The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-07
OFFICIAL TEXT OF
 GERMAN DEGREE

Berlin, February 5.-(By Wireless.)
 The German government today gave
 out the text of the memorandum
 of the imperial German government
 concerning retaliation against the
 measures taken by England in violation
 of internatio law, to stop neutral
 sea commerce with Germany It fol-
 lows:
 since the beginning of the pres
 ent war Great Britain has put on a
 mercantile warfare against Germany
 that defies all the principles of in-
 ternational law. It is true that the
 British government has announced in
 a number of decrees the London dec
 laration concerning naval warfare to
 be binding on it's naval forces. but in
 reality she has renounced the dec
 laration in it's most important par
 ticulars although her own delegates
 at the London conference on naval war
 fare had recognized it's conclusions to
 be valid as international law.
 'The British government has put q
 number of articles in the list of con
 traband which are not or, at most are only indirectly useful for military pur-
 poses, and, therefore, according to the London declaration, as well as accord ing to the universally recognized rules of interna tional law. may not be 0es- ignated contraband. She has fur ther, actually abolished the distinction between absolute and relative contra band, inasmuch as she has subjected to oecapture all articles of relative con- traband intended for Germany without reference to the harbor in which they are to be unloaded or to the hostile or peaceful use to which they are 70 be put
 'She does not even hesitate to vio- late the Paris declaration as her naval F<.rs sryA1 i'd German property that was not contra :
 band in violation of her own Iecrees concerning the London declaration. She has further, through her naval forces, taken from neutral ships numerous Germans liable to military service and
 has made of them prisoners of war. Broadened Area
 Finally she had declared the en- tire North sea to be an area of war and if she has not made impossible the passage of neutral shipping through the sea between Scotland and NorwaS she has rendered it so diff fcult and so dangerous that she has to a certain extent effected a blockade of neutral coasts and neutral ports in violation of all international law All these measures have the ob- Vious purpose, through illegal paralyza- :
 tion of legitimate neutral commerce
 not only to strike at the German mil itary strength but also at the eco homie life of Germany and, finally through starvation. doom the entire population of Germany to destruction The neutral powers have gener- ally acquiesced in the steps taken by the British government, especially they | have not succeeded in inducing the | British government to restore the Ger man individuals and property seized in violation of international law. In cer- | tain directions they have also aided 1 the British measures which arc ir- 1 reconciliable with the freedom or the l sea, in that they have obviously un- | der the pressure of England, hindered | by export and transit embargoes the
 transit of wares for peaceful purposes l to Germany.
 The German government has in vail 1 called the attention of neutral powers l to the fact that it must face the cues 1 ton of whether it can longer perse- were in it's hitherto strict observance | of the rules of the London declara l tion if Great Britain were to continue 1 to its course and the neutral powers l were to continue to acquiesce in these violations of neutrality, to the uetri. | ment of Germany.
 For her violations of internationa1 | law Great Britain pleads the vital in. terests which the British empire has at stake, and the neutral powers seen to satisfy themselves with a theoret.
 ical protest Therefore in fact. the, /, accept the vital interests of bcllirer.
 ents as sufficient excuse for ever,
 method of warfare.