851.857 Su 8/54½a
Draft Instructions to the Ambassador in Germany (Gerard)23
You are instructed to deliver to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs a note reading as follows:
On March 24, 1916, at two-fifty p. m. the unarmed steamer Sussex, with three hundred and fifty to four hundred passengers on board, among whom were a number of American citizens, was torpedoed in the English Channel en route from Folkestone to Dieppe. Eighty of the passengers, which consisted of non-combatants of all ages and sexes, were killed or injured.
A searching and impartial investigation by officers of the United States has established conclusively that the vessel was torpedoed without warning or summons to surrender, and that the torpedo was launched by a German submarine.
The attack upon the Sussex, like the attacks made upon the Englishman, Manchester Engineer, Eagle Point and other steamers of belligerent and neutral nationalities, was contrary to the rules of civilized warfare and in violation of those principles of humanity which enlightened nations respect in conducting hostile operations on the high seas.
The Government of the United States has been forced to the conclusion, by evidence of the most convincing character, either that the explicit assurances heretofore given to it by the Imperial Government as to the employment of undersea craft in intercepting enemy and neutral commerce have been violated by German submarine commanders with the knowledge and acquiescence of the Imperial Government, or that that Government in recently issuing orders to its submarines to renew their activities did so with the intention of ignoring the assurances given.
Whichever of these alternatives is the fact is immaterial, for in either case the Imperial Government has, through its naval authorities, broken its solemn pledge to the Government of the United States and resorted to a method of warfare which invites the condemnation of the civilized world. The Government and the people of the United States have viewed with abhorrence this policy of wanton and indiscriminate slaughter of helpless men, women and children traversing the high seas in the enjoyment of their recognized rights, and it justly resents the breach of faith, of which the Imperial Government is guilty in thus renewing an inhuman and illegal practice which it had expressly agreed to abandon.
For a century the tendency of the nations has been to ameliorate the human suffering which is the inevitable consequence of war. By treaties, by declarations, and by common usage non-combatants have been more and more protected in their lives and property from the horrors incidental to conflicts between nations. The spirit of modern civilization revolts against needless cruelty and the wanton destruction of human life. The present conduct of submarine warfare by Germany is hostile to this spirit; it is a reversion to that barbarism which took no thought for human life and which caused the innocent [Page 541] and defenseless to suffer even more grievously than those who bore arms.
In its first note in regard to the sinking of the Lusitania,24 the Government of the United States expressed the opinion that it was impossible for a submarine to conduct operations against the commerce of an enemy and conform to the laws of naval warfare and to the principles of humanity. The Government of the United States, though subject to the greatest provocation to adopt severe measures against the Government which had permitted and which defended the lawless act of its submarine commander, conducted its negotiations with a restraint and patience which evinced its earnest desire to obtain by amicable means a settlement which would make amends for the past and guarantee humane conduct for the future. As the negotiations progressed, the Government of the United States became increasingly hopeful that the Imperial Government would recognize the illegality of the sinking of the Lusitania and prevent a repetition of the outrage by its submarine commanders. The recent operations of German submarines, which have been carried on with the same brutal indifference to the right of life as was exhibited in the case of the Lusitania, has destroyed this hope and proved that the patience and restraint of the Government of the United States have been in vain, while the moderation shown appears to have been misconstrued by the Imperial Government.
The opinion, which the Government of the United States expressed in the note, to which reference has been made, as to the impossibility of legally and humanely employing submarines as commerce destroyers, has become a settled conviction. The course, upon which Germany has now entered, can no longer be tolerated, and a Government, which permits such practices, is no longer entitled to continue its intercourse with other Governments which regard the rules of international law and the principles of humanity as binding upon all belligerents.
In view of the manifest intention of the Imperial Government to continue this lawless and inhuman method of warfare it becomes, therefore, my solemn duty to inform your Excellency that the Government of the United States is compelled to sever diplomatic relations with the Imperial German Government until such time as that Government shall announce its purpose to discontinue and shall actually discontinue the employment of submarines against commercial vessels of belligerent as well as of neutral nationality.
I am, therefore, instructed to request my passports and directed to depart from Germany without delay; and I am further instructed to announce to your Excellency that the German Ambassador at Washington will forthwith be handed his passports and requested to take his immediate departure from the United States.25
In view of the manifest purpose of the Imperial Government to prosecute relentlessly submarine warfare against commercial vessels, without regard to legal right or the dictates of humanity, the Government of the United States is compelled to announce its intention [Page 542] to sever diplomatic relations with Germany unless the Imperial Government declares unconditionally that it will abandon its purpose and no longer employ its submarines against vessels of commerce.
- This paper bears the notation: “Original handed to Prest for his consideration 2:30 pm April 6/16. RL.” See also footnote 34, p. 546.↩
- Note of May 13, 1915, Foreign Relations, 1915, supp., p. 393.↩
- The paragraph which follows is appended, apparently intended as an alternative to the penultimate paragraph of the draft instructions.↩