No. 337.
Mr. Hoppin
to Mr. Blaine.
Legation of
the United States,
London, November 14, 1881.
(Received November 29.)
No. 220.]
Sir: Referring to your telegram of the 2d of May,
and to your instruction No. 172 of the 2d of June last, in relation to the
case of Mr. Joseph B. Walsh, I have the honor to acquaint you that I have
been informed by Lord Granville that he has been discharged from Kilmainham
prison on account of the state of his health. Lord Granville has forwarded
to me confidentially the order to this effect, a copy of which
[Page 553]
I have the honor to inclose, as
well as copies of Lord Granville’s letter and that of Mr. Lowell’s to which
it was a reply.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 220.]
Mr. Burke to the
governor of Kilmainham
prison.
Dublin
Castle, October 21,
1881.
Sir: I am directed by the lord lieutenant to
convey to you his excellency’s order for the discharge on the ground of
ill health of Joseph B. Walsh, a prisoner in your custody, under a
warrant issued pursuant to the act 44 Vic., c. 4, for the better
protection of person and property in Ireland (1881).
His excellency desires that the prisoner shall be distinctly warned, and
given clearly to understand, that any act of violence or intimidation or
incitement thereto will render him liable to immediate rearrest; that
his conduct will he carefully watched, and that he will be immediately
rearrested if necessary.
The statute requires that he shall not be discharged at a greater
distance than five miles from the place whereat he was first arrested
unless he shall himself prefer to be discharged nearer the prison. If,
therefore, he prefers to be discharged at the prison, you will forthwith
release him from your custody, and you will please to pay him his
railway fare, second class, to the station nearest to his residence,
and, if the latter should be more than five miles distant from the
station, an additional sum for car hire at the rate of eightpence a mile
from the station.
If he should prefer to be escorted in the custody of the police to the
statutory distance from the place of his arrest, you will please report
at once in order that the necessary directions shall be given to the
constabulary.
I am to request you to acknowledge the receipt of this letter and report
the discharge.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 220.]
Mr. Lowell to Lord
Granville.
Legation of the United States,
London, September 1,
1881.
My Lord: I have the honor to acquaint you that
I have to-day received a letter from Mr. B. H. Barrows, the consul of
the United States at Dublin, inclosing a communication dated on the 30th
ultimo, that had been made to him by Mr. Joseph B. Walsh, a prisoner
arrested under the protection act and confined in Kilmainham jail.
Mr. Walsh is a naturalized citizen of the United States, and I was
instructed some time since to inquire into the circumstances of his
arrest. My action in his case and in other similar cases is still the
subject of correspondence between myself and my government. Whatever may
be the final decision in regard to this, Mr. Walsh’s statements in his
letter to Mr. Barrows are such that it is proper I should lose no time
in communicating them to your lordship. He says that his health is; very
much impaired, and that further imprisonment would be dangerous to his
life. He desired that a medical examination may he made into the truth
of his statement.
I should be much obliged to your lordship if you would make such
representations to the proper authorities as to cause this to be done,
and to have this man liberated from prison if practicable.
It is proper to add that Mr. Blaine in his instructions to me upon this
arrest says that Walsh’s “character as a law-abiding and good citizen is
vouched for by well-known and respectable citizens of Pennsylvania.”
I have, &c.,
[Page 554]
[Inclosure 3 in No. 220.]
Lord Granville to
Mr. Hoppin.
Foreign
Office, November 11,
1881.
Sir: With reference to my letter to Mr. Lowell
of the 2d of September last, I have now the honor to state to you that
an order was issued on the 2ist ultimo, by direction of the lord
lieutenant of Ireland, for the discharge of Mr. Joseph B. Walsh, who has
been imprisoned at Kilmainham under the protection of person and
property (Ireland) act, 1881.
A copy of this order is inclosed herewith confidentially for your
information, from which you will perceive that it has been issued on the
ground of the ill health of the prisoner.
I have, &c.,
