File No. 763.72111/4541
The British Ambassador ( Spring Rice) to the Secretary of State
Washington,
February 19, 1917.
The undersigned British Ambassador hereby certifies that according to a sworn statement made to the British Consul at Norfolk, Va., by the master of the British ship Oxonian, the gun on that vessel has never been used except in self-defence and that no attack has been made on a hostile warship.
Cecil Spring Rice