The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-18 00:00:00

THE SUN,

generation, through the whole deplorable catalogue of
a tyrannical dynasty.
The great poet of the nineteenth century, when the
stipulations were being entered into by the allied
Sovereigns in Germany, immediately after the battles
of Ligny and Waterloo, remonstrated even then with
the enfranchised people of the west. " Have nations,''
he exclaimed,

"Conquered to make one submit,
Or lragued to teach &I 1 kings true sovereignty?"
He recognised the fallacy of those hopes, and the
credulity of those anticipations which were based
upon the possible amelioration of the sorrows of
that portion of mankind already under the domi-
nion or within the reach of the northern *con-
federates. In the rapture of his poetical improvisa-
tion he foresaw the future miseries which would
result from this delusion. He prophesied the in-
trigues of the Galician insurrection by a hint, and the
seizure of Cracow by an inuendo. " Shall we," he
cried—

" Shall we who struck the Lion down, shall we
Pay the Wolf homage. proffering lowly gaze
And servile knees to thrones ?"
Never was so dismal a vaticination so mournfully
realised. The Duchy of Warsaw has disappeared,
even the Cracovians have lost their miniature inde-
pendence. From Carpathia to the Baltic, from the
Oder to the Borysthenes, the land of CASIMIR has
been portioned out to the surrounding tyrants.
Twenty millions of people—of an enlightened,
generous, noble-hearted, virtuous, and warlike race—
have degenerated into the serfs of Austria, of Russia,
and of Prussia. The rapacity of one horrible century
has been consummated by a lying proclamaion and
an imperial theft.
We are rejoiced to observe the depth of indignation
with which the annexation of Cracow is regarded by
the people of England. It is a solace, while the tem-
porising Cabinet of France is insinuating her dis-
pleasure to Prir.ce ETTESNICH, instead of
commissioning M. DE FLAHAUT to give ex-
pression to a bold and manly wrath, it is
a pleasure to behold something like a loyalty to
freedom in:England. The meeting which was held on
Wt dnesdav in the National Hall, Holborn, is only, we
believe, a preliminary expression of sympathy to the
Poles. In the chairman, Dr. BOWRING, M.P.,
there was an enthusiasm which could not but
prove contagious among the most phlegmatic
auditory ; but this enthusiasm was nevertheless cor-
rected by his judgment. The meeting over which he
presided was not convened, as one of the speakers
observed, for the purpose of instigating the Poles " to
engage In any rash attempt to regain their nation-
ality." It was convened for the purpose of en-
abling the lovers of liberty and civilization
to express their execration for the spirit of northern
despotism. In the crusade which must inevitably
arise out of the avarice of that baleful despotism, the
free millions of Western Europe will not so much
aspire after the restoration of two hundred
thousand souls to independence as the re-
storation of nationality to twenty millions.
The sympathy of the west extends beyond
the boundaries of Cracow, it embraces the whole
territories of Poland. " Yet," said Dr. Bowaisc,
" I cannot but feel that liberty and civilisation owe
some debts to Cracow. I cannot forget that Cracow
was the seat of the first university founded in
northern continental Europe. I cannot forget that
Cracow was the place where the first Polish press
was established. I cannot forget that from Cracow
emanated one of the noblest declarations ever made in
favour of universal religious liberty. I cannot forget
that Cracow was the place where the ancient monarchs
of Poland were crowned, and where theirremains still
repose. I cannot forget that with Cracow is asso-
ciated the name of CorEamcus ; and that in that city
are deposited the remains of CASIMIR, of SOBIESKI,
of PONIATOWSKI, and of KOSCIUSKO." While these
things are remembered the abused Poles cannot want
sympathy. The doom of Poland can only be sealed
when they are forgotten.

In another column will be found a letter from Dr.
MILLINGEN, dated December 12, commenting on an
article which appeared in our columns on the 20th of
November, on the subject of the law of lunacy, in
which we adverted to the cases of Mrs. CUMMING and
Mrs. SLIUTTLEWORTH, as illustrative of the necessity
of such an alteration in that law as should make a
coroner's warrant, founded upon the verdict of a
jury, necessary to authorise the incarceration by the
keeper of any lunatic asylum of any person alleged
to be of insane mind. In connexion with these cases
we mentioned, incidentally, the name of Dr. MILLIN-
GEN, the proprietor of the asylum in which Mrs.
CUNNING and Mrs. SHUTTLEWORTH were confined,
and this incidental mention of his name, Dr. MILLEN-
GEN stigmatises as an "unjustifiable attack upon him."
The readers of The Sun will be surprised to hear such
an accusation brought against us, because in attacking
abuses it has always been our rule to cautiously ab-
stain from attacking the private character of those
interested in upholding such abuses. But the public
conduct of public men is, it is ur.iversally admitted,
a fair subject for comment. In the year 1826 the
late Mr. ABERNETHY applied to Lord Chancellor
ELDON to grant an injunction to restrain Mr.
WAKLEY from publishing reports of the surgical
lectures which Mr. ABERNETHY was in the habit of
delivering at St. Bartholomew's Ilospital. Mr.
`VARLET, in moving to dissolve the injunction,
showed that the College of Surgeons refused
to receive certificates of attendance on sur-
gical lectures, except such lectures were delivered
by surgeons to hospitals, and contended that as Mr.
ABERNETHY was a surgeon to an hospital, and had
thus conferred upon him the privilege from which others
were excluded, of delivering lectures, certificates of
which were received by the College of Surgeons, the
public, which had conferred upon him that privilege,
had a right to know exactly how he had performed
his duties. Lord ELDON admitted the force of the
argument, and dissolved the injunction, and in giving
judgment in that case he laid down :the broad prin-
ciple, which has never since been controverted,
that, wherever the law confers certain exclu-
sive privileges upon certain classes of per-
sons, the public has a right to inquire into
the manner into which such privileged persons per-
form their duties. Now, the law gives to certain
persons licensed by the Commissioners of Lunacy
the power of keeping lunatic asylums, to the exclu-
sion of the rest of her MAJESTY'S subjects ; and, taking
our stand upon the judgment of Lord ELDON, in the
case of " ABERNETHY v. WAKLEY,” we claim for
the public the right of inquiring into the manner in
which every licensed keeper of a lunatic asylum per-
forms his duties. We will now proceed. to "the
unjustifiable attack," and we will quote every sen- '
tence in which the name of Dr. MILLINGEN is men-
tioned, or in which any allusion is made to him, and
we will call Dr. MILLINGEN himself as our witness
to the truth of everything therein stated.
The following is the only passage in which the
name of Dr. MILLINGEN is mentioned :

" There was the case of Mrs. Cumming. The skil-
ful persons ' certified to her lunacy • D. Millingen re-
ceived and incarcerated her. The Commissioners,
during their visits, never dreamed that she was not insane,
a commission de lunatico was issued against her, and yet
so soon as she consented to make a disposition of her pro-
perty in favour of those who had set the skilful per-
sons ' in motion, the certificate of the skilful persons"
was thrown to the winds. Dr. Millingen was content to
accept the guarantee of Master Barlow, and Mrs. Cum-
ming, who, according to the skilful persons ' was
labouring under delusions', was at once set at liberty,
How comes it that the visitors did not discover the error
into which the 'skilful persons had fallen? How was
it that Dr. Millingen, one of the 'skilful persons' in
Mrs. Shuttleworth's case, became so suddenly en-
lightened ?"
In Dr. ITILLINGEN'S version of this " attack," as
given in his letter, the passage is somewhat distorted
but let that pass. Now for :Dr. MILLINGEN'S own
eviden-ce in corroboration of our statement, in IN liich,
according to Dr. MILLINGEN'S assertion, there is not
one syllable of truth. We imagine that Dr. MILLIN-
GEN will not deny that he received, and incarcerated,
or put under restraint, if he likes the phrase better—
at all events, deprived of her personal liberty, a certain
Mrs. CUMMING, and that he was authorised to do this
by the certificate of certain " skilful persons." Our
next assertion is, " The Commissioners, during their
visits, never dreamed that she was not insane." Our
witness, Dr. MILLINGEN, says that Dr. PRITCHARD
(one of the Commissioners) was convinced that the
lady was of unsound mind, and, therefore, it is clear
that we were perfectly justified in stating that the
Commissioners, during their visits, never dreamed
that she was not insane. "A commission de
lunatico," the article proceeds, " was issued against

her, and yet so soon as she consented to make a dis-
position of her property in favour of those who had
set the skilful persons' in motion, the certificate
of the ' skilful persons' was thrown to the winds."
What says Dr. MILLINGEN—
" Now, Sir, in the case of Mrs. Cutnming, a proposal
was made by her counsel to the family, who, having ac-
ceded to it, directed me to discharge her • and, althou_ h
convlnced, as well as Sir Alexander Thomson, the ex-
perienced physician of Bedlam Hospital, the Surrey
Asylum, and consulting physician of the County Asylum
of Hanwell, and Dr. Pritchard, a physician of European
celebrity, that the lady was most decidedly of unsound
mind, as I could not declare that she was a dangerous
lunatic, she was accordingly discharged by her family."
We imputed to Dr. MILLINGEN no want
of skill, but we are not sorry that he mis-
understood our meaning, because it has drawn
from him an opinion which greatly strengthens
our case against the present law of lunacy,
and it is against the law, and the law only,
that we war. We have no desire to hurt the feelings
of Dr. MILLING EN, or of any other honourable man,
who, as a keeper of a lunatic asylum, is unfortunately
placed in such a position as to be coerced by the
present state of the law into doing that of which he
does not approve. We have here, then, the opinion
of Dr. MILLINGEN, that at the time Mrs. CUMMING
executed that deed of settlement she was of unsound
mind. Is that deed valid, if Mrs. CUMMING at the time
it was executed was really of unsound mind ? If
Master BARLOW really agreed with Dr. MILLINGEN
in opinion, if he felt convinced "that if the jury
had not been discharged by the arrange-
ment made on the proposal of the unfortunate
lady's own counsel, little doubt could be enter-
tained as to what would have been their verdict,"
surely an inquiry ought to be instituted to ascertain
what were the circumstances which induced Master
BARLOW to sanction that arrangement. Surely Dr.
MILLINGEN himself must admit that a state of the
law which gives a family power to place a person in
a lunatic asylum, and to withdraw such person from
such lunatic asylum at their own mere will and plea-
sure, is so open to abuse as to require alteration !
Our only knowledge of the case of Mrs. CUMMING is
derived from the report of the proceedings before
Master BAunow, and from Dr. MILLINGEN'S letter.
We admit that everything was done in this case
strictly according to law. She was shut up as
insane according to law—she was discharged
on executing a deed disposing of her property,
and discharged according to law. She is either sane
or insane if sane, she ought never to have been
shut up ; if insane, she ought never to have been per-
mitted to execute a deed disposing of her property, as
the condition of her discharge ; in fact, she ought not
to have been discharged at all. Yet she was shut up
according to law, she was discharged according to
law, her mind having undergone no alteration.
Therefore the law is bad, and requires amend-
ment. As to the passage about the guarantee of
Master BARLOW (if Dr. MILLING EN will read it
again he will see that nothing was said about
the guarantee of Mrs. CUMMING), it is the mere state
tnent of a fact alleged in the report to have occurred
at the moment that Mrs. CUMMING was set at liberty.
It is there writ down, that on the counsel for " the
family" declaring, in announcing the compromise,
that Mrs. CUMMING was at liberty to join her friends,
Dr. MILLING EN demurred to the release of the lady be-
fore certain formalities should have been gone through,
whereupon Master BARLOW interfered, and ordered her
immediate release on his own responsibility, guaran-
teeing Dr. MILLINGEN against all consequences,
should such release turn out to have been improperly
granted. This expression of opinion which we have
elicited from Dr. MILLINGEN, that at the time Mrs.
CUMMING was discharged she was of unsound mind, is
most important in another point of view. Dr. Mtn-
LINGER and Dr. PRITCHARD, " skilful persons," are of
opinion she was of unsound mind. Other equally
" skilful persons" were in attendance before the com-
mission to testify that in their opinion she
was not of unsound mind. The Master,
BARLOW, the lawyers on both sides, and the family
must also have been of opinion that she was not of
" unsound mind, and incapable of managing her own
affairs," or they would not have accepted from her, or
permitted her to execute any deed or document dis-
posing of her property. We have, therefore, on the
one side, the opinion of " skilful persons " that she is
of unsound mind,
.and on the other the opinion of
persons equally " skilful " that she is not of un-
sound mind. Now, how is it possible to
ascertain which set of " skilful persons "
is right, except by calling upon each of the " skilful
persons" to state that which Lord DENMAN says it is
monstrous to expect a " skilful person " should be
called upon to state, viz.—" all the particulars upon
which such skilful person grounds his opinion," and
this brings us to Dr. MILLINGEN'S exposition of the
law of lunacy, as laid down by Lord DENMAN. We
find, however, that our observations on this case of
Mrs. CUMMING have extended to such a length, that
we must defer our review of " MILLINGEN upon
DENMAN" until to-morrow.

We stated yesterday, in reference to our grand
jury system, that it would be most unadvisable to
countenance, in any degree, the proposition for
abolishing this ancient institution till other adminis-
trative improvements in the law had been first
effected. We have shown, on more than one occa-
sion, how the subject may be harassed and injured,
both in his reputation and liberty, by being committed
to take his trial, which frequently would never befal
him, were the magistrate, who first hears and de-
cides upon the case, fitted for his functions by pro-
, fessional acquirements. If the accused, conscious of
his innocence, should experience the bitter disappoint-
ment of finding that the magistrate has taken an
erroneous, or prejudiced view of the complaint pre-
ferred against him, to what tribunal does he next
bend his anxious thoughts, to save him from the de-
gradation which his feelings naturally engender at
the idea of appearing in a criminal dock in open court ?
To a grand jury of his countrymen. It is very
well to observe, that every man is considered inno-
cent till he is found guilty. So says the law ; but so
thinks not always the world, which is not over nice,
nor over charitable, in its opinions or conclusions. It is
against human nature to suppose that any innocent
person, unhappily committed by the magistrate, does not
inwardly bless his coil.:ntry for the hope it affords him
that, by the intervenifik institution "id the grand jury,
he may be rescued from the lowering position of
being seen in a dock, where the worst felons are
placed, and frequently only leave it to expiate their
crimes on the neighbouring gallows. That this hope
has not illumined in vain the breast of many an
honourable being, may be presumed from the number
of bills that are ignored. It may very well be that,
in this way, from a variety of causes—collusion,
tampering with witnesses, &c.—many guilty escape,
at the same time that the innocent are freed from further
persecution. It is in this latter respect that we set a
peculiar value upon the continuance of the grand jury
system. It still operates as a shield to guard the ho-
nour and reputation of our fellow-men. Our ances-
tors highly prized this institution from the very ear-
liest times, for the protection it afforded them against
the dread power of the Crown on the one side, and
the malicious persecution of powerful enemies on the
other, who sought to warp the machinery of the law
to the gratification of their avarice, animosity, or any
other dominant passion. The judges of old knew
well enough the popular check which grand juries
could interpose between the Sovereign and his
minions, and weak and oppressed subjects, when,
from the very seat of justice itself they endeavoured
by the use of the King's name, to awe the grand
jury into finding true bills. It is true that
the judges are not now as they were them
servile creatures, and dependent upon the pleasure of
the Crown for the tenure of their high offices. But
the magistrates, who first commit prisoners hold
their commissions only at the will of the Sovereign,
and at every demise of the Crown there is a fresh
commission of the peace made out, when the former
magistrates may be included or not, as the advisers of
the King may deem best. Law officers, of every
description, should be so chosen and appointed, that
the public may have the best guarantee which human
wisdom can suggest against any malversation of
power in troublous as well as in peaceable times.
Looking, then, to the mode in which 'ma-
gistrates are appointed, to their frequent wayward-
ness, their notorious incompetency as a_ body,
the necessary consequence of their legal ignoiance,
to their great power, to the futility of attempting to
obtain any redress for the injuries that arise out of