We will say a few words in this place concerning the crime of falsely charging persons with insanity, whether from personal dislike or from motives of a pecuniary or other nature. Depravity can scarcely find a lower depth, or infamy wear a deeper brand. Even now such atrocities are not uncommon, and should be guarded against with the utmost vigilance. Nearly every one of long and large experience has been made cognizant of some such diabolism, where the laws have been too lax in reference to this matter. In the State of Connecticut, until recently, nothing was required but the certificate of a physician to secure the incarceration of any one in a lunatic asylum, with the superintendent’s consent. But by the law passed, May, 1889, the defect has been thoroughly remedied. It is also enacted, Section 23, that “Any person who wilfully conspires with any other person unlawfully to commit to any asylum any person who is not insane, and any person who shall wilfully and falsely certify to the insanity of such person, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the State Prison not exceeding five years, or both.”
To charge a sane person with insanity, and then devise methods for his cure which would tend to deprive a sane person of reason! Could the blade of enmity be drawn to a keener point?
CHAPTER VI.
It is with regret that we are compelled to make the following strictures upon “The Discourse Delivered on the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the First Church of Christ, in New London, by Thos. P. Field, 1870.” Amiable as was its author, and highly esteemed, yet in this discourse, so far as it relates to the Rogerenes, he has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors, showing how much easier it is to float on the surface, with the tide, than to dive deep and bring up gems from the bottom of the sea. We shall briefly quote from this discourse and make reply.
Mr. Field says: “During the ministry of Mr. Saltonstall, peculiar disturbances arose in the church,” referring to the sect called Rogerenes.
Since we have shown the falsity of many of the statements concerning the Rogerenes which are repeated by Mr. Field in this discourse, it is needless to take further notice of them here. But is it not a matter of surprise that Mr. Field should have spoken with seeming favor concerning the malicious suit brought by Mr. Saltonstall against John Rogers for slander? His words are: “On one occasion, when John Rogers circulated some false report about him, he brought an action in the county court for defamation and obtained a verdict of the jury in his behalf.”
He does not tell us the verdict was the enormous sum of £600, and that there was no legal basis for the action, even had the charge been true; neither does he state that this suit was brought against Rogers but a few months after release from his long confinement, of three years and eight months, in Hartford jail, where he had been placed at the instance of Mr. Saltonstall, on charge of blasphemy for words truly scriptural. Mr. Field’s reference to this suit shows how superficially he had looked into the subject.
We must also express surprise that the statement, so falsely and unblushingly made by Mr. Saltonstall, should be quoted and indorsed in Mr. Field’s discourse:—
There never was, for the twenty years that I have resided in this government, any one, Quaker or other person, that suffered on account of his different persuasion in religious matters from the body of this people.
A note appended to Mr. Field’s discourse, may be presumed to contain his maturest thought, or rather absence of thought. “Lucus a non lucendo.” The note reads:—