The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-14 00:00:00

aware of the nature, character, and consequences of the act
which he was committing; or, in other words, whether he
was under the influence of a diseased mind, and was really
unconscious at the time he was committing the act it was
a crime." His lordship continued that the jury must judge
ofthe act by the prisoner's statements, and by what he did
at the time. Unless they were satisfied—and it was for the
prisoner to make it out— that he did not know the conse-
quences of his act,or that it was against the law of God and
man and would subject him to punishment, ho was guilty
of murder. His lordship then went most carefully through
the evidence. The prisoner's letters appeared to be the
most sensible letters he had ever read. Again, the reason
the prisoner gave for his act was " She should not have
proved false to me." Now, if his real motive was that he
conceived himself to have been illused, and either from
jealousy of the man who was preferred to him, or from a
desire of revenge on her,he committed the act,that would be
murder. Those were the very passions which the law re-
quired men to control, and if the deed was done under the
influence of those passions there was no doubt that it was
murder. The prisoner's expression that he should be hanged
for it indicated that he knew the consequences of this act.
Another reason he gave for what he had done was, " The
woman who deceives me must die." If a young lady pro-
mised to marry a man and then changed her mind, it might
be truly said she deceived him ; but what would be the con-
sequences to society if men were to say every woman who
treated them in that way shc.uld die, and were to carry out
these views by cutting her throat? The prisoner claimed
to exercise the same power over a wife as he could lawfully
exercise over a chattel, but that was not a delusion, nor like
a delusion. It was the confusion of a man who had arrived
at results different from those generally arrived at and con-
trary to the laws of God and man, but it was not a delu-
sion. Evidence, indeed, had been given of an actual delu-
sion in the prisoner's mind in supposing that there was a
conspiracy against him. That was an apt and common in-
stance of delusion. There was also evidence of insanity in
the maternal line, and it was true that insanity was here-
ditary and did descend in families. The object of that was
to show that it was possible and not unlikely that the here-
ditary taint might exist in the prisoner. All the evidence,
however, failed to show the existence of any delusion in the
prisoner's mind which could explain this act. None of his
family conceived him to be mad. It was clear that such an
idea had not entered into their mind, or they would not have
recommended him to go and see Miss Goodwin. They
treated him as sane from beginning to end, as a proper
person to contract matrimony and re-engage the affections
of this young woman. The account of his state of mind
upon receiving her letters was most probably correct.
Most men would probably suffer in the same way under
similar circumstances. It had been said by one of the
witnesses that the prisoner did not know the difference
between good and evil. If that was a test of insanity many
men were tried who did not know that difference. In
truth it was no test at all. The idea of a conspiracy was a
delusion ; but the mere setting himself up against the law of
God and man was not a delusion at all. The question for
the jury was, was the prisoner insane, and did he do the act
under a delusion, believing it to be other than it was. If he
knew what he was doing, and that it was likely to cause
death and was contrary to the law of God and man, and that
the law directed that persons who did such acts should be
punished, he was guilty of murder.
The jury then retired, and after an absence of five
minutes returned into court with a verdict of guilty of
wilful murder.

The prisoner was then called upon in the usual form to
say why sentence of death should not be passed upon him.
Baron Martin, having put on the black cap, said—Pri-
soner at the bar, after every possibility in your favour has
been urged with an ability never excelled you have been
found guilty of wilful murder, and in that verdict I entirely
concur. It the defence which has been set up in your behalf
had prevailed, it would in my opinion have been attended
with consequences dangerous to society. If it entered into
the minds of men' that they might take the life of any
woman who was fickle, the results would be fearful. I have
now only one duty to perform. With regard to that I have
no discretion, but am under an absolute necessity of fulfil-
ling it. I beg of you to take advantage of your opportunity
to make your peace with God. I have no desire by any
comment of mine to distress you or any other pei sons, but
will, without saying more, pronounce the sentence imposed
by the law. His Lordship then, with much emotion, passed
sentence of death upon the prisoner.
After finishing this case, and trying three or four other
cases which do not require a report, Baron Martin left for
Nottingham, where he opened the commissions for the
county and town.