This embassy, under date of March 1, called the attention of the imperial and royal minister of foreign affairs to the facts in the case, requested an investigation as soon as possible, and that suitable reparation be made to Mrs. Roman. The inclosed tardy communication, received by me to-day from the ministry of foreign affairs, is self-explanatory; and as no word has reached this embassy to the contrary, it is believed that Mrs. Roman's steamship ticket was restored to her and that she was permitted to proceed on her journey without further molestation. I am, etc., CHARLES S. FRANCIS. 88.447/8.] [Inclosure. Translation.] IMPERIAL AND ROYAL MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. Referring to the esteemed communication of March 1, 1906, F. O., No. 184, the undersigned has the honor to inform his excellency the ambassador of the United States of America, Mr. Charles S. Francis, of the result of the investigations made in the case of Mrs. Nikolaus Roman, which has been communicated to this department by the royal Hungarian ministry. Mrs. Nikolaus Roman, when she arrived at Budapest on her journey to the United States, did not produce an American, but a Hungarian, passport; she also failed to mention the circumstance that her husband had acquired American citizenship, and furthermore she was not able to prove that the prepaid ticket which she held was sent to her by her husband from America. If, therefore, the Hungarian authorities have proceeded against Mrs. Roman in accordance with the decree of the royal Hungarian ministry of the interior, No. 40000 of the year 1904, which is based on the Hungarian law of the year 1903, Article IV, the said lady has to bear all the blame of the misfortune she has suffered. The royal Hungarian ministry of the interior, as soon as it received knowledge of the contents of the esteemed communication above referred to, issued the necessary orders to have the confiscated ship's ticket returned to Mrs. Roman without delay in case the same had not already been returned to her before. The undersigned avails, etc., VIENNA, November 16, 1906. LAD MÜLLER. Ambassador Hengelmüller von Hengervár to the Secretary of State. [Translation.] No. 1002.] IMPERIAL AND ROYAL AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMBASSY, Bar Harbor, June 10, 1906. EXCELLENCY: In a note, F. O., No. 124, dated in Vienna, December 30, 1904, the then ambassador of the United States, by direction of the State Department, lodged in the imperial and royal foreign office a complaint against the alleged confiscation by the Hungarian authorities of a "prepaid ticket" belonging to the American citizen Marie Hornyak and preferred an indemnity claim." The imperial and royal foreign office did not fail to ask the Hungarian ministry of the interior to cause the matter to be investigated. The investigation, as I am informed by my Government, has shown, contrary to some of Marie Hornyak's statements, the facts in the case to be as follows. On the 13th of September, 1904, the said Hornyak, with her three children, called on the agent of the Cunard Steamship Company at a Not printed. See Foreign Relations, 1904, pp. 89-91. Kassa, Hungary, and, after producing her certificate of American citizenship, asked for four steamship tickets for New York via Fiume, which were assigned to her upon payment of 160 kronen. She left the same day from Kassa. On her arrival at Fiume she called, on the 19th of September, 1904, at the office of the Steam Navigation Company, the Adria, agent for the Cunard Line, and asserted that her husband had sent her a prepaid ticket by the way of Bremen, which had been since confiscated. Her request to the Adria that her husband be cabled to send by telegram the amount wanted to make up the full cost of the tickets from Fiume to Eckley, Pa., was not complied with in view of her having but 80 kronen ready money at her disposal, but she was promised at the same time that her matter would be satisfactorily arranged. Thereupon Mrs. Hornyak sought the intervention of the American consular agent at Fiume, Mr. Dela Guardia, who found among her papers the prepaid ticket via Bremen that she said had been confiscated. As the woman objected to undertaking at that time the trip from Fiume to Bremen, Mr. Dela Guardia, to whom she had turned over the prepaid ticket via Bremen, succeeded in his effort to induce the regular agent of the Cunard Line at Fiume, upon security for the full payment of the ticket from Fiume to Eckley, Pa., to accommodate Mrs. Hornyak and her children on board the steamship Ultonia, sailing on September 22, 1904, for New York, and she did make the trip on that ship. It appears from the foregoing: First. That Mrs. Hornyak was not compelled to sail via Fiume; Second. That her prepaid ticket by the way of Bremen was not confiscated: Third. That the unpleasantness she underwent can only be ascribed to her ignorance or inexperience. Under the circumstances the Royal Hungarian Government-and your excellency's true sense of justice will readily concur thereindoes not hold itself liable to Mrs. Hornyak for an indemnity. While venturing to beg that your excellency will kindly acknowledge the receipt of this note, I avail, etc., HENGELMÜLLER. The Acting Secretary of State to Ambassador Hengelmüller von Hengervar. No. 186.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency's note No. 1002, of the 10th ultimo, communicating your Government's reply to the representations made by the American ambassador in Vienna regarding the complaint of Mrs. Maria Horniak, otherwise Hornyak, against the Hungarian authorities. A copy of your excellency's note has been communicated, in translated form, to the American ambassador in Vienna; also to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and to Mr. John Horniak, the husband of the complainant. Accept, etc., ROBERT BACON. BELGIUM. CONFERENCE FOR THE REVISION OF THE RULES RELATIVE TO SPIRITS IN AFRICA. The Belgian Minister to the Secretary of State. [Translation.] LEGATION OF BELGIUM, Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE: The powers represented at the conference that met at Brussels in 1899 to revise the regulations applicable to spirituous liquors in Africa have, by means of provisions in Articles I and II of the convention of June 8 of the same year, modified and raised the import duty that had been fixed in 1890 by the general act of Brussels. Article I of the convention further provides that at the expiration of a period of six years the import duty on spirituous liquors shall be subjected to a revision based on the results shown by the preceding tariff rate. Under Article V the convention went into effect on the thirtieth day after the date of the signature of the protocol of deposit of ratifications that is to say, July 8, 1900. The term stipulated by Article I will thus expire on July 8, 1906. The Government of His British Majesty has asked the Government of the King, my august sovereign, to consider the expediency of calling at an early date a conference at Brussels, whose mission would be to undertake the revision provided for in the said Article I. In deference to this wish, the minister of foreign affairs has addressed to the Governments signatories to the convention of 1899 an invitation to be represented at a conference that would meet in Brussels before July 8, 1906. As for the other Governments signatories to the general act of Brussels of 1890, and amongst them the Government of the United States, which, deeming that they had but a remote interest in the revision of the regulations applicable to spirituous liquors in Africa, did not send delegates to the conference of 1899, they would, now as then, have the faculty of subsequently adhering to the resolutions that may be adopted. The exact date of a new meeting of plenipotentiaries would be fixed as soon as the data, upon an examination of which the Powers may shape their decisions, could be gotten together. While bringing the foregoing to your excellency's knowledge, I gladly seize this opportunity, etc., BN. MONCHEUR. The Counselor of the Belgian Legation to the Secretary of State. No. 477.] [Translation.] LEGATION OF BELGIUM, Lenox, September 2, 1906. Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE: I have the honor to advise your excellency that the conference for the revision of the rules relative to spirits in Africa, which should have met during the month of July, has been postponed until the 16th of October next, the statistical data, which were to serve as the basis of the plenipotentiaries' labors, not having been yet all furnished to the Government of the King. While assuming the initiative of the postponement, my Government deems it its duty to remark that no inconvenience can result therefrom in regard to restrictive measures applicable to the alcohol trade. It was agreed at the last conference and recorded in the protocol that if the customs duty provided for in Article I of the convention of June 8, 1899, had not been revised on the date set by the said article the duty would remain in force. Accept, etc., For the Minister, absent, E. HAVENITH, Counselor of Legation. The Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. [Telegram.-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 8, 1906. The text of a message from the President is communicated to the minister, and he is informed that the United States having adhered to the Brussels international convention of June 8, 1899, he should, after consulting the minister of foreign affairs, bring it, through the appropriate channel, before the forthcoming congress for the revision of rules to control spirits in Africa. The message is as follows: Uttering the earnest wishes of the American people, expressed on many occasions, for the adoption of measures to protect the savages and uncivilized races in Africa and all parts of the world against intoxicants and injurious drugs, I extend to the congress about to convene my good wishes and my hope and conviction that the labors of this congress may still further open the door for the universal prevention of liquor and opium traffic with all uncivilized tribes and races. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Mr. Wilson is further instructed to acquaint the congress, in the same manner, with the wide interest of the people of the United States in any measures of this kind, as evidenced by the Senate resolution of 1901, indorsed by Secretary Hay; and by numerous public hearings and testimonials. Copies of these publications are mailed, for the information of the congress, to the minister. No. 80.] The Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 9, 1906. SIR: Supplementing my telegram to you of October 5, communicating a message from the President to the congress for the revision of rules to control spirits in Africa, I have to inclose, as therein. stated, copies of publications showing the wide interest of the American people in the broad question of the adoption of measures to prevent traffic in liquor and injurious drugs with the savages in Africa and all parts of the world. I also inclose an original petition " left with the President, expressing the wish for a universal treaty to prevent the sale of intoxicants and opiums to all uncivilized races. These papers are transmitted to you for the information of the congress about to convene, and may be communicated through the appropriate channel, consulting the minister for foreign affairs. I am, etc., E. ROOT. a No. 119.] Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. [Extracts.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Brussels, October 22, 1906. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the department's ciphered telegram of October 9, (supra). Immediately upon receipt of the department's cablegram, I called at the foreign office to ascertain, in compliance with the instructions contained therein, through what channel it would be deemed best to bring the message of the President and the views of the department to the knowledge of the conference. The Chevalier Van der Elst, secretary-general of the foreign office, after some hesitation, advised me to address the president of the conference directly. I then waited until the day of the convening of the conference for the copies of the publications stated in your cablegram as having been mailed to me. As upon that date the documents had not put in appearance, I obtained a copy of the Senate resolution of 1901, and also a copy of Secretary Hay's indorsement thereon, and assuming that the documents en route were substantially the same I addressed a note to the president of the conference (copy inclosed) and annexed thereto the message of the President. I also inclosed at the same time a printed memorandum from the American Reform Bureau, which arrived the same morning on which my note was sent. The documents forwarded by the department have not yet arrived. I inclose herewith copy and translation of the reply of the president of the conference to my note, which is sent by direction of the conference. The conference has now been in session a week and will probably adjourn in two or three days. HENRY LANE WILSON. I have, etc., a Not printed. |