The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-24 00:00:00

CHANGES.

Sir John and Lady Mary Hamlyn Williams, at Dublin
Castle, on a visit to Viscount Ebrington, from Clovelly Court,
Devon ; Sir Robert and Lady Fitzwygram, at Bath, from
N utwell, Devonshire ; the Earl of Carnwath, at Stovington,
from Brighton; the Earl IColsnn, nt "piton, Devon, from his
scat, Trafalgar House, Wilts.

TREATMENT OF THE INSANE

POOR.

A pamphlet with this title, published by Ridgway,
contains much useful information on the want of reme-
dial treatment for the poor of unsound mind in England,
and on the proposal to confine them in the wards of
workhouses. The writer, a medical man long acquainted
with the treatment of the insane in rural districts, ob-
jects to the clauses in the New Poor-law BM transfer-
ring the insane to the care of the Poor-law Commis-
sioners, as well as to certain clauses in an Act for the
treatment of paupers renewable this Session, and recom-
mends that in each county or in certain districts of two
or more counties lunatic asylums should be erected
distinct from the union workhouses.
" As under these Acts," he says, " the treatment of all
paupers of unsound mind not in public asylums is regu-
lated, and as by the Parliamentary return in 1837, it ap-
pears that of 13,667 lunatics and idiots on the parish books,
2,780 only were in public asylums, while 1,491 were in
private institutions, and 9,396 were subjected to no reme-
dial treatment, but under the care and management of
the guardians of the poor were maintained as in or out of
door paupers,' the present time seems highly favourable
far obtaining more effective laws, and a more humane
treatment, for this most destitute class of socie:y."
In another place he adds—
" The cure of lunacy seems to depend almost entirely
upon its being immediately dealt with. Lerd Lyndhurst in
his invaluable speech on the subject, Dec. 23, 1830, sets
down the ratio of cures under ordinary circumstances,
where no pains are taken as to early treatment, as lin 2 1-.
6th and 1 in 2i ; but the testimony of asyluni keepers as to
success where immediate measures arc taken, is far more
gratifying. Dr. Willis declares 9 lunatics out of 10
recovered if they were placed under his care within three
months from the et ack ; Dr. Burrowes has reported 221
cures out of 242 recent cases ; Dr. Finch has stated that
61 out of 69 patients have recovered, who were received
into his asylum within three months after the first attack
of this disorder, and at the Retreat, near York, 7 out of
8, or perhaps a larger proportion of recent cases have ter-
minated in recovery. It has been found.' says the
Gloucester Asylum Report last year, 'that thirteen fif-
teenths are cured, if sent within the first eight weeks."
Tne following extracts expose the absurd tests of
sanity too often acted upon in Courts of Law and Com-
missions of Inquiry into Lunacy :
" A man otherwise save thought Dr. Sims our Saviour,
and a person likewise intelligent ordinarily imagined he
corresponded with a princess in cherry juice, and the
judges, the visitor, and jury, respectively in each case,
thought' the patient deserving of confinement. On the
second, Mr Blundell's will cause, a b.rrister is said to have
quired, He entertained strange opinions as to the Corn-
laws?' The witness replied, Most strange, very like
what I have read in the House of Commons speeches,'
Then a gentleman misspelt the word through in a letter,
threw,' and found it labelled this is lunacy.' In another
instance, a man's sanity was to be tested by his knowledge
of the multiplication table ; and Dr. Pritchard mentions a
Case cf a person of property, who imagining Queen Char-
lotte was in love with him, the Chancellor granted a Com-
mission against hien, and when declared a lunatic, his
accounts were found by his committee so intricate that they
could not unravel them. But the lunatic enabled his sane
friends to surmouet all difficultie', and became actually, if
not formally, the steward of his own estate. The ab-
surdity, because a person has a delusion on one point, of
assuming that he is altrgether of unsound mind, has been
exposed in all ages, and yet we are daily acting as though
no experience bad warned us on the subject."
England has done less in this respect (the treatment of'
lunatics) than most other countriez, and it is painful to
compare the institutions for mental diseases in the poorest
Roman C.itholic communities with those of rich and Pro-
testaat England. The proposal to shut the poor up in
ards of workhouses, if adopted, will not only inflict
long years of pain and suffering on those upon whom w.oe
have already imposed sufficient torment, but must degrade
the country in the eyes of those other European nations 1
estimate highly the discharge of this undeniablewedr
ke
our neighbour. The plan of inclosing in otne
cac.
furious and the fatuous, mutually to torment
thae°gaer.
for the rest of their i:yes, seems borrowed r
• tion of some Dante,
gina learture. A recom-
which should influence a Cbristiaa L
egssisould bo mercy in
mendation to destroy these sufferersut
sash an existence.
comparison to leaving them to drag o
agti not gaili ed from sources
The proposal a of baiting between two
the Magistrates in
issioners leaves the
airy;
of the Poor-law Comm
opinions. The cry is loud for2Fcit be
authorities, Combo,
Government no longer the pow
Middlesex petition for it ;eau
nv Dr. Conolly, in the last
Browne, Pritchard,
and to the deplorable state of many
Haswell Report, agree s.
I ad; and Mr. Perceval's book hal
of the asylums in Rag on
which bears a strap t •
rally read, getestimony
been very gene
on the subject. kept for gain, with three
public asylum not
The
_the
ad officers, the chaplain, superintendent, and the
head
attendant, wholly independent of each other ; and
the Magistrate, not as a mere visitor, but as proprietor of
the house, engaging, paying, and discharging the per-
sons employed, and yet with no pecuniary interest therein,
is the true remedy for the existing state of things.
The Madhouse Bill might perhaps be advantageously
submitted to the following changes. The erection of
asylums made compulsory, and the clause retained allow-
ing the junction of counties. Of these asylums it should
be directed that the plans before budding, are passed by
the Metropulitan Commissioners Board, or by some other
competent body, in order to insure that all contingencies
are provided for, and indeed to prevent that lavish caper,.

I~7lv ;.

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MO R N IN G*DI,IIION

diture which has done much to'Olts tbecicing-lhornefeaso
of these asylums. The rich pal/liiialkittiti te-eicluded,
and a junction with other, and anomalous, bodies, is very
undesirable, such as subscribers, or City Magistrates, &c.
Patients residing in the county, if there is room after the
public paupers were provided for, might be admitted, to
be treated in every respect as the poor, and paying, as is
now the case at Lancaster, such a weekly sum over and
above the board, as would defray their debt to the county
for the use of the buildings. The cost of such a public
asylum, when compared with that of wards provided with
the conveniences Parliament would insist upon, if stated,
would show immediately the ineligibility of the latter plan.

NATIONAL STORE AND DOCK

BANKS.

This is the title of a pamphlet by Mr. Enderby,
intended to recommend the establishment of
banks issuing paper on the goods deposited in
stores. We will, however, allow the author to
explain his own scheme :
The capital of the Bank of England is all lent to Govern-
ment, and it is not payable on demand • it can only be consi-
dered as a security, and not as available assets, of which we
have evidence; for, under the most pressing difficulties of the
Bank of England in 1825, the Government, so far from relieving
them by repaying a portion of their debt, actually increased the
circulation, by loading the country with Exchequer Bills; and
on a former occasion (acting a more just part), they sanctioned
a suspension of specie payments.
The public would have, as I have before observed, a security
in the valucof the Dock premises; and, if we provide sufficient
accommodation for the trade of London, and the sphere of the
Bank of England operations at Manchester, Liverpool, Bir-
mingham, &c., the amount would infinitely exceed the capital
of the Bank of England lent to Government. In the issue of
their notes, the Dock Banks would have the same facilities of
purchasing or receiving gold on deposit, as the Bank of Eng-
land ; and their other securities would be better, and more
profitable. My project, therefore, briefly, is to establish Na-
tional Store or Dock Banks throughout the kingdom; as a
guarantee for the credit afforded in the circulation of Bills of
Exchange, or the notes, their substitutes.
To carry tkis pin into operation, the Directors of the Dock
Banks should advance their notes on the produce deposited
with them, taking in addition bills payable at a fixed date for
the amount borrowed ; by doing which, they would add the
personal security of the parties requiring assistance. Mean-
while, there can be no doubt but that three or four times the
value of goods is often advanced by the Bank of England on
bills professedly for the same commodities, and which have
been consumed before such bills became due.
Incases where the pledges-vir goods deposited are not re-
deemed within the period spegified in the/ bill, the Dock Bank
should be at liberty to dispose Of the commodities, and call on
the securities for any deficiency. The solvency of such& Bank
could not be shaken, as any run on it could only be for the re-
demption of the pledges.
It may be argued that the above scheme would tend to ens
courage gambling speculations ; and admitting such 'to be the
case for a short period, yet, it would have the effect of storing
the nation with produce, sufficient for two or three years' con-
sumption, when speculatim would cease : for short importations
of produce would but slightly influence prices, and high prices
would stimulate increased produce and importation. And
taking rent, interest, &c., into calculation, no advance could be
obtained to meet expenses sufficient to induce a specteator to
attempt to monopolize the market. We might, indeed, under
all circumstances, expect a more regular price for commodities,
--whereas, our present monetary system subjects them to great
fluctuations of price : for, money may he very abundant when
the quantity of produce is small, which must have the effect of
enhancing its value; and, again, when produce is abundant,
money may be scarce, which must tend to its depression.
These operations we have, to our cost, experienced; but
should my proposed views be entertained and generally adopted,
such difficulties could not occur : for, as commodities became
limited or increased in store, so would the circulation of the
notes be extended or contracted. _ . _

The plan suggested would require no capital beyond that for
the construction of the Dock, which of itself would be of great
value, and exceed the paid-up capital of other Joint-Stock
Banks ; whilst. the liabih' ies of such a Bank can only be great
when the Dock is full of goods, and, consequently, paying best.
Thus, then, such an establishment wouldpresent all the benefits
of any other Joint-stock Bank, with increased security.
If individuals choose to engage in the scheme
thus recommended by Mr. Enderby, we see no
objection, nationally speaking, to allow them to
do it. At the same time the scheme does not
appear to us to require national encouragement.
It might be advantageous to holders of goods,
but why should the consumers find means to en-
able the holders of goods to keep them out of the
market ? The interest of the consumer lies in
an opposite direction ; and as Mr. Enderby's
scheme is avowedly intended to enable holders of
goods to keep them out of the market till the
market rises, the consumers—the great body of
the public—have no motives to encourage such a
scheme. We are inclined to think that Mr. En-
derby has overlooked the essential principle of a
bank which is to lend and borrow money, or circu-
lating credit, and thereby enable manufacturers,
merchants, and others to continue and extend their
operations. Mr. Enderby's bank would have no
money, it would have only goods (without the
power to exchange them) and. fixed capital.
Such a scheme might answer to a limited extent,
where there were money banks with which to
exchange the notes of the dock banks. But we
cannot suppose that it would be of much service,
beyond ministering to the convenience of those
who have bought and hold large quantities of
goo's.