226 THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 



in an endless stream from the unfortunate Amer 

 ican citizens to Mr. Adams in the legation at 

 London. The minister had little taste for the 

 special kind of duty that this situation imposed. 

 His chief function had become, so he wrote 

 privately to Seward, to rescue Irishmen from 

 punishment which in most cases they richly 

 deserved. There was often at issue, however, 

 in these cases a principle that was well worthy 

 of most serious diplomatic attention. Ever 

 since the great immigration from Europe began 

 in the forties, the American Government had 

 been under pressure to assert for its naturalized 

 citizens the same rights in the land of their 

 birth that were granted to native-born American 

 citizens. Grave and well-founded objections to 

 this claim were raised by foreign governments, 

 who denied the right of expatriation. There 

 was a very natural disposition in Great Britain, 

 for example, to manifest special rigor in the case 

 of an Irishman who used an easily acquired 

 American citizenship as a cover for promoting 

 in Ireland the cause of the Fenians. In the 

 United States every such instance evoked a 

 passionate Celtic clamor, whose influence ap 

 peared at every session of Congress and in every 

 electoral campaign. To reflecting and well-bal- 



