The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-11 00:00:00

The inferenco is absurd, even if were not overwhelmed and

destroyed by the mass of plain testimony to the contrary
given in court at Derby. Next we arrive at the Lunacy
Commission sent down by Sir G. Grey to visit Townley in
prison. We are told that Townley was never made aware
of the object of their visit. Very possibly. But did Town-
ley not know it as well as if governor, turnkeys, and chap-
lain had all thundered it in hie ears? Credat Judceus, we
say. Three Commissioners are hard at work probing the
state of George Victor Townley's mental faculties, three
dais before the day of execution,and Mr. Townley converses
as innocently and ignorantly of it all as a babe. If Townley
did in truth remain unconscious of all this kindly inquisi-
tion, it says far more for his imbecility than has ever
yet been said for his insanity. The Commissioners
then examine witnesses. Was there anybody to
cross-examine them ? Why were not these witnesses forth-
coming when the prisoner stood before the judge and jury
on his deliverance ? We really do not know. Let us hdpe
that Sir George Grey at least knows, and that he will vouch-
safe to give this valuable information to the country.
Finally, has there been the faintest shadow of fact to rebut
the proof given at the assizes—a proof so unequivocal that
after five minutes' deliberation the jury came to the conclu-
sion that at the moment of doing the deed Townley knew
what he was about? Mental derangement of a certain sort
will not do. Moral blindness is not enough. Blind pas-
sions and uncontrollable impulses are besides the question.
What else has appeared to modify the former indestructible
evidence we are left for the present to guess, hopelessly in
the dark; but as two out of the three Commissioners sent
down by the Home Office were doctors, the third being a
solicitor, we cannot help our suspicions. Upon the report
of the Commission, or of a majority of the Commission, Sir
George Grey has acted. George Victor Townley passes by
a happy transition from the scaffold to Bethlehem Hospi-
tal. The country may congratulate itself if the arrange-
ment does not issue in a vast increase of bloodshed through.
out the length and breadth of England, These things sow
their seed, and the seed is unhappily the seed of blood.
In the interest of human life this case must not pass
over without explanation. It is because humane men
hate hanging and regard it as a sad necessity, that
they ask that if mercy is to be shown it should not
be shown in cases where to show mercy is to encourage
mad passion and crime. The law is clear, and made
for the protection of human life. Life becomes insecure
when the law comes down from its high seat and makes
way for a commission of doctors. Some step must be taken,
for the sake of society, to come to a clear understanding on
the question both of insanity and of the present exercise of
the royal prerogative by the Home Office. Aa at present
advised we are inclinedto believe with much dissatisfaction
that Townley owes a justly-forfeited life to the illegal
theories of a few doctors, to the weakness of Sir George
Grey, and to the great activity of Townley's many
friends. So far we are of one mind with "S. G. 0,"
Let there be one law for rich and poor. Townley has had
advantages which men less favourably circumstanced
never would have possessed; and, on the very doubtful
hypothesis that Sir George Grey is right in remitting
his sentence, every poor man has the right to ask that the
law and procedure in cases of murderous insanity should be
carefully reformed.
SPEcTITOR,—Every incident of the week has made war
itself more probable, and almost every one has drawn
England deeper into the fray. Before our next number
issues hostilities may have commenced between Denmark
and the Diet, with the full understanding that England is
about to become one of the active belligerents. The events
which have led to this situation, so dangerous and so an-
noying, are all tolerably clear, ',hough our Government,
considering the imminence of the danger is more reticent
than its wont. The British Ministry, it seems evident,
though deeply offended at the conditions foisted into the
treaty of 1852, resolved not to fight simply to prevent the
execution in Holstein. Whoever was Duke, the province
was German, and Germany in her collective capacity had
a right to march troops into the duchy on grounds of whose
validity she alone was the legal judge. Lord Wodehouse
was, therefore, instructed to advise the Danes to retire, and
they did retire, yielding up even the military work which
protects the passage of the Eider. So completely was
this concession at variance with Danish feeling, and so
eager were the invaders, that at the very last moment
hostilities were on the point of breaking out, and a Danish
captain chased a Saxon Regiment which had advanced too
far on the bridge back at the point of the bayonet. Still
the concession was made, and was rewarded by the imme-
diate loss of Holstein to the Danish Crown. Everywhere as
the Danes retired the people proclaimed Duke Frederick
and all the force of a popular election is now added to all
the strength he derives from hereditary descent. This con-
cesion made the Germans advance a step further. The
smaller governments resolved thatSchleswig should also be
occupied, and the resolve met with a cordial response from
the mass of the German people. The two great Courts,
afraid at once of a general war and of provoking a revolu-
tion, proposed in the Diet that Schleswig should be "occu-
pied" unless the common constitution were withdrawn.
The condition is an impossible one, because the withdrawal
demands a vote King Christian cannot get; but we are
bound to say it was not of necessity dishonestly made.
The Austrian, if not the Prussian, idea was, no doubt, to
occupy Schleswig, instead of invading it, and then refer
the question, as being an international one, to a conference,
of the Powers. To make this plan successful, however, the
consent of Denmark was necessary, and Denmark refused
to consent. Schleswig--whatever its individual rights—
was still a fief of Denmark, and not of Germany, and for
the Danes to give up their dependencies under menace—
even if legally as little their property as the Septinsular
Republic was the property of Great Britain—was to sign
their own extinction as an independent people. Great
Britain for the same reason could not advise a step which
would involve all the results of defeat before the struggle
had been begun. Moreover, she was bound by every
feeling of honour to give the ally who had accepted her
advice to her own hurt some protection in return for
her previous docility. The object, also, of the treaty of
1852 was to protect the integrity and independence of Den-
mark; to yield up Schleswig was to yield that indepen-
dence, and, therefore, to abolish a treaty prepared by the
very Minister now responsible for the councils of Great
Britain. Finally, there was no proof, or not sufficient
proof, that the people of Schleswig, even if entitled to the
rights of nationality—an impossible admission, unless
Wales and Brittany are nationalities—have ever rejected the
Danish connection. On the contrary, it is believed that the
Danish and Frisian vote would be thrown in favour of
Denmark, and that together they would outnumber the re-
luctant German minority. Moved by all these considera-
tions, and others of which we may know nothing, Earl
Russell addressed to the Diet a note, which the Germans
describe as " blustering," but which apparently amounts to
this—if the troops of the Diet cross the Eider England will
be unable any longer to refuse Denmark her assistance. In
other words, the British Government will, if the Germans
persist, declare war on so much of Germany as shall help
nof
tSlicehmie,swanigd.net with England or Will, then, the Germans
persist,
invasion
fionrviatios
with
Den-
mark, that the issues now rest ? 'cc e greatly fear that they
will. It is possible that Austria, not being wholly depen-
dent on Germany, and terrified by risings in Venetia and
Hungary, may have the nerve to retire ; but that will not
very seriously alter the situation. Germany would ho
still too powerful for Denmark, still ready to brave Great
Britain rather than surrender the coveted province. The
remaining German States are urged on by one of those
fits of enthusiasm which sometimes seizes great
nations, which, in Teutonic races, burn very slowly out,
and which at any moment may produce a movement or a
vote terminating all discussion. It is said, with apparent
truth, that France has consented to the English proposal of
a conference on the matter; but this consent, even if given,
does not settle the difficulty. The Diet may not consent,
and probably will not, for the Diet has throughout the
affair pressed two immovable points—Holstein is German,
and its occupation a matter of internal concern ; Schleswig
is inseperably united with Holstein, and must share its fate.
If the Diet, therefore, consents to put Schleswig into the
crucible it is beaten without a fight, and can henceforward
make no pretensions to lead the German race. It is diffi-
cult to believe that the Diet, well aware that submission
may lead to immediate revolution, will consent to submit,
unless pressed by a coalition of which there seems no
chance. This conference is the last hope—but near as we
seem to .war, there is nothing in the proceedings of the
British Government which can reasonably be blamed. It