The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-27 00:00:00

THE SUN. LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 27, 1864.

THE TOWNLEY CASE.

The following are copies of letters addressed to
Sir George Grey by the Justices of the Peace who
signed the certificates of insanity in the case of
George Victor Townley :
Spondon-hall, near Derby, Jan. 22.
Sir,—l beg to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Wadding-
ton's letter, dated the 19th inst., enclosing some extracts
from a letter which has been addressed to you by cetain

magistrates of this county, and calling upon me, as on© of
the magistrates who signed the certificate of the insanity of
George Victor Townley, dated the 29th December ult., for
an explanation of the course pursued by me on that oc-

casion.
I can not only have no objection, but I am happy to avail
myself of the opportunity thus afforded me, to state fully
the steps taken by me in the matter referred to.
On the evening of the 25th of December Mr. Leech, the
prisoner's solicitor, called at my residence and desired to see
me, and after explaining that an Act of Parliament provided
that, on a certificate of a prisoner's insanity being signed by
two justices of the peace and two medical men, the Secre-
tary of State should have the power to respite such prisoner,
requested me, in my capacity of magistrate, to make a judi-
cia 1 inquiry into Townley's state of mind. Mr. Leech also
informed me that he had endeavoured to obtain the services
of other magistrates for the same purpose, but without suc-
cess, and he named Sir Henry Wilmot (one of the visiting
justices of the county gaol), who had declined to act, as
(being an elderly man) he did not feel equal to it; and Mr.
Devas, also one of the visiting justices, whom he (Mr.

Leech) found was from home.
Believing it to be my duty to do so, I consented to enter
upon the inquiry, and on the following day I proceeded to
the county gaol, where I found two other magistrates for

the borough of Derby—viz., the Mayor and Mr. Forman;
together with two medical men—viz., Dr. Goode and Mr,
Harwood. As, however, we were informed by the governor
of the gaol that the Lunacy Commissioners were then with
the prisoner (Townley), we decided, after waiting some con-
siderable time, to postpone our examination until the fol-
lowing day, so as not in any way to interfere with the com-
missioners. Accordingly, on the afternoon of the next day ,
Dec. 27, we again met at the gaol. Previous to examining
the prisoner I requested to be informed of the exact purport
of the act of Parliament under which we were proceeding,
whereupon the governor of the gaol himself produced the
act, and it was read aloud in the presence of my fellow-
magistrates and myself and the medical men before named,
the surgeon and the chaplain of the gaol being also present.
We then proceeded to examine the prisoner, which we did
at great length and with the utmost care, my two fellow-
magistrates and myself, the two medical men and the
governor, the surgeon, and the chaplain of the gaol, being
the only persons present. Having thoroughly convinced
ourselves by such examination that the prisoner's mind was
diseased to such an extent as to free him from all legal and
moral responsibility, the form of certificate was prepared
(by the governor's clerk), and was then signed by the Mayor,
Mr. Ferman, and myself, and by Dr. Goode and Mr. Har-
wood. Immediately after our signing the certificate the
governor expressed his great gratification and approval of
what had been done, adding that ' Now Townley could not
be hanged.'
On the Tuesday following, Dec. 29, I was again applied
to by Mr. Leech, who stated that a doubt had occurred to
him whether, in point of form, the certificate of Townley's
insanity oughtinot (in order to comply with the provisions
of the Act of Parliament) to have been signed by two county
magistrates, and that to obviate any objection on that ground
he had requested Mr. Scott, of Draycott, a magistrate for
the county, to join with me in a fresh examination of the
prisoner. I then saw Mr. Scott, who appeared at first re-
luctant to enter upon the examination, stating that he did
not think it would be fair for him to do so, as he was so
strongly prejudiced against the prisoner, and, to use Mr.
Scott's own expression, " wished him hanged at all costs."
I replied that I thought such a prejudice only made him the
more fit person to make the inquiry, and we then proceeded
to the gaol and entered upon a second examination, equally
careful with the: first, as to 'Townley's state of mind, the
same persons being present as before, except that Mr. Scott
took the place of Mr. Forman and the Mayor,
The examination having been concluded by Mr. Scott
expressing himself to me as entirely convinced of Town•
ley's insanity, and as I myself saw no reason to, alter
my opinion, but, on the contrary, was confirmed in it by
what had passed, the certificate dated the 29th of December
was then preparedjand,signed. I may add that on leaving
the prison Mr. Scott expressed to me his gratification at
having been called upon to make the investigations, stating
that, notwithstanding his previous very strong prejudice
against the prisoner, he was now convinced that he (Town-
ley) was perfectly insane, and that it would be a sin to take
away his life.
I have now, I believe, stated every particular respecting
the origin and progress of the inquiry which resulted in
the certificate of the 27th and 29th December so far as I was
concerned in it. With respect to the statements contained
in the magistrates' letter of the 15th instant, I cannot, of
course, say with what views the visiting justices (viz., Mr.
Mundy in the first instance, and Mr. Evans in the second)
granted the orders of admission under which my fellow
magistrates and myself had access to the prisoner on our
making the examination above mentioned. On this point
I can only state that I distinctly understood from Mr. Leech
that on applying to Mr. Mundy for the requisite order he
expressly stated to him the object which he (Mr. Leech)
had in view in requesting it, and the Act of Parliament
which it was sought to put in force.
Neither I nor, I believe, the magistrates who acted with
me, were ever requested to make the inquiry which we sub-
sequently made " as a preliminary to obtain Government
commissioners."
I fully understood, both from Mr. Leech and also from
a perusal of the act, what was the nature of such inquiry,
and what would be the effect of the certificate which I
afterwards signed. Being conscientiously of opinion that
George Victor Townley was insane (an opinion the result
of the examination I had made, and not in the slightest de-
gree caused or arrived at in any other way or by any other
means)), I signed the certificate in each instance with the
intention that it should be acted upon by you, sir, as Secre-
tary of State, in the manner in which it has been.
nothing was ever said as to "appending any reasons to
the certificates ;' no such question was °volt mootedjfrom the
commencement of the inquiry to the signing of the certifi-
cates, and how or by whom it could have been decided (as
appears to have been since stated by Dr. Goode) ' to leave
to persons more conversant the task of collecting and com-
paring the evidence for the Secretary of State,' I am alto-
gether ignorant, and am unable to conceive.
it is perfectly true that on the occasion of both exami-
nations,l was applied to by Mr. Leech, the solicitor, who
46
the prisoner's defence on his trial—but this did
oonducte d
not appear to we to be any sufficient objection to my enter-
ing
upon the inquiry which he requested. It was necessary,
of course, for some one to take the initiative, and it seemed
to me nothing beyond what was natural and proper that the
prisoner's family should be anxious for an inquiry to be
wady, se that the Ad might be pnt in force if, as they no