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general, which sum is retained even when the attorney general refuses the writ; that no such fee is required in England upon an application for the attorney general's fiat; that your petitioner refers to such matters as an illustration of the different manner in which justice is administered in England and Ireland, your petitioner being perfectly persuaded that if he had been tried in England, and the same point had arisen, the allowance of a writ of error would have been a matter of course; that on the occasions of trials of prisoners imprisoned by virtue of the warrant of the lord lieutenant during a temporary suspension of the habeas corpus act, the attorney general of the day invariably produced to the judges the order of the privy council authorizing the trial; that your petitioner is now suffering a terrible punishment under a sentence which he is advised is illegal; that he is so advised by lawyers of more experience and reputation as criminal lawyers than the Irish attorney general, and that so long as he is prevented from testing their opinion by an appeal to the highest tribunals of British law, he must ever feel that he is condemned to penal servitude by the arbitrary act of his prosecutor acting as judge in his own cause.

Your petitioner therefore prays that your honorable house may take his case into your consideration, and that if your honorable house shall so think, it necessary that the allegations of this his petition may be inquired into at the bar of your honorable house, or before a select committee appointed by your honorable house, or that your honorable house may be pleased to present an address to her Majesty, the Queen, praying that she may direct that a writ of error may issue at the suit of your petitioner to try the legality of his conviction, or that such other steps may be taken as will enable your petition to bring under the review of the proper tribunal the legality of the sentence which he is now undergoing. And your petitioner, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

No. 2016.]

JOHN MCCAFFERTY.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, July 9, 1867.

SIR: I enclose a copy of a letter of the 4th instant from D. M. Nagle, esq., accompanied by one from Colonel William J. Nagle, in regard to the arrest and imprisonment of the last named in Ireland.

You will be expected to take such measures as may be practicable for securing the early discharge of Colonel Nagle.

Ι am, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Mr. Nagle to Mr. Seward.

284 PACIFIC STREET

Brooklyn, July 4, 1867.

DEAR SIR: I respectfully beg leave to enclose for your consideration a copy of Colonel William J. Nagle's letter recently addressed to me.

All my children were born in this State-five sons and three daughters.

I remain, very truly, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

D. M. NAGLE.

Secretary of State.

The following letter from Colonel Nagle to his father will be read with interest. The colonel was an officer in the Union army, and having lost his health in the service, started upon a European tour. In Ireland he was arrested on charge of being a Fenian:

COUNTY CORK JAIL, June 14, 1867. DEAR FATHER: I was arrested on the 1st of June, in company with Colonel J. Warren, on the bridge crossing the Blackwater from Waterford into Youghal. We were kept in the Youghal Bridewell until the morning of the 14th, when we were sent to this place, marched through the streets of both places hand-cuffed like felons. We are now held under a warrant from the lord lieutenant of Ireland, and will remain prisoners so long as the fears and purposes of the government may require the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, unless some action is taken by the authorities or government of our country.

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We are held under suspicion of being connected with the "Fenian conspiracy," so-called, in this country. No evidence of any kind is shown or charge made, other than "suspicion,' which is applied as a general rule to all Americans. I will place my case before the United States minister at London. The correspondence with Mr. Adams, and his communication which may become necessary with the State Department, must consume much time. It would be well for you to take immediate steps to bring my case before the notice of the people, and have the subject brought before Congress at this coming session in July. This is not exclusively an individual case, but becomes a question of right involving the liberty of every American citizen that sets foot on this soil. I ask the government of my country, which I have faithfully served, whose laws I have never violated, to secure to me that liberty which is my birthright, and of which I am now deprived without any cause or plea of justification by an authority I do not recognize-a government to which I owe no allegiance, and whose laws I have in no way infringed upon.

My arrest followed so quick upon my arrival in this country that I had no opportunity to find out any of my relatives whom I intended to visit. My chances of being in Paris this summer are doubtful. I must be content to suffer the penalty of being an American soldier with Irish blood in my veins, so far offending the majesty of British laws as to be found upon Irish soil.

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WM. J. NAGLE.

No. 1402.]

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, July 6, 1867.

SIR: The event of the week, which has excited the most public attention, has been the fate of the Archduke Maximilian, the first intelligence of which was transmitted from Austrian sources, but which appears since to be confirmed from other quarters. In consequence of it the Queen decided not to have the review of the troops in Hyde park which had been set down for the 5th, (yesterday,) nor yet the court ball, which was to have taken place in the evening. There is not yet any official announcement of court mourning, though it will doubtless soon be made, as the Queen was connected with the deceased through his marriage with the daughter of Leopold of Saxe Coburg, the late King of the Belgians.

The sensation made by this event has extended throughout Europe. It is, perhaps, fortunate for the United States that the intercession of the government in favor of a merciful policy took place as it did, for the effect has been to concentrate the public indignation upon the perpetrators of the deed, and incidentally to raise rather a share of sympathy with us. Hence the idea of intervention on our part for the regulation of the affairs of that country, which a few years ago would have excited much jealousy and aversion, is now suggested as presenting the only prospect of a satisfactory settlement. My reply to all such proposals, that we have no wish whatever to increase the existing complications in our own affairs by undertaking to assume the management of those of our neighbors, is regarded as idle. The odium to which the Mexicans have fallen. drowns every other feeling. They are looked upon as ferocious savages whom it would be well for the world to be rid of as soon as possible; and as nobody else is in a condition to execute the process, that duty should necessarily fall upon the United States. One element of this opinion, though it does not appear much on the surface, is yet not without its secret force. It consists of those unfortunate persons who have more or less of their means involved in the credit of the public securities of that country. These would gladly see it all transferred to us, provided we were willing to assume its pecuniary obligations. I feel it my duty to mention all these things as facts, without desiring to be understood in any way as intimating an opinion of my own.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

No. 1404.]

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, July 9, 1867.

SIR: In connection with your despatch, No. 186, of the 10th of December last, I now have the honor to transmit copies of the correspondence which has taken place between myself and Lord Stanley on the subject therein referred to. It is very clear, from the unsatisfactory nature of the answer, that the act complained of was one of the series which took place in that unfortunate island at the period referred to, no justification for which ever has been or probably ever will be made.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

Mr. Adams to Lord Stanley.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, December 27, 1866.

MY LORD: I have the honor to ask the attention of her Majesty's government to a case of alleged hardship which has been reported to the State Department at Washington, and which is deemed by it of sufficient importance to require that the particulars should be laid before your lordship.

It would appear from a report drawn by the consul of the United States at Kingston, in Jamaica, and transmitted to the proper authorities at Washington more than a year ago, that John Willis Menard, claiming to be a citizen of the United States, but resident in the parish of St. David's, in that island, was, on or about the 27th of October, 1865, without warrant or complaint under oath, seized by order of the authorities, in a district not under martial law, was conveyed by force into a portion of the county of Surry, then under martial law, and was there put into close confinement, no charges being exhibited against him, until the 4th of November, when he was banished from the island, by virtue of a simple order issued by the governor.

The consul, after investigating the circumstances attending this case, reports that he can find no evidence of any offence committed by Mr. Menard, nor any reasonable ground for suspecting him to have been implicated in illegal transactions or designs of any kind. So peremptory was the order that Mr. Menard was compelled to leave behind him a wife in destitute circumstances, who was soon afterwards delivered of a child, but whom he was not permitted to visit, as well as to appeal to the consul to provide for him the means of immediate transportation to the United States.

I am instructed by my government to communicate these facts as they have been reported to it; and, further, to ask your lordship the favor to cause the proper investigation to be instituted, in order that in the event of a confirmation of their accuracy such reparation may be made as would appear to her Majesty's government to be reasonable and just.

I pray your lordship, &c., &c., &c.,

The Right Hon. LORD STANLEY, &c.. &c., &c.

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

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FOREIGN OFFICE, December 31, 1866. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th instant, relative to the case of Mr. J. W. Menard, who claims to be a citizen of the United States, and who is stated to have received illegal treatment at the hands of the authorities of Jamaica towards the end of 1865; and I have to inform you that I have lost no time in requesting her Majesty's secretary of state for the colonies to cause an inquiry to be made into this matter. I have, &c., &c., &c.

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c. &c., &c.

STANLEY.

Lord Stanley to Mr. Adams.

FOREIGN OFFICE, July 1, 1867. SIR: I had the honor to acquaint you, in my note of the 31st of December last, that your communication of the 27th of that month, respecting the treatment of John Willis Menard, in Jamaica, had been referred to the colonial office, and I have now received from that department a copy of a report from the governor of the island, forwarding an extract of a letter on the subject from the clerk of the peace of the parish of St. Andrew, dated November 2, 1865, together with a minute by the late executive committee.

From these documents, which contain all the information that the governor has been able to obtain respecting the case, it appears that on an examination of Menard's papers, there were found speeches and letters, with his signature printed in America, in which he spoke of his "deep hatred to the ruling class" of that country, and in which the following sentence appeared:

"I am for black nationalities. The prosperity and happiness of our race and their posterity lay in a separation from the white race. The overseer of Albion estate has inaugurated a most hellish system of oppression and imposition in this parish."

In consequence of the danger which was apprehended from the promulgation of these ideas, the clerk of the peace recommended that Menard, being a foreigner, should be deported from the colony, and this recommendation was adopted by the executive committee, who directed that it should be carried out immediately.

I have the honor, &c., &c., &c.,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

STANLEY.

No. 2017.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, July 13, 1867.

SIR: I enclose a copy of a letter of the 10th instant from Mr. Hugh Dunigan, of New York, regarding the arrest and imprisonment of Patrick Kane, in Ireland, charged with being a Fenian.

I will thank you to do what you properly can in behalf of the prisoner.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

Mr. Dunigan to Mr. Seward.

NEW YORK, July 10, 1867.

DEAR SIR: I write to you, hoping that you will take some action about a young man named Patrick Kane, who left this country to visit friends in Ireland, and was arrested on his arrival in Ireland on the charge of Fenianism. He was arrested on or about the 7th of June, and is in confinement yet, he being a citizen of the United States, and of the city of New York. I hope that you will take some action in his behalf. He has committed no overt act against the British government. He is now confined in Middletown jail, county Cork, Ireland.

Hoping that you will see justice done to American subjects, I remain,

Yours, most respectfully,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

HUGH DUNIGAN.

Secretary of State.

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

No. 1405.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

London, July 13, 1867.

SIR: The accounts received from Mexico of the execution of the Archduke Maximilian have created a strong sensation in all influential circles here. The

court has been directed to wear mourning for three weeks, on the ground of the relationship of the Queen to the wife, through her father, the late King of the Belgians. There is a pretty strong wish expressed for the intervention of the United States by taking forcible possession of the country. To all such remarks, when made to me by distinguished persons, I reply that such a course is neither consistent with our established principles nor expedient for ourselves. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

No. 1407.]

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, July 16, 1867.

SIR I have the honor to inform you that I had a visit this week from Blaque Bey, the newly appointed envoy extraordinary of the Sultan to the United States. He informs me that, after a long term of diplomatic service on the continent, he has been gratified by his promotion to the first mission established by his country in the United States. He speaks French and English with sufficient facility to render communication with him perfectly easy; and his familiarity with the manners and customs, as well as the policy, of western nations, places him at once on a footing to promote the relations of amity which it is the object of the Sultan by this step to confirm.

The Sultan himself is now on a visit to this kingdom, and notice was given to the various members of the corps diplomatique that he would be happy to receive them at Buckingham palace, where he is lodged. Accordingly, I attended among the rest, and was presented to him in my turn. He made, through his interpreter, some remarks upon the desirableness of maintaining friendly relations between the two countries, though situated at points of the globe so remote from each other, which I received with the proper acknowledgment. He looks, I think, younger than he is; has handsome features, with a good presence, and bears himself with simplicity and dignity becoming his situation. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

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SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 6th of July, No. 1402. I thank you for the interesting account you have given me of the demonstrations of official and popular feeling produced by the late tragical events in Mexico.

You will easily infer the present attitude of this government towards Mexico from a memorandum* made at this department on the 12th instant, in regard to the adventures of Señor Santa Anna at Vera Cruz and Sisal, a copy of which memorandum is herewith transmitted for your information.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

* For enclosure see instructions to United States minister to Mexico.

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