New Britain herald., 1915-12-18
OFFICIAL TEXT 0F
 AUSTRIAN REPLY
To American Note on Ancona
 Made Public Today

Washington, Dec. 1S.-The full text of Austria's reply to the American note on the sinking of the Italian lin- CT Ancona, follows:
 American Embassy. Vienna,
 Dec. 15, 1915. Secretary of State, Washington:
 Foll lowing note received from min- ister foreign affairs at noon today.
 In reply to the much esteemed note number 4167, which his Excellency, Mr. Frederick Courtland Penfield, am- bassador extraordinary and plenlpo- tentiary of the American government under date of the ninth instant, in the matter of the sinking of the Italian steamer Ancona, the undersigned, pre- 1iminary to a thorough, meritorlOus treat of the demand, has the hon. or to observe that the sharpness with which the government of the United States considers it necessary to blame the commanding officer of the subma- rine concerned in the affair and the firmness in which the demand ad- dressed to the imperial and royal gov ernment appear to be expressed might we'll have warranted the expec- tation that the government of the United States should precisely specify the actual circumstances of the af- fairs upon which it bases it's case.
 Room For Doubts.
 As is not difficult to perceive, the presentation of the facts in the case in the aforesaid note leaves room for many doubts, and even if this presen- tation were correct in all points and the most rigorous legal conception were applied to the Judgement of the case it does not in any way sufficient 1y warrant attaching blame to the commanding officer of the war vessel or to the imperial and royal govern ment
 The government of the United States has also failed to designate the per- sons upon whose testimony it relies and to whom it apparently believes it may attribute higher degree or creditibility than to the commander of the imperial and royal fleet. The note also fails to give any information whatsoever as to the number, names, and more precise fate of the Ameri- can citizens who were on board of the said steamer at the critical mom- ent
 Exchange of Views.
 However, in view of the fact that the Washington cabinet has not made a positive statement to the effect that citizens of the United Sates of Amer ica came to grief in the incident in question, the imperial and royal gov- ernment Is in principle ready to enter into an exchange of views in the af- fair with the government of the United States. It must, however, m the first place, raise the question why that government failed to give ju- ridical reasons for the demands set forth in it's note with reference to the special circumstances of the merlin mating events upon which it itself lays stress, and why in lieu thereof it re- ferred it to an exchange of correspon- dence which it has conducted with an- other government in other cases.
 No Authentic Knowledge.
 The imperial and royal government is the less able to follow the Wash ington cabinet on this unsual path, since it by no means possesses au- thentic knowledge of all of the per- tinent correspondence of the govern ment of the United States. nor is 1t of the opinion that such knc SiedGl: might be sufficient for it in the pres ent case, which, in so far as it is in formed, is in essential points of an- other nature than the case or cases to which the government of the United States seems to allude. The imperial and royal government may therefore leave it to the Washington cabinet to formulate the particular points of law against which the com manding officer of the submarine is alleged to have offended on the oc- casion of the sinking of the Ancona.
 The government of the United States has also seen fit to refer to the attitude which the Berlin cabinet assumed in the above mentioned cor respondence. The imperial and roy al government finds in the much es- teemed note no indication whatever of the intent with which this refer ence was made. Should, however, the government of the United States thereby have intended to express an opinion to the effect that a prejudice of whatever nature existed for the imperial and royal government with l respect to the juridical consideration of the affair in question this govern Illo1e 11uoI, III ofueI IO preCluue pos 1 sible misunderstanding, declare that l as matter of course it reserves to 1 itself full freedom of maintaining its l own legal views in the discussion of ] the case of the Ancona.
 Deplores Fate of Victims. | In having the honor to have re- course to the kindness of His Fix cellency the Ambassador of the United States of America with the most re- spectful request to be good enough to communicate the foregoing to the American government and on this l occasion to state that the imperial and l royal government. in no less degree