Mr. Gresham to Mr. Willis.

No. 67.]

Sir: The attention of the Department has been called by Ex-Governor Russell, of Massachusetts, to the case of a young man, Louis Marshall, [Page 835] who, according to newspaper report, is one of the persons recently convicted by military commission in Honolulu for participation in the insurrection there, his sentence being twenty years imprisonment.

Marshall, it is said, was born in Massachusetts on July 12, 1875. At the age of 13 or 14 he left his father’s home and supported himself for a year or two working for Harvard College, In 1890, at the request of his uncle, William E. Foster, of Honolulu, he went to Hawaii, and has since resided there. It is not represented that he has ever renounced his American citizenship, and, for aught that is made to appear to the Department, he is entitled to the same consideration and protection as other citizens of the United States similarly situated.

You will investigate his case and report the facts to this Government.

I am, etc.,

W. Q. Gresham.