58 The Lessons of the [February, 
an application for commutation of sentence is made after- 
wards on the ground of alleged insanity. 
Perhaps it would be preferable if, in all cases where the 
mental soundness of an accused person admits of doubt, a 
distinct and preliminary investigation of this point were first 
made, putting him formally on his trial only if adjudged 
rational. 
But whilst so far all men are agreed there is a wonderful 
divergence of opinion when we ask who are to be adjudged 
irresponsible as insane ? Are we to confine this exemption 
to persons who are uniformly and persistently deranged for 
some considerable time, or who are manifestly irrational 
upon all subjects ? Or are we, as some propose, to extend 
it to persons who have, as it is asserted, a short and sudden 
fit of madness, during which they aCt in a manner quite 
contrary to their normal character, and of which they re- 
member nothing when — perhaps after the lapse of a few 
hours — they recover their full consciousness ? Here, surely, 
we are on very dangerous ground, where to lay down any 
hard-and-fast line becomes impracticable. Among these 
difficult cases ranks that of the drunkard. The law of 
England, as repeatedly declared from the Bench, declares 
that intoxication is no excuse for any crime, since the 
offender — if for the time being “ demented ” — is so by his 
own aCt and deed. Nevertheless drunkenness is constantly 
pleaded in defence or in extenuation, not merely by prisoners 
but by their advocates, and rarely, very rarely indeed, does 
any severe rebuke fall to the lot of either. 
In America, however, it has been formally proposed that 
a criminal should be regarded as irresponsible, and conse- 
quently not to be punished, if it appear that he was drunk 
at the time when the offence was committed. Some writers 
have even gone further, and have contended that the state 
of degeneration, intellectual and moral, to which a man 
may be brought by the free use of alcohol, and indeed of a 
variety of narcotics, should likewise be received as a valid 
plea on behalf of persons accused of murder, incendiarism, 
forgery, &c. 
No one will, of course, deny that a drunkard is for the 
time being insane ; nor can we refuse to admit that the 
habitual alcoholist, even when not actually drunk, may lose 
to a great extent, and at times, the power of distinguishing 
between right and wrong, between lawful and unlawful. 
Still, without self-anticipation, we may remark that con- 
siderations of public safety prohibit the admission of these 
pleas. 
