No. 294.
Mr. Evarts to Mr. von
Schlözer.
Washington, March 8, 1880.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 25th ultimo, relating to the arrest on board the steamer Mosel, of Carl Weinrebe, the cook of that vessel, for a violation of the revenue laws of the United States.
In my note of the 17th of April last,* in regard to that occurrence, which you do me the honor to say you submitted to the foreign office at Berlin, you were furnished with an account in detail of the facts and circumstances attending the arrest of Weinrebe, and the search of his personal effects on board the Mosel, which proceedings he himself invited, and which also the officers of the steamer permitted and afforded facilities for. These facts and circumstances appeared to me to have offered sufficient reasons for the proceedings against Weinrebe, and while their mere statement was conceived sufficient to remove any misapprehension which might have existed in your own mind, or that of the government you so worthily represent, as to the conduct or intentions of the United States revenue officers engaged in making the arrest and prosecuting the search of Weinrebe’s personal effects, I nevertheless deemed it proper, in view of the friendly relations existing [Page 463] between this government and that of Germany, to convey to you in that note the declaration that the German Government might rest assured that in all cases where a search of a vessel of that nationality might become necessary by the judicial or customs authorities of this government ample opportunity would be afforded to the proper consular officer of the imperial government to be present at such proceedings,
With a renewal of this assurance I feel constrained to believe that a discussion of the character invited by your note as to the true intent and meaning of the second clause of the XII Article of the treaty of 1871 is not rendered necessary by the circumstances of Weinrebe’s case, and would in itself at best prove to be unprofitable.
Accept, &c.,