462.11 T 41/17½
The Counselor for the Department of State
(Lansing)
to the Secretary of State
[Washington,]
April 5, 1915.
Dear Mr. Secretary: In compliance with the
President’s note to you of the 3rd, I have drafted a memorandum for an
instruction to Ambassador Gerard in the Thrasher case.
The tone of the instruction is not conciliatory, and the language is
plain almost to harshness. Probably it can be softened without weakening
it.
I feel this: If it is decided to denounce the sinking of the Falaba as an act indefensible legally and
morally, we will have to say so, and I do not see how we can say it in a
pleasant way. We are dealing with a tragedy. It seems to me that we must
assert our rights, condemn the violation and state the remedy which we
expect. If we do this without evincing a firm determination to insist on
compliance, the German Government will give little heed to the note and
may even show contempt for its weakness.
Furthermore, American public opinion will never stand for a colorless or
timid presentation of a case, in which an American has been killed by an
atrocious act of lawlessness.
If the note is weak or uncertain, it had better not be sent. The
situation does not seem to me to be one for compromise. We can not take
the position that Thrasher should have kept out of the war zone. To do
so would amount to an admission of Germany’s right to perform lawless
acts in that area. This would unquestionably arouse a storm of
criticism, and I think that it would be justified.
[Page 370]
On the other hand, the consequences of a strong, vigorous note may be
most momentous.
In spite of the critical situation which may result I do not see how we
can let the matter pass without protest.
As I said to you, I think that this case is pregnant with more sinister
possibilities than any with which the Government has had to deal. After
mature consideration from various points of view, I can not advise
against a firm demand, and yet I feel the gravest anxiety as to the
results of such a course. It by no means means war, but it means intense
hostility and the charge of open support of the enemies of Germany.
Faithfully yours,
[File copy not signed]
[Enclosure]
Draft Instruction to the Ambassador in
Germany (Gerard)17
The Government of the United States has received a report, confirmed
by substantial evidence, that Leon C. Thrasher, a native born
American citizen, came to his death by reason of the act of the
German naval authorities in sinking the British passenger steamer
Falaba on the high seas on the 28th of
March, 1915, outward bound from Liverpool, and the failure of the
commander of the German submarine U–28 to
give ample time for the crew and passengers of the Falaba to leave the vessel before sinking her by means of
torpedoes. It is further reported that, at the time when the Falaba was torpedoed and sunk, she was lying
to, making no attempt to escape and offering no resistance.
The circumstances of the sinking of the Falaba, by which Thrasher with scores of other non-combatants,
irrespective of age and sex, met their death, indicate a wantonness
and indifference to the rules of civilized warfare by the German
naval officer responsible for the deed, which are without palliation
or excuse. This is aggravated by the fact that the vessel was
departing from and not approaching British territory. So flagrant a
violation of international law and international morality requires
from a neutral government, whose citizen has been a victim of the
outrage, an unequivocal expression of its views as to such conduct
and as to the duty of the belligerent government, whose officers are
guilty of the violation.
[Page 371]
The Government of the United States considers that a United States
citizen is entitled to rely upon the practice, heretofore
universally observed by belligerent warships, of visiting and
searching merchant vessels of enemy as well as of neutral
nationality and of protecting the lives of their crews and
passengers whatever disposition may be made of the vessels and their
cargoes. No notice by a belligerent government that it intends to
depart from this practice within a certain area of the high seas can
deprive justly a neutral of his rights or relieve the government
disregarding those rights from full responsibility for the acts of
its naval authorities performed in accordance with such notice.
The Government of the United States is loth to believe that the
German Imperial Government authorized, much less directed, the
officers of the Imperial Navy to perpetrate acts as ruthless and
brutal as the sinking of the Falaba before
her helpless crew and passengers had been removed, or that that
Government will pass over the offense without condemnation and
permit the offenders to remain unpunished.
The Government of the United States, in view of the death of a United
States citizen through the wanton act of an officer of the German
Imperial Navy, which was in direct violation of the principles of
humanity as well as of the law of nations, appeals earnestly to the
Imperial Government to disavow the act, to punish the perpetrator,
and to make just reparation for the death of Leon C. Thrasher.
It is with extreme reluctance and with a full appreciation of the
exceptional conditions, in which Germany is placed in the present
war, that the Government of the United States makes these
representations and presents this appeal to the justice and humanity
of the Imperial Government. This Government owes a duty to itself,
to its citizens, and to civilization, which is imperative and which
it cannot as a sovereign power ignore. No other course, consonant
with its dignity, is open to it. Were the rights at stake those
which relate to property, it might continue to show that patience
and forbearance which it has manifested so often during the progress
of this deplorable conflict, but when a United States citizen is
killed through an act of lawlessness and cruelty, committed under
the orders of a commissioned officer of the German Imperial Navy,
and other citizens are threatened with a like fate if they continue
to exercise their just rights, this Government can not remain
silent. It sincerely hopes that the Imperial Government, recognizing
the justice of these representations, will promptly disavow the act
complained of and take the steps necessary to prevent its
repetition.
