Mr. Grant to Mr.
Blaine.
Legation of
the United States,
Vienna, May 12, 1890.
(Received May 24.)
No. 81.]
Sir: With reference to previous correspondence on
the subject, I now have the honor to inclose for your information a copy of
a note addressed by me on the 19th of March last to Count Kalnoky, imperial
and royal minister of foreign affairs, in the spirit of your instruction No.
45, of the 11th of February last, relative to the arrest and imprisonment of
Franz Xavier Fischer, and a translation of a note in reply thereto of the
4th instant.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 81.]
Mr. Grant to Count
Kalnoky.
Legation of the United States,
Vienna, March 19,
1890.
Your Excellency: I have the honor to refer
again to the case of F. Xavier Fischer, a naturalized citizen of the
United States, who was arrested at Wolfurt, Austria, on the 21st of
August, 1889.
In the note which I had the honor to address to your excellency, under
date of October 5, 1889, it is stated that when Mr. Fischer was arrested
he informed the officer arresting him that he was an American citizen,
and offered to show his passport, which the officer declined to examine.
In the explanation of this incident, which is given in the esteemed note
from the imperial and royal ministry for foreign affairs, under date of
the 15th of January, 1890, his excellency Baron Pasetti is pleased to
say: “On the following day he [Fischer] was examined as early as 7
o’clock in the morning, and having shown by producing his passport that
he was a United States citizen, which fact was also proven by the
records, which showed that his name was struck from the list of those
who were liable to military duty,” etc. It appears that justice demanded
that the local authorities at Wolfurt should have made an investigation
before arresting Mr. Fischer, as to whether he had violated any law, for
doubtless Fischer was as able and ready to prove his American
citizenship and exemption from military service at the moment of his
arrest as he was at the early hour of 7 o’clock the following morning,
after a night’s imprisonment.
The arrest of an American citizen in a foreign land is of course a
serious affair, but it seems more serious when he is confined in a
common jail over night, because of the late hour of his arrest and the
neglect of investigating his case before morning, especially when it is
shown that a mere reference to the records would have proven that the
prisoner was not liable to arrest and punishment.
Mr. Fischer’s case having been reported to the Government of the United
States, the honorable Secretary of State, at Washington, feels that the
authorities at Wolfurt were hasty in their arrest of Mr. Fischer, and he
directs me to address a note to your excellency, “suggesting that this
regrettable occurrence, involving violent and unnecessary interference
with the liberty of an American citizen, in contravention of [Page 15] treaty, might have been averted
by a simple preliminary investigation of the facts.”
In placing this suggestion before your excellency, I also take the
opportunity to renew, etc.
[Inclosure 2 in No.
81.—Translation.]
Baron Pasetti to
Mr. Grant.
In the esteemed note of March 19 last, No. 37, the honorable envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of
America was pleased to revert to the case of Franz Xavier Fischer, an
American citizen, who was arrested on August 21, 1889, at Wolfurt.
The imperial and royal ministry of foreign affairs now has the honor to
inform the honorable envoy of the United States most respectfully that
the imperial and royal district captaincy at Bregenz has been
reprimanded for allowing the official to overlook the fact that
Fischer’s name had been struck from the list of those owing military
duty, and that this official had neglected to ascertain Fischer’s
nationality on the same day on which he was arrested, the observance of
which precautions would have prevented the recurrence of this unpleasent
incident, the arrest of Fischer would not have taken place at all, or at
least be would have been set at liberty the same evening.
Finally the imperial and royal ministry of foreign affairs renews the
expression of its regrets that in the present case the incorrect
proceeding of a subordinate official at Bregenz has led to the
unjustifiable arrest of an American citizen.
The undersigned avails himself, etc.
(For the minister of foreign affairs.)