New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 5, August, 1915 | Page 5

AT WASHINGTON TO THE
AMERICAN AMBASSADOR AT BERLIN
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 21, 1915.
The Secretary of State to Ambassador Gerard:
You are instructed to deliver textually the following note to the
Minister for Foreign Affairs:
The note of the Imperial German Government, dated the 8th day of July,
1915, has received the careful consideration of the Government of the
United States, and it regrets to be obliged to say that it has found it very
unsatisfactory, because it fails to meet the real differences between the
two Governments, and indicates no way in which the accepted
principles of law and humanity may be applied in the grave matter in
controversy, but proposes, on the contrary, arrangements for a partial
suspension of those principles which virtually set them aside.
The Government of the United States notes with satisfaction that the
Imperial German Government recognizes without reservation the
validity of the principles insisted on in the several communications
which this Government has addressed to the Imperial German
Government with regard to its announcement of a war zone and the use
of submarines against merchantmen on the high seas--the principle that
the high seas are free, that the character and cargo of a merchantman
must first be ascertained before she can lawfully be seized or destroyed,
and that the lives of noncombatants may in no case be put in jeopardy
unless the vessel resists or seeks to escape after being summoned to
submit to examination, for a belligerent act of retaliation is per se an act
beyond the law, and the defense of an act as retaliatory is an admission
that it is illegal.
The Government of the United States is, however, keenly disappointed
to find that the Imperial German Government regards itself as in large

degree exempt from the obligation to observe these principles, even
when neutral vessels are concerned, by what it believes the policy and
practice of the Government of Great Britain to be in the present war
with regard to neutral commerce. The Imperial German Government
will readily understand that the Government of the United States cannot
discuss the policy of the Government of Great Britain with regard to
neutral trade except with that Government itself, and that it must regard
the conduct of other belligerent governments as irrelevant to any
discussion with the Imperial German Government of what this
Government regards as grave and unjustifiable violations of the rights
of American citizens by German naval commanders.
Illegal and inhuman acts, however justifiable they may be thought to be,
against an enemy who is believed to have acted in contravention of law
and humanity, are manifestly indefensible when they deprive neutrals
of their acknowledged rights, particularly when they violate the right to
life itself. If a belligerent cannot retaliate against an enemy without
injuring the lives of neutrals, as well as their property, humanity, as
well as justice and a due regard for the dignity of neutral powers,
should dictate that the practice be discontinued. If persisted in it would
in such circumstances constitute an unpardonable offense against the
sovereignty of the neutral nation affected.
The Government of the United States is not unmindful of the
extraordinary conditions created by this war or of the radical alterations
of circumstance and method of attack produced by the use of
instrumentalities of naval warfare which the nations of the world
cannot have had in view when the existing rules of international law
were formulated, and it is ready to make every reasonable allowance
for these novel and unexpected aspects of war at sea; but it cannot
consent to abate any essential or fundamental right of its people
because of a mere alteration of circumstance. The rights of neutrals in
time of war are based upon principle, not upon expediency, and the
principles are immutable. It is the duty and obligation of belligerents to
find a way to adapt the new circumstances to them.
The events of the past two months have clearly indicated that it is

possible and practicable to conduct such submarine operations as have
characterized the activity of the Imperial German Navy within the
so-called war zone in substantial accord with the accepted practices of
regulated warfare. The whole world has looked with interest and
increasing satisfaction at the demonstration of that possibility by
German naval commanders. It is manifestly possible, therefore, to lift
the whole practice of submarine attack above the criticism which it has
aroused and remove the chief causes of offense.
In view of the admission of illegality made by the Imperial
Government when it pleaded the right of retaliation in defense of its
acts, and in view of the manifest possibility of conforming to the
established rules of naval warfare, the Government of the United States
cannot believe that the Imperial Government will longer refrain