The Elbert County tribune., 1915-12-24
ANCONA DEMANDS
REPEATED M NEW NOTE ~ SEC
RETARy LANSING DELIVERED
At VIENNA
v. s. Informs Austria That Its Own
Admiralty Statement convicts u Of
Law Violation and Question VIII
Not Be Debated Further.

Western Newspaper Union News Service.
washington-The following is the
text OF the American note to Austria
on the Ancona incident:
"The Secretary of State to Ambassa-
dor Penfield:
Department OF State. Washington,
d. c.. Dec. 10, 1915.
you are instructed to address q
note to the Austro-Hungarian minis
ter of foreign affairs textually as fol-
lows:
"The government of the United
States has received the note of your
excellency relative to the sinking Of
the Ancona, which was delivered at
Vienna on Dec. 10. 1915. and trans
mitted to Washington, and has given
the note immediate and careful con-
sideration.
"on Nov. is, 1915. Baron zwiedinek.
the charge d'affaires OF the imperial
and royal government at Washington.
transmitted to the Department of
State report of the Austro- Hungar.
ian admiralty with regard to the sink
ing OF the steamship Ancona, In
which 1t was admitted that the vessel
was torpedoed after her engines had
been stopped and when passengers
were still on board. This admission
alone is. in the view of the govern
ment of the United States. sufficient
to fix upon the commander of the
submarine which fired the torpedo the
responsibility for having wilfully vio
lated the recognized law of nations
and entirely disregarded those hui
name principles which every belliger
ent should observe in the conduct OF
war at sea.
"In view of these admitted circum
stances, the government of the United
States feels Justified In holding that
the details of the sinking of the An
coma, the weight and character OF the
additional testimony corroborating the
admiralty's report and the number OF
Americans killed or injured are In nc
way essential matters of discussion.
"The culpability of the commander
is In any case established and the
undisputed fact is that the citizens OF
the United States were killed, injured
or put in jeopardy by this lawless act
''The rules of international law and
the principles of humanity which
were thus wilfully violated by the
commander of the submarine have
been so long and so universally rec.
ognized and are so manifest from tho
standpoint of right. and justice that
| the government of the United States
| does not feel called upon to debate
them and does not understand that
the imperial and royal government
questions or disputes them.
"The government of the United
States therefore finds no other
course open to 1t but to hold the i'm.
perial and royal government respon.
sible for the act OF It's naval com
mander and to renew the definite but
respectful demands made in its com,
munication of the 9Th of December,
1915. 1t sincerely hopes that the fore
going statemen. of its position will
| enable the imperial and royal govern.
ment to perceive the justice of those
demands and to comply with them IN
the same spirit of frankness and with
the same concern for the good rela
tions now existing between the United
| States and Austria Hungary which
| prompted the government of tho
| United States to make them
LANSING"