long-standing friendship with the United States and because by the
sinking of the _Lusitania_, which caused the death of citizens of the
United States, the German retaliation affected neutrals, which was not
the intention, as retaliation should be confined to enemy subjects."
[Sidenote: French unarmed _Patria_ attacked.]
[Sidenote: The _Sussex_ torpedoed without warning.]
On March 1, 1916, the unarmed French passenger steamer _Patria_,
carrying a number of American citizens, was attacked without warning. On
March 9 the Norwegian bark _Silius_, riding at anchor in Havre Roads,
was torpedoed by an unseen submarine and one of the seven Americans on
board was injured. On March 16 the Dutch passenger steamer _Tubantia_
was sunk in the North Sea by a torpedo. On March 16 the British steamer
_Berwindale_ was torpedoed without warning off Bantry Island with four
Americans on board. On March 24 the British unarmed steamer _Englishman_
was, after a chase, torpedoed and sunk by the submarine _U-19_, as a
result of which one American on board perished. On March 24 the unarmed
French cross-Channel steamer _Sussex_ was torpedoed without warning,
several of the twenty-four American passengers being injured. On March
27 the unarmed British liner _Manchester Engineer_ was sunk by an
explosion without prior warning, with Americans on board, and on March
28 the British steamer _Eagle Point_, carrying a Hotchkiss gun, which
she did not use, was chased, overtaken, and sunk by a torpedo after the
persons on board had taken to the boats.
[Sidenote: America will hold Germany responsible.]
The American note of February 10, 1915, stated that should German
vessels of war "destroy on the high seas an American vessel or the
lives of American citizens it would be difficult for the Government of
the United States to view the act in any other light than an
indefensible violation of neutral rights which it would be very hard,
indeed, to reconcile with the friendly relations so happily subsisting
between the two Governments," and that if such a deplorable situation
should arise, "the Government of the United States would be constrained
to hold the Imperial Government to a strict accountability for such acts
of their naval authorities."
In the American note of May 13, 1915, the Government stated:
"The imperial Government will not expect the Government of the United
States to omit any word or act necessary to the performance of its
sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its
citizens and in safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment."
In the note of July 21, 1915, the United States Government said that--
"Repetition by the commanders of German naval vessels of acts in
contravention of those rights must be regarded by the Government of the
United States, when they affect American citizens, as deliberately
unfriendly."
In a communication of April 18, 1916, the American Government said:
[Sidenote: The United States insists on regard for international law.]
"If it is still the purpose of the Imperial Government to prosecute
relentless and indiscriminate warfare against vessels of commerce by the
use of submarines without regard to what the Government of the United
States must consider the sacred and indisputable rules of international
law and the universally recognized dictates of humanity, the Government
of the United States is at last forced to the conclusion that there is
but one course it can pursue. Unless the Imperial Government should not
immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of
submarine warfare against passenger and freight carrying vessels the
Government of the United States can have no choice but to sever
diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether."
[Sidenote: Germany gives definite assurances.]
The German Government replied to this communication on May 4, 1916,
giving definite assurances that new orders had been issued to the German
naval forces "in accordance with the general principles of visit and
search and the destruction of merchant vessels recognized by
international law." And this agreement was substantially complied with
for many months, but finally, on January 31, 1917, notice was given that
after the following day--
[Sidenote: The notice of January 31, 1917.]
"Germany will meet the illegal measures of her enemies by forcibly
preventing in a zone around Great Britain, France, Italy, and in the
Eastern Mediterranean all navigation, that of neutrals included, from
and to England and from and to France, &c. All ships met within that
zone will be sunk."
In view of this Government's warning of April 18, 1916, and the Imperial
German Government's pledge of May 4 of the same year, the Government of
the United States, on February 3, 1917, stated to the Imperial German
Government that--
[Sidenote: The course of the United States.]
"In view of this declaration, which withdraws suddenly and without prior
intimation the solemn assurance given in the Imperial Government's note
of May 4, 1916, this Government has no alternative consistent with the
dignity and honor of the United States but to take the course which it
explicitly announced in its note of April 18, 1916, it would take in the
event that the Imperial Government did not declare and effect an
abandonment of the methods of submarine warfare then employed and to
which the Imperial Government now purposes again to resort.
[Sidenote: Diplomatic relations with Germany severed.]
"The President has, therefore, directed me to announce to your
Excellency that all diplomatic relation between the United States and
the German Empire are severed, and that the American Ambassador at
Berlin will be immediately withdrawn, and, in accordance with such
announcement, to deliver to your Excellency your passports."
[Sidenote: American ships torpedoed.]
On February 3 one American ship was sunk, and since that date six
American ships flying the American flag have been torpedoed, with a loss
of about thirteen American citizens. In addition, fifty or more foreign
vessels of both belligerent and neutral nationality with Americans on
board have been torpedoed, in most cases without warning, with a
consequent loss of several American citizens.
[Sidenote: German officials violate laws of United States.]
Since the beginning of the war German officials in the United States
have engaged in many improper activities in violation of the laws of the
United States and of their obligations as officials in a neutral
country. Count von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador, Captain von Papen,
Military Attache of the embassy, Captain Boy-Ed, Naval Attache, as well
as various Consular officers and other officials, were involved in these
activities, which were very widespread.
The following instances are chosen at random from the cases which have
come to the knowledge of the Government:
[Sidenote: The German Embassy furnishes funds to be used illegally.]
I. By direct instruction received from the Foreign Office in Berlin the
German Embassy in this country furnished funds and issued orders to the
Indian Independence Committee of the Indian Nationalist Party in the
United States. These instructions were usually conveyed to the committee
by the military information bureau in New York (von Igel), or by the
German Consulates in New York and San Francisco.
[Sidenote 1: Indian revolutionary propaganda.]
Dr. Chakrabarty, recently arrested in New York City, received, all in
all, according to his own admission, some $60,000 from von Igel. He
claims that the greater portion of this money was used for defraying the
expenses of the Indian revolutionary propaganda in this country and, as
he says, for educational purposes. While this is in itself true, it is
not all that was done by the revolutionists. They have sent
representatives to the Far East to stir up trouble in India, and they
have attempted to ship arms and ammunition to India. These expeditions
have failed. The German Embassy also employed Ernest T. Euphrat to carry
instructions and information between Berlin and Washington under an
American passport.
[Sidenote 2: Germans on parole escaped.]
II. Officers of interned German warships have violated their word of
honor and escaped. In one instance the German Consul at Richmond
furnished the money to purchase a boat to enable six warrant officers of
the steamer Kronprinz Wilhelm to escape after breaking their parole.
[Sidenote 3: Fraudulent passports secured.]
III. Under the supervision of Captain von Papen and Wolf von Igel, Hans
von Wedell and, subsequently, Carl Ruroede maintained a regular office
for the procurement of fraudulent passports for German reservists. These
operations were directed and financed in part by Captain von Papen and
Wolf von Igel. Indictments were returned, Carl Ruroede sentenced to the
penitentiary, and a number of German officers fined. Von Wedell escaped
and has apparently been drowned at sea. Von Wedell's operations were
also known to high officials in Germany. When von Wedell became
suspicious that forgeries committed by him on a passport application
had become known, he conferred with Captain von Papen and obtained money
from him wherewith to make his escape.
[Sidenote: American passport covers unneutral activities.]
IV. James J. F. Archibald, under cover of an American passport and in
the pay of the German Government through Ambassador Bernstorff, carried
dispatches for Ambassador Dumba and otherwise engaged in unneutral
activities.
[Sidenote: Spies sent to England.]
V. Albert O. Sander, Charles Wunnenberg, and others, German agents in
this country, were engaged, among other activities, in sending spies to
England, equipped with American passports, for the purpose of securing
military information. Several such men have been sent. Sander and
Wunnenberg have pleaded guilty to indictments brought against them in
New York City, as has George Voux Bacon, one of the men sent abroad by
them.
[Sidenote: American passports counterfeited.]
VI. American passports have been counterfeited and counterfeits found on
German agents. Baron von Cupenberg, a German agent, when arrested
abroad, bore a counterfeit of an American passport issued to Gustav C.
Roeder; Irving Guy Ries received an American passport, went to Germany,
where the police retained his passports for twenty-four hours. Later a
German spy named Carl Paul Julius Hensel was arrested in London with a
counterfeit of the Ries passport in his possession.
[Sidenote: Coaling German warships.]
VII. Prominent officials of the Hamburg-American Line, who, under the
direction of Captain Boy-Ed, endeavored to provide German warships at
sea with coal and other supplies in violation of the statutes of the
United States, have been tried and convicted and sentenced to the
penitentiary. Some twelve or more vessels were involved in this plan.
[Sidenote: Indictments returned.]
VIII. Under the direction of Captain Boy-Ed and the German Consulate at
San Francisco, and in violation of our law, the steamships _Sacramento_
and _Mazatlan_ carried supplies from San Francisco to German war
vessels. The _Olsen_ and _Mahoney_, which were engaged in a similar
enterprise, were detained. The money for these ventures was furnished by
Captain Boy-Ed. Indictments have been returned in connection with these
matters against a large number of persons.
[Sidenote: The case of Werner Horn.]
IX. Werner Horn, a Lieutenant in the German reserve, was furnished funds
by Captain Franz von Papen and sent, with dynamite, under orders to blow
up the International Bridge at Vanceboro, Maine. He was partially
successful. He is now under indictment for the unlawful transportation
of dynamite on passenger trains and is in jail awaiting trial following
the dismissal of his appeal by the Supreme Court.
[Sidenote: Plot to blow up factory.]
X. Captain von Papen furnished funds to Albert Kaltschmidt of Detroit,
who is involved in a plot to blow up a factory at Walkerville, Canada,
and the armory at Windsor, Canada.
[Sidenote: Bombs on ships.]
XI. Robert Fay, Walter Scholtz, and Paul Doeche have been convicted and
sentenced to the penitentiary and three others are under indictment for
conspiracy to prepare bombs and attach them to allied ships leaving New
York Harbor. Fay, who was the principal in this scheme, was a German
soldier. He testified that he received finances from a German secret
agent in Brussels, and told Von Papen of his plans, who advised him that
his device was not practicable, but that he should go ahead with it, and
if he could make it work he would consider it.
[Sidenote: Incendiary bombs on allied vessels.]
XII. Under the direction of Captain von Papen and Wolf von Igel, Dr.
Walter T. Scheele, Captain von Kleist, Captain Wolpert of the Atlas
Steamship Company, and Captain Rode of the Hamburg-American Line
manufactured incendiary bombs and placed them on board allied vessels.
The shells in which the chemicals were placed were made on board the
steamship _Friedrich der Grosse_. Scheele was furnished $1,000 by von
Igel wherewith to become a fugitive from justice.
[Sidenote: Rintelen's plots.]
XIII. Captain Franz Rintelen, a reserve officer in the German Navy, came
to this country secretly for the purpose of preventing the exportation
of munitions of war to the Allies and of getting to Germany needed
supplies. He organized and financed Labor's National Peace Council in an
effort to bring about an embargo on the shipment of munitions of war,
tried to bring about strikes, &c.
[Sidenote: Conspiracy to wreck vessels and blow up railroad tunnels.]
XIV. Consul General Bopp, at San Francisco, Vice Consul General von
Schaick, Baron George Wilhelm von Brincken (an employe of the
consulate), Charles C. Crowley, and Mrs. Margaret W. Cornell (secret
agents of the German Consulate at San Francisco) have been convicted of
conspiracy to send agents into Canada to blow up railroad tunnels and
bridges, and to wreck vessels sailing from Pacific Coast ports with war
material for Russia and Japan.
[Sidenote: Spies sent to Canada.]
XV. Paul Koenig, head of the secret service work of the Hamburg-American
Line, by direction of his superior officers, largely augmented his
organization and under the direction of von Papen, Boy-Ed, and Albert
carried on secret work for the German Government. He secured and sent
spies to Canada to gather information concerning the Welland Canal, the
movements of Canadian troops to England, bribed an employe of a bank for
information concerning shipments to the Allies, sent spies to Europe on
American passports to secure military information, and was involved with
Captain von Papen in plans to place bombs on ships of the Allies
leaving New York Harbor, &c. Von Papen, Boy-Ed, and Albert had frequent
conferences with Koenig in his office, at theirs, and at outside places.
Koenig and certain of his associates are under indictment.
[Sidenote: Attempt on Welland Canal.]
XVI. Captain von Papen, Captain Hans Tauscher, Wolf von Igel, and a
number of German reservists organized an expedition to go into Canada,
destroy the Welland Canal, and endeavor to terrorize Canadians in order
to delay the sending of troops from Canada to Europe. Indictments have
been returned against these persons. Wolf von Igel furnished Fritzen,
one of the conspirators in this case, money on which to flee from New
York City, Fritzen is now in jail in New York City.
[Sidenote: Revolt in India plotted.]
XVII. With money furnished by official German representatives in this
country, a cargo of arms and ammunition was purchased and shipped on
board the schooner _Annie Larsen_. Through the activities of German
official representatives in this country and other Germans a number of
Indians were procured to form an expedition to go on the steamship
_Maverick_, meet the _Annie Larsen_, take over her cargo, and endeavor
to bring about a revolution in India. This plan involved the sending of
a German officer to drill Indian recruits and the entire plan was
managed and directed by Captain von Papen, Captain Hans Tauscher, and
other official German representatives in this country.
[Sidenote: False affidavit about the _Lusitania_.]
XVIII. Gustav Stahl, a German reservist, made an affidavit which he
admitted was false, regarding the armament of the _Lusitania_, which
affidavit was forwarded to the State Department by Ambassador von
Bernstorff. He plead guilty to an indictment charging perjury, and was
sentenced to the penitentiary. Koenig, herein mentioned, was active in
securing this affidavit.
[Sidenote: Interference with manufacturers.]
XIX. The German Embassy organized, directed, and financed the Hans Libau
Employment Agency, through which extended efforts were made to induce
employes of manufacturers engaged in supplying various kinds of material
to the Allies to give up their positions in an effort to interfere with
the output of such manufacturers. Von Papen indorsed this organization
as a military measure, and it was hoped through its propaganda to
cripple munition factories.
[Sidenote: Newspapers financed.]
XX. The German Government has assisted financially a number of
newspapers in this country in return for pro-German propaganda.
[Sidenote: Mexican difficulties increased.]
XXI. Many facts have been secured indicating that Germans have aided and
encouraged financially and otherwise the activities of one or the other
faction in Mexico, the purpose being to keep the United States occupied
along its borders and to prevent the exportation of munitions of war to
the Allies; see, in this connection, the activities of Rintelen,
Stallforth, Kopf, the German Consul at Chihuahua; Krum-Hellen, Felix
Somerfeld (Villa's representative at New York), Carl Heynen, Gustav
Steinberg, and many others.
[Sidenote: Relief ships plainly marked.]
When the Commission for Relief in Belgium began its work in October,
1914, it received from the German authorities, through the various
Governments concerned, definite written assurances that ships engaged in
carrying cargoes for the relief of the civil population of Belgium and
Northern France should be immune from attack. In order that there may be
no room for attacks upon these ships through misunderstanding, each ship
is given a safe conduct by the German diplomatic representative in the
country from which it sails, and, in addition, bears conspicuously upon
its sides markings which have been agreed upon with the German
authorities; furthermore, similar markings are painted upon the decks
of the ships in order that they may be readily recognized by airplanes.
Upon the rupture of relations with Germany the commission was definitely
assured by the German Government that its ships would be immune from
attack by following certain prescribed courses and conforming to the
arrangements previously made.
[Sidenote: Unwarranted attacks.]
Despite these solemn assurances there have been several unwarranted
attacks upon ships under charter to the commission.
On March 7 or 8 the Norwegian ship _Storstad_, carrying 10,000 tons of
corn from Buenos Aires to Rotterdam for the commission was sunk in broad
daylight by a German submarine despite the conspicuous markings of the
commission which the submarine could not help observing. The _Storstad_
was repeatedly shelled without warning and finally torpedoed.
[Sidenote: Men killed on torpedoed relief ships.]
On March 19 the steamships _Tunisie_ and _Haelen_, under charter to the
commission, proceeding to the United States under safe conducts and
guarantees from the German Minister at The Hague and bearing conspicuous
marking of the commission, were attacked without warning by a German
submarine outside the danger zone (56 degrees 15 minutes north, 5
degrees 32 minutes east). The ships were not sunk, but on the _Haelen_
seven men were killed, including the first and third officers; a port
boat was sunk; a hole was made in the port bunker above the water line;
and the ships sustained sundry damages to decks and engines.
[Sidenote: Consular officers suffer indignities.]
Various Consular officers have suffered indignities and humiliation at
the hands of German frontier authorities. The following are
illustrations:
Mr. Pike, Consul at St. Gall, Switzerland, on proceeding to his post
with a passport duly indorsed by German officials in New York and
Copenhagen, was on November 26, 1916, subjected to great indignities at
Warnemuende on the German frontier. Mr. Pike refused to submit to search
of his person, the removal of his clothing, or the seizure of his
official reports and papers of a private and confidential nature. He was
therefore obliged to return to Copenhagen.
Mr. Murphy, the Consul General at Sofia, and his wife, provided with
passports from the German legations at The Hague and Copenhagen, were on
two occasions stripped and searched and subjected to great humiliation
at the same frontier station. No consideration was given them because of
their official position.
[Sidenote: Outrageous behavior of German officials.]
Such has been the behavior on the part of German officials
notwithstanding that Consular officials hold positions of dignity and
responsibility under their Government and that during the present war
Germany has been placed under deep obligation to American Consular
officers by their efforts in the protection of German interests.
[Sidenote: Neutrals on the _Yarrowdale_ held as prisoners.]
On January 19, Mr. Gerard telegraphed that the evening papers contained
a report that the English steamer _Yarrowdale_ had been brought to
Swinemuende as prize with 469 prisoners on board taken from ships
captured by German auxiliary cruisers; that among these prisoners were
103 neutrals.
After repeated inquiries Mr. Gerard learned that there were among the
_Yarrowdale_ prisoners seventy-two men claiming American citizenship.
On February 4 Mr. Gerard was informed by Count Montgelas of the Foreign
Office that the Americans taken on the _Yarrowdale_ would be released
immediately on the ground that they could not have known at the time of
sailing that it was Germany's intention to treat armed merchantmen as
ships of war.
Despite this assurance, the prisoners were not released, but some time
prior to February 17 the German Minister for Foreign Affairs told the
Spanish Ambassador that the American prisoners from the _Yarrowdale_
would be liberated "in a very short time."
[Sidenote: A formal demand for release of _Yarrowdale_ prisoners.]
Upon receipt of this information a formal demand was made through the
Spanish Ambassador at Berlin for the immediate release of these men. The
message sent the Spanish Ambassador was as follows:
[Sidenote: American prisoners must be released.]
"If _Yarrowdale_ prisoners have not been released, please make formal
demand in the name of the United States for their immediate release. If
they are not promptly released and allowed to cross the frontier without
further delay, please state to the Foreign Minister that this policy of
the Imperial Government, if continued, apparently without the slightest
justification, will oblige the Government of the United States to
consider what measures it may be necessary to take in order to obtain
satisfaction for the continued detention of these innocent American
citizens."
[Sidenote: _Yarrowdale_ men reach Switzerland.]
On February 25 the American Ambassador at Madrid was informed by the
Spanish Foreign Office that the _Yarrowdale_ prisoners had been released
on the 16th inst. The foregoing statement appears to have been based on
erroneous information. The men finally reached Zurich, Switzerland, on
the afternoon of March 11.
[Sidenote: Treatment cruel and heartless.]