No. 317.
Mr. Lowell to Mr. Blaine.

[Extract.]
No. 147.]

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, &c.,

J. R. LOWELL.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 147.]

Mr. Boyton to Mr. Lowell.

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 than real. In the first place, the record [Page 522] in the State Department at Washington, 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 my 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 been good enough to explain it to me, and which is undoubtedly the correct one—there 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 Pittsburgh—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 fides 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 has 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 proof 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 5th ward of New York City at the Presidental election in 1871 (sic).

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,

MICHAEL P. BOYTON.

His Excellency J. R. Lowell,
United States Minister, London.

[Page 523]
[Inclosure 2 in No. 147.]

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.

J. R. LOWELL.

Mr. Michael P. Boyton,
Kilmainham Prison, Dublin, Ireland.