The code below works for me in Jersey 2.3.1 (inspiration found here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/19541931/1617124)
public static void main(String[] args) {
Client client = ClientBuilder.newClient();
client.property(ClientProperties.CONNECT_TIMEOUT, 1000);
client.property(ClientProperties.READ_TIMEOUT, 1000);
WebTarget target = client.target("http://1.2.3.4:8080");
try {
String responseMsg = target.path("application.wadl").request().get(String.class);
System.out.println("responseMsg: " + responseMsg);
} catch (ProcessingException pe) {
pe.printStackTrace();
}
}