The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-16 00:00:00

DOWNING-STREET, JULY 15.

The Queen has been pleased to appoint George Grey, Esq.,
to be Lieutenant-Governor of the colony of New Zealand.
Her Majesty has also been pleased to appoint Frederick Holt
Robe, Esq., Major in the Army, to be Lieutenant-Governor of
the province of south Australia.
Her Majesty has further been pleased to appoint George
Lilly, E,q., to be Assistant•-Judge of the Supreme Court of
the island of Newfoundland.

...„
Commission by the Lord-Lieutenant of Middlesex.
West Middlesex Militia—H. Bliss, Gent., to be Lieutenant,
July 12.
Commissions by the Lord Lieutenant of Mid-Lothian.
loyal Mid-Lothian Yeomanry Cavalry—Captain Aitchison
to be Major, vice Wauchope, resigned ; Lieut. A. Hope to be
Captain, vice Aitchison, promoted, July 5.
WHITEHALL, Ju•%Y 8.

The Lord Chancellor has appointed David Randall, of Neath,
in the county of Glamorgan, Gent., to be a Master Extraordi-
nary in the High Court of Chancery.

BANKRUPTS.

Thomas Dowries Taylor, oilman, Brooke-street, Holborn, to
surrender July 24, at eleven, and Aug. 26, at twelve, at the
Court of Bankruptcy. Pennell, official assignee; Berkeley,
Lincoln's-inn-fields. .

William Robqm, grocer, Chipping Norton, Hertfordshire,
July 30, at two, and Aug. 26, at one, at the Court of Bank-
ruptcy. Edwards, official assignee, Frederick's-place, Old
Jewry ; Sadgrove, Mark-lane, City.
Henry Cooke, painter, Liverpool, July 29 and Aug. 22, at
eleven, at the Liverpool District Court. Morgan, official
assignee, Liverpool ; Vincent and Sherwood, Temple, London ;
Jones, Liverpool.
John Lea, jun., wine merchant, Liverpool, July 29 and Aug.
22, at twelve, at the Liverpool District Court. Cazenove,
official assignee, Liverpool; Vincent and Sherwood, Temple,
London ; Brabner and Co., Liverpool.
John Robinson, spirit merchant, Beverley, Yorkshire, July
28 and Aug. 18, at eleven, at the Leeds District Court.
Fearne, official assignee, Leeds; Lambert, John-street, Bed-
ford-row, London; Shepherd and Myers, Beverley; Payne,
Eddison, and Ford, Leeds.
Benjamin Haigh, manufacturer, Dub-cross, Yorkshire, July
28 and Aug. 18, at eleven, at the Leeds District Court.
Fearne, official assignee, Leeds; Emmett and Allen, Blooms-
bury-square, London; Messrs. Alexander, Halifax; Courte-
nay, Leeds.

[Dividends, &c., in our next.l

LORD ASHLEY'S LUNACY BILL.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sia,_Many thanks for your very able article on Lord
Ashley's Lunatic Bill and for the clear exposition of the im-
provements to be effected by its operation. It would be well
indeed if the Press would enlighten the public mind more
generally on this most important subject.
I agree with you that his Lordship's measure is still very
deficient, and that it continues, and I fear will perpetuate the
unconstitutional mode of depriving an Englishman of his
liberty, and taking from him his civil rights by the certificate
of two mad doctors or two needy and bribed apothecaries or one
of each of them.

As soon as I had recovered from the surprise and stupor
that so heavy and unexpected a blow as confinement in a mad-
house produced, I began to call to mind what I had heard and
read of Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights—l recollected that
no Englishman was in future to be deprived of his liberty
without a trial by a jury of his peers. That this constitutional
principle has been carried out and incorporated in our laws,
which, to ensure the liberty of the subject, have provided that a
British subject shall not be detained in custody without being
taken before a magistrate, having witnesses sworn to the truth
of the charges made against him or her being confronted with
his or her accusers, and`then acquitted or committed for trial
by jury.
Meditating on the subject, and studying the disease of in-
sanity with its operations in the characters of those around me,
I soon discovered that it might be wise and expedient to prevent
a man in a stare of delirium or frenzy committing crimes for
which he would not, from the present state of his disease, be
amenable to the laws hereafter—to give either one or two
medical men the power, under a written certificate, of handing
that person over to safe custody, either under the guard of a
keeper, a prison, or a lunatic asylum; but here the power of
the medical certificate should end. Within seven day; it should
be required, and within 24 hours, if the patient be sane enough,
to demand the right of inquiry, he should be again brought
back within the pale of the Constitution, and be carried before
a magistrate; his state and case inquired into; the deposition
of medical and other witnesses be taken; and the magistrate
decide upon the necessity of further confinement or otherwise.
This confinement not to extend beyond three months without
the intervention of a trial by jury on his sanity or insanity, in
the same inexpensive form as our criminal proceedings are
conducted, under the authority and presidence of the judges of
the land, who are infinitely more capable of patient research
and expounding the laws than any of these new-fangled autho-
rities—the Commissioners, whose existence, I hope, will be as
brief as their deserts.
Had this been the law and practice, I, who am not conscious
of having had any attack of insanity in my life—who challenge
the whole world to produce any insane act I ever committed—
who was once absolved in open court by my bitterest enemies,
of having committed any violent ac:, and also of ever having
threatened one—instead of having had to endure the misery
and wretched sufferings of passing nearly five years among the
maniac, the idiot, and the epileptic ; I should not have been
confined more than seven days at the utmost, in place of five
long years.

Were mine an individual, an isolated case, although so ruinous
and disastrous as I have described, I feel that it would be pre-
sumption in me to occupy your space and time, but I cm and
will, if required, supply half a dozen cases similar to my own.
I am, Sir, &c.,

WILLIAM BAILEY.
P. S. I would that every individual, man or woman, in this
kingdom would deeply Consider that under the present and the
proposed regulation of lunacy, %under Lord Ashley's new Act,
That what was my case yesterday may be yours to-morrow."

A L SSIG.
AFFRAY AT IR €_-LANDBANHL
THE i.
The case for the prosecution closed on Thursday evening. Two
magistrates, Mr. Moloney and Mr. Meade, came forward before
the defence was entered into, and voluntarily tendered the follow-
ing evidence

Mr. John Moloney, J.P., of Ballinaboy, being sworn, was exa-
mined by the CORONER—I am a magistrate of the county, and re-
collect the last fair night of Ballinhassig. I was at the fair that
day, and left it between three and four o'clock, to the best of my
knowledge. I was not in the fair between that and the time the
people lost their lives. There were no other magistrates with me
leaving the fair. I did not attend it as a magistrate. About nine
o'clock in the evening I returned to the fair. About that hour
Mr. Cornelius Keller catne to my house in great haste, nearly out
of breath, and on my goiog to the door, in consequence of what
he told me, I came back to the fair with Mr.
Meade, and
Mr. Biggs followed us in the rear, and the Rev. Mr. Meade
came as far as the bridge. When I came outside my own gate
I saw a man leaning against the ditch wounded in the left
arm, and we seeing him so requested the People to get him
a doctor, and Mr. W. Meade, the magistrate, and I pro-
ceeded to the fair. Having found that a number of people were
dead and wounded, we called out to get a doctor. Mr. Meade
finding the people unwilling to go, as they said they were afraid,
faced up the hill, and said he would go himself, calling on Mr. Biggs
to accompany him, and for me to remain with the people and ap..
pease them as well as I could. I remained with the people, and
expostulated with some of them to go home ; they did so generally
while I remained, which was about until eleven o'clock.
To Mr. Walsh—l did not attend the fair as a magistrate, but
merely as a country gentleman, and bought and sold cattle ; before
leaving the fair I did not see any occurrence or appearance that
would require the influence or presence of a magistrate. You have
re ided for many years at Ballinaboy, near Ballinhassig 7—Yes, for
about fourteen years, but I have been connected with it for about
twenty four years. Can you state what has been the character of
the people in the district during that period 7—According to my
knowledge during that period a more peaceable or well-conducted
people I never knew.
Mr. W. R. Meade, justice of the peace, Ballymartle—l am a
magistrate of the county, and dined with Mr. Moloney on the day
of the fair, at Ballinaboy, which is about a quarter of a mile from
Ballinhassig. In consequence of a representation which was made
to us Mr. Moloney and I left his house rather before nine o'clock,
and Mr. Biggs joined us, fur the purpose of going to the fair. On
going outside the gate we saw the wounded man, as described by
Mr. Moloney, and we then went to the fair, and I asked several
persons where the doctor was, and requested come persons about
me to go to his house for him. They all seemed unwilling to go,
and I then said I would go myself, and Mr. Biggs said he would
accompany me, and we arranged with Mr. Moloney to remain at
the fair and endeavour to get the people home. Mr. Biggs and I
proceeded to the police barracks, as the doctor resided next door to
it. On our way up I looked at my watch at the bridge behind Mr
Lombard's, and found it to be ten minutes past nine o'clock. When
we arrived at the barracks we found the doctor was not at home,
and I then went into the police barracks to make arrange-
ments about sending for an additional force. I went into the
Dispensary three times that evening; the first time I went there
was no light, but there was the second ; there were several marks
of violence about it, and the windows broken, and the roof broken
at the back, but not so much as at present. There were several
large stones lying in it, in the outside room next the door,
and I don't recollect seeing any in the other. I could form no
opinion as to whether the stones came through the door or window.
The only other mark of violence I remarked that evening was the
wooden partition, a small part of which opposite the door eas
broken. I did not examine the outside of the house that night,
and I therefore cannot say if there was any mark of violence on ir.
To Mr. Scannell—You saw the state of the Dispensary. If