File No. 365.117/335
The Acting Secretary of State to Senator Hitchcock
Washington, July 12, 1916.
Sir: Referring to the Department’s letter of April 12, 1916,6 and previous correspondence concerning the impressment into the Italian army of Mr. Angelo Mazzei, I have the honor to inform you that the Department is in receipt of a telegram from the American Ambassador at Rome in which he reports that the Italian military [Page 422] authorities refuse to release Mr. Angelo Mazzei upon the ground that he is liable to the performance of military service under the provisions of Article 12 of the Italian Civil Code.
It appears from the Department’s records in this case that Mr. Angelo Mazzei was born in Italy, June 24, 1888, emigrated to the United States in the year 1904, acquired American citizenship through the naturalization of his father November 13, 1903, and left the United States for Italy in the year 1914. As you were informed in the Department’s letter of May 4, 1916,6 there is no treaty between the United States and Italy defining the status of former Italian subjects who acquire American citizenship through naturalization. While the Italian Government, recognizes the naturalization of its subjects in foreign countries, it has invariably held that such naturalization, if obtained without the consent of the Italian Government, is no bar to liability to military service. A statement to this effect is enclosed in the Department’s printed circular entitled “Notice to American citizens formerly subjects of Italy who contemplate returning to that country,” a copy of which is enclosed herewith. The decision of the Italian authorities in Mr. Mazzei’s case is identical with their decisions in previous similar cases, and, in the absence of a treaty arrangement, the Department has been unable to obtain the release from the performance of military service of those naturalized American citizens of Italian origin who have voluntarily placed themselves within Italian jurisdiction.
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