The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-23 00:00:00

COMMISSION OF LUNACY.

A commission de lunatico inquirendo was opened on
Thursday at the Manor-house Tavern, Stoke New-
ington, before Mr. Commissioner Barlow and seven-
teen special jurors, to inquire into the state of mind
of Jane Edwards, a maiden lady, aged thirty-six,
daughter of the late wealthy George Edwards, Esq.,
of the Hampstead-road, described in the commission
as " late of Clarendon-place, Maida-hill, but now of
Northumberland House, Stoke Newington, spinster."
Mr. Gregory, of the firm of Gregory, Faulkner,
and Co., appeared as solicitor in support of the com-
mission, which was unopposed.
The Learned COMMISSIONER explained the law of
lunacy in the usual terms, and, in the absence of
counsel on either side, stated the nature of the case ;
from which, and the evidence adduced, it appeared
that the unfortunate lady had in her infancy been
affected with convulsive fits, which had weakened her
mind,• but decided unsoundness had not manifested
itself till 1825, when she was seventeen years of age,
when she was placed in Bethnal-green Asylum. She
then laboured under the delusions that people were
continually breaking into her room, and also that
many people were conspiring against her, and she
ultimately became perfectly imbecile. After her
father's death, in 1839, she was removed to her
uncle's, in Belgrave-square ; and upon his death, in
1842, to another relative's, at Maida-hill ; who, hav-
ing also died, she, in September, 1843, became an in-
mate of the above asylum. Her father, at his death,
left her a handsome annuity, to secure which the
commission had been issued.
Mr. Anthony White, surgeon, of Parliament-street,
deposed to the imbecility of her mind from October
1, 1842.

Dr. Alexander Sutherland also stated that she said
her father was still alive, and she appeared incapable
of understanding the value of money, figures, or any
subject, though it appeared she had been originally
well educated. She was decidedly of unsound mind.
Her chief amusement was tearing paper, handker-
chiefs, and other articles ' • but she never asked for
food or anything else. She was attired in deep
mourning.

The lady was introduced ; her countenance was
mild and pleasing, with fine hazel eyes, and she had
evidently been pretty. She continually smiled at the
Learned Commissioner's questions, but her answers
were chiefly " Yes," or No." A book ws handed
her to read, but she merely muttered indistinctly and
unintelligibly. By request she took a pen to write,
and first drawing off one glove she wrote in a good
neat hand the words, " Miss Jane Edwards," when
her mind appeared to wander, and she joined to the
latter word "edsredseds," and was so continuing,
when the jury expressed themselves satisfied, and re-
turned a verdict, dating the unsoundness of mind from
Oct. 1, 1842.

SUICIDE BY A GENTLEMAN ON
EPPING-FOREST.
On Wednesday last a gentleman, named Scott,
committed a most deliberate act of suicide by hang-
ing himself from a tree in that part of Epping-forest
which is known by the name of Phillipson's Warren,
High-beach, and this circumstance, together with the
discovery of the skeleton of an old man, named John
Harris, who was supposed to have been murdered,
near the same spot, has created an unusual degree of
excitement for some miles round the country.
It appeared that on the same morning (Wednesday)
Mr. Soott had arrived from his residence in the
neighbourhood of Steine, at the asylum of Dr. Allen,
on a visit to a female patient. For some reason or
other, Dr. Allen, on his making his appearance at
his house, wrote to deceased's brother to apprise him
of his being there. About one o'clock in the day the
deceased was observed walking about the forest near
High .beach, but there was nothing in his manner to
attract particular notice. About three o'clock, a
man named John Clarke, in the employment
of Mr. Phillipsen, of the King's Oak Tavern, High-
beach, having occasion to go into a small thicket
adjoining the rabbit-warren, found the deceased
gentleman suspended from the forked branch of an
oak by a white silk handkerchief. He with much
promptness cut him down, and with the assistance of
Paine, a police-constable belonging to the N division,
conveyed him to the King's Oak Tavern. The body
was warm at the time, and Mr. Searl, a veterinary-
surgeon, who happened to be at the inn at the time,
opened several veins and arteries, but no blood flowed,
and it was evident the vital spark had fled. In the
course of the afternoon, Dr. Allen and the brother of
the deceased arrived at the King's Oak, when the
latter seemed dreadfully affected, and desired that
every respect should be paid to the remains of the de-
ceased until the Coroner's inquest was held.
The body, or rather the skeleton, of the man Harris,
remains at the same house, and an inquest is appointed
to be holden on both this evening.
The disappearance of the deceased was attended
with much mystery, and the general impression at
the time was that he had been murdered. It seems
that he was in the employment of Captain
Southey, son to the late poet laureat, who
is lord of a manor in Loughton, and the last
time he was seen alive was on th night of the 28th of
June last, between ten and eleven o'clock, by a lad
named Cannon. On that day, it appears, he changed
half a sovereign at the King's Oak Inn, where he was
in the constant habit of calling, and in the evening
was at a beer-shop, in the company of some notorious
1 poachers. He left shortly after ten o'clock, in com-
pany with the youth Cannon, and after that had not
been seen alive. The fact of his absence under such
suspicious circumstances, had for some time engaged
the attention of the police, and from what transpired
it was found that out of the change he had received
he had not spent more than a shilling, yet strange to
say when his skeleton was discovered there was not
a farthing about him. The spot where his remains
were discovered was a very secluded one, and had it
not been for the annual custom of cropping each tree
this might have remained there for years without
being found. It was evident that the cord with
which he had been suspended had, after some con-
siderable time, given way, and the body was on the
left side, 'and the ancles rather contracted when
found. Not the slightest cause has been assigned for
the suicide.

LICKING AN EDITOR.—The following ludicrous
affair is said to have " come off" somewhere " out west,"
lately :—[Editor in his sanctum, discovered writing. A
"six-foot " customer approaches with a newspaper in
his hand.] Visitor (pointing out a particular article)—
Look here, Mister, did you write that thar ? Editor—
I did. Visitor (laying off his coat)—Well, I've got to
whip you, so you'd better peel. Editor—lndeed ! but I
prefer not being whipped. Visitor— Can't help it. Got
to do it. You'd better be a pullin' off that coat, or I
moght spile it for you. Editor (drawing a "revolver ")
Thank you, Sir; I believe I'll keep my coat on. Visitor—
What! you're rot a goin' to use that shootin' iron, are
you? Editor—Not unless you render it necessary. Visitor
—Now see here, stranger; that's not gentlemanly. Jest
lay that thing aside, and let's take it out in a way that's
becomin'. Editor—Sorry not to be able to oblige you ;
but I can't, positively. Visitor (putting on his coat and
retiring)—Well, if you're that sort of a fellow, I want
nothin to do with you. You're
.beneath the notice of a
aonf peaxpeehr
a. n e ?
Be_—laEdxyi likeL Aa billnte
resipgtyabilseaciytiosuenng!
cause she ought to be settled as soon as she comes to
maturity.

THE MIDDLE CLASSES.
It has been often observed, that a good middle class
is the strength and glory of a nation. Without this
unfailing source to draw upon, no great efforts can be
long sustained. An aristocracy may be splendid fur
its wealth, and honourable for its generosity ; a pea-
santry may he respectable for its spirit and numbers,
and still more so for its domestic virtues. But
neither of them possesses the stamina of a good
middle class for any great purpose, either of peace or
of war. It brings to bear upon one another all the
great elements of social strength, industry, talent,
wealth, public spirit, and public opinion, in a far
more efficient manner than any political effort of

the state ; because in the most natural way—by actual
combination. Where there are wide intervals between

the classes, energy and promptitude are lost by dis-
tance of operation, by bad leverage, so to speak, and
ill-direction of forces. When you have a good
middle class, you have not far to fetch your mate-
rials, to communicate your intentions, to apply your
impulses. There the state has not to get at the nob?e-
men, the nobleman to get at his dependents ; spirit
has not to awaken industry, and industry to go
about looking for means, and means to waste for
want of hands. The electric circle is always com-
plete. The industrious man is also enlightened and
wealthy; the wealthy man is also energetic and able.
Go into the market-place and look around, and there
you have in one view all the elements you want for
any great internal improvement or external under-
taking. In this class you possess a storehouse and a
school, on which you may depend for a constant and
equable supply of political means and virtues. The
state has not to set to work as soon as it foresees an

exigency, or conceives a design, putting all the scat-
tered parts of the social machine together, and dis-
covering, at the last moment, to its cost, that it is
not prepared, for that something is missing, some
joint has gaped, or some member has shrunk since
the last great turn-out of the nation. In such a
predicament the results mu,t always be precarious
and imperfect. But with a large class, neither very
rich nor very poor, neither incapable of great efforts
nor above them, always engaged in extensive and,
arduous designs, always augmenting and concen-
trating the resources of the country, the statesman
has three parts of his work done to his hand. Even
if he slept, others worked. He has only to speak to a
prepared people, and open a well filled magazine.
We are aware of the prejudices we offend by elevat-
ing the middle class into the saviours of their country.
There are persons who would rather not be saved at
all than by such means ; at least in theory, for most
of them appear to acquiesce very contentedly in the
historical fact, and to enjoy without any reserve the
numerous benefits thence accruing. But when-
ever they can abstract themselves enough to mo-
ralise, and forget enough to be ungrateful, then
they complacently meditate on the middle class
as all that is vulgar, pushing, conceited, selfish, and
unsocial, with the world for its god and money for
its religion, without either the dignity of command or
the grace of obedience ; neither lofty nor dutiful ;
removed alike from the beauties of nature and the
perfections of art ; a novelty on the past,
a cloud in the future, intrusive, encroaching,
upstart, without right or inheritance, with-
out father or mother, absolutely without place in
a perfect system, anti-aristocratical, anti-monar-
chical, anti-ecclesiastical, anti-everything, excepting
only its own odious self. If so great an absurdity ad-
mits of aggravation, it receives it from the circum-
stance that most who so feel and talk are them-
se.ves of the middle class, and are only removed
from the warehouse or the shop by one generation of
parentage, or perhaps by seven years of school and
college, or even not at all. As we never yet heard
any serious project for dispensing with this class, and
showing how England was to continue England with-
out it, and not relapse to holes in the earth and painted
skins, such sentiments as the above do not pretend to
be anything else than a rebellion of one's tastes
against an inevitable dispensation ; and, as such, have
not a very religious or rational character. However,
they exist and continue. There are, and will be,
thousands who consider their inward revolting at the
middle classes to he the most exalted and precious
part of their nature, and the most certain evidence of

their soul's nobility. Such a prejudice, ridiculous as
it is, is yet injurious. It estranges from paths of
public usefulness many who might do service in their
day; it diverts into the ideal many who might be
practical ; and, though not in itself a very active
principle, it furnishes the groundwork of dangerous
appeals,—appeals from the living 'present to the dead
past, from realities to chimeras, from duties to dreams.
It is then with very great pleasure that we find
the use, the necessity, and the rightfulness of a middle
class, and an unbroken gradation of middle classes,
advocated by men likely to command attention, and
recommended by arguments which cannot be denied.
With some minds use, with others rightfulness will
have more weight. For the benefit of the former
we will extract a very important passage, as seems to
us, from Mr. Tremenheere's exceedingly interesting
report on the state of the population in the mining
districts :

" Another result of the truck system, not less in-
jurious, though not so directly appreciable, is, that by
checking the growth of a middle class it reduces the
amount and effect of those civilizing influences which
descend upon the labouring classes from the various
gradations of society above them. The large sum of
200,000/. a-year, part of the wages paid by the principal
works having stores as abovementioned, has been al-
ready shown not to be expended in these stores. The
growth, therefore, of the class of retail dealers in those
neighbourhoods has been considerable, as is proved by
the case of Coatbridge, where there are at present 134
shops and three inns, besides six shops at Dundyvan
kept by persons belonging to the works, who deal in the
same kind of articles that are sold at the Dundyvan
store. It is stated that eight years ago there were only
16 shops open at Coatbridge. The increase is un-
doubtedly great ; but it must not be overlooked that
the profits of the 50,0001. a-year estimated to be ex-
pended at the stores of the enumerated works would,
under other circumstances, have been so much added to
the fund which supplies the well-being and wealth of
the class of retail dealers. It would have promoted pro
tanto their advance towards the middle ranks of society,
and therefore towards filling that void the existence of
which is oae of the fertile sources of evil in districts new
and rapidly peopled."
Only the old story, some will say. Who wants to
multiply small shopkeepers ? They are enough
already : one at every corner. What will a state
come to of which retailers of sugar and cheese are
the predominant citizens ? Well, we burn coals, and
are glad to warm our hands and cook our dinners by
their aid. Coals involve smudgy pitmen, smudgy
pitmen involve smug shopkeepers, and what is more,
if we have any bowels of mercy or of gratitude
for the said pitman, lying naked on his side for
live-long days, and picking laboriously at the walls
of his dungeon, in utter darkness, and in deadly
vapours, more than a hundred fathoms below the

cheerful: realms of day, we may be glad to think
that he has a chance some day or other, before age
surprises him at his toil, of standing upright, clad

and clean, behind a counter, enjoying the light of
day and the sight of fellow-men. The middle classes,
we maintain, have an hereditary place in England,
from which they have too generally been ousted.
In the golden age of the old English gentleman there
was a rising class above the labourer, and step above
step to the highest station. This we have repeatedly
asserted, and believe there is no fact for which
more abundant and conclusive evidence can be
adduced. There is hardly a village where, in the
memory of man, there were not many times more
holdings than there are now, and consequently many
opportunities for the poor man to escape from that
poverty which England calls a crime. The very sur-
face of the fields, the traces of ancient homesteads,
roads, and hedgerows, declare the same historical
fact. The statement in the following extract from
Lord Willoughby D'Eresby's very excellent and sug-
gestive letter, which we published on Tuesday,
would be found confirmed wherever the inquiry was
made : _ .

The occupation of three acres of pasture would give
him that great necessary of life, a supply of milk for his
family, which he can very rarely buy, and at the same
time afford him a profitable investment for his money,
by the purchase of a cow and sheep, which would pro-
duce him as many pounds yearly as he could get shil-
lings in the savings' bank. It would consequently en-
able him to accumulate the capital necessary to stock a
small farm. I cannot refrain from adding two very sig-
nificant facts for the benefit of those who talk of the im-
possibility of the labourer's purchasing a cow :—I have
seen the plan of a parish of the date of 1717,
in which
every cottage had an allotment of pasture. At some
subsequent periods all these were taken away and let
with the large farms. Ten years ago they were restored,
and there are now in the parish 33 labourers who; pur-
chased cows for themselves as soon as the allotments
were granted."
These two passages, from different quarters, con-
stitute a very bufficient case for the practical benefit
and successional right of an unbroken gradation of
middle classes. If, however, they have been banished
from the country to the town, and made thereby more
democratic, whose fault is it? Not their own.—
Times.

THE CUSTOMS.—It was stated, a short time since,
that an additional landing surveyor had been stationed
at the London Docks, besides the two regular officers,
owing to the great increase of business in that large
establishment. It has since been also determined. by the
board to place an additional officer of the same :staisding
at the St. Katharine Docks, where the business has also
of late increased to a very great extent, the time of the
one landing surveyor originally and till now placed on
the station being almost entirely occupied in super-
intending the number of vessels from Leghorn which
discharge their cargoes there, it being, consequently,
impracticable for him to devote as much attention to the
other portione of the docks as the wants of the public
and the necessities of the case require. Ilzsides being
a great advantage to the mercantile world., as affording
them additional means of dispatching their business,
a greater degree of security is also afforded to their
goads and the revenue, a measure strongly recom-
mended in the recent report of the -Revenue Inquiry
Conimissisk.