Larcom to W. B. West, February 28, 1867

B.

Sir: I am directed by the lord lieutenant to acknowledge your communication of the 24th instant, and to inform you that the three persons named by you, viz., John H. and Joseph Gleeson and Bernard McDermott, are Irish-born subjects of her Majesty, and that, notwithstanding any course which they may have pursued in the United States of America, they still, in this country, must be regarded as ordinary subjects of her Majesty, bound by the allegiance they owe to her as their sovereign, and they must be dealt with accordingly. His excellency cannot, therefore, recognize any right on your part (as consul of the United States of America) to interfere in respect of the prisoners in question on the ground of their being citizens of the United States.