The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-09-05 00:00:00

more In view thaw the ears sad relief of the ob-
jet4.
It was not tin the 141 th of the mean Xing, that
legislative attention appears to be direlled towards
the treatment of the inferior classes of these people.
The general parrot of this law regards the me.
tropolis and seven miles round it.- An incomplete
branch, however, is allowed to extend a faint in•
flueace over provincial assuagement.
S. 92 r, No house at a greater distance than
seven miles from London, or within the covoty of
Middlesex, shall he kept for the reception of more
than one lunatic, unless such house be licensed by
the justices of the pease at their quarter sessions
And two justices and one physician are to be +,►-
pointed to visit every house se licensed, who, if ne-
cessary, may mike minutes of the state of the kiuse,
care of the patients, &c. which minutes shall be en-
tered in a register to be kept for that purpose by
the clerk of the peace for the county where:n such
house shall be licensed. And a copy of such regis-
ter shall be sent from time to time to tne Secretary
of the Commissioners in London. And notice of
the receipt cf every lunatic admitted into such house
(except such pauper lunatics as shall happen to be
sent there by parish officers) shall he giv:n to the,
Secretary of the Commissioners in Loudon, within
fourteen days from the time of such lun.L.c being
received."

This law, imperfect and indeed aSsurd as it is, re-
garding the counties, was designed for the protec-
tion and care of lunatics ist general ; yet by not ex-
tending the Visit of Magistrates to houses where a
single luavic miy be cn 1:3, it overlooks We si-
tuation iu watch the whole class of ',super :unatics
are in fall placed, that is, of those whose own circa'
are not sufficient topay, or whose friends or parishes
will not pay, the cost of the keiping in the licensed
bout: .

It is about thirty years since a charitable institu-
tion WAS fast wt osi tent at York, having in view
the relief and comfort cf such insane perwns as are
in lnw and narrow circumstances. Tint liberal sup-
port given to this Institution, not only by gentlemen
of the paricolar county, but of atl tae northern part
of England. has marked the public sentiment od :he
subjed. The Niilding and fitting up only was p 'ld
for by the subscription. The relief which the indi -
gent receive ebraugh the increased payment, of
those in better circumstances, for whose accommo-
dation suitable apartments are provided in the same
hodse.. The medical advice is given without cost
to the public or the patients.
This principle has been adopted in many othre
place but conneded with hospitals. •us at
Nlanchester. and Liverpool. But in pra-rai these
minor institutions have the miSfortole to he too li-
mited in their lands to receive patients at a sellici-
ently loan price to embrace the eases of the
And this defefl in the funds indivit!,: say arises from
the sum total of the public seer,-; being divided
iota the support of too many sm. :1 establishmenti.
There is an emulation ,setween the medical staff of
the several hospitals, which shall first open a war.!
for this class of patients. An-I al institutiln of this
kind can never receive patien;i A a cost within reach
of the poorer classes, but *h_ e numbers are pro-
vided for in one building and !iy one establishment.
Noiv. my Lord, cannot i.e unite the police in-
tention with the effarts of hunianity and provin-
cial economy. and by that union create a mutual
sußly rt ?

.6:app:.se Government tr inset° be constructed,
in at least to atiow money or constructing, a proper
ward of place of receptio for lunatics in each circuit
or other large division, : points to be agreed on.
Let the public be invite . to unite with it in build.
ing, by subscription a lunatic asylum for each divi-
sion, suited to the differ trit situations of patients of
high and low degree ; as at York. Indeed, I should
propose to go 1 step ictther—by compulsory statute,
I should &let:: provision to be made for parochial
lunatics, by charAe on t'e county rate of the several
counties 'masa And at this point only excite the
benevolence and generosity of the public fur further
purposes.
Once built, or, at most, built, furnished, and este-
blished•, no further cost need ensue. All patients
should pay the average expense of maintenance,
which should be hum eight to eleven shillings per
week.

The seite of these buildings should be near a
large town, the probable residence of a physician ot
eminence. There is lit:le doubt ev-n ot a competi-
tion of men of science io the prtession, for the ma-
nagement of such institutions where respectably esta-
blished, p • •ticularly if, as in many copies of York
(though not in the original) fees were allowed to be
taken of superior patients.
For this proposed reform to be complete, a small
alteration must be made in the lunatic clause of the
Vagrant Act, instead of the words II msndstory on
the overseers and other officers vs keep the lunatic
lucked up in some secure place within the county,"
it should.tend "to secure such lunatic in the
asylum of the district in which the parish of his set-
tlement shall be situated."

The Ad of the 14 Geo. 111. will admit, and in
deed will require, vei y considerable amendment ;
and particularly, instead of " no house shall be kept
for the reception of more than one lunatic. unitst
such house be licensed by the Justices, kc." " that
notice be Oven, within fourteen days, of the ad-
mission of any patient in the country to COMMIS.
sioncrs in London ;" " and that minutes of Justices
visiting in the country be transmitted to the same
Commissioners in London;' I should recommend
to be evaded, that „no lunatic or lunatics should be
confined in any house or place, without n dee
thereof being given to the Clerk of the Peace within
fourteen days after such confinement ; and every
house or place used for the confinement of on.: or
more lunatic or lunatics, should be open to the in-
speflion of Magistrates, whose minutes. on ar y in-
spedion, shottld be returned to the Clerk of the
Peace, to be laid before the Court of Quarts,. Ses-
sions of each county respectively, which Court Could
have power to remedy abuses."
There should, of course, be clautes of exemption,
with regard to all places of confinement, undt r the
diredion of the Lord Chancellor, the Royal
Foundations, and perhaps other general hospitals
(as St. Luke's) ; though, with reaped to the latter,
1 sat no ill cansequences that. would follow in-

_________._,_ ...._
• gy estalalisnment. as &ion& expense, I mean the wages
and muntewNK• of the officers Mil afrIMMI, watt must by a
flue and permanent cbalc,