Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-12-23
FUTURE RELATIONS
DEPEND ON AUSTRIA
Lansing's Second Note to Vienna
Renews Demands of
United States.
DETAILS ARE NOT ESSENTIAL
Official Admission of Admiralty
Sufficient to Ask Reparation
and Punishment.

WASHINGTON. December 22.---Thc
reply of the United States TO Anstrias
note on the destruction of the Italian
liner Ancona declares that the official
admission of the Austrian admiralty
that the liner was torpcdoed after she
had stopped and while passengers still
were aboard alone is sufficient for the
American demand for disavowal re-
Daration and punishment of the sub
marine commander.
Secretary I.ansing's second note al
ready probably in the hands of 'hc
Austrian Foreign Minister. and made
public here to-day. rcnews the demands
Of the United States. and SAYS the de-
tails TO which Austria referred in her
roply TO the first American comnunica-
:ion are in no way essential 20 the
discussion. 1t emphasizes that continu-
ancc Of good rotations hctwesn tho TWO
countries depends upon the action OF
the Austrian government.
pENFIELD INSTRUCTED
TO DELIVER NOTE.
The text OF the note which Ambas-
sador Penfcld was instructed to deliver
TO the Austro- Hungarian Minister OF
For"ign Aff2irs reads as follows:
Department of State.
"Washington. Dec 10. 1915.
The government of the United States
has received the note of Your Excel
!cncy relative u til. sink.nr of the
Aucona which was delivered at Vienna
on December Il. 1915, and transmitted
TO Washington, and has given the note
immediate and careful consideration.
"On November Is, 1919, Baron Zwied-
nek. the charge d'affaires of the inn
perial and royal government at Wash
inEton, transmitted to the Department
OF State a report of the Austro-Hun-
garian admiralty with regard to the
sinking of the steamship Ancona, in
which it 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 government
of the United States, sufficient TO fix
upon the commander of the submarine
which fired the torpedo the responsi-
bilitv for having ,wiilsully violated the
recognized law of nations. anuEentrrely
disregarded those humane principles
which every bc1liEcrent should observe
in the conduct of war at sea. In view
of these admitted circumstances. the
government of the United States feels
justified in holding that the details of
the sinking of the Ancona. the weight
and character of the additional testi-
mony corroborating the admiralty's re-
port, and the number of Americans
killed or injured arc in no way essen
tial matters of discussion. The cul-
pabil!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
The rules of international law and
the principles of humanity which were
thus willfully violated by the com
mander of the submarine have been so
long and so universally recognized and
are so manifest from the standpoint of
right and justice. that the government
Of the United States does not feel
called upon to debate them, ana does
not understand that the imperial and
royal government questions or disputes
them.
THE government of the Initial
States, therefore, finds no ether 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 respectful, de-
mands made in it's communication of
the 9th Of December, 1915. 1t sincerely
hopes that the foregoing statement of
its position will enable the imperial
and royal government TO perceive the
Justice OF those demands. and to com
ply with them in the same spirit of
frankncsS and with the same concern
for the good relations now existing be-
tween the United States and Austria
Hungary which prompted the govern
ment of the United States to make
them. LANSING"