No. 12.
Mr. Lowell
to Earl Granville.
London, September 1, 1881. (Received September 2.)
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 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 desires that a medical examination may be 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.
[Page 247]It is proper to add that Mr. Blaine, in his instructions to me upon his 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.,