Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Address of the President to Congress December 8, 1914
File No. 365.117/56.
Ambassador Page to the Secretary of State.
Rome, December 14, 1914.
Sir: In compliance with the Department’s instruction No. 93 of November 20, I have the honor to enclose copies of all the correspondence had with the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the subject of the detention for military service of naturalized American citizens of Italian birth, and also of two persons claiming to be native-born citizens.1
[Page 413]Besides this correspondence I have had a number of conversations, probably half a dozen or more, with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and with the Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs. The former has intimated to me that he personally felt substantially as I do as to the desirability of having, at such time as may appear feasible, a convention between our two Governments in regard to naturalization, which would relieve a situation that, as I had suggested, contained a possibility of friction between our two countries in the future.
It had appeared to me that inasmuch as Italy is now endeavoring to interest Americans to come abroad, and is establishing closer commercial relations with us than have heretofore existed, the present might be a good time to move with a view to initiating proceedings for such a convention. The status has, however, apparently changed so much that in my last conversation on the subject I received a different impression.
I have [etc.]
Ambassador Page to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Rome, September 2, 1914.
Excellency: I have the honor to ask your excellency’s attention to the following case of an American citizen which it seems to me, and I hope to you, may possibly come within an exception of your Government’s rules in regard to the exactions of the military service, even in cases of former Italian subjects who have become citizens of our country.
The Reverend Dominic A. Cassetta, a priest of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New York, and specifically Curate of St. Augustin’s Chapel, Trinity Parish, in the City of New York, is desirous of returning home with his wife and child; but has been stopped by the authorities in Naples, although holding a passport as an American citizen.
It seems that he went to America when a child five years old and has lived there ever since. When his father became a naturalized American citizen the son was thirteen years of age and became himself an American citizen by that fact and on coming of age exercised his right of election.
I have received a letter from several distinguished priests of the Protestant Episcopal Church asking my attention to his case and I venture to hope that your excellency may find that, as a clergyman who has lived since he was five years old in the United States, the Reverend Cassetta’s case may be considered exceptional enough to entitle him to the consideration which is asked in his behalf.
I avail [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, September 6, 1914.
Excellency: I have the honor to call your excellency’s attention to the action of the Italian military authorities in notifying Joseph Spediacci, a native-born American citizen, that he must appear for military service September 8 next.
Spediacci was born at Amsterdam, in the State of New York, in 1893, his parents being at the time of his birth naturalized citizens of the United States. He is now at Aulla, Tuscany.
I have the honor to request your excellency to use your good offices to the end that the order issued by the Italian military authorities be rescinded.
I avail [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, September 7, 1914.
Excellency: I have the honor to ask your excellency’s attention to the case of another American citizen which I hope may appear to you, by reason of its exceptional circumstances, to come within an exception of your Government’s rules in regard to the exactions of military service, even in regard to Italian subjects who have become citizens of our country.
The Reverend Father Raymond Carrá, Pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, New Orleans, Louisiana, was taken by his parents to America when he was ten years old, and since that time, that is for 24 years, he has resided uninterruptedly in Louisiana, where he became a priest and eventually the pastor of the church above mentioned.
He duly took out naturalization papers as an American citizen and having returned to Italy on a leave of absence for three months to visit his relatives, finds himself detained as subject to your military laws.
His case is almost similar to that of the Reverend Dominick H. Cassetta to which I had the honor to ask your excellency’s attention on September 2, and, like that case, the exceptional situation is so different from the ordinary one of an American naturalized citizen who returns to Italy while he is of an age covered by your military laws, that I very much hope that your Government may be able to consider his case quite exceptional.
I believe that in exceptional cases this privilege has been accorded in the past. I find that such an exception was made in 1896 in the case of Vittorio Gardella, and I have some hope that your Government may think these two good priests would be more useful if allowed to return to their flocks than if they should be held here as subject to the strict letter of your military law.
In bespeaking your excellency’s good offices in this case,
I avail [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, September 9, 1914.
Excellency: I have received a telegram from the Department of State to the effect that the Reverend Gustav G. Danchise, a Presbyterian clergyman of New York City, and an American naturalized citizen of Italian birth, who is held for military service under notice by Mayor of Sarzana, province of Genoa.
It appears that he returned to Italy in February last owing to ill health.
The Department of State desires me to bring his case to your excellency’s attention and to say that in view of his calling and circumstances, my Government would appreciate his discharge and permission to return to the United States.
I have already had the honor to bring two other similar cases to your excellency’s attention, namely, that of the Reverend Dominic A. Cassetta and the Reverend Father Raymond Carrá, in which permission was desired for these naturalized American priests to return to America; and I trust, in view of the interest taken in the subject by my Government, that it may be found possible to grant them the desired privilege, these being very exceptional cases.
In bespeaking your excellency’s good offices [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, September 18, 1914.
My dear Marquis: I beg to renew the request contained in my official note of September 6, No. 241, in regard to Joseph Spediacci, a native-born citizen of the United States who, while sojourning in Italy, has been called to the colors by the military authorities of the Kingdom.
At the same time I would greatly appreciate your reply in regard to the-three priests and clergymen, naturalized American citizens of Italian birth, who have been refused permission to return to the United States and on whose behalf I [Page 415] appealed to you in my notes of September 2, 7, and 9, numbered respectively 228, 242 and 244.
As regards the Spediacci case, I feel convinced that the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will have recognized the absolute justice of my contention.
The other cases mentioned are in a somewhat different class, and while I have not an equal right in the matter, yet I cannot but hope that, owing to the exceptional circumstances of these cases as explained, you may be able to inform me that my requests will be granted.
Believe me to be [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, September 22, 1914.
Excellency: I have the honor to inform your excellency that I have received today the telegram given below from my Government, and to which I beg earnestly to ask your attention.
Your excellency is aware that I have already brought several cases of this nature to your attention, cases which have appeared to me exceptional enough to give promise of favorable considerable consideration; these include three priests or clergymen and one young man clearly an American-born citizen.
[Here follows Department’s telegram No. 30 of September 21, 1914, printed ante.]
In soliciting your excellency’s good offices [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, September 24, 1914.
Excellency: Referring to my note of the 22d instant in regard to the detention in Italy of naturalized American citizens of Italian origin and to my previous notes and conversations on the subject, I have the honor to inform your excellency that I have received today telegraphic instructions to request that permission to return to the United States be granted to the following additional naturalized citizens: Salvatore Capone, at Mirabella (his wife and children are destitute in the United States); and Ben Miraglia, Palermo.
I avail [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, September 27, 1914.
Excellency: Referring to my note of the 22d instant in regard to the detention in Italy of naturalized American citizens of Italian origin, and to my previous notes and conversations on the subject, I have the honor to inform your excellency that I have received today telegraphic instructions to request that permission to return to the United States be granted to Joseph Rocco Casazza, a naturalized American citizen, detained at Genoa, accompanied by his wife and child. It is understood that Casazza has tuberculosis and came to Italy for his health.
I avail [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, September 29, 1914.
Excellency: Referring to my previous notes in regard to the detention in Italy of naturalized American citizens of Italian origin, and to conversations on the subject, I have the honor to inform your excellency that I have received today telegraphic instructions to request that permission to return to the United States be granted to: Michael Aquilino. a naturalized American citizen, who has been detained for military service at Serra di Falco, in the Province [Page 416] of Caltanisseta, Sicily; it is stated that he was excused from military service, being the eldest son of a widow; and O. L. Signore, a naturalized American citizen who is reported to be detained at Pardi Celideo Chieti.
I avail [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, September 29, 1914.
Excellency: I have the honor to call your excellency’s attention to my personal note to you of the 2d instant and to my subsequent official communications to you: No. 242 of the 7th instant; No. 243 of the 9th instant;1 No. 244 of the 9th instant; No. 255 of the 22nd instant; No. 258 of the 24th instant; No. 262 of the 27th instant; and No. 263 of the 29th instant—all relating to American citizens who have been detained here in Italy.
These notes were followed up by two personal visits to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, with a view to explaining how earnestly my Government has impressed upon me its desire to have these persons, whose cases are quite exceptional, permitted to return to their homes.
I beg to point out that I have received no reply whatever to any of these notes, and I can only hope that this silence signifies a desire on the part of your excellency’s Government to further the wishes expressed.
Inasmuch as your excellency, according to the press, has expressed a desire that the citizens of other countries should feel satisfied that Italy will continue to present, as it has presented in the past, a pleasant and secure place of sojourn for visiting strangers, I hope that I may count on such assistance as your excellency feels you can properly render in a matter which will do much to give the assurance of security to American citizens, and which will be promotive of much good feeling.
I avail [etc.]
The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Ambassador Page.
Rome, September 30, 1914.
Mr. Ambassador: In reply to your note of September 9, I hasten to inform you that the Ministry of War telegraphs me that the necessary enquiries are being made to establish the position of the Rev. Gustavo Danch se regarding his obligations as to conscription, and as soon as possible this Ministry will hasten to inform you of the outcome of these enquiries.
Accept [etc.]
Ambassador Page to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Rome, October 2, 1914.
Excellency: I have the honor to thank your excellency for your kind attention to the request preferred in my note to you No. 244 of the 9th ultimo in regard to the Reverend Mr. Danchise.
In this connection I hope your excellency will permit me to call your attention to my personal note of the 2nd ultimo in regard to the Reverend Dominic A. Cassetta, a pastor of the Protestant Episcopal Church of New York; to my note No. 242 of the 7th ultimo in regard to the case of the Reverend Raymond Carra, pastor of St. Patrick’s Church in New Orleans, and to my subsequent official communications to you: No. 255 of the 22nd ultimo; No. 258 of the 24th ultimo; No. 262 of the 27th ultimo; and No. 263 of the 29th ultimo—all relating [Page 417] to American citizens who have, been detained here in Italy, touching which I have as yet received no reply.
The two priests or clergymen above named are men who have never served in the Army, and have most important affairs in the United States which require their presence there, thus coming, as I understand it, within one of the provisions of the law of Italy, which permits such persons to leave the Kingdom in order to attend to their imperative affairs at home.
I should add that this matter of the detention in Italy of naturalized American citizens of Italian origin is engaging considerable attention in the United States, and in soliciting your excellency’s kindly attention and early response to the cases above cited, I avail [etc.]
The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Ambassador Page.
Rome, October 5, 1914.
Mr. Ambassador: In reply to your note of the 6th September last No. 241 and to your letter of the 18th of the same month, I hasten to communicate to your excellency that the Ministry of War has just informed me that it had not yet been able to take a determination concerning the cancellation from the lists of conscripts, on the ground of American citizenship, of the young man Giuseppi Spediacci, recruit of the 1st Class, 1894, some information being still awaited.
On the other hand, after examination of the documents already furnished, it has been provided that Spediacci, having already presented himself for service, be granted temporary leave awaiting the solution of the matter.
Accept [etc.]
Mr. Ambassador: I have the honor to inform your excellency that I did not fail to communicate to my honorable colleague, the Minister of War, as being within his province, the requests which your excellency presented in the name of your Government for Italian citizens naturalized in America, referred to in your various notes and lastly enumerated in your note of September 29 last, No. 264.
Whilst I look forward to communicating to your excellency, as they shall reach me, the replies of General Grancli, I beg to remind your excellency that the acquisition of a foreign nationality on the part of subjects of the Kingdom cannot exempt them from the military obligations which the law in effect in the Kingdom imposes and maintains even in regard to those who abandon their original Italian nationality.
Ignorance of these obligations, which at one time were compended in the 12th Article (now abrogated) of our Civil Code and reconfirmed in the last paragraph of the 8th Article of the new law of citizenship (13 May, 1912) cannot be recognized on the part of subjects of the kingdom.
However, I can assure your excellency that the Ministry of War, after having ascertained the situation with regard to our laws as applicable to the individuals whom you have mentioned to me, will not fail to examine with all benevolence where these laws can respectively be applied to these individuals so as to permit them to return to the United States.
Herewith I reply also to your note No. 255 under date September 22 last, in which your excellency communicated to me the instructions given you by telegraph by the Federal Government concerning the question of principle referred to regarding the American legislation touching the case of a certain John Ciappone.
As concerns this I bee your excellency in conclusion to communicate to me with all promptitude the circumstances, especially the commune of origin in [Page 418] the Kingdom and the date and place of birth, because these indications are asked of me by telegraph by the Ministry of War, which states that without these it is impossible to ascertain what may be the position of conscription of Ciappone.
Accept [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, October 9, 1914.
Mr. Ambassador: In reply to your esteemed note of September 7 last, No. 242, I have the honor to communicate to your excellency that, according to information just received from my colleague of the War Department, and as a result of his inquiries, it has been found that, according to the conscription lists for the year 1880, Raimondo Carrá, the son of Domenico Carrá of the Commune of Vicari, is a renitente, that is to say, stands upon the military records of his country as one who has refused to perform his military duties, for the reason that the said Carrá has not, up to the present time, complied with the laws of Italy with respect to conscription.
The fact that he has become in the mean time a naturalized citizen of the United States of America does not lessen nor mitigate this offense according to the military laws of Italy.
Mr. Carrá must therefore, first of all, present himself before the military authorities for a personal examination and for enrollment, either before the Council of Enlistment (Consiglio di Leva) at Termini Imerese or by delegation before the Consiglio di Leva at Rome, where he now actually resides. Instructions in this sense have already been forwarded to the Royal Under Prefect at Termini Imerese.
In view of the fact, however, that it has been found that Mr. Carrá left Italy when he was ten years old for New Orleans, where he has lived uninterruptedly until his recent return to Italy, it has been ordered that, in case he shall be considered to carry arms and perform the duties of a soldier, he shall be admitted to provisional relief from military service in accordance with Article 93 of the Italian recruiting laws, which excuses him from serving out his enlistment, he having passed his thirty-second year.
With respect to your excellency’s request that Mr. Carrá be allowed to return to the United States, I beg to inform your excellency that as soon as Mr. Carrá shall have regularized his status before the military authorities of the Kingdom as above set forth, in conformity with the conscription laws of the country, he will be able to obtain a passport in accordance with recent instructions issued by the Royal Ministry of the Interior to the prefectual authorities, who have been authorized to make that concession notwithstanding the prohibition contained in the Royal Decree of August 6 last No. 803, applicable to all those belonging to the Terza Categoria as well as to those inscribed in the Territorial Army—in which latter category the young man in question will be obliged to enroll, because of his age, in the event that he shall be considered as fit to carry arms and to be enrolled in that army.
Accept [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, October 10, 1914.
Mr. Ambassador: In further reference to my note of September 30 last, I have the honor to inform your excellency that I am today in receipt of a telegram from the Royal Ministry of War to the effect that Mr. Gustave Danchise did not respond to the call for enlistment in the Commune of Sarzana for any of the three classes for the year 1892, 1893 or 1894, as appears from the official military records.
Such being the case, the Ministry of War has informed me that until it is known the exact class to which Mr. Danchise properly belongs and the commune from which he originally came, it will not be possible to establish his position with respect to his military obligations and status under the conscription [Page 419] laws of the Kingdom nor to make a decision, consequently, with respect to his application to be allowed to return to the United States.
In requesting that this further information be supplied in this case, I avail [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, October 10, 1914.
Mr. Ambassador: In further reference to my note of the 5th instant, I now have the further honor to inform your excellency that I have just been advised by the Royal Ministry of War that in order that it may be able to ascertain the possibility of allowing several Italians to return to the country of their adoption (in spite of the prohibition against their departure as set forth in Royal Decree No. 803 of August 3 last) it is necessary that the War Department be informed, in each of the cases to which your excellency has called attention, not only the general antecedents of each individual, but in addition the commune from which they came originally as well as the social position, business, occupation or profession, of their parents at the time of their birth.
This information is required to enable the military authorities to ascertain the exact position of each individual with respect to his military obligations and status, under the conscription laws of the Kingdom.
I therefore find myself obliged to request your excellency to furnish this Ministry with the information above indicated in each of the cases of the men mentioned in your excellency’s notes to this Ministry dated the 24th, 27th and 29th of September and numbered respectively 258, 262 and 263, namely:
- Salvatore Capone,
- Domenico Francesco Saraceno,
- Ben Miraglia,
- Giuseppe Rocco Casazza,
- Michele Aquilino,
- O. L. Signore.
Accept [etc.]
Ambassador Page to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Rome, October 14, 1914.
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your esteemed notes of the 5th and 10th instant relating to the subject of Italian-born naturalized American citizens who are detained in Italy subject to your military regulations.
Immediately upon receipt of this reply I conveyed to those mentioned by you in the latter note, the necessity of their furnishing me promptly with the information called for by the Royal Italian Government.
I regret not to find in this last the name of the Reverend Dominick Cassetta, to whose case I again have the honor to ask your excellency’s particular attention, for the reasons which are set forth in my note to you of September 2.
I am in receipt of a letter from the Secretary of State of my Government expressing much interest in this case and authorizing me to make a special appeal in his behalf, and to say that action on the part of the Italian authorities permitting Mr. Cassetta to return to the United States would be highly appreciated.
I avail [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, October 19, 1914.
Excellency: Referring to the note of the Royal Minister for Foreign Affairs of October 10, I have the honor to transmit the following information in regard [Page 420] to Mr. Ben Miraglia: he is the son of Filadelfio, whose occupation is that of an agricultural engineer; the name of his mother before marriage was Rubina Rosolia; Miraglia states that he belongs to the class of 1870, the 70th regiment of infantry, 9th company; he was born in San Fratello on January 12, 1877.
I avail [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, October 21, 1914.
Excellency: Referring to the note of the Royal Minister for Foreign Affairs of October 10, I have the honor to transmit the following information in regard to Joseph Rocco Casazza, permission for whose return to the United States the Embassy desires.
Casazza is the son of Giovanni and Antonette Capelli; he was born on August 16, 1879, at Bertuzzi, Commune of Ottone, and he left Italy the same year in which he was born; he is now confined in the military hospital at Piacenza.
I avail [etc.]
[Untitled]
note verbale.
With reference to the esteemed note verbale of the Royal Ministry for Foreign Affairs of October 10, the American Embassy has the honor to transmit the following information relative to Domenico Francesco Saraceno of Cartale, Province of Catanzaro, permission for whose return to the United States the American Embassy very much desires.
The young man was born on March 8, 1889, at Cartale; his parents were Giovanni Saraceno and Migliaccio Angela; he belongs to the 49th regiment of infantry stationed in the city of Turin, and is now in the military hospital of that city.
Rome, October 21, 1914.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Ambassador Page.
Rome, October 24, 1914.
Mr. Ambassador: In reference to the last part of my note of the 10th inst., I hasten to inform your excellency that, with a view to aiding in the achievement of your desires, the Royal Minister of War telegraphs me that, in so far as concerns the obligations to the conscription laws of the Kingdom, of Rocco Casazza, that whenever Casazza considers himself not liable or unfit for military service, he can be given the privilege of regularizing his status before the military authorities. If it develops that he is a renitente, that is, a man who has failed to respond to the call to join the army, he must appear before the Consiglio di Leva (Recruiting Commission) of his district. If he is a deserter he must appear before the Commandant of the military district to which he properly belongs.
In the event that he is discharged by either of those bodies, he would thus prima facie be absolved from any military crimes with which he may have been charged, and as a result he could return to his adopted country without further delay or hindrance.
Accept [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, October 24, 1914.
Mr. Ambassador: In response to your esteemed note of the 2nd instant No. 269 I have the honor to inform your excellency that my colleague of the War Department has just advised me, with respect to the case of the Reverend Dominic Cassetta, that in order that the military authorities of the Kingdom may consider and decide just what provisions can be adopted by them in his ease, the Ministry of War must have the usual particulars regarding his exact status with respect to the military and conscription laws of the Kingdom; and as soon as this information is placed in its possession, the Minister of War will immediately provide such measures for his relief as may be possible under the circumstances of his case.
In conveying to your excellency the foregoing response of the War Department I beg to add that I shall not fail to make known to your excellency immediately whatever decision may be reached by the War Department in the case of the Reverend Mr. Cassetta.
Accept [etc.]
Ambassador Page to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Rome, October 24, 1914.
Excellency: I have the honor to inform your excellency that the American Consul at Palermo has informed me that the Royal authorities at that place have refused permission to Mr. Vincent Macaluso permission to return to the United States.
Vincent Macaluso was born at New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana, August 6, 1887. He is the son of Antonino Macaluso and Maria Rosa di Palermo, both formerly of Campofiorito, Province of Palermo.
Macaluso states that he belongs to no class in the Italian army as he has never been called upon for service by the Italian Consul of the district in which he resides in America and that, never having been in Italy before this year, the Royal Italian Government was naturally ignorant of his existence.
In view of the foregoing facts, I beg that your excellency will cause the necessary instructions to be given the Royal authorities at Palermo, who are in full possession of all the facts in the case, to permit this young man’s immediate return to the United States.
I avail [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, October 25, 1914.
Excellency: In response to your esteemed note of yesterday’s date transmitting the request of the Royal Ministry of War that it be furnished with full details regarding the military record of the Reverend Dominic Cassetta, I now have the honor to inform your excellency that I am just in receipt of a telegram from the Department of State at Washington containing the information desired, which is as follows:
His name originally was Domenico A. Cascetta; but as frequently happens in the case of foreigners in the United States, slight changes in the spelling of original names are made in order to render them easier of pronunciation.
Mr. Cassetta was born on May 30, 1878, at Auleta, Mandamento de Caggiano, Circondario di Salaconsolina, Province of Salerno. His father’s name is Aniello Cascetta; born in the same place.
Cassetta’s father emigrated to the United States in 1882. His mother, with Dominic, followed two years later, in 1884. His father and the uncle of Mr. Cassetta procured from the proper Italian authorities a congedo for Dominic in 1898 upon the grounds that he was an only son. His mother has been a [Page 422] widow for the past eleven years. The last known address of Mr. Cassetta was care of French, Lemon and Company, Nos. 2 and 4 via Tornabuoni, Florence, Italy.
I am directed in this telegram to convey to your excellency an intimation of the pleasure which my Government would feel at receiving a favorable decision in this, as well as in several other cases of a like nature, which I have had the honor to submit to the Royal Italian authorities for their consideration.
I avail [etc.]
[Untitled]
Rome, October 26, 1914.
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s esteemed note of the 24th instant [inclosure 22] and to thank you most cordially for the disposition therein displayed to aid this Embassy in its efforts to obtain favorable consideration in the cases of several American citizens who are held in Italy for the performance of military duties.
With respect to the particular case of Rocco Casazza, now in the military hospital at Piacenza, of which your excellency’s note above referred to treats, I fear that it crossed my note to you No. 289 of the 21st instant, which contained the information desired by the Ministry of War regarding this young man.
I beg that your excellency will refer to that note and transmit the information therein contained to the military authorities, so that an early decision may be reached in this young man’s case.
I avail [etc.]
The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Ambassador Page.
Rome, October 30, 1914.
Mr. Ambassador: In further reference to my note of the 5th instant, I have the honor to inform your excellency that my colleague of the Ministry of War in his dispatch of the 12th instant addressed to the Prefect at Massa has provided for the annulment of the enlistment in the First Category as previously ordered by the Recruiting Commission (Consiglio di Leva) with respect to the American citizen Guiseppe Spediacci, the son of the late Luigi Spediacci.
In view of the fact, however, that this young man, whose father was by birth an Italian citizen and who has resided for nearly ten years in the Kingdom, finds himself to be in the exact position contemplated by the last paragraph of Article 3 of the Italian Laws on Citizenship No. 555 of June 13, 1912, he will, according to that law, acquire Italian citizenship if, within the 22nd year of his age, he does not officially declare that he wishes to retain his foreign citizenship.
The Minister of War, therefore, has issued orders that his name be not taken from the recruiting lists; but that he be sent back for conscription until he shall have completed the 22nd year of his age, in order to be afterwards either dismissed definitely and finally or once more called up for examination and for enlistment, according to the result of such examination.
Accept [etc.]
Ambassador Page to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Rome, November 21, 1914.
Excellency: I have the honor to inform your excellency that the American Consul at Leghorn has brought the following case to my attention:
An American citizen by name Mario Ugo da Prato, born at Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, August 25, 1895, a son of Antonio da [Page 423] Prato, a naturalized American citizen, has been called upon for military service by the authorities of the military district of Lucca. The father, Antonio da Prato, who was born at Barga, Province of Lucca, in 1859, was naturalized at Boston on March 19, 1892, three years prior to the birth of his son Mario, who would therefore appear, even under the Royal Italian Government’s interpretation of the law of dual nationality, to be clearly exempt from military service as a native-born American citizen.
The father and son arrived in Italy in 1911 for the purpose of the latter’s education. Mario da Prato is now attending the art school at Lucca and intends to return to the United States with his father when he has finished his studies. His post office address as reported by the Consul is 139 Via Mazzini, Viareggio.
As your excellency will perceive, this case is not one of the numerous cases in which I have requested the good offices of your excellency’s Government on behalf of naturalized citizens, and I therefore feel confident that you will cause the necessary instructions to be sent with as little delay as possible to the local military authorities at Lucca to rectify their error, in thus claiming for service a native-born American, the son of parents naturalized in America prior to his birth.
I avail [etc.]
The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Ambassador Page.
Rome, November 27, 1914.
Mr. Ambassador: In reference to your esteemed note of October 26, No. 299, I have the honor to inform your excellency that his excellency the Minister of War has telegraphed me that the young man Rocco Guiseppe Casazza has been pronounced permanently incapacitated for military service and consequently he is at liberty to leave Italy whenever he so desires.
With respect, however, to the case of Francesco Saraceno, my colleague of the War Department tells me that he is still confined to the military hospital at Turin with a complicated fracture of the right leg and consequently, owing to his present physical condition, it has not been found possible to take the necessary legal and medical measures requested.
I have [etc.]
Ambassador Page to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Rome, December 9, 1914.
Excellency: Referring to previous correspondence in regard to the detention in Italy of the Reverend Dominic A. Cassetta (Domenico A. Cascetta) by the military authorities, I should be very greatly obliged if your excellency would cause me to be informed as to how much longer it will be necessary for him to await permission to return to the United States, which I understand was about to be granted to him.
In soliciting the favor of an early reply regarding this case, in which my Government, as you are aware, is much interested,
I avail [etc.]