order contains a provision under which imported cereals and flours would be sold exclusively to the municipalities or certain specially designated organizations by the importers. Although that provision had for its object simply to throw imported grain and flours into such channels as supply the private consumption of civilians and, in consequence of that provision, the intent and purpose of the Federal Council's order which was to protect the civilian population from speculators and engrossers were fully met, it was nevertheless rescinded so as to leave no room for doubt.

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4. My Government is amenable to any proposition looking to control by a special American organization under the supervision of the American Consular officers and, if necessary, will itself make a proposition in that direction.

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5. The German Government further calls attention to the fact that municipalities do not form part of or belong to the Government but are self-administrative bodies, which are elected by the inhabitants of the Commune in accordance with fixed rules and therefore exclusively represent the private part of the population and act as it directs. Although those principles are generally known and obtain in the United States as well as in England itself, the German Government desired to point out the fact so as to avoid any further unnecessary delay.

"6. Hence it is absolutely assured that imported food products will be consumed by the civilian population in Germany exclusively."

It will be observed that it is stated in this communication, which appears to confirm the contentions of the cargo owners, that a part of the order of the German Federal Council relating to imported. food products has now been rescinded.

This Government has received another communication from the German Government giving formal assurance to the Government of the United States that all goods imported into Germany from the United States directly or indirectly, which belong to the class of relative contraband, such as foodstuffs, will not be used by the German army or navy or by Government authorities, but will be left to the free consumption of the German civilian population, excluding all Government purveyors.

If the British authorities have not in their possession evidence, other than that presented to this Government as to the character and destination of the cargo of the Wilhelmina, sufficient to warrant the seizure of this cargo, the Government of the United States hopes that the British Government will release the vessel together with her cargo and allow her to proceed to her port of destination.

Please communicate with the British Government in the sense of the foregoing.

(Dip. Corr. 81–82.)

BRYAN.

No. 21. German note, February 15, 1915, in reference to the proclamation of January 25 concerning foodstuffs (No. 13). The German Ambassador to the Secretary of State.

1. The Federal Council's decision concerning the seizure of food products, which England alleges to be the cause of food products shipped to Germany being treated as contraband, is exclusively on wheat, rye, both unmixed and mixed with other products," and also "wheat, rye, oats, and barley flour."

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2. The Federal Council makes an express exception in Section 45 of the order. Section 45 provides as follows: The stipulations of this regulation do not apply to grain or flour imported from abroad after January 31."

3. Conjunctively with that saving clause, the Federal Council's order contains a provision under which imported cereals and flours could be sold exclusively to the municipalities of certain specially designated organizations by the importers. Although that provision had for its object simply to throw imported grain and flour into such channels as supply the private consumption of civilians, and, in consequence of that provision, the intent and purpose of the Federal Council's order, which was to protect the civilian population from speculators and engrossers, were fully met, it was nevertheless rescinded so as to leave no room for doubt.

4. My Government is amenable to any proposition looking to control by a special American organization under the supervision of the American Consular officers, and, if necessary, will itself make a proposition in that direction.

5. The German Government further calls attention to the fact that municipalities do not form part of or belong to the Government, but are “self-administrative bodies," which are elected by the inhabitants of the commune in accordance with fixed rules, and, therefore, exclusively represent the private part of the population and act as it directs. Although these principles are generally known and obtain in the United States, as well as in England itself, the German Government desired to point out the fact so as to avoid any further unnecessary delay.

6. Hence it is absolutely assured that imported food products will be consumed by the civilian population in Germany exclusively, and there remains no doubt upon which England can prevent the exportation of food products from America to Germany for the use of civilians.

The Imperial Government expresses the firm hope that the American Government will stand on its right in this matter.

(The New York Times, February 18, 1915.)

No. 22.

German statement, February 15, 1915, in regard to armed British merchantmen, the use of neutral flags and the mining of the war zone.

Paraphrase of a note from the German Ambassador to the Secretary of State.

According to absolutely reliable information British merchant ships. intend to oppose armed resistance to German men-of-war in the area declared as war zone by the German Admiralty.

Some of these ships were already armed with British naval guns. Now all the others are speedily being equipped in a similar way. Merchant ships have been instructed to sail in groups, and to ram German submarines, while the examination is proceeding, or should the submarines lie alongside, to throw bombs upon them, or else to attempt to overpower the examining party coming on board.

A very high premium has been offered for the destruction of the first German submarine by a British merchant vessel. Therefore, British merchant ships cannot any more be considered as undefended, so that they may be attacked by German war vessels without warn

ing or search. The British admitted that instructions had been given to misuse neutral flags. It is almost certain that British merchant vessels will by all means try to conceal their identity. Thereby, it also becomes almost impossible to ascertain the identity of neutral ships, unless they sail in daylight under convoy, as all measures suggested by neutrals, for instance, painting of the ships, in the national colours, may be promptly imitated by British ships. The attacks to be expected by masked British merchant vessels make a search impossible, as the examining party and the submarines themselves would thereby be exposed to destruction.

Under the circumstances, the safety of neutral shipping in the war zone around the British Isles is seriously threatened. There is also an increased danger resulting from mines, as these will be laid in the war zone to a great extent. Accordingly, neutral ships are urgently warned against entering that area, while the course around Scotland will be safe.

Germany has been compelled to resort to this kind of warfare by the murderous ways of British naval warfare, which aims at the destruction of legitimate neutral trade and at the starvation of the German people. Germany will be obliged to adhere to these announced principles till England submits to the recognized rules of warfare, established by the Declarations of Paris and London, or till she is compelled to do so by the neutral powers.

(The New York Times, February 16, 1915.)

No. 23. German note, February 16, 1915, replying to the American note of February 10 (No. 18), in regard to the declaration of a war zone.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs to the American Ambassador.

In reference to the note of the twelfth instant, Foreign Office number twenty-two sixty, relative to the German measures respecting the theater of war in the waters surrounding England, the undersigned has the honor to reply to His Excellency the Ambassador of the United States, James W. Gerard, as follows:

The Imperial German Government have examined the communication of the Government of the United States in the same spirit of good will and friendship which seems to have prompted this communication.

The Imperial German Government are in entire accord with the Government of the United States that it is in the highest degree desirable for all parties to avoid the misunderstanding which might arise from the measures announced by the German Admiralty and to avert the intrusion of events calculated to interrupt the most friendly relations which have so happily existed between the two Governments up to this time.

On this assurance the German Government believe that they may depend on full understanding on the part of the United States, all the more because the action announced by the German Admiralty, as was dwelt upon at length in the note of the fourth instant, is in no wise directed against the legitimate trade and navigation of neutral states, but merely represents an act of self-defense which Germany's vital interests force her to take against England's method of conducting maritime war in defiance of international law, which no protest on the part of neutrals has availed to bring into accordance with the

legal status generally recognized before the outbreak of hostilities. In order to exclude all possible doubt on this cardinal point the German Government beg to set forth once more the actual situation.

Up to now Germany has scrupulously observed the existing provisions of international law relative to maritime war. In particular she assented without delay to the proposal made by the American Government directly after the war began to ratify the Declaration of London and embodied the contents thereof without change in her prize law, even without formally binding herself in this direction. The German Government have adhered to these provisions, even where they conflicted with military interests. Our Government at the same time have permitted the supply of food by Denmark to England until the present, although they could well have prevented this traffic by means of their naval forces.

In direct opposition to this, England has not shrunk from grave violations of international law wherever she could thereby cripple Germany's peaceable trade with neutral countries. It will not be necessary for the German Government to go into great detail on this point, especially since the American note to the British Government dated December twenty-eighth, nineteen fourteen, which has been brought to their knowledge, has dealt with this point very aptly if not very exhaustively on the ground of the experiences of months.

It is conceded that the intention of all these aggressions is to cut off Germany from all supplies and thereby to deliver up to death by famine a peaceful civilian population, a procedure contrary to law of war and every dictate of humanity.

The neutrals have not been able to prevent this interception of different kinds of trade with Germany contrary to international law. It is true that the American Government have protested against England's procedure, and Germany is glad to acknowledge this, but in spite of this protest and the protests of the other neutral Governments England has not allowed herself to be dissuaded from the course originally adopted. Thus, the American ship Wilhelmina was recently brought into port by England, although her cargo was destined solely for the civil population of Germany and was to be used only for this purpose according to an express declaration of the German Government.

In this way the following has been created: Germany is to all intents and purposes cut off from oversea supplies with the toleration, tacit or protesting, of the neutrals regardless of whether it is a question of goods which are absolute contraband or only conditional contraband or not contraband at all, following the law generally recognized before the outbreak of the war. On the other hand England with the indulgence of neutral Governments is not only being provided with such goods as are not contraband or merely conditional contraband, namely, foodstuffs, raw material, et cetera, although these are treated by England when Germany is in question as absolute contraband, but also with goods which have been regularly and unquestionably acknowledged to be absolute contraband. The German Government believe that they are obliged to point out very particularly and with the greatest emphasis, that a trade in arms exists between American manufacturers and Germany's enemies which is estimated at many hundred million marks.

The German Government have given due recognition to the fact

that as a matter of form the exercise of rights and the toleration of wrong on the part of neutrals is limited by their pleasure alone and involves no formal breach of neutrality. The German Government have not in consequence made any charge of formal breach of neutrality. The German Government cannot, however, do otherwise, especially in the interest of absolute clearness in the relations between the two countries, than to emphasize that they, in common with the public opinion in Germany, feel themselves placed at a great disadvantage through the fact that the neutral powers have hitherto achieved no success or only an unmeaning success in their assertion of the right to trade with Germany, acknowledged to be legitimate by international law, whereas they make unlimited use of their right to tolerate trade in contraband with England and our other enemies. Conceded that it is the formal right of neutrals not to protect their legitimate trade with Germany and even to allow themselves knowingly and willingly to be induced by England to restrict such trade, it is on the other hand not less their good right, although unfortunately not exercised, to stop trade in contraband, especially the trade in arms, with Germany's enemies.

In view of this situation the German Government see themselves compelled, after six months of patience and watchful waiting, to meet England's murderous method of conducting maritime war with drastic counter measures. If England invokes the powers of famine as an ally in its struggle against Germany with the intention of leaving a civilized people the alternative of perishing in misery or submitting to the yoke of England's political and commercial will, the German Government are to-day determined to take up the gauntlet and to appeal to the same grim ally. They rely on the neutrals who have hitherto tacitly or under protest submitted to the consequences, detrimental to themselves, of England's war of famine to display not less tolerance toward Germany, even if the German measures constitute new forms of maritime war, as has hitherto been the case with the English measures.

In addition to this, the German Government are determined to suppress with all the means at their disposal the supply of war material to England and her allies and assume at the same time that it is a matter of course that the neutral Governments which have hitherto undertaken no action against the trade in arms which (sic) [with] Germany's enemies do not intend to oppose the forcible suppression of this trade by Germany.

Proceeding from these points of view the German Admiralty has declared the zone prescribed by it the seat of war; it will obstruct this area of maritime war by mines wherever possible and also endeavor to destroy the merchant vessels of the enemy in any other way.

It is very far indeed from the intention of the German Government, acting in obedience to these compelling circumstances, ever to destroy neutral lives and neutral property, but on the other hand they cannot be blind to the fact that dangers arise through the action to be carried out against England which menace without discrimination all trade within the area of maritime war. This applies as a matter of course to war mines, which place any ship approaching a mined area in danger, even if the limits of international law are adhered to most strictly.

The German Government believe that they are all the more justi