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 Caancellor where the sanity of a per-
son possessed of property is in question. They ask,
' W by should an inquiry involving the momentous
issue of life or death, and which thereby affects the
reasonable sense of justice in the masses of the
p eople, be eonducted in a less satisfactory manner
than an inquiry touching property only ?' The
answer to this question is, that in the one 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
a judge and a legal commissioner specially appointed
to preside over it, or one of the judges, if the Chan-
cellor shall so direct. In 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 of
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 impugn, 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 certificate, 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 forwarding 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) the assertion tb.at 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 inst., 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
called upon to act upon that report alone. Had he
been so, although the commisioners say that for the
reasons set forth in their report they could not con-
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
unsoundneis of mind was such as to exempt him from
the penal consequences of an act for which, accord-
ing the learned judge, he
wa to the law laidslegallyresponsdihowlenby
responsible.
i3ut
whatever was the
purport and character of that report, it could not
affect the validity of the certificate. In one point
of the Lunacy Com-
onifisysiieownerosn
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 case have been
only
that was
Townleyheopinion
o was
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
it is unnecessary to
swahyicthhahtisheoffiwcoeulidn vheasyteedprhoivmed,
himself wholly unfit
necessary receive consideration,
b
to be continued in the commission of the peace, and
would have rendered himself liable to a criminal
information. Whether any alteration shall
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thinkt t is
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netSirofalal to
George Grey does not
enter case
of this
in this letter.--I am,
gentlemen, your obedient servant,
H. WADDINGTON.

_.Yesterday evening (being
ei
sd
who were
i‘aliter.
d. Ti
Common Pleas,
MR, JUSTICE SEIZE.
jne numes !It i
cli ene
number of the
benchers attended, including the newly-appointed Queen's
lc Grand Day') the benchers of thjeadMg
entertained several of her Majesty'sajesty's
their beautiful hall. The guests invited, and
present,m r.
Justice
Williams,
il
ltihaem
s, Chiefm r
. Justicejus tJustice
eo f the
Mellor,
Shee, and Lord Justice Turner. A large
Council, Mr. Gray, and Mr. J. G. Powell, Mx., of the
Oxford Circuit. The new judge of the Court of Queen's
Bench, Mr. Justice Shoe, met with a most enthusiastic re-
ception from the barristers and students.
COLONIAL MONEY•ORDER-OFFICE.—On the Ist
of February, and thenceforward, money-orders will
be issued by all money-order offices in the United Kingdom
on the colony of Trinidad, at the same rates of charge and
under the same regulations as those already in force with
respect to other colonies with which money-order business
is transacted, namely, Port of Spain, Trinidad. Money-
orders will also be issued by this office on all money-order
offices in the United Kingdom.

THE UTILIZATION OF SEAWEED.—The supply of
seaweed on our shores is practically inexhaustible, being
estimated at 21,000,000 tons per annum ; while the present
consumption, both for kelp and for green manuring, does
not reach 1,000,000 tons. The wrack cast up on our shores
during the winter season is the largest in quantity and the
most valuable in quality, and it is now proposed to save and
di y 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 80&130128 of the year,