Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-06-03
TIE oUTcRY AGAINST mR. LOWELL

A marked reaction has taken place in
regard to Mr.. Lowell. What may be
called the American Press distinctively has
at last mustered courage to inquire, with
some lingering timidity. what the Minister
to England has done to justify his recall.
They ask if the sole duty of an American
Minister to England is to satisfy the most
rabid Irish hatred of that country, or to
provoke war with England by studied
insolence. They observe further that all
the cutlery against Mr. Lowell in connection
with the alleged American citizen bust.
ness, has upon full inquiry appeared to be
utterly without justification. Thus it ap-
pears with regard to every one of the
suspects whose walls from "British
" dungeons were SO ccpiously diffused and
so Historically concentrated, that they
were in fact and in truth anything but
good American citizens, and that whatever
technical case may have been capable OF
being constructed for them, it was perfect
ly clear that their claims were preposterous
in view OF the actual facts. For these
men, though they had been naturalized, or
partly naturalized in the United States,
had afterwards returned to Ireland, and
had there taken up their residence, and
gone into business, and in two cases had
accepted public offices. Now, if such acts
do not constitute an abandonment of
American naturalization, it is very evident
that they virtually alter the situation
when the men referred to come to be
charged with breaking English laws. 1t is
perfectly clear that 1t is no part of Ameri-
can policy or business to confer upon Irish
men a naturalization which they
only intend to employ for the purpose of
shielding themselves while violating the
laws of the country in which they live.
Now. what Mr.. Lowell has done is TO call
attention to the actual facts in the
cases of these sham American citizens,
and to find out that not one Of them has
an unquestionable claim to the protec-
ton he demands. The outcry against
Mr.. Lowell consequently seems to imply
the proposition that whenever anybody in
Ireland, arrested for breaking the law, sets
up a pretense OF American citizenship, 1t is
the duty of the American Minister at Lon
don to accept the pretense without in
quiry, and if necessary to declare war
rather than fail to rescue the quite possibly
make believe American citizen from the
legitimate consequences of MS own volur-
tary acts The snti-Lowell howiers have
not, it is true, yet had the audaciry to
take precisely this ground in plain terms,
but it is incontestible that the logic Of the
situation compels them to take precisely
this position, since, unless they take it,
they will have to confess that they have
no ground whatever for their complaint.
The truth is that Mr.. Lowell has done his
full duty in the premises, and that public
opinion in the United States in regard to him
10 HOS anu IcNOA iioo bSSh l'iCoChsSu
blatant and impudent journals that have
been demanding his recall because-and
for no other reason-he has not proceeded
on the hypothesis that he was the Envoy
of an Irish Republic, instead of being the
accredited Minister from the United States
of America. 1t is also probably time to
recognize the fact that it is impossible to
find any Minister to England who will
satisfy the American Fenian element, and
that it is highly undesirable that any fur
Their attempt should be made to satisfy
that element. Mr.. Lowell is representa-
tive American, not a representative Irish.
man, and it is requisite that he should
satisfy the American people, and no other
people.