The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-19 00:00:00

wiiirmtina 2nu;

LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1848,

We have this morning had sent to us a report ol
the judgment of Mr. Baron ALDERSON, in the case of

in our observations on Capt. DIXON'S letter), and
which appears in the Bristol Mirror of the 9th of
September. As Captain Duerr states in his letter,
Mr. Baron ALDERSON in his judgment declares that
Sir GEORGE PREVOST'S conduct was highly praise.
worthy, and not the least to be blamed, and that the
conduct of Dr. Foz in the transaction had
been perfectly blameless ; but Captain DIXON
omits to state that his Lordship also declared that he
had nothing to complain of the society for having
brought forward the case in question. This was
scarcely ingenuous on the part of Captain DIXON, if
we are to consider him in the light of an impartial
observer, but if we are to consider him as the advo-
cate merely of Sir GEORGE PREVOST and Dr. Fox,
then it may be considered allowable. The
Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society, however,
stands in no need of the testimony of even
Mr. Baron ALDERSON to its character. It has
only been in existence three years, and it has
restored to liberty some scores of persons who, but
for its interference, would at this. moment have been
unjustly incarcerated in lunatic asylums. Captain
Dixox complains of the existence of self-constituted
societies supplementary to the law of the land, and
if the law of the land were perfect there might be
some reason for his complaint ; but while such cases as
thole of Mr. DAVIS, of Mr. PATERNOSTER, of Mr.
CAMPBELL, and of Mrs. CUMMING are of constant re-
currence, so long will the existence of this society
" supplementary to the law of the land" be necessary.
But Captain DIXON is scarcely correct in calling the
Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society merely supplemen-
tary to the law of the land. It certainly is so in on.
sense, inasmuch as one of its objects is to procure by
legislative enactment an amendment of the law, but,
in the sense in which Captain DIXON alludes to it,
the society is one not supplementary, but for en-
forcing obedience to the law of the land, and for ascer-
taining that those safeguards which the law has pro-
vided to secure the liberty of the subject from being
trifled with under the pretence of insanity shall
be duly and properly: observed. We freely admit
that Sir GEORGE PREVOST is a high-minded and an
upright gentleman—we freely admit that he had a
sufficiently painful task to perform; but that painful
task and that painful responsibility which he assumed
Was forced upon him by the law. Had the law re-
quired that, previous to the incarceration of any
person as an alleged lunatic, a public inquiry should I
take place into the sanity or insanity of the
person so accused, Sir GEORGE PREVOST would
never have incurred the painful responsibility
which he was forced to incur, Dr. Fox would
have been enabled to receive Mr. G. W. DIXON
into big asylum, without sending his servants
ridi.ng about the country bunting up an apothecary
to Sign a second medical certificate, and the society
vvould have been spared the expense of instituting an
ltnovhestigatioa after incarceration, which the law ought
caused to be instituted before. It is absurd to
argue m we have heard it argued, that the feelings of
relatives would be greatly shocked by
the institution of
such preliminary investigation. Where property is
concerned the law is not so tender of the feelings of
relatives. Then a public investigation m n.vestigation is always insti-
tuted, and in many cases, the case of Mr. CAMPBELL,
(who was an inmate of a
an asl.urc
but who at the end of
for fourteen years,
,thi:stio7pei y
period
Latico In
d became entitled to
the person whoguirend
has
been incarcerated in a madhouse upon the strength
of two medical certificates has never bteen
yr timad at all.
oluanr lafw is
But in this, as in ninny other ipnrsotapnerce
infinitely more careful of the
liberty of the subject. It may of the
that the inspection by the Commissioners o s
of Lauid
nacy is a safeAuard, but that inspection, as
at
present managed, is worse than useless. In the
neighbourhood of this very asylum of Northwoods, is
another asylum, in which the visiting magistrates
have discovered such irregularities that they
have renewed the license for only six months,
and that on the irsnlerstandings that the proprietor
shall dispose of it, while the Commissioners of Lu-
nacy, who have from time to time inspected, or