The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-04-23

ak weeks afterward, he was indicted by
Grand Jury. arraigned, tried, and acquitted
on the ground Of insanity. The proceedings
In this affair are noteworthy, both for the
contrast offered to the treatment Of GUITEAU.
and because out OF the seven assaults upon
the reigning sovereign Of the United King
dom only two, the latest and the earliest,
have been committed with impunity.
MAcLEAN was tried under the common law
for high treason, the penalty for which
| crime, OF course, Is death. The sole defence
interposed was that Of insanity, which was
supported by the evidence Of the superin-
tendents Of two asylums for the insane; and
It appeared that the prisoner had at one time
been ON inmate Of an asylum. When at large
he comported himself like political crank,
not only protesting the most radical opin-
| ions but advocating the most revolutionary
remedies. He was an ardent follower Of Mr..
| BRApLAUoH, and an assiduous reader Of
| Reynolds's Newspaper, placing implicit faith
in the revelations touching the royal family
and the aristocracy which are published In
| that edifying sheet. He thought he had
mission to overthrow corrupt regime and
in his own mind he figured as a savior Of 80
ciety. What mainly influenced the jury was
undoubtedly the fact that MAGELLAN had once
been confined as an insane person; but sane
| people have been shut up In madhouses, and
there seems to have been little effort In this
case to investigate the evidence on which he
had been committed to an asylum.
II we compare the action OF the jury in
this instance with the result in preceding
and analogous cases, we shall see that II must
have been in no slight degree affected by the
Governments decision TO try the prisoner
for high treason under the common law, in
stead Of under the statute provided by Sir
ROBERT PEKL. The first assailant Of the
Queen, the potboy EDWARD OXFORD, who
fred two shots at her in 1910, was tried in
| the same way and acquitted on the plea Of
mental arrangement, although II Is extreme
ly doubtful whether he was not responsible
for his actions. OXFORD was a veritable
prototype Of GUITEAU, having an absurd
conception Of his own Importance, and
longing to pose as a political person.
age Curiously, too, there were not wanting
people to assert that the attempted assassi-
nation had q far-reaching political aim; and
there is no doubt that the accomplishment
Of the crime would have placed upon the
throne the Duke Of CUMBERLAND, a warm
friend Of the Orangemcn and ON enemy Of
the Catholics. But the trial showed that Ok
FoRp's act was impelled by nothing but a
light-brained love Of notoriety. As We have
said, the prisoner was acquitted, and the
court ordered him to be kept in an insane
asylum during her Majesty's pleasure, a
precedent which, we presume, has been fol-
lowed in MAcLEAN's case. although the fact
has not been repo. ted.
OXFORD himself declared that II he had
been hanged, there would have been no more
shooting at the Queen, and the same opinion
is expressed by Sir THEODORE MARTIN In his
life OF the Prince Oonsort. 1t Is certain that
less than two years afterward man named
FRANCIS who was quite as truly political
crank as was his predecessor, and affected
the theatrical airs OF an inspired regicide,
fired pistol at the Queen on the very spot
where OxFoRDs assault was made He, too
was tried for high treason, and Us the shoot
ing was not disputed, and the prisoner in
this case refused to plead insanity, the jury
were constrained to find him guilty, and he
was sentenced to death. At the earnest wish
however, Of her Majesty, the sentence was
committed to transportation for life; and or
the very day after the mitigation Of punish
ment was made known, a third effort was
made to assassinate the sovereign. hump
backed lad named BEAN presented pisto
at her carriage but did not succeed
in firing it before the weapon was wrestet
from him by q bystander. The Queen ther
caused 1t to be understood that she expected
a repetition Of such attacks, so long as they
were dealt with as acts Of high treason. IL
accordance with her desire, the then Prime
Minister, Sir ROBERT PEEL, introduced a bill
by which a moderate but degrading punish
ment could be inflicted for mere mountebanl
attempts on the Queens life. BY the new
law crime Of this kind was punishable by
> transportation for seven years, or by i'm
prisonment for term not exceeding tire,
years, in either case the culprit to be publicly
or privately whipped as often and In sucl
manner as the court should direct, not ex
ceeding thrice.
1t was to this statute and not to the pro
, vision Of the common law governing higl
treason that the law officers OF the Grown
, had recourse in the case OF BEAN, who wa.
: sentenced to eighteen months Imprisonment
, and to be whipped, Seven years pow wen
, by without any assault upon her Majesty
but in 1919 an Irish bricklayer named HAMIL
TON fired at the Queen pistol charged will
powder only. There was nearly as mucl
| BIouuu loI tne plcd VI iuStully III luib III
stance as in that Of OXFORD, but as we shall
, see jury has never acquitted any of tn,
| Queens assailants who have been tried unde
, the PEEL statute. In this case the prison
a er was sentenced to be whipped and u
seven years transportation. About
: year afterward n man named PATE, VIII
o had once been Lieutenant In crack cavalr.
I regiment, struck her Majesty on the fac
with q stick for which offence he was sen
fenced to seven years transportation, but tn
: court recognized so much probability in tn
q allegation Of insanity (Which the jury ha,
8 disregardedl as to omit the whipping iron
Y his punishment. The last attempt befor
3 MAcLEAN's was that made by O'CoNNoR,
q lad Of II, who in 1872 levelied at the Queen
0 pistol which turned out to DO unloaded. L
: one hand the boy held paper which proves
y TO be petition on behalf Of the Fenian prls