The Imperial German Government on the thirty-first of January announced
to this Government and to the governments of the other neutral nations
that on and after the first day of February, the present month, it would
adopt a policy with regard to the use of submarines against all shipping
seeking to pass through certain designated areas of the high seas to
which it is clearly my duty to call your attention.
Let me remind the Congress that on the eighteenth of April last, in view
of the sinking on the twenty-fourth of March of the cross-Channel
passenger steamer _Sussex_ by a German submarine, without summons or
warning, and the consequent loss of the lives of several citizens of the
United States who were passengers aboard her, this Government addressed
a note to the Imperial German Government in which it made the following
declaration:
"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 now
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."
In reply to this declaration the Imperial German Government gave this
Government the following assurance:
"The German Government is prepared to do its utmost to confine the
operations of war for the rest of its duration to the fighting forces of
the belligerents, thereby also insuring the freedom of the seas, a
principle upon which the German Government believes, now as before, to
be in agreement with the Government of the United States.
"The German Government, guided by this idea, notifies the Government of
the United States that the German naval forces have received the
following orders: In accordance with the general principles of visit and
search and destruction of merchant vessels recognized by international
law, such vessels, both within and without the area declared as naval
war zone, shall not be sunk without warning and without saving human
lives, unless these ships attempt to escape or offer resistance.
"But," it added, "neutrals cannot expect that Germany, forced to fight
for her existence, shall, for the sake of neutral interest, restrict the
use of an effective weapon if her enemy is permitted to continue to
apply at will methods of warfare violating the rules of international
law. Such a demand would be incompatible with the character of
neutrality, and the German Government is convinced that the Government
of the United States does not think of making such a demand, knowing
that the Government of the United States has repeatedly declared that it
is determined to restore the principle of the freedom of the seas, from
whatever quarter it has been violated."
To this the Government of the United States replied on the eighth of
May, accepting, of course, the assurances given, but adding,
"The Government of the United States feels it necessary to state that it
takes it for granted that the Imperial German Government does not intend
to imply that the maintenance of its newly announced policy is in any
way contingent upon the course or result of diplomatic negotiations
between the Government of the United States and any other belligerent
Government, notwithstanding the fact that certain passages in the
Imperial Government's note of the fourth instant might appear to be
susceptible of that construction. In order, however, to avoid any
possible misunderstanding, the Government of the United States notifies
the Imperial Government that it cannot for a moment entertain, much less
discuss, a suggestion that respect by German naval authorities for the
rights of citizens of the United States upon the high seas should in any
way or in the slightest degree be made contingent upon the conduct of
any other Government affecting the rights of neutrals and
non-combatants. Responsibility in such matters is single, not joint;
absolute, not relative."
To this note of the eighth of May the Imperial German Government made no
reply.
On the thirty-first of January, the Wednesday of the present week, the
German Ambassador handed to the Secretary of State, along with a formal
note, a memorandum which contains the following statement:
"The Imperial Government, therefore, does not doubt that the Government
of the United States will understand the situation thus forced upon
Germany by the Entente-Allies' brutal methods of war and by their
determination to destroy the Central Powers, and that the Government of
the United States will further realize that the now openly disclosed
intentions of the Entente-Allies give back to Germany the freedom of
action which she reserved in her note addressed to the Government of the
United States on May 4, 1916.
"Under these circumstances Germany will meet the illegal measures of her
enemies by forcibly preventing after February 1, 1917, 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, etc., etc. All ships met within the zone will be sunk."
I think that you will agree with me that, in view of this declaration,
which suddenly and without prior intimation of any kind deliberately
withdraws the solemn assurance given in the Imperial Government's note
of the fourth of May, 1916, this Government has no alternative
consistent with the dignity and honor of the United States but to take
the course which, in its note of the eighteenth of April, 1916, it
announced that it would take in the event that the German Government did
not declare and effect an abandonment of the methods of submarine
warfare which it was then employing and to which it now purposes again
to resort.
I have, therefore, directed the Secretary of State to announce to His
Excellency the German Ambassador that all diplomatic relations between
the United States and the German Empire are severed, and that the
American Ambassador at Berlin will immediately be withdrawn; and, in
accordance with this decision, to hand to His Excellency his passports.
Notwithstanding this unexpected action of the German Government, this
sudden and deeply deplorable renunciation of its assurances, given this
Government at one of the most critical moments of tension in the
relations of the two governments, I refuse to believe that it is the
intention of the German authorities to do in fact what they have warned
us they will feel at liberty to do. I cannot bring myself to believe
that they will indeed pay no regard to the ancient friendship between
their people and our own or to the solemn obligations which have been
exchanged between them and destroy American ships and take the lives of
American citizens in the willful prosecution of the ruthless naval
program they have announced their intention to adopt. Only actual overt
acts on their part can make me believe it even now.
If this inveterate confidence on my part in the sobriety and prudent
foresight of their purpose should unhappily prove unfounded; if American
ships and American lives should in fact be sacrificed by their naval
commanders in heedless contravention of the just and reasonable
understandings of international law and the obvious dictates of
humanity, I shall take the liberty of coming again before the Congress,
to ask that authority be given me to use any means that may be necessary
for the protection of our seamen and our people in the prosecution of
their peaceful and legitimate errands on the high seas. I can do nothing
less. I take it for granted that all neutral governments will take the
same course.
We do not desire any hostile conflict with the Imperial German
Government. We are the sincere friends of the German people and
earnestly desire to remain at peace with the Government which speaks for
them. We shall not believe that they are hostile to us unless and until
we are obliged to believe it; and we purpose nothing more than the
reasonable defense of the undoubted rights of our people. We wish to
serve no selfish ends. We seek merely to stand true alike in thought and
in action to the immemorial principles of our people which I sought to
express in my address to the Senate only two weeks ago,--seek merely to
vindicate our right to liberty and justice and an unmolested life. These
are the bases of peace, not war. God grant we may not be challenged to
defend them by acts of wilful injustice on the part of the Government of
Germany!