Charles R. Lowell to James Russell Lowell , United States, March 12, 1881

No. 311. Mr. Lowell to Mr. Blaine.

Sir: I have the honor to acquaint you that, on the 10th of February last, I received a letter from B. H. Barrows, esq., the consul of the United States at Dublin, inclosing an old passport issued to Michael P. Boyton (one of the traversers in the late state trials in Dublin) on the 20th November, 1866, by Mr. Seward, then Secretary of State. He stated that Mr. Boyton had applied to him to visa this passport, which he had refused, and that he had reported his action to the Department of State, which had approved of the same, and that at Mr. Boyton’s request he now forwarded the old passport to me, asking whether, under the circumstances, I could issue to him a new one.

I replied to Mr. Barrows, on the 10th of February, that under ordinary circumstances Mr. Boyton, upon producing his old passport, proving that he is the person named therein, and taking the oath prescribed by statute, would be entitled to a new passport; that if the Department of State approved of Mr. Barrows’s refusal to visa his old papers upon the ground that he was one of the traversers in the late state trials, this would be a reason why I should not give him a new passport; but if Mr. Barrows’s action was approved because it would have been irregular to visa a passport more than two years after its date, there would be no objection perhaps to issuing another one, it being understood that it would be necessary in such case for Mr. Boyton to present himself in person at this legation, and take the affidavit required by law. I requested Mr. Barrows to send me a copy of his correspondence with the Department on this subject.

I received a reply to this letter from Mr. Barrows on the 15th of February, a copy of which, I herewith inclose. He also sent me copies of his letters to Mr. Hay, Assistant Secretary of State, dated on the 12th of November last, and of Mr. Hay’s answer to the same, dated on the 2d of December last.

You will observe that Mr. Boyton stated to Mr. Barrows that he was not a native-born citizen, having been born in Ireland but taken to America when he was a child. He appears to have declared in his application to the State Department that he was born in the State of New York.

I answered Mr. Barrows’s letter on the 16th of February to the effect that if Mr. Boyton was taken to America when a child and claimed citizenship on that ground, it would be necessary for him to prove that his father was naturalized there. I herewith inclose a copy of my letter.

No further correspondence upon this subject took place until the 8th of March instant when I received late in the evening a telegram from Mr. Boyton, dated at Kildare, Ireland, in the following words:

I am an American citizen, and protest against an outrage to which I have been this day subjected by being arrested on a warrant which charges no offense. I claim the protection of my government.

I thereupon, the next day, addressed a letter to Mr. Barrows at Dublin, requesting him to ascertain, in the first place, whether Mr. Boyton is an American citizen, and, if this should be shown to his (Mr. Barrows’s) satisfaction, then that he should examine into the grounds of Boyton’s arrest, and if the facts should justify the belief that his complicity with treasonable or seditious objects had not been made out, that Mr. Barrows should then apply to the authorities for his discharge or to be informed why he is detained. I herewith inclose a copy of my letter, to which I have not yet received any answer. * * *

I have, &c.,