Legation of the United States,
Copenhagen, October 14,
1897. (Received Oct. 30, 1897.)
No. 179.]
[Inclosure in No. 179.]
Mr. Risley to
Mr. Nielsen.
Copenhagen, October 14,
1897.
Sir: Your letter, without date, is
received, in which you state you wish to be informed whether you yet
owe military service to Denmark. You state that you were born at
Hjorning, Denmark, January 21, 1867, and in September, 1886, you
appeared before the sessions for examination for military duty, and
were assigned to such duty in the infantry, but your brother had
just returned from America on a visit, and you considered it better
to go with him to America than to serve in the army, and did so. You
state, however, that before leaving you wrote to the minister of
war, asking leave to go, and have been informed that your family,
after your departure, received from the minister such leave. You
also state that for the last six years you have been a naturalized
citizen of the United States.
Under these circumstances you ask whether you can safely return to
Denmark for a visit of one or two months?
I reply that under the laws of Denmark you still owe military duty to
the country, and if leave to depart was not actually granted by the
minister of war, you would be liable to punishment as a deserter;
but in other cases of a similar character, when the returning
visitor produced a passport from the United States, showing him to
be a citizen of that country, the Danish Government refrained from
exacting military duty or inflicting punishment for desertion, and I
have little doubt that the same course would be pursued in your case
if you should return here on a visit. If you should do so, I advise
you by all means to provide [Page 121] yourself with a passport from the Department of State at Washton
before leaving the United States.
I forward this through the Department of State.
Very respectfully, yours,
