urgency to recommend to their own vessels to steer clear of these waters. It is true that the German Navy has received instructions to abstain from all violence against neutral vessels recognizable as such; but in view of the hazards of war, and of the misuse of the neutral flags ordered by the British Government, it will not always be possible to prevent a neutral vessel from becoming the victim of an attack intended to be directed against a vessel of the enemy. It is expressly declared that navigation in the waters north of the Shetland Islands is outside the danger zone, as well as navigation in the eastern part of the North Sea and in a zone thirty marine miles wide along the Dutch coast. (Department of State, "Diplomatic Correspondence, European War," No. 1, pp. 52-53.) (f) [§197] American Protest. BY SECRETARY W. J. BRYAN (February 10, 1915). It is of course not necessary to remind the German Government that the sole right of a belligerent in dealing with neutral vessels on the high seas is limited to visit and search, unless a blockade is proclaimed and effectively maintained, which this Government does not understand to be proposed in this case. To declare or exercise a right to attack and destroy any vessel entering a prescribed area of the high seas without first certainly determining its belligerent nationality and the contraband character of its cargo would be an act so unprecedented in naval warfare that this Government is reluctant to believe that the Imperial Government of Germany in this case contemplates it as possible. The suspicion that enemy ships are using neutral flags improperly can create no just presumption that all ships traversing a prescribed area are subject to the same suspicion. It is to determine exactly such questions that this Government understands the right of visit and search to have been recognized. If the commanders of German vessels of war should act upon the presumption that the flag of the United States was not being used in good faith and should destroy on the high seas an American vessel or the lives of American citizens, it would be difficult for the Government of the United States to view the act in any other light than as an indefensible violation of neutral rights, which it would be very hard indeed to reconcile with the friendly relations now so happily subsisting between the two govern ments. If such a deplorable situation should arise, the Imperial German Government can readily appreciate that the Government of the United States would be constrained to hold the Imperial German Government to a strict accountability for such acts of their naval authorities and to take any steps it might be necessary to take to safeguard American lives and property and to secure to American citizens the full enjoyment of their acknowledged rights on the high seas. (Am. Journal of International Law, IX, Spec. Suppl. 86-87.) §§196-198] AMERICAN PROTEST AT SUBMARINES (g) [$198] German Defense of the War Zone Policy BY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS HANS VON JAGOW (February 16, 1915.) 127 The Imperial German Government have examined the communication of the Government of the United States in the same spirit of good will and friendship which seems to have prompted this communication. The Imperial German Government are in entire accord with the Government of the United States that it is in the highest degree desirable for all parties to avoid the misunderstanding which might arise from the measures announced by the German Admiralty and to avert the intrusion of events calculated to interrupt the most friendly relations which have so happily existed between the two Governments up to this time. PLEA OF SELF-DEFENSE. On this assurance the German Government believe that they may depend on full understanding on the part of the United States, all the more because the action announced by the German Admiralty, as was dwelt upon at length in the note of the fourth instant, is in no wise directed against the legitimate trade and navigation of neutral states, but merely represents an act of . self-defense which Germany's vital interests force her to take against England's method of conducting maritime war in defiance of international law, which no protest on the part of neutrals has availed to bring into accordance with the legal status generally recognized before the outbreak of hostilities. In order to exclude all possible doubt on this cardinal point, the German Government beg to set forth once more the actual situation. Up to now Germany has scrupulously observed the existing provisions of international law relative to maritime war. In particular she assented without delay to the proposal made by the American Government directly after the war began to ratify the Declaration of London and embodied the contents thereof without change in her prize law, even without formally binding herself in this direction. The German Government have adhered to these provisions, even where they conflicted with military interests. Our Government at the same time have permitted the supply of food by Denmark to England until the present, although they could well have prevented this traffic by means of their naval forces. ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO STARVE GERMANY. In direct opposition to this, England has not shrunk from grave violations of international law wherever she could thereby cripple Germany's peaceable trade with neutral countries. . It is conceded that the intention of all these aggressions is to cut off Germany from all supplies and thereby to deliver up to death by famine a peaceful civilian population, a procedure contrary to law of war and every dictate of humanity. The neutrals have not been able to prevent this interception of different kinds of trade with Germany contrary to interna tional law. It is true that the American Government have protested against England's procedure, and Germany is glad to acknowledge this, but in spite of this protest and the protests of the other neutral governments, England has not allowed herself to be dissuaded from the course originally adopted. Thus, the American ship Wilhelmina was recently brought into port by England, although her cargo was destined solely for the civil population of Germany and was to be used only for this purpose according to an express declaration of the German Government. AMERICAN SHIPMENTS OF MUNITIONS. In this way the following has been created: Germany is to all intents and purposes cut off from oversea supplies with the toleration, tacit or protesting, of the neutrals regardless of whether it is a question of goods which are absolute contraband or only conditional contraband or not contraband at all, following the law generally recognized before the outbreak of the war. On the other hand, England, with the indulgence of neutral governments, is not only being provided with such goods as are not contraband or merely conditional contraband, namely, foodstuffs, raw material, et cetera, although these are treated by England when Germany is in question as absolute contraband, but also with goods which have been regularly and unquestionably acknowledged to be absolute contraband. The German Government believe that they are obliged to point out very particularly and with the greatest emphasis, that a trade in arms exists between America manufacturers and Germany's enemies which is estimated at many hundred million marks. The German Government have given due recognition to the fact that as a matter of form the exercise of rights and the toleration of wrong on the part of neutrals is limited by their pleasure alone and involves no formal breach of neutrality. The German Government have not in consequence made any charge of formal breach of neutrality. In view of this situation, the German Government see themselves compelled, after six months of patience and watchful waiting, to meet England's murderous method of conducting maritime war with drastic counter measures. If England invokes the powers of famine as an ally in its struggle against Germany with the intention of leaving a civilized people the alternative of perishing in misery or submitting to the yoke of England's political and commercial will, the German Government are to-day determined to take up the gauntlet and to appeal to the same grim ally. They rely on the neutrals who have hitherto tacitly or under protest submitted to the consequences, detrimental to themselves, of England's war of famine to display not less tolerance toward Germany, even if the German measures constitute new forms of maritime war, as has hitherto been the case with the English measures. DESTROYING MERCHANT VESSELS. Proceeding from these points of view, the German Admiralty has declared the zone prescribed by it the seat of war; it will §196] GERMAN DEFENSE OF SUBMARINES 129 obstruct this area of maritime war by mines wherever possible and also endeavor to destroy the merchant vessels of the enemy in any other way. It is very far indeed from the intention of the German Government, acting in obedience to these compelling circumstances, ever to destroy neutral lives and neutral property, but on the other hand, they cannot be blind to the fact that dangers arise through the action to be carried out against England which menace without discrimination all trade within the area of maritime war. This applies as a matter of course to war mines which place any ship approaching a mined area in danger, even if the limits of international law are adhered to most strictly. The German Government believe that they are all the more justified in the hope that the neutral powers will become reconciled with this, just as they have with the serious injury caused them thus far by England's measures, because it is their will to do everything in any way compatible with the accomplishment of their purpose for the protection of neutral shipping even within the area of maritime war. The safest method of doing this is to stay away from the area of maritime war. Neutral ships entering the closed waters in spite of this announcement, given so far in advance, and which seriously impairs the accomplishment of the military purpose against England, bear their own responsibility for any unfortunate accidents. The German Government on their side expressly decline all responsibility for such accidents and their consequences. Furthermore, the German Government announced merely the destruction of enemy merchant vessels found within the area of maritime war, and not the destruction of all merchant vessels, as the American Government appear to have erroneously understood. This limitation which the German Government have imposed upon themselves impairs the military purpose, especially since the presumption will prevail, even in the case of neutral ships, that they have contraband on board, in view of the interpretation of the idea of contraband in which the English Government have indulged as regards Germany and which the German Government will accordingly apply against England. POSSIBILITY OF AN ADJUSTMENT. Germany must, in the exigency into which she has unlawfully been forced, make her measures effective at all events in order thereby to compel her adversary to conduct maritime warfare in accordance with international law and thus to re-establish the freedom of the seas, which she has ever advocated and for which she is fighting likewise to-day. The German Government resign themselves to the confident hope that the American Government will recognize the full meaning of the severe struggle which Germany is conducting for her very existence and will gain full understanding of the reasons which prompt Germany and the aims of the measures announced by her from the above explanations and promises. The German Government repeat that in the scrupulous consideration for neutrals hitherto practiced by them, they have de termined upon the measures planned only under the strongest compulsion of national self-preservation. Should the American Government at the eleventh hour succeed in removing, by virtue of the weight which they have the right and ability to throw into the scales of the fate of peoples, the reasons which have made it the imperative duty of the German Government to take the action indicated should the American Government in particular find a way to bring about the observation of the Declaration of London on the part of the Powers at war with Germany and thereby to render possible for Germany the legitimate supply of foodstuffs and industrial raw materials, the German Government would recognize this as a service which could not be too highly estimated in favor of more humane conduct of war and would gladly draw the necessary conclusions from the new situation thus created. (Am. Journal of International Law, IX, Spec. Suppl. 90-96.) F. [199] MURDERS ON THE LUSITANIA. 1. Specific References on the Section. See $126, 193 above. Lusitania Correspondence. Am. Jour. Internat. Law, IX, Spec. Suppl., 129 seq. (note of May 13, 1915), 133, 138, 149, 155; X, 166. Stowell and Munro. Cases, II, 571-584. Collier's. Story of the War, III, 570; IV, 558. Eliot, C. W. "Germany and the Lusitania," in N. Y. Times Cur rent History, II, 452-454 (June, 1915.) Roosevelt, T. "The Lusitania Case," ibid., II, 444-446 (June, 1915). Ibid, II, 411-433 (June, 1915). 2. Advertisement of German Government, April 22, 1915. 3. Sinking of the Ship, May 7, 1915. (a) Character of vessel. (b) Nature of the cargo. (c) Was the Lusitania armed? (d) Had she carried troops? (e) Was there warning? (f) Was there any attempt by the Germans to rescue people? 4. Protest of the United States. 5. Excuse of the Germans. 6. Documents and Extracts on the Section. (a) [$200] Warning Advertisement by the Imperial German Embassy (April 22, 1915). NOTICE. Travelers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or of any |