The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1915-05-19

decided upon to accompany the
marcherS. It is not certain that the
Austriens will be stopped but current
rumors say that they viii lbe arrested
and detained.
time enough for even that poor meas
ure of safety was not given, and in
at least two of the cases cited not SO
much as warning was received l.
Manifestly, submarines cen not he
used against merchantmen, as the
last few weeks hcve shown, without
an inevitable violation of many sac
red principles Of justice and human
ity.
American citizens act within their
indisputable rights in taking their
ships and travelling wherever their
legitimate business calls them upon
the high seas, and exercise those
those rights in what should be the
well justified confidence that their
lives will not be endangered by acts
done in clear violation Of universally
acknowledged international obliga-
tions, and certainly in the confidence
that their own government will sus-
tain them in the exercise Of their
rights.
There. was recently published in
the newspapers Of the United States,
I regret to inform the Imperial Ger
man government, formal warning,
purporting to come from the Imperial
German embassy at Washington, I'D
dressed to the people of the United
States, and stating, in effect, that any
citizen Of the United States who ex-
ercised his right Of free travel upon
the SEES would do so at his peril if
his journey should take him within
the zone OF waters within which the
Imperial German navy was using sub
marines against the commerce Of
Great Britain and France, notwith-
standing the respectful but very earn
est protest of his government, the
government Of the United States.
81 do not refer to this for the pur-
pose of calling the attention Of the
Imperial German government at this
time to the surprising irregularity Of
communication from the Imperial
German embassy at Washington ad-
dressed to the people Of the United
States through the newspapers, but
only for the purpose of pointing out
that no warning that an unlawful
and inhumane act will be committed
can possibly be accepted as an excuse
or palliation for that act or as an
abatement of the responsibility for
its commission.
Probably Misapprehension.
Long acquainted as this govern
ment has been with the character of
the Imperial German government,
and with the high principles of equity
by which they have in the past been
actuated and guided, the government
of the United States can not believe
that the commanders Of the vessels
which committed these acts Of law
lessness did so except under a mis-
apprehension of the orders issued by
the Imperial German naval authori-
ties.
ut takes it for granted that, at
least within the practical possibilities
of every such case, the commanders
even Of submarines were expected to
do nothing that would involve the
lives Of non-combatants or the safety
of neutral ships, even at the cost of
failing of their object Of capture or
destruction.
"It confidently expects, therefore,
that the Imperial German govern
ment will disavow the acts Of which
the government Of the United States
complains: that they will make re-
paration as far as reparation is pos
sible for injuries which are without
measures, and that they will take
immediate steps to prevent the recur-
renee of anything so obviously sub
versive of the principles of warfare
for which the Imperial German gov
ernment have in the past so wisely
and so firmly contended.
1.-THE government and people OF
the United States look to the I'm
perial German government for just,
prompt and enlightened action in
this vital matter with the greater
confidence because the United States
and Germany are bound together not
only by special ties Of friendship. but
also by the explicit stlpulat1ons OF the
treaty of 1925 between the United
"Expressions Of regret and offers
States and the kingdom Of Prussia.
of reparation in case Of the destruc-
ton of neutral ships sunk by mis-
take, while they may satisfy interna'
tional obligation if no loss of life
results, can not justify or excuse a
practi-e the natural and necessary
effect of which is to subject neutral
nations and neutral persons to new
and immeasurable risks.
"The Imperial German government
will not expect the government OF
the United States to omit any word
or act necessary to the performance
of it's sacred duty of maintaining the
rights Of the United States and its
citizens and of safeguarding their
free exercise and enjoyment.
Bryan"