The examiner., 1882-03-25

ing tQ law within the United States of AmerieB as citizens thereof, shall be held by Great Britain to be, in all respects and for all purposes, citizens of the United States, and shall be treated as such by Great Britain"
 Now,a number of respectable American citizens of Irish birth have been arbi- trarily Arrested and imprisoned for long time, oh mere s'suspicion'' of having of- tended against what is known as the Coer- cion act-a law violative of the treaty of 1870 in it's application to American citi- zens, because it denies them all protection, seizes their persons without a hearing, and imprisons them without trial in time of profound peace.
 American citizenship is mockery, and our passports with their outspread eagle are deluslons and frauds, if these outrages can be Committed with impunity, and if these insults are not sternly resented. One of the elementary principles of British law is that person charged with crime shall have speedy and fair trial by his peers. That principle has been extensively tram pied under foot in every one of the cases which have justly excited the indignation of the American people.
 These American citizens are held as pris- oners upan mere warrant of arrest, of which the following, ''given at Dublin Castle. the 3Oth day of May, 1884," is specimen
 Now. we the Lord Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, by virtue of the said act, and of every power and authofisx in this behalf, do by this our warrant declare JOHN MoENERY of Kill conly, near Abbeyfeale, in the county of Limerick. aforesaid, to be reasonably sus- spected O having, since the 3Oth day of September 1880, been guilty ot crime punishable by law, &c."
 This person addressed note to MISS PARNEL1 on Jan. 16, 1881, asking her to send his paper to ''some Congressman in America, and to give the case publication for the information of American citizens" Here is what he says:
 s'I went to America in 1850, at the age of sixteen, came back to Ireland in 1875 to recover my health, and resided in the neighborhood of Abbeyfeale until arrested under the Coercion act I am now seven months in jail, and from long and close confinement my eyesight has failed: so that am unable to read any during eigh- teen hours in cell. What this is for do Ireland to prove my crime against me, more than being an American citizen.
 'tJoHN MoENERY,
 Suspect Limerick Prison.
 'sP. S.-Note.-I have asked MT. LOWELL for fair and impartial trial"
 This American citizen was forced to go outside the Legation of his own Govern ment in order to have attention called to his case. He found neither sympathy nor succcr in that official quarter. The Minis ter was content to see this American citi- zen, and others, lodged in cells upon trumped-up charges, most of them known to be on the testimony of professional in- formers. without uttering single manly word in their defence. MT. LOWELL let his fellow citizens remain in jail. He was acting under MT. B1A1NE's positive in- structions, and reiterating in London the cowardly and degrading language of the Secretary Of State in Washington, when appealed to in behalf of MT. DENNIS H. O'CoNNoR. When MT. LOWELL did sum- mon courage to ask My dear GRANVILLE the grounds for the insulting treatment of our citizens, he was contemptuously snubbed with this curt answer: ''The only information that could be given was that contained in the warrant" Her Mai 1s f<>,, A ffoir not even condescend to explain the charges.
 And the scornful answer was made in response to representation in Mir. Mo- SwEENEY's case, wherein "My dear GRAN WILLIE" was informed that the prisoner positively denied having ''ever melted any people in Ireland to riot, but, on the con- trary, had advised against the commission of crime and the violation of the law" The grievance was thus doubly aggravated but MT. BLAINE and MT. LOWELL pocketed this affront, while at that very time the former was writing clustering notes about the C1AYToN-BULwER treaty, and threaten ing Chili with war unless she made terms with Peru, to protect the LANDREAU claims.
 Mir. FARLEY presented petition to the Senate last week reciting these facts:
 s'DAN1E1 MoSwEENEY was naturalized as 8 citizen of the United States, in the city of San Francisco, on the 9th of Mo- vember, 1860, and was for many years, up- ward of twenty, a well-known resident and business man of good standing and high repute, and 8 taxpayer therein. He was arrested without cause, assigned and con- mitted to 8 common jail without prelimin- ary examination or trial by court or jury, and without any knowledge of the accusa- tion or charge, if any, upon which his in- generation was based. He has been con- fined in close and unwholesome quarters for about nine months. When committed to custody heswas in delicate health, and a continuance of his imprisonment is liable to shorten his life.''
 This petition was referred to the com mittee on Foreign Relations, and thence it will go to the Department of State. After the refusal of the British Government to give any satisfaction whatever regarding the charges against these prisoners, or to 4t,1 %< 4r,n n1 %o