The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-03 00:00:00

ORDERED TO PENAL SERVITUDE FOR LIFE

Yesterday (Tuesday) the visiting justices of Derby
received the following important communication from Sir

G. Grey :

Whitehall, Feb. 1, 1564,

Gentlemen,—l am directed by Secretary Sir George Grey
with reference to previous correspondence with you as to
the case of George Victor Townley, to inform you that with
the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor, he requested Dr.
W. C. Hood and Dr. J. C. Bucknill, visitors of Chancery
lunatics, together with Dr. Meyer, the medical superinten-
dent of the Criminal Lunatic Asylum at Broadmoor, and
Dr. Helps, the medical superintendent of Bethlem Hospital,
to examine bat° Townley's state of mind, and to report
thereupon.
Sir George Grey has received from these gentlemen a re-
port, a copy of which is herewith transmitted to you. While
the letters—copies of which were sent to you on the 23d
and 25th ult.—from the magistrates who signed the certifi-
cates of Townley's insanity leave no reason for doubting
that they were convinced of his insanity at the time when
the certificates were signed by them, the present report
from four medical gentlemen of great experience in mental
diseases appears to Sir George Grey conclusive as to
Townley being of sound mind. A certificate to that effect,
as required by Act 3 and 4 Vic.. c 54, has since been re-
ceived by the Secretary of State.
I am further to inform you that, taking all the circum-
stances of this case into consideration, her Majesty's Govern•
ment are of opinion that it would not be right that the
capital sentence should now be carried into effect, but that
it ought to be commuted to penal servitude for life. This
course has therefore been taken, and the prisoner will be
dealt with accordingly.
I am to add, that it is the intention of her Majesty's Go-
vernment to propose an amendment of the act under which
the certificates of insanity in this case were given.—l am,
Gentlemen, your obedient servant,

W, WADDINGTON.

To T. W. Evans, Esq., M.P., and
W. Mundy, Esq., M.P.

Bethlem Royal Hospital, Jane 28, 1864,
We, the undersigned, having been requested by Secre-
tary Sir George Grey to examine into the state of mind of
George Victor Townley, a prisoner under sentence of death
in Bethlem Hospital, and to report our opinion as to whether
he is of unsound mind, report as follows :

a have carefully considered the copies of papers sup-
plied to us, and on the 26th and 27th days of this month we
have had two lengthened interviews with the prisoner;
and the conclusion at which we have unanimously arrived
is that George Victor Townley is of sound mind.
The demeanour of the prisoner during each interview was
calm and self-possessed, with the exception that at the com-
mencement of the second interview ho displayed and ex-
pressed annoyance at the repeated examinations to which he
was being subjected, Neither in mood of speech nor in look
and conduct was there any sign of insanity observable in him.
His prompt apprehension of the purport of our questions,
and the manner in which he replied to them, indicated the
possession of good intellectual capacity.
The opinions which he avows, that men, as the creatures
of circumstances, are not justly responsible for their actions,
are opinions at which he appears to have arrived by ordi-
nary processes of reasoning.
That he knows that he is responsible for the commission
of crime is made clear by his own words used to us—" I
expected to be hanged because I killed her, and am not such
a fool as not to know that the law hangs for murder. I did
not think of it at the time, or I should not have done it."
We think that his statement, that he killed Miss Good-
win to repossess himself of her as his property was an after-
thought adopted to justify his crime. He acknowledged to
us that he had come to this opinion after the deed was done.
The supposition that he killed Miss Goodwin under the
influence of the opinion that in so doing he was repossessing
himself of her as his property is inconsistent with his own
repeated statement to us that, without forethought of any
kind, he killed her under the influence of sudden impulse.
He explained to us'that by killing Miss Goodwin to re-
possess himself of her as his property, he simply meant that
he took her out of the hands of his enemies, and placed her
in a position wile/ e she would wait, and where he would re-
join her when he died.
The prisoner endeavoured to represent the catastrophe to
us as due to the influence of sudden impulse, but the details
which we elicited from him show that ho used threats of
murder for some time before he struck the blow. We think
that his clear memory of the events attending the crime,
and also
the state of his te attempts which he has made to misrepresent
mind and m -
emery at the time of these events
are evidence of his sanity,
We are of opinion that ho does not entertain
ralpos
delu-
sion on the subject of a conspiracy against
theinst
hi
real apposition
pyin
tio
m, but that he
flees the term conspiracy to ex
prealso
e x Goroe ds-
s
which ho has met with from the members
win's family to his engagement With her, andoalfo 1
to express
the feeling that they aro hostile to him.
We have considered the evidence of hereditary r o
disposition to insanity given in the papers supplied to us,
and our opinion of the state of the prisoner's state of mind
has not been altered thereby.

Wo examined the apothecary, and also the chief atten-
dant of Bethlem as to the conduct of Townley since he has
been in detention at the hospital—both of them have had
him under daily end special observatien—and they assure
us tylt neither in conduct, manner, nor conversation had