Englishman's hones is metamor-
phosed by the well-known proverb, to become a
castle full of captives? Is it a place where men
and selves and their property may be forcibly de-
tained?
Here, we repeat, is something for the lovers of the
marvellous to rejoice in. In the midst of a country
which boasts to take more especial care of the liberty
of the subject than any other country in the world,
we have incidents which would seem adapted for a
German fief in the middle ages. It is probable that
the magistrates are not in the wrong. There may
be technical difficulties insuperable in the way of
meddling with the Agapemone ; but this does not
deprive the case of its marvellous features. It is
strange that legal tolerance is extended to lunacy
and violence. There are other persons in the
country, as well as the head of the Agape-
mone, who lay claim to superhuman powers. There
are numbers is Hanwell, or Bethlehem, or St. Luke's,
who assert their title to divinity. It ia not at all
improbable that these men, if given their liberty,
might be able to persuade others to believe in them.
Madness is very °etching. But we sometimes take
good care to preserve people from contagion, as well
as from other mischiefs. We do not allow each
pseudo-divinity to set up for himself, and gather
around him a crowd of street worshippers. How is
it that an exception is made here? Why is the head
of the Agapemone allowed unchallenged to testify
his contempt of law by the detention of un-
willing inmates of his "abode of love," whilst
he, as the report states, is "flaunting about
the neighbourhood in a carriage and four, with out-
riders ic a rich livery, escorted by bloodhounds?'
Are the laws sufficiently careful to protect that
portion of the 0: flux's subjects who, if not abso-
lutely insane, are liable to be excited by maniacal
pretensions These persons, left to tbmselves,
might move through misty enietly, and without
attracting remark, but their brains are email/ heated,
and then they fall into snares which more robust
intellects can avoid. At any rate, if they cannot be
protected by laws made for the sane, why cannot
there be some shelter for them under the laws made
for the protection of the insane? One thing is cer-
tain. The proprietor of the Agapemone or the in-
mates of his dwelling, or both, have been acting for
some years in a manner which can find its parallel
no where but in the walla of a lunatic asylum, and
scarcely there. Why are not the laws respecting
Commissions in Lunacy applicable in their case ?
We have a Governmental department to attend to
Insanity. Why don't they act in this ease ?