The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-05-14

/ perial German government whlcl
| will correct the unfortunate impres
| sions which have been created an,
vindicate once more the position o
that government with regard to The
sacred freedom of the seas.
The government of the United
States has been apprised that the i'm
perial German government consider
ed themselves to be obliged by the eN
traordinary circumstances of the pres
ent war and the measures adopted by
their adversaries in seeking to cut
Germany off from all commerce, to
adopt methods of retaliation which
20 much beyond the ordinary meth.
ods of warfare at sea, in the procla-
nation of a war zone from which
they have warned neutral ships to
keep away. This government has al
ready taken occasion to inform the
imperial German government that it
cannot admit the adoption of such
measures or such warning Of dang
er to operate as in any degree an alb
breviation of the rights of American
shipmasters or of American citizens
bound on lawful errands as passen-
gers on merchant ships of bellgerent
nationality; and that it must hold
the imperial German government to
a strict accountability of any in
fringement of those rights, intention
al or incidental.
1t does not understand the imperial
German government to question
those rights. 1t assumes, on the con
trary, that the imperial government
accept, as of course. the rule that
the lives of noncombatants, whether
they be of neutral citizenship or citi.
zens of one of the nations at war, can
not lawfully or rightfuly be put in
jeopardy by the capture or destruc
ton of an unarmed merchantman,
and recognize also, as all other ma
tions do the obligation to take the
usual precaution of visit and search
TO ascertain whether a suspected mer
chantInan is in fact of belligerent ma
tionality or is in fact carrying contra
band of war under neutral flag.
The government OF the United
States, therefore, desires to call the
attention of the imperial German gov
ernment with the utmost earnestness
to the fact that the objection to their
present method of attack against the
trade of their enemies lies in the
practical impossibility of employing
submarines in the destruction of com
merce without disregardlng those
rules of fairness. reason. justice and
humanity which all modern opinion
regards as imperative. II is practi-
cally impossible for the officers of a
submarine to visit a merchantmen at
sea and examine her papers and car
60 1t is practically impos-
sible for them to make prize
merchantmen at sea and examine her
papers and cargo. 1t is practically
impossible for them to make a prize
of her, and if they cannot put a prize
crew on board of her they cannot
sink her without leaving her crew
and all on board of her to the mercy
of the sea in her small boats.
These facts, it is understood, the
imperial German government frankly
admit. We are informed that in the
instances of which we have spoken,
time enough for even that poor meas
ure OF safety was not given. and in at
least two of the cases cited not so
so much as warning was received.
Manifestly submarines cannot be
used against merchantmen, as the
last few weeks have shown, without
an inevitable violation of many sacr-
ed principles of justice and humanity.
American citizens act within their
indisputable rights in taking their
ships and in travelling wherever their
Legitimate business calls them upon
the high seas, and exercise those
rights in what should be the we'll
justified confidence that their lives
will not be endangered by acts done
in clear violation of universally ac-
knowledged international obligations,
and certainly in the confidence that
their own government will sustain
them in the exercise of their rights
There was recently published in
the newspapers of the United States,
regret to inform the imperial Ger
man government, formal warning,
purporting to come from the imperial
German embassy at Washington, ad-
dressed to the people of the United
States. and stating, in effect, that
any citizen of the United States who
exercised his right to free travel upon
the seas 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.
/ 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
a 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 M warming that an mia wful apd