The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1915-12-23
NOTE TO AUSTRIA
IS MADE PUBLIC
is BRIEF BUT FIRM IN ITS DE.
MANDS.
FULL TEXT OF THE DOCUMENT
Austria is Called Upon to Make Full
Reparation For American Lives
In The Destruction OF
The Ancona.
FULL TEXT OF THE DOCUMENT

Washington. D. G. Lee %. - The
United States will not argue with Aus
tria any points involved in the sink
ing of the Ancona. In the second
American note to the Vienna govern
ment made public by the state de
partment today when it was delivered
to foreign minister Burian in Vienna
this government states that it must
renew the definite but respectful de
mands made in its communication OF
the Sixth of December.
This second note extremely brief
is friendly in tone but leaves no doubt
of the determination that Austria
shall MAKE full reparation for Ameri.
can lives lost and punishment of the
Austrian submarine commander whose
'culpability is in any case establish.
ed" and whose act. details Of which
we're given in the Austrian admiralty
statement is held to be wilful viola.
ton of the rules of international law
and the principles of humanity"
Addressed to ambassador Penfield.
the note follows;
Text of Note.
Department of state, Washington,
Dec. 10, lSIO.- 1 Ou are llSIIuCISu W
address a note to the Austro Hungar-
ian minister of foreign affairs, tex
tua'ly as follows:
The government of the United
States has received the note of your
EXCellency relatively to the sinking
of the Ancona which was delivered at
Vienna on Dec. Is. 1915, and trans
mitted to Washington and has given
the note immediate and careful con-
sderation.
"On November Is 1915, Baron
Zwiedinck. the charge d'affaires of the
imperial and ROYAL government at
Washington transmitted to the depart
ment Of state a renort of the Aastro,
Hungarian admiralty with regard to
the sinking of the steamship Ancona
in which it was admitted that the
vessel was torpedoed after her en-
gines had been stopped and when
passengers were still on board. This
admission alone is, in the view of the
of the United States, suf-
fcient to fix upon the commander Of
the submarine which fired the torpedo
the responsibility for having wilfully
violated the recognized law of ma
IlOUS anu tIlllIGlJ ulDl CSalu Ch blAOSS
humane principles which every bel
ligerent should observe in the con-
duct of war at sea. In view of these
admitted circumstances the govern
ment of tha United States feels justi-
fled in holding that the details OF the
sinking of the Ancona, the weight and
character of the additional testimony
the admiraIty's report
and the number of Americans killed
or injured are in no way essential
matters of discussion The only abili-
ty Of the commander is in any case
established, and the undisputed fact
is that citizens of the United States
were killed. injured or put in jeopardy
by his lawless act.
Rules Of international Law.
THE rules of international law and
the principles of humanity which
we're thus wilfully violated by the
commander of the submarine have
been so long and so universally recog-
niZed and are so manifest from the
stand point 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 it but to hold the imperial
and royal government responsible
for the act of its naval commander
and to renew the definite but respect
full demands made in it's communica-
ton of the Sixth of December, 1915.
1t sincerely hopes that the foregoing
statement of it's position will enable
the imperial and royal government 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 relations now
existing between the United States
and Austria Hungary which prompted
the government of the United States
to mack them"