462.11 T 41/14a
The Secretary of State to President Wilson
My Dear Mr. President: In a note24 to you this afternoon I stated that Mr. Lansing would take your instructions to Old Point Comfort and prepare a tentative draft of note in the Thrasher case, during his stay there.
As I have not been able to reach the same conclusion to which you have arrived in this case I feel it my duty to set forth the situation as I see it. The note which you propose will, I fear, very much inflame the already hostile feeling against us in Germany, not entirely because of our protest against Germany’s action in this case, but in part because of its contrast with our attitude toward the Allies. If we oppose the use of the submarine against merchantmen we will lay down a law for ourselves as well as for Germany. If we admit the right of the submarine to attack Merchantmen but condemn their particular act or class of act as inhuman we will be embarrassed by the fact that we have not protested against Great Britain’s defense of the right to prevent foods reaching non-combatant enemies.
We suggested the admission of food and the abandonment of torpedo attacks upon Merchant vessels. Germany seemed willing to negotiate but Great Britain refused to consider the proposition. I fear that denunciation of one and silence as to the other will be [Page 379] construed by some as partiality. You do not make allowance for the fact that we were notified of the intended use of the submarine, or for the fact that the deceased knowingly took the risk of travelling on an enemy ship. I cannot see that he is differently situated from those who by remaining in a belligerent country assume risk of injury. Our people, will, I believe, be slow to admit the right of a citizen to involve his country in war when by exercising ordinary care he could have avoided danger.
The fact that we have not contested Great Britain’s assertion of the right to use our flag has still further aggravated Germany and we cannot overlook the fact that the sale of arms and ammunition, while it could not be forbidden under neutrality, has worked so entirely for the benefit of one side as to give to Germany—not justification but an excuse for charging that we are favoring the Allies. I have mentioned these things to show the atmosphere through which the Thrasher note will be received by Germany.
Believing that such a note as you propose is, under the conditions that now exist, likely to bring on a crisis, I venture to suggest an alternative, namely, an appeal to the nations at war to consider terms of peace. We cannot justify waiting until both sides, or even one side, asks for mediation. As a neutral we cannot have in mind the wishes of one side more than the wishes of the other side. The neutral nations have both rights and we are the neutral nation looked to to give expression to those.
Nearly nine months have passed since the war began, and after the expenditure of over ten billion dollars and the sacrifice of several millions of the flower of Europe the war is a draw. Surely the most sanguinary ought to be satisfied with the slaughter. I submit that it is this nation’s duty to make, not a secret but a public appeal for the acceptance of mediation. All the neutral nations would support the appeal—several have suggested it. Our own interests justify it—we may be drawn into the conflict if it continues. Our obligation to the neutral nations demand it. Our friendship to the nations at war requires it. They cannot reason calmly and neither side is in a position to ask for mediation. As the well-wisher of all we should act; as the leader in the peace propaganda we should act; as the greatest christian nation we should act—we cannot avoid the responsibility. The loss of one American, who might have avoided death, is as nothing compared with the tens of thousands who are dying daily in this “causeless war.” Is it not better to try to bring peace for the benefit of the whole world than to risk the provoking of war on account of one man? We cannot foresee the result of such an appeal as you can make, but if it is right to do it, [Page 380] there ought not to be lacking the faith to try. You have such an opportunity as has not come to any man before. I most earnestly urge you to make the appeal.
With assurances [etc.]
- Not found in Department files.↩