File No. 763.72112/478
The Ambassador in Austria-Hungary (Penfield) to the Secretary of State
Vienna, November 20, 1914.
[Received December 15.]
No. 239]
Sir: Upon the request of the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Office, November 17, 1914, I have the honor to transmit herewith enclosed a memorandum, with translation, concerning the attitude assumed by Great Britain and France in regard to the Declaration of London relative to the laws of maritime warfare.
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure—Translation]
Memorandum of the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Office concerning the attitude assumed by Great Britain and France in regard to the Declaration of London relative to the laws of maritime warfare
By an order in council of August 20, 1914, the British Government declared itself willing to observe, during the present war, the provisions of the Declaration of London of February 26, 1909, relative to the laws of naval warfare, at the same time introducing certain additions and modifications, and expressed the intention of giving to these provisions an interpretation in conformity with the spirit prevailing in the general report which was submitted to the naval conference and unanimously approved by it.
According to the terms of a decree of the President of the French Republic published in the Journal officiel of August 26, 1914, France agreed with the point of view adopted by Great Britain in regard to the observation of the Declaration of London. In the course of the war Great Britain, and France as well, have made still other modifications in the provisions of the said declaration.
As has already been stated in detail in the memorandum of the Imperial German Government under date of October 10, 1914, which memorandum has been communicated to the interested neutral Governments and which deals with the attitude assumed by England and France toward the Declaration of London, the additions and modifications effected by these two powers in the said declaration are of such a nature as to annul its provisions in essential respects, and thereby to infringe, at the same time, upon the international law actually in force; the representatives of the most important maritime powers convened at the naval conference having, by common accord, expressly stated that the rules contained in the Declaration of London correspond in substance to the generally recognized principles of international law.
Agreeing entirely with the views expressed in the German memorandum, the Imperial and Royal Government has on its part to state that, contrary to the provisions of the Declaration of London and to the explanations contained in the said general report, and even in contradiction to the regulations of their respective Governments, the British and French naval forces have made prisoners of Austro-Hungarian reservists found on board of neutral merchant ships.
In view of the attitude of the British and French Governments, as it has been described in the foregoing, the Imperial and Royal Government feels itself called upon to confine itself for the time being to bringing to the attention of the interested neutral powers the fact that the assurances given by this Government, at the beginning of the war, declaring that Austria-Hungary will conform to the provisions of the Declaration of London, were expressly qualified by the condition of reciprocity.