ent thing from that sort of
unsoundness of mind which renders a man incapable of managing his
affairs or his person.--And it has now been long settled, not that a
commission of lunacy is to be issued; but that a commission is to issue
in the nature of a writ de lunatico inquirendo, and then the object of
the commission is perfectly satisfied, if the jury shall find upon
satisfactory evidence, that the party is of unsound mind, and incapable
of managing his own affairs.--The finding of him incapable of managing
his own affairs, is not sufficient to authorize further proceedings, but
there must be a finding that he is of _unsound_ mind, and unable to
manage his affairs:--incapacity to manage his affairs being considered
as evidence of unsound mind:--yet there may be, (and that every man's
mind will suggest) instances of incapacity to manage a man's affairs,
and yet _no_ unsoundness of mind." That many persons are extremely
misled with respect to a commission of lunacy, and too frequently
concerning all other subjects, is fully admitted: and it is equally
clear that the great mass of affidavits produced in 1814, in favor of
Lord Portsmouth's soundness of intellect (for I have attentively perused
the whole catalogue) did not go into the investigation of the supposed
difference between this hypothetical unsoundness and lunacy; but
attested, as far as his Lordship's conversation and conduct had been
the subject of their observation and judgment, that he was not a man
labouring under any infirmity, or morbid state of mind, that ought, by
any legal restraint, to disqualify him from the management of himself
and his affairs. With such opinions I have no concern; they can only be
regarded as negative evidence, and cannot operate against manifold overt
acts of insanity.

In the progress of this respectful address, after numerous but
unsuccessful endeavours to grapple with this _sort_ of unsoundness,
suspicions have arisen that I have been pursuing a phantom;--at times I
have fondly imagined it within my immediate grasp, but it has always
evaded my seizure with unaccountable dexterity:--it even now appears
that I could "clutch" it, as your Lordship distinctly asserts that,
"lunacy _properly understood_ is a _very different thing_ from that
_sort_ of _unsoundness_ which renders a man incapable of managing his
affairs or his person." This is at once coming manfully to the point;
for the disclosure (whenever it may take place) of the