Henry O’mahony to J. R. Lowell , United States, May 1, 1882

Dear Sir: I see by the Freeman Journal of the 27th of April, where Mr. Orth stated, during the debate on American citizens confined in British prisons, that. I held an office in Great Britain when arrested.

Now, sir, I claim that whatever source Mr. Orth received such information from misinformed him; and in justice to me I must respectfully ask you to contradict it.

When Colonel Brooks (United States consulate at Queenstown) called on me last June at Limerick prison, Mr. Eagan (who is governor of that prison) tried to prejudice my case by saying that I held an office in this country, and evidently whoever furnished Mr. Orth or the Department of State at Washington with such information, was prompted by the same motives.

The position I held then and does hold now (and which I explained to Colonel Brooks) is that of a poor-law guardian; it is a position that an American, German, Russian, or any other man may hold, provided he resides in the township, occupies premises rated to a certain amount, and elected by the people. His duty is to administer to the wants of the poor for a period of not over one year, except rellected: he receives no remuneration for his services, and no oaths of office required; therefore I cannot see how it could prejudice my cas as far as claiming protection as an American citizen; on the contrary, it clearly proves that I don’t belong to the class which coercion was intended, viz, village tyrants and dissolute ruffians, as no man is elected to that position except a respectable man and a man who possesses the confidence of the people.

And it seems that all the information that could possibly be furnished from this side of the Atlantic to the Department of State at Washington to prejudice the cases of American citizens confined in British prisons has been furnished, and hence our long confinement without trial.

I would respectfully draw your attention to a cumunication of mine last July, requesting you to grant me a trial, which I believed then and now I ought to be entitled to. Your reply was that I should show there was some exceptional injustice done me before calling on you to intervene, and also that, in your opinion, when a man violates the law of the country he should be held amenable to the law he violated. In reply to the first part of your letter, it was impossible for me to show the injustice done me while I was locked in a convict’s cell, deprived of all communication with the outer world, even to a member of the United States House of Representatives or the British House of Commons.

As to the second part of your letter, if, as you imagine, I was guilty of violating the law, why not grant me a trial, convict, and punish me. It is true I have been punished severely, but without crime, trial, or conviction, and I challenge the British Government to-day to grant me an impartial trial and prove that I have violated the laws of any civilized country.

In your letter of the 25th instant you stated that my case was under consideration at the Department of State at Washington. I claim, sir, that it is impossible for my case to be favorably considered while representations are made to them that I hold an office in Great Britain, and consequently I am not entitled to the protection of an American citizen, and probably they (the Department of State) considers the source from which they receive their information from reliable. Therefore, I must again ask you, in justice to me, and I hope in the discharge of your own duty, immediately contradict such misrepresentation.

I am, sir, yours, respectfully,