The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-20 00:00:00

Prince of Wales, Sir George Grey, Dr Begley-, an a
others. The English Consul at Boulogne is ads
dressed in this style—" English Consul atßouss
b
logne, your doom is sealed 1" Her Majesty's ore"
tary is bluntly informed—" Sir George Grey, Yonvr,
fate is now at hand. You have but hours to live •
To these extraordinary epistles the author Big"
himself sometimes by his real name, sometimes by
the title of " The Avenger," and sometimes he all'
ponds the signature of " Beware !" In one of these
wild and savage compositions he brings together all
his imaginary enemies in a batch—the Prince of
Wales, Sir George Grey, the British Consul at
Boulogne, Dr Begley, &c. Here are some extracts
from these epistles—. You, 0 ! incarnate impostor
and chief of liars and usurpers ! a horrible vengeance
is waiting for you. The measure that is meted to
your servant Grey shall be meted to you. And yO.Ol
vile agent of a wicked Government, shall receive
your share of in the reward of those who are con'
demned by their acts." " Beware, for your tern of
life is short indeed—it is in my bands. The taking
of it will be a meritorious execution, and no inur'
der. You, with your master, that vile impostor vito,
usurps my station, shall fall by my hand. I shall
give you no warning. I am commanded by a higher
Power to say no more.—Yours, in eternal hatred,
" The Avenger!" This is addressed to Sir George
Grey. It is a providential circumstance that thus
unfortunate lunatic did not carry out his alleged
designs with that secrecy and stealth which be ee
loudly proclaimed—with the curious inconsistency
and self-contradiction of madness—should ells:
racterise and pervade them. It appears that
this outrageously homicidal maniac is labouring
under delusions the natural effect of which would
be to impel him to the commission of the most fright'
ful murders. When insanity takes the direction of
murder and destructiveness of this sort, the patient
is more dangerous than a mad dog. The man when
without being really a lunatic, was temporarily
maddened in a railway carriage the other dal,
through morbid fear, arising from a overwrought
brain, the result of too great mental labour and ex'
citement, was very nearly murdering his fellow'
passengers. Had there only been a single traveller
in the carriage with him there would have been
murder without a doubt. But, violent as he was, he,
was unable to do more against his several intended
victims than to cut and wound them in a way that
was within an ace of crippling them for life. A con.*
firmed and dangerous maniac, however, like this
unfortunate Mr. Pope, might go about destroying
numbers of lives. Bat perhaps the most significant
point in the case is that which relates to the lanes"
tion how far a madman is responsible for his sets,
in the sense of being amenable to the fear of punish"
ment. How far is a man like this maniac Pope
capable of understanding and feeling the connection
of cause and effect which subsists between crime and
its penalties ? It is quite clear that though this man
is as thoroughly mad as mad can be, there is still A
good deal of method in his madness. Of course;
like all persons in that unfortunate condition 01
mind, he believes he is perfectly sane. " Say I ani
mad !" he writes in one of his letters. "No one wilt
believe you. Can a madman speak as I speak, act
as I act, think as I think, write as I write ?" The,
main question therefore for the legislator is wheel!'
or not such a man as this, notwithstanding his in'
sanity, knows the relation between the acts he CO
templates and the punishment annexed to them. We
confess that it appears to us that many madmen
know and understand full well the connection he!
tween crime and the penalties it deserves, and that
therefore they are fit objects of punishment. It le
only when a man's insanity is of such a nature that
he is lost to all sense of the relation between his acle
and their consequences, in the shape of punishment
to himself, that he should be allowed to escape the
penalties of the law. To render him liable to punish'
ment it may not be sufficient that the madine,s
should understand merely the consequences of We
acts to his victims. He may know that running
a knife into a man will kill him, and be may use.
knife in this way with the express object and motifs
of destroying life ; but, at the same time, he 0301
not understand that hanging is the lot of those ache
do such acts. He may not, in the state of mind he
is in, be able to comprehend and appreciate th!
connection between these two things, and, in such
a case, he may not be a fit object of punishment'
But where he does know and understand this con'
nection, it is against public policy and incompatible
with the safety of society that he should escape.
' for the obvious reason in this case, that the Pre
ventive effect of the punishment would be the sanly.
.
as in that of a person not mad at all. The consider'
ations which would exempt such a criminal from
punishment would be equally valid to exempt. any
and every criminal whatever; because all criminal&
in committing crime are impelled by the stronge!
motives, and are therefore just as much as tbil!
kind of maniacs, in a position to have it said that
they are not masters of themselves or their actions'
But, for all that, they both equally understood the
connection between crime and punishment, and are,
therefore equally fit subjects for the operation of
our penal ordinances.