New Britain herald., 1916-04-19
STAND IRREVOCABLE
 WILSON SAYS AS HE
 TALKS TO CONGRESS
Continued From First Page)

tions in these matters, upon which the government of the United States based 1 it's protest, is not of recent origin | or founded upon merely arbitrary l principles set up by convention. It l is based, on the contrary, upon man. 1 fest and imperative principles of hu- l manity and has long been established
 with the approval and by the express l assent of all civilized nations.
 Protest Unheeded.
 Notwithstanding the earnest protest 1 of our government, the Imperial Ger man government at once proceeded
 to carry out the policy it had an- l nounced. It expressed the hope that
 the dangers involved, at any rate the
 dangers to neutral vessels, would be reduced to a minimum by the in structions which it had issued to it's submarine commanders, and assured the government of the United States that it would take every possible pre-
 caution both to respect the rights of
 neurals and to safeguard the lives of
 non-combatants.
 What has actually happened in the
 year which has since elapsed has
 shown that those hopes were not jus tified those assurances in susceptible of being fulfilled. In pursuance of the policy of submarine warfare against the commerce of it's adver- saries, thus announced and entered upon by the Imperial German govern ment in despite of the solemn pro- test of this government, the com- manders of German undersea 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 way that has grown more and more ruth less, more and more indiscriminate as the months go by, less and less ob- servant of restraints of any kind; and have delivered their attacks without compunction against vessels of every nationality and bound upon every sort of errand.
 Passengers Given Poor Security.
 Vessels of neutral ownership, even vessels of neutral ownership bound from neutral port to neutral port have been destroyed along with vessels of belligerent ownership in constntly in creasing numbers. Some times mer-
 
 and summoned to surrender before being fired on or tOrpedOed; some times passengers or crews have been vouchsafed the poor security of being allowed to take the ships boats be- fore 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 1 hi oa,,f ct 1,ar has happened. Tragedy has followed ! tragedy on the seas in such fashion, l with such attendant circumstances, as l to make it grossly evident that war fare of such a sort, if warfare it be, cannot be carried on without the 1 most palpable violation of the dic- tates alike of right and of humanity. I the disposition and inten- ! ton of the imperial German govern ] ment, it has manifestly proved inn possible for it to keep such methods l of attack upon the commerce of it's l enemies within the bounds set by l either the reason or heart of mankind. !
 Armed Liners Issue.
 In February of the present year l the imperial German government in- formed this government and the other neutral governments of the world 1 that it had reason to believe that the l government of Great Britain had | armed all merchant vessels of British 1 ownership and had given them secret orders to attack any submarine of the enemy they might encounter upon the seas, and that the Imperial Ger man government felt justified in the in treating all armed ! of belligerent owner ship as auxiliary vessels of war, which it would have the right to destroy without warning.
 The law of nations has long recog- 1 nized the right of merchantmen to | carry arms for protection and to use 1 them to repel attack, though to use them in such circumstances, at their 1 own risk, but the Imperial German | government claimed the right to set 1 these understandings aside in cir l which it deemed extraor- 1 dinary. Even the terms in which 1t l announced it's purpose thus still fur 1 ther to relax the restraints it had 1 previously professed it's willingness l and desire to put upon the operations 1 of it's submarines carried the plain l implication that at least vessels which 1 were not armed would still be exempt l from destruction without warning and l that personal safety would be accord l ed their passengers and crews; but | even that limitation, if it was ever practicable to observe it, has in fact ] no check at all upon the ] destruction of ships of every sort.
 Promises, Just Promises
 Again and again the Imperial Ger man government has given this gov, ernment it's solemn assurances that at