File No. 2956/1.]
Minister Bryan to
the Secretary of State.
American Legation,
Lisbon, March 5,
1907.
No. 291.]
Sir: In obedience to the department’s
instruction No. 108, of December 18, 1906 (file No. 2956), in reference
to the case of Francisco Freitas, arrested for military service in
Madeira, I have the honor to report that I took up the matter with the
minister for foreign affairs in a note dated January 18 last, and am now
in receipt of a reply stating that as the said Freitas had been drafted
before his alleged naturalization, he must, nevertheless, under the
Portuguese law, be held liable to military duty. I inclose copies of the
correspondence.
From the facts now in my possession I am unable to contest the position
of this Government that Mr. Freitas was drafted before naturalization in
the United States and while still a subject of Portugal, and as the
date, if not, indeed, the fact, of his naturalization is a matter of
some doubt from his apparent failure to produce with his application the
certificate of naturalization, which he claims was issued by the
“municipal” court of Brookline, Mass., I have thought it best to await
the department’s further directions.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1.]
Minister Bryan
to the Minister for Foreign
Affairs.
American Legation,
Lisbon, January 18,
1907.
Excellency: Herewith I have the honor to
transmit a brief statement gathered from the report of the American
consul at Funchal, Madeira, concerning the arrest and detention of
an American citizen named Francisco F. Freitas, and I earnestly
solict your excellency’s kind attention in this matter and such
treatment for this citizen of my country as he is entitled to.
I avail, etc.,
[Page 960]
[Inclosure
2.—Translation.]
The Minister for Foreign
Affairs to Minister Bryan.
I have your excellency’s note of January 18 last, accompanied by a
statement relative to the detention of Francisco Freitas in Madeira.
The matter was at once submitted to the minister of war, and he has
requested me to inform your excellency that the facts of the case
are as follows:
Francisco Freitas, born in Madeira of Portuguese parents, was drafted
in 1904, and in the same year was marked as refractory for not
having appeared in answer to the call. In 1906, in Funchal, he was
arrested as a young man who should perform his military duty, the
said Freitas declaring that he had emigrated to North America at 16
years of age, and that he had been naturalized as an American
citizen after arriving at the age of 21. In view of the fact that he
was drafted for military service in his native country the law
requires that he should be deemed a deserter, notwithstanding the
allegation that he had been naturalized in a foreign country, for
already at that time he had been drafted, and had not previously
fulfilled his respective obligations.
On communicating to your excellency this information, I take occasion
to reiterate, etc.,