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The Commoner
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
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VOL. 15, NO. 6
Lincoln, Nebraska, June, 1915
Whole Number 67 4
The Second American Note to Germany
The text of the second note sent by the United
States to Germany follows:
THE SECRETARY OF STATE AD INTERIM TO
THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR TO BERLIN
Department of State,
Washington, June 9, 1915.
'American Ambassador, Berlin: You are in
structed to deliver textually the following note
to the minister of foreign affairs:
In compliance with your excellency's request
I did not fail to transmit to my government im
mediately upon their receipt your note of May
28 in reply to my note of May 16, and your sup
plementary note of June 1, setting grth th,e con
clusions so far reached by the Imperial German
government concerning the attacks on the Amer
ican steamers Cushing and Gulflight. I am now
instructed by my government to communicate the
following in reply:
The government of the United States notes
with gratification the full recognition by the Im
perial German government in discussing the cases
of the Cushing and Gulflight of the principles of
the freedom of all parts of the open sea to neu
tral ships and the frank willingness of the Imperi
al government to acknowledge and meet its lia
bility where the fact of attack upon neutral ships
"which have not been guilty of any hostile act"
by German aircraft or vessels of war is satisfac
torily established; and the government of the
United States will in due course lay before the
Imperial German government, as it requests, full
information concerning the attack on the steamer
Cushing.
THE FALABA CONTENTION
With regard to the sinking of the steamer
Falaba, by which an American citizen lost his
life, the government of the United States is sur
prised'to And the Imperial German government
contending that an effort on the part pf a mer
chantman to escape capture and secure assistance
alters the obligation of the officer seeking to
make the capture in respect of thesafety of the
lives of those on board the merchantman, al
though the vessel has ceased her attempt to es
cape when torpedoed. These are not new cir
cumstances. They have been in the minds of
statesmen and of international jurists throughout
the development of naval warfare, and the gov
ernment of the United States doea not under
stand that they have e.ver been held to alter the
principles of humanity' upon which it has insist
ed. Nothing but actual, forcible resistance or
continued efforts to escape by flight, when
ordered to stop for the purpose of visit,
on the part of the merchantman has ever been
held to forefit the lives of passengers or
crew. The government of the United States,
liowever, does not understand that the Imperial
German government is seeking in this case to
relieve itself of liability, but only intends to set
forth the circumstances which led the command
er of the submarine to allow himself to be hur
ried into the course which he took.
THE CASE OF THE LUSITANIA
Your excellency's note, in discussing the loss
of American lives resulting from the sinking of
the steamship Lusitania, adverts at some length
to certain information which the Imperial Ger
man government has received with regard to the
character and outfit of that vessel and your ex
cellency expresses the fear that this informa
tion may not have been brought to the attention
of the government of the United States. It is
stated in the note that the Lusitania waB un
doubtedly equipped with, masked giins, supplied
with trained gunners and special ammunition
transporting troops from Canada, carrying a
cargo not permitted undor the laws of the United
States to a vessel also carrying passengers, and
serving, in virtual effect, as an auxiliary to the
naval forces of Great Britain. Fortunately these
are matters concerning which the government of
the United States is in a position to give the Im
perial German government official information. Of
the iacts alleged in your excellency's note, if true,
the government of the United States would have
been bound to take official cognizance in perform
ing its recognized duty as a neutral power and in
enforcing its national laws. It was its duty to
see to it that the Lusitania was not armed for
offensive action, that she was not serving as a
transport; that she did not carry a cargo prohib
ited by the statutes of the United States, and
that if, in fact, she was a naval vessel of Great
Britain she should not receive clearance as a
merchantman; and It performed that duty and
enforced its statutes with scrupulous vigilance
through its regularly constituted officials. It is
able, therefore, to assure the Imperial German
government that it has been misinformed. If the
Imperial German government should deem itself
CONTENTS
THE SECOND AMERICAN NOTE TO
GERMANY
MR. BRYAN'S RESIGNATION AND ITS
ACCEPTANCE BY THE PRESIDENT
TWO POINTS OF DIFFERENCE
THE REAL ISSUE
TO THE GERMAN-AMERICANS
FIRST AND SECOND GERMAN NOTES
THE STEEL TRUST DECISION
PRESIDENT WILSON TO FIRST VOTERS
WOMAN'S ADVOCACY OF PEACE
THE MEXICAN SITUATION
THE PAN-AMERICAN FINANCIAL CON
FERENCE AIDING LATIN AMERICA
PRESIDENT'S APPEAL TO MEXICO
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE
to be in possession of convincing evidence that
the officials of the government of the United
States did Hot perform these duties with thor
oughness the government of the United States
sincerely hopes that it will submit the evidence
for consideration.
"Whatever may be the contentions of the Im
perial Gorman government regarding the car
riage of contraband of war on bonrd the Lusi
tania or regarding the explosion of that material
by the torpedo, it need only be said that in the
view of this government these contentions are -irrelevant
to the question of the logality of tha
methods used by the German naval authorities
in sinking the vossel.
PRINCIPLES OF HUMANITY INVOLVED .'
But the sinking or passelfger ships involves prin
ciples of humanity which throw into the back
ground any special circumstances of detail that
maybe thought toaffect the cases, principles which
lift it, as the Imperial German government will no
doubt be quick to recognize and acknowledge,
out of the class of ordinary subjects of diplomat
ic discussion or of International controversy.
Whatever be the other facts regarding the Lusi
tania, the principal fact is that a great steamer,
primarily and chiefly a conveyance for passen
gers and carrying more than a thousand souls
who had no part or lot In the conduct of the war,
was torpedoed and sunk without so much as a
challenge or a warning, and that men, women
and children were sent to their death in circum
stances unparalleled in modern warfare. The
fact that more than one hundred American citi
zens were among those who perished made It the
duty of the government of the United States to
speak of these things and once more with solemn
emphasis call the attention of the Imperial Ger
man government to the grave responsibility
which the government of the United States con
ceives that it has incurred in this tragic occur
rence and to the indisputable principle upon
which that responsibility rests.
The government of the United States Is con
tending for something much greater than mero
rights of property or privileges of commerce. It
is contending for nothing less high and sacred
than the rights of humanity, which every govern
ment honors Itself in respecting and which no
government is justified in resigning on behalf of
those under its care and authority. Only her
actual resistance to capture or refusal to stop
when ordered to do so for the purpose of visit
could have afforded the commander of the sub
marine any justification fcr so much as putting
the lives of those on board the ship in jeopardy.
This principle the government of the United
States understands the explicit instructions is
sued on August 3, 1914, by the Imperial German
admiralty to its commanders at sea to have rec
ognized, and embodied, as do the naval codes o
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