The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-09 00:00:00

rtucti laii3ttton

2 dis

NEWMARKET RACES.

11%

[91,4
414
4%
5%

36
1614
101/4
99

(THIS DAY.)

37%

32

5
641 At

121/2
421/2

1614

1534
2
1414
19:%
6 in,

29%

19t
13344
AA
30
6%

10 ~p

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
Jockey Club Plate. B.C.
Glutton
••• ••• ••• •• 1
Ulysses ... ... ..•
• ••• ••• ••• 2
••
Nlinto . . ... ••• ••• ••• ••• 3
Three yrs old Sweepstakes.
Cayenne... ••• ••• ••• •••
••• •. 1
lone ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 2
The Suffolk Stakes.
.., _ .

Essedarius •.• ••• e• • ••• •••
Beamlerc ••. ••• ••• •• ••• 2
Collingwood .•. •.• ••• .••

THE LAW UN LUNACY.
Laws for the helpless are amongst the most charge'
teristic proofs of civilisation. Attempts to break
through them are equally characteristic of human
nature. The man who rode a pony to death the other
day sent a donation to the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals. The farce was absurd enough,
but the principle obtained a triumph, as grotesque,
albeit, as that of Silenus.

Men will ride horses to death, in spite of Mr.
Martin. But the general practice, at least, of ex-
treme cruelty will be stopped by enactments,
when well backed by local organisation for the
purpose of enforcing them. A habit grows in
sensibly upon the carter of sparing his beast. Th•
very jest passed by one man on his flagellating coca'
rade, touching the danger of being too energetic
when the society is on the look out, is not without
its effect. It is often habit rather than feeling which
induces practices of cruelty—laws and benevolent
societies may alter the one, however small may be
their effect on the other.

A lunatic is, we fear, in a worse position than
carter's horse. No one can have any interest is
ill•treating the brute—many have too much inte'
rest in starving the lunatic. The poor being
whose very existence is an annoyance, if nothing
worse, to his relatives, cannot expect that 014
should be very solicitous about preserving it. Bat
when this same preservation is productive of consid
derable expense into the bargain, we can easily tui
derstand that average human nature becomes some'
what neglectful of its duties under combined
temptation and infliction. In such cases society steps
i❑ and claims fair play for humanity. But fair plai,
we fear, is only to be obtained where both temptation
and infliction are absent.

Two unfortunate persons, Peter Sharp Anstey and
Henry Anstey, of whose perfect lunacy there appears
to be no doubt whatever, were placed years ago in
a lunatic establishment near Bristol. Their father
left them the sufficient provision of 3501. each Per
annum ; and one of their brothers, up to the time
of his death, saw that this provision was fairly ad'
ministered. On his death, some few years ago, the
remaining relatives thought, naturally enough, that
the money would be more comfortably enjoyed bf
sane people, and they cut down the allowance, which
was as much the property of the lunatics as property
well can be, to 1101. per annum. The Lord Chan"
cellor, who has issued a commission to inquire into
the case, has inflicted no measured chastisement on
these gentlemen. For ourselves, we leave them in
his hands, as we have a more practical object to which
we direct our observations.

The present proceedings are instituted at the in:
sti riendtu t
i Sono iteht
stigation of a society called " The Alleged Lunatics'
1±
fora g.ra hte existence
all probability, have been investigated at all. The
tn ceas
wnoeuel
d o f
never,
suche ver an
enactments in the statute book require visitations,
and take care that no class of lunatics is subjected to
very unfair treatment. But no Act requires any
examination into the peculiar circumstances of each
inrnv;dtinl, or of the propriety of placing him in the
particular position in which the visitors tina
With this question the visitors have nothing whatever
to do. It is, therefore, left entirely to the bene-
volence of individuals to provide against the in'
justice of a case like the one we have alluded to.
The task is a thankless one—and in no other country
than England, where private individuals perform so
many of the local duties of Government, would such
a society have even been imagined. It is one of the
proudest boasts of our country, that its voluntary
associations allow no aim of benevolence to escape
their vigilance. Such a society can never pre-
vent cases of individual oppression. The honest
eye cannot penetrate all the recesses of the gloomy
madhouse. But the dread of its operations will have
an influence, as that of its fellow society
over the carter and costerinonger, in altering
the tone and practice adopted towards the
helpless. Perhaps not one case in fifty will be
brought to light by its exertions. But even the in'
justice of the remaining forty-nine will be modified
by its influence. We deem it, therefore, our most
bounden duty to recommend with all the force in out
power this society to public support.
We must add another word on a part of the
matter to which we allude with reluctance. The
allowance to the lunatics was, as we have stated, re-
duced to 1101. per annum for each. On this "paltry
sum" says the petition, " they were kept in a depart-
ment appropriated to and living with their noisy,
dirty, and idiotic, and lowest order of patients.
They were, says the counsel in his speech, " confined
in the worst department of the asylum with the
lowest order of patients—they were never taken out
for exercise, and kept in a most pitiable state—they
were lodged at night in miserable rooms"—and so on
with a whole catalogue of miseries. All this is sup-
ported by medical affidavits.
Now, in the name of common sense, a little more
than this might have been afforded for 2201. per
annum to two patients at the _Fishponds, Bristol. 11
the allegations be true, not alone does the treatment
of the patients at the hands of their relatives require
examination—but the manner in which they have been
treated by other people. The whole case deserves
the serious exatnination of the Commissioner of Lu-
nacy, and we trust that the matter will not reit 01
the fullest investigation has taken place on all the
points of the case.—Atlas.
H M

-A AJESTY'S THEATRE.—Her Majesty and
Prince Albert again attended the opera last night, to
witness Jenny Lind's performance of Lucia. The
house was crowded in every part. Roberto il Diavolo
is to be produced to-morrow, when Lind will sustain
the role of Alice, one of the characters which secured
her first success here.
YORE, WEDNESDAY MORNING.— (By Electric
Telegraph )—Mr• Nicholson, one of the liirectors of the
York tart North Midland iailway, and brother-in-law
to Mr. Hudson, was found drowned in the river Ouse, at
about halt-past nine o'clock last night. The inquest
will take place this morning.
LONDONDERRY, MAY 7.—The Retriever, Turpey,
from St. John's, N 8., to the Clyde, which got on shore
at the Island of Lewis 18th January, sailed thence on
the 4th inst., but has pat in here to-day, the wind being
unfavourable and the vessel making water.
HARTLEPOOL, MAY 7.—A bottle, containing as follow',
" Alexander Robertson, George Rogers, James Jusilow,
went down on the 18th April, 1845, struck on the Gal-
ston Rock," was picked up on the sands, one mile north
of the Black Hole Rocks, near here, 6th inst. A 14-feet
°oat, with " Elizabeth Reid, James Graham," on her
stern, apparently a long time in the water, was picked
up off Shoreham, by the English Rose.
It is contemplated by a wealthy shipping-house in
New York to establish an opposition line of steamers in
the Pacific between San Francisco and Panama.—Liver'
pool Albion.

BIRT'S,
On the sth inst., at NewcastlH
e-on-Tyne, the Lady Merl
Hope Wallace, of a son,
On the sth in-t., at Essex-street, Strand, the wife of F..‘•
Benham, Esq., of a daughter.
On the sth inst., at Wendovcr, Bucks, the wife of theßev
Frederick Silver, of a son.
On the sth inst., at Walton-on-Thames, the wife of the
Rev. F. R. Mills, of a son.

At Birmingham, on the 3dlED.
inst., the Hon. and Right Bev'
Edmund Knox, D.D., Lord Bishop of Limerick, aged 77.
On the Ist inst., at Wkhcote.hall, Leicestershire, Henryn
William Palmer, Esc'., late Captain in her Majesty's 8"
ReAment.
On the sth inst., at Barrowby Rectory, the Rev J. Kente_
On the 6th inst , Atilborne-port, Ann, widow of the
late Mr. John Pittman' aged 89.
On the 7th inst., at West green, Tottenham, John, Frod •
sham, Esq , aged 66.

--------
London i Printed and Published by MURDO youNG, V
No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Office, No. 117 '
Strand, in the Precinct (it the Savoy, in the coankir v•
blldtilesex, Wednesday, May 9, 1849.