New Britain herald., 1915-12-16
AUSTRIA'S REPLY
 ON ANCONA NOTE
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tContlnued From First Pageo
 will decline to discuss the facts of the torpedoing and shelling of the Ancona by an Austrian submarine with consequent loss of American lives.
 No Official Word
 No official word had reached the state department today that the Aus trian reply had been delivered to American Ambassador Penf1eld, but the news despatches containing ex- cerpts. were taken in official quarters as sufficient evidence that the re- joinder is on its way to Washington.
 No Room For Discussion.
 As Secretary Lansing based the representations in his note upon the official statement of the Austrian ad- miralty itself, American officials are at loss to understand where there is much room for discussion or dis pute of facts.
 Officials pointed out today that thoroughly unsatisfactory and unre- sponsive reply from Austria would bring diplomatic relations between the two countries to a crisis because of the closing words of Secretary Lan- sings note, which declared that Good relations between the two countries rest upon a common regard for law and humanity" and that Austria. ap- preciating the gravity of the case, twill accede to it's (the United States') demand promptly"
 Demands of Note. Specifically the note demanded de. ] nouncing the sinking of the Ancona as "An illegal and indefensible act" l the punishment of the commander
 who "perpetrated the deed," aud the payment of an indemnity to those l Americans who suffered The yotc
 stands as the most vigorous of all the l American correspondence of the war
 and was not equalled even by :he note at the close of the submarine
 controversy with Germany. 1 Austria's diplomatic relations with 1 the United States since the recall of 1 Ambassador Dumba for his connection l with plots to cripple American muni- tions plants have been maintained by 1 the embassy here with Baron Zwied-
 inek as charged d'affaires.
 Personal Report. 1 Soon after noon the state depart 1 ment began to receive long de- l spatch from Ambassador Penfield. Of 1 ficials said it was not the Austrian l governments reply but personal re- l port on the situation from the ann
 bassador himself.
 | The official overnight despatches
 contained no indication that the reply l had been delivered to Ambassador 1 Penfield or that it was on it's way 1 to the United States. Official tele- l grams however, have been generally behind thenews despatches in most l of the diplomatic exchanges with the l Germanic powers because of difficult 1 ties of transmission and the long and
 intricate work of coding and de- | coding.
 l President Wilson read the outline of
 the reply as contained in the London l despatches as soon as he reached the l executive offices but there was no in- 1 dication of how he regarded it. May Cause Break. l In official circles the general im- l pression prevailed that the tenor of
 the cabled extract did not seem to
 forecast favorable tone of the reply
 as whole. still in the absence of the
 full text, final opinion was reserved.
 Those officials closest to the presi- ] dent are of the opinion that a thor
 oughly unsatisfactory reply from Aus tria will endanger the continuance of