and unhappily there are many in the profession who, for the fee
of a guinea, have signed, and who are ready again to sign away
the liberty of any man, pleading to their own consciences,
perhaps, like Shakspeare's apothecary, that their poverty, and not sh
their will, consents-he has but to bribe one of these men to spa
certify that the victim is insane-or if he knows not one of
these, he need but excite his victim, and call in any other
medical man to see him, while in a state of excitement, and to
declare as a "special circumstance," that he has just been
attempting to commit suicide, or to do himself some grievous
mischief, when the very energy with which he will deny the
imputation, will tend to convince him who has been summoned
expressly to see a madman, that he is mad-and when the cer-
tificate is signed, the proprietor of an asylum has but to be
applied to, when keepers will be despatched to secure the victim;
and the facility with which a second signature can be obtained
in such a case is proverbial.

lawy.

In Acts of Parliament penalties look very well, and appear Acts of prima facie to be very efficient: thus in this Act it seems to be d a security against malpractices, that, "Any person who shall by the knowingly, and with intention to deceive, sign any such certifi- tent cate untruly setting forth any such particulars required by this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor;" but how is the guilt of such person to be proved? These things are done in secret; the victim is doomed, seized, hurried away, and con.ined, without having the power to offer a particle of proof or a moment's opportunity of appealing against this decision, which is rendered thereby final. But even if he should have such an opportunity-if by a miracle he should escape-how can he prove the misdemeanor? The medical man who possesses this Lonstrous power is licensed to act upon his judgment: he pleads that to the best of his judgment the man was insane ; he is thereby protected. That licence indemmies him; his signature indemnifies the man who employed him; and that man's authority indemnifies the proprietor of the asylum in which the victim is confined: and this too in a country whose free institutions form its proudest boast--in England, the centre of civilization.

Lunatic

Asylums are

Look at the position of a proprietor of a Private Lunatic Private Asylum. It is with him a pecuniary speculation. He may be an honourable man-he may be--but look at the temptations pecuniary to dishonour with which the system is pregnart. His object is

speculations.

Commis

sioners in

lunacy in

to obtain as many patients as he can, and to keep those patients as long as he can: his manifest duty is therefore diametrically opposed to his interest, and when it is so, experience proves it to be unsafe, to say the least of it, to give a man impunity, and trust to his honour.

People As far as regards the statement that men can be incarcerated secretly kidnapped. for life without any friend or relative disposed to assist them having the slightest knowledge of where they are, it may be urged that on application being made to the commissioners such knowledge may be obtained; and so in ordinary cases it may; but when a man is missing, who ever dreams of applying to these commissioners? His friends in such a case are apt to suppose him to have committed suicide, or to have been murdered in scarcely one case out of a thousand would they suppose him to have been stolen from society, and confined as a lunatic. But if even they do suspect this to be case, what security does the Act afford against his perpetual imprisonment? What power does it impart to his friends to aid him? By the thirty-fourth section, it is enacted, "That if any person shall apply to one of the commissioners, or any justice of the peace of the county in which any house of reception for two or more insane persons is situate, in order to be informed whether any prietors of particular person is confined in any of the said houses of recepprivate asy- tion for two or more insane persons, and the said commissioner rible deeds. or justice shall think it reasonable to permit such inquiry to be made, and shall sign an order directed to the clerk of the commissioners, or clerk of the visitors, for that purpose, the said clerk of the commissioners, or clerk of the visitors, is hereby required upon the receipt of such order, to make search; and if it shall appear upon search that the person so inquired after is or has been confined in any of the said houses, the said clerk of the commissioners, or clerk of the visitors, shall immediately deliver to the person so applying, in writing, the name of the keeper in whose house the person so inquired after is or has been confined, the situation of such house, and a copy of the order and certificate upon which such person was received into such house, upon payment of the sum of seven shillings, and no more, for his trouble."

terested in

aiding pro

lums in hor

Well, he obtains this information-provided the asylum in which he is confined be within the jurisdiction of the commissioners, that is to say, within seven miles of London-he ascertains where his friend is, and what then can he do? He

cannot see him, he cannot visit him: no man is permitted to enter an asylum save the commissioners, and the persons by whose authority the inmates have been confined.

sioners use

ful to screen

deeds of

But, assuming that he has the means at his command of Commisrendering it "inexpedient," notwithstanding the certificate, for the vile party to detain his friend any longer in that asylum, the miswhat need that party do in order to make all sure? Why he proprietors need but remove him from the asylum within the jurisdiction of of Lunatic the commissioners to an asylum beyond the jurisdiction of the commissioners; that is to say, he need but send him to some country asylum, and if he send him there in another name, there is no power on earth to discover where he is.

Asylums.

In vain the victim may declare that the name in which he is Mankind in England entered is not his right name-that it is for instance Williams, lost to the when he is entered as Smyth-the very tenacity with which world for he adheres to his right name, will be held to be an additional proof of his delusion; he cannot be considered then otherwise than mad, and thus is he lost to the world for ever.

ever.

more just

than those

of England.

In France, before the incarceration or interdiction of a person Laws of assumed to be of unsound mind can take place, there must be France a conseil de famille, and subsequently the decree of a tribunal, before which-when three physicians appointed by the tribunal have examined the patient-he appears, and his acts of insanity are proved. And thus ought it to be in England. Instead of dragging a man to perpetual imprisonment, by virtue of the purchased signature of an apothecary, he ought, before he is permanently confined, to be publicly proved to be insane. It is in the last degree disgraceful to this country, that men can be for ever shut out from the world, and from all communication with the world, without having at least undergone some public examination.

cruelties

proved to

the House

of Commons.

With respect to the treatment experienced by patients in Frightful these private asylums, we need only refer to the published reports perpetrated of the various committees of the House of Commons for proved in asylums, cases of the most frightful cruelty; but as the cause of those who are afflicted, or who are assumed to be afflicted, with this the most dire calamity which can befal man, has never been made a party question, why of course no step has been taken to put an end to such brutalities, and the system continues in full operation still. It is, however, to be hoped that philanthropy and faction may, with a view to the removal of this blot upon civilization, be conjoined, or that faction alone may take

Legis..

The Loris. the matter in hand; for while faction, without the aid of philanthropy, can thunder forth its fierce denunciations with Celty per amazing effect, philanthropy, we fear, unsupported by faction, has

la re Hinks at

trated

67 Pist kind.

Scr'ous evi's to

there but a still small voice.

Four Acts of Parliament have been passed since that preface appeared: namely, 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 107; 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 64; 5 & 6 Vict. c. 87; and 8 & 9 Vict. c. 100; and three additional Acts have been passed from time to time to continue two of those in operation.

But what is the fact? Why after all these Acts had been passed-each of course with the view of improving upon the Act which preceded it-after all the places created by these Acts had been filled, and after all the "energy" which commonly characterises the class upon whom appointments are conferred, had been displayed-the monstrous evil remained as it was; the grand point at which they aimed, that of rendering it impossible for perfectly sane men to be stolen from society and imprisoned without the power of communicating with their friends or preventing the destruction of their property, continued to be perfectly untouched!

This at first sight must appear to be incredible; but we will bring the highest authority in England to prove it. It must tend to inspire contempt for that which is facetiously called the "business-like" habits of the Legislature, and disgust for that indifference monstrous system of creating places, which is becoming now too notorious to last-but upon this we will not here dwell.

from the ineaP6 and

Caming of

pro eos

of Luatic Asylums.

It was thought that the Act which embodied all the "improvements" of the preceding Acts, and which has now been in operation nearly eight years-namely, 8 & 9 Vict. cap. 100,would have met the case effectually. It was said again and again, "The proprietors of Private Asylums, however cunning they may be, will now find it extremely difficult to promote the malicious views of their patrons, by continuing to keep within their establishments sane men! Their conduct is narrowly watched: they are under strict surveillance; the slightest doubt engendered in the mind of a visitor-the slightest hint or suspicion of unfair play-will be sufficient to induce an investigation which must of necessity lead to the truth." And yet numbers of such men-perfectly sane men, men who have never been on any point insane- -have been ever since detained in these dens without a chance of communicating with the worldnotwithstanding the existence of those elaborate Acts of

and un

Parliament-notwithstanding the "zeal" of our legislators- Heartless notwithstanding the "energy" and "integrity" of those principled heartless and unprincipled placemen, who have done absolutely placemen nothing. Legislature.

in the

A SLAVE SALE IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.
(To the Editor of the Morning Advertiser.)

account of the ale of

bear tiful

fema e

SIR,-I beg to hand you an interesting account of the sale of Interesting a very beautiful female slave; it is an extract from the correspondent of the New York Tribune, dated the 14th March, a very 1856:-"May I give your readers a brief sketch of one or two scenes I have witnessed to-day? Here is a row of well-dressed slave. girls, from fifteen to twenty years of age, awaiting their turn to ascend the auction-block, while a number of men and boys are being sold. They are surrounded by a group of sensual-looking men, young and old, asking them all sorts of immodest questions-feeling their ancles, arms, and bosoms-while those trembling and sensitive ones have no power of resistance; now their turn comes to ascend the table and be placed under the auctioneer's hammer. Nora is called for. She ascends the steps, and for the time being is the observed of all observers. She is dressed with true artistic skill, to set off her fine form; flowing sleeves, which are soon to be thrown back to display the gracefully-rounded arm; a nicely-wrought stomacher of the whitest cambric; her raven hair half-trimmed with ribbons; a slight dash of African blood can be seen in her cheeks, which only increases her beauty; lecherous looking men gather closer, anxious to secure the prize; and now the auctioneer begins. 'What is bid, gentlemen, for this beautiful girl? Only sixteen; sold for no fault; brought up in a genteel family; right and title good; warranted sound every way. What is bid, gentlemen? Six hundred dollars, I hear; six! six! six! six! six! six!' Fifty!' "Thank you; six hundred and fifty dollars is bid. Seven hundred I hear. Seven! seven! seven!-going for seven hundred dollars; seven!' Twenty-five!' 'Seven, twenty-five! seven.' 'Fifty!' 'Seven, fifty; do I hear, any more? Why, gentlemen -mark her beautiful form! See her well-shaped foot and hands for gracefully turned ancle;'-at the same time raising her clothes sale.

An

tioneer describing the qui lid of

ties of a

in his

placed