No. 291.
Mr. Everett to Mr. Evarts.
Berlin, November 22, 1880. (Received December 10.)
Sir: I have the honor, referring to previous correspondence in the military case of Aaron Weill, to inform you that the acting minister for foreign affairs, under date of the 19th instant, informs the legation that Aaron Weill’s fine and costs have been remitted by a pardon in the usual way, which will definitely end this case.
Also, under date of the 20th November, the legation is informed by the foreign office that Alois Gehres, whose case is referred to in dispatches 86, of 2d February, and 119, of 4th May, likewise a citizen originally from Alsace-Lorraine, has been pardoned for his alleged violation of military duty. I venture to think, therefore with these two cases as precedents, that no further difficulty will be made by the German Government in the settlement of sound cases of returning Alsacians, and that the refusal to extend the benefit of the treaty of 1868 to Alsace-Lorraine originated in that province and has not been indorsed by the ministry of state in Berlin.
I have, &c.,