Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-07-24

fare. The whole world has looked
with interest and increasing satisfac-
| uon at the demonstration of that DOS
! slDlllty by German naval commanders
1t is manifestly possible, therefore, to
lltt the whole practice of submarine
attack above the criticism which it has
aroused and remove the chief causes
of offense.
In view of the admission of illegality
made by the imperial government
when it pleaded the right of retaliation
and defense of its acts, and in view of
the manifest possibility of conforming
To the established rules of naval war
t2re' the government of the United
states cannot believe that the inn
perial government will longer refrain
from disavowing the wanton act of its
naval commander in sinking the Lusi-
tania, of from offering reparation for
| the American lives lost, so far as
reparation can be made for needless
destruction of human life by an illegal
act
The government of the United States.
while not indifferent to the friendly
spirit in which it is made, cannot ac-
cept the suggestion of the imperial
German government that certain YES
sells be designated and agreed upon
which shall be free on the seas now
/ Illegally prescribed. The very agree
AiiSAAN "chio ny llIlDllCaIlOn subject
other vessels to illegal attack and
would be a curtailment and therefore
an abandonment of the principles for
| which this government contends and
which In times of calmer counsels
every nation would concede as of
course.
Freedom of Sea to Be Upheld
The government of the United States
ana the imperial German government
are contending for the same great
object have long stood together in
urging the very principles upon which
the government of the United States
now solemnly insists. They are both
contending for the freedom of the seas.
The government of the United States
Will continue to contend for that free
dom, from whatever quarter violated
without compromise and at any cost,
IL invites the practical cooperation of
the imperial German government at
this time when cooperation NAV ac-
complish most and this great common
object be most strikingly and effect
lively achieved.
The imperial German government
expresses the hope that this object
may be In some measure Accomplished
even before the present war ends. IT
can be. The government of the United
States not only feels obliged to insist
upon 1t, by whomsoever violated or
ignored in the protection of its own
citizens, but is also deeply interested
In seeing it made practicable between
the belligerents themselves, and holds
itself ready at any time to act as the
common friend who may be privileged
to suggest a way.
In the meantime, the very value
which this government sets upon the
long and unbroken friendship between
the people and government of the
United States and the people and gov
ernment of the German nation imnels
It to press very solemnly upon the i'm
perial German government the neces-
sity for scrupulous observance of
neutral rights in this critical matter,
friendship itself prompts it to saw to
the imperial government that rene
tition by the commanders of German
naval vessels of acts in contravention
or these rights must be regarded bv
the government of the United States
as deliberately unfriendly
LANSING.