File No. 862.85/433
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Colombia ( Belden)
You are instructed to call upon the Minister for Foreign Affairs and to state to him that the Government of the United States had noted the destruction of the Hamburg-American steamship Prinz August Wilhelm at Puerto Colombia, concerning whose purchase representatives of the United States Shipping Board had been negotiating for some time with representatives of the steamship company, who were in practical agreement as to the terms of transfer of title at the time of the vessel’s destruction apparently as the result of the activities of German subjects. In view of these facts and by reason of reports which have reached the Department regarding a possible repetition of German wanton action in connection with the Mecklenburg at Cartagena, the Government of the United States desires the Minister for Foreign Affairs to know the interest which the United States has in the protection of the Mecklenburg from injury or destruction. This you will explain is due to the fact that negotiations are now in progress looking to the acquisition of the vessel by United States interests.
For your guidance in your conversation with the Colombian Government in connection with the above you are informed that while the Department desires that the Colombian Government should realize clearly the interest which the United States has in the protection of the Mecklenburg, the Department does not wish the Colombian Government to receive the impression that it is being coerced in this regard. Rather, you should intimate to the Minister for Foreign Affairs that the feeling of the United States is that the agents of the German Government have taken unfair advantage of the hospitality and protection of Colombia to operate under these privileges against the interests of United States.