[Inclosure 2 in No. 25.]
[Extract from the
Baltimore American of February 17,
1882.]
The Case of Denis O’Connor and his Claim of American
Citizenship.—Mr. Denis H. O’Connor, who is now confined in
prison in Ireland as a “suspect,” and over whose case quite a discussion
occurred in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, was formerly a
resident of Baltimore. He is a brother of Mr. P. C. O’Connor, who keeps
a grocery store at the corner of Chase and Chapel streets, and is a
fully naturalized citizen of the United States. Mr. P. C. O’Connor was
called upon yesterday by an American reporter, and in response to
inquiries, stated that his brother, Denis H. O’Connor, the prisoner
alluded to, had resided in Baltimore for ten years previous to 1878, in
which year, being broken down in health, he had taken a trip to Ireland,
and had since made it his home. He had while in this city been an active
and energetic business man, and among other houses with which he was
associated were mentioned Hinkelman, Jackson, and Phelps, of Baltimore;
John B. Ellison &, Son, of Philadelphia; and Dahlnen, Forbes &
Co., of New York. His health-being partially restored shortly after
landing in Ireland, Mr. O’Connor opened an extensive dry-goods
establishment in Charleville, county Cork, and another in Kilmallock,
county Limerick. His brother says that Denis was a general favorite on
account of his genial disposition, but more, perhaps, on account of his
outspoken love for republican institutions. When the Land League
agitation commenced, O’Connor was chosen as treasurer of the Charville
Branch, and so remained until arrested on the 22d October, 1881. Mr. P.
C. O’Connor, on learning of the arrest of his brother, took steps to
obtain his release on the ground of American citizenship. He procured a
letter of introduction from Mayor Whyte to the then Secretary of State,
Mr. Blaine, and proceeding to Washington, laid the whole case before Mr.
Blaine. On the 25th November, 1881, Mr. P. C. O’Connor received a letter
from Mr. Blaine, in which it was stated that the case was one of a class
receiving the attention of the government, and would take the same
course as others preceding it. Mr. Blaine also reminded Mr. O’Connor
that the act of Parliament under which his brother
[Page 253]
is held is a law of Great Britain, and
that it is an elementary principle of public law that in such cases the
government of that country, in the exercise of its varied functions,
judicial and executive, administers and interprets the law. The right of
every government in this respect, says Mr. Blaine, is absolute and
sovereign, and every person who voluntarily brings himself within the
jurisdiction of the country, whether temporarily or permanently, whether
he be a citizen or a mere resident, is subject to the operation of those
laws so long as, in the case of the alien resident, no treaty
stipulation or principle of international law is contravened by the
proceedings taken against him. Mr. P. C. O’Connor has also, since the
change made in the cabinet, addressed quite a long communication to Mr.
Frelinghuysen on the same subject, calling his attention to cases of a
similar character in years gone by, with the action of various
Secretaries of State in each case. To this letter no reply has as yet
been received.
