PEIROLIERI , For the Minister of Foreign Affairs to Wurts, September 27, 1873

Mr. Peirolieri to Mr. Wurts.

Mr. Chargé d’affaires: I regret to be unable to satisfy the request made in your note of the 8th instant.

The ministry of agriculture and commerce, from which I might have been able to obtain the statistics relating to the number of Americans born and residing in Italy, has replied to me that a work of this kind would require a long time and great labor, although not impossible to accomplish. In fact the lists of the census for each district make the distinction only between persons born in Italy and those born abroad. To determine the nationality of each individual it would, therefore, be necessary to examine each list of the families when the place of birth is indicated. It is nevertheless, the intention of the bureau of statistics to study the results of the last census also from the point of view of the nationality of the foreigners residing in the kingdom. When this work is completed—a time, however, difficult still to appoint—the Government of the United States will be able to obtain all the statistics it wishes.

Accept, &c.,