The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-07-12 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT I IMPERTINENT ANNOYANCE OF THE
ROYAL FAMILY.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—FRIDAY.
' The Loark.CasNciLLoa took his seat on the Woolsack
at five o'clock.

AFFAIRS OF INDIA,

The Earl of ELLzmnononau presented a petition on the
subject of the affairs of India, on which a long discussion
took place, but without any important result.

MR. RICHARD DITNN IN A NEW CIeARACtItR.
On Thursday Mr. Richard Dunn, Who has contrived for so
many years to maintain a public notoriety by the systematic
persecution of ladies of wealth or family distinction, (of
whom Miss Burdett Coutts has been the principal victim
hitherto), was brought before Mr. Henry, at the Bow street
Police court, upon the authority of An order previously
issued by his worship, directing an enquiry as to the Etat() of
the defendant's mind.
Mr. Bodkin appeared on behalf of the crown fo conduct
the enquiry, which occupied several hours, owing to the
discursive speeches and troublesome conduct of the defendant,
whose manner throughout was that of an excited madman.
Mr. Bodkin stated that the position which the defendant
now occupied was very different from that in which he had
been placed, on former occasions, at the police courts of the
metropolis. It was not necessary to re'er to the defendant's
continued persecution for so long a period of Miss Burdett
Coutts, for the circumstances were sufficiently notorious.
Now the attention of his worship would be directed to a
series of letters which he had addressed to some royal
personages, and, painful as it was to give publicity to the
offensive terms in which those effusions were couched, it
was still necessary to read them in justification of the
present proceedings. In consequence of those letters it was
Judged necessary to obtain his worship's order to have a
medical enquiry instituted as to the defendant's state of
mind, and Dr. Sutherland and Dr. Lavers were now in
attendance to report the result of their examination. The
letters, which were addressed to her Royal Highness the
-Duchess of Cambridge, and the Princess Mary, had been
submitted to the commissioners of police, by whom, with the
sanction of the Home Secretary, application was made for the
present order to bring the defendant before a magistrate, as
a lunatic at large. After some further observations, Mr.
Bodkin examined the following witnesses—
Major Home Purvis deposed that he was equerry to her
Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge. He produced
five letters, which had been received either at St. James's
Palace or Cambridge Cottage, Kew, and which had been
since handed to Sir Richard Moyne. They were ad-
dressed chiefly to the Princess Mary, and were signed
" Richard Dunn."
Cross-examined by defendant : The last dates were about
the 15th or 16th June. There had been a great many
previous letters, signed "R- D.," but they had been
destroyed ; and two or three, signed " Richard Dunn,"
were returned to the address given by the writer.
Here Dunn, in a wild and insolent tone, put a torrent of
questions to the witness.

At the request of Mr. Bodkin, the following letter was
read by Mr. Burnaby, the chief clerk, the defendant him.
self repeatedly assisting him in deciphering unintelligible
passages:

" Victoria Coffee-house, June 14, 1856.
" Princess,--If I could believe that the outrage perpe-
trated on my feelings was sanctioned by you I should never
again address you, for never was outrage so totally unpro-
voked. I have acted entirely in obedience to what I
supposed to be your wishes, and I highly estimate your
correct and proper feelings. I did not suppose it possible
that, as a lady, you would permit me to pour into your
bosom the warm and ardent affection which you have taught
me to entertain for you; nor did I think that, after having
retained those letters so long, you could place them in the
hands of the Commissioner of Police. My feelings towards
you, Princess, were principally created by the encourage-
ment I was led to suppose you wished to give me. They
began with your smiles, they may end with a frown,
if you like to end with one. You require no protection
from me but your own feelings. All the empire knows that
money cannot buy my heart. I loved with truth and
sincerity; I acted with candour and honesty. You know
all my circumstances, and if I have acted in any way
distressing to you, do not blame me but the circumstances.
If you think me worthy of your esteem and fair hand, let
me know. If you have placed my letters in unworthy hands
take them back, or have them restored to me, and you sh ill
never hear from me again. Do not think lightly of the
difficulties of my position, one lady hunting me to distraction
because I won't have her, and another because I wish to
have her. If you wish to write you can easily make your
maid enclose them to me, and I should be gratified if I
could have an explanation with a person on whom you
could remain, beloved and admired Princess, yours,
&c.,
RICHARD DUNN.

The defendant here observed "That letter is my answer
to this charge, I am content to put in that letter as my
defence."

Other letters were read of a wild and offensive character,
and were proved by Inspector Bray, of the A division, to
be in defendant's handwriting, but Mr. Henry did not
consider them of sufficient importance to be attached to the
depositions.
Dr. John Layers, of Great George-street, Westminster,
examined—ln pursrance of the order produced, I saw
defendant on Saturday last. I had seen Mr. Dunn before,
on two previous occasions, to ascertain the state of his mind,
and had conversations with him each time. From these
conversations, and from what I have seen of him to-day, I
believe him to be insane. My first interview with him was
at his own lodgings. He then stated that his reason for
writing letters to the Princess was that she had given him
an unmistakeable look of recognition, while riding in her
carriage, and that the Duchess of Cambridge, who sat by
her side, reproved her for it. This, he said was so obvious,
that it drew the attention of a byestander, a gentleman, who
splice of it to him (Donn) at the time. Afterwards at my
own home, he stated that the daughter of a nobleman (whose
name he mentioned) had wished him to marry her, and that
the father, a marquis, had offered to settle an annuity of
£3OO upon him. He said that two young women, whom he
met in Band street, were sent to look out for him by the
Princess, and that while he was conversing with Sarah, the
Princess's waiting maid, at her residence, the Princess her.
irs, and would have come down
said tha aho was in love with him, and the palacethat doors weQreueen thrown
open to him, but he had purposely avoided going that way.
He said the landlady of the reading room in Bury street,
St. James's, which he used, had told him repeatedly thst
the servants of ladies of distinction had been sent to enquire
after him.
The witness was subjected to a long period of " bullying,"
rather than cross-examination, end was asked to define
" ethics," " mathematics," to repeat the sentiments of
" Locke on the Human understanding" in special relation
to insanity, to state what constituted a fool, and finally,
with vulgar effrontery, defendant desired the witness to
get a looking glass and save himself the trouble of the
definition.
Dr. Alexander John Sutherland, of 6, Richmond-terrace,
Whitehall, deposed to statements made to him by the
defendant similar to those spoken to by the previous
witness, and added that after that he stated to me that the
Princess had written to him, and had put a heart in the
corner of it, with the name " Mary" written on the heart.
He said that a gentleman called upon him at his chambers
in the Temple, and in the course of a conversation said to
him—" Princesses have sometimes married commoners."
He slid that on another occasion, when the Princess was
out riding with some other ladies, she "put out her cheek
as much as to say, If you salute me, I am ready to salute
you.' " He also stated that he had been to the Duchess of
Cambridge's, where he saw the maid servant, and said to
her, " Sarah, your young lady is either flirting with me or
humbugging me." At this Sarah laughed, and he then
askel what sort of person the Princess was, an i she said,
" very amiable, just like her father," upon which he (Mr.
Dunn) rejoined, then I will try it on." He also told me
that be asked Sarah whether any of the ladies in the house
wore plaid shawls, and Sarah replied that they did. He said
he had seen Miss Fraser and the duchess's maid servants in
Bond street, neat the Clarendon Hotel, and that one of them
said, " How do you do ?" That he interpreted this to
mean that he was to go to tte house of the Duchess, as the
Princess Mary was alone, it being the day upon which the
ocher members of the family dined with the Duke of
Cambridge. He observed that there had been a good deal
of whisperin?, about the Princess Mary and himself at his
lodgings. He further said that, on one occasion, as he was
going towards St. James's Palace, he was overtaken
by a woman, who ran before him to the
entrance to the stable yard by Sutherland-house.
That she went in, and that almost immediately afterwards he met the Duelies's carriage. He told me that
if he were not made of cast iron he could not have withstood
these advances, and that had they been ordinary women he
should, after such encouregement, have walked into their
houses at once. He said it had been intimated to him that
the Duchess had objections to the marriage of Princess Mary
with Prince Oscar, and that he believed that her Majesty
favoured him, an inference which lie drew from her manner
towards him. Ile said that a certain nobleman was desirous
that he should marry his danghter, and that in consequence
of his (nr. Dunn's) refusal he had become the object of that
nobleman's persecution. That in consequence of that per.
secution he had been driven out of twelve different lodgings,
that he had written to Lord Palmerston to complain that he
could not walk the streets without being watched, and that
if this annoyance was not put a stop to he would put a case
of pistols in his pocket and shoot the first person he met who
was watching him. lam clearly of opinion that Mr. Dunn
is of unsound mind and a proper person to be under care
and restraint. From his threatening to shoot any one who
should watch him I think he is dangerous to others, and
from the expression in one of the letters that " a Christian's
death would be better than such a life," I think him dan-
gerous to himself.

selt was waiting on the sta
to him but for the servants
- •

This gentleman was subjected to a similar cross-examina-
tion to that undergone by Dr. Lavers.
The defendant in a long and rambling harangue, main-
tained stoutly that the whole of his assertions were true,
and that he could prove them. He demanded that all
the
Rhoherons he had mentioned should be called, to say
had the Lets were as he stated them. He asserted that
the
ath seen the Earl of Munster, who had assured hint
the lady was in love with him, and required his worship
-n the case, for the purpose of examining that and

to adjoun,
other witnesses.
Mr. Henry : There can be no doubt about the falsity of
all the allegations and statements proved to have been made
by you. The possible excuse for you is that which Dr.