File No. 763.72111Em1/1
The German Ambassador (Bernstorff) to the Secretary of State
Washington December 15, 1914.
[Received December 16.]
J. No. A 2985]
Mr. Secretary of State: The position taken by the Government of the United States as to the delivery of coal and other necessaries to warships of the belligerent states constituting a violation of neutrality is, in the opinion of the Imperial German Government, untenable in international law. The Imperial Government has set forth its position on this point in a memorandum which, incompliance with instructions, I have the honor to forward to your excellency.
The Imperial Government indulges the hope that the Government of the United States, upon perusal of the memorandum will concur in the view of the Imperial German Government and, within the limits indicated in the memorandum, will grant free clearance to vessels supplying German warships with coal. I should be thankful to your excellency for a communication in this respect.
Accept [etc.]
[Enclosure—Translation]
memorandum
[Page 647]Under the general principles of international law no exception can be taken to neutral estates letting war material go to Germany’s enemies from or through their territory. This is in accordance with Article 7 of the Hague conventions of October 18, 1907, concerning the rights and duties of neutrals in naval and land war. If, however, a state avails itself of that liberty in favor of our enemies, then it must, in accordance with a rule generally accepted in international law and confirmed in Article 9 of the two conventions above cited, place no obstacle to the German military force procuring contraband from or through its territory.
The neutrality declaration of the United States takes this construction into full account when it allows contraband of war to be delivered equally to all belligerents.
All persons may lawfully and without restriction by reason of the aforesaid state of war manufacture and sell within the United States arms and ammunitions of war and other articles ordinarily known as contraband of war.
The public declaration of the State Department of the United States of October 15, 1914, on the subject of neutrality and contraband, gave the widest acceptation to the above-stated principle.1
In spite thereof, various American port authorities have denied clearance from American ports to vessels of the merchant marine seeking to convey needed supplies or fuel to German warships either on the high seas or in ether neutral ports.
According to the principles of international law above cited, a neutral state need not prevent furnishing supplies of this character nor may it after allowing the adversaries to be furnished with contraband, either detain or disable a merchant ship carrying such a cargo. Only if contraband trade should turn the ports into bases of German military operations, would the unilateral stoppage of the trade of those vessels become a duty. Such perhaps, would become the case if German coal depots were established in the ports, or if the vessels called at a port in regular voyages on the way to German naval forces. But it stands to reason that an occasional sailing of one merchant vessel with coal or supplies for German warships does not turn a neutral port into a German base in violation of neutrality.
Our enemies draw from the United States contraband of war, especially arms, worth several billions of marks. This in itself they are authorized to do. But if the United States prevents our warships from occasionally drawing supplies from its ports, a great injustice grows out of the authorization, for it would amount to an unequal treatment of the belligerents and constitute a breach of the generally accepted rules of neutrality to Germany’s detriment.