Mr. Grant to Mr.
Blaine.
Legation of
the United States,
Vienna, September 11, 1891.
(Received October 2.)
No. 188.]
Sir: I have the honor to forward herewith a
translated copy of a note from Count Welsersheimb, second chief of section
of the ministry of foreign affairs. Count Welsersheimb’s note is in reply to
one (copy inclosed), which was addressed by this legation to Count Kalnoky,
minister of foreign affairs, in compliance with your letter of instruction
No. 133, dated the 6th of August last.
Trusting that the Department will find that my note to Count Kalnoky covers
the ground contemplated by its instruction,
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 188.]
Mr. Grant to Count
Kalnoky.
Legation of the United States,
Vienna, August 25,
1891.
Sir: Referring to my note No. 79, dated May 22,
1891, and also to the esteemed favor under date of July 9, 1891,
received from the imperial and royal ministry of foreign affairs in
reply to my note, I have the honor to say that the object of my writing
was to place before the Imperial and Royal Government the statements of
one Nikolaus Bader, who claimed that he had been “assisted” to emigrate
to the United States by the community at Stauzach, Tyrol, in which he
lived, after having been confined in an insane asylum for years, in
consequence of a murder which he had committed. It was assumed that the
assisting of an imbecile criminal to emigrate to a foreign country,
where he would of necessity become a charge, not to say a dangerous one,
to that country, could scarcely be regarded in any other light than as
an unfriendly act on the part of the community which gave to this
imbecile the assistance.
The investigation into the circumstances of Bader’s case, as related in
the esteemed note above referred to, appears to have developed the fact
that Bader had committed the murder mentioned, for which offense he was
tried, but found, upon examination by medical men, to be irresponsible,
and was therefore sent to an insane asylum, where he remained in duress
until 1889. Upon being discharged as cured from this insane asylum Bader
expressed the wish to go to America, and the community at Stauzach
furnished him with the “necessary means of travel,” amounting to 100
guldens, 76 of which were given to a third party to pay Bader’s passage
to New York, and 26 (sic) of the guldens were
given to Bader himself, the latter amount not being enough to defray the
expenses of his return to Austria after a visit to America, nor enough,
after deducting the cost of food during the journey, to support him in
America a reasonable length of time for a stranger to search for and
obtain employment. It would seem, therefore, that while at the time of
his “assisted” emigration Bader was not a “condemned criminal,” nor in
duress as an “insane person,” still it is substantially proven that he
was both a “criminal” and an “imbecile.”
The effort on the part of the local authorities at Stauzach to evade
responsibility for the “assisted “emigration of this imbecile criminal
by the statement that Bader was assisted in his desire to go to America
by the “community” seems unworthy, under the circumstances, of
consideration. In observing the traits of human nature it is not found
that “communities “are active to the extent of contributing money to
gratify the desires of individuals for foreign travel, unless actuated
by other motives than those of pure charity, and when such contributions
are made there can be usually found some one in authority who is chiefly
instrumental in bringing about the result.
In the esteemed note from the imperial and royal foreign office upon this
subject the details are not given as to how the contributions were
raised, nor an explanation as to why the community used its individual
and private resources for Bader’s pleasure, There seems to be also no
assurance given that measures will be taken to reprimand the local
authorities who are directly responsible in the case and to prevent a
[Page 30]
similar occurrence in the
future. Briefly, it appears that the Imperial and Royal Government has
not accorded to the subject of Bader’s assisted emigration the
Importance which its gravity seems to demand. In conclusion, however, I
am instructed by the Department of State at Washington to say “that,
inasmuch as Bader has been returned, pursuant to the statutes of the
United States, to the country whence he was assisted to emigrate, the
incident may be regarded as terminated.”
I take this occasion, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No.
188.—Translation.]
Count Welsersheimb
to Mr. Grant.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Vienna, September 5,
1891.
Sir: The imperial and royal ministry of foreign
affairs has learned with gratification, from the esteemed note of the
25th ultimo, No. 86, that the Government of the United States considers
the incident of Nikolaus Bader’s emigration to America as disposed of by
his return.
While the ministry of foreign affairs takes cognizance of this fact, it
thinks proper to revert to certain observations made in the above-quoted
esteemed note, without, in doing so, wishing to renew the discussion on
a subject now to be regarded as settled.
In the first place, the ministry of foreign affairs thinks proper to
maintain that Bader, after having been acquitted of the charge of murder
by reason of imbecility, and having been discharged as cured from the
insane asylum, was to be considered neither as a criminal nor as an
imbecile at the time of his emigration, and that the theories advanced,
therefore, by the United States Government, in order that the community
at Stauzach be reprimanded for their course, fail to be veracious.
Moreover, it must be remembered that, except in cases where liability to
military duty is concerned, the authorities of this Monarchy have no
means to prevent the emigration of any of its subjects or to hinder a
community from extending aid to a person to enable him to emigrate.
Aside from this, every state has at its command sufficient power to
exclude individuals whose stay within its limits, for some reason or
other, appears not to be desirable, and this power, in the present
instance, has been exercised by the United States Government.
The ministry of foreign affairs has considered it to be its duty to state
its views fully on this subject, the more so as the case of Nikolaus
Bader may, in the future, be quoted as a precedent.
The undersigned, etc.,
Welsersheimb,
For the Minister of Foreign
Affairs.
