Star.
London, England, 1828-04-30 00:00:00

PRIVATE LETTER, DATED PARIS, APRIL 27.

Lord
in certain
the intpsr
believed
also
!new,
difficulty
Lord
and -
cola
the
MOT,

The
the''

The
whi
one

In nothing has public opinion made greater progress
in France than on the question of national indepen-
dence. Not many years ago, the meeting of a Con-
gress. or the arrival of an Ambassador at Paris, inspired
general alarm. It was known that the effects of such
an event would be felt in the acts of the Government, and
sometimes in the enactment of laws. This year our
journals have mentioned the arrival of Lord London-
den y. They have added, that be comes in cnncert with
Au,tria to make propositions hostile to the liberty of
nations : but the news has produced no greater effect
than if his Lordship had been sent as the Envoy of the
little.republic of San Marino. It is not that England
has lost het influence, but people are convinced that if
she had a Government opposed to the principles pro-
fessed by Mr. Canning and his friends, that Government
could have no influence on our internal affairs, and could
act but feebly on our foreign policy. If his Lordship,
therefore, has come to France with any sinister views,
be must be surprised at the litde sensation which his
presence has excited.
Our industry and commerce seem to be in a state of
embarrassment. One of our first commercial houses
has failed. Prince Talleyrand, the Duke of Aremberg,
and Baron Louis, have suffered great losses by it. The
first has lost several millions. M. Paravey, the chief of
the house, committed suicide before the failure was
known. He was a mah highly esteemed, and has left
a family fox whom great sympathy is felt. He bad left
home for executing his fatal purpose, when an offer
arrived of assistance, which would have enabled him to
re-establish order in his affairs. His death is ascribed
to reproaches, which offended his delicacy. addressed
by the chief of another banking establishment. It is
said that The deficiency will be 16 or 17 millions of
francs, but nothing certain is yet known.

. .
ever, think it necessary to trespass on their Lordships
for any very considerable time. The County Lunatic
Asylum Bill was a Consolidation Bill. It consolidated
seven statutes, and thus simplified the law without
making any great alteration in it. The object of the
Bill was to enable Magistrates to place in a proper
asylum those unfortunate beings in the louver class of
society who were drprived of reason, arid thereby re-
duced at once to absolute poverty. The very terms,
pauper lunatics, expressed two of the gre ite.t cala-
mities to which mankind were subject. As soon as a
poor man was afflicted with insanity, his arm was para.
Sped; his means of subsistence were cut off, and his
unfortunate wife and children were driven to the refuge
of a workhouse. It was necessary not only to provide
for the subsistence of persons in this deplorable situation,
but to provide for them also the means of cure.
Now this Bill enabled the Magistrates of every county
in Englaad to provide for those unfortunate brings not
only the means of subsistence, but the opportunity of
g subjected to a curative process. The great
mischief of the present system was, that the paio-
chial officers were tempted to send their lun.ttic
paupers to the cheapest asylum that could be found '
for them. In many instances they paid only nine
bela
shillings a week. The consequence of this was, that when
Magistrates visited the Asylum, the proprietor had a
ready excuse for any impropriety or defect of arrange-
ment. He would say, .. I can lodge and feed the pa.
tient at this rate, but as to any curative process at such
a scale of remuneration, it is entirely out of the goes-
lion." it was only while the disorder was recent that
any hope of cure could be entertained. By the present
system, that period was suffered to elapse, and the re.
suit was, that the pauper became an incurable lunatic.
The machinery of the present. Bill was to enable two
Magiptrates on the representation of any parties having
an in the fate of the patient, to order his re-
moval from the parish authorities to the County Asy-
lums. The County Asylums now in existeoce hal
effected much good, but not so much as might have
been effected had it not been restricted by their limited
funds. It was only,necessaiy, however, to visit one of
them to be convinced of the superior advantages ecjoyed
by the patients confined in them, in respect to space and
classification and general treatment, as compared with
those in any private .receptacle. He anticipated no
objection to the second reading of this Bill, and he in-
teuded to propose to their Lordships to refer it,.together
with another more general Bill on the subject ot Luna-
tics, to a Committee above stairs. It was his anxious
wish to secure the passing of this Bill, from the opera.
tion of which he anticipated the greatest advantages;
and he knew no better method of surmounting difficul-
ties and obviating objections) than by appointing a Se-
lect Committee.

Lord CALTHORPE said, he had been an eye wit-
ness of some of the shocking abuses in one of the
Asylums to which the Noble Lord had alluded. His
hope was. that the Bill would prove an effectual chec Is
upon those abuses. The Noble Lord entertained the
most ardent hope that the Bill would receive the sup-
port of that House, and pass into a law.
The Marquis of SALISBURY considered the Bill
liable to objection.
The Earl of MALMESBURY said, that the obser-
vations of the Noble Lord applied to the more general
Bill, of which he would move the second reading pre-
sently.
The DM was then read a second time, and ordered to be referred
to a Select Committee. The Committee was named, and the va.
riots Pedtioas on the table open this subject were ordered to be
Wetted to It.
REGULATION NOR LUNATICS.
The Earl of MALMESBURY then moved the second
reading of the Bill for regulating the care and treat-
ment of Insane Persons. This Bill, she Noble Earl said,
appeared to repeal three Acts, but in fact repealed only
one—the 14th of George llL—the other Acts being
merely declaratory of that. It was not necessary fcr
him to advert to the several clauses of the Bill, nor to
the enactments it proposed to repeal, but he most ad-
vert to the evidence for which be had moved on a for-
mer occasion. This evidence bad been taken before a
Committee of the other House, and he was convinced
that it was sufficient to justify he new enactments. He
was not fond of ultra legislttion. but that evidence
showed clearly that the 14th of George 111. had not
been effectual. In that evidence some account uas
given of two lunatic establishments, kept by Mr. War.

1

I:

I

I. .•

"

frti
1,1

I

:~
ij

• rt. ,• ,
- ,
P••... ~.. . ..'' `\ '
.4,
.1..
1.,
:"- .iiir,:. - to. . ...
_......_ . ,
[PRICE SEVENPENCE.
_ I
-:
IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
,
, ~
—.a._
HOUSE OF LORDS, APRIL 29. • , 1
THE LLCM emotion. ,
be House met at teno'clock this meowing, and sat in a Cons.
ee of Privileges. The Earl of Soartenuar in the Chair,
re were *beet twenty Peers present. Their Lordships were
ged the wimple of the morniog in the entoination of witnesses.
Nikko was presented from &ndbrook, in Suffolk, against
proposed Seale of Duties payable on the Importation of
Alin Coen. '
it A. Gower and ethers from the Commons, brought up the t
.
misesand Engagements Bill and the Records Variance Bill, to • - . ,
cb the Commons had agreed without any amendments.
Ir. MaastrAt.t. and others brought up an Enclosure Bill. Mr.
soy also brought up a Private DU ' I ,' •
Ir. Kemeny brought up a message from the Commons, re. . .
sing that their Lordships might permit the Earl of Roseberry 1 ,
ttend before the Select Committee of the Commons, to give l•
. 1 .
rime ou the subject of the law of Entails in Scotland. • • •
'"
4
'heir Lordships intimated that they would semi an answer by
1 • .
imagers of their own.
Ir. Sarni presented the Richmond Bridge Accounts. .: ;
Jr. Nowsesee presented an account of the sums received and ' 1
••• ,
ended by the Trustees of the Darlington Railway, ms! also the , '•
mates of the works not yet completed. .! • 1,1
,
ha the motion of the Marquis of CLEVELAND, the Returns 1 1
.e ordered to be printed. •
.oed DACRE presented a Petition from Edward Long Fox,
D. against the County Lunatics Bill.
'he Earl of RADNOR. presented a Petition from the Roman
holies in Salisbury, praying for Catholic Emancipation. 1
1 Petition was presented from tkceastern part of Suffolk against .
proposed Scale of Corn Duties, and also against the importation i
Foreign Wool. - '
'dwd W A LLACE presented a Petition from Persons interested i ; -
:ertain Lead Mines in Cumberland, praying for an.A ct to check I 1 1
impartation of Lead Ore. The Noble LorJ observed, that be i 4 li
eyed the complaints of these Petitioners to be well founded; be 1 , 1.
i knew that the subject had been fully considered by Govern- ; ~., 1 14
nr, aid if no reUef was afforded, he believed it to arise from the t 1 •
iculty of determining upon the means of affording it. .
. .. •
Lord YARBOROUGH presented a Petition from the Owners • 1 i..
1 Occupiers of Land in the neighbourhood of the City of Lin- .. t
a against the proposed Scale of Corn Duties; and a Petition from
Roman Catholic Inhabitants of that City, praying for the re- :: i
re ~,
al of civil disabilities. •i • '
;! : .
I
COUNTY LUNATIC ASYLUM BILL. ' •j'
the Order of the Day was then read for the second reading of 'l
County Lunatic Asylum Bill.
Me Earl of MALMESSUItY said, that the subject on .
t
rich it was his duty to addre,s their Lnrdslups was 1 . .
eof the greatest importance. He should not, how.
.... .5.;..1. ;....,......... tr. *vise...fee an I 'toil` I _C111,1611; n 11l

il 1 1
t il
I i 3
1 I
r
{ /
i '
f`,
4i t
,
T '
,1 , I
I'