Norwich bulletin., 1916-05-11
Germany Regrets
 Sinking of Sussel
NOTE RECEIVED PROMISING REP
 ARATIoN.
ADMITS RESPONSIBILITY
Says Commander of Submarine Ha, Been Punished-Expresses Headlines to Pay Adequate Indemnity to tn Injured American Citizens.


 Washington, May 10 - Germanv' new note acknowledging responsibiIj+1 Tor destruction of the Sussex. prorniss ing reparation and announcing bun, lshment of the submarine commando i was received late today at the sta+, department from Arnbassador GeTa I'd | The note, signed by Foreign Ministe. Non Jagow, and addressed to Ambas, | saoor Gerard, is dated May 8. ant me ambassadors cablegram transmit ting 1t May g. The text follows: Text of Note.
 l Supplementing his note of the All instant, concerning the conduct of th, german submarine warfare, the under. 1 signed has the honor to inform his ex. ceIency, the American ambassador MT James W. Gerard, that the furtbeI investigation made by the German l naval authorities concerned, in regart 1 to the French steamship Sussex- oT 1 the basis of the American material l mas been concluded in the meantime i In conformity with the result of thi, | investigation, the assumption expressed | m the note of the undersigned of the l IOth ultimo, that the damage of the 1 sussex was to be traced back to 2 cause other than the attack of a Ger. man submarine, cannot be maintained
 Facts About the Sussex.
 Such an assumption has to be ar. | rived at with certainty from the ma l terlal in the possession of the German 1 government, for itself and without further knowledge of the circum. stances connected with the tornedoine | or the Sussex, the more so as apar1 | from the points enumerated in the note | or the 10th ultimo, the following facts had come to the attention of the ad-
 nlraIty stan of the navy through re-
 
 1 proximately at the-s same time as the | sussex, an auxiliary w2rship, left the port Of Folkestone with a large trans port of British infantry on board: on l the same day a transport steamer was | torpeCoed in the channel; a few min utes preceding the explosion on the l Sussex she had passed through a mass or snip wreckage, which created the impression that a ship had sunk al that spot shortly before. All these facts justified the conclusion that the only case of torpedoing which could be considered under the circumstances had struck the British war vessel whereas the Sussex had met with an
 Admits Submarine Sank Sussex.
 However, on the basis of the Amer lcan material, the German government cannot withhold it's conviction that the ship torpedoed by the German subma- rine is in fact identical with the Sus- sex, for, in accordance with this ma ter1al, the place, the time and the ef- feet of the explosion by which the Sussex was damaged, agree in the es- sential details with the Statements of the German commander, so that there | can no longer be any question of the possibility of two independent occur l rences. An additional reason is con- st1tuted by the fact that officers of : the American navy found fragments of i an explosive in the hold of the Sussex which are described by them upon firm grounds as parts of a German torpedo. counter-Evidenee.
 Finally, the counter-evidence which was deducted in the note of the 10th ult1mo from the difference in appear ance of the vessel described by the , submarine commander and the only reproduction of the Sussex then avail able has proven to be untenabIe, in- 5 aSmuch as according to Q photograph Of the damaged Sussex now to hand the characteristic distinctions no longer existed at the time of the acci-
 dent: while the Sussex in this photo graph of the Daily Graphic enclosed in
 the note only carried one mast and : also showed the white gangway cus-
 tomary on passenger vessels on the
 level with the portholes, O. w. S., the t reproduction of the damaged Sussex l shows a second mast and a uniform dark color and thus approaches in he1
 outer appearance the description of the
 vessel as furnished by the submarine
 commander
 Commander Acted in Good Faith. 7 'In view of the general impression
 of all the facts at hand, the German
 government considers it beyond doubt f that the commander of the submarine . acted in the bona fide belief that he f was facing an enemy warship. On the f other hand, it cannot be denied that
 misled by the appearance of the yes.
 sel, under the pressure of the circum. I | stances he formed his judgment too = hurriedly in establishing her character and did not therefore act fully in ac. : cordance with the Instructions whict
 called upon him to exercise particular
 care.
 J Sincere Regret Expressed. 3 'Tn view of these circumstances, tn, 1 German government frankly admits t that the assurance given to the Ameri
 can government, in accordance witl | which passenger vessels were not {, 0 be attacked without warning. has no s been adhered to in the present case n As was intimated by the undersignet o in the note of the 4th instant tn = German government does not hesitat
 to draw from this resultant conse
 quences. It therefore expresses to th g American government it's sincere re e gret regarding the deplorab1e incfden v and declares it's readiness to pay al # adequate indemnity to the injuret
 American citizens. It also disapprove
 of the conduct of the commander, wh e has been appropriately punished. l. Expressing the hope that tn d American government will consider tn l. case of the Sussex as settled by thes X statements, the undersigned avail
 himself of this occasion to renew t
 the ambassador the assurance of hi 1t highest consideration.
 > WON JAGow."