The Express.
London, England, 1849-03-08 00:00:00

lab) intelligence.

EQUITY COURTB.—YISTIZDAY.
helm the lord Chancellor.
IN TEX MATTBiI OP DTCII Sonnaa. —lx LUNACY.
The arguments on the new petition to npersede the cons
mission in this case have occupied the court five den, and
are not yet concluded. Three petition for a super-
soda's had been prevented, without success, in 1844,
1847, and 1848, respectively. The reports cf the medical
gentlemen directed by the Lord Chancellor to Climbs
the lunatic in 1847 and 1848, were deemed conclusive,
their unanimous and uncontradieted orinioa being that he
was not of sound mind, but in consequence of their nom-
=sedation& all restraint on the lunatic, in respect of his
liberty and unappropriated income, was removed. The pre-
sent petition has been presented upon the report and
recommendation of six eminent physicians employed by
the lunatic and his friends; they formed their opinions
of his unity not only upon frequent inters-lows with
and examination of himself, but also it; on a review of the re-
ports made toy the physicians, the referees of the court, in 1847
and 1848,aud of the notes taken by a shorthand writer, of the
conversations three latter had with the lunatic in their
examination of him, and upon which their report (of 1848)
was founded.
The prayer of the present petition was " that the commis-
sion be superseded, or that the petition may stand over
and Mr. &mhos have liberty to reside in Londos, or else-
where., free from the interference 01 his committees; that the
committees may be discharged, or their powers suspended,
and, it necessary, that new commihees may be appointed in
their stead ; that Idi. S =bre may have liberty to attend
on the taking of all accounts before the master concern-
ing the management, care, and application of his mate and
dicta, &c." This application was erouuded on the
upoit, supported by affidavits, of Drs. Paris, Sir A. ?dor-
risem Costello, Mayo, Copland, and Ferguson. Their re-
port, dived Mivart'e lintel, the 24th of Dee., 1848, and
, addressed to the Lord Chancellor, stated, among other
things, that they were called upon to cumin* the state of
Col. Dyes Sombre, with respect to the soundness or un-
soundness of his mind ; that for that purpose they had re-
peated interviews with him, and five consultations with each
other ; and their decided impression, from those interviews
and examillatiolls, was that he did not labour under any
unsoundness of mind.
The report went on to treat seriatim of the several
points on which the four physicians made the report
on November, 1848. First, with regard to the cow..-
minion which the lunatic fancied he gave, to Lord Ward, in
Rome, in 1847, to negotiate with the scut for Tadolini for
delivery of the monument of the Begum, for 2001, the opi-
nion oldiese six was, that a hoar was played on Mr. Sombre,
as on arriving in England, and being shown the real Lord
Ward, he at once said he was not the person he saw in Rome.
Secondly, with respect to his notion that his sister (Ma-
dame Solaroli) was illegitimate, they found that that
notion bad some foundation in face, and they stated
the grounds of that opinion. Thirdly, as to the
quarrel of Mr. Sombre with Prince Doris, his statement
was, that when he was under restraint, in 1844, he was in
his carriage in Hyde-pack one day with hie keeper, when
a person on horsebockt whom he took to be the prince,
treated him with derision ; and for that insult he called the
prince to an ac:ount when he went to Rome in 1847, when
he was 'soured that the prince was not in London at all in
1844. 7he obvious explanation of Mr. Sombre's mistake
was, that some person resembling the prince behaved in the
manner complained of; end the doctors employed by the
court In their report in 1818 admitted that this was either
" a hallucination or a mistake." The report (of the six)
went on to state, fourthly, that Col. Dyes Sombre's com-
plaint that he was watched cons.antly by persons employed
by his wife, was not unnatural, as he considered hims. If the
object of a conapiracy, and watched for the purpose of detect-
ing symptoms of unsoundness of mind, o.pecially when he
was so informed io a letter from Lord Combermere to Mr.
Mahn. And with respect to his suspicions of the
hostility of the Ent India Company (of which Sir R.
Jenkyns was a director) or the ground of his claims
against the company, there wera documents in his
possession showing that these suspicions might well be
entertained under the circumstances b 7 a person of
perfectly sound mind. The filth point in which the adverse
report (of 1648) was founded was a charge of indecency
cooneeted with Go neral Ventura. The fact was that
General Ventura was understood by Mr. Sombre to have
used Hindostanee words expressive of contempt and an
indecent act. There were some phrases of Aisne slang used
but the report of 1848, in translating them too literally, gave
undue weight to them against Mr. Sombre. The sixth and
last point noticed in the report was the lunatic's jealousy of
Mrs. Dyes Sombre, and in treating of that matter it was but
just to consider the irfluences of early education, and the
peculiar circumstances of Mr. Sombre's position—born
in a Harem, and accustomed to its habits up to the
28th year of his age, in a country where it is criminal in
a woman even to appear among mea unveiled. Jealousy
of women was an overwhelming plosion in the mind of an
Oriental; it existed in a high degree in that of Mr. Sombre.
The report went on to distinguish errors and mistakes
from insane delusions. The proof of insanity consisted of
very different materia's, and these did not exist in the mind
of Mr. Sombre. Ills aussuspicionand jealousies of his
wife and her father urine, in his mind, when it was un-
questionably unsound, and the impressions so formed sur-
vived the insane state long after recovery, but it would be
doing injustice to co:sign a patient to a madhouse on the
ground of his continuing under oae morbid impression when
the entire context of his character indicated amity. And, in
proof of this character, the report referred to the orders of
the court, under which Mr. Sombre was allowed full liberty
of hi person and the unoontrolled use of his surplus income,
an indulgence to him which he never abused. The report
further stated that there appeared to be no ground
for apprehension of danger to himself or to others from
granting Mr. Sambre the fullest libetty.
Mr. Role, for Mr. Dyes Sombre, after stating the petition
and the above report, and arguing that there were many
persona sound in mind yet incapable of managing their affairs,
and many persons capable of badness who were of unsound
mind, said that Mr. Dyes Sombre was the son of Col. Dyes,
by a female in the harem of the Regain Semite. He was
born in 1809, was adopted as her heir, and brought up as
bar own child. He received some instruction from an Eng-
lish chaplain at Meerut, yet he was brought up as an Asiatic.
The Seguin had adored the Homan catholic faith, and only
is that did she differ from the other natives. Her establish.
meat was eastern in all its details. With the Asiatics the
point of honour was the chastity of the women,- persooal
truth and integrity were not so much regarded. The &gem I
died in 1836. Her sovereignty lapsed at her death to the
East India Company, but, while she lived, Mr. Dyes Sambre
had acted the part of an independent prince, and after her
death still retained large wealth. He immediately resolved
on coming to this country. He came by way of Calcutta,
where he met Sir C. Metcalfe, and accompanied him
in the voyage in the year 1838. He became acquainted
in that year with Lord St. Vincent, whose daughter he
afterwards married. Hie position on his arrival was this :
be was young and rich, an Eastern on education and blood ;
oils sudden introduction, therefore, to the circles of tastiest
and rank in this country mast have had a powerful effect
on his mind. He soon conceived a desire to merry into an
English family. Those who knew him in India, warned
him that he would not be happy; that his nature,
*decades, and habits wen such that he could not
accommodete himself to English society, far less to the
tastes of an English wife. This was stated to him
by General Ventura, who had known him in India,
and os meeting him in Paris resolved, from the regard he
entertained for him, to act towards him is a father.
Mr. Sombre having expressed his desire to form a con-
flexion with some English family, the general told him
that, from his knowledge of his character and opinions,
he was confident that such a marriage would prove an un-
happy one. The only passport Mr. Sombre had to the
circles in which he was received was his wealth. He

was a gentleman of some education, and possessed of
ordinary intellect Serious eonssoluenoes might have
been expected to follow his marriage with an English
women. The effect of his Asiatic education was to
produce jealousy. The marriage took place in 1840.
• who had been bred to the customs of entire seclu-
sion of the women, was stow expected to accommodate
himself to the free intercourse and usages of English society.
He had married a lady, of whom General Ventura said vie '
was the most beautiful and charming lady he had ever seen.
This sprichtly and charming lady was the woman of all
others, without imputing to her the slightest impropriety,
the most likely to excite the jealousy of a man such as
Mr. Bombes, ? From the year 1840 he grew more and
more imperious towards her, till, in March, 1843, he was
placed under restraiat. A commission was issued, and was
executed, neither solicitor nor counsel having been
instructed for Mr. Sombre. The commission was issued
on the authority of Sir James Clark, who stated that he was
of unsound mind, and no other evidence was offered to the

jury. That was the history of the cue up to 1844. In
August, 1844, Mr. Sombre was before Lord Lyndhurst, on •
petuion to '
supersede the commission. Evidence was given
E at great len of his conduct at hotels and in the public
streets • all • ds of stories were raked up, and the result
was that the petition was dismissed. After the dismissal
of the petition, that singular order was made in Deoember,
1844, by which a Mr. Warwick was appointed to attend
Mr. Sombre daring his residence abroad, to watch his move-
ments, but net to interfere with him unless required to do
so by the authorities of the country in which he might hop-
pen to take up his abode. It was also directed that be was
to have an allowance out of his fortune. Up to this period
he had been almost destitute. The committees, who ought
to have supported him, conceived it their duty to get him
within the jurisdiction, and they took the best means to
accomplish that end by keeping kiwi without money.
Some persons, however, who had known Wm in India,
interfered actively on his behalf, and the result was a pier-
:sllllWD for payment into Coutts's bank of a sum of 601. a
week, to the credit of Mr. Warwick, for the use of the lutketi:.
Blotters continued in this state until July. 1846,when, in con-
sequence of a petition of Mr. S,mbre, an order was made for
an examination at Dover by Drs Bright and Southey. In
that cismination they reported that they thought Mr.

Sombre's state of naiad bow than when he was last in Eng-
land, but that he still entertained delusions with respect to
his wife, and they thought it would be tins .fe to • ithiltaw
the commission. That pe ition sass heard in January,
1847, but no order was made on it, In the hollowing
July, on another petition, en order was made for the
examination of Mr. Sombre, at Brighton, by the same
two physicians. In their report' dated the. sth of August,
they admitted they could not detect any delusion.
la September, 1847, his lordship made an order, founded
on the report of August, by which it was directed
that Warwick be removed, and Mr. Sombre have the clear
surplus of his income after the payment to his wife of
4,008 i. a-year, secured by the marriage settlement. In
the course of the last y car another application was made
for superseding the commission, and another order wee
made for the examination of Mr. Sombre. Drs. Bright and
Southey were again namedi by his lorded:lp, with
permission for Sir J. Clark, who had attended the
lunatic in his first illness, and signed the certificate, to
he present on the part of Mrs. Thee Sombre. Mr. Martin
had also leave to attend on the part of Mr. Sombre.
lie wes examined by these getulesten at !treat length
for three days. A short hand writer was present at the
request of Mr. Sombre, who had main to be dissatisfied
with the previous reports, and • whhed for mesas of
testing their accuracy. The physicians seat to the ex-
amination with pre-conceived opinions, end they appeared
to have conducted the examination as if they niched
to make out a case, for they throughout exerted themselves
to put leading questions, and to examine Mr. Sombre in the
same way as a counsel crone-::amines an adverse
witness. They extorted his opinions with respect to trans-
actions with Sir R. Jenkins end Lord Ward, Prince D, ria,
and a Mr. Gwyntc, and Madame Solaroli; and on these,
together with the delusion on the subject of his wife, they
founded their report. (Mr. Bolt read from the slior.-'•and
writer's notes portions of the examination of Mr. Sambre
wish respect to the iefilelity of his wife, and dwelt o t the
repeated declarations made in it that Mr. Sombre now be-
lieved he laboured under a delusion in that respect, because
he wee assured by his friends that there were no grounds for his
suspicions.) What could be required beyond that declaration
It was said that Mrs. Sombre was in danger of violerce, if
the commission was superseded; and it was on that danger
that Lord Lyndhurst principally rested his juderni nt when
he dismissed the petition in 1844. But whet WAS the real
state of the case ? It was an important fact that the wife, so
tar from enrehending violence from her husband, had
actually insisted on haying an interview with him, and pro-
posed a reconciliation. There was an account of what
took plate at that interview drawn up by Mr. Som-
bre himself, end it was a moat importaut piece of evidence.
lie had refused to see his wife, unless acme persons were
present, and it was arranged that the meeting should
take place at Mr. Martin's, in the presences of that gentle-
men and Sir. J. Clark. The narrative of what took
place was in evidence. It commenced by stating that
on Mr. Sombre entering the room where his wife was wait-
ing for him, Sir J. Clerk and Mr. Martin proposed to retire,
but Mr. Sombre exclaimed, " That will not do ; you can't
leave." Mee. Sombre is then stated to have asked him
how he was, and to have said, " Come, dear, end
sit a little nearer to me," which Mr. Sombre refused,
s.ying, he wee " come to put the finishing stroke to this
disagreeable affair." Alter some obstrvatious of his wife on
the possibility of their living together again, Mr. Sombre
side), he thought that six years of experience ought to have
disabueed her mind of the probability of that. Some conver-
sation took place with respect to a cane and other articles
which Mrs. S =bre preserved for him, end which be desired
her to send him, sad she then is made t say that "she
thought it was his duty to mike her comfortable," which
observation was met by a reply of Mr. Sombre's,
that "he thought that had been already done by
the Lord Chancellor's orders.'' The interview ter-
minated with the expression of an indisposition on
the part of Mr. Sombre to renew it, but the remarkable
feature of the event was the manner in which Mr. Sombre
controlled himself throughout whet must be admitted to
have been a very trying scene. Was it not evident that
Mr. Sombre have equal power to control himself on other
occasions, and that the fears of violence to his wife were
wholly groundless? The next point in the report of
1848 was Mr. Sombre's suspicion of Sir it. Jentine
That, however, when examined, was not wholly un-
accountable. When Mr. Sombre was deplived of the
sovereignty of the territory held by the Begum he pos-
sessed a private estate bringing an income of 10,0001. a year.
The claim to that estate was now in dispute between him
and the East India Company. There wee also a question of
military stores of the value of 50,0004, seized by
the company when they took the territory. These
stores Mr. Sombre, es heir of the Began, thought
the company ought to pay for, end on these and other sub-
ject., being dissatisfied with the company, and thinking they
de'aycd or denied him justice he challenged Sir B. Jeekins,
who was one of the directors. Me now admits he was mis-
taken ; but was it extraordinary that on this state of thing',
when Lied Combermrre had written, at Brighton, telling
him " to be circumspect as he was watched by the units of
the adverse party," was it a proof of insanity, that, finding
Sir It. Jenkins in the same hotel with him in Brighton, be
should suspect that he was one of the persons watching him.
With respect to the opinion of Sir C. Trevelyan of Mr.
Sombre, it was objected that it was given years ago, and
to meet that observation application was made to him,
and his answer was given in a letter written by him from his
office at the Treasury on Febrauy 20th last. lie says:

In reply to your Inquiry as to what recent opportunities I have had
of being acquainted with Mr. Sombre's Meta of nand, I beg to inform
you that I here not, to the beet of my recollection, seen that gentle.
man since his One going abroad after the commis-iron of lutrtry : but
1 hare within the last few weeks had a ourresionntlenoe with him on
the alleged illegitimacy of Madame eolsroa, which was conduct, d by
him with much good sense and ability.
This certainly proved that Sir Charles had not recently
seen Mr. Sombre, but it at the same time proved that be re-
mained of his firmer opinion u to his state of mind ; and of
the same opinion were not only Lord Combermere, but also
the Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord lldwnshire, Mr. Prinsepp,
and the other gentlemen who signed the letter that accom-
panied the report of the six physicians to the Lord
Chancellor. Lord Shrewsbury had expressed to his lord-
ship and to Lord St. Vincent his regret that he had sub-
embed his name to the letter, because it contained a passage
offensive to Mrs. Dyes Sombre, but that noble lord con-
tinued to hold the same favourable view of Mr. Sombre's
state of mind and of his amiable eenciut.

The next ground of insanity referred to in the report of
the physicians was the supposed interview of Mr. Sombre
with Lord Ward in Rome in 1847, and the cffer of 2001. to
his lordship fey negotia Mg with the sculptor Tadelini for
delivering up the monument of the Begum Bomroo. The
obvious explanation of that mistake on the part of Mr.
Sombre woe that some person imposed himself on him u
Lord Ward, a mistake into which a stranger to his lordship
and to the habits of an English nobleman might easily fall.
He had seen Lord Ward at Lord Shrewsbury's, and thought
he knew him, but when, after returning to London, and
walking with Mr. Chiehes er, nephew of the Marquis of
Donegal, the real Lord Ward passed and was pointed
out by Mr. Chichester, Mr. Sombre immediately said
he was not the some
_person he bad the conversa-
tion with at Rome. The next ground of delusion
stated in the report and commented upon am a
new delusion was the denial of Madame Sole:oleo legiti-
macy. The report laid great stress on that ; but it was not
without tout:Adieu ; and so for from being a delusion, there
was every reason to believe that the matter had been dis-
cussed at the court of the Begum. Mr. Sombre said that
Madame Solaroli was the daughter of his father, but not
by the same mother, and that he entertained that opinion,
because he Lai heard it from his father, and Sir Charles,
Metcalfe told him so. They had it, however, in the evi-
dence of • gentleman who had been at the court of the
Begum, that the matter was there a subject of conversation.
On the last point, that of his quarrel with Prince Doris,
the report of the four ph's:clans stated that Mr. Sombre
refuse,' to give any information, but he admitted that
in consequence of what took place, he received •
hint from the authorities that if he did not take care they
would send him out of Rome. That was, however, one of
those occurrences on which ft was impossible to found any
chores of Insanity. The whole case was, that Mr. Sombre,
when under the charge of a keeper at an ear period of his
insanity, fancied that, in riding round Hyde-park. Prinoe
Doris made some antics and insulted him ; and for this act
Mr. Sombre, in the year 1847, challenged him at Rome.
Mr. Rolt then read the affidavit of the physicians, which
was a repetition of the opinions is the report. On
coming to this passage, " it entirely fell in with their
experience that delusive opinions thus formed and thus
etrengthened may survive the insane state; end they were
of opinion that they would set with great iquetice if they
consigned a patient to a mad-house on the ground of his toe-
tinning to assert one morbid Impression, when the entire
context of his character indicates sanity,"
The Lord Chancellor said he could not understand or go
along with that expression of then gentlemen's opinion.
When he knew what was the peculiar delusion of any lu
natic, he always kept that delusion in view when he had oc-
casion to make a personal examination; and the greater or
lees extent of thecontinusnce of that delusionmuch influenced
him in coming to any conclusion as to the return of sanity.
Mr. Rolt having read evidence on collateral points,
Mr. Palmer and Mr. Shadwell followed on the same side,
but did not introduce any new fact or argument requiring
separate notice.
Mr. Bothell, o• the part of Mrs. Dye* Sombre, the wife,
and committee of the person of the lunatic, opposed the pe-
tition. The court was bound in some degree by the
previous orders mode by Lord Lyndhurst, and ell that
bad been done since was on the recommendation of
the physicians' rep'rt in 1847, to give the lunatic
the enjoyment of the clear residue of his annual
income. The recommendation of the medical gentlemen
on that point had been acceded to, and his lord-
ship had made the experiment under the hope that
it would be productive of beneficial results. His lord-
ship would now have an opportunity of ascertaining how
far these hopes had been realised. In consequence of die-
covnies lately made, and from a perusal of papers that had
been transmitted to the court, he (Mr. Bethel!) would be able
to show from what quarter, and through whoa. instigations
these frequent petitions arose. He would be able to show
that they were not the voluntary sets of a person who felt
that his mental health was restored, but the acts of
interested and speculative adventurers, into whose hinds
the lunatic bad unfortunately fallen, in order that, if
successful, they might form the means of eupporting demands
on the property of the lunatic, which he made promises to rea-
lise. His lordship had beard in the course of the present dis-
cuision, that the whole of Mr. Sombre's delusions were the re-
sult of his Asiatic birth and education. That was nothing
more than a revival of a topic introduced in 1844; but no
one attempted to account for it to the same extent es Sir C.
Trevelyan, who had addressed a hied of tow on the subject
to the But India Company, in the ferns of a letter that had
been produced on the present occasion. It appeared, how-
ever, that after the letter was written and sent, Mr. Martin,
the surgeon of Mr. Sombre, prevailed on Sir Charles to
visit Mr. Sombre, and he then became so fully convinced of
his enor, that he wrote to the East India Compagy, begging