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[Inclosure 1 in No. 144.]

Consul Barrows to Mr. Lowell.

CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
Dublin, March 11, 1881.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge your dispatch of the 9th relating to the case of Michael P. Boyton, now in prison in this city, and who claims to be an American citizen. I proceeded this morning to Kilmainham jail, where Mr. Boyton is confined, and was permitted to visit him, although under the rules he had been allowed to see his quota of visitors for the day. In answer to my questions, Mr. Boyton stated that he was born in Rathangau, County Kildare, Ireland, in September, 1846; that his father, with his family of ten children, Michael being the eldest, emigrated to America in 1859, and settled at Pittsburg; that the father took out naturalization papers in Pittsburg in 1860; that he, Michael Boyton, entered the United States Navy in 1864, as ship's yeoman, on board the United States steamer Hydrangea; that he served on said vessel for about a year, was transferred to different vessels, and was finally discharged from the sloop-of-war St. Louis, at Philadelphia, in May, 1865; that he left America in 1866 for England, and before leaving procured a passport at the Department of State, which is here with transmitted; that he returned to America in 1868; that he again left America in 1874, and resided at London for five years, during which time he conducted an American agency; that he came to Ireland in 1879 for the purpose of adjusting the affairs of his aunt, his only living relative; that since that time he has resided in London and Ireland; that he is associated, with the National Land League of Ireland; that the grounds for his arrest are based upon the charge of “inciting divers persons to murder divers others persons;" and that he is innocent of any such thonght or intent. I inclose a letter from Mr. Boyton, addressed to yourself, and also a copy, in duplicate, of the warrant for his arrest. If it is desired, I can procure from the authorities a certified copy of the warrant.

Awaiting your further instructions, I have the honor to be, &c.,

His Excellency the Hon. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL,

United States Minister, London.

B. H. BARROWS,

United States Consul.

[Inclosure 2 in No. 144.]

Mr. Boyton to Consul Barrows

KILMAINHAM JAIL, Dublin, Ireland, March 11, 1881.

I

SIR: I am a citizen of the United States. I was arrested at Kildare on the 8th instant and brought by an armed escort to this prison. I was shown a warrant from the lord lieutenant of Ireland under which I was arrested, and which authorized the governor of this prison to detain me for the term of eighteen months, or as long as it may please the chief secretary. This warrant charges me with no offense against the laws of Great Britain. It states that I am "reasonably suspected of inciting divers persons to murder divers other persons," at the same time immuring me under circumstances that preclude all possibility of reply or defense on my part. Ostensibly I am incarcerated under an act of Parliament which suspends in this country the right of habeas corpus, i. e., the liberties of the Irish subjects of her Majesty the Queen. I am, however, an American citizen, and as such I protested at the time of my arrest. now formally protest, and not alone against this outrage upon my liberty, over which, as one guiltless of any breach of British laws, I deny the jurisdiction of the British Government, but against the attempt to destroy my reputation and cast an infamous stigma upon my whole life by the imputation of a cowardly crime, second only, if not equal, to the crime of murder. Confident of my entire ability to prove the positive assertion that I have broken no law of these realms, in the name of justice I ask of you, sir, to demand from the British Government either that it try me for the crime imputed on the foul and unfounded suspicion of I know not whom, or else release me at once from what I am competently advised is an imprisonment contrary to international law, and a gross outrage on the person and liberty of an American citizen.

My father was naturalized a citizen of the United States twenty years ago, and for convincing proof of my citizenship, well earned in defending the honor and integrity of the Union, I beg to refer you to the American consulate in this city.

Respectfully claiming at your hands the lawful aid and protection to which I am entitled,

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SIR: I have received your telegram of the 8th and your letter of the 11th instant, and have given to them attentive consideration.

Laying aside for the present the question whether you have or have not committed acts to justify your arrest under the coercion bill, I beg leave to point out certain discrepancies in your statements in relation to your citizenship, which require explanation before I can examine the point whether I ought to intervene in your behalf.

Mr. Hay, the Assistant Secretary of State, wrote to Mr. Barrows, the consul at Dub-
lin, on the 2d of December last, that you appear on the records of that Department to
have been born in the State of New York. I take it for granted that this entry must
have been made pursuant to your own statement in the application for the passport,
which was issued to you on the 20th of November, 1866. You are described in this
passport as being at that time twenty-two years of age, which must have been so en-
tered agreeably to your own statement.

You now state to Mr. Barrows that you were born in Rathangan, Kildare County, in
Ireland, in September, 1846. It appears, therefore, that you were not born in New
York but in Ireland, and that you were not twenty-two years old at the date of your
passport, but only twenty years and two months.

It follows, therefore, that in order to make out your claim to American citizenship,
you must prove one of two things: 1st, That you have taken out naturalization papers
yourself, which, as I understand, you do not assert; or, 2d, that your father was regu-
larly naturalized while you were yet a minor.

You say that he took out such papers at Pittsburgh in 1860. But this is impossible, because by your own showing he did not come to America until 1859, and he must have resided there five years afterwards to entitle himself to such letters, having also given two years' previous notice of intention to become a citizen. Letters of naturalization could not, therefore, have been legally issued to him earlier than 1864, even if he had declared his intentions immediately upon his arrival.

Such a declaration of intentions by itself would not have given him or his minor children the privileges of citizenship.

Upon receiving satisfactory evidence, therefore, that your father lawfully and regularly became a naturalized citizen of the United States while you were yet a minor, I shall take pleasure in immediately examining into the circumstances of your arrest. I am, sir, your obedient servant,

Mr. MICHAEL P. BOYTON,

Kilmainham Jail, Dublin.

J. R. LOWELL.

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[Inclosure 4 in No. 144.]

. Consul Barrows to Mr. Lowell.

CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
Dublin, March 18, 1881.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your dispatch of 14th instant. On yesterday I again visited Mr. Boyton, and took down his statement. As the burden of proof rests with Mr. Boyton, I have simply reduced his answers to a condensed statement, and allowed him to tell his own story in his own way. I shall be pleased to know whether or not this meets with your approval. Statement transmitted herewith.

Pending your decision on the question of his citizenship, I have not placed myself

officially in communication with the Crown authorities, nor made any demand in Mr. Boyton's behalf. Personally, Mr. Boyton informs me, he is treated with the utmost courtesy by the prison officials.

I have the honor to be, sir,

Hon. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL,

United States Minister, London.

B. H. BARROWS,
United States Consul.

[Inclosure 5 in No. 144.]

Memorandum of statement made by Mr. Boyton to Consul Barrows.

STATEMENT.

I called on Michael P. Boyton in Kilmainham, on Thursday, 17th March, and questioned him further concerning the evidences of his citizenship. Mr. Boyton reasserts his former statement, that he was born at Kathanagan, county Kildare, Ireland, 5th September, 1846; that his father emigrated to America and settled in Pittsburg, Pa., in 1859. He amends his previous statement by asserting that his father declared his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States at Pittsburg in 1860, and that his final papers were taken out after the usual limitation. Michael Boyton saw his father's naturalization papers many times when living at Pittsburg, and his father voted many times in that city at the local elections. The father died at Newport, R.I., October 5, 1870. Mr. Boyton enlisted in the United States Navy at Brooklyn navyyard before he was eighteen years of age. His mother attempted to procure his discharge from the service by affidavits proving he was under age at the time of his enlistment, but did not succeed. He was twenty years of age when the passport alluded to in previous dispatches was issued to him by the State Department. He denies that he stated his age to be twenty-two years on that occasion, or that he gave his place of birth as New York. He was residing in New York at the time, and was accompanied to the State Department at Washington by General Charles G. Halpine and B. F. Mullins, who vouched for him.

Mr. Boyton states further that he voted, in New York City, for Horace Greeley at the Presidential election of 1868, and that he voted frequently at local elections in Pittsburg, and that his right to vote has never been challenged.

Mr. Boyton states further that his mother is at present living at Staten Island, New York, but he cannot say whether the evidences of his father's citizenship still remain in her possession. If required, search will be made, as the fact of his father's naturalization must appear of record at Pittsburg. Mr. Boyton desires me to represent to you how difficult it will be for him to produce these papers.

Mr. Boyton states further that he bases his claim of citizenship on the fact of his father's naturalization, he, M. P. Boyton, being at the time a minor.

He has not as yet been furnished with a copy of the charges against him; nothing more definite than that of "reasonable suspicion," the expression which occurs in the warrant upon which he was arrested.

Mr. Boyton never applied for, or took out, naturalization papers, deeming himself a citizen of the United States by virtue of his father's naturalization.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE,

Dublin, March 18, 1881.

[Inclosure 6 in No. 144.]

B. H. BARROWS,
United States Consul.

Warrant for the arrest of Mr. Boyton.

No. 11. 44 Victoria, chapter 4.

AN ACT for the better protection of person and property in Ireland.

Copy warrant to arrest.

Whereas, by our order dated the 4th day of March, 1881, and made by and with the advice of the Privy Council in Ireland, and by virtue of the act made and passed in

the 44th year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, entitled "An act for the better protection of person and property in Ireland," and of every power and authority in this behalf, we specified and declared that the hereinafter-mentioned part of Ireland (that is to say), the county of Kerry, should, from and after the fifth day of March, 1881, be and continued a prescribed district within the meaning and provision of the said act;

And whereas our said order is still in force;

Now we, the Lord Lieutenant-General and General Governor of Ireland, by virtue of the said act and of every power and authority in this behalf, do, by this our warrant declare Michael P. Boyton, of Kildare, in the county of Kildare aforesaid, to be reasonably suspected of having, since the 30th day of September, 1880, been guilty as principal of a crime punishable by law-that is to say, inciting divers persons to murder certain other persons, committed in the aforesaid prescribed district, and being the inciting to an act of violence and tendency to interfere with the maintenance of law and order. And this is to command you to whom this warrant is addressed to arrest the said Michael P. Boyton in any part of Ireland and lodge him in Her Majesty's prison at Kilmainham, in the county of Dublin, there to be detained during the continuance of the said act, unless sooner discharged or tried by our direction. Given at Dublin Castle the 7th day of March, 1881.

COWPER.'

To the subinspector of the royal Irish constabulary at Kildare, in the county of Kildare aforesaid, and his assistants, and to Captain St. George Gray, governor of Kilmainham prison aforesaid.

No. 5.

No. 147.]

Mr. Lowell to Mr. Blaine.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, March 25, 1881..

SIR: I have the honor to inclose the copy of a letter which I received this morning from Mr. Boyton, and of my answer thereto.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

J. R. LOWELL.

[Inclosure 1 in No. 147.]

Mr. Boyton to Mr. Lowell.

KILMAINHAM PRISON, Dublin, March 22, 1881. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 17th instant. By the courtesy of the governor of this prison, I was permitted to have an interview with Mr. Barrows, the United States consul in this city. I gave him a plain statement of facts in connection with my case. The discrepancies to which your letter refers will prove upon investigation to be more apparent then real. In the first place, the record in the State Department, that I was born in the State of New York, and was 22 years of age at the time the passport was issued, is entirely erroneous. I am prepared to make oath that I never made any such statements when obtaining my passport. As well as I can remember, after the lapse of fourteen years, my exact age at the time (viz, November, 1866), twenty years two months, was accurately stated to the official from whom I had the passport. When asked where I was from, I answered New York-New York being then my place of residence. I never stated that I was born in New York. There is a most distinct recollection on my mind that the fact of my having been born in Ireland, and of my purpose in taking out the passport to visit the place of my nativity, was stated to and freely discussed not only in the presence of the gentleman who furnished me the passport, but of the gentlemen who were with me, and vouched for my citizenship, Generals Halpine and Mullins. I was aware, after some time, of the mistake on the face of the passport in regard to my age, but I never gave it attention, as I did not consider it an error of importance. That passport had been laid aside for twelve years, and it was only recently I caused it to be sent to me, intending to have it renewed, and to hold it as proof of iny undoubted citizenship. It seems to me a very great hardship that any error made by the State Department should now invalidate it, supposing such to be the case.

As to the matter of my father's naturalization-in the sense in which you have H. Ex. 155-2

been good enough to explain it to me, and which is undoubtedly the correct onethere is a discrepancy in my statement. When I wrote that my father" was naturalized a citizen of the United States twenty-one years ago," the statement was careless and inaccurate. I meant to convey the fact that he had declared his intention at that period. I would respectfully remind you that at the time I placed my letter to you in Mr. Barrows's hands, containing that statement, I was also giving him the facts as to the dates of my birth, of my father's emigration, and other details. My father took that initial step very soon after his arrival in Pittsburg-afterwards completed his term, and obtained his full naturalization, for he exercised his right of voting up to the time of his death, eleven years ago. For me, now, to prove his naturalization-i. e., I suppose, to produce his papers, if they are in existence-or to prove their existence, might be, at this distance of time and circumstanced as I am, a very difficult task. I take it that the real point at issue is the bona fide of my American citizenship, and that you wish to be thoroughly satisfied on that point. I believe that I am entitled to give you the best and nearest proof that lies to my hand, and I will endeavor to do so. You state that I must prove one of two things. I prefer to prove the first, viz, my own naturalization; not that I have taken out naturalization papers, but that the law of the United States had created me a citizen. Laying aside the passport and the fact of my father's naturalization while I was a minor, I will base my claim to citizenship on the fact that I have served in the United States Navy during the war for the Union, and that such service made me an American citizen.

I joined the United States Navy at Brooklyn, New York, in April, 1864. I served on the United States steamer Hydrangea. I was on board the frigate Brandywine at the time of her destruction. I was rated petty officer (i. e., ship's yeoman of the Hydrangea). Her log books will be found in the Navy Department in my handwriting. I was discharged at the close of the war from the United States sloop-of-war Saint Louis, at Philadelphia navy-yard, about May or June, 1865. I am now writing to the Secretary of the Navy, at Washington, to furnish you with proofs of this service, which, taken in connection with the bill passed by Congress, naturalizing soldiers and sailors of the war, makes my right of citizenship unquestionable. I am also writing to such friends in America as may enable me to substantiate my claim. My citizenship has never been disputed, and I always exercised its rights when in America. I voted in the Fifth ward of New York City at the Presidential election of 1871.

While I fully appreciate the attentive considerations and careful examination you are giving the subject, I venture to trust, sir, that you will also take into consideration the fact that I am incarcerated here by the British Government, cut off from intercourse with those who might enable me to prove my rights and assert them, and obliged to subject this communication to the inspection of the authorities, in the same way that your letter was inspected before it reached my hands.

It is my most earnest wish in this matter to come as little before the public as possible. Considering these matters I trust you will not enforce upon me any exceptional or difficult task in proving that I am lawfully entitled to whatever aid and protection against outrage and injustice that it may be your duty, as I hope it will be your pleasure, to afford me.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

His Excellency J. R. LOWELL,

United States Minister, London.

MICHAEL P. BOYTON.

[Inclosure 2 in No. 147.]

Mr. Lowell to Mr. Boyton.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, March 25, 1881.

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 the Volunteer forces,

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