Arizona republican., 1916-02-11

by John w Preston, United States district attorney, and included the alleged directors of the plots
 Mir. Ropp and other official mem- bers of the German consulate were not indicted in the first returns last fall, It the suggestion of Washing ton officials, it was said. The de- cision to prosecute all concerned was reported to have been reached more than month ago.
 Hilary cruisers of other powers. These lines, however were not to assume thereby the capture of auxiliary cruisers.
 The government was Willing to place at the disposal of the con- panies owning these ships necessary guns, adequate ammunition and per sonnel suitable for training gun crews
 The English companies already acted on the requests of the admir- 9lty. The president of the Royal Mail steam Packet Company, Sir Owen Philipps could inform the stockholders of his company in May. 1913, that the company's large steam CTS had been equipped with guns The British admiralty further pub lished in January, 19l4,' a list show ing that 20 steamers of various Eng fish lines carried stern guns. Tn fact. Germany established soon after the outbreak of the war that ! English liners were armed For ex- ample, the steamer La Correntina, of the Houlder line of Liverpool which was captured by the German auxil- iary cruiser Kronprinz F'reiderich i Wilhelm. carried two four pounders. | seven inch stern guns. A German submarine also was fired upon in the channel by an English yacht. i "II Regarding character of armed
 merchantmen according to interna- tional law: The British government 1 for it's own merchantmen has taken the standpoint that such ships main ttain the character of peaceful mer- cantile vessels so long as they carry armament only for defensive pur- i poses. Tn" British ambassador at i Washington accordingly gave the American government in a commun- cation dated August 25. 1911, lex hibit 2D. most sweeping assurances ! that British merchantmen were never
 armed for purposes of offense, only defense and that they therefore
 would never fire unless fired upon
 first
 The British government on the
 in, 1T. af ships under other flags adopted the principle that they Were to be treat
 ed as Warships and expressly ordered
 in the prize court rules published il ian order in council August ,, 1914 under number 1. order l, that z ship of war shall include an armed
 ship.
 The German government has nc
 doubt that merchantmen acquire {
 belligerent character through armins with cannon. no matter whether th' guns shall serve only for defense oI for attack. It considers every war , like activity of enemy merchantmel las contrary to international law. al
 though it also takes into consider iation the opposing view through th' fact that it treats the crews of sucl ships not as pirates but as belliger | tents.
 . Its standpoint is specific in detail il
 a memorandum communicated October
 1914, to the American government an'
 to other neutral powers regarding th
 treatment of armed merchantmen il neutral harbOrs. Appendix B.
 The neutral powers ill part hav adopted the British view and accord
 ingly have allowed armed merchant men of belligerenf powers to remain il their borders and roadsteads not re stricted to the limits which they hay = imposed on warships by their neutral | ity declaration. Some, however hay = adopted the opposition standpoint an r subjected merchantmen of the bellig erents to the neutrality rules effectiv
 in the case of warships
 [ III.-m the course of the war tn l arminS of British merchantmen wa T carried out more and more generally 9 Numerous cases came to light from th s reports of the German naval force: [ in which British merchantmen nc r only offered armed resistance to Ger
 man warships, but on their own pal
 proceeded without further ado to at
 tack them, in which attacks they fire - -lquently made use of false colors. q "A compendium of such cases : given in appendix four which, from tn n nature of the case can comprise only = part of the attacks actually made. Tn I comepndium also shows that the de : scribed procedure was not limited { Q English merchantmen, but was initiate
 by merchantmen of England's allie .- The explanation of the describe if procedure of armed English merchant
 men is contained in confidential ir strnctions of the British admiralt h which are photographically reproduce . in appendices [ to II found by Germa n naval forces upon captured shi C Thece instructions relate in detail al ,e tillery attacks of English merchantmt 70 upon German submarines. They COT
 tain precise regulations concerning Il l. reception, treatment, activity and col nc trol of British gun crews taken ov,