The Express. — 1863-12-14 (London, England)

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 14, - 1863.  weak and sensitive nature. Pity him we must. ' But in the eye of the law, and in the opinion of every reasonable man, he was guilty of murder. There is very little doubt that this man went I with the deliberate intention of putting Miss Goonwix to death ; that he provided himself with the means of perpetrating the crime ; and that he perpetrated it with a distinct knowledge that he should be held responsible for the act, and should suffer death as the punishment. Under these circumstances, Mr. Baron hisnrix I told the jury that they were bound to find the prisoner guilty, and the jury did their duty in returning that verdict. An ingenious attempt was made by Mr. lif.scstrtsv to prove that the prisoner was not responsible for his acCons, and following the usual custom on such 1 occasions he called Dr. Fosses WINSLOW to prove his case. That distinguished specialist was of opinion that the mind of TOWNLEY was such as to relieve hint from responsibility. But any one who reads the account which Dr. Wuestow gives of his interviews with this young man, will find it difficult to agree with him. So far from Towrasy acting without reason, he acted with a strict adherence to the theory which he had adopted. It is true that he feared neither the scaffold nor the pains of hell. But neitheratheista nor infidels I have hitherto been deemed necessarily mad. Acting upon the theory with terrible consistency, he considered that the woman who had solemnly promised him marriage was already his wife, and that she was as much his property as his tables, his chairs, or his pictures, and that "he had a perfect right to kill or to do " what he liked with her." "He looked," says Dr. WiNsLow, " upon Mils GOODWIN in the " light of a wife who had committed adultery, and " having, according to his conviction, so acted, he " was justified in killing her." These are startling theories. Dr. Foasse WINSLOW no doubt did his best to answer them, but it would be unfortunate indeed if those who commit murder in obedience to them were to be deemed lunatics because they refuse to acknowledge the cogency of Dr. WINSIAWS reasoning. That Tows-tree mind was in a disordered condition may be admitted, but a defective judgment or even a perverted moral sense has never been considered conclusive proof of insanity. When self-control is lost there are precipices of passion down which the fever-stricken human mind rushes into abysses of madness and crime. The hate of love is some. times sooverpowering that men with theireyes open are driven almost irresistibly to commit acts which nevertheless they know to be wrong. This may palliate their guilt but it cannot relieve them from responsibility. It is well settled that no man is to be excused from responsibility if at the time of committing a crime he knows the distinction between right and wrong. An eccentric man may think that under certain circumstances he is entitled to take the law into his own hands, but if he acts upon this principle when he is perfectly aware that this is forbidden, he must suffer the punishment which the wilful violation of law entails. Society cannot subsist if every man is to be allowed to do with impunity whatever seems to himself right.