The Sun. — 1854-08-10 (London, England)

MAULS--an important exception by the way ; but the large majority of his judicial brethren confirmed and approved of it, viz., Lords BROUGHAM, LYNDHURST, CAMPBELL, GOTTESMAN, and WYNFORD, must be deemed conclusive as to the state of the law. We shall only refer to the answer to the second question, where the Judges stated that " the jury ought in all cases to be told that every man should be considered of sane mind unless it was clearly proved in evidence to the contrary ; that before a plea of insanity should be allowed, undoubted evidence ought to be adduced that the accused was of diseased mind, and that at the time he committed  the act he was not conscious of right or wrong." Now, it can scarcely be said that MARY Arum BRouGH came within this category. She had been detected in a serious offence against morality. She had lost her husband, and was about to lose her children, whom she had every reason to suppose would be taken away from her. She was contemplating self-murder to escape from the painful consequences of her own guilt. And she added the murder of her innocent children, in order that her husband, whom she had previously so deeply injured, should not enjoy the blessings of which she was about to be deprived. There was some evidence that her brain was and still is disordered, but certainly not sufficient to show that she was at the time ignorant of " the distinction between right and wrong." If the doctrine, that a party committing a crime under some " uncontrollable  influence " is irresponsible, it will be difficult to convict of any murder the motives whereof were not clearly apparent. Indeed, in the present case, there was a motive, an evil motive, but too perceptible—a motive distinctly alluded to by the eminent Judge who presided, who said that " if they should be of opinion that owing to the unfortunate relation she stood with her husband at the time she was induced to meditate the commission of some act of violence, either towards herself or others, and that this created an excited condition, which, operating on her brain iu its diseased condition, drove her to a state of  temporary insanity, during which she committed the act with which she was charged, he was bound to tell them, that this would not excuse her from the consequences, and it would be their duty to find her guilty of wilful murder! " They did not do so, however. They undoubtedly found in opposition to the law so distinctly explained by the learned Judge ; and it is for legal reformers to say whether there are not sufficient grounds for the ModiflOation of that law, and the establishwent of less stringent rules in cases of alleged insanity.  The Duke and Duchess of Wellington, after the prorogation, will leave Belgravo-square on a visit to the Marquis and Marchioness of. Tweeddale, at Yesterhouse, near Haddington, en route .to the'Highlands. The Marquis of Lansdowne entertained the Cabinet Ministers at dinner last evening at Lansdowne-house. The Earl of Mansfield has left the Dowager Countess at Mansfield's, at Langham-house, for Scone Palace, N.B. •  Earl Jermyn has left England for the Continent. Mr. and Mrs. Oliveira have left town for North Wales. MARRIAGE IN thou LlFE.—Yesterday were solemnised the nuptials of Frederick Spencer, fourth Earl of Spencer, and Miss Adelaide Seymour, the only daughter of the late Sir Horace Seymour. The imposing ceremony was performed at St. James's Church, Piccadilly, in the presence of a numerous and brilliant circle of the aristocracy and fashionable world. -