763.72/2271½
President Wilson to the Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I am quite clear that the position we should take, in conversations with the German Ambassador and in all future dealings with his government in regard to the matters in controversy between us, is
First, that the matter of the Lusitania is just as important and just as acute now as it was the day the news of her sinking arrived, and that a failure to secure a satisfactory settlement will disclose the same questions of future action that then lay in the background;
Second, that we now know, as a result of the various communications that have passed between that government and this, that the commander of the submarine which sank the Lusitania acted contrary to the instructions which had been given by the Imperial German Admiralty; and
Third, that we should regard a failure to settle this question in the same frank way that the sinking of the Arabic was settled would be little less than a repudiation of the assurances then given us and seem to lead back to the very crisis in our relations that was then so happily avoided.
I think the Ambassador cannot be too explicit with his government in this matter.
Is there anyone representing Austria here whom we could get to understand the seriousness of the Ancona affair? Or do you feel that you know enough of the facts?
Faithfully Yours,