Norwich bulletin., 1916-04-20

Washington, April 19-The text of the American note to Germany, sign ed by Secretary Lansing and addressed to Ambassador Gerard at Berlin, fol- lows:
 Full Text of the Note.
 You are instructed to deliver to the secretary of foreign affairs a commit nication reading as follows:
 I did not fail to transmit immedi etely by telegraph, to my government, Your Excellency's note of the tenth instant In regard to certain attacks by German submarines and particular ly in regard to the disastrous explo sion which on March A last wrecked the French steamship Sussex in the English channel. have now the honor to deliver, under instructions from my government, the following reply to Your EXCellency
 Facts Established in Case of Sussex.
 Information now in the possession of the government of the United States fully establishes the facts in the case of the Sussex, and the in ferences which my government has drawn from that information it re- gards as confirmed by the circum stances set forth in Your Excellency's note of the tenth instant. On the 24th of March, 1916. at about 2.50 o'clock in the afternoon, the unarmed steam CT Sussex. with 325 or more passeng- CTS on board, among whom were a number of American citizens. was tor pedoed while crossing from Folke- stone to Dieppe. The Sussex had never been armed; was a vessel known to be habitually used only for the conveyance of passengers across the English channel; and was not ! following the route taken by troop ships or supply ships. About so of her passengers, non-combatants of all ages and sexes, including citizens of the United States. were killed or in jured
 Torpedoed Without Warning.
 A careful detailed and scrupulously impartial investigation by naval and military officials of the United States has conclusively established the fact that the Sussex was torpedoed with out warning or summons to surrend- CT and that the torpedo by which she was struck was of German manufac- ture. In view of the government of the United States these facts from the first made the conclusion that the tor pedo was fired by a German subma- rine unavoidable It now considers that conclusion substantiated by the statements of Your Excellency's note. : A full statement of the facts upon which the government of the United States has based it's conclusion is in closed.
 lnhumanity of Submarine Warfare.
 Tho government of the United States, after having given careful con- sideration to the note of the imperial government of the tenth of April. re- grets to state that the impression made upon it by the statements and proposals contained in that note is that the imperial government has failed to appreciate the gravity. of the situation 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 twelve months and more in the indiscriminate destruc- tion of merchant vessels of all sorts nationalities and destinations. If the sinking of the Sussex had been an iso- lated case the government of the United States might find it possible to hope that the officer who was re- sponsible for that act had wilfully vii plated his orders or had been crirnin ally negligent in taking none of the precautions they prescribed and that by imposing upon him an adequate punishment, coupled with a formal disavowal of the act and payment of a suitable indemnity by the imperial government. put, CnOuRn the attack upon the Sussex was manifestly inde- fensib1e and caused a loss of life sc tragical as to make it stand forth as one of the most terrible examples oI the inhumanity of submarine warfare as the commanders of German vessels are conducting 1t, it unhappily does not stand alone.
 Indiscriminate Destruction of Vessels
 On the contrary, the government ot the United States is forced by recent events to conclude that it is only one instance, even though one of the mos extreme and most distressing in. stances, of the deliberate method an6 spirit of indiscriminate destruction o1 fnere hant vessels of all sorts, nation. alities and destinations which have become more and more unmistakablt ss the activity of German underses vessels of war has in recent month; been quickened and extended.
 No Right to Close Any Part of the
 High Seas.
 The imperial government will recall that when, in February, 1915, it an. nounced it's intention of treating tn, waters surrounding Great Britain ana Ireland as embraced with the seat O. war and of destroying all merchan ships owned by it's enemies that migh be found within that zone of danger E--- V - -J ----------S .--