vr NARRATIVE OF THE RECENT DIFFICULTIES IN THE PROVINCIAL LUNATIC ASYLUM IN DEDICATED TO THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, ^W$t> TO THE PRESIDING OFFICERS OF LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN EUROPE AND AMERICA. TORONTO: 1849. \ * * In drawing up this Narrative, the author has frequently availed himself of the arguments furnished through the columns of the Toronto Examiner. FOR A SYNOPSIS OF THE WHOLE MATTER SEE THE LAST FAGE. Printed at the Office of the Toronto Examiner. NARRATIVE OF THE ASYLUM DIFFICULTIES, BY GEO. H. PARK. Upon assuming the duties of Medical Superintendent of the Temporary Provincial Lunatic Asylum, under an appointment from His Excellency the Governor-General, on the 14th day of June, 1848, the laws hy which it was governed becam- the subject of my immediate attention. They were remo- delled in the year 1843, and received the sanction of the Government. The following is a copy of them : — OFFICERS OF THE I^STITUTIOIV: STEWARD, MATRON, PORTER, KEEKERS, NURSES, ORDINARY SERVANTS. COMMISSIONERS. The Commissioners shall meet regularly once a-week (Thursday at 10 o'clock)) for the purpose of examining into the state of the Institution and condition of the patients, hearing all complaints, hiring and discharging servants, receiving tenders for contracts, examining accounts, and generally taking cognizance of all matters connected with the Institution ; they shall appoint from their number one or more in rotation, whose duty shall he to inspect the Institution'daily recording their names, hour of visiting and remarks, in a hook to be kepi for that purpose ; see that the patients are properly attended to, and supplied with wholesome food, &.C., and, in conjunction with the Medical Superintendent, make such arransements for the week as may be deemed advisable ; they shall be expected to report annually upon the expenditure and general state of the Institution. MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT. The Medical Superintendent shall visit the Institution regularly at least three times a day, not only for the purpose of medically treating the patients, but also with a view to seeing the moral government properly enforced : at each visit he shall enter his name in a book to be kept for that purpose : it is desirable that his visits he so timed as occasionally to afford him an opportunity of seeing the patients at their meals, and also after they have retired to bed ;—when ahsent, he ehall leave word with the Steward where he is to be found ; he shall daily mark down, in a Diet Roll, the diet prescribed to each patient; and shall keep a book wherein to enter the name, sex, age, species of mania, probable causes of disease (proximate and remote,} duration of disease previou* to admission, termination thereof. &c;—he shall also keep another book, setting forth a concise history cf the case, together with the daily medical treatment and symptoms ; shall neither admit nor discharge any patient without the sand ion of the Commissioners ;— he shall generally superin- tend everything connected wi.h the internal management of the Institution and the well-being of the patients, see that his directions relative to the medical and moral treatment of the patients are properly attended to, shall be present, (if required) at the Weekly Meetings of the Commissioners, and shall annually furnish a Medical Report. STEWARD. The Steward shall under no circumstances absent himself from the Institution without permis- sion from the Superintendent or Board of Commissioners ;—he shall be strictly subject to the con- troul of the Medical Superintendent; shall be responsible for the cleanliness of the male patients and of the part of the Institution appropriated to them ; shall see that the instructions of the Medical Superintendent relative lo the medical treatment and moral government of the patients are properly earned into effect;—he shall draw out the Weekly Diet Roll, and see that the food is of good quality (according to contract,) properly dressed and served;—he shall, upon the admission of each patient, deliver his wearing apparel, &c, into the charge of the Matron, receiving an acknowledgment of the same, and shall be responsible for all articles delivered by her into his charge for the use of the patients, and all furniture, &c, appertaining to the male wards;—he shall 4 report any misconduct of the keepers or servants, or any other irregularity occurring in the house, to the Medical Superintendent and Visiting Commissioner, and also to the Board at their weekly meeting ;—he shall have charge of everything out of doors connected with the Institution, see that a good supply of fire-wood, properly cut, is constantly on hand, and regularly furnished to the several wards, both male and female ;—he shall; when called upon by the Superintendent of the Female Wards, render such assistance as may be required in controlling disorderly patients ;—he shall keep a book wherein to enter the name, sex, age, religion, country, late residence, &c, of each patient, date of admission and discharge, under what circumstances admitted, (pauper or pay-patient,) names of tht- person or persons by whom he is brought to the Asylum, and so forth ;—he shall see that the convalescent male patients are properly exercised, and usefully and exclusively employed for the benefit of the Institution;—he shall attend the meetings of the Commissioners (when required,) keep minutes of their proceedings and correspondence and generally be responsible for the good order of the Institution ;—he shall keep all the accounts. MATRON. The Matron shall be responsible for all articles belonging to the Institution committed to her charge, and also for all articles belonging to the patients delivered over to her, shall keep inven- tories of the same ;—she shall attend to the cleanliness of the Institution, see that the wards for female patients are regularly scoured and cleansed, the patients apparel in good ordei and clean ;— she shall see that the several meals are properly dressed, and served at regular stated periods ; in fine, she shall generally attend to all matters appertaining to house-keeping;—she shall note down daily and report to the Medical Superintendent, and to the Visitor, any disorderly conduct which may come under ber observation. PORTER. The Porter shall ba subject to the instructions of the Medical Superintendent and Steward ; he shall keep the door, and see that nothing belonging to the Institution is carried out, and that neither spirits, or any other article whatsoever We brought in to the patients by their friends, or otherwise, without permission;—he shall take care that no person has access to the patients without authority, and that no person be permitted to inspect the Institution without permission from the Medical Superintendent, or a Commissioner. KEEPERS. The Keepers shall be persons of good character, humane, &c; they shall sleep in their several wards, shall obey the instructions delivered to them by the Medical Superintendent, Steward or Matron, as the case may be :—they shall wash and cleanse the patients tegularly and dress them;— they shall administer the medicines prescribed, and perform the necessary dressings at the times and in the manner directed ;—they shall be civil and respectful to the Steward and Matron, and generally conduct themselves in an unexceptionable manner. ADMISSION OF PATIENTS. The Medical Superintendent shall be the exclusive judge of those persons who are fit objects for admission. Persons who are unable to pay one dollar per week for their maintenance, shall be deemed paupers, and admitted as such. Prior to the admission of a Pa.iper Lunatic, a certificate shall be iodged with the Commissioners, signed by a Clergyman and two Magistrates, from the immediate neighbourhood where such Lunatic resides, stating that, from the evidence they have in their possession, they are of opinion that the said Lunatic (if an adult) does not possess property to the amouut of £25 ; if a minor, that his or her parents, or guardians, are unable to advance the necessary funds. The several Districts shall be deemed liable for all expenses incurred in con- veying a Pauper Lunatic to the Asylum, also the expenses of re-conveying him or her back agaia to their friends, when discharged, cured, relieved, or incurable, together with the funeral expenses, as the case may be. Persons not admitted as Paupers will be expected to contribute to the funds of the Institution, such sums of money as the Commissioners may deem adequate to defray their expenses when in the Institution Alt such payments must be made in advance. A little reflection upon my situation, and a very short experience in it, afforded unpleasant expectation of difficulties and embarrassments. The sequel will show the personal enmities which were early brought to bear against me. I found the Asylum in a sad condition with respect to its financial afiaiis, and as to discipline, clothing, cleanliness and ventilation. These derangements were traceable to an imperfect domestic Police. Among the officers and servants, disorders and dissensions were frequently arising, and engaging the attention of the Board. Intoxication prevailed to an extent destructive of all subordination in servants or good order in the esta- blishment This insubordination was aggravated by the certain protection the Commissioners afforded the servants, of any class, against the complaints made against them by the Medical Superintendent; who, (surrounded by 5 Keepers and nurses whose discharge he had sought in vain) could neither en- joy their confidence nor insure their obedience. An active superintendency seemed only to lead to renewed dissension and disappointment; and every resulting inquiry only reduced still lower in the scale the moral influence of the complainant. Dr. Rees, (as appears from the records of the Institution) pursued its interests with zeal. His contest for faithful and efficient servants was itself an evil; yet success or failure depended on it. During the superintendency of this learned gentleman, an appeal was made by him to the late Lord Metcalfe, whose comprehensive knowledge of these subjects enabled him to dictate a remedy, which might and ought to have prevailed. Extract of a Despatch to the Commissioners, dated 2ith July, 1844, from D. Daly, Provincial Secretary. " His Excellency also considers, that the selection of Keepers, and other persons employed to attend upon the patients, should be vested in the Medical Supeiintendent, subject, to the approval of the Board of Commissioners ; as he ought to be the best judge of their fidelity, and from his observations on the state and progress of the patients, to form an accurate judgment of the fidelity of the attendants." This sensible adjudication appears to have been resisted by the Board ; and this resistance, or rather this contumacy, is noticed in the Minues of Council, hereafter given, with approbation, and pronounced unaccountably effectual against its validity. If the selection should be vested in the Medical Superintendent, it is obvious that the recommendation of a discharge should be duly respected. The undischarged servants, confederated with the Commissioners, soon effected the ruin of Dr. Rees. Dr. Telfer succeeded him. His published letters show that he was sur- rounded by the same difficulties. Notwithstanding the most respectful re- monstrances, he. was obliged to receive and retain servants against whom he had made frequent and series charges, and whom he would not allow even to accompany him in his official visits. This learned gentleman, also, found the useful discharge of his duty impracticable, and his life in the asylum as miser- able as it should have been happy. By continuing in this humiliating position, the subordination of the servants and his moral influence in the asvlum, were utterly destroyed ; and his destruction was ultimately and easily arcom- plished by witnesses, whose personal hostility had been engendered by his own fidelity in office. The same disgraceful system has been practiced against me ; and in order to deceive the country and the government, every outrage of this kind is ac- companied by the reiteration of the most sanctimonious protestations of a dis- position " by rule and by practice to render the servants strictly subordinate to the Medical Superintendent"—and " never to retain any whom that officer thinks unsuited to his duties"; and even "to dismiss merely because that officer has requested it." Under such a system of hypocrisy and abuse, every institution must pass into a state of moral and physical disorder, and every Medical Superintendent be exposed to insult and degraded by failure. Perhaps the first offence I gave in the asylum, arose from my wish to press forward the Rev. Commissioner Grassett into the attic upon a visitorial tour* The Rev. gentleman had ascended the stairs, when the effluvia from the room seemed to arrest his humane purpose. Some importunity induced him somewhat further to advance, when the olfactory impression dissipated hig 6 resolution, and he retreated with an agility I did not attempt to follow. In the very room from which these noisome emanations proceeded, were seventy of my fellow crentures, who lived there night and day unpitied and unknown : some were naked,sleeping upon straw thrown coarsely on the ground ; others, less benighted in their immortal part, occupied cells so small and so close and so fail, as to impair their health, retard their recovery and aggravate their doom. Away from those friends, whose tenderness nature has (by a law Divine) made to enlarge with their afflictions, they suffered without sympathy and were wronged without redress. From the Rev. Mr. Roaf I received an early insult. A patient, when restored to reason, is, according to the Laws, discharged by the Board, not by the Medical Superintendent. But the difficulty and delay in obtaining the signature of the Visiting Commissioner, (sometimes a serious inconveni- ence) not easily endured in a matter of which the Medical Superintendent can be the only pioper judge. The Board had remarked to me that I had better at once discharge, and let them confirm it—on one occasion I did so; for the Rev. Mr. Roaf, who was Visiting Commissioner, lives three miles out of the city,—and when in it, one can scarcely be expected, for such a point, to hunt him up among the Banks or on the Exchange. Upon the Steward present- ing the paper for his signature, he peremptorily refused, in censorious terms, unbecoming towards me, when addressed to an officer under me. Learning that the Reverend Commissioner was in the neighbourhood, I brought him to the Asylum and wished the matter adjusted for the patient's sake : He re- fused. Such captious proceedings impeded the transaction of business,—and tended, moreover, to impair my position before the house-hold. 1 therefore requested the Rev. Mr. Roaf when he had any objection to the formality of my acts, not in the future to animadvert upon them to the ser- vants, but address himself to me, whom he would ever find ready to amend an error. Obtaining leave of absence for six weeks, I left Dr. Rolph in charge, who continued to observe every forbearance, under the expectation that the gov- ernment intended, as some of its members had avowed, to alter the system— an intention not really entertained, as declared by the official Pilot of the 10th instant. The following minute to the Board, by Dr. Rolph, will explain the origin of an early difficulty :— Toronto Lunatic Asylum, ll//t August, 1848. Upon visiting the Asylum this morning, I find the usual harmony disturbed by a letter addressed by the keeper Hungerford, to the Rev. John Roaf as a Commissioner, stating : — " that June Ham lton, the Nuise in the Parliamei t Building?, is very unwell, that the Steward "and Matron of the Institution intend to procure her discharge, in consequence of bad health, *'—that all the old Keepers, Nurses, &c, seem to be very obnoxious to them, and thai she 11 now claims the protection oi the Commissioners and the Rev. John Roaf in particular.1' Upon visiting again in the afternoon, and evening, I find that circumstances have pre- vented any action being taken upon the matter. Ths Rev. John Roaf has left the letter with the Steward, to take what course he pleased upon it. It has been placed before me as Medical Superintendent, pro tern. My opinion is decided, that no servant can be properly or safely retained in ihe Asvlum, who has arrayed himself against one of its principal officers, and made himself the communi- cant of jealousies, alleged to pervade all the servants of the Branch Establishment.—should the old keepers and nurse* entertain these feelings, their dischaige is also necrssary for the good working and prosperity of the Institution. It is obviously proper that all the servants should enjoy the confidence of their immediate superiors, whose instructions they have hourly to receive, and obey, and that servants should resign, when avowedly distrustful of those under whom they act. 7 The documents placed before me show that there is no foundation for these prejudicial assumptions, and there are no qualifications in Ilungerford as a keeper, to compensate for this gratuitous misb -haviour. In the absence of other authority to act in the course of the day, I have deemed it my duty at once to exempt the Steward, and myself, Irom his further services. I have accord- ingly requested the Steward to suspend him fiom his duties, report the case to the Commis- sioners at their next meeting, and lo make temporary provision to supply the deficiency. Jane Hamilton, being still an invalid and temporarily relieved of her duties, there is no necessity for considering immediately the pnrt sne seems to have token in this affair. But I have requested the Steward not to place her oguin on duty until further advised. JOHN ROLPH, Acting Med. Supariittendent. The letter embodied in this minute having been addressed to the Rev« Commissioner Roaf, and received by him, it was in his power to dispose of Jt in any way he pleased. Many courses were open to him. He might have put it into the fire ; he might have returned v to Hungerford, with the admo- nition of a friend ; but, when the Uev. Commissioner Roaf decided to take action on it in an official character, it became him to observe and not to violate the By-laws of the Ins itution —laws which, when once enacted and published, are equally binding upon all. By reference to these laws, the reader will observe that the incidents of the week belong to the visiting Commissioner and the Medical Superintendent; to both of whom (as well as to the Board at their weekly meeting) the Steward is bound to report any misconduct of the keepers or servants, or any other irregularity occurring in the House. The greatest confusion, if not collision, would obviously be hazarded, should all the eleven members of the Board, at their pleasure, transgress the laws by ob- truding upon every matter their officious interference and conflicting directions ; and leave the medical superintendent, the visiting commissioner, and all the household, perplexed whom to obey or what to do. It would be like eleven physicians intermeddling each by his prescription, with an unfortunate patient, ► who, however well he might be managed by one of them, would certainly perish under the nostrums of all ! Decorum, therefore, required the Rev. Commissioner Roaf, as a minister and a gent'eman.to abstain from any unwarrantable obtrusion of himself upon the domestic events of the week. He might, indeed, have kept the letter in his pocket until the next meeting of the Board, and have left them to take action on it. It was further open to him to confer with the medical superin- tendent, who is required by the by-laws " generally to superintend every thing connected with the internal management, of the institution." If he entertained any unworthy jealousies respecting the authority and influence of the medical superintendent, he had the further choice of putting the matter into the hands of the visiting commissioner, Professor Beaumont. The other commissioners were not strangers to this delicacy of official deportment ; for, when the steward reported to Mr. Cawthra the suspension, and the cause of it, and the oiher objections to Hungetford as a keeper, that gentleman said " he could not interfere, but sent his compliments to Professor Beaumont, and that were he visiting commissioner he would take upon himself to discharge him." But the Rev. Commissioner Roaf, treating superciliously both the medical superintendent and visiting commissioner, stept out of his sphere in the assumption of an extra-visitorial function (never assumed before) and brought the letter, the writer of it, and the officer offended by it, into immediate col- lision. Having thus presumed to intermeddle, an opportunity presented itself 8 for the interposition of that spirit of pacification by which excitement is often allayed, the kindling from collision averted, and a christian harmony preserv* d. The interference was, indeed, in him as an individual, insubordination towards the laws, the Board, and the Institution; but, in adopting this exceptionable course, the Kev. commissioner might have undertaken to settle the whole matter while he was about it. Warmly as steward Ramsey felt upon the subject, what might not have been the effect of a short sermon (nay, he might have humbled all in prayer upon their knees) for the purpose of bringing a timely acknowledgment from the party offending, and awakening emotions of conciliation in the one offende'd—a sentiment, 1 fully believe, to which the steward would ever be ready to respond, if duty happened not to overrule it. Such, however, was not the spirit to which this interview gave birth, even under the auspices of a christian divine. The following incident, as related at the time of excitement, will partially convey to the reader what his knowledge of human nature must more fully supply. When the steward and keeper had been thus officiously and unofficially confronted ; when the causes of these lurking jealousies were explained and their groundlessness exposed ; and when the Rev. commissioner Roaf had justly said " he did not see what the man had to say for himself," and left the letter for the steward to take what course he pleased upon it; the steward, in his excitement, ordered the keeper peremptorily to leave the room. In closing the door, it struck the heels of the retiring keeper, who in his turn re-opened the door to tell the officer of it, who again shut it on him with feeliugs not less disturbed than before. "A small spark may be made to kindle a great fire." And even at this juncture there was room for the ennobling duty of extinguishing the flame which was about to kindle other minds throughout the whole household, by effecting, through his influence, the instant suppression of the causes before they were diffused through the Asylum beyond redemption. It must, too, be observed that Steward Ramsey was injured in his feelings not only by the imputations thus brought home to him by a commissioner, but by the daily irritation of 4 latent jealousies, often, in such situations, painfully felt, though not so easily assigned ; by ill-will, both secret and open, arising from unavailing attempts to mingle real kindness with the unqualified requirement of active duty from persons long accustomed to a compromising systt m ; from curtailing past in- dulgences, amounting to official abuses; and from insisting on the necessary observance of those rules of respectful deportment which former laxity had unfortunately superseded. Thus one keeper has his threat that he is keeping his notes to tell against those of his superiors who keep notes too; others rudely and stentoriously call from one story to another, Ramsey ! Ramsey! and kept their hats unceremoniously on their heads (though not Quakers) upon going on business into his room; while another offered a pinch of snuff to the medical superintendent on his tour through the wards, and another as coolly smoked his pipe. Although some of the commissioners lightly esteemed such irregularities, and even condemned the steward for his innovations, yet 1 fully agree with Dr. Rolph, with whom the steward was then co-operating, that, whatever laxity gentlemen may choose to encourage out-of-doors, it is of primary importance within an Asylum to regulate all habits, deportment, and language, so as to contribute to the moral treatment, improvement and eleva- tion of the insane. Few men, placed in steward Ramsey's situation, would, in my opinion, have displayed, under the like combination of circumstances, less excitement than he did, from the above interview. 9 But, in offering these painful strictures in mv defence, it is due to the Rev. commissioner to express a possible belief, that, connecting this transaction with the past state of the institution, wilh the jealousies which were springing and growing from the continued efforts of the steward, in conjunction with the medical superintendent, to correct insubordination, enforce duty and put down abuses, he deemed it impolitic and unjustifiable to leave these animosities to be further fomented against the officers of the Institution without a prompt and decided correction. This view, however, leaves no apology for the incon- sistent course afterwards pursued, and the persecution to which I was subse- quently exposed, especially as Mr. Cawthra declared he would take upon himself to discharge him In Dr. Rolph's minute to the Board, he states, in addition to the offence of the letter itself, that " there are no qualifications in Hungerford as a keeper to compensate for this gratuitous misbehaviour." This language is quite as Btrong as should be required of a Medical Superintendent, against a servant: particularly as it was connected with a complaint against him, founded (as heretofore shown) on a letter engendering dissensions between the servants and officers of the Institution, and addressed very specially to the Rev. Mr. Roaf, who, neither suppressing the communication nor returning it to the writer, nor reserving it for the action of the Board, at its next meeting, passed by the medical superintendent and visiting commissioner for the week, (to both of whom the incidents of the week by the laws belonged,) and stepping out of his sphere in the assumption of an extra-visitonal function, (never assumed before,) brought the letter, the writer of it, and the officer offended by it, into immediate collision ; and seemingly regarding the offence of a magnitude not to justify his availing himself of the exciting occasion, for the pacification of the parties, delivered the letter to the party injured, expressly to take what course he pleased upon it. A medical superintendent appointed by the Crown, appealed to under such circumstances, to extinguish the angry feelings thus enkindled in the asylum which he superintended, could neither doubt the sufficiency of the offence in the eyes of the Commissioners, nor expect his action on it to be regarded as trivial or frivolous. As the Rev. Mr. Roaf had succeeded in this unofficial, and, to the medical superintendent, embarrassing intrusion, in thus privately producing discord without remedying it; and as the visiting commissioner, Dr. Beaumont, neither on that nor on previous days visited the Asylum, the medical superintendent was alone to act. The right of suspension by the medical superintendent, it is criminal in the Commissioners to deny. To assert that a servant, if insolent to the physician or other officer, or inflicting violence on the lunatics or reeling drunk through the wards, cannot be suspended or interfered with, till the scattered commissioners shall assemble, is so utterly untenable as to need no disproof. It was, indeed, exercised by Dr. Rees ; particularly in the case of Wallace, whom he suspended and did not allow to entei the wards. The steward was required in writing by Dr. Rolph to inform him of any causes real or imaginary" for the alleged jealousies, and for any further information respecting Hungerford as a keeper. He promptly furnished the following TarricuWs as among the probable causes of a bad feeling among the servants, Ed iS opinion that the retent.on of Hungerford as a keeper was opposed to the peace and interests of the House:— #• let. I only allow one hour fir the keepers to have at each meal, and they usually, as they say, had longer time. 10 2nd. I have prohibited the Cook?, Housemaids, and Laundresses, going in and out of the In tuulion without permission from myself, matron or medical superintendent; this they were never used to before. 3rd. The steward will not advance money to servants before it is due; this they have not been accustomed to. 4th. The steward will not allow the keepers boarding out of the Institution to have any firewood from the stock belonging to the Institution, as heretofore ; the keepers say they always paid Mr. Cronyn for what he gave from the House supply. 5th. The steward refuses to be re.*nonsb!c to any tradesman for flour, groceries, wood, or anything else, for any servant in the Institution; this is likewise contrary to their post usage. 6th. The Beer struck off the keepers which are boarding out of the Institution and receiving full pay from ihe Government, consequently they are not entitled to such a treat : —two of these keepers are Hungerford and Craig." " Cautioned by yourself for loose and improper conduct in smoking tobacco in the attic in your presence when visiting Hie patients. Sent Hungerford to breakfast at 7J o'clock, A. M., and directed him to proceed up Queen Street, near to the Blue Bell Tavern, to search after Jennings, a patient who made his escape from the Institution ; he returned ut II\ o'clock, A. M., under ibe influence of liquor, after being four hours absent." This additional offence of intoxication was further brought to the know- ledge of the Board by Dr. Rolph when examined by them. The Board object that Dr. Rolph requested the keeper to be discharged on the original complaint, without being obliged to make an addition to it, before his application could prevail, and the keeper had reason to feel that the medical superintendent had effected his discharge by new and damaging charges not embodied in the original minutes. But the offence being recognized, it was the duty of the Board, as it was the inclination of the medical superintendent, to exercise a charitable and becoming forbearance towards the individual with- out prejudicing the claims of the institution for his discharge. When they intended to evade this offence in the estimate of their duty, candour required they should announce to the medical superintendent, that, unless the intoxica- tion on duty was by him formally superadded to the original complaint, it was their intention to give it the go-by. On the contrary, I left them with the full impression, purposely made upon me, that, under all the circumstances, the keeper would be discharged ; and Dr. Rolph was left with the same expecta- tion, informing me that commissioner Eastwood annouueed on the Board, at his examination, that he could not consent to retain a servant against the opinion of the medical superintendent. The intoxication was a good ground on the part of the medical superintendent for declining to look over the com- plaint which the Rev. Mr. Roaf had introduced against the keeper; but it amounted to a laxity on the part of the Board to catch at the slightest pretext for looking over the offence of intoxication on duty, in order to avoid a com- pliance with the wish expressed by the medical superintendent for his dis- charge. Had the medical superintendent been corrupt enough lo slur over this intoxication, it does not excuse the like corruption in the Board, whoclaim the exclusive right " to hire and discharge." As long as they exclusively exercise this right, they must be held responsible, and not allowed, for corrupt objects, to seek frivolous and objectionable ground for throwing: the responsi- bility on others on convenient occasions. The desire of the Board to avoid giving due effect and bearing to this offence is the more inexcusable, because it was the neglect of an important duty, namely, the recapture of an escaped lunatic ; a neglect which might have led to the loss of the lunatic's life (one having already recently escaped and drowned himself) or to the " gouging of the eyes," not of a lunatic, but of a citizen ; or to the exciting of personal alarm pregnant with serious or fatal resu'ts. 11 Being in Toronto for a few hours during the sitting of the Board, I gave them my testimony in favour of Hungerford's discharge. The investi- gation was prolonged from the date of the occurrence, the 11th to the 24th August; and Dr. Rolph was thrice summoned with the keepers and witnesses to he in waiting, upon the pleasure of the Hoard, for hours together. He was honoured, I learned, with a very scientific examination for an hour and a quarter (after wailing outside three hours for it) by Professor Beaumont, who, it is said, was not born when Dr. Rolph was professionally employed during the late war in an army hospital And I am told he loitered outsiue, not seemingly in the character of medical superintendent, but of a plaintiff'in com- pany with his keeper as defendant, ingloriously uncertain what verdict the Bo.ird would render. Such was his position upon those successive summonses to attend upon the Board and await their pleasure. Upon this abuse of office and most unworthy and derogatory way of proceeding, even the present Gov- ernment in their Minute of Council upon this point thus emphatically remark to the Board :—"It is not to be endured that the quiet of the establishment, "and consequently the welfare of the patients, is to be sacrificed to such jeal- " ousies or jeopardized by protracted investigations for the purpose of adjusting " nicely the exact amount of blame attached to each. Every officer and servant " of the establishment must be made to feel his subordination to his superior, " and the report of such superior ought, as a general rule, to be conclusive as " to his m sconduct. " If it be objected that this would place the subordinates too much in the " power of their immediate superiors, the Committee would remark that unless '• this amount of dependence can be placed in such superiors, they are them- " selves not fit for the station which they fill." The direct tendency and actual t ffects of such conduct in the Board, were to embolden the servants in their insubordination. The steward made the following report upon keeper Craig: — 23th July, 1S48. Craig, keeper, cautioned by Dr. Rolph for improper conduct in shoving and using threats to a patient, and being impudent to the matron when spoken to about it. (Copy.) 3rd August, 1848. Craig, keeper, absent 2\ hours at tea, and, when spoken to about it by the steward, his conduct and his answers were highly improper; in all his general conduct in the house, he i.s tuibulent and disrespectful. (Copy.) • 13th August, 1848. Craig, keeper, absent at breakfast 2 hours. Sir, Your obedient Servant, VVM. RAMSEY, Steward. Toronto Lunatic Asylum, 13th August, 1848. From the report made to me respecting keeper Craig, I recommend hia discharge. 6 JOHN ROLPH. His discharge, however, (which had been already sought in vain by Dr. Rees and Dr. Telfer) was refused. He was merely suspended on full pay; J2 and, in the sequel, it will be seen the Board restored him against the avowed dissent of the medical superintendent, with this short minute: " Keeper Craig, upon being called in, was admonished and reinstated." Both Dr. Rolph and myself requested that all intoxicating liquors might be excluded from the Asylum, unless introduced by a note in writing (to be duly filed) from the medical superintendent or steward, specifying the occasion and quantity. Thi9 was striking at the root of much of the past and present evils; and especially needed in a city in which (though small) the amount of intoxication is helieved to exceed that of the largest city in North America. The amount of beer for the quarter preceding my entering on duty, exceeded c£26 ; for the succeeding quarter, it was c£3; and, since that time, nothing. Thus there was a saving in the annual expenditure of dClOO, besides the more important point of insuring certain sobriety. The license to have beer in the Asylum, leads to indulgence in its use when abroad ; and hence arose the intoxication of Hungerford when on duty. It was also recommended to the Board to place tobacco under the like restrictions. Besides, on one occasion recommending its use to be gradually abolished, Dr. Rees, when medical superintendent, required " a more strict observance of the diet roll and prohibition of tobacco"; and afterwards em- phatically records, " the steward is again reminded of the danger to which patients are exposed by the constant and general use of tobacco, which has been so often prohibited within the walls of the Asylum by myself." The utter disregard of his injunction is subsequently noticed by him. Dr. Telfer, also, recorded his opinion that " it should be gradually taken from them "; although, it seems, that, badgered out of his correct views, he was obliged to tolerate an evil which can, indeed, only be corrected by an uniform rule. The prohibition is the rule, the exceptions are regulated by the medical superin- tendent. The deleterious effects of this drug upon man, and especially on the insane, cannot be discussed properly in this place. It is prohibited in the Asylums of North America; and, it is presumed, European institutions are not behind them in the wisdom of their regulations. It is absurd to suppose that lunatics, insane upon other matters, should be able to exercise a sound discretion upon the amount they ought to use; and when any quantity is dis- tributed amongst them, there is no security against an unequal and injurious interchange between themselves. The lighted pipes, too, carried by them through the house and premises, add the danger of fire; and I found an entry by Dr Rolph, in the visiting book, of a fire which, from that cause, took place while he was in the Asylum, in one of the basement cells, with a lunatic in it, threatening the suffocation of the sufferer and the conflagration of the building. If allowed to the keepers, it cannot be withheld from the patients ; and persons who have not a cheerful self-denial in every thing that is esteemed deleterious or unsuitable for those to whuse welfare the whole establishment is devoted, are unsuited for its servants. Equally unworthy are commissioners who, resisting, in such a matter, the opinion of successive medical superintendents, and violating the plainest maxims and personal professions of temperance, can wilfully perpetuate usages which had already reduced the Asylum (as estab- lished by their own inquiry) to a woful state of insobriety—the strange result of their own pretended vigilance. The following is the Minute furnished me by Dr. Rolph, of his evidence before the Board in the case of Hungerford and Craig. No questions were asked him, or even upon the case of Jane Hamilton ; or conclusive reasons would have been given, which it would be deemed ill-timed to offer now : 13 Toronto, 8th September, 1848. Sir,—I presume it my duty to comply with your request for the evidence given by me before the Commissioners of the Lunatic Asylum upon the subject of the ruinous dissensions which continue to distract it; for the information of'.lie Government. The Case of Keeper Hungerford. I stated to the Board that I had embodied my views in the communications I had already made upon Hungerford's case—that I deemed it my duty promptly to correct the feelings that existed,—That upon inquiry the Steward, in my opinion, did not deserve the imputation, which was unprovoked and untrue—that he had shewn me a recent loan of £1 5s to him on plea of sickness in his family—that his deportment to the Servants and Lunatics met my entire approbation—that he had proposed to ine that Jane Hamilton should be recommended for continuance on pay during illness, with leave to go home if she wished it, till recovery.—That I believed the jealousies mentioned by Hungerford arose from the unwise and fruitless attempt to carry out a new system with servants who had become backnied in the ways of a bad one— that the present Steward had properly limited ihem to an hour for each meal—had prohibited the cook, house maids and laundresses going in and out of the Institution without permission v __had refused to continue the practice of advancing money to them before due—would not continue to allow Keepers, boarding out of the Institution, to have firewood from the stock belonging to the Institution, though they said they had paid for what they used to get from Cronyn__had refused to be respensible to any tradesmen for flour, groceries, wood or ant thin» else;—had strucK ofFlhe Beer from Hungerford and Craig as boarders out of the Asylum and receiving full pay; and had exacted from all the servants tin active and faithful discharge of their duties, and a becoming and respectful demeanour to their immediate superiors as well as to the Lunatics;—and that his rules and conduct in those matters were in strict accordance with my views and wishes—that servants who entertained ill-will towards their immediate superiors for their fidelity ought to be discharged without hesitation. That I considered Hungerford not a suitable Keeper—that a Keeper should have suitable manners, expression, and temper—that if, as intimated from the Board, all this might be matter of taste, that the Medical Superintendent had a right to expect his taste to prevail—that good Keepers were difficult to be found and great judgment needed in the selection—that I was sorry I could not acquiesce in the suggestion of the Board that he should be admonished and restored without violating thejduties I owed the institution;—that however indulgent I might be out of doors, I had no right to err in that extreme in a Lunatic Asylum, where the well being of the Lunatics was the first consideration. That I did not hesitate to say that I would discharge him upon the letter, which though true as to the jealousies and dislikes toward the Steward, was unjust as it respecttd him—that I thought it no hardship, as intimated, to dismiss him in a country where industry in another way will find him an ample maintainance—that being pressed with the question had I any other objections against him to allege, I replied I must say that I had. or I might be accused of a want of candor in omitting such points now should I mention them at any time hereafter,—that Ihad other objections, but that in mentioning them I wished it to be understood that I considered it decidedly the most proper way to discharge him on the letter and not to multiply allegations and send him away with as bad a character as possible. But to meet the inquiry fullv I must remind the Board he has already been before them for intoxication, though I canno't particularize the occasion—(it was during the late investigation as since stated to me by the witness)—that I had noticed his smoking in the ward as I was going round, that as intimated from the Board, the steward who accompanied me, probably, first named Hunger- ford. as the offender without inquiry by me; for being my first visit I did not know him. This 1 remember, that I thought he was a labourer hired to do the dirty work of cleansing the attic; and that he was smoking to correct the noisome fumes to which he had not been accustomed— and that I had no right to correct him for it—that the whole manner accoinpaning the smokin" and scrubbing had so much of lazy looseness about it that 1 at once noticed his nnfitness among lunatics most especially—that I thought, as intimated from the Board, that he did not mean to be rude to me—that I have not the least belief that he so meant—that 1 think he reverse— but my objection to him is not founded on personal considerations, but on the "> bearing of such acts and deportment upon the lunatics—that I should not hesitate to dismiss a keeper who had no fault, but had the misfortune to be unfit. That, as intimated from the Board, all the. servants might be removed in a month, it might be so—that had I done my duty fully I should have dismissed all—that they had for years allowed the attic, especially, to continue in a state of filth and stench, rendering it unfit for the habitation of human beings, and the cells were fearfully worse—that I would not trust the humanity of keepers who. to save themselves trouble had doomed Lunatics to such noisome quarters. That as intimated from the Doard the Keepers might think it hard to keep the House clean when in other in- stitutions that duty is imposed on others; but those who allowed years of such accumulations, should remove them; and it is my duty with limited funds to secure economical arrangements. 14 That there was another occurrence known to the Board °^ ^T^^^X^ was sent the other day, 7th August, to Breakfast at 7* o clock A-^y an^' *^ to f°^jj 0p Queen Street, near to the Blue Bell Tavern, to search after o Jennings, a ™™£.™° made his escane from the Asylum, and he returned at } past 11 o clock A.M., under the innil "feeoiq,0raf er e "Vfolr hours absent. But that I still thought the most worthy proceed- Zwou Wbe ,'o dismiss him on his later-.hat I could not assent "b«<^X*^oM place In answer to an intimation from the Board that the dismissal of Hnngerlord would place the Boarrin the awkwanl situation of throwing discredit on the man on whose ey dence Sr Telfrr ad Cronyn had been so lately discharged J 1 slated that I could not be gu ded by 1,y oil ., ec! isideratfon than the Well being of the institution and ™»™^X^m charge did not affect the veracity of the man, only proving his disqualification as a Keeper. On the Case of Keeper Cuaio. In amwer to the question what objections Iliad to Craig as a Keeper, I stated lhat the and obse ved il w impossible to have order in the institution, or avoid dissatisfaction on the lln In El that he habitually whistled when he was passing by her and scraped the matron complaineu inaj ii j contempt till he was out of sight again. I^tUrto thTques^ *™*d' "'*< l »«ad the statement ofJhepa tyinsuCaud had mvself noticed his manner and temper to be such as to afford eorroborat m were i iieeded-lhat on a recent occasion, his excitement and deportment to the matron w en corrected for undue violence to a Lunatic was most unbecoming, as the violence Elf™ m^ and when I reached the spot he continued the same «eue.nenl TnA Z. .V. with me the propriety and necessity of the violence-as this occurred in the ward ~ ■^fir r'tr» tp=d^ m-^t:x--; ■raTS my own authority or• ih-.t oi V must be allowed to take their own part; ■trurfcThi n-that nsult or rudeness is never to be returned to a lunatic, but under every possible own autAeri y. ™£eVr(, tobe s sudden, was not from his immurement, but from my d.- the board mint have nea '« t0T * »aII«,(J?"• . , • of mv protec,10„ on good behaviour- rectmg the Keepers tlet.htm go^ and«;-;""- J™ nnlo'Jhed by mc or*a Keeper, by the „> loss than five m... ite. U.e Lun- rc ws calm• ^ ^ ^ ^ , gnye him Board room up to the attic.so qilietiy inai e .^ V|(),ence bi. choice to eat h» dinner or g^ ^SSy *„junable, and still more intolerable when I was as unnecessary as was w hoot ho X f c(ui it_u h;|S tuken |ace was ... the House. Snch _™»"™1 a s0li, ry case-,1 quote it to show the necessity of my w.th.n this half hour a, d tho. gh n a» 'J "„ ?„ car 01It the morB, Government of TO!^ --ibility ,s unfit for a Keeper and ought to be discharged. ^ gjr Your obedient servant, JOHN ROLPH. To George H. Park, M. D. Medical Superintenden of L. A. # On the 24th August these various matters respecting the suspension of Hungerford, the recommenoVion of Craig's discharge, and the P'^.tion of intoxicating liquors and tobacco, came under the consideration of the Board. From the induction of Hungerford's letter, up to this date, the Rev. Mr. 16 Roaf had not made his appearance on the Board } but on this occasion, he presided as Chairman ; and left the following Minute :— Commissioners present:—Rev. John Roaf. J. O'Beirne, J. Eastwood, Dr. Beaumont. The attention of the Board being given to the prohibition given by the Medical Super in- dent respecting the allowance of Beer to the Nurses and Keepers; that officer was called in and asked his rensou for that prohibition. He answered that in any quantity such beverages partially unfit those who take them for the discharge of their duty. OrJered— That the Medical Superintendent having allowed Beer to one class of the Servants of the Institution, the remainder be allowed the tame indulgence. The Rev. J. H. Grasett present. The Board being unanimously of opinion lhat the Keeper Hungerford's oflVnce is not so grave as to call for his dismissal, have reprimanded bim, for expressions contained in a letter addressed by him to the Rev. John Roat, and have reinstated him, on his withdrawing the Biid letter and expressing his regret at any language in the said letter offensive to the Steward and Matron. The Rev. J. Roaf before quitting the Board expressed his concurrence in the foregoing resolutions as to John Hungerford. Hungerford was reinstated. Dr. Rolph, who had not been invited to witness the alleged apology (or rather new fashioned way of making one) found that neither the Steward nor the Matron was present or invited to be present, either to see, hear or receive it. He examined the Minutes again to see if the Keeper was instructed before going to duty to offer any acknowledg- ment to the Superintendent, Steward or Matron. There was none. He also found that no Christian Minister, overflowing with the milk of human kindness, had done it for him, or introduced him with a ministerial smile beaming forgiveness contagious to all around—oh no ! They all started for dinner as faithfully as the clock struck the hour. He next inquired if the Keeper, from an innate sense of propriety, had voluntarily tendered to the Steward or Matron, what he had not done to the Medical Superintendent, any sort of concession whatever. The answer was, none. A Board conducting such business in such an Institution, between such parties, in such a manner, whether from ignorance or from corrupt and un- worthy motives, are not deserving of being sustained by any government; nor can any government in sustaining such acts against a Medical Superin- tendent, officers and lunatics of an asylum, stand justified before God or man. A Keeper who was harbouring, and encouraging others to harbour domes- tic jealousies and distrusts, as mischievious in their tendencies as unjust in their foundation—a Keeper " who had no qualification as such to compensate for such gratuitious misbehaviour"—and who even Mr. Cawthra himself would have discharged ;—a Keeper who, three days before the complaint against him fomented by the Reverend Commissioner, had heen drunk on duty when sent to seek and bring back an escaped lunatic, and who had further been reported for intoxication to the Steward (Cronyn)—a Keeper whom the Medical Superintendent had expressed his unwillingness to receive, is again cavalierly and insultingly sent back upon him, and the officers co- operating with him. And at the same time the request for a prohibition against intoxicating liquors and tobacco, alike injurious to the lunatics and the servants, and the root of much of the existing evil, was treated with like marked disrespect—the Rev. Mr. Roaf being President of the Temperance Society. Under these circumstances, the Acting Medical Superintendent deemed it due to the Government, the country, the Institution, and himself, to withstand evils of such magnitude—evils, ruinous and disgraceful to the Asylum—by 16 bringing the matter a second time under the consideration of the Board, when probably additional members would be present. For this purpose he desired the Steward to re-suspend Hungerford, till the next meeting of the Board ; to which he addressed the following note :— Toronto, Provincial Lunatic Asylum, August 20th, 1848. The undersigned on Friday last, found Hungerford restored as a keeper, and after taking a few hours for reflection, he deemed it his duty, however reluctant, %o renew the suspension. Craig appears still under suspension, and Jane Hamilton is to be admitted to resume her place as nurse, when her health permits. To the restoration of either of whom, to any station involving the responsibility of the Medical Superintendent, or of the officers in immediate relation to him, he has a decided objection. In expressing which, he further conveys the alieaiiy avowed opinion of Dr. Park. It is presumed that the Board of Commissioners will not ascribe the above act of suspension to a want of due respect for them, or to a deficient regard for their authority, but believes that it has been done from a conviction of its necessity for the prosperity and good internal government of the Institution. In reporting this step to the Commissioners, he refers them again to the documentary evidence in their minutes, and his own evidence as well as lhat of others given before them at their request. Confiding in the disinterested feelings and enlarged views of the Board, he has no hesitation in making this second appeal to their candour and judgment, and in further expressing a hope that under scarcely any circumstances, much less under such circumstances as characterise the present rase, will servants be forced upon the Lunatics, and upon the Medical Superintendent against his avowed dissent. The undersigned further finds that his request for a confirmation of the rule against the use of intoxicating liquors in the Asylum, has been declined by the Board and their reintroduction allowed on the ground, that Dr. Park, having allowed beer to one class, the rest shall participate. The undersigned feels most fully the irresistible force of the intimation from the Board that such exceptions are injudicious, and calculated like all invidious distinctions, to operate as a mischie- vious example against the very principle sought to be established. He can only obviate the difficulty by reverting, as he has done, to the rule first adopted by Dr. Park, who made it applicable to all, and unwillingly relaxed it with respect to those not immediately connected with the management of the insane, vis. the cooks and washerwomen. For two months, without a word of complaint, there has been a ready submission to the injunc- tion of the Medical Superintendent. But the acquiescence is endangered by the opposing views of those by whom they are naturally proud to model their habits and estimate their duty. If the Medi- cal Superintendent can surround himself, and the lunatics, with keepers and nurses able and wil- ling to discharge their humane and self-denying duties, without the dangerous stimulus of inebriat- ing drink of any kind, or in any quantity, he is at a loss to conceive any possible or tenable ground for preventing his accomplishment of it. In addition to the prohibition of all intoxicating liquors, he requests the Board to justify his exclusion of tobacco, which ought not to be any longer allowed to the patients, and cannot, there- fore, with propriety, be allowed to their attendants. Under these circumstances the undersigned respectfully requests the Board to view these important subjects in their many bearings, and to give these prohibitions all the influence of their high sanction. (Signed) JOHN ROLPH. Under these circumstances, had the Board been sincere in their professions to supply the Medical Superintendent with such keepers as he cordially ap- proved, they might now have discharged Hungerford by grounding the act on the renewed dissatisfaction of the Medical Superintendent; without even ad- verting to the original complaint, or the offence of intoxication, at which the Board had injudiciously winked. On the 29th August the above Memorandum to the Board was taken into consideration; and the different points disposed of, except the case of Craig, who was still under suspension, and unwell, and whose final restoration was in reserve for another blow upon the Medical Superintendent and the Institntion. present: " Rev. J. Roaf—in the Chair. Rev. H. J. Graselt, Dr. Beaumont, Mr. Cawthra, Mr. O'Bierne. 17 Mr. Orasett presented the document prepared for tiie Board by Dr. Rolph, respecting the sus- pension of the keepers Craig and Hungerford, and the nurse Jane Hamilton; as well as the prohibi- tion of Beer; which document bears the date of this day. Risolved,—" That the Board having disposed of the cases of the Keeper, Hungerford, and the Nur*e, Jane Hamilton, after a consideration of Its several hearings, are sorry to find their decision unsatisfactory to the temporary Medical Superiutendetit, and especially so to learn that he has thought fit to countermand that decision. That we think it therefore necessary to bring into notice the fact that to this Board belong the employing and discharging of the officers and servants, excepting the Medical Superintendent—and that it is .he desire and determination of the Boird, ever to discharge those duties with a full regard to the influence and wishes of that officer. That in the cases oi HuiiL'erfordaiid Hamilton, the Board lelt a sufficient recognition of the physician's action had been given, in the time during which the suspension had been allowed to con- tinue, and the reprimand with which it had been closed, but as the temporary Medical Superintendent has po ■trong a feeling ag.nnst Hungerford as still to object to his being employed, the suspension be suffered to con- tinue till the return of the regular physician of the establishment; that regretting that the Medical Superiu- te ndeut should have exceeded his authority, by prohibiting any use of beer by the servants in this institution without first obtaining the concurrence of the Board, we allowsuchiirohibitionfortl.eprese.it to remain in force." Having thus come to a truce with Dr. Rolph, they reserved the matter of Hungerford for my humiliation ; and although the Board and the whole household were, from my evidence before them, aware of my dissent to his restoration, as a keeper unsuited to his duties; and although the same weighty considerations existed now, as existed when Dr. Rolph was acting; and al- though the same deference which they offered to the feelings and views of that gentleman, were equally due to me, yet the Steward was formally in- structed by the Rev. J. Roaf, that Hungerford was to be on duty immediately on my return. I found him >o. No m in, no professional man, no Medical Superintendent of a Lunatic Asvlum, could be expected to submit to this species of discriminative indig- nity, without hoping that, a« a reconsideration of the matter, at the sugg stion of Dr. Rolph, had induced them to exempt him from any further imposition of the keeper, the Board would, upon a like reconsideration at my instance, feel the injustice, the rudeness and the injury of subjecting me to a down right coercive policy upon the same objectionable matter. In returning to his duty h" had not been instructed by the above minutes of the Board to make, nor ► did he voluntarily offer to me, any expression of regret for his minor offence, or for the graver one of intoxication on duty, as an outrage against me, the '* Institution and the public. Conscious that I could not under such treatment from the Board, properly sustain myself among the household, or efficiently discharge the duties impos- ed upon me by the By-Laws and expected from me by the public and the Government; and not doubting that the government would vindicate me against such an abuse of the powers vested in the Commissioners, as would ruin me (as it had already ruined both of my predecessors and the Institution too,) 1 suspended the Keeper in order to make my appeal to the justice and gener- osity of the Board at its next meeting. The re-tder will observe, tbatth*re was not at any time claimed by me against the Board, the right "to hirennd discharge." I only sought,as Dr. Rolph had done, protection against the personal indignity and domestic run, inseparable from the couree pursued by the same Commissioners against three medical Superintendents in succession. The re- ^ suspension of an unworthy servant, is the only proper way of claiming from the Board that reconsideration, which the very act of reiurning such a servant on the physician, fully wnr- rants and demands. It is not lo be>ndured that the medical Superintendent shall be obliged, against a senee of duly, corruptly to retain a keeper *' who is violent lo ihe lunatics, habitu- ally r tide to tho matron, insolent to the steward, and in his general conduct turbulent and disrespectful." U hen the Commissioners return such a servant on the medical Superin- tendent and the lunatics, the act of compelling submission is as corrupt ns the act of restora- tion. Had I been a mere servant of the Commissioners, doomed to what the government eall "subordination to them," (instead of honest and conscientious co-operation, as on inde- pendent officer directly appointed by the Crown) I might have ncted on the doctrine of 18 passive obedience, and have left the criminality to rest on the Commissioners. But, holding an independ'm position; in vthich I was nit self respons ble for what 1 erroneously did. or corruptly snbm tied to, ii was my >acr»d duty, in the tight of heaven nnd ei.nl., to b< nr up a;jn nsi an act of degradation to th? profession and brutality to the jnt-aiu. A'o doctnuc of expediency at the expense of humanity, no doctrine ol convenient submission m the < xpense of official recti.ii>'e, no doctrine of political balan.-ing Ht Ihe expense of home hundred luna- tics, can alter the turpitude of the coercive retention of such keepers, or of sustaining those who are reckless enough lo do so. I shall now give in succession the events and correspondence between the Board and myself, up to the point of a mutual submission of our difficul- ties to the Government; and comment upon them afterwards. To the Board of Commissioners. Asylum, J an them : so, on the other hand, ns he is by your regulations strictly subordinate to the authority i I ihe Medical Superiutei dent, I cannot overlook this dereliction ol his duty in obeying mine with the iik^ submission ;—and, having done so in this instance, 1 shall have no confidence in his future conduct under my authority. I have theiefore to request yon to furnish me with a stewnrd willing to co operate with me, without subjecting me lo the necessity of seeking other methods for piesini relief in the munagt ment ol the insane. I have the honour to he. &c, GEO. II. PARK. Copy. Special Meeting, September llih. 1848. Commissioners present: Revs. H.J. Grasetl, J. Koaf, Messrs Ewart, Eastwood, O'Beirne, I>r. Beaumont, Resolved unanimously in reference to the above letter, that— The Hoard considers the Steward obliged to obey the clear orders of this Board, and therefore sustains him in replacing Hunge.ford upon the return of the Medical Superintendent arid noi after- wards suspending him. That we should he happy in every practicable method to meet the wishes of the iVIedical Superintendent, but cannot as he requests contemplate providing a Steward who wih disobey the orders of this Board. That the C ban man send a copy of the foregoing resolution to Dr. Park as »n answer to his letter. (signed) J R. Special Meeting called by Weekly Commissioner. Sept. ]2. Present—Rev. H.J. Grassett, Mr. Ewart, Mr. Eastwood, Rev. J. Roaf, Chairman, Mr. O'Beirne, Mr. Cawibra, and Dr. Beaumont. Mr. O'Beirne, Weekly Commissioner, reported the forcible expulsion of old keeper Hungerford, by the order of the Medical Superintendent. The Steward explained the proceeding that had taken place in respect to the above expulsion. Ordered,—That the temporary keeper and cook, introduced by the Medical Superintendent to this Institution within the last few hours in contravention of the views of the Board, be now- informed that they have not been duly employed, and must immediately retire. Ordered,—That the keepers be called in and informed that ihey are expected to obey the Medical Superintendent in all that relates to the patients, and to treat him v. iih all respect; »nit that in all other matters they will be reqnired to obey the Board only, whose order will reach them through the Steward and Visiting Commissioner. Adjourned till Thursday morning at 10 o'clock. (Signed) J. R. The temporary servants above referred to, being needed in the Asylum, I selected them upon the authoritv of Lord Metcalfe's decision upon the appeal of Dr. Rees, (already refened to in this narrative) viz., that their selection should be vesttd in the Medical Superintendent, subject to the approval of the Board. Toronto, Provincial Lunatic As)lum,loth September, 1848. To the Board of Commissioners r . Ukntlemen, On th" 9th instant I deemed it my duty to relieve the Lunatics and myself Irom Hungerlord as a Keeper, and directed the Steward to suspend him : 1 his he refused to do. 1 next executed my own order on Monday, by directing Hungerford to leave ; which he did. He returned in a short time with instructions, he eusd, from Commissioner O ttierne, to maintain his position in the Institution in defiance. This forcible reentry and 19 contumacious position I met by desiring the Keepers to turn him out ; which order they executed. You have in a further series of compulsory movements against me, summoned the Keepers and charged them '• to obey tl.e Medical Superintendent in all thot relates to the pa i"iits, but that in ail o.her matters they would be required to obey the Board onlv"— thus justifying my servants in reiusing me a glass ol water if 1 asked for it—and authorizing them n» pass th< ir judgment on which ol my orders may or may not immediately or rsmotely affect the patients. This further indignity to me and the situation 1 have the henor to ocenpy from His Excellency the Governor Vjeneral, I met by allowing him freely to remain in the Asylum as your servant, but not as mine. And as }ou allowed the Keeper* "to obey me in all that relates to the pn'iei.ts" 1 desiied the Sieword not to permit Hungerford to expeute any order Of mine, or allow hun to have any intercourse either directly or indirectly with the Lunatics either in the house or yard. The Steward, instead of obeying me (though by your own rules "strictly subordinate to my controul") applied to you for instruction as to his duty; and he informs me that you referred him to your resolution countenancing him to continue Hungerford as a Keeper over the Lunatics, in the very face of my dissent and authority. In my note of the 10th instant, I requested from you a Steward with whom I could co-operate; ond ibis is answered by your resolution of the llth instant. But as your order lo the Steward in the resoluiiou of the '29th August could hardly be construed to restore Hungerford, without including any prohibition to suspend bim at any future time by my directions, lhat officer could draw from it no such authority as you pretend, for his subsequent refusal to comply with another order, the ground of which it was not for him to conjecture or to judge. For the like reoson, you have deviated from those rules of exactness, which bulb mysell and the servants have a right to expect from you in such a matter, by alleging in your nnswer to my letter, that the Steward was sustained in his refusal by your resolution of the 29th of August, and that I asked for n Steward that would disobey your orders, in the way you have instructed him, indeed, to disobey mine. I recall these foctsto your notice that you may perceive that I am placed in the position of a Medical Superintendent among Lunatics, many of the worst kind, surrounded by Keep- ers ond a Stewaid, who, instead of being " strictly under my control" are licensed by you to exercise their own discretion upon the point of obedience. When once appointed, I deem them also my servants, not merely yours. You may have the right of confirming appointments; but the moment you place them in the position of Keepers and publish them >n your regulations as subject to my orders, you con have no power to overrule my proceedings with them in my official duties, without transending ihe bounds of your commission, invading the more important sphere assigned to me, and wound- ing the high authority under which we all act. Under these extraordinary circumstances, I have suspended the Steward as far as he re- lates to me. He can, therefore, no longer receive my orders lor execution or attend me in my intercourse with the patients or through the wards. And 1 shall suspend all Keepers, as far as ihey relate to me, not willing alter their lawful appointment, to obey me as keepers un- conditionally, until they are discharged. Should I in carrying out this measure of exigency for the vindication, of myself and ihe Lunatics, be straightened for aid or security in the managoment of the inmates, I shall call immediately upon the magistracy and the police for the needful help, till the august Representative of Her Majesty can redeem the institution from its anarchy. I am Gentlemen, Your obedient Servant, GEO. H. PARK. The above letter was replied to by the following note from the Rev. Mr. Grassett:— Sir,—As Chairman of a meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Temporary Lunatic Asylum, held this day, it becomes my duty to forwaid lo you ihe annexed extract from their minutes. I have the honor to be, Sir, Geo. H. Park, Esq, Your most ob't humble servant, Medical Superintendent, H. J. GRASETT. EXTRACT. Toronto, 16th September, 1848. Mr. Roaf having laid before the Board a letter addressed through him to the Commis- sioners by the Medical Superintendent, it was unanimously resolved that,—Without again 20 discussing the matters which occupy the earlier part of the letter, we record our determin- ation thnt the Steward and Keepers (though employed by this Board and liable to be suspended or discharged by the Board only) are the servants olso of the Medical Superintendent, who must be considered the best judge ol the per ormunce of duty in Ins depaitiiient. We, how- ever, are now necessitated to define that department as inclui ing only the treotment of the patients, nnd are oi opinion lhat our instructions will enable the Steward and Ke»persto avoid serious mistakes in their obedience to the several officers under whom they are placed. Should the Magistracy or Police have any duties to perform in this establishment, they will ns a matter of course be respected by the Board, but neither they nor any other parties would ever be suffered lo supersede the reguluily appointed agents of the Government within the Institution. "Ordered—That a copy of the above Resolution be transmitted to the Medical Superintendent." Provincial Lunatic Asylum. ) 19th September, 1848. J To the Board of Commissioners:: Gentlemen, I have the honor of communicating to you, in answer to your minute cf of the 16th September, inclosed lo me by the Rev. Mr. Grasett, the following final remarks : You decline again discussing the matters which occupy the earlier part of my letter— they become, therefore, necessarily the subjects for on ultimate oppeal. Upon assuming my duties, the Chairman of the Board made me acquainted with the printed Regulations, which, he further informed me, having received the sanction of tbe Government, were the established lows of ibe Institution, and, as such, were for my guidance as Medical Superintendent. When these laws were thus consummated, all were equally bound to obey them. But while I have ucted on the faith of them, you appear to me lo have mistaken tbeir letter and spirit. In your minutes of the 16th of September, you recognize " the Steward and Keepers as the servants also of the Medical Superintendent"—yet in the same minutes you deny me the right of even suspending them, as such, for any offence of which they may be guilty either against myself, the lunatics, or each other—Without this right (incidental to my office) I cannot properly discharge my duties; nor can I, therefore, as a servant of the Crown, consent to its impairment without authority. You admit in your minutes of the 16th September that " the Medical Superintendent *^ must be considered the best judge of the performance of duty in his deportment." Yet when ] have suspended servants in the exercise of my better judgment in such a matter, yon claim the right of sending them back into my service against my dissent. I do not tee how you can assume my judgment to be the better in the matter, and yet in every instance supercede it at pleasure by your own. 1 cannot accede to this inconsistent rule of action without the com- mands of His Excellency the Governor-General. In your minutes of the 16th September you define my department *'as including only the treatment of patients." In your published Laws you require me " not only for the purpose of medically treating the patients, but also with the view to seeing the morul government properly enforced." In the same established laws you require me " generally to superintend everything connect- ed with the internal management of the Institution." These extensive tmd important trusts I cannot attempt to execute through bad servants, without certainly meeting with the like failure of my predecessors, and incurring thereby ihe high and just displeasure of His Excel- lency the Governor General. In your established Laws I find that the " Commissioners shall mpet regularly once a week for the purpose of examining into the state of the Institution, the condition of the * patients, &c." All this involves only the examination of the Institution and its accounts and a general cognisance of its affairs. But the Medical Superintendent is required to " see. the moral government propeily enforced and generally superintend everything connected with the internal affairs. By your own Laws you are oniy the supervisors—the Medical Superintendent is lo see, enforce and execute. If, therefore, I am limited in my duty to the administration ofa little phys'c to the patients, there is now no power existing for the daily and hourly moral government of the Institution and superintendance of its affairs ; for the Board meets only once a week, and then for visitorial, not for executive purposes. But admitting these active 21 and hourly duties lo appertain to me, subject to your supervision only, I cannot submit to your arbitrary imposition of bad servants upon me and the Lunatics unless so directed by the Government. By the printed Laws "The Keepers shall be persons of good character, humane," &c. ; and "generally conduct themselves in an unexceptionable manner.'' When, however, I, allowed by your minutes of the 16th September to be the best judge of them, suspend them as of bad character, or not humane, or of exceptionable conduct, you reluse to discharge ihem ; and pertinaceously impose them upon my service. To this I cannot yield wiihout authority. In the primed Laws I read that the Keepers "shall obey the instructions delivered to them by the Superintendent." But by your minute of the 12th September you licence their insubordination to me in every thing " but what relates to the patients ;" thereby leaving me destitute of powsr or aid "in seeing the morui government properly enforced, ond in the general superintendence of every thing connected with the internal management of the Institution." And in your minutes of the 16th September there is further allowed a discriminative obedience, in the hazardous practice of winch ,; your instructions arp to enable ihem to avoid serious mistakes'' :—leaving me the mortification, and the asylum the damage, of a host of mistakes designated n.»t serious. This is a method of training Keepers and nurses in a Lunatic asylum to which I cannot assent without first submitting it to the Governor-General. By the published Laws the Steward "shall be strictly subject lo the control of the Medical Superintendent,—and shall see his instructions relative to the medical treatment and moral government of the partients carried into effect." But he nevertheless claims your authority to resist mine; and under your sanction sets the example to the whole household of insubordinate attempts to evade compl'ance: and both be and the keepers, instead of resting thpir defence on the duty of presen' obedience to the orders of their immediate superior in the Institution, feel privileged to treat my directions with contempt, end to sacrifice their singleness of purpose in carrying out against me a system of forcing into my service nnd on the luimtics improper keepers and nurses. When I find lhat my predecessors have been subjected to the same system and removed by its operation; when I have witnessed its past direful effects on the whole household ; I should forget what is due to the government, and country, and myself, did I not with due respect, but with all candour, reiterate my dissent, and leave the whole question, as I now do, to the high adjudication of the Governor-General. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, Your Obed't Servant, GEO. H. PARK. The pending difficulties became now the subject of an appeal to the Gov- ernment, and suspended, therefore, any further action respecting them between me and the Board. From what has been already narrated, it will appear, that the antagonism between us, really arose not so much from a dispute about our respective rights, as about the mode of exercising them. The Board, on the one hand, claimed not only the right of selecting and hiring and discharging the servants, but also the right of obliging the Medical Superintendent to receive and retain them notwithstanding his objections to their moral or other fitness ; while the Medical Superintendent, on the other hand, claimed the right of refusing the acceptonce of such servants as he knew to be inconsistent with the medical and moral treatment of the Lunatics; particularly as Lord Metcalf had already awarded to him their selection. I, therefore, addressed the following letter to the Government, accom- panied by such documents as had not been already transmitted :— Toronto, Lunatic Asylum, > 19th September, 1848. 5 Sir,—I have the honor to request that you will lay before His Excellency the Gover- nor General the accompanying proceedings that have taken place in the Asylum since the 9th instant. It will easily be observed by the accompanying documents, that an antagonism exists between the Commissioners and the Medical Superintendent, which must necessarily be 22 productive of evil results. I therefoie, from a strong desire to p'omote Ihe welfare of the unfortun ite Lunatics, h'g to be permuted lo call His Excellency's attention lo a matter to which I think His Excellency will ut.ucb no small degree ol importance. VVIi-n me Medical Superintendent first entered upon the duties of bis office he found, us might readily be supposed Irom what had occurred previous to bis oppointim ni, the Ii.ti.ution in a very bad oudit on. Tuere was not cluth'i.g ei.ough of any or all ktnd-i for n change. There were several paiiems that had even been naked, constantly outlined in cells or, if quiet, lying on the floor of the attic Ward; a place where from sixty to seventy patients were kept in a dirty state, as they were the worst class of pa- tients. They were not lei out at all into the yard or open uir—the iffl.via of this Ward was always bad, scarcely beareable, from the great amount of filth that had been bllowed to accumulate in different parts of it. The other wards were not quite so bad ; but the.e was no part of the whole establishment but what was duty and otherwise badly attend- ed to. There were no baths or pluper arrangements for cleansing the patients : The cells and sleeping apartments were confined and filthy. The beds unit bedsteads full of vermin : The noisy and restless patients wee kept for days and nights together locked in cells, as as ftu easy mode of getting rid of taking care of them. The keepers and servants were in the habit of going in and out of the Asylum without permission. Ihe cloth ng and other articles / belonging to the Institution had no marks upon them by which they could be distinguished from other articles of a similar kind, lor the want of which, no doubt, the Insliiuiion has suffered much loss. The Lunatics received their meals, if such they could he called, in a careless, uncomfortable nnd disorderly manner, accompanied with a great waste of food. A large amount of intoxicating drinks were used—saiJ to be lor the benefit of the Patients, far too much of winch they actually received. His Excellency will observe thai the antagonism has grown out of a desire of the Superintendent to obtain the discburge of improper keepers and s-rvantswho lor some un- accountable cause aie retained. With such servants the Superintendent has no means by which he can ensure proper attention to the unfortunate Lunatics—or the execution of his orders lor their benefit—and as the tear of being discharged is the principal power by which they must be governed, it is necessary that th s power should, in order to ensure a fulfilment of their proper dunes, be placed in the Superiutenpent. As in the present case (and there are others already now pending not included in this report) when a charge is about to be preferred against any of them they repair to their favorite Commissioner to make interest against the Superintendent, Steward or Matron, as the case may be, and there can at once be discovered in them an air of defiance which is any thing but satisfactory. When the Board subsequently meets the keeper or servant, as the case may be, is merely told that he must do so no more and returns to his duty again, entirely regardless of* the Superintendent, Steward ^ or Matron. They have been by the Commissioners actually ordered not to obey the Medi. cat Superintendent in any thing but what they may think " reiates to the Patients." The unfortunate inmates of this Institution appear to be made a matter of secondary considera- tion to that of a paltry patronage to keepers and servants vigorously exercised by the Com- missioners, whereas the opinion of the Superintendent upon entering office was, and is still, that it is the earnest desire of His Excellency that the comfort and well being of the Luna- tics should be the matters of first consideration. The Commissioners, in the reports of their meetings, profess great anxiety to meet the wishes of the Superintendent and cordially lo cooperate wiih him, but His Excellency will Well understand ihe difference between profession and practice. A few months ago a ser- Tant could be discharged for disrespectful conduct to a young man, head keeper at the Branch, but in the present case Hungerford, and indeed others, were retained although charged with improper conduct towards the Superintendent, Steward and Matron, and also of drunkenness without a redeeming quality. This is illustrated by the proceedings of yesterday. A cook and eXra keeper being required for ihe comfort and security of the patients, the Superinten- dent employed them temporarily subject to the confirmation of the Board ; by reference to their Minutes it appears that they were ordered to leave immediately, from no o.her apparent cause than that the Superintendent recommended them—the cook was to have filled the place of one thut had just left, and one"is indispeable. The keeper . here referred to is John " O'Neil, named in the ucooompanying recommendation from the Hon. C. Widmev, M. D. Trie Institution is in a very crowded state, and we require a good supply of efficient and trusty keepers. The Superintendent is anxious to 1 »ve keepers enough to establish proper night watches for the safety of the patients, which it oppeors will not be permitted, although we have at preeent two appalling spectacles before us plainly shewing the necessity of it—in two cases paiiems have violently attacked each other in the night, beating and biting eaci. other without restraint to a s rious degree. The financial affairs of the Institution have been conducted in a very carelen manner heretofore, so that the Btate of its liabilities cannot yet be told. 2,3 The Institution is now in a very different condition—the patients are all clothed, and all go into the yard each day when the weather permits. Thore lhat used to be confined to the pells can now walk about with ihe others in the open air with safety if accompanied with reasonably diligent keepers. Those that used to lie on the nttic floor naked and helpless, wilh swelled legs, by being clothed and taken into the yord, the swelling and discolouraiions disappeared, and in every way assumed a more healthy appearance. The Superintendent has had the Institution thoroughly cleaned, so that no visitor would be offended with ihe atmosphere of the different apartments. This most materiolK odds to the comfort and health of the inmates. All these changes necessarily increased ihe labor to a very considerable degrpe, and caused, no doubt, some dissatisfaction in the keepers and servants who were required to assist in the necessary operations. The Superintendent is desirous that His Excellency's attention should be early called to this matter—in the humble hope lhat he will be pleased to afford a speedy and effectual remedy. I have the honor to bp, Sir, I Your most obedient Servant, GEO. H. PARK. In transmitting the above appeal to the Government, 1 was advised by gentlemen conversant wilh official usage, that the disclosure of my communi- cation to the Hoard by a copy of it, would subject me to censure ; that it was for the Government, not for me. to decide upon the publication of such infor- mation, by furnishing or withholding a copy at their discretion. The commis- sioners, it seems, entertained the same views of official etiquette, and, without making it known to me, appointed the Rev. Messrs. Grasett and Roaf to proceed as delegates to Montreal, with their representation of these difficulties. Upon reaching Montreal with their mission, the Government gave them a copy of my communication ; upon which they presented the following observations :— Mostreal, Thursday, 21st September, 1648. The undersigned being a Deputation from the Commissioners of the Temporary Lunatic Asylum at Toronto. And having been favoured with a perusal of documents forwarded to the Provincial Government by the Medical Superintendent of that Institution, under the respective dates of September 8th and 13th, beg leave lo make the following observations upon those documents: — The representations, made respecting the former treatment of patients, has no bearing upon the Commissioners, as they entirely leave that department of duty to the Medical Superintendent, finding for him such assistance as be from lime to time reports to be requisite. But in justice to the late Superintendent we must express our full conviction that in substance, and almost in every particular those representations are untrue. That Doctor Park made some improvement in the clothing of a class of the patients, and in the cleanliness and ventilation of the Wards, it is due lo him promptly and fully to admit. But it is also due to Doctors Rees and Telfer to stale, that during their attendance in ihe Institution there was no deficiency of clothing, no marked want of cleanliness, and no cruelly. Tlve Institution is visited by the Commissioners in weekly rotation; it is constantly being inspected by the friends of the patients, as well as other parties who fiom humanity and other ' feelings seek the favour, and has several limes been reported upon ill Presentments made by Grand Jurors; while connnend itioris have been couslantly expressed. There has been up inst.iiice known to the undersigned in which any of the abotniuatious charged by Doctor Park have been mentioned. Respecting a want of a Brand upon articles of properly in the Institution, it may he said, that inventories of such things are kept, and there has never been an appearance of any loss by peculation. The employment and discharge of Servants are the matters in which the Board is at issue with the Medical Superintendent. 24 On those facts the course pursued is the one prescribed by the Legislative Act which directs the constitution of the permanent Asylum. The one approved by His Excellency in his disposal of the case relative to Doctor Rees : The one provided for in the Rules and Regulations of the Institution,—and the one which has been employed for many years. No person is employed as Keeper, or Nurse, without the approval of the Medical Superintendent, and no person would ever be retained whom lhat officer thought unsuiledto his duties. Not the slightest ground has there ever been for a suspicion that the Board cared for the patronage which it exercises, and there has hardly been a case in which a Servant has been employed who was previously known to one of the Commissioners. In the case of the Keeper Hungerford, the Board would have dismissed upon the recommendation of the Medical Superintendent, had it been alleged lhat he did not well discharge his duties. But when the temporary Medical Superintendent declined making such an allegation, the Board felt that they were entitled to consider whether sufficient punishment had not been administered, and a very useful object served by the temporary suspension, . terminated by a reprimand and a demand for apology. No slight was thus put upon the Medical Superintendent, although he had stepped out of his sphere in taking up the matter. He however directly aimed at subverting the authority of the Board when he immediately followed that adjudication with his reversal, and has throughout sought the power of dismissing the servants, not to remove the inefficient, but to have power of resisting the decisions of the Board. The undersigned directly contradicts the assertion that the financial affairs of the Institution are carelessly managed and its liabilities unknown. The Accounts are regularly kept in books prepared for the purpose—are evpry quarter settled and audited, and are at all times ready and worthy to be submitted to the notice of His Excellency the Governor-General. The rejection of the manO'Neil, of which so much is made by Doctor Park, was founded upon lh". two considerations, that he was brought in lo fill the place of Hungerford, whom the Board bad not discharged, and lhat he was understood to have been dismissed from the General Hospital for the offence of aiding ihe extraction of a corps and substituting for it in the coffin some billets of firewood. The undersigned do not think it necessary to go further into the lengthened details fur- nished by Doctor Parke. But must conclude by giving their opinion lhat the Board of Commissioners will unani- mously consider that the Doctor has in his documents, sent to the Government, added falsehood and treachery lo the assumptions and insult and illiteratness by which they had pre- viously been pained. (Signed) Rev. H. J. GRASETT. J. ROAF. The language, with which the above document closes, was twice pointed out (I am told) by the Government to the Reverend delegates as objectionable in its character, and worthv of being withdrawn or modified by them. This they refused to do ; and the Governor-General was advised to submit to the indignity, with more deference, it must be admitted,* to the Rev. ministers, than to the religion they professed and thus exemplified. It was well, however, for the Government to have a taste of the practical piety of these Delegates towards themsebes, under which they displayed the " sub- * ordinati »n to them " that was expected from and observed-by me ; but, in the last minute of council, the reader will observe that their patience under indig- nity was not even as enduring as my own, and it is condemned as " the indiscreet use of terms, unnecessary as respected the party" (Dr. Park) •• to whom they were applied, and objectionable as respected the quarter" (the Government) " to which they were addressed." Upon the return of the Rev. Mr. Grasett and the Rev. Mr. Roaf from their mission, I found the fol- 25 lowing minute of a meeting of the Board to welcome them back and sanction their proceeding :— Thursday, 28ih September, 1848. Commissioners met. present: Rev. H. J. Grasclt, " J. Roaf, J. Eastwood, Esq., M. J. O'Beirne, Eeq , M. J. O'Beirne, Esq , in the chair. The Rev. Messrs. Grasett and Ronf being a deputation to wait on the Government in relation to matters connected with the interference of the medical superintendent with the authority of the Board,—they mode iheir Report, including the presentation of a document presented to the Government in answer to certain allegations made by the medical superin- tendent, which is perfectly satisfactory. The contracts for the ensuing quorter were then disposed of; after which, " Keeper Craig, being examined, was admonished and reinstated.''—Adjourned. Great was my astonishment at this proceeding. It does not appear who moved and seconded the Resolution ; but it is as humiliating to the Christian world, as it ought to be to the Rev. delegaes, to find that without them there was no quorum; that either the Rev. Mr. Grasett or the Rev. Mr. Roaf must have either moved or seconded the Resolution affecting their own honour and Christian dignity in their mission ; and that, as three are required for a quorum, they must themselves have stooped to vote upon this personal question ! There is, to be sure, no By-law against it; but the maxims of duty, all rules of delicacy, and the usages of even worldly men, are utterly at variance with it. It records as an act of the Board about them, what is only an act of their own about themselves. It is. therefore, an untruth as an official act, operating as a deception upon the public, when told "the Board have done it." Although it relates to character instead of money (perhaps to both, if affe ting their remuneration), yet it is as unprincipled in its nature as if four Directors of a Bank (two of whom were debtors to it, and two conniving at the transaction) should meet, and, placing one of the connivers in the chair, make the other conniver sit with the debtors to form a quorum of three in voting their debts cancelled. It is not strange that gentlemen, who could thus meet, constitute them- selves a Board and vote their own approval of themselves, should be guilty of the act associated with it, viz., the reinstation of Craig as a keeper, though objected to by the medical superintendent, steward, and xi\z\vox\,for irregularity in his duty, insolence to the officers, general turbulence in his behaviour, and vio' lance to the patients. This indignity to the physician and officers of the insti- tution, and atrocity towards the lunatics, were accomplished immediately upon their return from Montreal, and in open defiance of the injunctions they had just received from the Government, to always exercise, (excipt in very extreme cases) their power respecting the servants of the institution, in accordance with the views of the Superintendent and in support of his authority. If the Government were willing to submit to this contumacious and insolent conduct towards themselves and the Representative of Majesty, it will not, I hope, be deemed guilty or mean in me to submit myself and the lunatics to its consequences. But when the above four commissioners met, thus to disgrace their com- mission and the high authority from which they held it, where were their fellow members ? They remained away. Why '! The reader must judge. Submitting to this wrong, without suspending Craig, or even complaining, 26 I communicated the facts to the Government, whose animadversions upon it are found in the first minute of council. At a subsequent special meeting, the following Resolutions were adopted and transmitted to the Government:— Special Meetivg of Commissioneks. Monday, 16th October, 1848. present: The Rev. H. J. Grasett, " J. Roaf, in the Chair, " J. Hay. J. Fast wood, Esq. J. Kwait, lisq. M. J. O'Beirne, Esq. Dr. Beaumont. Read the Communications forwarded by the Provincial Secretary, under date of 3rd October 1848, Unanimously ordered,—That there W put upon the minutes, copies of Dr. Park's letter to the Government, undei date of September 13th. 1948. and of the documents prepared by the deputa- * lion lately sent to the Seat of Government, and presented as an answer to lhat letter; and that this document be cordially approved as expressing the sentiments of the whole Board. Resolved unanimously.—That Ihe Chairman be directed to write to the Provincial Secretary, acknowledging the receipt of his letter of 3rd October, wilh enclosures, reporting the adoption by this Board of the document prepared by the recent deputation to Government, pointing nut the ex- isting embarrassed position of the Board, requesting the early attention of the Governor General to the pressing importance of an immediate decision upon the appeal made to him by the Board and Medical Superintendent. Upon the return of the Rev. Delegates to Toronto, I visited, by permis- sion, the Scat of Government. The offensive matter in the commu- nication of the Delegates was not, however, shown to me, peihaps to avoid any fresh irritations that might possibly grow out of it.— Sometime, however, after my return to Toronto, I found that the steward had been desired, in accordance with the foregoing Resolutions, to copy this document upon the minutes of the Board, to expose, as was said, my "falsehood and treachery." This revealed to me, for the first time, the low vituperation recorded against me in the council chamber in Montreal, as well -t as in the records of the Asylum ; thus subjecting me to further indignity and injury before the household. Not questioning, under this mortification, the discretion exercised by the Government in the matter, I prepared a commu- nication of some length, vindicating myself by facts, as far as they were avail* able, against the " falsehood and treachery " charged upon me. The Hon, Robert Baldwin arriving in the city to spend sometime, 1 requested Dr. Rolph to see him. Calling upon me after the interview, he recommended me to withhold the defence I had prepared, stating that he found it would be more agreeable to the Government, if I met it briefly in a way that would cover my own honour, without matter that might disturb the adjustment of the difficu ties so lately effected by the minute of council. With this suggestion I cheerfully complied, and substituted a short communication to the Provincial Secretary, on the 13th November, expressing my consciousness of the truth and integrity of my action in the masters referred to by the Reverend Delegates, and my readiness and ability lo repel the charges of falsehood and treachery, when- ' ever His Excellency might afford me an opportunity of doing so. Remarks on the above Document from the Reverend Delegates of the Board, to the Government. In this document the language used by the Reverand gentlemen goes beyond controvert. ing the correctness of representations, by alleging in terms least to be expected from them, that 1 " had added laUehood and treachery lo the assumption and insult and illiteroieuess by which they had been previously pained." 27 The terms " falsehood and treachery" appear on the foce of the document to opply to my representation of the condition of the Institution and the Ireatnisnt of the lunatics. An enquiry could alone fully meet the merits of the question ; and therefore in its ab- sence, there can be offered only such vindication as acknowledged fuels muy afford. The Reverend deleantes, while negativing the truth of the representations respect- ing the lornier neatment of the panels, tleny their lieiniug on themselves and their colleagues, because '' they entirely leave thai department of duly to the Meiiiriil Superintendent, finding for him such assistance as he from time to lime reports to be requisite." But the very fact of their abandoning this most delicate and important duty to the Medical Superintendent is such evidence of their incapacity to judge of ihe wrongs set forth, as to render their use of the terms " falsehood and treachery'' unworiiintalile. And moreover, as ihey limit their duty to Ihe " finding such assistance as the M»f coer-ing a Medical Sup-rintendent to receive an inadequate dom.etu: police, th i very power of the Crown in my appointment Would be undermined ; and I should hold my offi e not during .he ||ensure of Ihe CroWn, but during the pleasure of ihe Board, as exprrssed and eflfretuahy enf ircd by emt>arras>-ing me with such servants as woubl either disgrace me bv failure in my duty, or by submission to indignities for ihe sake of peace or place. If, therefore, I am charged with undermining the authority of the Board, it is only by ihe adop- tion of a course opposed to what would undermine the authority of the Crown and ruin myself. This truth is apparent in the Minutes of the Executive Council; a government brow- beaten by Commissioners into their terms. As "The Commissioners entirely leave the treatment of Ihe patients to the de- I partment of ihe Medical Superintendent, finding for him such assistaace as he from time to time reports to be requisite," it is inconsistent with their professions to render a re suspen- sion necessary ; or to evade ihe requisition of ihe Medical Superintendent for a better ser- vant, hy making his estimate of keepers square with their own ; or to require, when one ground of objection is made by him to * keeper, that, forsooth, he must make another, ami then, probably, another. if the complaint is only enough, it is too I rival. II it is made aggravated, it is either audaciously overlooked, or denounced as prolixly vindictive in its character, utterly unworthj of ihe feelings and position of a Medical Superintendent, to- wards servants. The Rev. Commissioners, in that part of their explanation, intended to operate as a denial of the truth of my representation respecling the past keeping of Ihe accounts omit ihe past and confine themselves to the present tense. But as they simply allege what is true, viz., that the accounts '• are regularly kept", without alleging what would not be true, viz., that they have always heretofore been so kefi, I cannot be justly charged on ihe auth- ority of their own explanation with •' falsehood and treachery ": while, on the conirarv, this avoidance of the direct denial affords evidence of my truth, which the books themselves by inspection would corroborate ; and fixes on the Ilev. Delegates a method of misrepresentation more refined though not less object onable than the one unjustly charged against me in words too coarse and vulgar to be here repeated. The above remarks on the document of the Rev.Delgates, are unavoidably imperfect, as the only available sources for facts, were the admissions appa- rent in the document, and the equally imperfect records of the Asylum. The antagonsm between the Board and my-elf having been mutually sub- mitted to the Government, and taken int. their consideration, they sent to each of us the following Minute of Council (of the 14th October 1848,) as their adjudication upon the matters in difference. MINUTE OF COUNIL. These documents contain a variety of statements, many of which it appears to the Committee, would have been better omitted inasmuch as the original question, upon which the differences appear to have arisen, was one respecting the construction of the Rules and Regulations under which they respectively act, as those Rules and Regulations affect the relative powers of each. This point having been disposed of by an appeal to your Excellency, would have left the -. Commissioners and the Superintendent to pursue their respective duties, without giving occa- sion to the irritation which would appear unfortunately to have arisen in the course of the present controversy. The Institution, as its name imports, is strictly of a provisional character, and the Rules and Regulations for its Government, it appears reasonable to suppose, must have been framed with a view to the ultimate transfer of the establishment to the permanent Asylum, so soon as the new Building should be put up. The Rules and Regulations must therefore, in the opinion of the Committee, be construed wilh reference lo the statutory proviaions,by which the permu- tiieut establishment, when in operation, is lo be governed. Neither can this question, in the opinion of the Committee, be disposed of by any con- 36 ■{deration of the expediency or inexpediency of the existing provisions upon the aubject of it. It must rest solely upon what is the true construction of those Rules as they stand. And upon a careful pernsalof them it appears to the Committee that il is clearly in the Commissioners, nnd not in the Superintendent, that the superior power, in the Institution, in the particular referred to. is lodged. Any doubt that might have been entertained on this point, upon a perusal of the Regulations alone must, in the opinion of the Committee, be removed, when reference is had to the expressed opinion of ihe Legislature, which, in its provisions for the permanent Institution, has vested even the appointment of the Superintendent himself in the Commissioners. It is true that by the second article of the printed Rules and Regulations, the Medical Superintendent is to superintend every thing connected with the internal management of the Institution, and the well being of the patients, and to see that his directions, relative to the Medical and moral treatment of the patients, are properly attended to. Bnt to give such a construction to thi- provision as would place the dismissal of servants, dirpclly, or by indirect means of repeated suspensions, in his hands, would, rn the opinion of the Committee, be a strained construction of the provision itself, and be moreover entirely inconsistent with that of the first article of the Rules by which *'lhe hiring and discharging servants" is expressly placed in the hinds of the Commissioners. It appears to the Committee also lhat the opinion ex- pressed in Mr. Secretary Daly's letter to the Commissioners, of the 24th Jnly, 1646, was not intended to interfere with the superior authority of the Commissioners in those matters, but rather to provide for that mutual harmony of action, which ought to subsist between them and Ihe Medical Superintendent. Indeed the Report of the Commissioners, of the 24th April following, shows clearly that such was the construction put upon lhat letter, and that it was not considered as transferring any part ofthese powers to the Superintendent. This construc- tion put upon Mr. Secretary Daly's letter by the Commissioners, was evidently acquiesed in by the Government at the time, as no step appears to have been taken to correct this opinion of the Commissioner!, which, had they fallen into an error, as to the intention of the Govern- ment in so important a particular, it seems reasonable to suppose, would have been done. The Committee are therefore of opinion that the renewal of the suspension of Keeper Hungerford, after the case had heen heard and disposed of by the Commissioners without, as it would seem, any new cause for suspension, was beyond the powers vested in the Medical Superintendent by the Rules and Regulations of the Institution. The Committee having thus disposed of the original issue between the parties, cannot avoid repeating the expression of their regret at what appears to be the state of feeling that has unfortunately sprung up in the course of the transactions out of which it originated. And they would respectfully recommend that the Commis>ioners should be reminded how much it depend* upon them to secure that deference towards the Medical Superintendent on the part of the servants of the establishment, and thrrt order and discipline amongst the servants themselves, without which the Institution cannot be satisfactorily or usefully conducted. The air or manner of a person may frequently be more really destructive of snch discipline than some act of negligent omission, or even of direct disregard of orders. The Committee hava been led to this remark not only from the general character ©f the complaints made by the Medical Superintendent, but from observing that the Commissioners have thought proper to restore to his place in the Asylum a party reported by the acting Superintendent, as of a temper ill calculated for any employment in the management of Lunatics, as having been negligent in his attendance, and as having been guilty of actual violence to one of the patients. The Committee, under all the circumstances, do not feel called upon to advise a direction to the Commissioners to remove this person at present, but they leel convinced that unless an entire change takes place in his carriage, and demeanour, as represented in these Docnments, the Commissioners themselves will find it necessary to do so ere long. The Committee also feel it necessary to express their entire concurrence iu the opinion expressed by the acting Superintendent, that no such force as that reported to have been made use of towards the frantic patients, bv the four keepers, should have been applied without the authority of that officer, when the supposed occasion for it arose, while he was within reach to express an opinion as to its necessity. The Committee feel some apprehension that unless prevented by a rigorous exertion of authority on the part of the Commissioners over the servants of the establishment, enforcing at once deference towards the Superintendent and harmony of action among themselves, the Commissioners will ultimately find it necessary to resort to a substitution of an entirely new rorps of servants for those at present employed. Such is often found the only remedy for evils of this kind, and the Committee trust that should the necessity for such a measure arise, the Commissioners will act with promptitude and vigor in carrying it into effect. It is not r> be endured -that the quiet of the establishment, and consequently the welfare of the patieuta, is 57 to be sacrificed to such Jealousies or jeopardized by protracted investigations for the pnrpesa of adjusting nicely the exact a nount of blame attached to each. Every officer and servant of the establishment must be made to feel his subordination to his superior, and the report of Bach superior ought as a general rule to be conclusive as to his misconduct. If it be objected that this would place the subordinates too much in the power of their immediate superiors, the Committee would remark lhat unless this amount of dependence can be placed in such superiors, they are themselves not fii for the statiou which they fill. The Committee trusts that both the Commissioners and the Superintendent will lose no time in bringing the Institution into a proper state of order ami discipline, preparatory to the transfer of the Establishment to the permanent Institution, as it is understood that the new buildings will probably be ready for the reception of patients in Ihe course of the ensuing Spring or Summer. While the confidence reposed in both the Commissioners and the Su- perintendent by the Government and the anxious desire to discharge their duty to the Public, which the Committee are confident must be felt by both, so imperatively calls for. Certified. (Signed) J. JOSEPH. The above Minute of Council thus decides between the parties the points in issue : SUPERINTENDENT. 1. That the Superintendent ought not to have disclosed to the Govern- ment the defective cendition of the Institution, as appears to be intimated in the first paragraph. 2. That the renewal of the suspension of a servant deemed however un* worthy, is an excess of power, without fresh cause of complaint. THE BOARD. That the Board ought not to have reinstated Keeper Craig, " reported by the Medical Superintendent as of a temper ill calculated for any employment in the management of Lunatics, as having been negligent in his attendance, and as having been guilty of actual violence to the patients." 2. That they should enforce deference towards the Medical Superintend- ent on the part of the servants and harmony among themselves. 3. That they should not disturb the Institution with protracted investiga- tions upon complaints. 4. That every officer and servant of the Establishment should be made to feel h:s subordination to his superior, and that the report of such superior ought, as a general rule, to be conclusive as to his misconduct. 5. This is summed up in the subsequent Minute of Council in these words : M The power of the Commissioners, as respects the servants of the Institution, ought, except in very extreme cases, to be always exercised in accordance with the views of the Superintendent and in support of his authority." 6. That they should, with the Superintendent, " lose no time in bringing the Institution into a proper state of order and discipline." .7. That the Government continued its confidence in both parties. To the adjudication of the government I most cheerfully assented, and by. it afterwards scrupulously regulated every action. Had the Commissioners with due deference to the Government, acted upon the principles above laid down (in conformity, too, with their professions) there could never have been any room for re-suspension, irritating inquiries, or injurious collisions. But disappointed by the contents of the Minute of Council, and writhing under the just censure inflicted, and the wholsome advice administered to them,theCommissioners undeitook against me a new series of persecutions, and at the same time chided the government for their unwelcome rebukes; till, in the end, they brow-beat them, as will be hereafter seen, into my dismissal. 38 It was after their return from Montreal, in possession of the views nnd instructions of the government from their intercourse with them; and after they had in their document to them declared, as Ministers of God, " that no person would ever be retained whom the Medical Superintendent thought iinsuited to his duties;" that theso very Reverend Delegates restored keeper Craio-. This breach of goodfaitb, violation of their official pledges and high contumacy towards the Government, entitled the Lunatics, myself, and the officers under me, to a full measure of protection. But the very men who could dismiss me, merely for convenience sake, could not screw their courage high enough to direct the dismissal of the servant, though the conduct, to be sure, is condemned. The antagonism, however, having been referred to them, and its adjustment assumed, it was not a proper occasion with high- minded and independent men, to condescend to this pusillanimity in official duty, this unequal adjudication of pending difficulties and undignified conces- sion to an acknowledged wrong, even in ecclesiastics and their fo.lowers. Suppose the Ministers of State in Europe or America were informed that the overseers of their country estates persisted in retaining servants guilty of turbulence in their behaviour and violence to their masters dogs and cattle— or suppose the same is reported to be the cruel position of their own children —would these men of official rank thus write : " We, under all these circum- stances, do not feel called upon to advise a direction to remove these servants at present" 1 Yea—would they not instantly leave the affairs of state, to look after these affairs at home for instant correction ] Very well—should they feel less sympathy for Lunatics than for dogs and cattle. And if the prompt- ings of nature are more tender for their own children than for dependent Lunatics, where, in behalf of the latter, are the appointed and all-sufficient substitutes, viz, the influences of an enlarged philanthropy, the responsive be- nevolence of exalted station, and the voice of conscience answering to the touching appeal of so many benighted souls 1 It would have been satisfactory had several members of the administration, when visiting for weeks their own happy families and sumptuous homes, dur- ing the pendency of these difficulties, been graciously pleased to cross the threshhold of the abode of our humiliated nature, to search after the truth with the spirit of the christian, or the eye of the statesman, or the general interest of citizens. But considering myself an officer of the government, I felt myself bound while in office, to submit myself to their pleasure, even should it to my mind appear at variance with governmental dignity and executive rectitude towards the insane,—I, therefore, did not suspend Craig, but allowed him to renew his old career in the Asylum, and bowed to the indignity.—Keepers Hungerford and Craig having been reinstated by the Board, it was not long before fresh dere- liction of duty obliged me,in my own defence, again to request their discharge. But even when a strong and irresistible case is made out, the Board still mnke their compliance a ground for insult and injury to the Medical Superintendent. This is exemplified in the following instance ;— Asylum, 2nd November, 1848. To the Board of Commissioners : Gentleman,—On the evening of my return from Montreal I visited the asylum at nine o'clock. On my arriving at the attic dormitory, I found the night watch, composed of keepers Craig and Hungerford, undressed and in their beds, sleeping soundly ; an open candle was left burning on a box in the apartment ; a Lunatic was walking about the ward ; the clothing of the patients was carelessly strewed about their beds, and many of tbem with their day*caps on their heads, and two with their drawers on—all of which was directly 39 contrary to ihe order recorded on the Superintendent's minute book, ond expressly under. stood by all of the keepers, as well as the steward and matron A furious patient might, under such u"gleet of duty, have fullen on others and re enacted the scenes of violence and personal injury which, in a serious decree, recently occurred in the case of Daniel Kerr ; an^l a'l ibis imght have happened with ns litile noise as was required to awnken them. The evil arising Irom a lighted candle thus left, is an obvious source of dinger, greatly enhanced by the presence of unguarded lunatics, often disposed to deeds of mischief In requesting of the Hoard ihe discharge ol these keepers, who have already heretofore bo abundanily proved their unvvorthiness, I feel it to be ihe only wuy to exonerate myself. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, Your obedient Servant, G. H. PARK. This complaint against thee fnvourite keepers of the Commissioners, was received by them in o spirit luithi.illy comporting with iheir p»st conduct towards me and my prede- cessors. Having so lar already felt their way us to know how successfully they could coerce II and deceive the Government, they set at nought the injunctions conveyed to them in the minute of council; and, instead ol acting on my representation, Ihey questioned its truih. The steward was required lo corroborate my state..tent, just as the Mayor hud to corroborate the Rev. Commissioner Roaf's. Nor was ths deemed sufficient; other keepers were culled up lo see if conflicting testimony could not be obtained to justify their refusal. The evidence, however, being conclusive, they displ >yed their mortification by recording their action in terms whicb were sure to impress the Government and every reader of their minutes in present and futHre turns, with i!>e belief, that I had obtained /he dis.ns.^al upon frivolous grounds, to which they had yielded in a spirit of questionable concession to a tyrant of a Medical Superintendent.—Omitting all the most essential particulars of the complaint, contained in my representation to them, they thus record the discharge of the keepers ond the reasons lor it. "2nd November, 1848. " The Rev. H. Grasett in the Chair. J. ROAF, J. EASTWOOD, J. EWART. M. T. O'BEIRNE, DR. BEAUMONT, v *' That the keepers Craig and Hungerford, having contrary to orders allowed the patients " in the attic ward to have their body clothing during the night on, and about their beds, be " discharged." The confidence of the keepers in the laxity of the Board, and the disposi- tion to embarrass me either by corrupt acquiescence or injurious refusal, will appear in the following transaction. Without awaiting any previous commu- nication with me, they came to a resolution to allow the Assistant Steward, Cronyn, to attend the Medical Lectures during the session 1848 and 1849 at the University of King's College, with the permission at the same time to retain his situation in the Asylum on full pay ; provided he could obtain the concurrence of the Medical Superintendent, as is shown by the following Minutes of the Board. Board of Commissioners, Thursday, 26th Oct. 1848. Present—Rev. J. Roaf in the Chair,—Rev. J. Grasett, J. Ewart, Esq., J. Eastwood, M. J. Obeirn, Doct. Beaumont. Received a memorial from Mr. J. Cronyn requesting permission to attend certain courses of Medical Lectures in the University. Resolved,—That Mr. J. Cronyn, the Assistant Steward, be allowed, as he was in the years 1846-47, to be absent from the Asylum for as many hours during tbe day, for the pur- pose of attending Medical Lectures, as the Medical Superintendent may think he can spare (rom bis duties in the Asylum, without injury to the Institution, provided that he does, as heretofore, apply his medical knowledge in assisting the Medical Superintendent, by com- pounding medicines, cupping, bleeding, &c, when required ; and if it should be found that the interests of the Institution in any degree suffer, lhat immediately the privilege of absence be withdrawn. If I acquiesced, it was doing wrong; if I dissented, I incurred from thp disappointed keeper and his confederates, fresh hostility. Assuming (however) honesty to be the best policy, and confiding in the integrity of the Government to sustain me in rectitude of action, I addressed to the Commissioners the fol- lowing letter.— To the Board of Commissioners:: Asylum, 2nd Nov. 1848. Gentlemen, I have carefully cons:dered Ihe minute mode by rhe Board upon the subject of Air. Cronyn's application for leave lo attend the University Med cal Lectures. It appears iricon. sistont with my duty to give the assent desired from me. It would be. in my op nion, an unwarrantable interference on my part, with an attendant whose lime belongs wholly t<» the Institution, and whose absence would impose increased lcbimr on the other attendants, whose duties are already sufficiently onerous. I have the honour to be. Gentlemen, Your Oned't Serv't, GEO. H. PARK. They next assailed me with a star-chamber inquiry, accusing me of pro- fessional incompetency in the treatment of two surgical i-ases, and of the offence of employing the Porter (Byrne) and head-keeper, Cronyn, in the compounding of medicine, and of habitual inattention lo the patients: — Copy of a Letter of Accusation against the Medical Superintendent from the Board of Commissioners. [Copy.] Temporary Lunatic A«ylum, ) Toronto, 30th November, J848. > To the Hon'ble J. Leslie, Provinciol Secretary. Sir, I am directed by ihe Board of this Institution, to forward to His Evcellency the. Governor-General, a Statement this day adopted by them in reference to two cases of apparent neglect of patients on the part of the Medical Superintendent, together with the testimony in full on which that statement is based. My instructions also are to inform Hie Excellency that tho Board did not call in the Medical Superintendent, during the investigation in which that testimony was elicited, the reason for that omission being the difficuliy there is in the Board holding any communication with lhat gentleman. I have the honor, Sir, to remain your ob't Serv't, J. ROAF, Chairman pro.tern. A true copy, Wm. Ramsay, Steward, Extract from the Report of the Commissioners, complaining of Dr. Park't Employment of Byrne. " Some time afterwards be told Edward Byrne to wash the wound and dress it with ad- hesive plaster This Byrne was a gardmertill he came into the institution, where for nearly two yeors he was a Keeper, and has for almost three years been the Porter. He cannot read Latin: and has never been instructed as to the preparing of Medicines, or dressing of wounds." Upon the employment of Cronyn the Report says : "Upon the patients removal to the Branch Asylum he was in a similar manner left to the judgment and care of the Deputy Steward." (Cronyn.) Although the Government did never honor me with a copy of any documents sent to them by the Board, yet I addressed the Provincial Secretary the fol- lowing letter : Sir, I hove received from the Steward documents purporting to be a copy of a letter to yoq, with a statement adopted by the Board, and the testimony in full on which that state- ment is based. 41 ExceT.e£yd0enm*HU "" imended ,a lmpea€h '"e M M8dlc»l S-pwIiitoiidoiit bsf.rs His K«„.ill?V'? «l*«refor* without delay nddreoeed myself to you on the sulject, and request the IK... y. "' COnv7"'* to "l8 Ex.*l ency my perfect readidess and nbiliiy o meet .TdI VepH diLg so S" W "'^ H'8 Exee,,WM* ™y be Ple«8^ »• afford ,„e an opportli.y Pwf attend i",Thifrei!r,,e ,.hBl1 W3S nehher aPPrif?ed of the proceeding of ihe Board nor invi.ed to attend. Their personal animosity is..vowed as the ground lor denyino u.e the benefit of iho.« ZlT^T'"*1"' Bmi f"ir"eS3' WhJCh d,Sl'"S",8h °""ilar Proceed'in^ a^.ng he rlpu ! tiono, public or private men, in every country in the world that is Iree and civilized '|hJ. acknowledged animosity would have been o good roason for ,he most scrupu o „ regard lo my jus, r.ght* ol defence belore my accusers and judges ; but it i..|M as a ,ea«o,forEc* L fhl"? ? mqi"8,t°r1"1 Proeeedi"? "here .his animosity could d.splav its activity wit Jut a check and consumnte us purposet in secret without the light of day. ' l I make no comment on the witnesses thus brought against me. because His Excellent s already aware of the lads bearing upon tins point. No one charge against ,, e is n," re untrue than another ; but may be permuted to adve, t to the cruelty of ,T,e allegation that 1 hadI,. ..properly employed an incompetent Porter to make up ihe medicine for the p,le„„ The Commiseioners had allowed him (as his evidence shows) to discharge this duly for !JJ «!n,er,l, ^"Jt8"' KW"h ,he'r acq",e««»«; and during the earlier par. of his employ.: men., there might have been room tor questioning hi, capability. But it is not ju«t to /breet their former licence, ,,, order to make it now appear ns « charge against me. I h. ve o.flr continued h.m in bis duty, after his past employment had insured his fitness. The intiniatmJ in he evidence that he cannot read Latin, might induce a belief that the prescription" ™ written in that language, though it is known and is opparent that they were bv Dr HVliir •nd1 are by me, written in English. If it was wrong in me to contmue in rhe duty a „ «„' who was once a "gardmeroiid farmer, and ignorant ol Latin," it was still more objectionable to sanction it when he began. He was in Dr. Teller's time examined bv Dr. Beaumont .„d by him pronounced fit. • Ul' "na Mr. Cronyn has been a Medical Sludent for three years, ond attended the Medical Leetures at the University ,n the winter of 1846 and 1847. He also fills the situation caS the Assistant Steward, at the Branch. u I rely upon the justice of His Excellency to afford me the amplest justice which mv ease requires. J ' I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient and humble servant, GEO. H. PARK. The reader may contrast this insinuation to the government with the Reso- lution of the Board, of the 26th October, above given. Next to the atrocious acts already mentioned, is this most unprincipled proceeding. Although placed directly by the crown as Medical Superinten- dent over the Asylum ; yet the Board of Commissioners, without any previous communication, with or from the Government, erect themselves into a secret tribunal to try me for mal-practice in my surgery, and for hazarding the pois- oning of the patients through the porter and head-keeper. Reputation is justly valued by every man—professional reputation is doubly so: for its loss involves not only general fame, but worldly fortune; the very means of living. Conceive, then, Christian Ministers joining, I ought to say seducing, otheis of the Board to conspire in a seeret act basely calculated to ruin me in charac- ter as a' mari, and as a physician. To this most presumptuous assumption of jurisdiction is added the crim- inal mode of proceeding. The Commissioners take the evidence of the keepers, even of Hungerford and Craig, the two discharged keepers: and if I am not bound to give them credit for more refinement in their moral sense than is herein displayed by the Board itself, a man's reputation stands in fearful hazard-^1 am not allowed an opportunity of hearing the evidence or cross- examining the witnesses. The evidence is not given under the sanction of an 42 oalh : —1 am not allowed an opportunity of calling professional men to justify myself against the crude notions of ignorant, discharged and irritated keepers. The base and calumnious result of this star-chamber proceeding is transmitted to the government! It is filed as an everlasting record against me in the archieves of my native country ! It is emblazoned by the Commissioners on their minutes to render my professional infamy as lasting as the Asylum. I ask for an inquiry, and the governmen refuse it!—The government dismiss me! Dismiss me with all this imperishable scandal, to tarnish my name and utterly blot my professional reputation. Dismiss me when there is much besides which malice has indicted in the minutes of the Board, and which has emanated from them in anonymous libels, and unblush- ing falsehoods in the newspapers of the day ! Dismiss me without pronounc- ing •' on the correctness or incorrectness of the statements!" Dismiss me without condescending " to condemn or acquit!"' Dismiss me with a load of accusations—with the refusal of an inquiry ! And yet supply these libels to Parliament to be read, printed, published, and distributed to my injury, with- out even proposing an antidote !—a course which has rendered the publication of this narrative necessary. I have hunted for a precedent in the history of Tory government in the country, from the days of Gork to those of Colborne. I am humbled in finding none. The Tories have, in too many instances, been severe to their political opponents ; but not an instance like this, of treachery and abandonment towards their friends—It is without its parallel. I have sincerely to thank Dr. Workman and Dr. Morrison for their testi- mony, as conve>ed in the following letters : — Toronto, 12th February, 1849. Dear Sir, I have recived your note of this morning, in which you state lhat your " treatment of the cases of Daniel Carr and James McLellund, patients under your charge in the Temporary Lunatic Asylum, having been condemned by the Commissioners, upon the judgment of the servants of the Insliiuiion, you are desirous of having an expression of my opinion upon ihe subject." In compliance wilh the above request I have mncb pleasure in being able to bear testi- mony lo the propriety and efficiency of the treatment pursued by you in both of tbe cases referred to. I visited the two branches of the Asylum in the first week of December last, lor the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the patients, and ihe state of the wards, with a reference to certain sanatory precautions which, as Chairman of tbe Bonrd ol' Health, 1 was desirous of recommending, in anticipation of the approaching pestilence, Asiatic Cholera ; and I bad a fair opportunity afforded me, on that occasion, of ascertaining from yourself and the ward servants, full and minute details of the cases of Carr and McLelland. I am con- vinced that any member of the prolession to wbo.n these cuses should be submitted in the same terms as those in which they were brought under my attention, and before whom the patients themselves should be placed for inspection, would, without hesitation, concur in the opinion which I have herein expressed ; and I cannot understand how it is possible lhat the Commissioners hove, as you inform me in your note, felt warranted in impugning your treat- ment. I believe there is not o Practitioner in this Province who would feel at all ashamed of the cases of Carr and McLelland were he brought before a competent and impartial tribunal,' to render on account of them, after having so well succeeded in restoring the injured parts to a sound state. The loss of fight, in Carr's cose, was a result for which I was fully prepared, after hearing the details of the cas<>, and examining the numerous scars remaining on the face. Had the treatment of the wounds been improper, the patient's face would certainly have presented a different appearance from that which it bad when I saw him. I am, Sir, wilh much respect, Truly yours, (Signed) J. WORKMAN, M.D. Dr. Park,- &c , Toronto. 43 DlarS.r, Toronto, 12th February, 1849. f.. • e }a r/P,v ,0 y°ur note requesting my views of the surgical treatment of iwo or the inmates of the Asylum, who had been injured, my attention having been called .o their cases, I beg to state that it was through tbe Steward on one of my daily visits, and on the occasion of a conversation with him relative to ibe general mi.ni.genie.it olsucb an establish- ment, and thequal.ficatonsnl me persons employed therein, that he mentioned these port c ularly unfortunate occurrences ; and I saw nothing in their "surgical treatment" but «hat was to vour professional credit, either in the case of Keerr's eyes, or AicLellond's face, cut by .. hoe. 1 he loss ols.ghi or the former appeared to me to have been inevitable from ihe severity of the injury inflicted ; and the wound on the lace of the other was healed with far leas deformity than I was prepared to expect ufter so muiilaling an injury. As to the Porter, so called, (his name I do not now recollect) who had dispensed medi- cine during the administration of yourself and Predecessors, 1 found by enquiry of i.i.n aris- ing out o my desire to be satisfied of his fitness for the duty, that he was qualified, and I accordingly entrusted bun and should feel fully justified in doing so again. You are per- mitted to make such use of this as you may think proper. I am, Deur 3-r, yours truly, Dr. Park, &c, Bay-St. ^^ T' D" MORMSON. The charge in the Star-Chamber inquiry, of inattention to the Lunatics is sufficiently answered by the acknowledged improvements in the clothing cleanliness and ventilation. a' In their zeal, indeed, to traduce me, they have in their communication to the Government, proved too much. The Rev. Commissioner Roaf, for the Board, says that I " spent in the wards of the general Institution, where there are above a hundred patients scattered in eight or nine apartments, besides the cells only from/re to fifteen minutes in a visit."— Now no man could in five mt«»to do much more than walk up stairs and down again.—If I spent, as stated, only 5 minutes in the wards, there would be about half a minute for each ward, inclusive of the time of going from ward to ward and from one story to ano- ther, besides the cells. Andtakingthe maximum timeof 15 minutes, then there would be 1£ minutes for each ward, inclusive of the necessary steps for access to them successively. This is as preposterous as it is wilfully and maliciously untrue The time specified may have been spent in a visit to one or more patients requiring special medical attendance; but the records of the Institu- tion, the prescriptions, the directions, the admissions, the discharges, the re- corded history of rases, the various improvements in progress or already perfected, and the increase of the comforts, happiness, health, and recoveries of the patients, afford irrefragable proof that this misrepresentation is based in malice and consummated by the natural fruit of the star-chamber, where the evidenee was garbled, perverted, and suppressed, with barely light enough to render " the darkness visible." The following, I find from the Parliamentary papers, is a main part of the complaints submitted by the Reverend Delegates to the Government:__ "Shortly after entering upon bis duties, (his gentleman manifested a disposition to in- terfere in tbe general affairs of the institution, which had previously been managed by the commissioners ; for instance, be gave orders respecting the diet of the servants (of those of the domestic department, as well as those of the wards) ; prohibiting the use of beer, even in the small quantities which had olwoyt heen allowed. He olso made arrangements with a mer- cbont, for the supylying of a large quantity of blankets; thus, not only assuming a duty belonging to the board, but infringing upon ihe arrongements by which all articles involving a large expenditure, are to be open to competition, and purchased under contract. Then he in- sisted upon a right to be present at the meetings of the board, in defiance of the rules and regulations which provide for his attendance only when required." I shall offer a few remarks on the above animadversions on my conduct. 44 I am charged with Interfering with the duties of the Board about the clothing and blankets. These are briefly the facts: The deficiency in these articles rendered it necessary for the Medical Superintendent to make a re- quisitien for a considerable amount of material for clothing, to which was add- ed the item of blankets. This requisition was sanctioned by the Board, with- out any exception as to the blankets ; aifd the Medical Superintendent was requested by them to attend to the purchase of the large bills (as they termed it); with which request I acquiesced.—No contract was ordered by the Board. The Bill was sanctioned, entered in the Steward's Book; and therefore as usual to be purchased under his discretion. Respecting the fulfilment of the order, I consulted Mr. McMaster, a wholesale Merchant. On a subsequent meeting, Mr. O'Beirne finding that his son-in-law, Mr. O'Den, had missed his usual bargains, expressed his dissatisfaction in a manner unbecoming and unjust to me. I was glad, therefore, to be relieved from what I had, on request, agreed to do,—and I never in any other way or manner interfered in such matters. On another occasion they advertised for tenders for clothing, and after receiving them, violated «ood faith with the parties, by distributing the orders arbitrarily by way of patronages Commissioner O'Beirne's son-in-law getting his share, while Mr. Lawson, being the lowest who had tendered the best article, should have had the entire contract, instead of a portion of it. It is, therefore, untrue that I, at any time, voluntarily obtruded myself upon Bueh matters belonging to the Board. Being required by the laws " generally to superintend everything con- nected with the internal management of the Institution," it was my duty to attend to proper diet ; and if beer was used to excess to notice it, and secure its prohibition. The bill for beer exceeded <£25 for the quarter previous to my entering on duty. Is this a small quantity or amount in the estimation of the Board ? Tne next quarter was about d£3 for beer—the next quarter nothing ; thus saving <£100 a year besides insuring sobriety. Are not intoxi- cating liquors and tobacco, in an Asylum, considered as medicines, distributed at the discretion of the Medical Superintendent, and not at the discretion of the Commissioners ? As the Institution had been by the Commissioners in their late investigation, convicted of intemperance, and the late Steward dis- graced, was it unwise in the Medical Superintendent to seek the abolition of such liquors, or unwise in the commissioners to complain against me for it 1 In the Asylums in the United States entire abstinence is the law. It is alleged, I sought to be present at the meetings of the Board. To necure " the necessary harmonious action and co-operation between the Board and Medical Superintendent" existing in every other Institution, it is scarcely consistent to shut the door against me. There is nothing more proper than the presence of the Medical Superintendent in all deliberations on the •• inter- nal affairs of the Institution which he is required to superintend." If I, on first assuming my duties, erroneously interpreted the law to require my pre- sence at the Board, without on any second occasion claiming it, it is still more objectionable in the Board to treat the Medical Superintendent with so little Courtesy and confidence as to render the claim necessary, I certainly, at first, construed the law to require my presence. In addition to the persecutions and accusations already mentioned, the Board (or the portion calling themselves the Board,) descended so low, as to engage in an anonymous newspaper libel against me ; which will be found in full in the appendix, with the attacks made on me, and my defence, as they 45 appeared in the Globe. The defence might have comprehended more partic- ulars and have been more effective, had I not wished scrupulously to keep within the narrowest bounds, so as to avoid the very appearance of going be- yond the exigencies of the case. I had religiously avoided, bv myself or my friends, being concerned directly or indirectly in any thing appearing in the newspapers beyond what duty required me lo subscribe with my name; and therefore felt the injustice of the Goxernment in giving their sanction to a further mode of attack upon me, unexampled in any kindred Institution in the world. The most malicious allegation is the one which charges me with the false entry of an order, dated the 20th J tine, upon a day long subsequent to Us date. The following letter will enable the public to judge of its false- ness, as well as of the general course of tbe commissioners who were thus assailing me .-— ^ -, „ „ „ Toronto, 12th February. 1849. To Geo. H. Park, Late Medical Superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum, Sir, We hove examined the entry made by you, that, " there most not hereafter, h« two excited patients put into ibe wmr cell ot a timo." And find that the entry itself carries with it (independent of circumstantial proof) the fullest evidence of having been written at the. time of its date, the 20th June, and not subsequently in September, as alleged by the Rcverand Commissioner Roaf. (Signed) J. LF.SSLIE, SAM'L. WORKMAN, R. II. BRKTT. E. F. WHITTEMORE. While attending to my official duties amidst the foregoing and many other perplexities around me, from the same source, I received the following Minute of Council :— *■ Extract from a Report of a Committee of the Honourable the Executive Council on Matters of State, dated 29th November, 1848, approved by His Excellency the Governor-General in Council on the same day. The Committee of Executive Council have had under consideration, upon Your. Excellence's reference, a letter from the Rev. Mr. Grasetl, one of the Commissioners of the Temporary Lunatic Asylum at Toronto, with the accompanying Memorandum ol the sixth of; November instant, signed by himself and certain others of the Commissioners. These gentlemen, for whom individually, as well as collectively, it is almost superfluous to say, that the Committee feel e\ery respect, seem by the course of their remarks in this docu- ment to have forgotten that the original reference to Your Excellency commenced by an appeal made by the Medical Superintendent. That appeal arose specifically out of the suspension of a Keeper by the Acting Medical Superintendent. This suspension was attempted to be enforced by a re-suspeusion of the- same partv by that Officer, after the Board had disposed of the case. Which re-suspension, having been resisted by the Board, an appeal was thereupon made by the Medical Superintend dent to Your Excellency—arid that this was the light in which the Board itself at the tirmr/ viewed it, is evident from their own resolution, adopted at a meeting held ten day* .after th* date of ihe Superintendent's first letter to the Government, and called expressly with reference- lo the "antagonism," as it is in their minutes termed, between the Medical Superintendent. and the Board In this resolution the Commissioners submit the whole matter to the consid- eration of the Government, "in order that the Board or the .Medical Superinlcrrdent may be " sustained in the position which they respectively assumed as the Government may see fit." A Resolution in which issue is thus joined on the appeal, and the object of such appeal thus explicitly declared. As regards the case of the Frantic Patient referred to in their former Minute and aBuded , so in the document now before tbem ihe Committee would remark— 46 That reference to it in the former Minute, was rather art illustration', by way of example, r»f what they conceived the proper course on such occasions, th;m a condemnation, even of the Keeper, in respect of the given case, much h.ss as a condemnation of the Commissioners —-and it was so referred to expressly •' .is reported," without assuming that there might not exist explanatory circumstances, which, had the matter been taken up as one of complaint to be enquired into, might have exonerated all from blame. The Committee had hoped, that when the subordination of the Medical Superintendent to the Commissioners li id been settled by Your Excellency's decision, both the Commissioners and the Superintendent would have addressed themselves lo their respective duties—the Medical Superintendent in a spirit of respectful deference to the Commissioners which their posit on and authority required from him, and the Commissioners with the resolution of affording every just and necessary support to that officer in the discharge of his very respon- sible and delicate duties—and thnt the irritation arising out of past ditficuliies and the indiscreet use of terms, unnecessary as respected the parly to whom they were applied, and objectionable as respected the quarter to which they were addressed, would by means of those mutual explanations and concessions so perfectly consistent with the dictates of the highest sellresp^ct, have been forgotten by both, in a common desire for public usefulness. They further hoped that the expression of the opinions which their former Minute contained respecting the spirit in which the acknowledged power of the Commissioners ought to be exercised in matters of the kind under consideration, would have conduced to lhat end. But though in their opinion such suggestions were culled for by the circumstances of the case, they saw no reason to advise the withdrawing of Your Excellency's confidence from Gentlemen performing gratuitously a public duty of so arduous and responsible a character as that with which the Commissioners are entrusted. Anu believing that the difficulty in which the Medical Superintendent is involved was in a great measure caused by his having unfortunately mistaken the scope of his authority in relation to the Commissioners, and taking into consider- ation his recent appointment mid the fact that by the ..d.nissinii of the Commissioners them- selves he had already effected salutary improvements in the Institution, they did not deem it expedient to advise the withdrawal of Your Excellency's confidence from that officer. Having come to this conclusion it appeared to the Committee but due to the two parties, whose collision appeared to them to have grown out of this unhappy mistake, to express their continued confidence in both. 1 he Committee have learned with surprise and regret, that the decision come to by Your Excellency in their former Minute has been unsatisfactory to the Commissioners. That decision was in direct support of the Commissioners and of lheir authority, and the Committee are not aware of any instance in which the Commissioners have not been sustained in the most ample manner by the Government. The action in the case of the late Superintendent affords sufficient proof of the consideration given to the advice of the Commissioners. Finally for the same reason that, the power of the Commissioners as respects the Servan's of the Institution ought they think, except in very extreme cases, to be always exercised in accordance with the views of the Superintendent, and in support of his authority, the Committee are of opinion lhat ihe power of the Government so long as it sees no sufficient reason for withdrawing its confidence from the Commissioners, ought, except in like cases of extreme necessity, to be exercised in accordance with the views of the Commissioners and in support of their authority. The Government, placed at a distance, finds it necessary to delegate to persons on the spot those powers required lor the constant supervision, control and direction of ihe Institu- tion. The responsibility of ihe Government rests in the selection of proper persons for this duty, while the more immediate responsibility forthe administration of the Institution rests with the persons thus appointed. # The Act of Parliament for the management of the permanent Asylum fully establishes this —;and without at present expressing an opinion upon the provisions of that Act it appears to the Committee, that had the Temporary Lunatic Asylum been originally placed upon the like footing as to its government and management, difficulties of the kind which have recently arisen would have at all events been avoided. The Committee, for the reasons already stated, had hoped that these difficulties would, in the manner suggested, have been overcome. If this has become impossible, it is for the Board of Commissioners to assume the responsibility of recommending a specific course lo the Government, and it will be time enough for Members of that Board to speak of resignation, when such recommendation shall have been disregarded in any manner to deprive them of that moral influence which unless maintained it will be impossible for them to conduct the Institution with success. The Com- 47 mittee hope therefore, that these Gentlemen will see that they have been premature in tendering their resignation. The Committee adhering theref re to their former Minute see no reason to relieve the Soard of Commissioners from the responsibility lhat properly belongs to Ihem, and have only to remark in conclusion, lhat whenever lhat Board, so long as it continues lo retain Your Excellency's confidence, have any recommendation to make, such recommendation will, the Committee feel confident, receive from Your Excellency's Government its best consideration. Certified. (Signed) J. JOSEPH. EXTRACT. The Committee of the Executive Council have had under their consideration upon your Exellency's reference, the letter of the Medical Superintendent of the Temporary Lunatic Asylum at Toronto of the 13th Nov. instant, expressing his consciousness of the truth nnd in- tegrity of his actions in the matters referred to by the Commissioners in one of their communi- cations with the Government on the subject of the. difficulties which have unhappily sprung Up between them, and conveying to your Excellency the expression of his readiness and ability to repel them, whenever your Excellency may be pleased to afford an opportunity fordoing-o. The Connntttee douht not that the Medical Superintendent feels the confidence that he expresses. They do not however think lhat it is ihe province of ihe Government to decide the matter of personal feeling between that officer and the Commissioners, and ihe temper manifested in the course of the contest sufficiently satislies them, that such would most proba- bly be the sole result of entering upon such an investigation as the Medical Superintendent desires. The Committee cannot therefore, recommend your Excellency to direct any such inquiry. They have, in the minute on the letter of the Commissioners, sufficiently expressed the hopes they entertained lhat the irritation arising out of past difficulties might have been removed by judicious explanations and concessions. Having been disappointed in that hope however, they can but await such action on the part of the respective parties as may require further action on the part of your Excellency in the matter. Certified. (Signed) J.JOSEPH. From the above Minu'e of Council it appears that the Government under- stood that they had settled the antagonism, between me and the Board, which had been by both parties referred to them. My subordination to the Com- missioners was settled; and I, therefore, submitted to the restoration of Craig, submitted without, what many might rightly think, becoming notice of the offensive vituperation addressed against me by the Reverend Delegates insultingly to the Government, and pursu* d my duties in the Asylum without affording the slightest ground for complaint. How could there be any other explanation or concession on my part, and how could it he mutual, when the Board, or those Commissioners who called themselves the Board, refused to stibmit to the Executive adjudication and officially declared to the Government that they would "hold no further communication with me"? And they further offer official indignity by the threat that should 1 still retain the confidence of the government (as the Government had avowed) they should resign. This is cornering the Administration.—It was bringing them up to the mark, viz., dismiss Dr. Park or we will resign. The Government, giving an undignified and unjust submission to this predicament, and after hesitating, like King Herod, which of two disagreeable things to do, humbly begged the Commis- sioners to retract their painful threat, and to relieve the Administration of the burden by taking upon themselves the responsibility of recommending a specific, unjust and inconsistent course, viz , my dismissal. The inquiry sought for and refused, was not merely due to me, but most especially due also to 'he Lunatics. Their well-being must most materially depend upon the conduct of the Commissioners, and their conformity to such 48 Just views as may be recommended by their immediate superior, the Gover- nor General. Their contumacy in so grave a matter, seriously jeopardising ihe inmates, required the Government to accept their resignation, not to suc- cumb to their conditional threat of it. The whole of the last Minute of Coun- cil, while it pointedly abstains from [even a general approval of their conduct, contains intimations so pregnant with just reproach, that no men, not merely Beeking to be sataited with the revengeful pleasure of mv ruin, would or could under it honourably have retained their position. Thus the Council, in gentle terms felt by sensitive minds, charge them with jbigetting the original reference ; and convey a rebuke for their contumacy by stating that they " had hoped the Commissioners would (when the subordination of the Medical Su- perintendent to them had been settled by His Excellency) have addressed themselves to their duties"—had hopid, they would do so, " with the resolution of affording every just and necessary support to the Medical Superintendent in the discharge of his very responsible and d,elicate duties," (a principle so egregeously outraged in the very face of the Government, by the reinstation of Craig over the Lunatics-—had hoped (perhaps the keenest cut of all) that they would have forgotten irritation caused "by their indiscreet use of terms, unnecessary as respecting the party to whom they were applied and objec- tionable as respected the quarter to which they were addressed," viz., the pertinaciously retained offensive language insultingly addressed by the Rev'd Delegates to the poli>hed mind of Lord Elgin—" had hoped that the express- ion of the opinion, which their former Minute contained, respecting the spirit In which the acknowled power of the Commissioners ought to be exercised in matters of the kind under consideration, would, have conduced to that end" And because it did not conduce to that end, for the well-being of the Luna- tics, they ought to have been dismissed, even had they not tendered their resignation; particularly as the Government had already in their former Minute of Couucil, reminded them of the impropriety of their conduct to- wards the Medical Superintendent upon the complaints he submitted to them, and "that it was not to be endured that the quiet of the establishment and consequently the welfare of the patients should be sacrificed to such jealousies or jeopardized by protracted investigations for the purpose of adjusting nicely the exact amount of blame attached to each," instead of accepting, "the re- port of such superior ought as a general rule, to be conclusive as to his misconduct." It is stated in the last Minute of Council that " the Government placed at a distance, finds it necessary to delegate to persons on the spot those powers re- quired for the constant supervision, control and direction of the Institution." But on that very account it is either necessary (as seems intimated) that the Seat of Govornment should be more in the centre of the sphere over which it exercises administrative vigilence, (which would again bring the Seat of Gov- ernment to Toronto) or that the persons so delegated should be active, effec- tive, faithful and conscientious in the discharge of their duties, and cheerfully amenable to an ultimate appeal. If this delegated authority is not to be ques- tioned or controlled by the power conferring it, it becomes absolute ; and it becomes, too, irresponsible (the most dangerous and corrupt of all secondary authorities) when the exercise of the superior power, in ad rising, ..warding and directing, is met by contumely, by resistance, by open violation, and by threatening of resignation. If the Commissioners are to be sole and autocrat- ical, above a word of advice or the duty of acquiescence, it would more com- 49 port with things as they ought to be, that the Commissioners should assume the Executive department of public affairs, and the Administration condescend to act a second part in the sphere of delegation. It is important to remark, that the Reverend Messrs. Roaf and Grasett, with Dr. Beaumont, Messrs. O'Beirne and Eastwood, out of the eleven com- posing the Board, were the only agents in all the bitter agitation against me ; and were the only persons, present at the Special Meeting to assume the responsibility, thrown off, nominally, by the Government, to require my dis- misal; but the names are artfully omitted in the communication to the Government, to whom the resolution is reported as carried unanimously: Yet even of the five present, four were the same unscrupulous persons as form- ed the meeting of the Board on the 20th day September, (see page 25,) when Messrs. Roaf and Grasett entered on record, the satisfaction of the Board with their conduct as Delegates, and at the same time reinstated Craig. Was it just in the Government to ground their decision, in my case, on the acts of a minority of the Board, when that minority was composed of the very persons whose vindictive feelings had been already actually expressed to them by the Delegates in Montreal, and contumaciously displayed in their subsequent mis-conduct? Is it right that I should, or that the Lunatics should, in such grave matters, be conclusively injured by, possibly, such a quorum of three, al- lowed by the Commission 1 " Placed at a distance." And what better is the accountability before us, than the accountability to Downing Street, the inefficiency of which is painfully proverbial to this day 1 If the local government becomes fearfully corrupt upon the odious doctrine (of the Colonial Bureaucracy) of always supporting them, right or wrong, against Parliament and people ; in what better condition will be our divers local institutions, if their local authorities are to be amenable to no actual control, no effective counteraction under complaints, but always to be treated with a complaisant evasion of their culpabilities, and a tolerance of dis- graceful and acknowledged abuses ! Still more dangerous is this exceptionable doctrine when connected with services held to be less amenable to reforma- tion because honorary ! Is a debt of honor less binding morally ihan a debt of law ? If a friend, refusing compensation, assumes an important agency in my affairs, is he the less bound well to discharge the duty, or the less morally answerable for corruption about it? Do not the aristocracy in church and state owe something, in the nature of benevolence, to the community in which they aspire to personal and official distinction ? And how can the gratifica- tion of their ambition or of their hunger and thirst after usefulness, justify this doctrine of meritorious exemption, on account of their "onerous and gratuitous duties," from rectitude of action or the fullest responsibility to the fountain of honor and power in the State 1 The rule laid down by the administration, is the reverse of truth, and inconsistent with their professed principles ; for the rule expected from them was, that 'f responsibility was expected and would be exacted from any, it would be from the rich and lofty ones of the world, placed over the interests, the feelings and the wants of the poor and lowly. No people in the world have suffered more than the people of Canada from the abominable maxims laid down in my case. Throughout the suffering history of the country, the scourge of the magistracy, (ever bidding " their onerous and gratuitous offices" from the crown, with perfect immunity from the punish- ment of their oppressions) was keenly felt and daily complained of, without redress. And the aristocratic Commissioners of the Asylum, empowered with their keepers, to beat, bruise, strait-jacket and incarcerate in cells the de- 4 50 fenceless Lunatics, ought to be regarded with no corrupt partiality; but the same principles of honor, justice and goodfaith should have been equally extended to me and the inmates, as to the Board. How did the inmates in the Penitentiary in Kingston suffer from their Commissioners " with their onerous and gratuitous services '"? How long they suffered, at their irrespon- sible hands, flagellations of body and deteriorations of mind, because gentlemen and priests could not be supposed to do wrong, or be subjected to the low practice of being called to an account; inasmuch as such democratic ci.nduct towards them, would astound our reform government with the dreadful threat of a "resignation" ! In truth, the Penitentiary, the University, and the Asylum,have fallen, from the same objectionable policy, into the same condition j those in the former have relief because seen and heard by their friends, while those in the latter are doomed to unchanging hands, because uncredited in their appeals and unsupported by the sympathy of those, who have literally converted ati Asylum into a prison, upon whose threshhold comparatively few have ever deigned to cast their shadow, or have power or influence to afford redress. Suppose the case reversed. Suppose I had been thus truly reported to the Government—(thank God, it is not my position)—that I had allowed to lie in a state of disgraceful nudity (even beyond the unseemliness of savage life) those who most needed that sympathy and redress, which I had never extended to them, while the humane Commissioners had covered my shame in the matter by clothing these naked and brutally treated objects of human misery ;—that during years of careless duty, I had allowed, without a recorded order against it, excited patients to be put together in the same cell; — tl at I had allowed these loathsome cells to be the scenes of the daily and nightly punishment of lunatics, made more frantic by the abuse ;—that I had insulted the Commissioners with insulting importunities for the retention of Keepers who fomented internal dissensions, and were convicted of intoxication on duty;—that I had encouraged violence and cruelty to the patients by insisting on the reinstatement of Craig, an act unmanly towards the Matron, and an outrage against humanity and the Lunatics ;—that I had destroyed a'.l effectual discipline, by contriving to have unworthy servants fully paid during the whole period of penal suspension ;—that I had wilh unchristian apathy allow- ed the^e friendless sufferers at my mercy, to pant under a summer's sultry heat, by dooming them to act the part of beasts of burden in drawing water from the bay to the Institution ;—that I had attended neither to the ventilation nor the fumigation of quarters imperatively needing it;—that 1 had not secur- ed even a bath in the Asylum, so essential to the comfort and cleanliness and to the physical, moral and mental improvement of the inmates ;—that 1 had introduced inhumanity and insobriety, by allowing (besides a large amount of other intoxicating drinks) Beer at the rate of four hundred dollars a year, besides tobacco, no-one knew how much ;—that I had manifested such marked reluctance to attend the meetings of the Board, where my advice upon the affairs of the Institution were naturally wanted, that they felt my longer co- operation unwelcome ; —that from deficient interest, I even complained of the trouble of aiding the Steward in purchasing the very articles they had ordered at my request; —that 1 bad allowed the Lunatics lo acquire habits of wildness and disorder at their meals, incalculably affecting the moral improvement of the patients ;—that I had advertised for tenders, and on receiving them, had broken good faith, by a corrupt distribution of the patronage among my friends ;—that I had allowed, even after complaint by the Commissioners, the patients to be fed with bad potatoes, not fit for swine;—that I had allowed 61 them, against their repeated remonstrances, to ga in a suffering condition without shoes or stockings ; — that I had allowed the windows of their dining room, and the very sheds erected by the Commissioners for the happiness and exercise of the Lunatics in bad weather or under a burning sun, to be filled with wood ,—-that I had officially recorded official approbation of my own con- duct, when it was done only by myself;—that I had accused them in the most indecorous language of "falsehood, treachery and illiterateness," and that after forcing it on the Government, I had emblazoned it on my prescription and order books before the whole household ; — That I h id written in the Asylum a libel against the Board and obtained its anonymous publication in the Globe newspaper;—that I had accused them in the newspapers of making false entries in the Minute Book of the Asylum ;—that I had in a secret way, without affording them intimation or access, collected, as in a star-chamber? the evidence of servants hostile to them, to prove them guilty of high crimes "* and misdemeanors; find suppressed known facts to make this criminality falsily appear, and had (after dressing up the report and evidence with wilful perversions and exaggerations) transmitted the same to the Government to effect their disgraceful removal;—That I had even allowed Miss Land, pay- ing d£30 a year, to be literally imprisoned in an ill-lighted, ill-ventilated cell ; —That amidst the most fearful and frantic veilings of a Lunatic under violent management, I had turned the key on my door for security, and never ven- tured to the scene of distress and abuse, to do my duty; *—That, I had by my whole conduct reduced the Asylum to the lowest grade in the known world for sobriety, cleanliness, clothing and ventilation. It is an awful catalogue for an Asylum ! But with such an arrray of facts against me, I could neither expect or desire to be retained on duty without an inquiry. Why, then, have the Commissioners been shielded 1 Why with such charges, amassed from the records of successive Medical Superintendents, are not the Lunatics (the most interested of all the parties) allowed such an in-1 vestigation as shall either redress their wrongs or disprove their existence 1 1 am told, indeed, that my dismissal was preferred, because I was a paid officer, while the Commissioners acted gratuitously, and were therefore enti- tled to every concession from the Government. But the Government, when appointing me, knew, and told both myself and my friends, the spirit with which they expected me to be received and treated. The Government with- drew me from my practice, knowing that it was surrendered and my property sold at a loss. The Government, neither in the first Minute of Council nor at the time of mv appointment, concealed their intention to bestow upon me the per- manent office, and thereby led me into expectations and expences, which could not, without good grounds, be justly or honorably disregarded. To ac- cept the resignation of the Commissioners was to comply with their own offer ; to dismiss me, was to take away the very office with its emoluments, which were the substitute for my lost business, and the remaining expectation of my •< family. To accept the resignation of the Commissioners was to afflict them with no pecuniary loss; to remove me was to take away the salary on which I and my children depended. To accept the resignation of the Commissioners, was to relieve them, in their own language, of *• onerous and disagreeable duties" ; to discharge me was to inflict a positive and serious injury. To ac- cept the resignation of the Commissioners, was leaving them to the result of * Note:—See page 14.—The evidence of the Medical Superintendent hefore the Board on the case of Craig. 52 their own choice; to dismiss me after "promptly and fully admitting my im- provements in the clothing, cleanliness and ventilation ef the Asylum" was directly inconsistent with my acknowledged deserts. To accept the lesigna- tion of the Commissioners was in accordance with the just censures conveyed to them in the several Minutes of Council; to dismiss me was the infliction of a wrong after every difference had been formally settled by the Gocernment by the first Minute in Council, without the shadow of offence after my avowed submission to it. To accept the resignation of the Commissioners was due to the contumacious act of repelling the Executive adjudication ; to dismiss me was undeserved, upon my respectful acquiescence. To accept the resignation of the Commissioners was to give them their chosen substitute for an investi- gation, which they dared not to ask or consent to j to dismiss me with the re- fusal of an investigation, under the most atrocious charges, was cruel and un- generous, and unjust in the extreme. The Government chose rather to ruin me, than to relieve the Commissioners. And in the midst of my unabated and unoffending exertions, in obedience to the Order in Council " to bring the In- stitution into a proper state of order and discipline preparatory to the transfer of the establishment to the permanent institution", 1 received the following singular, and perhaps unexampled letter of dismissal:— Secretary's Office, Montreal, 26ih December, 1848. Sir,—I have the honour, by command ol the Governor General, to inform yon that Hi» Excellency has had under hia consideration in Council, certain resolutions adopted by Ibe Commissioners of the Temporary Lunatic Asylum, at a meeting held on the lJth instant, (of which a copy was transmitted for His Excellency's consideration, on the same day), requesting thai you might be relieved from your duties as Medical Superintendent of the Institution. His Excellency regrets much to find thnt the antagonism between the commissioners ond yourself has continued unabated, as His Excellency had hoped that the difficulties existing between those gentlemen and yourself, might have been removed by mutual explanations ana concessions; as, however, that expectation has unfortunately not been realized, His Excel- lency feels himself constrained, from a regard to ihe interests of the Institution and of the public, to dispense wilh your services, as Medical Superintendent of the Institution. Yon will therefore consider yourself as relieved Irom those duties, Irom the date of the receipt of this communication. His Excellency feels the more pained at being compelled lo take this course, in conse- quence of your having eo recently received the appointment in question from His Excel- lency's hands. I am at the same time tostale, that in adopting this course, His Excellency does not in any way mean to pronounce upon the correctness or incorrectness of the facts alleged either by the Commissioners or by you, nor to condemn or acquit either party as respects the mat- lers m issue between them. I have, &c, (Signed,) J. LESLIE, Secretary. G. H. Park, Esq., Medical Sttperintendnt Temporary Lunatic Asylum. Upon this letter, the Editor of The Examiner offered the following striking and stringent remarks:— (From the Toronto Examiner, Jan. 3rd, 1849.) LUNATIC ASYLUM. Dismissal of Dr. Park, and Appointment of Dr. Primrose. In Ibis number our readers will find a letter from the Provincial Secretary to Dr. Pork ! we give the whole ol it: it will best convey to the public his dismissal os Medicol Superin- tendent, and the official explanation of the act. Fearless truth is expected from us by lhat public by whom we are sustained : and could we be induced to bestow out sanction on evil deeds, from mere party considerations, we should 53 only deem it exchanging one form of corruption for another. The despatch bespeaks its own condemnation. A public officer, for many years tbe unchanging friend of liberal principles and liberal men. wns placed by the present Government as Physician and Superintendent of one of the most important institutions in the country. Known and respec ed lor his moral worth and professional experience, he enjoyed the este- m and confidence ol more than tbe Western section ol the Province. From the steady exhibition 01 political fidelity he conld as little expect as deserve unmerited abandonment. Placed in this position by men whom he had personally served in their career for pluce und honour, he hud a right lo expok is olso seporated from tbe order next above it by a line with red ink, and Mr. Roof's signature is placed below this line and immediately above ihe order dated 27th July, as represented above. The infeience on inspection is irresistible, that each signature is intended for the order in immediate and close relation to it. The above evidence. tak"n in connexion with the fact of his not visiting on the 26th July, the date of ihe first order, is conclusive of the correctness of my Ibrmer stutement : if be bad visited on this day, his name would hove appeared on the Com. Visiting Bonk, in acc< rdance with the printed regulations as well as the constant practice. The 27lh was Board day, Mr. Roaf attending to meet the Board ; and, as there was no Board on that day, must have signed his nome on the day of the date of the order in question, after the order was placed in the Steward's book lo be sanctioned by the Board or a Commissioner. 64 Again j if i». had not been so sanctioned by the Rev. Mr. Roaf, the Steward who never never neglects this duty would have had the order in question sanctioned by Mr. Ewart who (became visiting Com. in his turn on the 27ih obove mentioned) visiting on the 28th July (the day after) as is proved by the Commissioners' own Book. The following is a foe simile of onother order sanctioned by the Rev. Commissioner. His signature appears in the margin to the right of and a very lillle above ihe border of the order :— Nor. 30th. 1 DoBen of Nuisance Pails, 3 do. Cups and Saucers, 60 yds. of Factory Cotton, I Hand Basket, Ordered . J. Roaf* Pocock, Harris, William Ramsey, Geo. H. Park, Dallas. His Worship the Mayor has arrived, apparently, at a different conclusion. The fact'of endorsement by the Rev. Mr. Roaf, is unimportant to thepoiut at issue—for the book in question has been bought, audited, and paid for by the Board, thus bringing the date of its existence, its use, and its licensed substitniion for tne old one so lately discovered lo their fullest knowledge. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, GEO. H. PARK, M. D., Medicul Superintendent.