Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 4, 1882

No. 145.
Mr. Frelinghuysen to Mr. Lowell.

Department of State,
Washington, October 3, 1882.

No. 466.]

Sir: I have to acknowledge your No. 434, of the 30th August last, in relation to the arrest of Mr. Henry George.

This Department was first informed of Mr. George’s arrest by reports in the newspapers, and then telegraphed to you. Mr. George being in Great Britain, it was supposed he would communicate to you in writing the facts as to his arrest and thus afford you a basis for proper action. He however seems not to have written to you on the subject.

After his release he had, it is understood, a personal interview with you, and the action thereupon promptly taken by you on the information you possessed is justified by the statements herein contained.

His letter to the President, which at once appeared in the newspapers and was referred to this Department, contained the first detailed statement of the facts received here. As I understand that no similar communication has been made to you, I inclose a copy of the letter.

Mr. George is a citizen of the United States and a gentleman well known in this country. He states that in October, 1881, he landed in Ireland, and since then he has traveled in Great Britain, always conducting himself in a lawful manner. On the 8th of August last, he started from Dublin for the west of Ireland, and on his arrival in the town of Loughrea, at about six o’clock in the evening, he was seized by the constabulary, carried to the police prison, where, in spite of his declaration that he was a citizen of the United States, traveling through the country without criminal intent or unlawful purpose, he was held a close prisoner for about three hours, during which time his baggage and person were searched and all his letters and papers minutely examined. Finally a magistrate arrived, who was informed by the subinspector that Mr. George had been arrested upon telegraphic information that he was a suspicious stranger; but Mr. George’s, request to be informed of the source of the information and the ground of suspicion was refused. The subinspector further stated that nothing suspicious had been found upon Mr. George’s person or in his effects. He was thereupon discharged. Mr. George immediately protested in what appears to be proper terms against the treatment he had received, stating that he should have been given reasonable opportunity for clearing up any suspicion which might have been entertained of him before being arrested, imprisoned, and searched.

On the following day Mr. George left Loughrea and proceeded to Athenry, a town but a few miles distant in the same county and within the jurisdiction of the same inspector and magistrate. There he remained one night, and the next morning, after having visited the antiquities of the place, was about to take the train for Galway, when he was again stopped by a subinspector of constabulary and questioned as to his name, nationality, business, from whence he had come, and whither he was going. To all these questions he gave true answers, showing him to be an American citizen of reputable character traveling upon lawful business. Nevertheless, he was not permitted to take the train, but was again placed under arrest, carried to the police barracks, and his clothing and baggage again searched in the same manner as at Loughrea, and this notwithstanding the fact that his arrest, search, and discharge at Loughrea were known to the constabulary at Athenry. Mr. George, who in the whole matter appears to have acted with discretion and within his rights, demanded to be promptly taken before a magistrate, but was detained a close prisoner until the arrival in the evening of the same magistrate before whom he was examined at Loughrea; yet even then he was not discharged until nearly midnight, and after again being subjected to a long examination.

The President is persuaded that the acts so justly complained of must have been committed without authority by subordinate officials of the government. But while the first arrest was an annoyance to which innocent travelers should not be subjected, and while the search and examination were not justifiable, and seem to have been conducted in a manner not consonant with the spirit of the laws both of Great Britain and the United States, it is particularly to the repetition of the indignity that the President wishes your attention to be directed.

The second arrest occurred within forty eight hours after the first; it was made within the same jurisdiction by officers conversant with what had occurred at Loughrea, who again searched his person and effects, and again forced Mr. George to undergo an examination, and that before the same magistrate who had interrogated him at Loughrea.

These acts indicate an intention on the part of the officials to subject Mr. George to unnecessary personal annoyance.

Nor can this action be excused by the fact that he is alleged to have visited the ruins of Athenry in company with the curate and another gentleman, or that he was seen to enter shops of alleged “suspects.” The examination of Mr. George at Loughrea had presumably shown the object of his presence in Ireland, and should have convinced the authorities without an additional examination that his visit to the ruined abbey was one of curiosity, and that he entered the shops with the innocent purpose of making purchases.

Mr. George’s conduct in Athenry appears to have been natural to a traveler seeking information and amusement, and such as could not fairly subject him to suspicion. While citizens of the United States traveling or resident abroad are subject to the reasonable laws of the country in which they may be sojourning, it is nevertheless their right to be spared such indignity and mortification as the conduct of the officers at Loughrea and Athenry seems to have visited upon Mr. George.

This government is loath to believe that the current rumors are true that the behavior of the officers and magistrate was prompted by a prejudice said to exist among the officials in Ireland against citizens of the United States.

In Great Britain, as in the United States, it has been a governmental principle that the right of the individual to exemption from arrest or search without good reason, and without the observance of form’s calculated to insure that right, should be jealously guarded, and when unfortunate events have demanded a temporary suspension or qualification of the right great care has been exerted to avoid injustice or unnecessary indignity.

The power given to subordinate officials by the “prevention-of-crime act” is so great and the rights subjected to their discretion are so important that foreign governments may reasonably require that so far as their citizens, present in Ireland on legitimate and proper business, are concerned, the individuals selected to administer that act should be competent, well-informed, and unprejudiced. And should it appear that these officials have in the case of such foreign citizens misused the powers intrusted to them, they should be subjected to such condemnatory action, and the citizen wronged should receive such amends as the facts may warrant.

The President regrets to observe that, so far as he has the facts before him, the officials at Loughrea, and Athenry seem to have fallen far short of treating the rights of an innocent traveler with that respect which he cannot doubt Her Majesty’s Government exacts of subordinate officials.

It is not necessary now to comment upon the law under color of which these arrests were made.

As you have already addressed a note to Lord Granville on this subject, a reply will probably soon be received by you. It is trusted that the tenor of that reply may prove satisfactory to this government and also relieve Mr. George from any reproach the arrests are calculated unjustly to cast upon him. More definite instructions, therefore, than those herein contained and those heretofore received by you need not now be given.

You are authorized, if you deem it advisable to do so, to read this instruction to Lord Granville, and, should he desire it, to leave a copy of it with him.

I have, &c.,

FRED’K T. FREDINGHUYSEN.

[Inclosure in No. 466.]

Mr. George to the President.

Dublin, August 26, 1882.

Sir: I desire respectfully to call your attention to annoyances and indignities to which citizens of the United States traveling in Ireland are exposed, and for that purpose to state my own experience:

I am a citizen of the United States, born in the State of Pennsylvania, and long a citizen of the State of California. I landed first in Ireland on the 25th of October, 1881, and have, in all parts of the dominions of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland that I have since visited, conducted myself in a lawful manner.

On the 8th instant I started from the city of Dublin for the west of Ireland for the purpose of seeing the country and informing myself as to the condition of its people. Immediately upon my arrival in the town of Loughrea, in the county of Galway, at about six o’clock in the evening, I was seized by the royal Irish constabulary and carried to the police prison, where, in spite of my declaration that I was a citizen of the United States of reputable character, traveling through the country without criminal intent or unlawful purpose, I was held a close prisoner for about three hours, during which time my baggage and person were searched, and all my letters and papers minutely examined by a number of constables. Finally a magistrate, to wit, Resident Magistrate Byrne, was brought. The subinspector of constabulary declared to him that he had arrested me upon telegraphic information that I was a suspicious stranger, but my request to be informed of the source of the information and ground of suspicion was refused. The subinspector further stated that nothing suspicious had been found upon my person or in my effects. The magistrate upon this discharged me from custody.

I thereupon protested to the magistrate against the imprisonment and indignity to which I had been subjected as unprovoked, unnecessary, and unreasonable, declaring if any suspicion had been entertained of me I should have been given reasonable opportunity of clearing it up before being arrested, imprisoned, and searched.

On the following day I left Loughrea, and proceeded to Athenry, a town but a few miles distant in the same county, and within the district of the same police inspector and the jurisdiction of the same resident magistrate. I staid there for the night and, having during the next morning viewed the antiquities of the place, was about taking the train to proceed to the town of Galway, when I was stopped by a subinspector of constabulary and questioned as to my name, nationality, business, from whence I had come, whither I was going, &c. To all of these questions I gave true answers—said answers showing that I was an American citizen of reputable character, traveling upon lawful business. Nevertheless, I was not permitted to take the train, but was placed under arrest, carried to the police barracks, and my clothing and luggage again searched in the same manner as at Loughrea, notwithstanding the fact that my arrest, search, and discharge at Loughrea were well known to the constabulary at Athenry. And, although I demanded to be promptly taken before a magistrate, I was detained a close prisoner until the same magistrate before whom I had been taken at Loughrea had arrived at Athenry in the evening; and then I was not discharged until nearly midnight, and after a long and frivolous examination, having been restrained of my liberty for about ten hours and compelled, owing to the running of the trains, to lose nearly a day in my journey.

The wantonness of this second arrest and imprisonment will appear not merely from the fact that my arrest, search, and discharge at Loughrea were well known to the constabulary at Athenry, but from the reason for my arrest given to the magistrates by the subinspector, who deposed that he had arrested me because I had in the town of Athenry associated with suspicious persons, and who in proof of this brought forward ten constables who testified that they had seen me visiting the ruins of an old abbey in company with the Rev. Father McPhilpin, the Catholic curate of Athenry, and an English gentleman, Mr. James Leigh Joynes, of Eton College; and also that they had seen me entering three shops on the main street (where I had gone to make a small purchase), and which they averred were the shops of “suspects,”i. e., persons who had been imprisoned on suspicion of having committed a certain crime peculiar to this country, to wit: “Of having encouraged divers persons to incite other persons to intimidate certain persons from doing what they had a legal right to do.”

I would not, Mr. President, think of addressing you on this subject were my case an isolated one, as then it would merely show an abuse of power by certain individual officials. But, on the contrary, such cases are constantly occurring, and many American citizens have already, in various parts of this country, been subjected to similar and even to much worse indignities and hardships. And this evidently, not by accident, but because of being Americans; for while it is true that the masses of the people of these islands entertain towards us those feelings of friendship which it is to be hoped may always exist, it is at the same time notorious that by some of the local officials in certain parts of Ireland an American is regarded as peculiarly a subject for suspicion and annoyance.

I fully realize, Mr. President, that it is the duty of an American citizen in a foreign country to conform his conduct to the laws of that country, and that he cannot expect exemption from such police regulations as its government may deem necessary. But, at the same time, I submit to you that it is due to their own dignity that the United States should claim for their citizens traveling in countries with which they maintain relations of amity, exemption from wanton annoyances, unreasonable inquisitions, and imprisonment upon frivolous pretexts.

Yet, I regret to say that the belief prevails here that the United States take no interest in the treatment of their citizens in foreign parts. American citizens have been imprisoned here for long periods, without trial, and even without specific accusation, on the mere suspicion of just such officials as those of whom I have had experience, as before related, while the only action taken by the United States in the matter, so far as known and currently reported here, is that American consuls have visited these imprisoned citizens and attempted to bribe them by offers of money into acknowledgment of the justice of such arbitrary imprisonment, by agreeing to leave the country as a condition of release. The contemptible position in which the United States have thus been placed in the eyes of the people of this country may be well imagined, but is not a pleasant thing for an American citizen to portray.

Having discharged what I deem to be my duty in laying these facts before you, as Chief Executive of the nation, for such consideration as you may deem it your duty to give them,

I am, Mr. President, &c.,

HENRY GEORGE.

P. S.—Insomuch as since I have been in Ireland mail matter of mine arriving from the United States has been detained in the Irish post-office, and, as I have been credibly informed, opened and burned, though all official information in relation thereto was refused me, and insomuch as it is the belief of many of the subjects of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, that their letters are tampered with in Her Majesty’s post-offices, I take the precaution of sending this to the United States under cover, where it will be mailed to you.