The Reviewer. Recollections of Edward Capern. By W. ORMOND. THERE is a dash and spiciness in the way Mr. Ormond gives his "Recollections of Edward Capern," the rural postman-poet of Bideford, North Devon, which shows a good deal of "fellow-feeling," which since the days of the old Bristolian Coleridge, as it has been admitted, "makes us wondrous kind." We like the frank, kindly manner in which he allows his feelings to gush out in admiration. It would be shameful were we from this small tract to cull its choice passages, and hence we advise all those who wish to know what manner of man this poet of and for the people is "at home," to get Ormond's "Recollections." They will find them worth a place among their treasured pamphlets, and will be glad to bind them up in some bundle of loved and loveworthy tracts regarding our songs and song-writers,-those who have uttered "voices for the crowd.' A Lecture on the English Reformation. By EDMUND WELLS SIMMONS, M.R.C.P. London: W. Kent and Co. THERE is great pith and force in this lecture. As we read it, it seems thoroughly adapted for delivery. In saying this, we do not praise it as a piece of composition intended for the eye, but for the ear; not as intended primarily to instruct, but to rouse and stir. In a rapid sweep of thought the lecturer discloses much of the moral grandeur of the work of Wycliffe, the singular religious indifferentism of Henry VIII., the labours of Cranmer; and shows the religious purpose which overruled all the events of that time. Sarcasm mingles with the more serious parts in an effective manner, and there is an outspoken bravery in some of the points made which is somewhat uncommon. Some of these, however, seem to us to mar, in a measure, the unity of the ole. We have received from the perusal a favourable impression of the ability, earnestness, religiousness, and culture of the lecturer, and wish his tract had met our eye somewhat earlier. Living in Earnest; with Lessons and Incidents from the Lives. of the Great and Good. By JOSEPH JOHNSON. London: T. Nelson and Sons. WB seize this opportunity of drawing the attention of our readers to this new work, from the pen of one whose contributions have frequently enriched our volumes. It is written in a cheerful, interesting style, and is full of great facts and stirring thoughts. As an elegant though cheap present to a young man, we know of nothing equal to it. Its author deserves these "good words. The Topic. WAS SIR GEORGE GREY JUSTIFIED IN PREVENTING THE INFLICTION OF THE SENTENCE OF DEATH UPON TOWNLEY? AFFIRMATIVE. SIR GEORGE GREY obeyed the Act of Parliament on the subject. His conduct was constitutional, and therefore justifiable. The parties who collusively employed themselves to bring about this evident miscarriage of justice, however, are much to blame. Though Sir George Grey was justified by the letter of the law in untying the noose round the neck of Townley, it is questionable how far it is right to permit the men who supplied him with the means of at once obeying the letter, and breaking the spirit of the law, to go free. If there is a law against conspiracy, we might hear a little more of the case. Sir George Grey's justification is only capable of being shown by the crimination of others.-EYE. Lunacy and crime are such near neighbours, and so often exhibit similar phases, that there must always be a great difficulty in acting the part assigned to the Secretary of State, and of discriminating between crime and lunacy. But as Sir George Grey acted on the best available advice, and in accordance with a distinct law regarding the infliction of capital punishment on lunatic convicts, he has exonerated himself from literal blame, although we may still think that the Occasion jumped with his liking, or it might not have been easy to save Townley.-LEX. This question is simply whether Townley should have been respited or not, supposing it to be right to punish murder with death. The reply would then hinge upon the problem of the prisoner's sanity or insanity. That he was insane, we think the whole cir nesses cumstances of the murder appear to justify. No adequate cause or provocation can be discovered sufficiently strong to impel a man in his right mind to the committal of the deed with which he was charged. Could a sane mind destroy that which it loves or ever did truly love? His insanity was confirmed by two medical witat the trial, who gave their evidence, as Baron Martin told the Secretary of State, "in the strongest manner." So that we believe Sir G. Grey was justified in preventing the infliction of death upon moral grounds. When a certificate, signed according to law, by three justices and two medical men, was forwarded to Sir G. Grey, attesting Townley's insanity, we cannot doubt but they must have had an opportunity of knowing such to be the case; and Sir G. Grey had no other course open but to respite Townley. Thus Sir G. Grey was also justified in respiting him on legal grounds.J. W. A. Under all the circumstances, Sir George Grey was justified in the conduct pursued by him; indeed, he had no alternative but to follow the terms of the Act of Parliament 3 and 4 Vic., cap. 54 (4th of August, 1840). If there was any fault committed, Sir G. Grey was not guilty of it; that Townley ought to have been hanged, there is, however, now no doubt in my mind, his supposed insanity being proven to be all a sham on his part.R. D. R. The act 3rd and 4th Victoria, c. 54, provides that if two medical men, and two justices of the peace, certify the insanity of any prisoner, it shall be lawful for the Secretary of State to order his immediate removal to a lunatic asylum. According to this act, it was binding upon the Secretary of State, after having received a certificate duly signed, to order Townley's removal to Bethlehem Hospital, and it is only an act of justice to Sir G. Grey to say, that from first to last his conduct in regard to Townley has shown a studied adherence to the law. The act only says that "it shall be lawful" for the Secretary of State to transfer the prisoner to a lunatic asylum. The precise force of the meaning of these words is open to controversy; but one thing we are perfectly sure is not open to controversy, viz., that when an Act of Parliament which bears upon any criminal is of doubtful construction, or when the precise duty of the Government is not clearly pointed out, the decision should take that form that is most favourable to the prisoner. Therefore, by the Act of Parliament, Sir G. Grey was fully justified in "preventing the infliction of the sentence of death upon Townley."-NOM DE GUerre. NEGATIVE. Townley, after fair trial and just sentence, was respited by trickery, and has now had the trickery of his advocate rewarded by the highest functionary in the State with reprieve. This is not right. It fools justice. It rewards deception; it enables the man of matchless effrontery to escape from the legal penalty of his crime, and to laugh at law, if he can only outface and braggart it in deceit. Out upon the system which makes a joke of justice, and makes deception productive of greater advantage than honesty! -JACK RAG. After sentence of death, Townley was said to be insane, and was sent to a lunatic asylum, but he has now been declared to be sane, and for this double-dyed guilt of murder and imposition he is to be made a gentleman of, and have his emigration fare and outfit paid for by the public. In a few years he will be able to set up for a gentleman in the land of his enforced adoption, or may even return to this country to occupy a station as a ticket-of-leave man. Hence Sir George Grey has decided that an impostor deserves greater mercy than a confessed criminal, and has given us Wright, an honest, confessed murdérer, hanged; and Townley, an impostor and murderer, unhanged and almost pardoned.-GEfle. It has been said that Sir George Grey "had no choice but to obey the law." But the Act of Parliament which the Home Secretary so ostentatiously paraded before the nation in justification of his conduct, is obviously permissive, and not compulsory. If ever there was a case requiring special vigilance on the part of the executive, here, surely, was one. Townley's friends had exerted themselves to the utmost to convince the jury of his insanity; in the majority of similar cases, where the friends of the accused are sufficiently wealthy, the like plea is put forward, and endeavoured to be maintained; and yet Sir George Grey, immediately on receiving the report of a self-constituted commission, conceives himself bound, without further investigation, to obey a law which was evidently framed, not to compel the Government to accept the dictates of any two magistrates and any two doctors that may combine to take advantage of its provisions, but to afford facilities for safe action when a prima facie case already exists. The fact that a competent commission have satisfied themselves beyond a doubt that the murderer is now, at least, perfectly sane, throws great doubt on the impartiality and competency of those who previously examined him; and almost renders any argument needless to prove that it was an unjustifiable mistake on the part of the Home Secretary to interfere with the due course of law.-R. P. Townley was convicted by the jury as sane when he committed the crime, and the concurrence of the judge in the decision of the jury was candidly ex pressed and generally approved. In addition to these facts, the prisoner has been declared to be sane now, and the Act of Parliament on which Sir George Grey based his procedure requires, fairly interpreted, that in this event the culprit shall be hanged. If the removal of a condemned criminal to a lunatic asylum to ascertain the condition of his mind is synonymous with the commutation of his sentence, the sooner the law be amended the better, as such removal is obviously an act of supererogation, if it is not a delusion and a snare. The animadversions which have been passed on the Home Secretary are not unjustifiable; for while, in common with others, we deem the life of a human being far too sacred to be sacrificed either to official caprice or to popular clamour, we think the case of George Victor Townley has been invested with a false importance, public justice has been eluded, and public feeling to some extent outraged.-F. C. C. If there ever was a case that called for non-intervention between the letter of the law and the criminal, Townley's was that case. A murder of the most brutal description, without a shadow of extenuating circumstances about it, conceived and planned with fiendish malignity, executed cruelly and shamefully, and then gloried in foully and disgustingly, is surely not the sort of offence that deserves any mercy to be shown to it. No, the law should have taken its course, and Townley should have been allowed to suffer the penalty (expedient or not) the law attaches to the crime that he committed so wantonly, for many infinitely less guilty men than he have perished on the scaffold. The thanks of the country are due to the Derbyshire magistrates who have so successfully exposed the gross interference with justice that was sought to be perpetrated by Townley's friends at the expense of the majestic impartiality of the law. It will not do to allow the slightest suspicion of any unfair and underhand dealings with the execution of justice in this country to be entertained by the people, and the common sense of Englishmen at once cried out shame upon those who would make one law for the rich-for Townley,-and another for the poor for Wright. Perhaps Home Secretaries will in time learn that private and class interests must not, in a matter like this, be set above the just and necessary equality of all men before the law.-J. G. J. mysterious memories, when suddenly we feel that what we are doing or saying has been done or said by us before, in some dim time. (Allusions to this are found in the ancients, in various German theosophists, in Scott, Bulwer, Dickens, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Tupper, &c.,— but only allusions, not explanations.) 2. Premonitions (I reject the theory of an immediate interference of Providence). 3. That subtle sympathy which directs thought or conversation to some person who is unexpectedly approaching. 4. Love at first sight (which, though not the rule, is yet frequent). 5. Instant antipathies. 6. The power of strong minds (Cæsar, Cromwell, Napoleon) to link their fates with some object or time. 7. Clairvoyance, like Swedenborg's. I shall be much obliged for information. En passant, I may state that I adopt as a canon,-In supersensuous matters, the reason of the heart is to be preferred to the reason of the head.-T. 440. Will any of your able contributors be kind enough to favour me with an answer to the following?What are the chief points of dispute in the present Danish war? Give a brief summary of them.-J. F. 441. What is the origin of the term "hot crossed" buns, or rolls, sold on Good Fridays?-—R. D. R. 66 REPLIES. 427. Common Sense.-There is no difference between the ordinary and the philosophical signification of the term common sense." The difference would be in designation or definition, the fact would be the same. Here are two definitions-the best, perhaps, which can be selected:-"There is a certain degree of sense which is necessary to our being subjects of law and government, capable of managing our own affairs, and answerable for our conduct to others. This is called common sense, because it is common to all men with whom we can transact business. The same degree of understanding which makes a man capable of acting with common prudence in life makes him capable of dis 66 cerning what is true and what is false in matters that are self-evident, and which he distinctly apprehends."Reid," Intell. Powers." 'It is by the help of an innate power of distinction that we recognize the differences of things, as it is by a contrary power of composition that we recognize their identities. These powers, in some degrees, are common to all minds; and as they are the basis of our whole knowledge (which is of necessity either affirmative or negative), they may be said to constitute what we call common sense."-Harris, " Philosoph. Arrangements," chap. 9.—J. J. Common Sense. The best way to get this question thoroughly answered is to read Sir William Hamilton's Dissertation on "The Philosophy of Common Sense" in his edition of Reid's Works, pp. 742-803,-a most exhaustive and informing treatise.— R. M. A. 428. A morganatic marriage is one between a man of superior and a woman of inferior rank. In such a marriage it is stipulated that the woman and her children shall not enjoy the rank, nor inherit the possessions, of her husband.-S. S. The word "morganatic signifies a marriage between a man of high rank and a woman of lower birth, but which does not confer the customary privileges of his rank, or the right of inheritance. The word is of German origin; I should imagine it could be found in any good dictionary. It is contained in Ogilvie's "Imperial Dictionary (Supplement), and in Richardson's "Etymological Dictionary."-MARWOOD H. 429. As I happen to know all the text-books for the matriculation examination of the University of London, I think I can give "Theophilus" all the information he would require to know on the subject. He must get a London University Calendar, which will tell him the exact points he must get up in each of his books, and which will contain some of the recent examination papers. |