File No. 840.48/364a
The Secretary of State to the Ambassadors in Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the Minister in Belgium
Washington, August 15, 1914, 3 p.m.
[Circular telegram]
Notify the Government to which you are accredited that the Government of the United States regards ships chartered for the sole purpose of returning to the United States Americans stranded in Europe through lack of transportation facilities arising from the effects of the war as neutralized under principles of international law and as coming within the meaning of Article 4 of the Hague convention of 1907 relative to rights of capture in naval warfare neutralizing vessels charged with philanthropic mission. Ask the Government for a declaration to this effect.