Office of the Historian

File No. 763.72/2412a

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Germany (Gerard)1

[Telegram]
Washington, February 17, 1916, 5 p. m.

2716. Germany’s recent proclamation setting forth future conduct towards enemy merchant ships comes at a moment when we were about to conclude a satisfactory settlement covering her past conduct. The decree has entirely upset the negotiations, with the result that the Lusitania case remains unsettled.

Lansing
  1. The same, “for your information” to the Ambassadors in Great Britain, France, Italy, and Austria-Hungary, February 19, 1916.↩