File No. 861.48/203
Although no office copy of the Emperor’s letter was transmitted to
the Embassy, I have had made, for the Department’s information, a
translation of the office copy destined for the German Embassy in
Washington, contained in the unsealed envelope, and enclose it
herewith.
[Enclosure—Translation]
Emperor William II to President Wilson
Mr. President: The Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of
America at my Court, Mr. James W.
Gerard, has transmitted
[Page 910]
to me the communication of July 20,
according to which you, Mr. President, felt inclined to suggest
a fresh consideration of the ways and means which might enable
the American people to relieve the distress of the non-combatant
inhabitants of Poland.
The supposition, which you make, that overwhelming disasters have
befallen millions of non-combatant inhabitants of Poland and
that millions of innocent people are threatened with death by
slow or rapid starvation, was unhappily true of the past year,
when the Russian Army, retreating from my troops and the
Austro-Hungarians, were systematically endeavoring to turn the
country into a desert, burning the villages, destroying the
crops, and attempting to drag away the inhabitants, women,
children, old men. As soon as the German administration had been
established, it did all in its power to relieve the inhabitants
of the occupied territory, regardless of racial origin or
political sentiments, by distributing food, providing for
lodging, coping with epidemic diseases. To-day, after a year has
passed, the results of these labors may be reviewed. The
administration which I established has succeeded in alleviating
to a great extent the distress caused by the Russian methods of
warfare— which no one can regret more than I—and in protecting
the occupied territories from the worst misery. My
administration has furnished, for the benefit of the occupied
and for the greater part devastated districts, seeds,
pack-animals, machines, and labor, with the result that to-day
the occupied parts of the East are looking forward to a harvest
which, in accordance with the same principles of food
distribution prevailing in Germany, places the supply of the
inhabitants with cereals and potatoes on a safe footing.
Furthermore, my administration, by systematically combating the
epidemic diseases raging in the occupied parts, as cholera,
dysentery, spotted fever, small-pox, has saved thousands and
thousands of human lives, with the effect that to-day, in spite
of the unavoidable miseries of war, the death rate in the
occupied territories is hardly higher than under normal
conditions before the war.
Still, I, too, would appreciate any assistance capable of further
alleviating the lot of the innocent victims of the war to a
greater extent than my administration with its own resources is
able to do.
Accordingly as early as January 1915, my Government has in every
way supported the efforts of the Rockefeller War Relief
Commission to relieve the inhabitants who at that time were in
special distress. However, the agreement entered upon by the
Ambassador of the United States and the representative of my
Government, in spring 1915, could unfortunately not be realized
for reasons which were beyond my control and which you are well
acquainted with.
If you, Mr. President, now offer the cooperation of the American
people confidentially for the purpose of an effective relief, I
thank you for this assistance and accept it. To-day, too, I am
very willing to do everything in my power necessary for
establishing the basis on which the assistance you offer may
become effective. In my opinion, the manner in which this must
be done is prescribed by circumstances. According to the
principles of international law, which were generally recognized
before the war, the charitable contributions you wish to direct
to the inhabitants of the occupied territories belong to the
articles of relative contraband, the transmission of which on
neutral ships a warring power has the right to prevent only as
far as these articles are destined for the armed forces of
another warring state. As in the past, my Government is ready to
give a guarantee that the contributions which American charity
wishes to transmit to the inhabitants of the occupied
territories will be of benefit only to these inhabitants. If in
spite of such guarantees, a power which is in state of war with
Germany continues to prevent American citizens from exercising
their unobjectionable rights or to base its permission on
conditions which have no foundation in the principles of
international law and from the start are unacceptable to my
Government, I must refuse to assume the responsibility for such
an outcome.
In expressing to you, Mr. President, my sincere appreciation of
your generous intentions, I avail myself of this opportunity to
extend to you the assurances of my highest consideration.
Wilhelm I. R.
V. Jagow
Headquarters, August 22,
1916.
