New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1917-02-28
Walls OF Wrath
POURED ON. WILSON
Yon Bethmann-HollWeg Delivers
Diatribe Against America

| his address to the Reichstag yesterday
| Chancellor Won Bethmann-Hollweg,
after declaring that the successes OBJ
| tanned in the submarine warfare al
| ready had much surpassed the expec-
! tations Of the German navy, made a
| long staten ent regarding the break
ing off OF relations between Germany
and the United States. The chancel-
| Tor said: b..
! Zone step further than taken by
! European neutrals has been made
| as is known-by the United StateS of
America. President Wilson, after. re-
ceiving our note of January 81,
| brusquely broke off relations with u.s.
No authentic communication about
| the reasons which were given for his
| steps reached me. The former Unit
! ed States ambassador here in Berlin
communicated only in spoken words
! to the state secretary of the foreign
office Of breaking off relations and
| asked for his pa ssports. This form OF
| breaking off relations between great
| nations living in peace is probably
| without precedent in history.
"All official DOCUMENTS being lack
| ing, I am forced to rely upon doubt
| full sources--that Is, upon the Reuter-
| (news agency Offices version of the
| contents of the message sent by Pres
ident Wilson on February to con-
gress In this version the president
| Is reported to have said that our note
of January 81 suddenly and without
previous Indication Intentionally with
drew the solemn promises made in the
note of May, 1915.
ITO the United States government,
| therefore, no choice compatible with
dignity and honor was left other than
( the way which had been announced in
| her note Of April 20, 1916, covering
| the case If Germany should not want
| to give up her submarine method.
IF these arguments are correctly
reported by Reuter- then I must de-
| cidedly protest against them. For
| more than century friendly rela-
| tions between us and America have
| been carefully promoted. We hon
| ored them-as Bismarck once put it
| as an heirloom from Frederick the
| Great Both countries benefited by
! It, both giving and taking.
Alleges Discrimination.
"since the beginning Of the war
| things have changed on the other side
of the waters. Old principles, were
| overthrown. On August 81, 1913
during the Mexican troubles President
Wilson in a solemn message to con-
gress declared that he intended to
follow the best usage of international
law by prohibition of the supplying
! of arms to both Mexican parties at
war against each other One year
| later, in 1914, these usages apparent
| ly were no longer considered good.
countless materials Of war have
| tente, and while the right of the
| American citizen to travel without
hindrance to Entente countries and
| the right to trade without .hindrance
with France and England, even
through the midst of the battlefield,
! even the right of such trade as we had
| to pay for with German blood, while
| all these rights of American citizens
toward the Central Powers did not
seem to be as worthy Of protection
and as valuable.
| "They protested against some meas
ures of England which were contrary
| to International law, but they submit
| ted to them. Under conditions Of this
! kind objection as to lack Of respect
| makes a strange impression.
with equal decisiveness 1 must
protest against the objection that we
by the manner in which we withdrew
| the assurances given in the note of
! May offended the honor and dignity
| Of the United States. From the very
beginning we had openly and express
| ly declared that these assurances
! would be invalid under certain con-
| ditions."
| The Chancellor then recalled the
! last paragraph of the note Of Nav 4.
| 1916, which he read verbatim, the last
clause being: Should the steps talk
en- by the government Of the United
States not attain the object 1t desires.
| namely, to have the laws of humanity
| followed by all the belligerent nations.
the German government would then
be facing a new situation, in which
1t must reserve to itself complete lib
! erty Of decision"
| The chancellor then continued. Gas
| to the American answer given to the
German note it was so absolutely
contrary to what we in our note had
said clearly and without any possi
| bility of misunderstanding that a. re-
ply IN our part would have changed
nothing as to the standpoints main
tanned by both sides. But nobody
even In America could doubt that
already long ago the conditions were
fulfilled upon which, according to our
declaration, depended our regaining
full liberty of decision.
Foe Not Restricted by Law.
England did not abandon the iso-
lation of Germany. but. on the con-
trary, intensified 1t in the most reck-
less fashion. Our adversaries were
not made to respect the principles Of
| q q oixyarS
niZed before the war nor made to
follow the laws Of humanity. The
freedom of the seas which America
wanted to restore in cooperation
with us during the war has been still
| more com pletelY DESTROYED h1r