The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-08 00:00:00

COPY OF A LETTER FROM LORD NOItMANBY TO

SIR P. LAURIE.

Whitehall, Jan. 20,
.1841.

Sir,—l have to acknowledge the receipt, this morn-
ing, of your letter of the 18th inst. lamat a loss to
conceive with what view you quote the extract from
the letter of Mr. Fox Alaule of the 18th November,
because, far from confirming the misapprehension under
which you seem still to labour, it shows, as I have al-
ready felt, that the inquiry originated in a laudable de-
sire, on the part of the Governors, to refor the case for
my decision, upon information to be collected and re-
ported to me ; as the Governors naturally felt that no-
thing could so much tend to reassure the public i❑ re-
gard to the treatment of the criminal lunatics as the
opinion of the person responsible to the country for
that treatment. The institution of the inquiry was sa-
tisfactory to the Governors, because they looked to its re-
sult being satisfactory to me. The opinion I had formed
I forwarded to you on the 4th inst., with the report
made to me, and the evidence on which it was founded ;
and this letter of mine the Committee thought it proper
to withhold for the time, upon the strange ground,
as stated by you, that it consisted of comments
or observations, of which it was better that the Go-
vernors should at present remain in ignorance. It was
not to be expected th it the existence of such a docu-
ment could remain unknown ; and therefore it is not
matter of surprise, if the general belief is that, if that
opinion had been altogether satisfactory to the Com-
mittee, it would now have been circulated, and con-
sequently published, with the report which accom-
panied it. The result of this injudicious course on the
part of the Committee has, therefore, been, that, with
the appearance of attempt at concealment, they have
created an impression that my opinion was more gene-
rally unfavourable than it really was ; nor, unless
these errors are corrected at the general meeting of the
Governors, will it be held that the subsequent proceed-
ings have hem conducted in the spirit of the letter of
the Treasurer, of the Ist of ll,:cember, quoted in the
course of the investigation, which gave the assurance
that no inipedi'ment should be thrown in the way of the
most searching inquiry I might think proper to insti-
tute.—l am, Sir, your most obedient and humble
servant, NORMANBY.
Sir Peter Laurie, &c., 7, Park-square.

COPY OF I.Er PER FROM SIR P. LAURIE TO THE
N AUQUIS OF NORMANBY.
7, Park-square, Jan. 20, 1841.
My Lord,--T have the honour to acknowledge your
letter of this dat.-t, which I shall not fail to lay before
the Goverriora of Bethlern Hospital on the 25th inst.
As the Genet •al Court cannot but partake of your
Lordship's al mict y for the removal of any " impression
that your n pinio n was more generally unfavourable
than it really vas;' I have no doubt that they will have
great pleasu
.re. in meeting your views by printing your
Lordship's rriaservations with this correspondence, for
the inform itio u of the Governors at large.
I have the .honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's
most obe ;tient .servant, P. LAURIE, President.
The r lost L'on. the Marquis of Normanby, &c.

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The•c)flicers and wen of her Majesty's ship 'Etna,
at Livrocng ship, have subscribed two days' pay
for thy. relief or the widows and orphans of the late brig
Fairy..