The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-12 00:00:00

THE ASSAULT ON THE

QUEEN,

CENTRAL CRIiIINAL COURT.
OLD COURT.
(Before Mr. Baron ALDERSON, Mr. Justice PATTESON,
and Mr. Justice TALFOURD )
TRIAL OF ROBERT PATE.

(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
William Baker Lea, examined by Mr. COCKBURN—I
drive a cab, and I remember I used to drive Mr.
Pate in 1847 regularly every day. I was obliged to be
at his house punctually every day at a quarter past
three. I used to drive him down Brompton-road over
Putney-bridge to Putney-heath, to one particular spot,
where he got out. He then walked through the thickest
of the bushes in the heath. He always went the same way,
and I used to meet him at a pond on the other side of
the heath. He used to stand at the pond looking in-
tently into it, and suddenly he would start up, jump into
the cab and tell me to drive off as fast as I could. Soon
afterwards he would tell me to pull up and go at a foot
pace. I drove him along Roehampton-lane to Barnes-
common, where be would again take a wtlk
amongst the bushes. He always got down
and got up at two fixed spots. We returned
home over Hammersmith-bridge. He always be-
haved very strangely in the cab, and no matter whether
it hailed or rained, ho took the same walk. In winter
it was dark before •he reached the common; he always
had a small stick with him, which he used in a very
strange manner, and people used to stop me and ask if
he was mad. I have repeatedly been stopped by gen-
tlemen in that way. This lasted from fifteen to
eighteen months every day. At first he paid
me 10a., but one day he said he would only pay me 9v.
He always paid me in shillings in a row, with
the Lace of the man upwards, and always looking the
same way. He paid a shilling and a penny for toll-
gates, which were always laid on the cushion of the cab.
The cabmen on the Piccadilly stand always made ob-
servations about his conduct.

Cross-examined—Sometimes he used to get wet
through, which always pleased him, and after running
over the thicket, he would return and say he had much
enjoyed the hail storm.
By the COURT —lt is now two years ago since I
ceased to drive him.

Mr. Charles Mason, examined by Mr. HIIDDLESTONE
—I keep a livery stable in Park-lane. I know Mr.
Pate. In 1846 he used to hire my horses. On one occa-
sion he had an accident with one of them. Since 1847,
I have seen him three or four times a week. passing
down Piccadilly, and latterly I have observed that he
has been very strange in his manner; indeed, last May,
I told my foreman that I thought he was losing his
senses. _

Mr. Jas. Storton, examined by Mr. COCKBURN—I am
a surgeon, living in Sutton-row. In 1849 the sister of
Mr. Pate came to live with my family. Mr. Pate used
then to visit me. In 1848 I met him once in Kensington-
gardens, and as I thought he was insane, I told my wife,
who was with me, not to attract his attention. His look
was always that of a man whose mind was vacant. I
did not know him then, but when he came to see his
sister, atter 1849, I had conversations with him which
still induced me to believe that he was insane. On one
occasion when he visited me there were some gentlemen
of classical attainments present. I advised him uow,that
he had left the army to go to college, and obtain
a classical education to fit him for some other
profession. He said, " Oh! I don't believe there is
a man in England who could teach me or
anybody else the classics." Ultimately I thought it ne-
cessary :o communicate with his father, who is a friend
of mine, on the subject of his intellect.
George Feron Gardner, examined by Mr. HUDDLE-.
STONY—I am one of the Burlington-arcade beadles. I
have frequently seen the prisoner passing up and down
Piccadilly. His manner was always strange and eccen-
tric, so much so that people used to say he was mad.
Mr. Inspector Squire, of the Metropolitan Police,
examined by Mr. CocitrioaN—l have known the pri-
soner from his being much about town. He always car-
ried a stick with him, which he used in a very strange
and wild manner, which induced me to give him the
name of " cut and thrust."

Cross-examined—l have known him for some two
years and more. I never directed the police to watch him.
John Murray, examined by Mr. HUDDLESTJNE—I am
keeper of the Buckhill-gate of Kensington-gardens.
About twa years ago he passed through the gate every
day at oee o'clock. He behaved himself always in a very
extravagant manner, but never spoke to any one.
The O'Gorman Mahon, M.P., examined by Mr.
CLARKSON—I am acquainted with Mr. Pate. I have
known him 10 or 11 months, and I have had repeated
conversations will him. From the first day I ever saw
him I concluded that he was not sane, and subsequent
experience confirmed me in that opinion.
Cross examined—He always behaved as a gentleman.
He had the instinct that naturally guides animals, and I
do not think he would do an ungentlemanly or dishonest
act.

Re-examined—He is the last man in the world whom
I thought would have been guilty of a disloyal act.
The Rev. Charles Driscoll, Lecturer of Bow Church,
examined by Mr. HUDDLESTONE—I have met Mr. Pate
at Mr. Storton's, but before that I knew him in the street
by sight. The conversation I had with him induced me
to think he was not in his sound senses. On the evening
of the 27th of June I was going to dine at the Army
and Navy Club, when I saw Mr. Pate standing at the
west gate or Cambridge House. He appeared more
excited than usual, and his manner was altogether
strangely wild.
Cross., xamined—He generally threw his heels up so
high that I was often surprised how he sustained his
equilibrium. It was more his manner than his conver-
sation that induced me to think him insane.

Dr. C9nnolly, re-examine by Mr. COCKBURN—I am
a physician, and have devoted my attention very much to
insanity. lam physicians to the lien well Lunatic Asylum.
I was applied to by his family last Yivember, when
his previous habits were described to me, and thinkinz he
was improving in them by going int) society, I recom-
mended that no steps should be taken to irritate him.
I have seen him since he has been in custody, and in my
opinion he is of unsound mind. I form that opinion in
a considerable degree from the conversations I have
had with him. In his present state he presents an ex-
ample of a person of very slender mental power, of no
ambition, and altogether unfit for any occupation of life.
In conversation be is able t•-) distinguish between right
and wrong, but otherwise I think he is not.
Cross-examined—llis disposition is frivolous and
idle. He is well aware that he has done wrong.

- -
By the COURT—He has no delusion, such as7fancying
himself the Emperor of China.
Re•examined—He does not deny having done this,
but be can give no, account of it whe.:ever. He seems to
have acted under some strange morbid impulse.
Dr. Munro, examined by Mr. HUDDLESTONE—I have
had five interviews with the prisoner since he has bean
in custody, and from my observation of him, and what
I have heard today, I certainly believe him to be
of unsound mind. From his own lips I have
had an account of how he left Ireland in
1844, and certainly then he was labouring under delusion.
Cross-examined—He was aware, perhaps, that he was
doing wrong in many things; he certainly is capable of
distinguishing between right and wrong, but he is, never-
theles9, suffering from morbid insanity.
R.,••examined—His whole history induces me to believe
that he is decidedly insane. _ .

Mr. Baron Monnsox remarked that that was a
question which must be left for the jury and Court to
decide. So long as he remained on the bench be would
riot allow medical men to take upon themselves the func-
tions of the Court and jury.
Dr. Munro had only given his opinion; he was not
aware that he had done wrong.
This was the defence. _

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL replied, reminding the
fury that if they were of opinion that the prisoner was
incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong,
he would be subjected to imprisonment for life, while, if
they found otherwise, the punishment would be of a more
minor cnaractb,r. Now, it was said that as there was
no motive for this act, it must have resulted from mad-
ness; but if he was not mistaken, from the earliest ages
of which they bad any history or account, persons in
elevated situations bad been the subjects of attack and
insult at the hands of parties who were anxious
to obtain a morbid notoriety. It was this
very knowledge, backed by experience of similar oc-
currences in modern times, which induced the Legislature
to pass the Act under which this prisoner was arraigned,
and before the jury could acquit him of the offence with
which he was charged they must be satisfied beyond the
possibility of doubt that his mind had been so
impaired that he could not distinguish between
right and wrong. This was no new doctrine.
It was a rule laid down by no less a judge than Lord
Hale himself, and if the jury would just consider for one
Moment they would see that the maintenance of this
rale was for the interest of the public. Some short while
ago. however, the rule of law in deciding sanity or in-
sanity in cases of this nature was settled by the judges
upon questions propounded by the House -of Lords
ri asing out of the doubts which had been created by
AV Naughtdn's case. It was then laid down that if a
party was sensible of doing injury at the time of his
committing an unlawful act he was liable to be punished
for it, and the immediate question for the jury now to
decide was this—did the prisoner know and feel that he
was doing wrong when he struck the Queen? if he did,
then they must convict him accordingly, but if, on
the other hand, they did not think he knew what he was
about, they must acquit him on the ground of insanity.
Well, then, was the evidence they had to-day incon-
sistent with the existence of a state of mind capable of
discriminating between right and wrong ? Certainly it
istablished that the prisoner was an extra-
ordinary and eccentric man—it did not prove
that he was so mad as to make him an
irresponsible agent. The past conduct of the pri-
soner must convince everybody that he knew he was
doing wrong. Fer instance, immediately after he was
taken into custody, ho was so far alive to his own interest,
that he warned the witnesses to think before they spoke,
while he observed the blow could not have been a hard
one, clearly showing that-he knew what he was about
and laboured under no mental delusion or disease which
should excuse him from the consequences of the act.
Mr. Baron ALDERSON, in summing up the case, told
the jury that there could be no doubt as to the fact that
the prisoner struck her Majesty with some degree of
violence, and therefore the whole question to be d.,cided
turned upon the state of mind he was in at the time the
set was done. Now, it was clear the prisoner
was in his sound senses to-day, and it was for him to
prove that he was of unsound mind when he committed
the offence. Now had the evidence proved that? The
pry must take this as the law, that before they could
acquit a prisoner on the ground of insanity, they must
he satisfied that the prioner's insanity induced the com-
SAW of the offence he was charged with. It
Well a delusion to s oppotie that insanity necessurilr