File No. 763.72112/2621

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Japan (Guthrie)1

[Telegram]

Your mail despatches 516, May 17, and 520,2 May 22.

This Government does not recognize the right of belligerents to change customary rules regarding signals at sea, and therefore you should instruct consuls to take no action in regard to the Japanese instructions respecting signals for use in boarding merchant ships, which would indicate approval of or acquiescence in them by this Government.

Lansing
  1. A similar telegram was sent to the Ambassador in Italy, No. 586, July 7, 1916, upon receipt of a despatch stating that copies of the new rules, as announced by the Italian Government, had been sent to consular officers for communication to the masters of American ships (File No. 763.72112/2683).
  2. Not printed.