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  4. Document 218

763.72112/126

The Acting Secretary of State to President Wilson

Washington , September 27, 1914.

Dear Mr. President: I am sorry to disturb you today, but I think it very desirable that the enclosed instruction to Mr. Page at London,1 if it meets with your approval, should go forward by tomorrow’s pouch, which closes at 2 P. M.

The subject of the instruction, namely the proposal to make the Declaration of London2 the law of naval warfare for the present conflict as modified by a British Order in Council,3 required careful consideration and considerable research before we took a definite position. As a result delay in instructing Mr. Page was unavoidable, although every day’s delay was to be regretted.

I hope, therefore, that you will find it possible to examine the papers enclosed so that, if you approve, the instruction may be sent in tomorrow’s pouch. Otherwise it will postpone the transmittal four or five days.

I cannot but feel that the action of the British Government calls for unqualified refusal of this Government to acquiesce in its legality and that our objections should be clearly and firmly stated.

The British Order in Council will suggest to you, I think, the obnoxious Orders in Council of the Napoleonic Wars, and will, if its provisions are called to public attention in this country, cause severe criticism in the press.

I inclose in addition to the instruction copies of (A) Mr. Page’s dispatch enclosing the Order in Council, and the memorandum of the Foreign Office,4 (B) the Articles in the Declaration of London which are modified by the Order,5 and (C) a pamphlet containing the Declaration itself, and the Report of the Drafting Committee. In addition to these documents I also inclose (D) a memorandum by Professor [Page 248] Eugene Wambaugh, and (E) a memorandum by the Joint State and Navy Neutrality Board.

If you think time would be saved by oral explanation of these papers, I can be summoned at any time by telephone as I will be either at the Department or at my residence.

Very sincerely yours,

Robert Lansing
  1. Foreign Relations, 1914, supp., p. 225.↩
  2. Ibid., 1909, p. 318.↩
  3. The Order in Council of Aug. 20, 1914; for text, see ibid., 1914, supp., p. 219.↩
  4. Ibid., p. 218.↩
  5. Enclosures B through E not printed.↩