Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1915-08-19
Our Diplomatic Notes To
Germany.


vocate of August 14th, seems written
in spirit Of arbitration and peace, but
is. unduiy. in my opinion. critical Of
President Wilson's administration. the
State papers thereof and it's diplomacy.
and. therefore, should not go by un-
challenged--certainly SO far as its crit
icism of the language contained in the
notes on the Lusitania tragedy and in
ternational law az applied to the facts
which are the basis of the Lusitania
discussion.
If any thing has been evolved out
of this Babel of confusion and cries and
counter-cries of partizans. l had
thought that these two propositions,
at least, had come forth with clearness
and logical severity. ~ That the
messages of President Wilson and his
able Secretaries. Bryan and Lansing,
had been couched in remarkable sell
ected words, without bravado or threat
or appeal to passion, until the climax
contained in the second paper of the
words ''unfriendly act" applied to any
similar conduct on the part of Ger
many to American citizens as had been
used in the Lusitania incident. The
truth and strength of the position of the
United States had been SO patiently
and pairstakirgly elaborated in all the
notes leading up to this last one that,
| if the language of the last note was
somewhat frank, it was the brusque-
ness of truth and the potency of facts
alone that compelled its use
To criticize the President as phrase
maker or a style expert is attacking
him at his strongest point. President
Wilson is highly educated statesman,
who, before he became President, had
written history of the United States
in Six volss. which. by competent crit
les, is said to have attained the rank
and class of McCauley's History of
England, and State papers evolved
from such trained mird need no de-
Tense as to. its power to use the right
word in the right place. The result
has correspondent with the expecta-
tons The first note to Germany was
absolutely a model of how language in
the hands of an expert could be made
/ to express thought and yet leave no
disagreeable impression in an extreme
ly delicate ard trying situation. The
whole metropolitan press dwelt with
admiration on the beauty and polish of
this paper and pointed with pride that
our American President, educated only
in our own Universities, could equal
aye-surpass in this instance, many
of the trained diplomats of Europe in
writing paper that elected the adj
miration of all parties and all countries,
and yet our States Attorney suggests
that the language of the Second note
could be improved upon!
With the slight frankness in the sec
ond note to Germany set forth above
with the reasons for it, it maintained the
high standard of the first and is, be.
You'd criticism and received none so far
as its style is concerned, at least.
~ Taking up the second proposition
as to whether Germany violated inter
national law existing prior to the war,
its defense of its action and the reply
of it's critics to that defense, let us
consider briefly.
/ have read carefully all the diplomatic
correspondence between the United
States and Germany. and believe il
to be the duty of every citiz m to form
an intelligent opinion in this crisis as
to the proper position for his own
country, and to be able to give reas
on. for the faith that is in him. Now
while Germany justified its action in
some cases of dispute as to the
rights of the. United States on
the high seas under international law,
nowhere in the "Luusitania" instance
was there any attempt on the part Of
j Germany to justify, under the inter
national code, its action in that case.
Under international law, at the time
the war broke out Germany had no
right to blow up non combatant women
and children even if the British ship
''Luusitania' did carry contraband.
except there was visit and search,
and a removal of all non combatants
and, believe, of the crew. Germany
never claimed that she had right
under international law to do this, but
she replied in the language familiar to
lawyers with plea of confession and
avoidance; that is to say, she had not
the right, but she was justified under
the circumstances for these reasons:
Reasons Given by Germany in Mitiga-
ton of the Destruction of the Lusi
tania
| 1. Because the submarine is mob
ern invention, and international laws
4 passed prior to this invention have no
application. 2 Because we are fight
4 ing for our self existence and have, of
necessity to blow up English ships
carrying contraband ammunition with
neutral passengers otherwise our sub
marine warfare. one of the chief arms
of our service would become useless.
E3, England also has violated inter-
national law and should also be called
to book.
Answers to the Aboye Reasons of Ger
i msny.
I 1. To the reason that submarine is
q modern invention. the answer is that
you cannot change the rules of inter
national law after the war begins to