The copper era and Morenci leader., 1915-06-25

Il. Department of State, Washington, D. C., June g, 1915.
 American Ambassador,
 Berlin.
 You are instructed to deliver text
 ually the following note to the minis
 ter of foreign affairs:
 Tn compliance with your excel
 lency's request did not fail to trans
 init to my government immediately
 upon their receipt your note of May I28 in reply to my note of May 15, land your supplementary note of June
 1, setting forth the conclusions so far reached by the imperial German
 government concerning attacks on the
 American steamers Cushing and Gulf
 light, I am now instructed by my
 government to communicate the fol-
 lowing reply:
 "The government of the United
 States notes with qualification the
 full recognition by the imperial Ger
 man government in discussing the
 cases of the Cushing and Gulfiight,
 of the principle of the freedom of all
 parts of the open sea to neutral ships and the frank willingness of the i'm
 perial government to acknowledge and meet it's liability where the fact
 of an attack upon neutral ships
 which have not been guilty of any hostile act, by German aircraft or vessels of war is satisfactorily estab- 1icbod Tho oOvorprnoDt of tba IIni+ad States will in due course lay before the imperial German government, as it requests, full information concern ing the attack on the steamer Cush- ing.
 With regard to the sinking of the steamer Falaba, by which an Ameri- can citizen lost his life, the govern ment of the United States is sur prised to find the imperial German government contending that an effort on the part of merchantmen to escape capture or secure assistance alters the obligation of the officer seeking to make the capture with respect to the safety of the lives of those on | board the mercnantman, although the | vessel has ceased her attempt to l escape when torpedoed. These are | not new circumstances. They have l been in the minds of statesmen and | international jurists throughout the | of naval warfare, and | the government of the United States | does not understand that they have | ever been held to alter the principles | of humanity upon which it has in sisted. Nothing but actual, forcible | resistance or continued efforts to | stop for the purpose of visit on the | part ct a merchantmen has ever been | held to forfeit the lives of her pass- | engers or crew. The government of | the Tinted States, however. does not | understand that the imperial German | government is seeking in this case to relieve itself of the liability but only | intends to set forth the circumstances which led the commander of the sub- marine to allow himself t., be hurried l. iato the course he took.
 Your excellency's note, in discuss ing the loss of American lives result !, ing in the sinking of the steam sh,n I.usitania, averts at some Iensth to , ceriair. information which the inn k pca'iui German government had re- ce;ved with regard to the character and outfit of that vessel and your f excellency expresses that fear that l this information may not have been brought to the attention of the gov of the United States. l
 Tt is stated in the note that the t with masked guns and supplied with trained gunners and special ammuni- ( tion and was transporting troops from c Canada, and carrying cargo not per Ie mitted under the laws of the United States to a vessel also carrying pass l as an auxiliary to the naval forces I of Great Britain. Fortunately these t are matters concerning which the Y government of the United States is in i : ~0si'ion to give the imperial Ger IL man government official information. Ii Of the facts alleged in your ex- ( cellency's note, if true, the govern ( nent of the United States would have II been bound to take official cogniz- i ance in performance of it's duty as a V neutral power in enforcing it's nation C Il laws. r
 Its duty was to see to it that the Lusitania was not armed for offen- S sive action, that she was serving V IS a transport, that she did not carry t cargo prohibited by the statutes Ii