Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20

GU are instructed to deliver to the
secretary of foreign affairs a COM
munication reading as follows:
Il did not fail to transmit immed-
lately, by telegraph. to my government
your excellency's note Of the 10th in
slant in regard to certain attacks by
German submarines, and particularly
IN regard TO the disastrous explosion,
which on March "a last. wrecked the
French steamer Sussex in the English
channel
REVIEWS SHINING OF SUSSEX.
Il have now the honor to deliver.
under instructions from my govern
ment, the following reply to your ex-
cellency:
Information in the possession OF
the government of the United States
fully establishes the facts in the case
Of the Sussex, and the differences
which my government has drawn from
that information it regards as con-
tirmed by the circumstances set forth
in your excellency's note of the 10Th
instant
"On the Gath of March, 1916, at
about $50 o'clock in the afternoon.
the unarmed steamer Sussex, with 1926
or more passengers on board, among
whom were number of American cit
liens, was torpedoed while crossing
from Folkestone to Dieppe.
The Sussex had never been armed;
was vessel known to be habitually
used only for the conveyance of pas
sengers across the English channel.
and was not following the route taken
by troop ships or supply ships. About
eighty Of the passengers, noncombat-
ants of all ages and sexes. including
citizens of the United States, were
killed or injured.
"A careful, detailed and scrupu-
lous impartial investigation by naval
and military officers of the United
States has conclusively established the
fact that the Sussex was torpedoed
without warning or summons to sur
render, and that the torpedo by which
she was struck was Of German manu-
facture. In the view of the govern
! ment of the United States these facts
from the first made the conclusion
, that the torpedo was fired by a Ger
man submarine unavoidable. 1t now
considers that conclusion substantial
ed by the statements of your excel
lency's note. A full statement of the
fno Oh,
the United States has based it's con-
clusiOn is inClosed.
ATTACKS EXTEND TO NEUTRALS.
The government of the United
States, after having given careful con-
/ sideration to the note of the imperial
government of the 10th of April, re-
grets to state that the impression made
upon it by the statements and pro-
pOsals contained in that note is that
the imperial government has failed
to appreciate the gravity of the situa-
ton which has resulted. not alone
from the attack on the Sussex. but
from the whole method and character
of submarine warfare as disclosed by
the unrestrained practice of the COM
manders of German undersea craft
during the past u months. and more
in the indiscriminate destruction of
merchant vessels of all sorts, nation
alities and destinations.
/ IF the sinking of the Sussex had
been an isolated case the government
4 oicrI, nd
sible to hope that the officer who was
responsible for that act had wilfully
violated his orders or had been Grim
| inally negligent in taking none of the
precautions they prescribed, and that
| the ends of justice might be satisfied
by imposing upon him an adequate
punishment, coupled with formal
disavowal of the act and payment of a
suitable indemnity by the imperial
government.
/ But, though the attack upon the
! Sussex was manifestly indefensible,
and caused a loss of life so tragical as
| TO make it stand forth as one of the
most terrible examples of the inhu-
mainly of submarine warfare as the
commanders of German vessels are
conducting it, it unhappily does not
stand alone.
"On the contrary, the government OF
events to conclude that it is only one
/ instance, even though one of the most
| extreme and most distressing instan-
| ces. of the deliberate method and spir-
| it of indiscriminate destruction OF
/ merchant vessels of all sorts, nation
alities, and destinations which have
become more and more unmistakable
as the activity of German undersea
| vessels of war has in recent months
been quickened and extended.
CITES FIRST PROTEST MADE.
The imperial government will re-
/ call that when, in February, 1915, il
announced its intention of treating the
waters surrounding Great Britain and
Ireland as embraced within the seat
of war and of destroying all mer-
chant ships owned by its enemies that
might be found within that zone OF
danger and warned all vessels, neu-
trail as well as belligerent, to keep
out of the waters thus prescribed, or
to enter them at their peril, the gov
eminent of the United States earnestly
protested.
1T took the position that such pol
lev could not be pursued without cor
slant, gross, and palpable violations Oh
tho accented law OF nations, partic-