severe discipline of that local prison, to Mountjoy, which is more directly under the supervision of the government. The reason assigned for the delay in an answer to my application for their release is, that the Irish attorney general has not yet returned from a brief absence. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. No. 2058.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 24, 1867. SIR: I transmit a copy of a letter of yesterday, addressed to this department by Henry Liebenau, esq., of New York, and of the affidavit of the parents of Colonel W. J. Nagle, in which they swear that he was born in Niagara county, in the State of New York. Mr. D. M. Nagle, the father of the colonel, has also addressed a letter to the department, stating that his four sons, of whom the colonel was one, all joined the Union army during the late civil war, and fought with gallantry in many battles. Two of the sons were killed or died in the service. These facts will be an incentive, if any were needed, for all tions on your part for the purpose of obtaining the release of Colonel Nagle. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. proper exer WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Liebenau to Mr. Seward. No. 4 HAMILTON PLACE, WEST 51ST STREET, HONORED SIR: I enclose with this the affidavit of Mr. and Mrs. Nagle, the parents of Colonel William J. Nagle, showing him to be a native of this State, and hope by the next mail to be able to place in your hands the naturalization papers of Colonel Warren; he was naturalized, as I now learn, in Boston, whither I have sent for the properly authenticated papers. I greatly regret that, from an error in representation, I should have created a discrepancy in regard to the nativity of Colonel Warren, and I can assure you, like myself, the organization I represent will continue as earnest in their efforts to release our adopted citizens as they have been for the liberation of our native citizens, when unjustly arrested and held by any of the despotic governments of Europe. Thanking you heartily and sincerely for the prompt attention and earnest action given to this matter by his Excellency the President and your honorable self, please accept my sincere regards, with the assurance of a faithful report to the "Constitutional Union Association" at their next meeting of the alacrity with which their communications have been responded to by the President and yourself. With the highest respect, permit me to subscribe myself your very obedient and humble servant, HENRY LIEBENAU, Corresponding Secretary Constitutional Union Association. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK, ss: David M. Nagle and his wife, Maria D. Nagle, of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, State of New York, being duly sworn, depose and say that their son, Colonel William J. Nagle, now a prisoner in Kilmainham jail, Dublin, Ireland, under the assumption of being connected with the Fenian organization, was born in Niagara county, State of New York. D. M. NAGLE. MARIA D. NAGLE. Sworn before me this 18th day of September, A. D. 1867. [SEAL.] JACOB E. HOWARD, Notary Public. STATE OF NEW YORK, City and County of New York, ss: I, William C. Conner, clerk of the city and county of New York, and also clerk of the supreme court for the said city and county, being a court of record, do hereby certify that Jacob E. Howard, before whom the annexed deposition was taken, was, at the time of taking the same, a notary public of New York, dwelling in said city and county, duly appointed and sworn, and authorized to administer oaths to be used in any court in said State, and for general purposes; and that his signature thereto is genuine, as I verily believe. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the said court and county, the 18th day of September, 1867. [SEAL.] WILLIAM C. CONNER, Clerk. HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S CONSULATE, New York: I, Edward Mortimer Archibald, esquire, companion of the most honorable order of the Bath, her Britannic Majesty's consul, do hereby certify that Jacob E. Howard, esquire, whose true signature and seal are respectively subscribed and affixed to the certificate hereunto annexed, was, on the day of the date thereof, a notary public in and for the State of New York, duly commissioned and sworn, to whose official acts faith and credit are due. In witness whereof I do hereunto set my hand and seal of office, at the city of New York, this 21st day of September, in the year of our Lord 1867. [SEAL.] E. M. ARCHIBALD, H. B. M. Consul. Petition of the general committee of the Constitutional Union Association.. AMERICAN PROTECTION ABROAD-AMERICA AND IRELAND. At a meeting of the Constitutional Union Association, held on Monday evening, July 15, 1867, to effect the release of Americans unjustly imprisoned abroad, the following resolution, among others presented by Henry Liebenau, was unanimously adopted: Resolved, That a petition be prepared and circulated under the patronage of our organization, for the signatures of our fellow citizens, in behalf of the immediate liberation of Colonel Nagle and Colonel Warren. HENRY S. BANCKER, DANIEL B. NORTHRUP, President. TO ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the United States: The undersigned, citizens of the city and county of New York and Brooklyn, respectfully represent that Colonel William J. Nagle, a native of this State, and Colonel J. Warren, a native of Massachusetts, good and loyal citizens of our republic, and gallant soldiers of the Union army during our late rebellion, are most inhumanly and unjustifiably imprisoned in Kilmainham prison, at Dublin, Ireland; that they were arrested while on a visit to their relatives, without the slightest overt act on their part to justify or palliate such cruelty and oppression, and in gross violation of all international laws and the comity of nations. We therefore respectfully, yet urgently, ask the immediate interposition of our government for their speedy release. P. S.-When signed, please forward to Daniel B. Northrup, No. 140 Water street, to 0. Sloan Holden, No. 645 Seventh avenue, or to Wm. W. Lyons, No. 150 Lewis street. DANIEL B. NORTHRUP, 149 East Fifty-second street, President. EDWIN H. JUSON, 290 West Fifty-first street, Vice-President. CYRUS SCHOONMAKER, 352 East Fourth street, Vice-President. HENRY S. BANCKER, 6 Grand street, Chief Recording Secretary. WILLIAM ABBOTT, 62 Pike street, Assistant Recording Secretary. HENRY LEIBENAU, Hamilton Place, West Fifty-first street, Corresponding Secretary. G. C. NEWMAN, SIR: On the 19th instant I announced to you by telegraph the sudden death of Sir Frederick Bruce, and instructed you to express to Lord Stanley the President's sympathy with her Majesty's government upon that lamented event. To what was said on that occasion I have now to add that his remains have received the care which was required, while necessary preparations were made for their removal to his own country, under the direction of her Majesty's government. Whatever could be done by this government to manifest a sincere national respect and sorrow has been done. The flag of the United States remained at half-mast everywhere throughout the republic until after the funeral obsequies were closed. Two officers of this department proceeded to Boston to co-operate with her Majesty's legation in the performance of those obsequies. Condolences were exchanged with the diplomatic body. The legislative and executive officers of the United States, and especially those of the army and navy in the vicinity of Boston, were requested by the President to be in attendance, and, as I learn by telegraph, the request was complied with. At the funeral, the pall-bearers were Mr. Sumner, senator of the United States, Mr. Hooper, member of Congress, Mr. Longfellow, the mayor of Boston, Mr. Berthemy, the French Minister, Mr. Pratt, of the State Department, Mr. Bayard, of Boston, and his excellency the Governor of Massachusetts. The combined flags of the United States and of Great Britain were borne over the hearse. A considerable portion of the diplomatic body, together with consuls of many countries, were in attendance, as were also the chief justice of Massachusetts, the collector of customs for the port of New York, his excellency the late Governor Andrew, Commodore Rogers, of the United States navy, and General Foster, in command of the United States forces at Boston. It may give a mournful pleasure to her Majesty's ministers and to the British people to receive these details. I cannot dismiss this melancholy subject without bearing testimony to the ability, liberality, and loyalty of the three distinguished persons who have successively and through a very critical period represented the British government in the United States-Lord Napier, Lord Lyons, and Sir Frederick Bruce. It is a circumstance full of good auguries that each of those persons, and the last, as completely as either of his predecessors, while preserving the confidence of his own government, was eminently successful in winning the respect, confidence, and affection of the President of the United States and of the whole American people. I am permitted by the President to add that in the death of the late Sir Frederick Bruce my own feelings are those which are produced by the bereavement of a near and dear friend, and to ask that the assurance of my personal sympathy may be made known to the family and friends of the deceased. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 2060.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 25, 1867. SIR: Your despatch of the 13th of September, No. 1447, has been received, and the proceeding on your part therein mentioned is approved. It is somewhat remarkable, as a coincidence, that the impression communicated to you by Lord Stanley is, in sentiment and to the letter, the same which I announced to Sir Frederick Bruce, at Auburn, upon reading the letter from Lord Stanley, the reply to which was contained in my 2037. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, &c, &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 2068.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 3, 1867. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 21st of September, No. 1455, together with its accompaniments, being the Times and Star newspapers of the 20th ultimo. I observe, with regret, though not altogether with surprise, that recent disturbances in Manchester are supposed to have created new obstacles to the liberation of the United States citizens who are held under arbitrary arrest in Ireland. It will be very much to be regretted if these new embarrassments shall be such as to induce her Majesty's government to lend color to the complaint which has been made against them, that they propose to hold indefinitely in custody, without trial or process, citizens of the United States, who have neither committed nor attempted to commit any offence in Ireland, and who are only alleged to have exercised a freedom of speech in the United States which is tolerated by our laws. I am, sir, your obedient servant, 3 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 2069.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Mr. West, our consul at Dublin, has recently transmitted another instalment of his correspondence with the local authorities in Ireland, concerning citizens of the United States held in custody, under the suspension of the habeas corpus. I observe that in the case of Robert Kelly, the lord lieutenant informs the consul that the prisoner came to Ireland as one of an expedition, the object of which was to land men aud arms in Ireland, in aid of an intended insurrectionary movement in connection with the Fenian conspiracy. In the case of Augustine E. Costello, the lord lieutenant informs the consul that he is in possession of abundant evidence that the prisoner came to Ireland with other persons for the purpose of taking an active part in the Fenian conspiracy; and that, consequently, his excellency refuses to order his discharge. In the case of Joseph H. Lawler, the lord lieutenant informs the consul that in February, 1866, this man was arrested in Dublin, in consequence of information having been received of his being actively engaged in the Fenian conspiracy. He was detained in custody until September, 1866, when he was discharged on condition of returning to America, and with the caution that if he should again be found in Ireland he would be re-arrested. The lord lieutenant further states that he was informed the object of the prisoner's return to that country in the beginning of the present year was to take part in the intended insurrection; and, under these circumstances, it does not appear to his excellency that he 'ought, at present, to take a favorable view of the case. In the case of John Rooney, the lord lieutenant says he has been informed that the prisoner came to that country as one of an armed expedition, whose object was to assist the conspirators there in attempting the insurrectionary movement. He does not think that it would be consistent with his duty to allow his discharge at present. In the case of Andrew Leonard, the lord lieutenant states that he is possessed of abundant evidence that the prisoner came to Ireland as one of an armed Fenian expedition, whose object was to join in furthering the designs of the conspirators there. His excellency does not think that it would be consistent with his duty to allow the prisoner's discharge at present. In the case of Morgan Burke, his excellency informs the consul that this prisoner's complicity with the conspiracy is established by information received from several independent sources, and his excellency, though desirous of being able to comply with the consul's application for the prisoner's discharge, could not feel justified in acceding to it at present. The lord lieutenant's answers in these cases are substantially the same as the replies before given by him in answer to inquiries in behalf of many other citizens of the United States. The President is not unaware of the embarrassments resulting from what appear to be repressed insurrectionary or seditious movements in Ireland. He indulges no desire to aggravate those embarrassments, but, on the contrary, he carefully endeavors to avoid listening to any unnecessary and unreasonable complaint of citizens of the United States in connection with those proceedings. A time, however, has arrived when some explanations seem to the people of the United States necessary. The habeas corpus has been suspended in Ireland for the long period of twenty months. Frequent arrests and long detentions of citizens of the United States have occurred, who earnestly insist that they have committed no offence and attempted no proceeding inconsistent with a submission to the laws of Great Britain. The arbitrary and indefinite |