The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-08 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY MORNING.
THE KIDNAPPING CASES.--THE QUEEN V. MAR•
GARET AYLWARD.

Justice has at length been to some extent vindi-
cated in this matter. Yesterday Miss Margaret
Aylward came before the Court of Queen's Bench to
receive whatever sentence might be passed upon her
for failing to produce the child, Mary Mathews,
whose abstraction and concealment from her mother
have been the subject of tedious proceedings in the
court for the past three years. IR reply to the
Chief Justice—
Mr. Brereton, Q.C. (who appeared for the prose-
cution), said—lt is my painful duty, my lords, to
press for sentence in this case. The matter now
comes before the court in this shape, that after the
fullest and most patient investigation—after every
opportunity having been given, both by time and
by the ablest legal advice and assistance, and even
the suggestion of the court itself, this lady has
omitted or pretermitted the opportunities so offered
to her of making some effort to recover this child.
The lady has had ample opportunity of satisfying
the Court as to any exertions that might have been
made by her to ascertain where the child was. She
has not laid a single matter before the Court through-
out the entire of those proceedings, now going on
for more than two years, which could show the Court
or any person that she made the slightest exertions,
used the slightest influence, or, in fact. endeavoured
in any way to ascertain where the child was taken
to. These are the circumstances of the case ; and
I do submit that if ever there was a case in which
the strong arm of the Court is required to teach
other persons and deter them from doing such acts
as have been here proved, it is the present case. The
mother is, I suppose we must now take it, not only
for the present but for the future deprived of her
child. The thing has been done in the most flag-
rantly open manner, in defiance of law and justice,
and right and reason.
Mr. Curran (who appeared for Miss Aylward)
said—Wherever the child may be she cannot find
it, nor can she inform the Court in any way about
it. In her answers to the interrogatories which
were discussed last term, and to which I do not
mean to refer, Miss Aylward denied in the fullest
and strongest terms her participation in, or conni-
vance at, the abstraction of the child, and her know-
ledge of where the child was taken to. The only
affidavit she could make now would be an affidavit
reiterating these facts, which were, as I said, set
out in her former affidavit. Unfortunately, she is
held to be legally responsible in this case, although
she believes in her conscience that at the moment
she was obeying what she considered to be the dying
injunctions of the father of the child. The child
was taken from her ; she then had no means, nor
has she had since any means, of producing the child
to the Court. I have only to say that on the ground
of this lady being—l don't say legally, but morally
—innocent of the abstraction of the child, I hope
and trust that her affidavit and her denial of all
participation in the matter will be taken by the
Court into consideration, into their merciful consi-
deration, when they are adjudicating upon the case.
Chief Justice—This lady is not in court ?
Mr. Curran—She is within the precincts of the
court, and will be here in a few moments.
Chief Justice—We will retire for some time, and
you can inform us of her arrival.
Their lordships then retired, and remained absent
about three quarters of an hour.
Miss Aylward, accompanied by a friend and Mr.
Kane, her solicitor, having entered the court, was
accommodated with a seat at the side bar.
On the judges again taking their seats on the
bench,
Mr. Curran said—Miss Aylward is now in court,
my lord.
Chief Justice—Bring her forward:
Clerk of the Crown—Let Miss Aylward come
forward to the bar.
Miss Aylward having come to the bar,
The Clerk of the Crown said—Margaret Aylward
is now at the bar.
The Chief Justice said—Margaret Aylward, the
Court upon the last day you appeared here, after
considering all that was offered by you in answer
to the interrogatories, which gave you an opportu-
nity of explaining or of excusing, if there was any
excuse, the contempt with which you stood charged
in disobeying the authority of the Court, by which
you were required to produce the child, which it
appeared came into your possession, and has been
since withheld under the circumstances that ap-
peared before'us on that occasion—the Court, I say,
were of opinion that you were guilty of a contempt
of its jurisdiction, and they have since considered
deliberately, after hearing what was offered this
day in your behalf, the sentence which it was their
duty to pronounce for that contempt. 'I he sentence
of the Court is that you be committed to prison for
six calendar months, and that you pay all the costs
of the proceedings. You therefore stand committed
to prison. The Court directs that you be committed
to the Richmond Bridewell.
Mr. Nagle then called the Sheriff of the City of
Dublin, and desired Miss Aylward to wait his ar-
rival.

Mr. Curran applied to the Court to name the
Marshalsea as the place of confinement for Miss
Aylward, instead-of the Richmond Bridewell. The
Marshalsea was, he said, the usual place of confine-
ment for persons guilty of contempt, The rules of
the Richmond prison were very stringent, and the
discipline was very unpleasant upon prisoners. The
Kilmainham prison would be better than the Rich-
mond, as the air was good.
Judge Hayes—Under the attachment the lady
was in custody of the sheriff, but she is now under
sentence. In the case of O'Connell and others the
parties were sent to Richmond Bridewell.
Mr. Curran—But it was not for contempt.
Judge Hayes—They were under sentence.
Mr. iCurran—But knot for contempt. I never
knew a case where a party guilty of contempt was
committed to a criminal prison.
Judge Hayes—Can you show a case where the
party was not ?
Mr.' Curran—l have no case at hand; but I cer-
tainly do not recollect a case where a party held to
be guilty of contempt was sent to a criminal prison.
Judge Hayes—The Court has jurisdiction to com-
mit the party under sentence to any prison in Ire-
land. :In the case of Eneas M'Donnell and
O'Connell, and others, the parties were sent to
Richmond Prison.
Mr. Curran—They were committed for a specific
offence, and not for contempt. Contempt of Court
is,not an offence within the criminal law.
Mr. Brereton—lt is held that contempt is in the
nature of a criminal offence.
The Chief Justice—We cannot forget what Lord
Campbell said in reference to an offence of this sort.
He said that if he found any person before him per-
severed in his contempt he would think it his duty
to inflict condign punishment upon him. That was
the species of punishment which, he said, would be
the result if Roberts persevered in withholding the
children in that case.
Mr. Curran—Agreeing fully with your lordship,
yet I would submit that in such a case as the pre-
sent, where the lady, although legally guilty, has
committed no moral offence, but has exculpated
hcroolf from comlicity in the proceedings con-
demned by the court, your iutdship ought not to
place her in a prison where she will be deprived of
the comforts of life, obliged to take prison diet, and
be subject to separate confinement, unless your lord-
ship should make an order to the contrary. That
would be very severe indeed, and, lam sure, not
what your lordship would wish to inflict on this
lady, I would suggest that the Marshalsea would
be the best place in which to confine this lady, as
she will be allowed to maintain herself there and
have a sleeping apartment to herself. The sen-
tence itself is very severe as regards the length of
the term of imprisonment.
The Chief Justice—l must beg to interrupt you
in commenting on the sentence of the Court. It is

a sentence which the Court, in the exercise of mercy
and justice, thought it right to impose. It is
punishment, and not merely committal to the Mar-
shalsea. This is now a criminal proceeding, and
this lady is therefore to be confined in the place to
which the Court has been in the habit of commit-

ting persons under sentence.
Mr. Justice Hayes—l confess I for one should
be extremely sorry to commit this lady to a prison
in which she would be treated with cruelty ; but
you must bear in mind, Mr. Curran, that Richmond
prison, like all other prisons in the city of Dublin,
is regulated by the Board of Superintendence, and
if there is anything illegal in the conduct of the