The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-26 00:00:00

assistance. The unfortunate gentleman treated the
supposition of his unsoundness of mind as a palpable
absurdity; he considered the charge as unworthy
of a serious defence. The result may easily be anti-
cipated. He was declared a lunatic, of unsound
mind, incapable of taking charge of his own affairs,
and he remained for some time a prisoner, under the
strictest surveillance. The circumstances of the case,
however, attracted the attention of a gentleman
who had filled an important situation at Delhi, where
for six years he had been in constant official and
social communication with the BEGUM ; and he lost
not a moment in directing the attention of the East
India Company to the case. On the 19ch August,
1843, shortly after the jury had returned their verdict,
Sir CHARLES TREVELYAN forwarded a communica-

tion to the Board of Directors, in which, in the clearest
and most satisfactory manner, he demonstrated that the
jury might have arrived at an erroneous conclusion, and
he submitted, that under the entire circumstances of the
case " immediate steps should be taken for the pur-
pose of obtaining justice, or, if it should prove, on a
full and proper investigation that, contrary to his
belief justice had already been done, of satisfying
the minds of all persons, both in this country and in
India, and in other parts of the world, who might take
the same general views of the case, which he himself
had taken."

These disinterested exertions, so highly honourable
to Sir CHARLES TREYELYAN, were, however, ren-
dered unavailing, by the escape of Mr. DYCE SOMBRE
from the durance to which he had been subjected.
The unfortunate gentleman fled to France, to enjoy
that liberty which was denied to him in England. He
was not, however, suffered to remain unmolested ;
an application was made to the French Government

to surrender him as an escaped lunatic, that he might
again be subjected to the strictest incarceration in a
mad-house, where he had committed the highest
offence known to "keeper law," and where his treat-
ment would in consequence have probably been of
the harshest character. This attempt was, however,
defeated. The French authorities refused to sur-
render Mr. SOMBRE without being fully satisfied as
to his actual condition, and it was accordingly re-
ferred to some of the most eminent physicians to in-
quire and report on the state of his mind. These
gentlemen, after a close and searching investigation,
stated their opinion to be that he was of perfectly
sound mind, able to govern his own affairs. He
was, therefore, freed from all personal coercion,
so long as he was satisfied to remain out of
England; but he was left without means or resources,
notwithstanding the large fortune that was accumu-
lating for the benefit of his successors, or next of kin,
in the English Court of Chancery. Being anxious,
however, to obtain additional evidences as to his
sanity Mr. SOMBRE travelled to St. Petersburgh,

where he obtained a similar certificate from ten of

the most distinguished medical men of the Russian
metropolis—a certificate which was further confirmed
by Belgian physicians, whose opinions were taken on
the subject.
Armed with such powerful testimony, MY.:SOMIIRE,
in January, 1846, presented a second petition to the
Court of Chancery for a supersedeas of the Commis-
sion of Lunacy (that which had previously been filed
having been rejected by Lord LYNDHURST). Drs.
BRIGHT and SOUTHEY were appointel to examine
and report on bis condition, he being secured by the
order of the Court against any attack upon his per-
sonal liberty pending the examination. These
learned gentlemen differed from the physicians of
Paris, of St. Petersburgh, and of Belgium. They
reported that it would be unsafe to himself and
others to withdraw from him the protection (7)
of the Court of Chancery. They, however, recom-
mended that, as he seemed "perfectly to understand
the nature and extent of his property," his allowance
should be enlarged, and the payments made with
greater punctuality, and that any small debts he might
have contracted should also be discharged. Subsequent
petitions were presented and various examinations held.
After a searching examination at Brighton, in
August, 1847, the same Drs. BRIGHT and SOUTHEY
reported that they " were bound to admit that they
were unable to elicit any positive delusions," though,
at the same time, they regretted to add that they
" felt no confidence that he was entirely free from such
delusions." They also added this remarkable pas-
sage :

" Sofar as recpccts the management of property, we en•
tertain no doubt of his competency to take care of it, and we
think that if ho were entrust,d with the surplus of his
unappropriated income, one great cause of uneasiness
would be removed; for there seems no doubt that much
painful feeling has rankled in Mr. Dyce Sombre's mind
from the reduction of his allowance to an amount so
much below the rate of
.expenditure at which he for-
merly lived."

Here, then, a gentleman, who had been pronounced
by the most eminent professional men of France, of
Russia, and of Belgium to ba of perfectly sound
mind and competent to conduct his own affairs, from
whom the doctors selected by the LORD CHANCEL-
LOR were unable to elicit any positive delusions,
about whose perfect competency with respect to the
management of property they entertained no doubt
whatsoever, is still branded as a lunatic—obliged to
remain an exile from the land of his adoption, and
deprived of that perfect liberty of action
which is the right of every free-born man,
soiey because those " skilful persons" could " feel
no confidence that he was entirely free from such
delusions." If this be indeed the rule, we can scarcely
conceive what evidence would be sufficient to satisfy
such fastidious gentlemen; nothing could be detected
to indicate unsoundness of mind, or the existence of
delusion ; but a lurking suspicion remained behind, and
therefore he was still deprived of his natural liberty,
and of the control and management of his princely
fortune. We should like to see the manner in which
the judge of a criminal tribunal would receive such
evidence if it were set up as a defence to a capital
charge. It was, however, sufficient to retain the
" alleged lunatic" within the meshes of the Court of
Chancery. Other petitions were subsequently pre-
sented, to which our space will not enable us to
allude more fully, but with no better result. Doctors
BRIGHT and SOUTHEY cculd not be convinced of the
removal of delusions, and till they were satisfied no-
thing could be done. At length a final effort was
resolved on. Doctors PARIS, President of the Col-
lege of Physicians; MAYO; Sir ALEXANDER MORI-
SON, Physician to Bethlehem Hospital, and to the
Surry County Lunatic Asylum; COPELAND ; PER..
GUSON, Physician to the QUEEN; and COSTELLO, the
talented proprietor of the \Vyke House Lunatic
Asylum, were requested to examine the mental state
of Mr. Dvcs SOMBRE in the month of December
last, and after the strictest scrutiny and repeated
examinations of the patient, and consultations with
each other, these gentlemen arrived at the unanimous
conclusion that Mr. SOMBRE was of "sound mind, and
competent to manage his person and property." A
petition was accordingly presented founded on this
report, and verified by the affidavits not only of
those six eminent physicians, but of many other gen-
tlemen well acquainted with Oriental habits and pecu-
liarities, which fully explained the nature of the
opinions that had been characterised as delusions.
The decision of the Court was given on Friday, as we
have already stated, and we have seen with what
result. The petition was dismissed, no further appeal
to a jury was granted. Even protection to
reside in England was not allowed, nor
was he permitted to appear before the Master
either personally or by his solicitor and
counsel in the inquiries, and on the taking of the
accounts respecting the management, care, and appli-
cation of his real and personal estate and effects—
this reasonable request being rejected, although Drs.
BRIGHT and SOUTHEY, in whom the most implicit
confidence was reposed by the LORD CHANCELLOR,
" could entertain no doubt as to his competency with
respect to the management of property."
These are facts worthy of notice, facts that indi-
cate the necessity of an immediate alteration in the
law of lunacy, and the extension of the benefit of
" trial by jury" to those who are alleged to be
labouring under mental delusion.

One of the most gratifying festivities in wh7cli the
present AtILDIDi3trALIOII has taken any conspicuous
part must assuredly have been the sumptuous banquet
given yesterday evening, at the Mansion•house, to
the members of her MAJESTY'S Government,
by the Right Hon. the LORD MAYOR. Every
circumstance united to enhance the satisfaction of
the statesmen entertained at the hospitable board
of the first Magistrate of the capital. In the LORD
MAYOR of London they met one who had lon6