LORD BROUGHAMsaid, he wished to put a question to his noble Friend the late Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in reference to the case of Mr. Carden. He was anxious to know whether his noble Friend would have any objection to state what were the circumstances under which that criminal had been liberated before a considerable portion of his sentence had been carried into effect? He hoped to be quite understood, as not in the remotest degree imputing improper motives or want of due care to his noble Friend.
§ THE EARL OF ST. GERMANSsaid, that so far from having any objection to answer the question, he was very much obliged to his noble and learned Friend for giving him an opportunity of explaining a case with respect to which very much misconception prevailed. Mr. Carden, as their Lordships were aware, had been convicted at the Tipperary assizes last summer of attempted abduction, under circumstances of violence, of a young lady, and had been sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour; and it had been the intention of the Government to have allowed lam to undergo the full measure of that sentence. Some time ago, however, it had been represented to him by several magistrates of the county of Tipperary, who in their official capacity had visited the gaol of Clonmel, that Mr. Carden's health was very seriously impaired, and that a prolongation of his imprisonment might prove fatal to him. To those representations he (the Earl of St. Germans) had paid no attention. But subsequently a certificate reached him from the medical officer of the gaol of Clonmel to the same effect, and then he 857 found that he could no longer decline to institute an inquiry into the case. It was said that in Ireland there was one law for the rich and another for the poor; and in the present instance that saying was in a certain sense true, because if Mr. Carden had been a poor man he should at once have ordered his liberation from confinement on the receipt of the certificate of the medical officer. But as Mr. Carden was a rich than, it was a case in which he thought that he ought to take unusual precautions for the purpose of seeing that justice should not be unfairly evaded; and he had, therefore, sent down to Clonmel a medical man of the first eminence in Dublin, Sir Philip Crampton, to inquire into the state of Mr. Carden's health. Sir P. Crampton, after having instituted that inquiry, reported that he had no hesitation in saying that there was so grave an accumulation of symptoms that a prolongation of Mr. Carden's confinement for a few months would be fatal to him. Under these circumstances he believed he should have been perfectly justified in ordering the release of Mr. Carden. But he had not done so. Knowing that Mr. Carden was a man of large property and had many wealthy friends, he had thought himself at liberty to require that he should enter into securities for his future good behaviour. He had accordingly caused it to be intimated to Mr. Carden that he was prepared to order his liberation if he would enter into recognisances, himself in 20,000l., and two sureties in 5,000l. each, that he would leave the country for the remaining period of his sentence, and that he would keep the peace towards all the subjects of Her Majesty, and more especially towards the young lady whom he had attempted to abduct, for a period of ten years. He understood that, in the first instance, Mr. Carden had acquiesced in that proposal; but before he (the Earl of St. German) had left Ireland, he had been informed that Mr. Carden had taken exception to a clause in the recognisances, and had refused to accept the change of punishment on the conditions in question. Those were the facts of the case, and he believed they were far from showing any disposition on his part to frustrate the ends of justice from a partiality in favour of a man of rank and property.
LORD BROUGHAMsaid, that the statement of his noble Friend was a complete answer to any suspicion which might exist, that the course pursued had been influ 858 enced by the station of the criminal—indeed, he thought that the noble Earl had shown that there was evidence enough to justify him in discharging Mr. Carden without entering into recognisances. Now that he had refused to avail himself of the permission, his case came under the consideration of the Home Department.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEthought that the proper course had been taken, and hoped that the certificates of the medical men would be produced.
§ THE EARL OF EGLINTONsaid, he believed that great caution ought to be exercised in dealing with medical certificates of that description. He knew from his own experience that certificates were in many cases given by medical men to the effect that prisoners were in a very dangerous state of health, although it afterwards appeared, on full inquiry, that no such danger existed. He would suggest that the medical certificate in this case should be produced.