The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1856-12-24
THE DAILY DISPATCH.
.r-S-..s.~ ,s.rrina, December ~, 1855.


n-ss~~,a. the Foraer..Iuoral Insanity
w. ave vesterdsy sketch of the line oil oe'
f.n.s saon,ea by the counsel Of Huntington. the
,o,or,,r. farrer, who has been on trial In New
". cor a period which would have sufiiced I'd
r,.,.nd 10 arraigu, convict and hang the whoie
,nrss ~ lords and commons, and perhaps one or
two members of the royal family. The defence In
,.;s case Is the original peculiar, and unique us
case known In the barbarous times ofol AZ rascal
to- I'm, In modern times IS moral insanity Inc
,.wvers Of the accused with sublime and master.
" sudacity. which makes people, In this part Of
~. ,vor,d-vbere we have not caught up with the
.,v,,,z ,on Of the age and with metropolitan rebne'
uent, In morals and manners-fairiy hoio 'hei
brea,h-plead the very enormity OF the prisoner
crimes as conclusive proof of his entire innocence
of all guilty Intention The fact that his forgeries
have reached the astounding sum OF twenty mil.
lions Is complete demonstration that the man was
a luuatici As clear as mud. We should think
,ha, required considerable sanity to put in eireu
lstion twenty millions of forged paper, and that a
shrevd rascal would be more likely to embark in
large operations than small ones, where the pen
atty TO be encountered is In both cases the same
in kind and very nearly the same in extent How.
ever this is not the only proof of this afflicted and
unfortunate gentlemAn's moral unsoundness -
When a boy, his organ of destructiveness was
largely developed, and he would break open toys
of various kinds to discover the contents Htn's
be proof of insanity, the world is but little oe'
ter than q vast lunatic asylum. There Is not
man in il, who Is good for anything whose Pa
rents could not produce in his behalf the same
evidence of an "inquring mind" Every chlu
that has q rattle In his hand and the bump OF cas-
ualty on his head is bound to find out what makes
the noise, even if he has TO bring the bump of de-
structiveness TO his aid and smash the play thing
into q hundred pieces,
OF course, this plea of moral insanity in Hunt
ingtons case, is too absurd for grave argument but
what shall we think of the sanity of community
In which such plea in such a case, can be boldly
advanceds The very fact that able lawyers OF
New York are neither afraid nor ashamed to place
their clients defence on such ground shows that
there's something rotten in the public sentiment
and morals of that community. Moral insanity,
however, is the latest and most fashionable KING OF
lunacy We do not deny the existence OF such
disease. On the contrary, we believe 1t has pre-
vailed since the fall of Adam, who caught the
malady from Eve, who caught it from the DeVh'
who was the original inventor. Were man inter
iectually, morally and physically sane, there wouio
be no sin or unhappinesS upon the earth. but
neither Divine nor human governments relax
their obligations or remit the penalty OF offences,
on account of defective moral organization In
fact, the certain prospect of punishment mas me
effect in restoring the equilibrium of disordered
natuIe aud in removing from man s brain what
the Irish call "doldrum, '-once explained by MT
Curran as merely confusion of the head arising
from corruption of the heart,'-in other words,
moral insanity.
That form of moral insanity, which broke out
with such violent symptoms in Huntington's case,
is exceedingly prevalent in this age and country
Its prominent intellectual delusion is idea that
the eagle on dollar is god, and that it ought 10
be worshpped with all the heart, and all the soul,
and all the mind This deep rooted conviction en-
genders fanatical zeal in the worship OF its gold
en- deity, which leads the unfortunate votary to
sacrifice conscience, honesty, health and happiness
at the shrine of his idolatry. Under the influence
of this moral mania, cheating, swinding and forg
lag considered actual virtues and evidences Of
smartness, which the poor lunatic regards with as
much complacency as do sane and virtuous men
an honest action. To ''get the advantage" in
bargain is considered demonstration of genius
of something to be proud or Let young men be
ware of this strange delusion. He who yields to
it has taken the first step in moral degradation and
is on the high road to the evil repute of Hunting.
ton. and to that excellent asylum for moral luna
tics-the Penitentiary.
EXTRAyAGaNT PREsENTs.-The New York
Post condemns severely the fashion of making pre-
SCENTS on Christmas and other holidays and on
wedding days. 1t says ''the standard by which
such testimonials are now measured is no longer
the affection of the friend which the testimonial
represents, but the testimonial itself" There is in
this, as in everything else undertaken in this
country, a great tendency to extravaganza; and
per sons weak enough to be Influenced by fashion