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

-1,6 N DON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1641.

"VOCAL ENTERTAINMENT, FREE to
the PUBLIC, EVERY EVENING, in the SUPPER
ROOMS, EVANS'S GRAND HOTEL, Piazza, Covent-
garden.
In addition to the usual Vocalists engaged, a celebrated Pro-
fessional Friend will, in future, lend his valuable assistance.
The Chair taken by Mr. Evans at Half-past Ten o'Clock.
Bed and Breakfast One Guinea per week. Dinners, as
asual, at the lintel, in King-street.

CHARIOT to be SOLD. It is clean and good
as new, having been but little used; has barouche
seat, rumble, patent axles, C springs, imperials, capcase, and all
the appendages usually attached to highly-finished carriages.
Nay be seen at 43, Crawford-street, Bryanston-square.

TREATMENT OP CRIMINAL

LUNATICS IN BETHLEM.

The following correspondence has taken place be-
tween the Marquis of Normanby and Sir Peter Laurie,
relative to the late investigation :

prejudiced personal inquiry into the whole circum-
stances, should be sent to the Governors fur their
opinion, without comment or observation, is the only
reason that your Lordship's letter was not also cir-
culated.

Your Lordship does justice to the Governors of
Bethlem Hospital in assuming that " they desire to do
ample justice to the motives and conduct of any one
who gives them an opportunity of originating the most
searehin inquiry into any circumstances of a stripicious
aspect ;" but I must be permitted to observe, that it
would not only have tended to produce au ear;ier in-
quiry, hut have enabicd them better to appreciate the
motives of Mr. Sergeant Adams, had that gentleman
availed himself of his power as a Governor of attending
the weekly open committee at Bethlem Hospital, to
state his objections, instead of proclaiming them at a
Court of Quarter Sessions, where no power rested of
remedying defects, if any existed.
The Governors cannot hut feel that this unusnal
course was calculated to inflict a very serious injury on
one of the noblest institutions in the kingdom, and they
must be proportionately gratified at receiving a Report
which certifies to your Lordship that the patients in the
criminal w;ng " are well and conscientiously treated,"
and that, by effectually removing the erroneous impres-
sion, occasioned by the statement made to the Magis-
trates of the county of Middlesex, enables your Lord-
ship to accord to the Governors that credit which the
physicians appointed by your Lordship state to be
due to the adequate performance of' their duty."—l have
the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most obe-
dient servant, P. LAURIE, President.

The Most Hon. the Marquis of Normanby, &c.

COPY OF LETTER }ROM THE MARQUIS OF NORMANBY

TO SIR PETER LAURIE.

Whitehall, Jan. 18, 1841.

Sir,—l should not have considered it necessary to
protract the correspondence on the subject of Bethlem
Hospital, merely for the purpose of stating that I con-
ceive every part of your letter of the 16th instant to
confirm my opinion of the impropriety of the publication
of the physicians' report in its present shape, and at
this period of the proceedings ; but there is one sentence
of your letter which proceeds upon so complete a mis-
apprehension of the nature of the inquiry, and the re-
lative position of the parties, that I cannot pass it by
without notice. _ _ _

You state that, " the Committee being of opinion
that the Report of physicians, founded as it is upon a
careful and unprejudiced inquiry into the whole circum-
stances, should be sent to the Governors without com-
ment or observation, is the only reason why your Lord-
ship's letter was not also circulated."
The object of the inquiry was to satisfy, not the Go-
vernors merely, but myself, who am officially respon-
sible for the treatment of the lunatics in the criminal
wing, to which alone the inquiry was confined.
I appointed two gentlemen to collect evidence, and
report it for my information and judgment upon it. After
studying carefully the evidence so collected, I thought it
necessary to accompany their Report with some additional
observations, not only on the origin of the complaint, on
which some stronger language had been used by the Go-
vernors in their letter to me than I thought was borne
out by the course of the examination ; but also on the
conduct of some of the servants, and the condition of
the patients. It is true that the effect of those obser-
vations was to qualify, in some details of management,
the approbation I should otherwise have been supposed
completely to share. I regret that I felt it necessary to
express those opinions ; but having done so, their effect
will not be altered by any apparent attempt at their
suppression. I am sure that the Governors would mach
regret such an appearance, yet nothing could be more
calculated to produce that effect than the ill-judged pro-
ceedings of the Committee, of which so strange an ex-
planation is given in your letter ; as if my communica-
tion to you was the chance comment of an indifferent
person, instead of the opinion of one whose imperative
duty it is to watch over and correct any abuses in the
treatment of criminal lunatics.
Gonceiving such to be the position in which I stand
on this subject, I expect, of course, that my views will
meet with proper attention, and therefore desire you
will communicate the whole of this correspondence to
the general meeting of Governors.—l am, Sir, your
most obedient humble servant, NORMANBY.
Sir P. Laurie, &c., 7, Park square.

COPY OF LETTER FROM SIR P. LAURIE TO THE MARQUIS

OF NORMANBY.

7, Pak-square, Jan. 18,1811.

My Lord,—l have the honour to acknowledge your I
letter of this date, in which you state that there is one
sentence in my last letter which proceeds upon a com-
plete misapprehension of the nature of this inquiry, and
that the object of it was to satisfy not merely the Go-
vernors of Bethlem Hospital but your Lordship.
Your Lordship will at once perceive that this misap-
prehension does not originate with me, as your Lord-
ship will recollect that the inquiry was not only insti-
tuted on the suggestion and at the express desire of the
Governors, but that in the letter of the Hon. Fox
Maule, of the 18th of November, the following reason
is given by your Lordship for acceding to our wish :
" Lord Normanby desires me to inform you, that in
order to satisfy the Committee, and to assure the public,
that the unhappy individuals in the criminal wing are
properly treated, his Lordship will send two eminent
physicians to investigate the charge made by Mr. Ser-
geant Adams that the patient,John Darby Shelley, had
been subjected to harsh and improper treatment."
I cannot doubt that your Lordship will share in the
satisfaction with which " the Committee and the public"
have received the very able report of the two eminent
physicians appointed by your Lordship to investigate
this charge, which justifies that confidence so long re-
posed in us by her Majesty's Government.
Nothing can be farther from the intention or the wish
of the Governors of Bethlem Hospital than to suppress
the observations of your Lordship, which I laid oefore
the Committee, and were entered on the journals, as
is the case with every communication addressed to me
as President ; and those, together with this corres-
pondence, will, as of course, be submitted to the consi-
deration of the General Court on the 25th inst.
I have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's
most obedient servant,
P. LAURIE President.
The Most Hon. the Marquis of Normanby, &c.