Charles R. Lowell to Michael P. Boyton , Kilmainham Prison, Dublin, Ireland, March 25, 1881

Mr. Lowell to Mr. Boyton.

Sir: I received this morning your letter of the 22d instant, in which you now base your claim to be considered a citizen of the United States upon the fact that you served in the Navy during the war for the Union, and that such service made you an American citizen. You refer to a bill passed by Congress naturalizing the soldiers and sailors of that war.

I fail to find any such statute. The law to which I presume you refer is that passed July 17, 1862 (section 2066 of the Revised Statutes), but this does not bear the construction you give to it.

The text of this section is as follows:

“Any alien of the age of twenty-one years and upwards who has enlisted, or may enlist, in the Armies of the United States, either in the Regular or Volunteer forces, and has been or may be hereafter honorably discharged, shall be admitted to become a citizen of the United States, upon his petition, without any previous declaration of his intention to become such, and shall not be required to prove more than one year’s residence within the United States previous to his application to become such citizen; and the court admitting such alien shall, in addition to such proof of residence and good moral character, as now provided by law, be satisfied by competent proof of such person’s having been honorably discharged from the service of the United States.”

You will observe—

• First. That this law applies only to the Armies of the United States. It has been decided in Bailey’s case (2 Sawyer, 200) that the expression “armies” does not even include marines.
• Second. That the service does not by itself constitute a man a citizen. It is still necessary for him to make a formal application to the court, and to prove one year’s residence, good moral character, and that he has been honorably discharged.

So that, even if the benefit of the law were not expressly confined to soldiers, you cannot avail yourself of it, because, as I understand, you have not made the application required by law and taken out the papers.