The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-13 00:00:00

(SA • -

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTMIBER 13, 1844

Among the many evils resulting from the Cacoethet
Loquendi with which certain Members of the House
of Commons were afflicted during the course of the
past session, one, and that not the least in importance,
has been the forced postponement of many measures,
the immediate passing of IN hich was absolutely neces-
sary for the redress of crying grievances, or for the
protection of the liberty of the subject. First in im-
portance among these is a measure for amending the
law of lunacy, and we had hoped that even if it had
been found impossible to pass such a law during the
last session, we should at least have had an inquiry
before a Select Committee into the working of the
present law, so as have had some data on which to
found a measure for the amendment of the law,
during the course of the ensuing session. The ne-
cessity for the immediate institution of such an in-
quiry is becoming every day more apparent ; and it
is also abundantly evident that nothing short of a
Parliamentary inquiry will be sufficient. No redress
is to be expected from the Executive. The decision
of Lord DEN MAN in Mrs. SIIETTLEWORTU'S case is,
so fir as alleged lunatics are concerned, a virtual re-

pe:il, not only of the law of Habeas Corpus, but of
the safevuards (weak enough in all conscience)
which the Act of 8 and 9 Victoria, cap, 100, throws
around the unfortunate per-on who is incarcerated
on a charge of insanity, and leaves all such entirely
at the mercy of the Commissioners. Any at-
tempt to procure an inquiry into the conduct
of the Commissioners by application to the Home-
office, or to the Chancellor, is worse than useless.
The Commissioners are looked upon as part and
parcel of the system of bureaucracy, of which the
Home Secretary is the chief, and therefore he covers
them with his official shield, and, however strong may
be the case made out against thein,`to the Home
Secretary, " there does not appear to be the slightest
ground of complaint." Such was the answer of Sir
G. GREY to an application drawing his attention to a
case in which, to use the words of the secretary of
the Alleged Itamatics' Friend Society, who made
the application, " the law has been plainly and
confessedly violated," and one of her Majesty's
subjects has been unjustlyand illegally deprived of his
liberty for eighteen months. The case, which is an
admirable illustration of the working of the certificate
system, and of the systematic manner in which mad-
house keepers and their medical satellites habitually
break the provisions of the law, and of the slovenly
and careless way in which the duty of inspection is
performed by the Commissioners, is as follows :—ln
the month of November, 1846, a gentleman applied to
the superintendent of a lunatic asylum in the country
to take his uncle (who resided in the neighbourhood,
of London) and have him confined as a patient. The
in gentleman gave the superintendent an order, filled up
the usual form on such occasicns, in which it is
stated,,, agreeably to the schedule of the Act Bth and
9th v ICTORIA cap. WO, that there were no special
circumstances preventing the patient being pexamined
s
before admission
ara!e/y by two medical practi-
tioners. The superintendent,eP
ing this statement, Which however, notwithstand_
appears on the face of the
order, s,:rit on the same day, without havin had
any medical certificate
whatever g
lodgings of the alleged lunaticver I g
a keeper to the
hood neighbour-
hood of London, who seized' the
by force, and in spite of the
aatalrleged lunatic
al es of his
nu
3mt
thein the
friends, conveyed him to the lunatremicons
country. This was done, it was alleged, a
stance of the gentleman who give the order, in
which
n-
under his own hand, he solemnly declared, that "there,
were no special circumstances preventing, the patient
being examined before admission by two medical prac-
titioners."

Arrived at the asylum in the country, he was
examined by one medical practitioner, and shut up
for the night. The next morning he was examined
in the asylum by another country medical practitioner.