No. 2.
Mr. Lowell
to Earl Granville.
London, June 10, 1881. (Received June 13.)
My Lord: I have to-day received a letter from Mr. William Simms, the vice-consul of the United States at Belfast, informing me of the arrest of Mr. Daniel Sweeney, or McSweeney, an American citizen, and inclosing papers in the case. The papers include a copy of the warrant of arrest, a letter from Mr. Sweeney to myself, and his certificate of citizenship. It appears that he was arrested on the 2d instant, and lodged in Dundalk jail. In his letter to me Mr. Sweeney denies that he has ever said anything which could be construed into an incitement to riot, and asserts that, on the contrary, he has advised against the commission of crime and the violation of law. I should be glad to be informed of the particulars of the charge against Mr. Sweeney. I may repeat what I said in my note of the 8th instant with regard to the case of Mr. Walsh, that my government, though anxious not to ignore the just claim of American citizens to protection, has no desire to embarrass the action of a friendly government in dealing with a difficult and delicate domestic question.
I have, &c.,