The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-02 00:00:00

Ati4,ll,l"iil4. ;or;
THE SUX,*LONDON, Trt-u-tt,StA-Y, SEPTEMBER

FLUCTUATIONS IN PRICE.
TO SIR ROBERT PEEL, BART.

SIR—You have the reputation of being an exceed-
ingly clever man, and I dare say with truth, but the
more, therefore, is my wonder, that in your speech, in
the House of Commons on Friday evening last, you
should have given the smallest importance to the fluctua-
tions which sometimes take place in the price of corn in
the United States of America ; for it cannot but be
known, even to such blockheads as myself, that a country
entirely depending upon herself for her supplies of corn,
will be subject to these variations, just as the season may
have been favourable or otherwise.
In naming the fluctuations in America, you afford a
good reason for free trade ; for if these variations take
place in a country which generally grows corn, as well
for exportation as . for the use of her own people, and
which,- therefore, even in bad seasons, must be suffient
for her own consumption, how much greater are these
fluctuations likely to be. in Britain with her most un-
steady climate, and with a demand for corn in general
more than equal to her supply? And the matter is likely
to be made worse as time shall move on, with our annual
addition of four hundred thousand bread-eaters, unless
by some extraor iinary good luck there shall rise up
every. year some few thousands of acres of good wheat
land upon our sea coasts. My wonder at you, Sir
Robert, is the greater, as ,I plainly see, that to depend
for a supply. of, corn from any. one spot on the globe, is to
be liable to great fluctuations,, owing to the uncertainty
there,is, in weather. Free trade would render the price
steady in making wide the field whence the supplies
would come ; for God Almighty in his kindness to man
never inflicts a general scarcity; he do so in England
he does not in Russia, or if he should do so in both these
countries he does not in America.
I have the honour to remain, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
JOHN GREEN.
Petersfield, Hants, Aug. 31, 1841.

SPANISH DEBT•
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sift—Do you not consider it an outrage on all sense of
justice that the Spanish Government, which cannot bor-
row for less than five or six per cent., 'should persist in
consolidating the arrears of interest it owes to its un-
fortunate creditors, into a THREE per cent. stock.
In the name of consistency and common honesty, let
Spain, if she cannot pay in full all the arrears of inte-
''rest, not be so lost to all feelings of honour as to be
guilty of another put off towards the holders of the New
D'eferred Debt, which is the only portion of the Cortes
'Lothris that can now be distinguished from the infamous
loans contracted by Ferdinand alone to put down and
keep down a constitutional firm of Government.
• In 1834, 'l'oreno threw all the unpaid Coupons then due
and owing from 1824 on the Old Cortes Loans into a
New Deferred Debt, subject from the year 1838 to twelve
annual drawings into a Spanish Stock, which was to pay
FIVE per cent. interest. By this arrangement the bond-
holders had to wait four years before the first twelfth of
them had even a chance of receiving one farthing of their
Coupons owing to them from 1824.
Four drawings have taken
.place, but not one farthing
of interest has been forthcoming. And now, instead of
paying the trifling interest on the four drawings of the
years 1838, 1839, 1840, and 1841, it is proposed to capi-
talise the interest due on these four drawings into a
THREE per cent. stock.
The effect of this will be that as long as the stock is
in existence it will be a perpetual moment() of Spain's
bad faith and bad policy, in order to save two per cent.
on the trifling amount of interest due on these drawings.
Why should the Old Cortes bondholder—the most
legal and liberal of all Spain's foreign creditors—who
advanced fourteen per cent. more to the Spanish Govern-
ment than the Messrs. Barings advanced to the French
Government of the Restoration—be treated worse than
the subscribers to the loans contracted by the despot Fer-
dinand to put down and keep down a constitutional form
of Government?

I beg the aid of your powerful pen and influence to
expose this unfairness towards the.
ORIGINAL CORTES BONDHOLDERS.

COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT.
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON INTELLIGENCE.
SAILINGS.
AuG. 25.—Midge cutter, John Petre, Esq., for Ports-
mouth, left for the season.
26—Arrow cutter, Lord Godolphin, for Exeter, light
breeze S.S.E., and hazy ; Kestrel yawl, Commodore
Earl of Yarborough, for Plymouth and other ports.
28—Rostellan schooner. Thomas George French, Esq.,
for Cork, light breeze N.N.W.
30—Brilliant schooner, G. IL Ackers, Esq., for Cher-
bourg and western ports ; Cynthia cutter, R. Frankland.
Esq., for Cherbourg and Guernsey ; Peri schooner.
Captain Bulkeley, for Cherbourg and Guernsey ; Ariel
cutter, Earl of Coventry, for Southampton and Brighton;
Nymph cutter, John Bayley, Esq., for Plymouth and
Cherbourg ; Hebe cutter, A. W. Corbet, Esq., for
Southampton, left for the season.
ARRIVALS.
AUG. 25.—Merlin schooner, William Lyon, Esq., from
.3
North Yarmoutu and Portsmouth.
28—Petrel cutter, Earl of Ilchester, from Weymouth ;
Camilla schooner, Thbnias—Halifax, jun., Esq., from
Weymouth.
YACHTS AT AND ABOUT THE STATION.
Schooners—Crusader, Gem, Hawk, Camilla, Wan-
derer, Xarifa; Janette, Merlin. ,
Yawls—Alarm, Falcon; Breeze. •
Cutters—Nautilns, Sparrowhawk, Lord of the Isles,
Petrel, Reindeer, Naiad, Forest-fly, Phoebe, Talisman,
Witch, Ariadne, Will-o'-the-Wisp.

Colonel Sykes has taken Rose Lodge ; Mr. Newnham
Cannon House ; Mr. Lister and Lady Theresa Lister
the Parsonage ; Mr. Mullins Gothic Hall ; Sir Ralph
Howard has applied for the King's House ; Lady Sey-
mour has taken the 10th Cottage ; Lady Shuckburg the
11th Cottage ; Sir Bellingham Graham has taken Nor-
folk House for September ; Sir James Graham Beach
Villa ; Lord R. Grosvenor the 9th Cottage ; Lord and
Lady Boyle are still at Harriet Lodge ; Lord Congleton
and the Countess of Darnley at Woodvale ; the Earl
and Countess of Belmore at the 6th Cottage ; Mr. Con-
greve and family at the 7th Cottage, with whom Lord
Clonbrook is on a visit ; Mr. Cole and Lady Henry
Moore at the Bth Cottage ; Lady Cadogan and family
have left for the season, as has R. B. Sheridan,
Esq., and family, Lord and Lady Sydney, A. Corbet,
Esq., Colonel Knox, and many other families, but the
town is again filling fast for September a,ud October.
General Richardson has purchased Mill Hill estate,
near Cowes, the property of the late Admiral Osborne,
for 6,0001.

Vast quantities of whiting have been caught off
Cowes during the past week, and have been sold at from
4d. to t;d. per dozen. Some boats have taken from
twenty to thirty dozen a tide.
With A view to try the validity of the Cowes votes for
the return of Members for the Borough of Newport at
the last election, Mr. Gisborne's friends have objected
to every voter on the register for river property, whether
Liberal or Tory.. The battle will, therefore, be fought
before the Revising Barrister.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.
(LLOYD'S. )

LONDON, SEPT. I.—Wind this day at noon N.W.
DEAL, AUG. 31.—Wind N.N.W., moderate.—Arrived
the Henry, Janner, from India. Arrived from the River
and sailed the Nautilus, for the Mauritius ; Angenoria,
Lisbon; Tennessee, Boston. Sailed the Charlotte, for the
Cape of Good Hope, and the outward bound.
OFF DOVER, AUG. 31.—Arrived the Teesdale, from
Boston, and sailed for St. Petersburgh.
PLYMOUTH AUG. 31.—Wind N.N.W.—Sailed the
Lalla Rookh;for Sydney.
LIVERPOOL, Amu. 31.—Wind N.N.W.—Arrived the
Stormont, from Honduras; Elizabeth, Orr, St. Domingo ;
Shabo, Schoof, New Orleans ; Orozembo, Mobile ;
Emma, Daphne, and Eblane, Montreal ; Iris, Hender-
son, Malta. The Frederica Amelia, for Stettin ; and
Mary Alic, for Pernam, grounded on Burbo yesterday
afternoon, but got off on the flood, and proceeded.
PORTS3IOUTH, AUG. 31.—Sailed her Majesty's ship
Scout, for the Mediterranean.
FALMOUTH, AuG. 30.—Wind S.E. to S.lV.—Arrived
the Dundee, from Memel, for Rio de la Plata. Sailed
the Royal Tar steamer,
.for Vigo. •
JERSEY, AUG. 25.—Arrived the Argus, from Gaspe.
Sailed the Hero, for Rio Janeiro ; Centurion, Mauri-
tius; Guernsey Lily, Gaspe.
BRISTOL, Atm. 31.—Arrived the George, Roberts,
from St. Vincent's; Clinton, Virginia, and Julie, Lynn,
Montreal. Sailed the Burlington, Baltimore; Rowland,
—, and Mary's, Nevis.
PORT TALBOT, AUG. 29.—Sailed, William, Alicant.
KINGSTOWN, AuG. 31.—Arrived the Hampton, Janet,
from St. John's, New Brunswick.
Coax, AVG. 20.—Arrived the Prince Albert, from
Miramichi. Sailed the Idea, for Quebec. Arrived off—
Rebecca, Pickers, St. John's, New Brunswick.
HtrLL, AUG. 29.—Arrived the Sir John Ogilvy,
Strachan, from Leghorn.
• SIIIE-Lim,. AUG. 29.—Arrived the Europe, Brodie,
from Buenos Ayres; and Arcadia, Robinson, Pictou.•

VESSELS SPOKEN Wrrn.—Three Sister, Jersey to
Aricati, 15th ult., lat. 39, long. 13 ; Blucher, Liverpool
to Jamaica, 24th ult., lat. 48, long. 9, by the Crescent,
arrived at Liverpool. Edinburgh, Bremen to New
York, 19th ult. hit. 42, long. 42 ; Oberon, bound to Rio
Janeiro, July 2, lat. 16 S., long. 38, by the Amiable, ar-
rived at Bordeaux. Dalhousie, bound to Trinidad, 23d
ult., lat. 55, long. 10, by the Coquette, arrived in the
Clyde. Fanny, Liverpool to Quebec, with loss of fore-
topmost, 29th July, off St. Paul's. Marquis Wellesley,
of Dublin, for ditto, 2d ult., lat. 46, long. 58 ; Charles,
Stornoway, ditto, 3d ult., lat. 45, long. 28, by the Scipio,
arrived at Whitehaven.

DONYBROOK FAIR.---On Thursday, the fair
day (26th August), the proprietors took measures to
ascertain an average of the number of persons who
entered the town of Donnybrook, between the hours of
nine, A.M. and six P.M., the period specified by the police
regulations. The result of this calculation was the
almost incredible number of 74,792, an enormous pro-
portion of the adult population of Dublin. The quan-
tity of cows, heifers, sheeps, pigs, St-,c„ which entered
the "custom gap" was very considerable. The number
of horses present was supposed to be upwards of 2,500.
They were mostly adapted for the saddle or draught of
the lighter description. _Many nags went off at prices
which might well startle " the knowing ones." There
were agents present who purchased horses for the cavalry
; of these eleven were for
This fair is one of the most
twenty-six
the year 1205, when he em-
powered abyesgrr
ocioni of
nn
Great
w?Jeeuoana:tt
Britain cr Ireland, having been
Myles Fitz Henry (then " Justyce of Irelonde")
to institute tine fair at John's Well, and the other at
tiat onhn
sec:,
ancient
e4tenut
htnt
instituted
nit
Donny Bourne." This, if it proves nothing else, proves
at least the antiquity of this. locality.-Saunder's News
Letter.

THE STATUE TO DE RUYTER.

We have received by the- Dutch mail the following
account of the inauguration of the statue erected at
Flushing, on the 26th August, to the gallant De Ruyter.
The King of Holland, with his three sons, were present
on the occasion, and though 200 years have passed
since De Ruyter was the • Nelson of Holland, his deeds
appear to be still fresh in the recollection of his country-
men. This is honourable to them, and we have on this
account, as well as in admiration of this celebrated Naval
Commander, subjoined to the intelligence from Flushing
a faithful account of his life and naval actions. _ _ _

FLUSHING, Amin' 27.—Yesterday was the day fixed
for the inauguration of :the statue erected in this town
in honour of the brave Michael de Ruyter. This na-
tional festival was honoured by the presence of his Ma-
jesty, our beloved King and of his three sons, the Prince
of (range, .and Princes4lexander and Henry. His
Majesty. who arrived • early. from Middelburg, having
reviewed the garrison and the Civic Guard, went to thee
Town-hall, where 'he' gave audiences to the civil and
military 'authorities; and 'then proceeded to the church,
where a very excellent inaugural discourse was delivered
by Professor Van derHoon.
The King, the. Princesund suite, proceeded to the square
in which tlie•Staftie is erected, which was uncovered on
a signal being given i‘and this' 'fine work of M. L. Royan
cast in iron.by ..11tIkarsl'atil Van Vliessinger and Dudok
Van Heel, was exposed, to the admiration of the specta-
tors. His Majesty` was pleased to express his entire sa-
tisfaction to all the'persOns concerned in the arrange-
ment, and the execution of the national solemnity. His
Majesty afterwards visited ..tbe exhibition of paintings
executed by Zealand artists and amateurs, in honour of
the great seamen and officers of Zealand, who distin-
guished themselves in the arts and sciences. The King
then went to the dockyards, and set out for Middelburg
amidst the loud acclamations of the people.
LIFE OF DE RIJYTER.

Dear to the Dutch is the name of 1)e Ruyter. When
mentioned, it summons up before them bright pictures of
. their old naval glories, when their cannons were heard
in distant seas, and their flags won garlands of oak-
leaves. Yet who would have believed that in the figure
of a little cabin-boy, who in the year 1607, busied him-
self about the ports of Zealandovas the embryo seaman
who, at a future day, was to be a ruler on the waves—a
victor on the waters. Do Ruyter was born at Flushing,
and at the age of eleven began his seafaring life on
board of a vessel at thatplace, and soon rose to the rank
of an officer of the first class. One of the earliest engage-
ments in which he displayed the determined bravery that
made his name so feared, was in his repulsing the Irish,
who attempted to take Dublin out of the hands Of the
English.. Scarcely, however,.• had the noise of this
transaction passed by, hefore
,his,,adventurous spirit led
him info the broad seas that'skirt the shores of the West
Indies and Brazil. After running like wildfire through
these seas, he made sail fo,..A.lgiers, to which port he
had been ordered, when he i‘an ashore a vessel belonging
to Tunis, consigned to perdition its Algerine Corsairs,
and had the high satisfaction of releasing forty Christian
slaves.De
Ruyter was, indeed, the true sword in the scabbard
of Van Tromp, and they two together swept the seas of
Europe in the time of our Second Charles, with power
almost irresistible. The English found him a powerful
and perilous antagonist. In 1653 he distinguished him-
self in the terrible battle near the mouth of the Channel,
amid the cold , storm-winds of February, when our re-.
doubtable Blake commanded' the English, and Von
Tromp and 1)e Ruyter the Dutch. Again, too, at the
great battle fought in the Downs, June 1666, against
Prince Rupert and the Duke of -Albemarle, 1)e Ruyter
showed a bold and unflinching front. In this action it
was that a beautiful and generous trait was developed on
the part of the younger Yon Tromp, which shows what
confidence may be placed in brave minds, despite of party
differences. De Ruyter was a stout Republican—young
Tromp, his rival, an inveterate adherent of the House of
Orange. Nevertheless they went to sea together. In
the three days fight, the Dutch had the best, but it was at
all events as severe a fight as could be, from the inflexible
valour of the English squadrons. Both De Ruyter and
Von Tromp were obliged several times to shift their flags
from ship to ship, and the latter having been borne down
to the centre of the English, was reduced to the utmost
extremity, and in dread of being crushed, when his rival
and political foe, throwing to the winds all party
animosities, nobly ran to his rescue, and saved him
from ultimate destruction. De Ruyter, too, was no less
high-minded, and it is on record, that in an ensuing ac-
tion with the English, De Ruyter, when obliged to re-
treat, did so, exclaiming, " How wretched am I, that
not one bullet of so many thousands will free me from
this disgrace."
But De Ruyter made compensation afterwards to the
English for this defeat. In 1667, going up to Sheer-
ness, he committed great havoc among the English fleet,
and the insult which he heaped upon them in that me-
morable expedition up the Thames, was further aggra-
vated by his destroying Upnor Castle, and burning the
ships at Chatham. The Royal Oak was one of the
vessels thus consumed, the intrepid commander of which,
Captain Douglas, perished in the flames, though he
might readily have escaped, exclaiming, as he consumed
in the fire, " Never was it known that a Douglas left his
post without orders."

It was at the attack upon Messina, in Sicily, that De
Ruyter met his death-blow. The Frenchmen knew his
invincible courage well. " I would purchase with my
life the glory of De Ruyter," wrote d'Estrees, the
French Admiral, to Colbert. But "glory," in this
Syracusan affair, demanded the life. of Ruyter. On the
morning of that engagement the French came out to
meet the Dutch, led on by • the celebrated Du Quesne ;
the Spaniards, with their customary caution, kept at .a
distance ; bat De Ruyter rushed into the centre, broke
the French line, and was in the act of chasing, when a'
cannon-shot wounded him in the left heel altd right leg,
and a fever came on, which closed his spirited carter.
When Louis XIV. was congratulated upon,:the death of
so potent an enemy, he replied, " Every one must be
sorry at the death of so great a man."
Dignities, sad to say, were ready Waiting hint at the
very moment of his death. The Spanish Council •had
bestowed on him the title of Duke, and transmitted a
patent investing him with that dignity ; but he breathed
his last as the footsteps of these bearers of the dim
world's honours were treading up the staircase of his
house.

His remains were magnificently interred at Amster-
dam, at the public expense, and a superb monument
erected to his memory. Flushing, in the statue she has
just decreed him, has honoured him late, but perhaps
that lateness best bespeaks the uneffaceable effect with
which his long-past glory- acts upon her mind.

DUTCH MAIL.

Tun HAGUE, AUG. 29.—The Java journals to the 12th
contain a very long and interesting article respecting the
events in the district of Padang. This article, dated
Batavia, May 9, says :—" In the Java Courant, of the
20th of March last, we made mention of the troubles
which had broken out in the Upper districts of Padang,
but which had been speedily put down by the courage
of the troops stationed there and the ability of their
commander. The later accounts have confirmed this
satisfactory intelligence, and gives many details of the
insurgents, and of the movements of our troops."
ARNHEIM, AUG. 27.—The Countess of Nassau (late
Countess of Oultremont) arrived here this morning in
the steam-boat Guttenberg. She took post horses to
I)ieren, intending, it seems, to pass some time with the
Countess of Wasscnar.

THE HAGUE, Auc. 30.—Yesterday his Majesty visited
the fortress of Bergen-op-Zoom.
The Second Chamber in its sitting to-day adopted
unanimously the project of law for the division of the
province of Limburg into cantons.
ROTTERDAM, AUG. 29.—We rejoice to learn that in
consequence of the favourable change in the weather,
hopes are entertained of a good harvest. Thus we
should never forget the hand of a wise Providence, and
give utterance to complaints (of which we have lately
heard so much), as we rather have reason to rejoice and
glorify that God who always intends our good.—Dutch
Papers, Aug. 31.

ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE

INSANE.
(From the Medical Gazette.)

We have just received, with very great pleasure, a
translation of Dr. Maximilian Jacobi's work " On the
Construction and Management of Hospitals for the In-
sane,"* and we desire to recommend it strongly to our
readers, not merely because the arrangements of the in
stitution at Siegburg, to which it especially relates, ap-
pear to us to be in general excellent, but because the
whole work is composed with a rare practical know-
ledge of the subject, and with a regard for science,
which have seldom marked the recent publications all
the same class.
The management of the insane in this country is at
present, it must be confessed, in a most disordered state;
it altogether systemless awl inefficient Considering
that insanity is a diSease which it is scarcely possible to
treat at the patient's home, and in which, therefore, all
ranks are reduced to the condition of hospital patients,
it is obvious that the most perfect scheme would be that
in which, with such a diligent surveillance as would
prevent oppression, all lunatics who are not manageable
at home should be confided to persons authorized for
their fitness' sake to their exclusive care. But what
is now the case ? Of the lunatics among the
poor, and even of some of those from among the
middle classes, the great majority are commit-
ted to almost pauper asylums, where the effi-
cacy of treatment, and the fitness of manage-
ment, are, with few exceptions, marred by the
necessity for economy. Excluded by the very nature of
their disorder from hospitals whose ample funds might
provide them all that they need, lunatics from these
classes are consigned to asylums supported not by the
liberal hand of private charity, but by the slowly-open-
ing public purse. And they live the lives of paupers :
in most cases, the buildings provided for them, and all
their domestic arrangements (in which are, in a great
'Measure, involved their therapeutic management), are ill
appointed, and for want, or for economy of funds, cannot
be mended.

Yetit may be questioned whether, on the whole, the
condition of the lunatics from among the poor is not
better than that of patients of the same kind in a higher
class. In the public asylums there are at least the advan-
tages of experienced attendants, of generally appropriate
diet and medical treatment, and still more of the regular
superintendence of licensed and competent medical prac-
titioners, including, in some instances, a physician, a
surgeon, and a resident apothecary. But the lunatics
from the class whose friends can afford to pay for at-
tendance by no means generally fare so well ; and
in this consists the greatest anomaly of our sytem.
There are around the metropolis, and, in general,
in the neighbourhood of each large town, lunatic asy-
lums superintended, or, more properly speaking, kept
by medical practitioners, who, devoting the greatest part,
or the whole of their attention, to this department of
their profession, must be regarded as competent to the
charge of the insane; and some of them are undoubtedly
eminently fitted for the office. But, the proportion of
lunatics who are thus provided for is unhappily ex-
tremely small; the terms of maintenance in such institu-
tions as these are either absolutely more than the friends
of patients can afford, or they are more than they regard
as equivalent to the difference of the advantages between
such an establishment and one of a lower grade in value
and price ; and so, the comfort, or, it may be, the health
and sanity of the patient, is made to wait upon the eco-
nomy of his friends ' • and that, though the money they
expend upon him be his own.
In these minor and cheap establishments, the superin-
tendent has rarely any knowledge at all of the proper
medical, or even of the moral, management of the insane.
Some of them are kept by gentlemen, whom we suppose
we may call amateurs, and who take this mode of earning
an income through an accidental preference for it before
the pursuit. of , some profession or trade to which they
-would be better suited. Others of these asylums are ma-
naged by ladies, who of course cannot be expected to be
qualified for more than the duties of matrons or nurses un-
der proper government. Others, again, are superintended
by retired keepers, who, having raised some money in their
subordidate offices, lay it out to good interest in an esta-
blishment Of this kind, the low terms of which seldom
fail to bring them patients. And, in addition to all these,
a number more of lunatics are committed singly to the
charge of keepers, who, for various reasons (their own
profit, misconduct, or any other), have left authorized
lunatic asylums, and taken up business on their own ac-
count. Now surely in all these cases there is grievous
error. Till the condition of a lunatic is absolutely hope-
less he ought never to be removed from the charge of
one who, by some test of his knowledge, has been
proved competent to treat his case ! and, even when the
incurable state is really set in, surely it is not too much
to require that the guardians of those who cannot have
safe charge of themselves should have some proved judg-
ment to guide them in the management of their patients'
health and comfort. Such a condition must be demanded,
unless it is to be admitted that the life of a lunntic is not
worth prolonging.
We have no intention of entering at large into the
details of a measure by which these evils might be re-
medied. We will only express the opinion that the main
feature in it should be, that no lunatic should be lodged
in an establishment kept by any but .a licensed medical
practitioner, till, on sufficient testimony, he can be re-
garded as positively incurable. Unless it can be proved
that there is no hope of applying the knowledge of me-
dicine beneficially in the treatment of insanity, nothing
can be more flagrantly wrong than that it should pass
into unauthorized hands.

It has happened unfortunately for lunatics that of late
they have become too much objects for public curiosity;
for, mistaking the softness of their feelings for the
strength of their intellects, too many from among the
public have lately interfered in this matter. ..Newspaper
discussions, anonymous letters, magisterial suggestions,
and books by authors of all grades but the right; have
abounded far too much for the advantage of the patients.
A certain amount of openness to the public is un-
doubtedly a necessary safeguard for the inmates of asy-
lums ; but such a safeguard is amply provided by
the visits of authorized persons to see that no oppres-
sion is exercised • and it is altogether beyond the right
of the public to force their opinions on any part of the
therapeutic management. The profession has been de-
graded by this recent clamour about a non-restraint
system : if, as we have said once before, it be
the best adapted for the patients' good (and,
on the whole, we belive that . it generally-
is), let it be proved so by the honest evidence of facts ;
but let not medical men competent to judge have the
system forced upon them by a mere popular cry—by
anonymous and senseless appeals to feelings,-.by pathe-
tic books by ladies—or even by the ambiguous solemni-
ties of magistrates. No good can come of these : to
every one who would study and practice his profession
as t science, a scheme thus supported must appear, prima
fircie, a bad one ; and no one can, without danger to
his professional character, embark in a common cause
with those that will sail with the wind of popular expres-
.sionS of this kind. Next to its falling into the hands of
deSl;gning- quacks, nothing is more dangerous to the pro-
gress of a science than its becoming a subject of popular
curiosity.
Ii is this interference
.of the public in the manage-
ment of lunatics which has led to the degenerate charac-
ter of modern publications on the subject ; but we hope
that Dr. Jacobi's work will assist in calling medical pritc-
' titioners to better thoughts. Much time and much
energy are being now squandered in the discussion of a
matter of detail, on which,.if there be any doubt, it is
only because at present the facts necessary either to
establish or to overthrow the supposed value of the new
method are insufficient. But in the midst of this dis-
cussion, the spirit.of which is maintained only because it
is carried on in the view of the public, the much more
important general questions of the construction of asy-
lums, and the competency of their superintendents—of
medical treatment—of morbid anatomy, and, in a word,
of all
.the real science of insanity, are almost utterly
lost sight of. Yet on these, much more than on the kind
and quantity of restraint to be employed, does the
patients' welfare depend. Nor is his alone concerned ;
for.while theSe things are publicly discussed, the medical
man is, being gradually more and more supplanted from
that fin- which he is alone fit, and which should, there-
fere be his exclusive privilege—the charge of cases of
curable insanity.
fWe have given this article rather as a proof of the
sea?-sufficiency. of medical men than of its excellence.
Bat for the Press, mad-houses would be the most hor-
rible places in the universe.]

* Translated by John Kitehing, with Introductory
Obsenittiens by Samuel Tuke, Treasurer of the " Re-
treat." London, 1841. Churchill.

JUNCTION OF THit ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC
OLEA s.--The great natural advantage of Guatemala
.is, but ready-made connection of the Atlantic and
Pacific,Weans. The gr6at lake of Nicaragua, having
an average • depth of fifteen fathoms, " is within sixteen
milea of the Pacific. The only known outlet of this
inland sea is the river San Juan, navigable for craft
drawing four feet water, to the Atlantic Ocean, in de-
spite of rapids, and capable of being improved for the
passage of ships. At present no commerce is carried on
upon this line .of navigation ; it might almost be said
Hthat nothing floats upon it. As soon, however, as a
settlqd country and stable Government can give security
to:commerce and capitalists, it is easy to- see that this
water-lino will be the se#!,t of an extell4ivo transit trade ;
1, whether it will, ever.answer the full expectations of Ean-
guiuo,men, iniiUsuperseCle'Cape-Hopr,- is -very queitiou-
able, as regards coarse, and bulky commodities.