The Sun. — 1864-01-15 (London, England)

REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS IN LUNACY. Derby, Dec. 28, 1863.  We, the undersigned Commissioners in Lunacy, report for the information of Secretary Sir George Grey,— That in compliance with the request contained in Mr. IVaddington's letter of the 23d of December, we have undertaken the inquiry recommended by Mr. Baron Martin as to whether George Victor Townley, now under sentence of death at Derby for murder, is or is not at the present time of unsound mind.  We proceeded to Derby on the morning of the 26th, and have since had lengthened interviews, on two separate occasions, with the prisoner. We have also examined the governor of the prison, Mr. Sims; the surgeon, Mr. Gisborne ; the chaplain, Mr. Moore; the father and mother of the prisoner, the chief warder of the gaol, and the four warders who  before and since the trial, have had exclusive charge of the pris oner, and have watched him day and night. The re 'suit of this examination of the officials of the pri'ion, of which the detail will be found appended to our report, may be stated briefly as in effect establishing, without dispute, that there has been substantially no change in the prisoner's mentril state since the trial ; that such difference or alteration as may have been noted has been an improvement ; and that he has been altogether more at e Ise, more resigned, and at times even cheerful, sine a the sentence was passed upon him. Not at any time since ho was first brought to the gaol, ace 3rding to the testimony of all who have had the means of watching him closely, does he appear to have been more rational than he is at present. In the endeavour to form a satisfactory opinion as to his existing mental state, we have found it impossible to exclude the consideration of what his mental condition had been during the entire period of his imprisonment. 'What it is now it has been throughout ; and the detail of what was elicited from him at our interviews, appended to this report, is probably sufficiently ample to enable the Secretary of State to form an opinion for himself as to the prisoner's moral condition, the views entertained by him of 'the murder be committed, the motives that impelled him to it, and the reasons by which he justifies it. We i have to remark that generally his manner during these interviews, with one or two exceptions which we have noted, was remarkably calm, quiet, and self-possessed; and though he seemed to have had no difficulty in at once, from the questions put to him, correctly inferring the object and drift of our' examination, we saw not the least grounds for suspecting him of any intention to mislead us by putting on a manner not natural to him, or feigning what he did not feel.  In view of the extravagant opinions thus deliberately professed by him, of his extraordinarily perverted moral sense, and of the hereditary taint alleged, and apparently proved, to have existed in the family of the prisoner's grandmother, we cannot consider him to be of sound mind; but his views of right and wrong, false as they are, appear to have been coherently acted upon, and with a full sense of what they involved. He reasons now, as he acted in committing the murder. Upon the point of his alleged belief in a conspiracy against him we pressed him very closely ; but we could not satisfy ourselves that this was in the nature of a delusion. It seems certain that some members of the deceased's family objected to his engagement with her, while others favoured it, or were indifferent ; and that the former had obtained an influence over her some little time before her letter was written, which was meant finally to put an end to it. Hence he believed that she had been acted upon by a conspiracy, which was meant "in the tenderest point" to isiure him ; and all the questions we put upon this part of the case failed to draw from him anything that could bear other construction than that he had taken a disordered and morbid view of an actual occurrence.  Being of opinion, therefore, that the prisoner continues to be now in, the same mental state as when he committed the murder and underwent his trial, we think that, applying the law as laid down by Mr. Baron Martin in this case, the prisoner, George Victor Townley, was justly convicted. W. G.