File No. 861.48/211
The Ambassador in Austria-Hungary (Penfield) to the Secretary of State
No. 1920
Vienna,
August 25, 1916
.
[Received September
25.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith
enclosed a copy with translation of a note from the Austro-Hungarian
Minister for Foreign Affairs, under date of the 24th instant,1 accompanied by a
letter
[Page 913]
from His Majesty
the Emperor, addressed to the President, in reply to the latter’s
communication which was transmitted as an accompaniment to the
Department’s unnumbered instruction of the 21st ultimo,1 relative to the
destitute non-combatant inhabitants of Poland.
No office copy of the Emperor’s letter was enclosed, and I have,
therefore, been unable to communicate its purport to you by
telegraph.
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure—Translation]
Emperor Francis Joseph to President
Wilson
Mr. President: Your Excellency’s
valued letter of July 20 of this year has come to hand and I
hasten to express to you my warmest thanks for your endeavor
prompted by purely humane motives to come to the assistance of
the needy population of Poland.
While there happily can be no talk of a famine in the parts of
Poland occupied by my troops, my military authorities stand
quite ready to adopt any method of promoting so far as possible
the conclusion of an international agreement looking to the
provisioning of the population of Poland which is, to be sure,
exposed to many privations.
I may add that Mr. Frederic Courtland
Penfield, your Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary accredited to me, has already been advised by my
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the conditions under which the
chief command of my armies could further discuss the question of
the provisioning of Poland, and also of the great interest and
deep gratitude with which it looks forward to further
propositions on the subject from the American Government.
I avail myself of this opportunity to assure Your Excellency of
my entire consideration.
Franz Josef
Vienna
,
August 21, 1916
.
