Charles R. Lowell to Benjamin H. Barrows, March 9, 1881

Mr. Lowell to Consul Barrows.

Sir: I received last night a telegram from Mr. Michael P. Boyton, stating that he is an American citizen and protesting against an alleged outrage to which he has been subjected by being arrested on a warrant which he says charges no offense. He thereupon claims the protection of the United States Government. This telegram is dated at Kildare, but I see by to-day’s Times that he has been taken to Kilmainham jail, in the neighborhood of Dublin. I prefer not to correspond directly with Mr. Boyton, and I must request you to see him and make such inquiries into his case as will enable me to take the proper action in regard to it.

It is necessary to acertain, in the first place, whether he is an Americon citizen or not. By a reference to the correspondence I have already had with you upon his application for a new passport, you will observe that while it appears by the records of the State Department at Washington that be claimed to have been born in New York, he has lately stated to you that he was born in Ireland, but taken to America when he was a child. I must consider, under the circumstances, this latter statement to be the true one. He must, therefore, prove that he has been naturalized in the United States, or that his parents have been naturalized, in order to be entitled to the privileges of citizenship. If the fact of his American citizenship should thus he ascertained to your satisfaction, I desire then that you should carefully examine into the grounds of his arrest, and if the precise facts justify the belief that no substantial charge of his complicity with treasonable or seditious objects can be made out, you will communicate this to the authorities in Ireland and request his discharge or to be informed why he is detained. You will please intimate, in respectful terms and without any warmth or suggestion of threats, that you are making these inquires under my instructions, and are acting precisely as British consuls in the United States acted soon after the civil war, under the directions of the British minister at Washington, in cases of summary arrests of British subjects. It is my duty to protect, so far as I can, all citizens of the United States, whether native or naturalized, who are shown to be innocent of designs to subvert civil order, and I should not perhaps require in such cases evidence of innocence so full and conclusive as that which might be required in a court of law. At the same time I shall by no means try to screen any persons who are evidently guilty of offending against the criminal laws of Great Britain.

I have to request that in Mr. Boyton’s case, as well as all similar ones, you will be cautious and temperate and at the same time vigilant and firm, and that you will promptly report your action to me.

I am, sir, your obedient servant.