File No. 462.11Se8/16
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Germany (Gerard)
1583. You are instructed to present the following note to the German Foreign Office:
In reply to your excellency’s note of the 5th [4th] instant,2 which the Government of the United States understands admits the liability of the Imperial German [Page 377] Government for the damages resulting from the sinking of the American sailing vessel William P. Frye by the German auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich on January 28 last, I have the honor to say, by direction of my Government, that while the promptness with which the Imperial German Government has admitted its liability is highly appreciated, my Government feels that it would be inappropriate in the circumstances of this case, and would involve unnecessary delay, to adopt the suggestion in your note that the legality of the capture and destruction, the standing of the claimants and the amount of indemnity should be submitted to a prize court.
Unquestionably the destruction of this vessel was a violation of the obligations imposed upon the Imperial German Government under existing treaty stipulations between the United States and Prussia, and the United States Government, by virtue of its treaty rights, has presented to the Imperial German Government a claim for indemnity on account of the resulting damages suffered by American citizens. The liability of the Imperial German Government, and the standing of the claimants as American citizens, and the amount of indemnity are all questions which lend themselves to diplomatic negotiation between the two Governments, and happily the question of liability has already been settled in that way. The status of the claimants and the amount of the indemnity are the only questions remaining to be settled, and it is appropriate that they should be dealt with in the same way.
The Government of the United States fully understands that, as stated in your excellency’s note, the German Government is liable under the treaty provisions above mentioned for the damages arising from the destruction of the cargo as well as from the destruction of the vessel. But it will be observed that the claim under discussion does not include damages for the destruction of the cargo, and the question of the value of the cargo therefore is not involved in the present discussion.
The Government of the United States recognizes that the German Government will wish to be satisfied as to the American ownership of the vessel, and the amount of the damages sustained in consequence of her destruction.
These matters are readily ascertainable and if the German Government desires any further evidence in substantiation of the claim on these points in addition to that furnished by the ship’s papers, which are already in the possession of the German Government, any additional evidence found necessary will be produced. In that case, however, inasmuch as any evidence which the German Government may wish to have produced is more accessible and can more conveniently be examined in the United States than elsewhere, on account of the presence there of the owners and captain of the William P. Frye and their documentary records, and other possible witnesses, the Government of the United States ventures to suggest the advisability of transferring the negotiations for the settlement of these points to the Imperial German Embassy at Washington.
In view of the admission of liability by reason of specific treaty stipulations, it has become unnecessary to enter into a discussion of the meaning and effect of the Declaration of London, which is given some prominence in your excellency’s note of April 5, further than to say that, as the German Government has already been advised, the Government of the United States does not regard the Declaration of London as in force.