811.00/20½
The Ambassador in Italy (Page) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 31.]
My Dear Mr. Secretary: Without undertaking at this time to go into the question of the reception here of the President’s recent note to all the belligerent governments,63 which I am dealing with in another letter, there is one point as to which I desire to direct your particular attention, and which I think has had a certain effect, in moulding the opinion here.
This is the attitude towards the Administration on the part of a considerable number of what may be termed the American Colonies in this and other European capitals. I do not refer to Americans abroad who are engaged in business; and who for the most part preserve their American loyalty; but rather to those who may be termed residents of foreign capitals, whether permanent or temporary, and whose desire is to be distinguished by the native population as quite distinct from the other Americans who are here, either as visitors or in business.
The attitude of this class, which claims to be American and only anti-Wilson and his Administration, would not be worth mentioning, but for the fact that it is taken here as an example of the American general attitude, and the exaggerated criticism of this class is taken as an expression of true American feeling; and that the deduction that the President’s action represents rather his personal views than [Page 746] the views of the American people, is found even among some connected with the Government.
For example, I was informed by an important Italian some days ago that the chief secretary of one of the cabinet ministers here,—Scialoia, who has charge of the war propaganda here,—stated to him that President Wilson was not supported by the American people and did not have the country at his back in his action. But, said my informant, how do you know this? And the secretary replied that he had been so informed by a very well known American, Mr. . ., when he was in Rome only a short time since. And I myself was told by an Italian only this morning, in reply to my suggestion that I had been surprised at the extremely erroneous view which had been taken of the President’s note by the Italians here, that one of the principal causes was the almost universal criticism of the President for his action by the American colony in Rome, who have given the impression that Mr. Wilson is not supported by the American people and has acted in a purely personal way.
These people, said my informant, have created, in the minds of the Italians, the idea that the President’s notes carry little weight in America or elsewhere, and the natural inference is drawn by the Italians and the French that if Americans, who are assumed to know their own country, state such things about the Administration, they must be well-founded.
At least this is what the people who hear what these unpatriotic Americans say, deduce from their attitude.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wherever I have run across the trail of these unpatriotic Americans, I have taken occasion to express myself in unmistakable terms, and I think that in time the Italians will find out the emptiness of their declarations; but meantime, they undoubtedly cause a certain amount of misunderstanding and mischief, and it is a pity that they should be permitted, while sheltering themselves under American passports, to act in so mischievous a way.
The consequences of this un-Americanism abroad, are very widely different from any consequences that anything which they might say at home could possibly have.
Before closing on this point, I wish to say that there are of course any number of absolutely loyal Americans in Rome as in other European capitals who reflect honor on our country, as they appreciate the honor of being Americans, and I only wish that there were some way in which the un-American element with whose personal opinion I am not concerned; but whose actions causes me much concern, might be segregated from the true Americans.
Believe me [etc.]