Sir, - In the late 1950s, I sat on a bench in front of the Gresham Hotel in Dublin. With me was my late father, Dr H O Mackey, and Michael Francis Doyle. Doyle was a Philadelphia lawyer and a prominent member of the Democratic Party in America. He was the master of ceremonies at a number of presidential installations. As we talked, he mentioned the problem of the death sentence on Eamon de Valera.
When the message came to him in 1916, he sent agents to all the Catholic churches in New York to inspect the baptismal records. DeValera's was found and reported by cable to London in time. It was this which established his American citizenship.
The influence of American politicians on the English Establishment should not be underestimated. A distant cousin, Arthur Lynch, was colonel in an Irish Brigade supporting the South African Republic. After six months, he fled to Laurenco Marques, as the English were not taking prisoners at that stage of the war in South Africa.
He then went to America to plead the Boer cause. There he met Teddy Roosevelt, then Governor of New York. When Arthur Lynch was sentenced to death for high treason Roosevelt was President of the United States. It took only a Yelegra - from him for Arthur Lynch to be reprieved. - Yours, etc.,
Upper George's Street,
Dun Laoghaire.