Mr. Peirce to Mr. Gresham.
St. Petersburg, May 27, 1895. (Received June 10.)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Uhl’s No. 54, of May 15, 1895, relating to the case of John Ginzberg and inclosing copy of a letter from his excellency the governor of Montana, covering an affidavit of John M. Lewis, of Glasgow, in that State, and also inclosing copy of Ginzberg’s passport application, dated October 4, 1894.
The Department was informed in Mr. Breckinridge’s No. 74, of May 18, 1895, of the action of the legation in this case, which has been energetically pushed, as is shown by the correspondence.
It is an unfortunate circumstance in Ginzberg’s case that he entered Russia without having his passport viséed as required by law; a law, by the way, of which it appears he was informed by our consul at Hamburg.
It now seems to me that an appeal made personally to the minister of the interior may have some effect. Should the case continue to remain in the hands of the “judicial authorities” there is no limit practically to the technicalities which may be used to obstruct a speedy conclusion of the affair. I will therefore make it my business to call upon the minister of the interior at an early date and urge upon him the release of this man, in the hope that his further detention may seem to him undesirable.
I have, etc.,