The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-04 00:00:00

for a ett4-kettle, which no ironmonger of the least apprehen-
sion could possibly mistake for an order for smoothing irons,
—no one, I say, could fail (thinking of his present preten-
sions) to imagine the impression he would make on the
House of Commons.
His qualities, in short, will bear the minutest examina-
tion, for they lie in a nutshell ; and I shall conclude this
imperfect eulogy in words which have been used on a less
worthy occasion. If Sir Joshua Walmsley, Knight, be re-
turned to parliament a representative for Liverpool, it will
be an event the recollection or tradition of which will gladden
men's memories when the names of Canning and Huskisson
are forgotten ;—not till then.
I am, air, your obedient servant,
Liverpool, tat June, 1841. NOGO.

—..C1i0..----

TO EDWARD RUSHTON

ESQ., STIPENDIARY

MAGISTRATE

Workhouse, June 3d, 1841

conceive that no apology is demanded from me in
addressing you thus publicly on the recent cause brought
under your judical cognizance from this establishment, so
that I shall at once enter upon the subject. I say, then,
that your decision was extraordinary, and that the treatment
I received on that occasion at your hands was most uncour-
teous. What are the facts of the case? An abandoned
female is brought before the magistrate, charged with an
attempt at committing suicide by drowning, and it being
proved that she has been leading a dissolute life, the bench
very humanely recommended her for admission into the
Penitentiary, where, for want of room, she could not at pre-
sent be received, but was sent by the matron of that institu-
tion to this establishment as a mere temporary asylum.
Having remained here three days, and where every possible
care was taken by the governor for her comfort, she became
impatient of controul, and in order to effect her liberation,
broke the window of the apartment where she was fixed :
for this offence she was sent to Bridewell, and subsequently
brought before you. Then, and for the first time, it appears
that a certificate of insanity had been lodged with you against
her. Yet, on the very face of that document, she is recom-
mended to the Penitentiary. How is this? Is the Peniten-
tiary converted into a lunatic asylum ? Now, sir, with
regard to the treatment which I, as a professional man,
received from you, I have just cause to complain. A certifi-
cate of sanity in this case' was furnished by me, and treated
by you as a worthless document, because you held a previous
one of " temporary insanity." lam not pinned to the sleeve
of any professional man, but I will just state, that one of the
honorary physicians of this institution saw the case, and
that his opinion coincided with my own. I was, however,
prevented in a court of justice from giving evidence on the
case, and affording information derived from most authentic
sources as to the girl's previous character, which would have
disabused your mind, and have completely altered the entire
feature of the whole affair. But no; the case was summarily
and angrily dismissed, with a severe and, to my mind, an
unmerited reprimand to the officer whom the governor de-
puted to conduct this unpleasant affair. Thus, on an exparte
statement, a decision is arrived at. and the salutary maxim,
"Audi alteram partem," treated as a dead letter.—l am,
Sir, your obedient servant,
BRERETON NIGHTINGALL,
For eighteen years Surgeon to this Institution, and Member
of the Royal College of Surgeons, London.