The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-22 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—STAFFORD, Dec. 21.

(Before Mr. Justice Keating.)
THE TRIAL FOR MURDER.

The Court re-assembled at half-past nine.
Mr. Justice Keating then commenced the sum-
ming up of the case. His lordship said that the jury
would not regret that in a case of so much import-
ance he had deemed it best to adjourn the proceed-
ings until their own and his natural energies could
be refreshed by the night's repose, notwithstanding
the great inconvenience to which they had been ne-
cessarily put by being kept from their families.
That all their faculties in a vigorous condition
should be applied to the case was the more requisite
because of the particular character of the defence.
They must dismiss from their minds all considera-
tion as to the consequences of their verdict, what-
ever they might be. If they allowed themselves to
be influenced by such considerations, they would
be unworthy of their oath ; and if he did not tell
them so, he would be unworthy of the oath he had
taken. One portion of the defence was, that the
deceased cut her own throat, and that the prisoner
was so greatly affected by the act on the part of
one to whom he was so greatly attached, that his
mind became deranged, and in his distraction he
attempted self-murder. But they would have to
consider whether such a state of things was credi-
ble. If she committed suicide no one else but the
prisoner could have been near her at the time. If
he was near her, he did not attempt to prevent the
act, nor did make any alarm. That he did not
make any alarm was clear, from his going upstairs.
Thenihis statements when he came downstairs were
all of a character opposite to the supposition that
the deceased committed suicide. To one he said,
" I've killed her ;" to another, " I shot her ;" to
another, "It was the drink." The learned counsel
for the defence had reminded them that if she had
been killed by some person coming behind her she
must have screamed, and that as her involuntary
act would be to put her hands up to her throat, her
fingers would have been cut by the weapon of the
murderer ; but there had been no screaming, nor
were her hands wounded. The jury must, however,
remember that the wound in her throat was one gash
only, and that it was such as to occasion instant death.
If the gullet and all the other organs were cut
through, right back to the spine, what was therefor the
poor girl to scream with ? The death wound was
inflicted either by the girl herself or by the prisoner.
Assuming that it was the prisoner who took Harriet
Seager's life, then came the question as to the state
of his mind at the time that he took her life, because
it was the law of England that if an act which was
murder was committed by a person whom that law
called insane, then that person was not responsible,
and their verdict would be not guilty on the ground
of insanity ; which would enable the Crown to take
charge of the prisoner so that be might not again
commit such an act. That intelligent witness, Dr.
Hewson, said that which was now the general opi-
nion of scientific men—and it was a most humiliat-
ing consideration—that sometimes the line betty een
sanity and insanity was difficult to be distinguished.
That seemed to be the opinion of all medical men
who had devoted their time and attention to that
mysterious disease. But the opinion of medical
men was not to be substituted for the verdict of a
jury, whilst, of course, a jury would give every
attention to the evidence of such men. They all
knew that the shades of insanity were various. It
was one of the most mysterious diseases with which
humanity was afflicted ; and it appeared in so many
forms and shades that one hardly wondered that
men who had studied it all their lives should some-
times be perplexed. But what the jury had to con-
sider was what the law of the land said upon
the subject. The question of insanity had given
rise to considerable consideration in the legislature.
At length, the Peers submitted certain questions to
the 15 judges, who, in reply, laid down certain con-
siderations that had now become the law of the
land. The question propounded to the judges was,
" In what form should the question be left to the
jury ?" The reply of the judges was, "The jury ought
to be told in all cases that every man is presumed to
be sane and to possess a sufficient degree of reason
be responsible for his crimes until the contrary be
proved to their satisfaction, and that, to establish
a defence on the ground of insanity, it must be
clearly proved that at the time of the doing of
the act the party accused was labouring under such
a defective reason from disease of the mind as not to
know the nature and guilt of the act he was doing,
or if he did know, then that he did not know that
he was doing what was wrong." It was not every
mental disease or shade of mental disease that would
free a man. It must be such a disease that he did
not know the nature of the act ; or, if he did know,
then that he did not know that it was wrong. The
popular form of the expression did not badly embody
the case. It was—was he in that insane state of
mind which caused him not to know the difference
between right and wrong as to the guilt of the act.
And that was the case for them to consider. Bear-
ing that in mind, it was his duty to tell them that
when the evidence showed that the act was commit-
ted by the accused, it then lay with the accused to
satisfy them upon the state of mind. Mr. Justice
Keating then called the attention of the jury to cer-
tain of the evidence produced for the defence in sup-
port of the plea of insanity, and then said that they
must consider not so much the prisoner's previous
state of mind as his state of mind at the time that
the act was committed. His lordship was remarking
upon the evidence of Mr. Wilkes, the commissioner
of insanity, who had had under his charge, when he
was at the head of the medical staff of the Stafford-
shire Lunatic Asylum, the woman, Ann Fairbanks,
cousin of the prisoner, and noticed the comparatively
unimportant character of the testimony, when
Mr. Motteram (for the prisoner) reminded his
lordship that Mr. Wilkes's notes of the case of Mrs.
Fairbanks, entered at the time in the books of the
asylum, stated that there was " a considerable taint
of insanity in the family."
Mr. Justice Keating said that the statement was
of very little value, because Mr. Wilkes must have
obtained his information by hearsay. But it was one
of the incidents of the disease that, like many other
diseases, it ran in families. Respecting the evi-
dence of the cabinetmaker to whom the prisoner
was apprenticed, and who spoke to some eccentri-
cities by the prisoner and his neglect of work, the
learned judge said it would be for the jury to
say whether the conduct of the apprentice was that
of an insane person, or whether it was not compa-
tible with the statement of Josiah Fisher, the pri-
soner's guardian, who said that about this time the
prisoner remarked that he had enough money with-
out working, and he should not work. Dr. Hewson,
a man of great eminence and skill, had still under
his care in the Stafford asylum a half-sister of the
prisoner who was decidedly insane, and it was said
that she much resembled the prisoner in personal
appearance ; but Dr. Hewson and.another physician
had twice together examined the prisoner without
tracing insanity in him.
The jury retired to consider their verdict.
After a prolonged absence they returned into
court with a verdict of guilty.
Mr. Justice Keating then assumed the black cap,
and addressing the prisoner by name, said, that after
a patient inquiry, and every exertion that human
ingenuity and skill could make on the part of the
learned counsel who had conducted his defence, the
jury had given their decision upon his case. They
had found him guilty of the crime of murder—of
murder committed under circumstances of painful
aggravation that he could have brought his hand to
do the deed he did upon such a person. It was a
cruel, a cowardly murder. It was not for him (the
Judge) to aggravate the horror of the position in
which he then stood, but to entreat him to think
seriously of that position, and to seek, and earnestly
seek, for that mercy which, although he did not
show it to Harriet Seager, he might yet hereafter
obtain ; but he must not expect it in this world.
The learned judge then passed sentence of death in
the usual form.
The prisoner received the sentence standing, and
with very little apparent emotion. He kept his eyes
fixed. upon the judge, as he had during the trial,
with an expression little short of vacancy.

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" ' In regard to the loss of the Duncan Dunbar on the
Rocos Shoal, I have to remark that supposing the ship to
have been in the position as stated in the evidence at noon
—viz., lat. 2 56 S., long. 33 11 W., and to have subsequently
steered as stated, from S.W. half S. to S.W. by S., and gone
at a speed of between 7 and 8 knots—moreover, to have
experienced the usual westerly current, as shown on the
Admiralty chart —then she should as nearly as possible
have been on shore on Los Rocos at the moment she was,
and her grounding proved that her chronometers wore in
no appreciable degree in error, and that the current as
shown on the chart, and stated in the Admiralty sailing
directions, really did exist.
"' It seems very improbable that the witnesses examined
did not give the extreme westerly course made by the ship,
and the more so as it appears the log book was altered some
days after the wreck to give the ship a more westerly course
than had been assigned to her at the time.
" ' As regards the evidence given by Capt. Selwyn, R.N.,
and Capt. Trivett, of the Mercantile Marine, to which the
Board of Trade desire to draw special attention, I have to
observe that in regard to the southerly and easterly cur-
rent described by the former officer as existing from 16 to
20 miles N.E. of Los Rocos there is no evidence whatever
of such a current in the records of this department ; but on
the contrary all the documents bearing on the subject go to
prove the existence of a westerly current. In the plans of
Los Rocos made by Capt. Parish, R.N., in 1856, and by
Capt. Selwyn, in 1857, no current is mentioned, and in the
remarks of the latter officer which accompanied his plan he
notices the fact of the shoals lying to the heart of a westerly
current, but communicates no information in regard to the
southerly and easterly current stated in his evidence to
have been established by him.
" 'ln regard to the remarkable difference in the latitude
and longitude observed by Capt. Selwyn, I have only to say
that Lieut. Lee, of the United States' navy, fixed the posi-
tion of the shoal in 1852, that Capt. Parish, R.N., made a
survey of it in 1856, and planted 100 cocoa nut trees, and
that Capt. Selwyn again made a plan of it in the follow-
ing year, and planted seven trees, three of which appear
to have survived ; that the observations of these three offi-
cers in regard to latitude agree within five seconds, and
that the difference in their longitude amounts to two or
three miles, which is no more than was to have been looked
for in results obtained by ordinary ships of war not speci-
ally supplied with instruments for the purpose.
" With reference to the statements of Capt. Selwyn and
Capt. Trivett, that they would have pursued the course
adopted by the master of the Duncan Dunbar under similar
circumstances, I am obliged to say that I entirely differ
from them as to the prudence and safety of such a course,
and it is, I think, a dangerous doctrine to disseminate that
a shipmaster in charge of life and property is justified in
abstaining from making all possible observations to ascer-
tain his position when in the neighbourhood of danger.
" A single observation for longitude at 4 p.m. of the
7th of October ought to have prevented the catastrophe
which occurred only four hours later.
"In regard to the recommendations of Capt. Selwyn, re-
ferred to in the letter from the Board of Trade, which, I
presume alludes to the desirability of the establishment of
a lighthouse on the Rocos, I am of opinion that, however
valuable such a light might be to the local trades, and ad-
mitting in an abstract point of view the utility of a light
on any small low island in the middle of the ocean, it is
not necessary for ocean ships, which would assuredly never
adopt so westerly a route as the Rocos unless compelled to
do so, which would very rarely be the case.
"It is submitted that these observations should be re-
:erred for the information of the Board of Trade.
" ' GEO. H. RICHARDS, Hydrographer.' "

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TI M ES. —Jamaica and New Zealand, to the almost
total exclusion of the rest of our Colonial Empire,

have naturally attracted the attention of a piMk
which is not wont to occupy itself with too many
things at a time ; and yet there is now playing out
in the colony of Victoria a drama possessing inci-
dents of interest, perhaps more real and permanent
than the fierce struggles of the Maori or the savage
outbreaks of the negro. In these two colonies blood
has flowed in profusion, and there is something in
these scenes of horror which rivets and fascinatesthe
attention of a nation happily far removed from such
terrible excitement. But in Victoria we bee, in the
midst of profound peace and of daily increasing prol
sperity, a contest going on which is destined to exer-
cise immense influence over the future not only of
Victoria but of the Australian Continent at large.
The question at issue is nothing less than whether
the Constitution which the colony has established
for itself under the provisions of an act of Parlia-
ment shall be observed or not ; whether Victoria
shall be governed under a Constitution, democratic
indeed in its provisions, but still respected and
obeyed by the democracy which it has created ; or
whether the popular will, as expressed by universal
suffrage, shall overbear and sweep away everything
that opposes it, and claim to be absolute, not only
within the circle marked out for its exercise, but
over the laws, the Courts of Justice, and the privi-
leges of a Legislative Body intended to curb and con-
trol its excesses. By the Constitution of Victoria
the two Chambers must agree to the Appropriation
Bill, which must then receive the assent of the
Crown, and without these three assents no public
money can be lawfully spent. The Council has
laid aside the Appropriation Bill because a Tariff
Bill has been tacked to it. The Assembly claim to
levy and appropriate the revenue under the Tariff
and Appropriation Bills respectively, as if they had
passed the Council and received the assent of the
Crown, and they persevere in this course, though
the Supreme Court of the Colony has declared it
to be illegal. The Constitution of Victoria deserves
the most implicit obedience from its colonists,
for it is their own work. It is no foreign scheme
forced upon them by overpowering influence from
without, but an article of native manufacture. If
it is found to work badly, it is capable of amend-
ment ; if it is unsuitable to the condition of the
Assembly, it is capable of repeal. The one course
which nothing can justify or excuse is exactly that
which the colony has taken, of leaving the Constitu-
tion standing and openly disobeying or fraudulently
eluding its provisions. The body whose business it
is to make laws ought surely to be among the first
to obey them, for, if not, it annihilates its own func-
tion by practically demonstrating the worthlessness
of having any laws at all. If the Government and
the Assembly do not obey the law, to what quarter
shall we look for obedience ? Why should private
individuals be expected to govern their conduct
with reference to the decisions of Courts of Justice,
when those to whom they naturally look up for
guidance and example act in ostentatious disregard
of their judgments e The Supreme Court of Vic-
toria has decided that the levy of duties under
Resolutions of the Assembly alone, without the
assent of the Legislative Council, is illegal. But
the Government continues to levy these duties, and
not only levies them, but sends letters to persons
seeking to try the point, telling them that it intends
to carry the case by appeal to the Privy Council,
which seems to imply that it believes what it has
done is legal, and in the very same letter tells them
that when an Act is passed to give form--that is,
legality—to these proceedings, a retrospective clause
will be introduced for saddling each litigant with
costs ; so that in this single letter the Government
condescends to threaten the litigant with the utmost
of vexation and chicanery in order to worry him out
of the prosecution of his legal claim, and, secondly,
by a retrospective law to inflict upon him penalties
for a perfectly lawful, and, in the land of Hampden
we may be permitted to say, a meritorious and
praiseworthy act—the act of a subject who resists
an illegal demand, even when backed by all the
weight and authority of 'Government. The intern-
. gence just received holds out no hope of any settle-
, ment of the quarrel. Attempts have, indeed, been
. made to produce an accommodation, but hitherto
without success. The Council has offered to refer