Letter from Seán Murphy to Samuel Beckett (Roussillon, Vaucluse)

A Chara,
I have the honour to refer to your letter of the 30th ult. (received, 3rd inst.)¹ and to state that I was surprised to learn that you have been subjected over the past eight months to periodic examinations on the part of the local police authorities. As you were informed in the Legation letter of the 6th November last² the Ministry of the Interior had undertaken to make an enquiry with a view to the special restrictions to which you were then subjected being removed.

I have now again brought your case to the notice of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a request that steps should at once be taken to see that the state of affairs which has persisted to date should be altered. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has given me to understand that it is normal that persons to whom a particular place of residence has been assigned should be subjected to a certain investigation from time to time. The treatment given to you, however, seems to go beyond what would be either reasonable or necessary. The Ministry of the Interior had, I am advised, now again written to the Préfecture of Vaucluse to have information as to the measures imposed on you.

I shall keep you informed of the result of this latest enquiry on the part of the Ministry of the Interior. I should be obliged if you on your side will make me aware of each further summons for examination which you receive.