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London, England, 1838-06-27 00:00:00

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LONDON :
WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 27, 1838.

Sir JOHN HEaSCrIELL is to be created a Baronet on the
occasion of the Coronation, and science could not be more
worthily honoured than in him.

The House of Commons last night so conducted itself as
to supply an admirable illustration of our observations yes-
terday on Mr. CLAY'S motion. We pointed out the utter
disregard which the House has for the public, and the in-
tense interest which it takes in personal questions. We do
not blame the House for its conduct in either case, con-
ceiving that it is in human nature so to act. To each in-
dividual the tooth-ache, or the gout in his great toe, is of
nfinitely more importance than the whole question of
sugar duties ; and a personal imputation wounds deeply,
while no person cares for an imputation cast on the
combined legislature. But though we do not blame the
House of Commons, the mere fact we have just stated
shews that it is extremely foolish, utter childishness in fact,
in the public to expect that the Members will not always
sacrifice, as they do in the case of the Corn Laws, the pub-
lic welfare to their personal advantage and aggrandizement.
These reflections are suggested by the conduct of the
House on a motion made by Sir EDWARD KNATCHBULL,
to appoint a Committee to inquire into all the circum-
stances connected with the discharge of JOHN NICHOLLS
Titom, alias COURTENAY, from the Kent Lunatic Asylum.
It is palpable enough, as hundreds of lunatics are so dis-
charged every year, that it was the after circumstances
connected with THOM'S case—which no human being fore-
saw, or could foresee—which made it of the smallest im-
portance, more than the discharge of any other lunatic.
In what way Lord JOHN RUSSELL or Sir H. VIVIAN are
connected with these circumstances, Sir EDWARD KNATCH-
BULL did not condescend to state ; but he felt sore—we
hope dreadfully sore—at the disgrace which has been cast
by those circumstances on the easter❑ division of the
county of Kent, of which he is the representative, and of
the Quarter Sessions, of which he is Chairman ; and he felt
for the Church of which he is so zealous a supporter. The
disgrace of those circumstances reflecting on him, he wished
to throw part of it off on the Ministers. A personal feel-
ing gave rise to the motion—and nothing but a personal
feeling. If Sir EDWARD KNATCHBULL had consulted only
the public good, he would have moved for a Committee to
inquire into the rules and regulations for discharging luna-
tics. But that would not have enabled him to mystify the
public, by throwing aspersions on political opponents, and
would not have served to cleanse from the Magistracy of
Kent and the Cathedral Clergy of Canterbury the real
disgrace which the conduct, not only of Thom, but of hun-
dreds of persons in that neighbourhood, have cast on them.
How, in the name of common sense, can Lord JOHN Rus-
axl.l., for discharging a lunatic in the common course of his
duty, and whom, as he showed he was perfectly justified in
discharging, be responsible for the absurd belief of multi-
tudes of men near Canterbury ? The supposition is grossly
absurd, and though Lord JOHN RUSSELL, in his observa-
tions, feelingly deplored the consequences of THom's re-
lease, he is no more responsible for them than for the belief
of the Hindoos which prostrate them before the Car of
Juggernaut.

We do not think Sir EDWARD KNATCIIBULL can say
as much for himself and his friends ; we shall put them on
their defence. In the course of his speech he said :
" He believed most conscientiously that if the Noble Lord had made
inquiry in the county of Kent, he would have found that 9 out of 10,
nay g 9 out of 100 persons, were of opinion that this individual could
not be made free and unrestrained in his actions, without endangering
to a serious extent the peace of the country."
But if that' were the opinion of 9 out of 10 individuals in
Kent, why did not the Chairman of the Kent Quarter Ses-
sions represent the danger to Lord JOHN RUSSELL, after
Tuost was set at liberty ? Why did not the guardians of
the public peace in East Kent, who must have known of
the danger, take precautions against it ? Why did not the
tiergy and the Magistrates, who, according to Sir ED-
WARD'S statement, must have been convinced of the prone-
ness of the people to fanaticism, and of their readiness to
believe fables and falsehoods, for all the mischief has sprung
out of their credulity, take care in time to avert the danger
of what they so well knew ? Sir EDWARD'S zeal to con-
demn Lord JOHN RUSSELL, has in fact branded himself and
his brother Magistrates ; and either that danger was not fore-
seen, and Lord JOHN not in the least blameable, or
being foreseen as Sir EDWARD implies, he and his brother
Magistrates must answer to the public for not having pre-
vented it. If the danger were foreseen--if it were known
to nine out of ten men in the eastern part of Kent, that the
people were so likely to be led astray by COURTENAY, how
can these Magistrates answer for the blood which has been
shed by their instrumentality ? A personal feeliteg led to
the motion, end like all such feelings, when they assume
the hypocritical guise of a regard to the public welfare, it
has brought home to the Right Hon. Baronet who made it,
and to the Magistracy and Clergy of East Kent, all the
disgrace which belongs to the unhappy circumstances that
flowed from the customary fact of the discharge of a
-"s - lunaiic.
Lord JoIIN RUSSELL readily assented to the motion
for a Cinnmittee, but Mr. HonGes deprecated it on account
of tie. Broaching trial, and so strongly did Mr. WAR-
- liktTo.s,fel the unseemliness of it, that he divided the
I-1 at* 4a the motion, and lost it only by a small maim-Ay
of-4,--/Mr. HANDLEY very properly wished to have the
AP' "inquiry extended to the state of the education of the

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