Middletown transcript., 1916-04-29

"a 40 oOFSISdA1SbJ IuuS dHuOuuC0O duO
entered upon by the Imperial German
Government in desuite of the solemn
protest OF this government, the com
mander Of German under-sea vessels
have attacked merchant ships with
greater and greater activity, not only
upon the high seas surrounding Great
Britain and Ireland, but wherever they
could encounter them, in a way that
has grown more and more ruthless,
more and more discriminate as the
months have gone by, less and less
observant of restraints Of any kind;
and have delivered their attacks with
out compunction against vessels Of
every nationality and bound upon
every sort Of errand.
Sank Neutral Ships.
Even vessels of neutral ownership
bound from neutral port to neutral
port, have ben destroyed along with
vessels Of belligerent ownership in
constantly increasing numbers. Some
times the merchantmen attacked has
been warned and summoned to surren-
der before being fred on or torpedoed,
sometimes passengers or crews have
been couehsafed the poor security Of be-
ing allowed to take to the ships boats
before she was sent to the bottom. But
| again and again no warning has been
given, no escape even to the ships
boats allowed to those on board. What
this government foresaw must happen
| has happened.
Tragedy followed tragedy on the
seas in such fashion, with such attend
ant circumstances as to make 1t gross
ly evident that warfare Of such sort,
II warfare 1t be, cannot be carried on
without the most palpable violation
Of the dictates alike of right and Of
humanity Whatever the disposition
and intention Of the imperial govern
ment, it has manifestly proved impos-
stble for it to keep such methods of
attack upon the commerce Of its
enemies within the bounds set by
either the reason OF the heart of man
kind
In February of the present year the
Imperial German Government inform
ed this government and the other neu
trail governments Of the world that it
had reason to believe that the govern
ment Of Great Britain had armed all
merchant vessels of British ownership
and had given them secret orders to
attack any submarine of the enemy
they might encounter upon the seas, |
and that the Imperial German Govern |
ment felt justified in the circumstances |
in treating all armed merchantmen of |
belligerent ownership as auxiliary YES
sells of war, which it would have the |
right to destroy without warning.
Stand On Armed Ships.
THE law of nations has long rec
ognized the right Of merchantmen to
carry arms for protection and to use
them to repel attack, though to use
them in such circumstances at their
own risk; but the Imperial German
Government claimed the right to set
these understandings aside in circum-
stances which it deemed extraordinary
Even the terms in which 1t announced
its purpose thus still further to relax
the restraints II had previously pro-
fessed it's willingness and desire to put
upon the operations of its submarines
carried the plain implication that at
least vessels which were not armed
would still be exempt from destruction
without warning and that personal safe
ty would be accorded their passengers
and crews; but even that limitation,
if 1t was ever practicable to observe
it, has in fact constituted no check at
all upon the destruction of ships of
every sort.
Again and again the Imperial Ger
man Government has given this gov
ernment its solemn assurances that at
least passenger ships would not be
thus dealt with, and yet It has again
and again permitted its undersea com
to disregard those assurances
with entire impunity. Great liners
like the Lusitania and the Arabic and
mere ferryboats like the Sussex have
! .
sometimes before they had :
even become aware that they were in
the presence OF an armed vessel of the
emmy, and the lives Of non-combatants,
and crew, have been sacri- :
iced wholesale in a manner which the
government of the United States can
not but regard as wanton and without
he slightest color of justification. No
INIT Of any kind has, in fact, been set
o the indiscriminate pursuit and de-
itruction Of merchantmen of all kinds
md nationalities within the waters, I
extending in area, where t
hese operations have been carried on; t
ind the roll Of Americans who have
ost their lives on ships thus attacked a
Ind destroyed has grown month by S
month until the ominous toll has t
mounted into the hundreds.
Sussex Destruction. I
One of the latest and most shock r
ng instances of this method of war
are was that of the destruction of the
french cross Channel steamer Sussex.
t must stand forth, as the sinking of !,
he steamer Lusitania did, as so sin
'Ularly tragical and unjustifabIe as to
Constitute truly terrible example of
he inhumanity of submarine warfare Il
IS the commanders of German vessels
AVE for the past IL months been con-
ucting it. If this instance stood d
lone, some explanation, some dis Il
YOWal hX the German unrnrnnnon4 n