File No. 763.72111/3370

The Secretary of State to the Italian Ambassador (Macchi di Cellere)

My Dear Mr. Ambassador: Replying to your note of yesterday’s date stating that the assurances which you gave this Government prior to the departure of the S. S. Verdi were intended to cover any other case of Italian merchantmen armed for merely defensive purposes which visit American ports, including the case of the S. S. Verona, I desire to state that the Government prefers to receive a separate formal assurance in each case, as no case is to form a precedent or establish a practice. I therefore wish to avail myself of your willingness to furnish me with a separate formal assurance of your Government in regard to the guns on board the S. S. Verona, as in the case of the S. S. Verdi.1

I am [etc.]

Robert Lansing
  1. This assurance was received on January 28. Similar assurance was thereafter given each time clearance was sought for an armed merchant ship, and the same practice was followed by the French and British Ambassadors.