Baron Fava to Mr. Blaine.
Washington, July 3, 1890. (Received July 7.)
Mr. Secretary of State: I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of the note which you did me the honor to address to me under date of the 23d ultimo, relative to the extradition of Yillella and Bevivino. I at once communicated the contents thereof to His Majesty’s Government.
Your Excellency will permit me at the same time to rectify an assertion contained in your note, according to which the consul of the King at Philadelphia expressed anofinion in regard to this case which was reported to the governor of Pennsylvania, and which furnished to him an additional argument for endeavoring to induce the Federal Government to secure the extradition of the two persons in question from the Royal Government.
From the very outset I was scarcely able to believe that the statement contained in Your Excellency’s note could be correct, since it seemed hardly possible that a consul of the King could have expressed anofinion concerning a matter that was outside of his competence, as it formed the subject of negotiations between the two Governments. Nevertheless, in view of the importance of the source mentioned, I deemed it my duty to request the consul of Italy at Philadelphia to furnish an explanation.
This explanation is of such a nature that Your Excellency will, I think, have no difficulty in reaching the same conclusion that I have reached, viz, that Governor Beaver has been misinformed. Mr. Serra, who was in charge of the consulate at the time, had no knowledge of the case save what he had gleaned from a conversation with a detective who called at the consulate one day, and, after talking of this matter with other persons who were present, asked Mr. Serra his opinion concerning the surrender of Villella and Bevivino. The vice-consul told him in reply that he had noofinion to express, inasmuch as the question was pending between the two Governments, but that he thought that the abolition of the death penalty in Italy would constitute an almost insurmountable obstacle to the surrender of these two persons.
Such is the simple fact, which I have desired to make known to Your Excellency with the sole view of establishing the truth, and without wishing to cause the incident to appear more important than it really is.
Be pleased to accept, etc.,