New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-04-05
TIE IRISH AMERICAN SUSPECTS.

prompt release Of American citizens now I'M
Justly deprived of liberty by the British Gov
ernmcnt. 1t bases its action upon section 2,OOl
of the Revised Statutes Of the United States,
namely:
Whenever it Is made known TO the President that any
citizen Of the United States has been unusy deprived
of his liberty by or under authority OF any foreign
Government II shall be the duty Of the President i0rth
with TO demand Of that Government the reasons OF such
imprisonment and If it appear 10 be wrongful ana In
violation Of the rights of American citizenship the Pres
dent shall forthwith demand the release OF such Citizen
and if the release so demanded is unreasonab delayed
or refused the President shall use such means, not
amounting TO acts Of war; he may think necessary and
proper obtain eGectuate the release and all the
facts and proceedings relative thereto SHALL as soon as
practicable, be communicated by the President TO
Congress-
Now in the case of the Irish American sus-
pects this statute-one of the most irrational
acts ever passed by an ncohercnt Congress-is
practically imperative. These men have been
legally arrested whatever may be said as to
the Justice or injustice of the charges. They
have been imprisoned under the Coercion Acts,
which are now the public law OF Ireland.
Legally arrested, they have not been tIlcd; ana
accordingly there has been no judicial lnvestl-
cation which would enable the President to
determine whether they have been justly or
uniusty deprived of their liberty. 1t is utterly
impossible for the President to decide whether
the arrest of these suspects has been "wrong-
full and in violation of the rights of Amerl-
can citizenship and consequently he cannot
demand their release Congress never has
given and never can give the Executive the
right to demand the unconditional release or
an American citizen, naturalized or native
born. who has been legally arrested IN another
civilized State. If he has been illegally ar
rested, or if his innocence has been established
after IL judicial investigation, his release may
be demanded, but not otherwise.
What then, is it in the province of the Ex-
ecutive to demand in the case OF the Irish
American suspects Let their naturalization be
assumed, and they must be held by Great
Britain to be entitled to all the rights which
have been guaranteed to citizens of the United
States under the naturalization treaty. a fair
and impartial trial in accordance with the local
law that has been violated is one OF those
rights, and the Executive is justified in demand
ing il. for the suspects have been in prison
many months. But in the proclaimed districts
of Ireland the local law has been suspended.
The Government does not grant to It's own
subjects the privilege of jury trial In those
districts and, indeed, a jury trial would not
be judicial process under the circumstances,
for each and every suspect would be acquitted
without regard to the facts OF the case A fair
and impartial trial. by which the innocence or
guilt of the accused can be ascertained, is
simply out Of the question. That is the zone
demand which our Government is competent
10 nj n il. wifi
Government think it impossible to comply.
They might as well discharge the American
suspects outright.
Mr.. Lowell, who has been denounced by Mr.
Randall for his "sickening sycophancy to Eng
lish influence" has treated this matter not as
an English, Irish or American question, but
purely as a point of international law. lie has
had no sympathy with the Coercion legislation,
and has even taken pains to characterize 1t as
exceptional and arbitrary. In his letter to the
suspects who applied for his intervention, he
saws: "Thc chief object of these measures is to
senable the authorities to arrest persons whom
" they suspect of illegal conduct without being
"obliged to produce any proof of their guilt.
Its very substance and main purpose are to
"deprive suspected persons of the speedy trial
@they desire This law is, of course, contrary
"to the spirit and foundation principles of both
English and American jurisprudence. But 1t
us the law of the land, and it controls all per-
"sons domicled in the proclaimed districts of
"Ireland, whether they are British subjects or
@not /; and it is manifesty futile to claim that
"naturalized citizens of the United States
should be exempted from its operation"
That law legalized the arrest of the suspects
in districts where the writ of habeas corpus had
been suspended and where the natives were
not allowed the privilege Of jury trial. To
have demanded their unconditional release,
when no discrimination had been made be-
tween them and the natives, would have been
an open affront TO a friendly Power. What Mr..
Lowell did was to follow the best precedents of
criminal jurisdiction in international cases, sew
eral of which had been established during the
American civil war, when British subjects were
arbitrarily arrested and denied the privilege of
trial At the same time, he has conducted the
negotiations with the Foreign Office with so
much tact and decision that we are inclined to
EXPECT a speedy clearance Of the Irish jails from
suspects whose citizenship in the United States
is authenticated. Whatever may be the privi-
leges of the natives, the British Government ere
not likely to incur the odum of imprsoning
foreigners for indefinite terms without trial.
They will be glad to release them, if they can
be assured that their naturalization papers shall
not be used as a saie-conduct for conspiracy in
the proclaimed districts of Ireland.
LOYAL B4NKS AND REBEL VENGEANCE.
The simple truth, when plainly told, smites
like n sword Mr.. Ilardenbergh, of New