Late last week Sir George Grey, at the suggestion of
the Judge who tried him, ordered an inquiry into the present state of Mr. G. V. Townley's mind. The Judge expressed himself, it is said, per- fectly satisfied with the verdict, but doubtful whether the guilty man, though sane at the time of the murder, were sane now. The medical men appointed for this purpose have reported Mr. Townley of unsound mind, and the Home Secretary has reprieved him, and ordered him to be detained in a lunatic asylum at her Majesty's pleasure. No question seems to have been raised as to the sanity of Mr. Townley when he committed the murder, but only as to the result of the suspense and imprisonment on his intellect. We suppose there is something that might be deemed inhuman by the popular instinct in executing any one whose mind cannot be supposed to grasp fully the moral cause for that execution. Is it that the popular imagination fancies some change in the person- ality,—thinks the lunatic, for instance, a different person from the sane man who was justly held responsible for and guilty of the murder? Or is it that Sir George Grey only attributes this im- pression to the popular imagination ? Any way it is curious that the insanity, which diminishes the worth of life, should make it more sacred in the eye of the Government.
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