File No. 763.72112/2753
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Great Britain ( Laughlin )
Sir: The Department has received the Ambassador’s No. 4181,1 of July 10, 1916, enclosing for the information of the Department a [Page 447] copy, in duplicate, of the text of an order in council, dated July 7, 1916, entitled “The Maritime Rights Order in Council, 1916,” which effects a change in the rules hitherto adopted by the British Government to govern its conduct of warfare at sea during the present war, and transmitting, also in duplicate, a copy of a memorandum which has been drawn up by the British and French Governments explaining the grounds for the issue of the order in council mentioned.
You are instructed to address a formal note to Lord Grey, with reference to the order in council of July 7, 1916, and the memorandum of the same date on this subject, and say that the Government of the United States, after giving these documents careful consideration, deems the rules therein set forth for the guidance of British authorities as at variance with the law and practice of nations in several respects, in regard to some of which the United States has already made known its views in prior correspondence, and that the Government of the United States reserves all of its rights in the premises, including the right not only to question the validity of these rules, but to present demands and claims in relation to any American interests which may be unlawfully affected directly or indirectly by the application of these rules.
I am [etc.]