File No. 763.72/3303
The Minister in Peru ( McMillin ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9.10 p.m.]
Peru’s answer to Germany’s notification of unrestricted submarine warfare is more vigorous than her reply to Department’s February 3, 1 p.m. After reciting former Peruvian protest it concludes:
To-day, before the new and unlimited menace which the proposal of the German Government creates for neutral commerce within the closed zones, I regret to find myself obliged, with greater reason than before, to reserve anew the interests of my Government and of my fellow citizens and to declare that it can not accept the resolution of the Government of your excellency which is before me, on account of considering it unquestionably opposed to international law and to the legitimate rights of the neutrals.
The recent odious case of the Peruvian boat Lorton, regarding which my Government saw itself obliged to place before that of your excellency a formal complaint, proves all the error and injustice of the submarine campaign which it is proposed to generalize in the inacceptable form of closing enormous zones of free sea and under the gravest menaces against the life and interests of the neutrals.