Boyton to To his Excellency the American, March 11, 1881

Mr. Boyton to Consul Barrows.

Sir: I am a citizen of the United States. I was arrested at Kildare on the 8th instant and brought by an armed escort to this prison. I was shown a warrant from the lord lieutenant of Ireland under which I was arrested, and which authorizes the governor of this prison to detain me for the term of eighteen months, or as long as it may please the chief secretary. This warrant charges me with no offense against the laws of Great Britain. It states that I am “reasonably suspected of inciting divers persons to murder divers other persons,” at the same time immuring me under circumstances that preclude all possibility of reply or defense on my part. Ostensibly I am incarcerated under an act of Parliament which suspends in this country the right of habeas corpus i. e., the liberties of the Irish subjects of Her Majesty the Queen. I am, however, an American citizen, and as such I protested at the time of my arrest. I now formally protest, and not alone against this outrage upon my liberty, over which, as one guiltless of any breach of British law, I deny the jurisdiction of the British Government, but against the attempt to destroy my reputation and cast an infamous stigma upon my whole life by the imputation of a cowardly crime, second only if not equal to the crime of murder. Confident of my entire ability to prove the positive assertion that I have broken no law of these realms, in the name of justice, I ask of you, sir, to demand from the British Government either that it try me for the crime imputed on the foul and unfounded suspicion of I know not whom, or else release me at once from what I am competently advised is an imprisonmnet contrary to international law, and a gross outrage on the person and liberty of an American citizen.

My father was naturalized a citizen of the United States twenty-one years ago, and for convincing proof of my citizenship, well earned in defending the honor and integrity of the Union, I beg to refer you to the American consulate in this city.

Respectfully claiming at your hands the lawful aid and protection to which I am entitled,

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,