The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-22 00:00:00

THE TOWNLEY CASE.

The following has been despatched from the Home
Department, in reply to the second letter addressed
by the Derbyshire magistrates to Sir George Grey,
respecting the case of George Victor Townley:—
" T. W. Evans, Esq.,M.P., and W. Mundy,Esq.,M.P.
" Whitehall, Jan. 20, 1864.
" Gentlemen,—l am directed by Secretary Sir G.
Grey to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the 15th inst., which he received on the 18th inst.
" While the magistrates in whose names that let-
ter was written entirely agree that it was impos-
sible for the Secretary of State to refuse the inquiry
recommended by the judge into Townley's state of

_ •_
mind, they appear to think that the inquiry could
have been conducted in the same manner as an in.

quiry in the case of a commission of lunacy directed
by the Lord Chancellor where the sanity of a per-
son possessed of property is in question. They ask,

by shculd an inquiry involving the momentous
isE.ue of life or death, and which thereby affects the
reasonable sense of justice in the masses of the
people, be conducted in a less satisfactory manner
than an inquiry touching property only ?' The

answer to this question is, that in the ono case the

Legislature has prescribed the manner of inquiry,
. .. .

and has provided the means of its being publicly

conducted, the evidence being taken on oath before
ajudge and a legal commissioner specially appointed
to preside over it, or one of the judges, if the Chan-

cellor shall so direct. h the other case no such

provision has been made. It was not, therefore, in
the power of the Secretary of State to direct such
an inquiry, nor is it in his power to direct a public
inquiry, with evidence on oath, into the state fl
mind of any person. The inquiry which he did
institute, in order to obtain the information which
was requisite to solve the doubt suggested by the
judge and to guide him in the discharge of his

duty, was necessarily of the same nature as those
which have on previous occasions taken place in
cases in which, notwithstanding the conviction of
a person of a capital offence, doubts have been sug-
gested as to whether, owing to his state of mind, the
sentence of the law should be carried into effect.
" As the actual order of removal to Bethlehem
Hospital was founded on the certificate of Dec. 29,
signed by two county magistrates, the validity of
which you do not in:yap, it is scarcely necessary
to advert to your statement as to the alleged inva-
lidity of the first certificate. I am, however, to
inform you that the Secretary of State is advised
that its being signed on a Sunday did not render it
invalid, as it was not a judicial act within the mean-
ing of the rule stated by the magistrates ; and that,
although it was signed only by one county justice,
the other two magistrates being justices for the
borough only, the terms of the statute are not free
from doubt as to whether the borough justices had
or not authority to sign it.
" You inform Sir George Grey that, in the opinion
of the magistrates, Dr. Goode and his coadjutors,
meaning thereby, it is presumed, the justices who
signed the cert:ficate, did not intend to sign a
document which would be obligatory on the Secre-
tary of State, and they submitted that the 'certifi-
cate being expressed in terms directly opposed to
the publicly declared intention of those who signed
it, ought not to have an effect contrary to such in-
tention.' No statement which could support this
opinion has ever been received by Sir George Grey
from any one of the magistrates or medical men
by whom either of the certificates were signed, and
until he read this
passage in your letter it never
occurred to him as possible that, in signing the cer-
tificates, and forwardiug them to the Secretary of
State, the persons certifying were not fully aware
of the nature and effect of their certificate, or that
they did not intend that it should be dealt with by
the Secretary of State in conformity with the
statute, with the provisions of which they had care-
fully complied. After the doubt, however, which
you have suggested on this point, Sir G. Grey has
thought it right to call on the magistrates for an
explanation of the course which they took upon
this occasion, and for any observations they may
have to make as to this part of your letter, and also
as t 3 the assertion that Townley's removal to
Bethlehem was effected by the agency of his soli-
citor and by the expenditure of money. He
has also desired the governor of the gaol to
inform him by whose authority he admitted
to visit and examine the prisoner the two medical
men who signed the certificates and the two borough
justices who signed the first certificate,assuming you
to be correct in saying that they had no authority
to act in the county gaol, though situated within
the borough.
" With regard to the entries in the surgeon's
journal of the 25th August and 6th October, which
the visiting justices for the first time brought under
the notice of the Secretary of State in their letter
of the Bth inat., Sir George Grey can only repeat
the expression of his regret that, considering the
importance now attached by the visiting justices to
these entries, they wholly overlooked them for so
many months, and did not discover them and send
copies of them to the Secretary of State till it was
too late to render them of any practical use.
" Yon say that the report made by the Lunacy
Commissioners on the 28th December seems to the
magistrates not to support the certificate of the
two justices and two medical men. Sir George
Grey has already informed you that he was not
dupon act
the upn that report alone. Had he
beenalle o
upon
say that for the
reasons set forth in their report they could not con-
cs ,
although t o
sider Townley to be of sound mind, Sir George
Grey yet would not have felt justified from the
general tenour of the report in assuming that his
unsoundness of mind was such as to exempt him from
the penal consequences of an act for which, accord-
ing to the law laid down by the learned judge, he
was legally responsible. But whatever was the
purport and character of that report, it could not
affect the validity of the certificate. In one point
of view only was the opinion of the Lunacy Com-
missioners that Townley was not of sound mind
material. It gave this additional weight to the
certificate, that it precluded the Secretary of State
from supposing what he would in any casehave been
reluctant to do, except on the clearest proof, that
four magistrates and two medical men had, with-
out any probable grounds, and with the wilful
and deliberate intention of obstructing the
course of justice, signed a certificate of
Townley's insanity.
Had any magistrate
thus wantonly and corruptly abused the power with
which his office invested him, it is unnecessary to
say that he would have proved himself wholly unfit
to be continued in the commission of the peace, and
would have rendered himself liable to a criminal
information. Whether any alteration shall be made
in the law applicable to a case of this nature is a
question which will not fail to receive consideratiOn,
but it is one on which Sir George Grey does not
think it necessary to enter in this letter.—l am,
gentlemen, your obedient servant,
H. WADDINGTON.

MR. JUSTICE —Ye
re
s o
s t e
fr dt &bye
" n Grand
ed Day")ev a e
ter
theSiT EbEen. ch
judges at dinner in
their beautiful hall. The guests invited, and who were
entertained a her Majesty's
present, included the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas,
Mr. Justice Willians, Mr. Justice Mellor, Mr. Justice
Shee, and Lord Justice Turner. A. large number of the
benchers attended. including the newly-appointed Queen's
Council, Mr. Gray, and Mr. J. G. Powell, M.P., of the
:e
Oxford Circuit. To new judge of the Court of Queen's
Ben h, Mr.
from
theJusticebarristers
ceptionrs and students.
COLONIAL MCNEY-ORDER-OFFICE.—On the Ist
of February, and thenceforward, money-orders will
be issued by all morey-order offices in the United Kingdom
namay, l'ort of Spain, Trinidad. Money-
on the colony of Tritidad, at the same rates of charge and
under the same regidations as those already in force with
respect to other colonies with which money-order business
is transacted,
orders will also be iisued by this office on all money-order
offices in the Unitel Kingdom.
THE UTILIZATION OF SEAWEED.—The supply of
seaweed on our stores is practically iceshaustible, being
p
estimated at 21,000,000 tons per annum ; while the resent
consumption, both for kelp and for green manuring, does
not reach 1,000,000 tons. The wrack cast up on cur shores
during the winter season is the largest in quantity and the
most valuable in quality, and it is now proposed to save and
day this artificially by a contrivance for burning wet fuel,
and by which the seaweed itself is made to contribute
towards the heat required for drying large quantities, at a
cheap rate, at all pcssons 01 the year.

The Waterloo Road Murder,

.
The following painfully interesting letter, in re-
ference to the murderer Samuel Wright, has ap-
peared in the Weeklg Register, from the pen of the
Rev. Dr. Husenbeth, the Catholic clergyman whose
name has already been referred to in reference to
this matter :
Sir,—As so many erroneous statements have appeared in
the papers respecting the unhappy murderer, Samuel
Wright, and as my name, misspelt as usual, has been intro-
duced into the accounts of the poor criminal's behaviour
previous to his execution, it will, I think, prove acceptable
to your readers to have a correct account of the man, and
to see these various inaccuracies rectified, Samuel
Wright was not born at Cossey, as represented, but came
here with his parents from Norwich, about seventeen
years ago, He was then about fourteen years of
age. His mother soon after became a Catholic, and
he and his younger brother Michael came under my spiri-
tual care. After a due course of instruction, both were
admitted together to their first Communion in 1848. In
the year following, they both were coLfirmed here by
Bishop Wareing. Samuel continued regularly to approach
to the Sacraments, and to attend to every duty of the
Catholic religion, while he remained at Cossey. He was
married by me here to a Catholic young woman, nine years
ago ; and soon after this they left Cossey to reside at Lowes-
toft. Afterwards they lived in Norwich till his wife died
two years and a half ago, leaving him with two little chil •
dren, both girls. The elder of these ie just five years of
age, and is here with her grandmother, the mother of
Samuel's late wife. The younger is just three Sears of
age, and is in London with Samuel's aged parents. This
I mention, because in several accounts it has been stated
that both his children were in London.

I have also been thus particular in mentioning Samuel's
regular compliance with all the duties of a Catholic, because
the unhappy man denied, and persisted in denying, that he
ever had been a Catholic. He left Norwich and removed
to London soon after t,he death of his wife. Up to that time
he had continued in the profession of the Catholic religion.
Both his children were born in Norwich, and baptised by a
priest there. His subsequent career is unknown to me, but
I never heard of his actually changing his religion, nor do I
think that he ever did. He evidently fell into vicious
habits and evil company, and lost the precious treasure of
Faith, and, probably, all sense of religion. After
the commission of his last dreadful crime he knew
what would be required of him, as a Catholic,
before he could make his peace with God, and, most
probably, had not the courage to go through it, after the
wicked course of life in which he must have been for some
time involved. So, on his first committal at Newgate,
he declared himself a Protestant, and on his removal to
Horsemonger-lane Gaol he persisted in the same. If he had
chosen to turn Protestant, ho was free to do so, and abide
by the awful consequences of renouncing his Catholic faith.
But the worst, and to me the most unaccountable, part of
his conduct was, that he denied ever having been a Catho-
lic. He admitted that he had been a few times in a Catholic
chapel, and was married in one, but persist ed in declaring
that he never was a Catholic. Thus this un happy man, to
his other dreadful sins, has added wilful lying and epos-
tacy ; and with these upon his soul, has passed into
eternity I
It may be judged how painful hie sad history was to me,
who had known him innocent and happy, regular and edi•
fying, and had had him for several years under my spiritual
care. I thought it probable that a few lines from his former
pastor might produce a favourable effect upon this unhappy
man ; and accordingly I wrote to him on the 3d of January.
This letter has been alluded to in several papers, but its
contents have been wrongly represented. In the Daily
Telegraph, it was stated that my letter "fervently entreated
him to abjure the doctrines of the Protestant Church ;"
but I never said a word about the Protestant Church.
I had hoard indeed of his denying his faith ;
but in my letter, I did not make the least
allu-
sion to that denial. I wrote as if I supposed him still to
be, as I had always known him, a Catholic. I reminded
him of the happy days of his youth and innocence, and ex-
pressed my hope that all the religious instructions which he
had received here would revive in his mind in his sad con-
dition, and move him without delay to repent and make his
peace with God. I assured him that his crimes, great as
they were, were not too great to be forgiven by God's infi-
nite mercy, provided that he sought forgiveness in the pro-
per manner; and that for this purpose I exhorted him to
lose no time in seeing the Very Rev. Provost Doyle, who
was a great friend of mine, and to place himself entirely
under his care, who would guide him safely after all to save
his poor soul. He was certainly well pleased with my "kind
and welcome letter," as he himself called it ; and his brother
Michael begged of him to read it over and over again, and
do what it exhorted him to do ; but unhappily it produced
no further effect. Ho chose to be attended by the Protes-
tant chaplain.
Two letteri have appeared in the papers, which he wrote
before his execution. One was written on Sunday, the
10th, and the original is now lying before me. It was ad-
dressed to his mother• in-law, the mother of his late wife,
with whom, as already mentioned, is his elder little girl
Fanny. The Telegraph gave this and another letter written
the next day to his own poor mother, as if both had been
addressed to her ; but the first was to his mother-in-law,
living here at Cossey. In the first letter he mentions hav-
ing received " a kind and welcome letter" from me, but
makes no further observation upon it. Deeply as I have
felt for him, as his former friend and pastor, and anxious
as I was to do anything to rescue him from an
ignominous death, I must own that I could see
nothing whatever in his case to extenuate his crime,
or call for the extraordinary feeling manifested in
his favour. I am persuaded that if Townley's case had
not happened just before, little or no notice would have been
taken of poor Wright, or sympathy shown for him. Though
I grieve acutely for the shocking crimes and untimely end
of one for whom I always felt great regard and pastoral
affection, I consider his fate as but too likely to follow from
the course of his life in the latter part of it. He began, as
too many do, by neglecting his religious duties; by degrees
he became hardened and indifferent about them, and got
entangled in vicious habits and evil company. The precious
gift of faith was withdrawn from him, and at last his un-
controlled passions led him to that dreadful crime which
cries to heaven for vengeance. Though few go thus to the
extremity of crime, his fate should be a warning to all off'
the dreadful danger of neglecting the sacred duties o
religion.

F. C. HUSENBETII, D.D.

Cossey, Jan. 16th, 1864.

More of Mouravieff's Cruelties.

Private letters from Lithuania to the 25th of De,
cember are lamentable. One of the latest acts of
General Mouravieff was to order the general com-
manding the district of Jezorosy not to appear
before him until he had completely suppressed the
insurrection in that quarter. The general came
to the conclusion that it was useless to make any
distinction in a country where the entire population
is favourable to the insurrection, and he determined
to strike a great blow. Having selected a colonel
and two other superior officers notorious for their
cruelty as his assistants, he arrived at Du-
siaty, a chateau belonging to the Counts Ladis-
las and Clow Plater, which has been con-
fiscated by Mouravieff, and there established
his headquarters. He commenced by transporting
all the farmers on the estate en masse without any
trial, and with them the Abbe Viotwaricz, the
parish priest of Dusiaty—a man beloved by his
parishioners. The Canon Macewicz was the next
victim. Having got rid of all the clergy, the Gene-
ral proceeded to the village of Aulozers, consisting
of ten farmhouses. Determined, if possible, to dis-
cover the chiefs of the national organisation, he
ordered ten peasants to be brought before him, the
greater number of them being fathers of families,
and having selected two, the bastinado was applied to
them during the night. The following day he ordered
ten victims to be led to the marketplace of Dusiaty,
and in the presence of the neighbouring communes
the General ordered that from 200 to 500 blows with a
stick should be inflicted on each. He nevertheless
failed to extort any confession from them. Their
mutilated bodies were then removed, and the Gene-
ral ordered Norbert Urbanus, fifty years of age, and
possessing great influence in the country, to be
brought forward. He first spoke to his prisoner
with great mildness, in order to induce him to
give information, bat he could obtain nothing from
him. He then ordered that he should be beaten
without mercy, and that his wife and two children
should be committed to prison. Finding that
all was in vain, the General endeavoured to
terrify Urbanus by commanding that he should
be shot. All the preparations were made, and
he was led to the place of execution. He
there exclaimed with a firm voice, " You
have commanded that I shall be shot, but that is
nothing new here. It is not two months since we
witnessed in this little town the death of one of our
brothers. If it be necessary that I should die for
the advantage of my country and of my rellgion, I
do not fear death." He was then released. The
General next commanded that other villages,
containing in all 117 houses and 600 inhabitaute,
b
should e plundered, and the inmates, men,
women, and children, brought to Dusiaty, where
they were exposed to cold and hunger in order to force
them to give information. The pillage continued
from the 7th to the 23d of December, and all the
property of the villagers was sold for anything
offered by the Burlaki, or " old believers." Ali the
agricultural implements were given for nothing to
the Burlaki, who rushed on the houses of the Polish
peasants. The entire population of Dusiaty and of
Shopsistik were transported to Siberia. Of all
these unfortunate people not one offered to give
information to the Russian General. All bore their
fate with fortitude, and in full confidence of the
resurrection of their beloved country,

THE SHAKSPERE CELEBRATION.

(From the Athenceum.)

When a hundred gentlemen meet to discuss a
question of taste, there will be at least a hundred
conflicting opinions to consider and harmonise; so
that a conciliatory spirit—a disposition to find out
the common ground of agreement—will be neces-
sary on all sides if any visible action is to ensue. In
the Shakspere Committee, this moderation of spirit
is absolutely indispensable to success. An act of
festive and reverential homage is one of the few

things which cannot be performed by a majority.
You can make a railway, or vote a bill, by a show of
hands. But reverence for the great dead is an act
of sentiment and sympathy, only to be performed in
the midst of peace, harmony, and good-will. Take
away any of these pleasant cDnditions, and the whole
beauty of the common design is gone. One angry
word will disturb a fQast,—one explosive cry de-
stroy an act of warship. If peace and good-will
cannot be secured in the congregation, nothing that
is worth doing can be done. Are we incapable of
so much moderation of spirit ?

The Shakspere Committee consists of more than
four hundred distinguished persons, drawn from
the most opposite sides of the social circle—arch-
bishops and actors, judges and journalists, dis-
senting ministers and country gentlemen—a com-
mittee the very existence of which offers a great
example of toleration, and to some persons appears
to present an extraordinary suffrage in favour of
dramatic poetry and the dramatic art. Such a body
of gentlemen must be expected to have very diffe-
rent opinions as to what would constitute the most
appropriate monument to the noblest of all poets.
In such a body—where every man is a leader, a
speaker, or a writer, with a claim to be heard—a
conflict of ideas was inevitable from the moment
that the site and monument came under discussion.
There are perhaps as many projects as there are
members of the committee. As to the most appro-
priate site, vaices contend for Temple Gardens,
Primrose Hill, Westminster, Kensington Gardens,
and Stratford-on-Avon. And for each of these sites
a great deal may be said, which the several partisans,
and the newspapers at their command, are saying
with great effect, and with a perfect want of unani-
mity. The same thing happens with regard to
every possible form of monument. A theatre, a
library, a statue, an obelisk, a column, a Gothic
cross, a Tudor chapel, an avenue, an alms-house,
and a cathedral, have been suggested. An edition
of Shakspere's works finds many friends. One pro-
posal is to create a fund to be employed in the annual
performance of a number of Shakspere's plays, at
one or other of the London theatres, on the plan of
the Moliere representations at the Th€atre Francais.
These suggestions are, doubtless, made with a sincere
desire to see the poet commemorated in the most
appropriate and beneficial manner. The conflicts
which arise from these differences of opinion
are quite legitimate, for they exist in the very
nature of things. It is right to state our ideas—
to ask that they shall have fair consideration ; and
when they have been stated, and have had fair con-
sideration, it is graceful to yield them in favour of
plans which command a larger measure of support.
We hope and believe that such a course will be
generally adopted by members of the Shakspere
Committee; but we regret to see that some very
warm and sincere advocates of a Theatre, on finding
that their plans could not be carried in the com-
mittee, have withdrawn their names—a fact which
seems to imply that they consider the form of
monument to be of greater importance than all the
other circumstances of the celebration put together.
Surely this is an erroneous view to take. Are
there no bases on which all may agree ? In the
midst of all the discords of debate there seem to
stand out some few central ideas, around which all,
or nearly all, might gather.
We are all in favour of obtaining a large and
generous suffrage for Shakspere's art.
We are all in favour of observing Saturday,
April 23, as a general holiday.
We are all, or nearly all, in favour of celebrating
the birthday by the performances of Shaksperian
drama and Shaksperian music.
We are all, or nearly all, in favour of promoting
local celebrations throughout the country, to be
commemorated in various cities by the foundation
of scholarships, the creation of libraries, or the
erection of statues.
The site and character of the monument might
very well be left to time and the special committees
which have been appointed to consider them.
With regard to the question of the Executive,
we presume that the gentlemen who constitute it,
sixty-three in number—keep office only so long as
they retain the confidence of the committee which
gave them power. Since some of our contemporaries
state that the names of the Executive are not known
to the public, we may as well give the list :—The
Archbishops of Canterbury, York, and Dublin; the
Dukes of Devonshire and Manchester ; the Earls
Granville, Clarendon, and Carlisle ; Lord Brougham,
Sir Frederick Pollock, Sir Roundell Palmer, the
Right Hon. William Cowper, the Lord Mayors of
London and Dublin, and the Lord Provost of Edin-
burgh ; the Presidents of the Royal Society, Society
of Antiquaries, Royal Academy of Arts, Royal In-
stitute of British Architects, the Architectural
Museum, Society of British Artists ; the R.A. Pro-
fessor of Sculpture, the Master of Trinity, Sir E. B.
Lytton, Sir R. C. Kirby, Sir C. Nicholson, Sir R.
G. Macdonald, and Messrs. H. N. Barnet, G. L.
Banks, H. G. Bohn, Rev. J. M. Bellew, Bayle Ber-
nard, Ernest de Bunsen, J. Stirling Coyne, W. F.
Cosens, Charles Dickens, W. H. Dixon, J. Durham,
J. H. Foley, Ernest Garbart, George Godwin, 3. 0.
Halliewell, F. Haines, J. C. Jeaffreson, J. Knight,
7. Levy, Samuel C. Lucas, E. H. Lawrence, W. C.
Macready, W. Marston, D. Maclise, H. Ottley, An-
tonio Panizzi, C. Reed, I. F. Robertson, D. Roberts,
C. Stanfield, W. Titer M.P., Alfred Tennyson, F.
G. Tomlins, and T. Wright. Like every other body
of gentlemen, these may be considered as ready to
give way at any moment to a majority. If their
ideas are not acceptable to the general body, let
those who represent the more popular opinion come
in and achieve the work. We cannot doubt that a
new Executive would receive from the present mem-
bers every assistance in their power, including a
conciliatory construction of all their acts.

Liverpool Cotton Market—This Day.

Market firm. Sales probably 3,000 bales or more.

WEEKLY REPORT.

Week's sales, 25,690 Niles, including 3,120 on
speculation and 4,560 for exportation. Actual ex-
port, 6,437 bales. Quotations :—Middling Orleans,
271 d. ; Mobile, 274 d ; Uplands, 27d. ; estimated
fair Egyptians, 271 d. to 271 d. ; Sante, 12d. to 25td.
eek's import, 40,648 bales. Estimated stock
266,500 bales. •

WASHINGTON IRVING'S DEATH.-0a November
the 28th, 1859, on retiring for the night, at half-
past ten, his niece Sarah, who always took charge of his
medicines, went into his room to place them as usual,
within easy reach. " Well," he exclaimed,"
" I must
arrange my pillows, for another weary night I" and then,
as if half to himself, " If this could only end I" or " When
will this end 1" she could not tell which; for, at the in-
stant, he gave a slight exclamation, as if of pain, pressing
his hand on his left side, repeated the exclamation and the
pressure, caught at the footboard of the bed, and fell back-
ward to the floor. The sound of his fall and the screams
of Sarah brought the whole family in an instant to his
room. I raised his head in my arms. Every means was
resorted to to recall animation, and continued until a phy-
sician—Dr. Carruthers, from a distance of two miles_
arrived, who pronounced life entirely extinct. He had
passed away instantaneously. Tho end for which he had
just been sighing—the end which to him had no terror
had come. His departuro was sudden; but so ho was
willing it should be. In the fulness of years, with un-
clouded intellect, crowned with the warmest affections of
his countrymen, and with an assured hope of a happy
immortality, he had gone down, according to his own
pathetic aspiration. " with all sail aet." Who that loved
him would have wished to recall him ?-1-rving's Life by
his Nephay.

LIFEBOAT SERNicEs.—CIIALE, ISLE OF WIGHT,
Jan. 20.—The boat of the National Lifeboat Insti-
tution, stationed at Brighstone Grange, was instrumental
to-day in rescuing the crew of the schooner Thetis, of and
for London, from Portland, with stone, which, during
heavy weather troth. the south-west, had foundered off Bt.
Catherine's Point, The cost of this boat was presented to
the National Lifeboat Institution two or three years ago by
the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, by whom she was named
The Rescue. She has since then been happily the means
of rescuing about 110 persons from shipwreck.