Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-03-30
"A Demand for LOwell's Recall.

New York World.
One country submits to have its citizens
tried by another government for offenses
committed against thatsgovernment, be-
cause it assumes that justice will be done
to them under the forms of the law. III
countries where the forms Of tho law do
not satisfy us that our citizens will be
dealt with justly, we refuse to submit
them to the justice of the country and
insist upon establishing courts of our own
to try them. :.rAnd what we do, is done also
for it's own subjects by every civilized ma
ton.
Now, the men arrested in Ireland were
not arrested under the forms of British
law. They were arrested summarily, arbi-
trarily, and on mere suspicion, under a
suspension of the forms of law, which in
England and in the United States alike,
are recognized to be essential to the So
curity of personal liberty. In Great Bri-
tain and in the United States the way to
find out whether man is unjustly de-
tanned in prison is to sue out a habeas
corpus, and give his custodian a chance to
show that the man is held either under a
conviction of crime or under a legal war
rant issued upon evidence that there is
probable cause to believe that he has COM
mitted q crime. This great safeguard
against unjust Imprisonment has been
taken away from the people of Ireland,
just as it was taken away from the people
of the United States during the civil war.
Whether the suspension was necessary is
a question exclusively for British consider.
alton in the present instance, as it was 4
question exclusively for American consid-
Grafton in the former instance. But it was
not the business of our government alone
during tie war, but the business of Great
Britain. D see that 10 British subject was
arbitrarily imprisoned without such pro-
bable evidence of guilt as the common la "
of both countries requires. 1t is our busi-
ness now to see that no American citizens
are detained in Ireland unless there is
evidence better than the suspicion of the
commander Of department that they
have broken British law. Lord Lyons re-
peatedy and successfully interceded dur
ing the war to secure the release of Brit
ish subjects arrested under the summary
process from which suspected Americans
could not escape. Before the war British
consuls repeatedly and successfully interfer
ed to prevent the application in American
ports to persons of color who were British
subjects of the summary process provided
for by law of Southern states for persons
of color subject to their Jurisdiction. Our
government has now the right and the
duty of ascertaining that no American
citizens are imprisoned in Ireland who
have not violated some British law.
Either Mr.. Lowell should have ascertained
that the men who invoked his intercession
were properly imprisoned, or he should
have asked his government for instruct
ions. He did neither of these things.
What he did was to PREJUDICE the case,
without evidence, against his own coun
trynen. Instead of relying upon the law
and the precedents, he relied upon common
rumor and his personal sense of the eter
nal equities. He guessed that number
of Irish-Americans had been misconduct,
ing themselves in Ireland. and he guessed
that the persons for whom his intercessiOn
was asked were probably among the num-
Der, and thereupon declined to do any
thing.
The president ought clearly to recall
Mr.. Lowell at once, and to send out as his
successor some man whose accomplish
ments are more relevant to his duties