The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-09 00:00:00

ing " such a superintendency as the Court
should approve of for the future government of the I
institution." The grounds upon which the
magistrates state they came to this decision were,
that modes of restraint and coercion were resorted to
which were cruel and hurtful ; that patients had
been received without due regard to the requirements
of the law, which insists upon two separate medical
certificates ; that patients were detained in the esta-
blishment after the opinion of the visitors that they
were in a fit state to be removed ; that two detached
houses, not included in the license, had been opened
by Dr. BOMPAS for the reception of one patient each,
and—

" That a patient (Mr. C.D.) yelp, it appeared, was a
gentleman of birth and education, stated to the visitors
that he had been subjected to very harsh treatment and
abusive language by the keepers of the asylum; that he
had requested the use of a Common Prayer-book, which
had been denied to him; that a letter to a visiting justice
had been intercepted and prevented from reaching. its
destination; that, under pretence that he was violent, he
had been forcibly thrust into the strong room, his hands
placed in handcuffs, his shoes taken from him, and he
was there left to stand or lie upon the stone floor until
night, when he was dragged to his bed and fastened in
it by an iron chain, and remained chained down until
morning."

The 'chain here alluded to was described by the
Rev. H. MIRE EIOUSE, one of the visiting ma-
gistrates, as being " exactly the same as that
which was used to fasten the legs of horses to-
gether to prevent them straying." There were
some other charges of a minor character, such as
vexatiously refusing a patient permission to walk in a
shrubbery, &c., to which we will not further allude•
This is the first instance in which We find the magis-
terial authorities of a county doing their duty as visi-
tors of Lunatic Asylums, and making that a reality
which has hitherto been a mockery. In the course
of the proceedings the Chairman of the Gloucestershire
sessions, Mr. PURNELL (whose conduct throughout the
whole affair reflects the highest honour on him, and
entitles him to the heartfelt gratitude of every hu-
mane person,) thus described the state of the unhappy
persons confined in private Lunatic Asylums :
" The. Chairman said, he confessed the situation of per-
sons confined in private mad houses (as these establish-
ments were termed in Act of Parliament) always ap-
peared to him to be exceedingly pitiabL, and infinitely
worse than those confined in a public asylum; for, as the
inducement which operated upon the persons keeping
these establishments was that of remuneration for the
maintenance of the patients received there, they, there-
fore, had an interest rather in the detention of the pa-
tients, than in sending them away speedily cured. Then,
again, the keepers of these establishments underwent
no previous examination as to their qualification. They
had merely to give a fortnight's notice to the clerk of
the peace of their intention to apply for a license;
whereas, in a public institution, the governors had to
select the most competent person out of perhaps 20 or 30
individuals, all bringing testimonials of their character,
competency, and talents to fill the office. There was
this further difference between a public and a private
lunatic asylum. In the latter, tha inspecting commis-
sioners did not necessarily visit the place more than
twice, and the visiting justices not necessarily more than
four times during the year ; during the long intervals
of which visits the inmates were entirely at the mercy of
the individual proprietor. In the public institution, on
the contrary, the medical man had no interest in de-
taining his patients but to cure and discharge them as
early as possible, whilst there was a constant supervision
taking place by those who bad the control of the
institution. In the private asylum there was only the
casual supervision which he had mentioned, and the
medical man who carried on the establishment for his
own profit, had no interest in the quick discharge of
his patients. In this case a trivial letter had been in-
tercepted, and this was only important as showing that
it patients in these private establishments were pre-
vented from communicating, by letter, with a visiting
justice, they might also be prevented sending any com-
plaint to their friends, and thus they may be kept in
a state of hopeless misery and tyranny.
" Captain Surman—Are the friends of patients ex-
cluded from visiting and communicating with them per-
sonally ?
" Mr. Bompas—Generally speaking they are not ex-
cluded; but there are some cases in which the admission
of friends would not be proper.
" The Chairman said that made out his remark as to
the facility which a private establishment held out of
keeping back the knowledge of a patient's grievances.
Suppose a keeper had ill-treated a patient just before
the friends of the patient called to visit him, it would be
easy for it to be said that the patient was not in a fit
state to be seen; and as his letters might be kept back,
there would be no means for him to make his complaint
known. For these reasons, he thought the Court of
Quarter Se,.sions ought to be extremely cautious how
they granted licenses in the first place, and how they
renewed them afterwards."

Doctor BOMFAS, shortly after these occurrences,
published a pamphlet vindicatin g his conduct, in
which we find the following passage :

"At present my position is that of a party accused
without notice or preparation, and without any state-
ment of the offence imputed—assumed to be guilty with-
out proof, and sentenced without being allowed to prove
my innocence."
We thank Dr. BomrAs for having written the above
passage. It is impossible to describe more accurately or
more forcibly the situation of every patient in every
private Lunatic Asylum in the kingdom. He also again
applied to the Court of Quarter Sessions for a renewal
of his license, on which occasion the investigation was
ordered to be instituted, the report of the result of
which will be found in another column ; but we must
reserve our comments on these ulterior proceedings for
a future occasion.

Under the head of " Post-office notice," there will
be:found in another column instructions to post mas-
ters, sub .post- masters, and letter- receivers, to the effect
that they are no longer to receive postage on letters to
be conveyed between this kingdom and the United
States by the contract packets belonging to the
United States Government, as the postage due for
their conveyance must be collected in the United States.
Such notices formerly appeared as advertisements in
the public journals, for which the usual payments
were made to the proprietors. Economy and re-
trenchment, however, appear now to be the order of
the day. Latterly these notices have been forwarded
by the Secretary of the Post. office, as matters that
may be useful to the journals, to be inserted or not
at their pleasure, but for which no payment is to
be made in any manner. When such savings
are introduced into the department, while we are
called on to relinquish our legitimate profits, and to
serve the public gratuitously, can it be intended
to perpetuate the pensions to their Graces
of GRAFTON and MARLBOROUGH, and to the
heirs of the Duke of SCHOMBERG ? Are we
to print and publish information that should be disse-
minated without any return, in order that the Duke
of GRAFTON should still enjoy his annuity of 3,4071.
per annum ; that the noble owner of Blenheim should
retain his 4,000/. per annum, or that the heirs of
SCHOMBERG should expend their 2,9001. a year,
drawn from the resources of this country, in
Holland ? We hope not ; as economy is to
be the order of the day, let the most prominent
abuses be first struck off. If the locusts who idly
fatten upon the nation's industry are removed, if
the expenses of these various departments are not
unduly swollen by their iniquitous demands,
no objection will be raised to the fair and reasonable
payments for the public service. The expenses of
advertisements in the public press will not
figure among the items in the black
catalogue, against which the voice of public opinion
has been heard, indignantly protesting. The labourer
is worthy of his hire, and the journalist should
receive a fair return for his enterprise,
labour, and the:capital, employed in his undertaking,
whenever they are required for the general service.
There is no more reason to suppose that we should pub-
lish these notices gratuitously,than that the Government
should be entitled to the labour of any other member
of the community, whenever it chooses to call upon
him. Our Cabinet Ministers—the heads of the se-
veral departments, the various clerks employed in
them, do not work without reinuneration,:why should
the journalist be alone expected to make such a sa•
crifice ?

EXETER HALL.—Last night the Sacred Harmonic
Society gave a representation of the Judas Maceabeus
under the direction of Mr. Costa. The same care and
attention to the ensemble, which characterised the pro-
duction of the Messiah by this society, were observable
in this performance, which was in the highest degree
successful. The principal vocal parts were sustained by
Miss Birch, the Misses Williams, Mr. Sims Reeves, and
Mr. H. Phillips. The hall was crowded to excess.
ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.—The usual
attraction of this admirable exhibition are enhanced
during the present week, by the delivery of lectures on
" The Cultivation and Management of the Voice in
Singing." The committee have engaged Mr. G. Clif-
ford, professor of music, for this purpose, and his first
lecture was delivered, before a numerous and very atten-
tive auditory, last evening. The lecturer's remarks were
very agreeably diversified and forcibly illustrated by the
performance of a variety of favourite vocal pieces, from
the works of several eminent composers; and their very
creditable execution elicited repeated and hearty plaudits
from the comp
any present.