Mr. Grant to Mr. Blaine.

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.,

F. D. Grant.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 81.]

Mr. Grant to Count Kalnoky.

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.

F. D. Grant.
[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.)

M. Pasetti.