The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-20

TIpe Secretary of State to Ambassador
 Gerard:
 You are instructed to deliver to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs a com 1nunication reading as follows:
 did not fail to transmit imne- diately, by telegraph, to my govern raent Your Exce11encys note of the 10th instant in regard to certain at tacks byAGerman submarines, and par ticu1arIy in regard to the disastrous explosion which on March 24 last, wrecked the French steamship Sussex in the English Channel. have now the honor to deliver under fnstruc- tions from my government, the fol- lowing reply to- Your Excellency:
 Information now in the possession of the government of the United states fully establishes the facts in the case of the Sussex, and the inference which my government has drawn from that information it regards as confirmed by the circurn stances set forth in our ExceIlency'S note of the 10th instant On the 24th of March, 1916, at about 2 25SO o'clock in the afternoon, the un- armed steamer Sussex, with 325 or more passengers on board, among whom were a number of American citizens, was torpedoed while crossing from Folkestone to Dieppe. The Sus- sex had never been armed; was a. ves- se1 known to be habitua11y used only
 
 across the English Channel; and was not following the route taken by troop ships or supply ships. About 80 of her passengers, noncombatants of all ages and sexes, including citizens of the United States, were killed or in jured.
 A careful, detailed and scrupulous- Iy Impartial investigation by naval and military officers of the United States has conclusively established the fact that the Sussex was torpedoed without warning or summons to surrender, and that the torpedo by which she was struck was of Gern1ant manufacture. 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. It now considers that conclusion substantiated by the state merats of Your Excel1ency's s note. A full statement of the facts upon which the government of the United States has based its conclusion is incloSed.
 The government of the United States after having given careful Nconsidera- ton to the note of the Imperial gov ernment of the 10th of April, regrets to state that the impression made upon it by the statements and pro- posaIs 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 sub marine warfare as disclosed by the unrestrained practice of the command CTS of German undersea craft during the past twelve-Inonth and more in the indiscriTninafe destruction of Tner- chant vessels of all sorts, snatiOnaliIeS, and destinations. If the sinking of the Sussex had been an isolated case the government of the United States
 might find it possible to hope that the officer who was responsible for that act had wil1fu1ly violated his orders or had been criminal1y negligent in taking none of the precautions they prescribed, and that the ends of jus tice might be satisfied by imposing upon him an adequate punishment, coupled with formal disavowal of the tact and payment of a suftablel in dennity by the Imperial government. Bl1t though the attack upon the Sus-s sex was manifestly indefensible and caused a loss of life so tragical as to
 make it stand forth as one of the most terrible examples of the inf1umanity of submarine warfare as the conn manders of German vessels are con- ducting it, it unhappiIy does not stand alone.
 On the contrary, the government of the United States is forced by recent events to conclude that it is only one instance, even though one of the most extreme and most distressing in- stances, of the deliberate method and spirit of indiscriIninate destruction Of merchant vessels of all sorts, nation alftfes, and destinations which have become more and Lore unmistakable- as the activity of German undersea vessels of war has in recent months been quickened and extended.
 The Imperial government will recall that when, in February, 1915, it an nounced its intention of treating the waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland as embraced within the seat of war and of destroying all merchant ships owned by it's enemies that might be found within that zone of danger, and warned all vessels neutral as well as be1lfgerent, to keep out of the wa ters thus prescribed or to enter them at their peril, the government of the United States earnestly protested It took the position that such a policy could not be pursued without constant gross and palpable violations of the | accepted law of nations, particulars, if submarine craft were to De employed as its instruments, inasmuch as the rules prescribed by that law rules founded bhe principles of human ity and established for the protection or the lives of non-eorn batants at sea | uoning hin,-told of a man '