Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-03-25
American Ministers and British Flun-
kleS.

American Ministers and British FUN.
To the Editor of THE EVENING STAR:
Being the possessor Of papers of American
naturalization, / am, since the publication of
Minister LOwelrs insulting dictum, rather puz-
zled to understand the exact advantages derived
from what heretofore regarded as the glorious
prerogative Of American citizenship. My GER
tficate sets forth that enlisted in the armies of
the United States, and was honorably discharged
therefrom; that. declaring under oath In open
court l would support the Constitution of the
United States, and ALLURE forever all allegiance
to every foreign power, prince, state or sOyer-
eighty, and particularly the Queen of Great
Britain and Ireland, was admitted citizen of
the United States. Mr.. Lowell says person
cannot be an Irishman and an American at the
same time, "and the sooner all such persons
were made to understand it distinctly the bet
ter"
IT, as the pro-British American minister i'm
plies, an 1rishman, when taking the above oath,
also abjured every aspiration for the liberty of
his native land, and sank under foot the tradi-
lions of his race and country he would be more
eligible for the last round and circle of that hell
which Dante In his Inferno sets apart for
renegades and traitors than the citizenship of a
people whose ancestors proclaimed the doctrine.
resistance to tyrants is obedience to God" Is
the allegiance of the Irish exile less acceptable
to Columbia because it brings with it ''lOve
from the heart that loves liberty too?"
The men whose dead bodies were piled up
were " Irishmen and Americans" No one
then thought the double title Incompatible,
and those faithful foster children Of
America died not less nObly for her flag because
during life they had cherished hope Of one
day striking blow for the land that bore them.
Mr.. LOwell's etterin reference to Michael Hart
arrest Denies with an emphasis one might ex-
pect from Granville or Foster, that his American
citizenship entitled him to immediate release;
and yet In 1853 an American captain took from
the deck Of an Austrian man-of-war man who
had only declared his intentions of becoming o
citzen-the Hungarian Koszts. An American
press and people upheld Capt Ingrahams act
sword truly 'tenapora n,tantlr ct nos Msttdnt,lr
idem." If an American citizen deliberately COM
mits an overt act in violation of British laws he
becomes most undeniaby amenable to the said
laws and the most he can expect from the rep
resentatives Of this government is that he will
receive fair trial within reasonable time but
this does not apply to the cases brought under
habeas corpus and under the ''so-called coercion
act" inaugurates system that is only equaled
in history by the kttreS de cachet OF Louis the
Fifteenth of France, or the despotic edicts Of
the star-chamber under Charles the Second Of
England. American citizens visiting Ireland, as
they have an undoubted right to do, are arrested
az suspects" and indefinitely confined without
trial. the British authorities refusing to say they
have any charges against them, while an Alneri-
can minister emphatically indorses this despOtic
action, saying ''serve 'em right" President
Arthur has 1t in his power to repudiate the
Lowell doctrine of American citizenship and,
(to paraphrase Mr.. La ultimatum,) make all
such persons understand distinctly they cannot
be American ministers and British fiunkies at
the same time. +. PC.