Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-04-21
By RALPH SMITH.

WASHINGTON. April 2O.-Here is III
fun text of the note to Germany on sui
marine warfare
To John w. Gerard:
You are instructed to deliver to
the secretary of foreign a1alrs
communication reading as follows;
I did not fail to transmit imme-
diately. by telegraph, to my gov
eminent your eXcellency's note or
the 10th instant, in regard to GER
tain attacks by German submarines,
and particularly in regard to the
disastrous explosion 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:
Information now in the posses
sion of the government of the
United States fully establishes the
facts in the case of the Sussex and
the differences which my govern
ment has drawn from that informa-
ton il regards as confirmed by the
circumstances set forth in your
excelIency's note of the 10Th
instant.
On the gath of March, 1916, at
about ESQ o'clock in the after
noon, the unarmed steamer Sussex,
with 325 or more passengers on
board, among whom were number
of American citizens, was torpedoed
while crossing from Folkestone to
Dieppe.
The Sussex had never been armed;
was a vessel known to be habit
4 E@r he
ance of passengers across the
English channel, and was not fol-
lowing the route taken by troop
ships or supply ships.
u. S. CITIZENS KILLED.
About eighty of her passengers,
non-combatants, of all ages and
and sexes, including citizens of
the United States, were killed or
injured.
A careful, detailed and scrupu-
lousy impartial INVESTIGATION. by
naval and military officers of the
United States, has conclusively
established the fact that the Sus-
sex was torpedoed without warn
ing or summons to surrender, and
that the torpedo by which she was
struck was of German manufac-
ture.
In the view of the government Of
the United States, these facts from
the first made the conclusion that
the torpedo was fired by a German
submarine unavoidable.
1t 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
inclosed.
The government OF the United
States, after having given careful
consideration to the note of the
imperial government of the 10th of
April, regrets to state that the
impression made upon it by the
statements and proposals con-
tanned in that note is that the
imperial government has failed to
appreciate the gravity of the situa-
tion which has resulted, not alone
from the attack on the Sussex, but
from the whole method and char
acter of submarine warfare, as
disclosed by the unrestrained prac-
tice of the commanders of German
undersea craft during the past
twelve-month and more in the in
discriminate destruction of mer-
chant vessels of all sorts, nationali-
ties. and destinations.
NOT ISOLATED CASE.
If the sinking of the Sussex had
been an isolated case the govern
ment of the United States might
find il possible to hope that the
officer who was responsible for
that act had wilfully violated his
orders or had bene criminally neg
ligent in taking none of the precau-
tions they prescribed, and that the
ends of justice might be satisfied
by imposing upon him an adequate
punishment, coupled with a formal
disavowal of the act and payment
of a suitable indemnity by the i'm
periaI government.
But, though the attack upon the
Sussex was manifestly indefensible
ami caused Il loss of life so tragical
as to make it stand forth as one of
the most terrible examples of the
inhumanity Of submarine warfare as
the commanders of German vessels
are conducting it, it unhappily, does
not stand alone.
On the contrary, the governm ent
of the United States is forced by
recent events to conclude that il is
only one instance, even though one
of the most extreme and most dis
tressing instances, of the deliberate
method and spirit of indiscriminate