Mr. Olney to Mr. Tripp.

No. 219.]

Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 183, of the 25th ultimo, in relation to the prompt release of Mr. Bernhard Winter, a naturalized American citizen who was arrested for the nonperformance of military duty and who failed to disclose to the military authorities upon his arrest that he was an American citizen.

The Department is gratified to learn from your dispatch that the cases of arrest for failure to perform military duty on the part of naturalized citizens of the United States returning to Austria-Hungary are now quite infrequent, owing to the earnest disposition of the Austro-Hungarian Government to strictly observe the stipulations of the naturalization treaty of the 30th of September, 1870.

I am, etc.,

Richard Olney.