The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-09-04 00:00:00

CRIMINAL AND PAUPER LUNATIC&

Copy of Suggestions on the Smiled 4 Cantina and Pager
Lunatics ; Iddgessed by Sir George Onesiphocous Paul, it.
to Earl Soo.teer, His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State
for the hums Alparuoant ta.-date/ Hill House, tlth tie.
tuber. I dO6.
Mr Loan—On the pert of the Magistrates of the.
county of Gloucester, I apply to your Lordskip in
respea of Charles Roberts. who was tried on a
charge of a capital felony, at the Summer Assizes.
1800, and acquitted. with a special finding of the
Jury, that be was insane at the time of his com-
mitting the offence. Also of James Need, tried for
an assault, at the Slimmer Assizes, 1603. and in like
manner arguitied, under the powers of the Aa 40
Geo. 111. e. 94. ; and both in consequence were re-
manded by the Court to the county gaol, there to
be kept in stria custody uatil His Majesty's pleasure
be known.

As your Lordship will observe, the former of
these men has been kept six years. and the latter
three, at the cost of the county, and to the relief of
the prisoners own estate, and that of their friends,
or nf the particular parishes to which they respec-
tively belong. His Majesty's pleasure has not yet
been signified regarding them.
'lt seems, by the wording of this Alt, that it was
not intended that the direftions of the Legislature
should rest here, but rather that the remanding to
min custody, was a temporary expedient of an in-
complete law, necessarily passed in the hurry of the
momentous occasion which produced it, to be com-
pleted on a more deliberate consideration.
e county, on whole part I address your Lord-
ship, wish to know what is intended to be the ulti-
mate situation, rot only of the individuals above-
mentioned, but of this class of prisoners hereafter ;
who, if they are to remain in gaol for the term of
their lives, or ao long as the public may, by pos.
s:bility be endangered by their enlargement, will be
a class accumulating by every succeeding circuit.
I beg to observe to your Lordship, that this
question is net put as disapproving the law so
tar as it has gone, but in the hope that a measure
wisely adopted may be rendered complete to its
ultimate ohjeft. But. supposing it determined
that the common gaol of the county is the proper
place for the continuance of confinement of these
persons, there is a further important questioe for
your Lordship's consideration, and that of the Le-
gislature Is the cast of the keeping, maintaining.
cicthing,' and curing such lunatics, to cease to be
a charge on their own estates, or the parochial
funds nf their places of settlement, and be hence-
forth paid by the purse of the county, to the gaol of
wb.ch such lunatics shall happen to he committed f
by the general and long established law, 17 Geo.
11. c. 5. s. YO, “ where persons are by lunacy fa.
tinnily mad. or leo far disordered in their senses
that they may be dangerous to be permitted to go
abroad. two Justices- of the Peace, where sash luna-
tic or mad peison shall be found, shall by warrant
direned to the constables, churchwardens, and
overseers of the poor of the parish, cause such per-
son to be apprehended, and kept safely locked up
in some secure place within the county where the
parish in which inch lunatic shall be found shall lie,
as such Justices under their bands and seals shall
appoint, if the last legal settlement of such lunatic
be in any parish within such cenoty ; and if such
settlement shall not be there. then such lunatic shall
be sent by pass to the parish of his last legal settle-
ment, and shall be confined in manner aforesaid,
by warrant of two Justices. &c. Scc."
is And the charges of removing, keeping. main-
taining, and curing such person, during such re-
straint, shall be paid from the goods and the an-
nual rents of such person, if he bath sufficient goods
and estate over and above what shall be sufficient
to maintain his or her family, and if not, then such
charges shall be satisfied and paid by the parish to
which such person belongs; prtivided,nothing therein
contained shall prevent any friends, &c. from taking
such lunatic under their own care and protection."
From the tenor of these clauses it is evidently the
interest of the parish officers, on behalf of their pa-
parishes, to prevent their lunatics from committing
ansot violence which may cause them to be brought
within the notice of the Magistrates, who have the
power of ordering them to be confined in any hone*
of reception within the county, and the parish must
be at the consequent expense of the maintenance,
keeping, and cure.
Now, presuming a case. that, through neglen of
the parish officers, a lunatic shall be permitted to
gn abroad. and shall commit an an of violence,
such as will bring him before a Court of Justice, he
will be held in confinement under the an of 40 Geo.
111. instead of being confined und.r that of 17 Geo.
11. The parish. as the law now stands, would,
by the very an of their own neglen, be relieved of
the expense of maintaiaing and keeping the lunatic,
and the county in which he was accidentally appre-
hended (perhaps not the county of the parish of his
settlement) will be charged with this expense, per.
hap. during a long life.
It is then not impossible. that when this conse-
quence of neglen shall become understood. three
may bp found parish officers who may rather en-
courage than prevent an outrage which may bring
a man to trial, and thue ellen this important saving
to the iunds of his parish. An assault has produced
this 'free in Gloucestershire, to a saving of not less
than '251. per annum for several years.
As your Lordship has desired my detailed sug-
gestions on this subjefts I will glee them as they
arise in my mind at the instant.
Persons remanded to prison under this law ate of
two descriptions, to be separately considered; first,
persons who have been acquitted by juries on the
impression of testimony. mote or less false, given
with a view to screen the cicadas from a capital
or other .punishments. And, secondly, those ac-
quitted. who really labour under an habitual in-
sanity, in a greater or less degree.
As to the former of these descriptions. their thu-
mb" does not merit oar commiseration, nor is the
keeping them in custody more inconvenient than the
keeping of any other description of prisoners.
Bat when a man is really a lunatic, the mode of
keeping which, in weßoegulated prisons, being
provided for the punishment at cownined felons, is
unjust for any man acquitted on trial, and, regard-
ing madmen, is wholly inconsiatent with their situ-
ation, unless it were intended to heighten not re-
press the symptoms of their disorder.

(To be coetiaueti