The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-03 00:00:00

COURT OF ALDERMEN.

Yesterday a Court was held for the dispatch of public
business. It was a full Court.

BETHLEHEM HOSPITAL.
Alderman COPELAND asked whether the Lord Mayor
had received a copy of the evidence or report in this

matter?

The LORD MAYOR replied in tho negative.
Sir P. LAURIE said he was very glad that tho clues:

tion bad been put by his hon. friend. Nothing Would
have g4i.ven the President and Committee of Bettjehom
Hospital greater pleasure than to have forwarded copies
of the report of the Commissioners in Lunacy to every
governor, but they had been prevented from making such
communication by the Secretary of State, for whose in-
formation the inquiry was made, and to whom, there-
fore, strictly speaking, the report at present exclusively
belonged. On receipt of the report and evidence, on the
21st of February last, the hospital directed copies to be
printed for the use of the committee, with a conviction
that every governor was not only entitled to a copy, but
that it was impossible for them to come to any conclu-
sion unless the large mass of manuscript was printed, and
they were enabled, quietly and at home, to make them-
selves masters of its contents. The Commissioners in

Lunacy, by some means, got scent of that resolution, and
immediately made some representation to the Secretary
of State, who, by letter of the 27th of March, restrained
the printing of the report ; and it was not until the 2d
of April, and on the urgent representation of the com-
mittee of the utter impossibility of dealing with the re-
port and evidence until they were printed, that the
Secretary of State sanctioned the printing, on the
condition that "it should be transmitted in the strictest
confidence to the members of the committee." (Hear,
hear.) When the committee obtained the report. in a
printed form, another difficulty arose from that limited
permission. They were unable to comply with the re-
quest of the physicians and other officers whose conduct
had been so severely commented upon for copies, to
enable them to meet the charges against their professional
characters and conduct. After repeated applications had
been unsuccessfully made by these officers, the committee
pressed upon the Secretary of State the necessity of fur-
nishing the medical officers with copies, and on the 25th
of June they were authorised to do so, on condition "that
such copies arc not made use of for any purpose except
that of preparing answers by the officers to the statements
made in the report." The answers of the officers
were only laid before the committee of the hospital
about the middle of last month, when they were referred
to a sub-committee, who were charged with the duty of
replying to the report of the Commissioners. He felt
it most important to mention these circumstances and to
particularize these dates, to show that every desire
existed on the part of the authorities of the hospital to
afford the most complete information on the subject, and
that the delay which had occurred in transmitting to the
Secretary of State that full and satisfactory answer which
he believed would be given to the charges made against
the management of the hospital, arose from causes over
which the committee had no control. (Hear, hear.) He
and the committee felt assured that Mr. Secretary
Walpole, in limiting the circulation of the report, had no
other desire than to prevent the publication of weighty
charges, until accompanied by the defence of the Go-
vernors, and he further believed that no such prohibition
would have been made, but for the unwarrantable inter-
ference of the Commissioners in the first instance to
prevent the printing of the report. In this peculiar
state of things, the Court would see the impossibility
of his entering into any particulars, or of anticipating that
answer which was in course of preparation, and which,
he repeated, he believed, would be completely satis-
factory. (Hear, hear.) He would only add, that owing
to the most extraordinary manner in which the Com-
missioners had conducted the inquiry, the Governors
had had no opportunity of knowing the charges against
ebere or or eeet,:no: • n .I.r.nee. (Ed oar,
of the commonest principles of justice and of the
hitherto invariable practice of every tribunal, they never
informed the governors at large or any one of the wit-
nesses examined of the charges, general or specific,
which had been brought against them. No one was al-
lowed to attend the examination on the behalf of the
parties accused, nor after the ex parte inquisition had
been concluded and before the report was agreed upon,
were the governors called on for any defence or expla-
nation whatever. (Hear, bear.) He felt himself pre-
cluded from adverting to any other topic referred to in
the report and evidence at that moment; but, knowing
the ease with which charges against lunatic hospitals
were made, and the difficulty with which they were
rebutted even when totally unfounded,. he felt
assured that that Court and the public would take
a very different course from that adopted by the
Commissioners, and that befele they formed a
conclusion they would bear in mind the in-
scription on the wall of the court, Hear both sides."
(Hear, hear.) The Commissioners had certainly taken
a one-sided view of the question, although it presented
innumerable difficulties; but he was convinced the Court
and the public would, upon the exposition of the whole
of the circumstances, tender a full measure of justice.
(Hear, Hear.) He believed they were aware that the Go-
vernors had appointed a resident physician of great talent
and experience, and a resident apothecary in every way
qualified to perform the duties assigned to that office ;
and that they had also appointed a matron of active and
firm mind, who would pay incessant attention to the
female patients. The increased and increasing number
of patients in the institution had rendered such changes
necessary, irrespective of any:occurrence which might
formiground ofcomplaint. It had been long his own opinion
that there should be a resident physician and resident
apothecaries in the hospital. The governors had had such
change for a considerable time in contemplation, and he
had no doubt that such a selection had been made, by
the appointment of Dr. Wood, of the Colney Hatch
Hospital, as resident physician ; Mr. Helps as resident
apothecary; and a lady of energy as matron, as would
reflect credit upon the institution. (Hear, hear.) He
entertained no doubt that it would be looked upon by
foreigners, who continually visited it in great numbers,
as a model institution, and that in less than a fortnight
the charges so hardily brought against the governors
would be met with a perfect refutation. (gear'
hear.)
In the meantime he felt they were bound, as men of
honour, to the Secretary of State to reserve any other
statement until they should place before him their full
defence and exeulpatien. (Cries of " Hear, hear.")
The subject then 'dropped, and the Council phortly
afterwards adjourned,