SIR,

(11.)—Viscount Palmerston to Mr. Bancroft.

Foreign Office, September 16, 1848. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th instant, requesting information as to the nature of the measures which have been adopted by the authorities in Ireland towards citizens of The United States, and as to the grounds upon which Mr. Richard Ryan has been imprisoned in Dublin; and I have to inform you that I have lost no time in referring your inquiries upon these matters to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home Department. I have, &c.

G. Bancroft, Esq.

PALMERSTON.

(12.)-Mr. Brodhead to Mr. Redington.

108, Eaton Square, September 23, 1848. MR. BRODHEAD presents his compliments to Mr. Redington, and is desired by the American Minister to request that Mr. Redington will cause the inclosed letter to be conveyed to Mr. James Bergen, now detained in Newgate Prison, Dublin.

With reference to the allegation in Mr. Redington's letter of the 9th instant, that the result of the inquiries made in reference to Mr. Bergen leads to the belief that the gentleman is a subject of Her Majesty, Mr. Brodhead is further desired to state that Mr. Bergen was born in the State of Connecticut, is a citizen of the United States of America, has never renounced his allegiance to The United States, and has never been naturalized in Ireland or any part of Her Majesty's dominions.

T. Redington, Esq.

SIR,

JOHN R. BRODHEAD.

(Inclosure.)-Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Bergen.

London, September 23, 1848. I BEG leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st instant, and in reply, to inform you that at my request Mr. Brodhead had an interview with one of the Under Secretaries of State with reference to your detention in Newgate, Dublin; that I have myself several times called at the Foreign Office and at the Home Office on the same subject; and that I have also addressed an official note to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, setting forth that you are an American citizen, born in New England; that you have a wife and children in America dependent on yourself for support; that you were arrested in Dublin, for causes to yourself unknown, just as you were about returning to The United States; and requesting to be informed why you were thus suddenly taken into custody, and also that you may have

such privilege of egress from this kingdom as belongs of right to foreigners who come to this country to engage in lawful commereial pursuits.

To this application I have not as yet received a definite answer; but it has been referred to the Home Office, and I hope before long to receive a communication on the subject announcing to me your liberation. Meantime you may be assured that no exertion of mine will be wanting to secure to you all the protection which your country can afford to you in a foreign land.

I am, &c.

J. Bergen, Esq.

GEORGE BANCROFT.

SIR,

(13.)-Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Bancroft.

Washington, September 27, 1848. REFERRING to the instructions addressed to you from this department on the 4th instant I have the honour to transmit, herewith, a copy of a letter recently received by the President from Mr. Richard F. Ryan, who states that he is an American citizen, illegally imprisoned in Newgate, Dublin, and soliciting the interference of this Government to obtain his release from confinement.

You are requested immediately to institute inquiries in the proper quarter in regard to this complaint, and if the case of Mr. Ryan prove to be a proper one for intervention, you will exercise your good offices in obtaining his discharge, or at least a prompt and fair trial. I am, &c. G. Bancroft, Esq.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

(Inclosure.)-Mr. Ryan to the Hon. J. K. Polk.

Dublin, September 1, 1848.

I AM an American citizen, with a passport, who came to Ireland on business, and was illegally detained and arrested under a diabolical law called the "Suspension of the Habeas Corpus" Act, and am now a resident of a cell in Newgate; have not been permitted to confront my accusers, if any there be, and neither am I permitted to see the charge against me. Many Americans have been arrested. on mere suspicion, and are tenants of different prisons in this country; it is said they are held upon mere suspicion, and will never be tried, but will be kept until the 1st day of March, 1849. I trust that you will exercise the authority that is vested in you and that you will find it proper to make an imperative demand for my liberty through the legitimate source. I had the pleasure of calling on you at Washington in June last; and Hon. J. J. Faran,

of Ohio, Senator Hannegan, of Indiana, and other members of your legislative hall, will let you know who I am. I am allowed to see no persons in this place, except such as the Lord Lieutenant permits. I have, &c.

The Hon. J. K. Polk.

RICH. F. RYAN.

(14.)-Mr. Bancroft to Viscount Palmerston.

MY LORD, 108, Eaton Square, September 23, 1848. I MUST recall to your Lordship's attention that on the 6th instant I addressed your Lordship a note for the purpose of obtaining the liberation of Mr. James Bergen, a citizen of The United States, born in the State of Connecticut, and now detained in custody in Newgate prison, Dublin; and I at the same time called at the Home Office, to which my communication was to be referred, and received a promise of immediate attention to that communication.

Yet, thus far, no answer has been received; and, in the meantime, a native citizen of the American Republic, believed to be blameless, has been held in prison about 50 days without even a statement of the grounds of his detention. I press this case upon your Lordship's attention with all the earnestness which your Lordship would justly manifest in the event of the arbitrary imprisonment of a British subject by a foreign power.

Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B.

I have, &c.

GEORGE BANCROFT.

SIR,

(15.)-Viscount Palmerston to Mr. Bancroft.

Foreign Office, September 26, 1848. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23rd instant, in which you refer to your letter of the 6th instant, requesting to be informed of the reason of Mr. James Bergen's imprisonment in Ireland; and I have the honour to state to you, in reply, that I have not yet received the answer of the Home Department to the reference which, as I informed you on the 11th instant, I have made to that department, upon the subject of Mr. Bergen's imprisonment. But I have not failed to send to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, for his consideration, a copy of your letter of the 23rd instant. I have, &c.

G. Bancroft, Esq.

(Extract.)

PALMERSTON.

(16.)-Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Buchanan.

London, September 29, 1848. I HAVE received, with great satisfaction, the letter of the Acting

Secretary of State, dated 6th September, directing my "attention to the condition of those American citizens who have been arrested and held for trial under the charge of sedition or treason, for interference in the affairs of Ireland."

I had already, presuming on the wishes of the President, carried out every part of those instructions relating to American citizens.

I have happily, thus far, as the annexed copies of letters indicate, not been required to plead for "an act of grace," but have been able to stand on the better ground of a demand for justice.

I shall see Lord Palmerston to-morrow, and will converse on all the topics of your letter.

J. Buchanan, Esq.

SIR,

GEORGE BANCROFT.

(17.)-Viscount Palmerston to Mr. Bancroft.

Foreign Office, September 30, 1848. I HAVE not failed to refer to the proper department of Her Majesty's Government your letters of the 6th and 12th of September, inquiring upon what grounds Mr. James Bergen and Mr. Richard Ryan have been imprisoned in Ireland; demanding the release of those persons, and requesting copies of certain orders which you state have been issued by the police authorities in Dublin, respecting the arrest of persons arriving in Ireland from America.

With regard to the detention of Mr. Bergen, I have the honour to inform you that authentic information reached Her Majesty's Government and the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as well from The United States as from other quarters, showing that Mr. Bergen was concerned in treasonable practices in connection with the late attempted outbreak in Ireland; and there being reason to believe that he came to Ireland as the agent of certain associations which have been formed in New York, for the purpose of supporting that outbreak, the Lord Lieutenant, therefore, felt it to be his duty to cause Mr. Bergen to be arrested and imprisoned, under the provisions of the Act passed in the last session of Parliament, namely, the 11th and 12th Victoria, cap. 35.

With regard to Mr. Richard Franks Ryan, I have to inform you that he has been detained, under the provisions of the same Act of Parliament, as being concerned in treasonable practices; and that, from the facts which have come to the knowledge of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, his Excellency entertains no doubt that Mr. Ryan is guilty of the charges brought against him. It has also been shown to the satisfaction of the Lord Lieutenant that Mr. Ryan is a subject of Her Majesty.

I regret to have to inform you that, under these circumstances, [1856-57. XLVII.] 4 K

Her Majesty's Government see no reason for releasing Mr. Bergen and Mr. Ryan from imprisonment.

With respect to the measures of precaution which the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland has deemed it right to adopt as to persons arriving in Ireland from The United States, I beg to observe that it is notorious to all the world that proceedings of the most hostile character towards the British Government have, of late, taken place in The United States; that not only private associations have been formed, but that public meetings have been held for the avowed purpose encouraging, assisting, and organizing rebellion in Ireland, with a view to dismember the British empire, by separating Ireland from the dominion of the British Crown. It is also notorious that these associations and public meetings have been composed not only of Irish emigrants, but also of natural born citizens of The United States; and, indeed, among the number of these conspirators against the peace of a country with which The United States are in friendly relations, there is good reason to believe that persons have been found who, for many obvious reasons, it might have been hoped would not have been so engaged. It is perfectly well known that these conspirators in The United States have sent to Ireland, to assist the rebellion which they had intended to organize, money, arms, ammunition, and active agents. Some portions of the arms and ammunition, indeed, have been seized and will be confiscated, and some of the agents have been arrested, and must be dealt with according to their deserts.

Her Majesty's Government, well knowing the constitutional difficulties of the Government of The United States, and convinced that the President has employed to the utmost the very limited means within his power to check and discountenance the proceedings above mentioned, have not pressed the Government of The United States with representations against a state of things which, under other circumstances, would scarcely have been compatible with the continuance of friendly relations between the two Governments. But then, on the other hand, the Government of The United States must not take it amiss that Her Majesty's Government should resort to measures of precaution and of repression in regard to persons, whatever their nationality may be, who, in this posture of affairs, may come from The United States to this realm; and if there should be any citizens of The United States who have chosen this period of disturbance for visiting Ireland, for innocent purposes, they must not be surprised if, like persons whom curiosity may lead into the midst of a battle, they should be involved in the sweep of measures aimed at men of a different description.

But Her Majesty's Government will always lament that mistakes of this kind should happen, by which unoffending travellers