SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA
The United States was brought face to face with the Great War and with
what it meant in ruthless destruction of life when, on May 7, 1915, the
crack Cunard Liner Lusitania, bound from New York to Liverpool, with
1,959 persons aboard, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off
Old Head of Kinsale, Southwestern Ireland. Two torpedoes reached their
mark. The total number of lives lost when the ship sunk was 1,198. Of
these 755 were passengers and the remainder were members of the crew.
Of the drowned passengers, 124 were Americans and 35 were infants.
“Remember the Lusitania!” later became a battlecry just as “Remember
the Maine!” acted as a spur to Americans during the war with Spain. It
was first used by the famous “Black Watch” and later American troops
shouted it as they went into battle.
The sinking of the Lusitania, with its attendant destruction of life,
sent a thrill of horror through the neutral peoples of the world.
General opposition to the use of submarines in attacking peaceful
shipping, especially passenger vessels, crystallized as the result
of the tragedy, and a critical diplomatic controversy between the
United States and Germany developed. The American Government signified
its determination to break off friendly relations with the German
Empire unless the ruthless practices of the submarine commanders were
terminated. Germany temporarily agreed to discontinue these practices.
Among the victims of the Cunarder’s destruction were some of the best
known personages of the Western Hemisphere. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt,
multimillionaire; Charles Frohman, noted theatrical manager; Charles
Klein, dramatist, who wrote “The Lion and the Mouse”; Justus Miles
Forman, author, and Elbert Hubbard, known as Fra Elbertus, widely read
iconoclastic writer, were drowned.
The ocean off the pleasant southern coast of Ireland was dotted with
bodies for days after the sinking of the liner. The remains of many of
the victims, however, never were recovered.
When the Lusitania prepared to sail from New York on her last trip,
fifty anonymous telegrams addressed to prominent persons aboard the
vessel warned the recipients not to sail with the liner. In addition
to these warnings was an advertisement inserted in the leading
metropolitan newspapers by the German embassy, advising neutral persons
that British steamships were in danger of destruction in the war zone
about the British Isles. This notice appeared the day the Lusitania
sailed, May 1st, and was placed next the advertisement of the Cunard
Line:
NOTICE!
Travelers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded
that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great
Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters
adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal
notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying
the flag of Great Britain or of any of her allies, are liable to
destruction in those waters and that travelers sailing in the war
zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.
Imperial German Embassy,
Washington, D. C., April 22, 1915.
Little or no attention was paid to the warnings, only the usual number
of persons canceling their reservations. The general agent of the
Cunard Line at New York assured the passengers that the Lusitania’s
voyage would be attended by no risk whatever, referring to the liner’s
speed and watertight compartments.
As the great Cunarder drew near the scene of her disaster, traveling at
moderate speed along her accustomed route, there was news of freight
steamers falling victims to Germany’s undersea campaign. It was not
definitely established, however, whether the liner was warned of danger.
[Illustration: GERMAN PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS
After torpedoing their ship the submarine shelled the lifeboats and
jeered at the struggles of the helpless crew.]
At two o’clock on the fine afternoon of May 7th, some ten miles off the
Old Head of Kinsale, the Lusitania was sighted by a submarine 1,000
yards away. A second later the track of a torpedo, soon followed by
another, was seen and each missile crashed into the Lusitania’s hull
with rending detonations.
Many were killed or injured immediately by the explosions. Before
the liner’s headway was lost, some boats were lowered, and capsized
as a result. The immediate listing of the steamship added to the
difficulties of rescue and increased the tragical toll of dead.
Much heroism and calmness were displayed by many in the few minutes the
liner remained afloat. The bearing of Frohman, Vanderbilt, Hubbard and
other Americans was declared to have been particularly inspiring.
Rescue ships and naval vessels rushed to the aid of the survivors from
all nearby ports of Ireland.
It has been said that the sinking of the Lusitania was carefully
planned by the chiefs of the German admiralty. They expected, it was
believed, to demoralize British shipping and strike terror into the
minds of the British people by showing that the largest and swiftest
of liners could easily be destroyed by submarines.
According to the Paris paper, _La Guerre Sociale_, published by Gustave
Hervé, the submarine responsible was the U-21, commanded by Lieutenant
Hersing. Hersing was said to have been decorated for his deed. The U-21
afterwards was destroyed and the story of its participation in the
sinking of the great Cunarder never was confirmed.
Immediately upon the news of the Lusitania disaster, President Wilson
took steps to hold Germany to that “strict accountability” of which he
had notified Berlin when the war-zone operations were begun earlier in
the year. His first communication, protesting against the sinking of
the liner in the name of humanity and demanding disavowal, indemnity
and assurance that the crime would not be repeated, was despatched on
May 13th. On May 30th the German reply argued that the liner carried
munitions of war and probably was armed.
The following official German version of the incident by the German
Admiralty Staff over the signature of Admiral Behncke was given:
“The submarine sighted the steamer, which showed no flag, May 7th, at
2.20 o’clock, Central European time, afternoon, on the southeast coast
of Ireland, in fine, clear weather.
“At 3.10 o’clock one torpedo was fired at the Lusitania, which hit
her starboard side below the captain’s bridge. The detonation of the
torpedo was followed immediately by a further explosion of extremely
strong effect. The ship quickly listed to starboard and began to sink.
“The second explosion must be traced back to the ignition of quantities
of ammunition inside the ship.”
These extenuations were all rejected by the United States, and the
next note prepared by President Wilson was of such character that
Secretary of State Bryan resigned. This second communication was sent
on June 11th, and on June 22d another was cabled. September 1st Germany
accepted the contentions of the United States in regard to submarine
warfare upon peaceful shipping. There were continued negotiations
concerning the specific settlement to be made in the case of the
Lusitania.
On February 4th, 1916, arrived a German proposition which, coupled with
personal parleys carried on between German Ambassador von Bernstorff
and United States Secretary of State Lansing, seemed in a fair way to
conclude the whole controversy. It was announced on February 8th that
the two nations were in substantial accord and Germany was declared to
have admitted the sinking of the liner was wrong and unjustified and
promised that reparation would be made.
However, a week later, when Germany took advantage of tentative
American proposals concerning the disarming of merchant ships, by
announcing that all armed hostile merchantmen would be treated as
warships and attacked without warning, the almost completed agreement
was overthrown. The renewed negotiations were continuing when the
torpedoing of the cross-channel passenger ship Sussex, without
warning, on March 24th, impelled the United States to issue a virtual
ultimatum, demanding that the Germans immediately cease their present
methods of naval warfare on pain of the rupture of diplomatic relations
with the most powerful existing neutral nation.
The Lusitania, previous to her sinking, had figured in the war news,
first at the conflict, when it was feared she had been captured by
a German cruiser while she was dashing across the Atlantic toward
Liverpool, and again in February of 1915, when she flew the American
flag as a ruse to deceive submarines while crossing the Irish Sea. This
latter incident called forth a protest from the United States.
On her fatal trip the cargo of the Lusitania was worth $735,000.
As a great transatlantic liner, the Lusitania was a product of the
race for speed, which was carried on for years among larger steamship
companies, particularly of England and Germany. When the Lusitania was
launched, it was the wonder of the maritime world. Its mastery of the
sea, from the standpoint of speed, was undisputed.
Progress of the Lusitania on its first voyage to New York, September
7, 1907, was watched by the world. The vessel made the voyage in five
days and fifty-four minutes, at that time a record. Its fastest trip,
made on the western voyage, was four days eleven hours forty-two
minutes. This record, however, was wrested from it subsequently by the
Mauretania, a sister ship, which set the mark of four days ten hours
forty-one minutes, that still stands.
Although the Lusitania was surpassed in size by several other liners
built subsequently, it never lost the reputation acquired at the
outset of its career. Its speed and luxurious accommodations made it a
favorite, and its passenger lists bore the names of many of the most
prominent Atlantic wayfarers. The vessel was pronounced by its builders
to be as nearly unsinkable as any ship could be.
Everything about the Lusitania was of colossal dimensions. Her rudder
weighed sixty-five tons. She carried three anchors of ten tons each.
The main frames and beams, placed end to end, would extend thirty
miles. The Lusitania was 785 feet long, 88 feet beam, and 60 feet deep.
Her gross tonnage was 32,500 and her net tonnage, 9,145.
Charges were made that one or more guardian submarines deliberately
drove off ships nearby which might have saved hundreds of lives lost
when the Lusitania went down. Captain W. F. Wood, of the Leyland Line
Steamer Etonian, said his ship was prevented from going to the rescue
of the passengers of the sinking Lusitania by a warning that an attack
might be made upon his own vessel.
The Etonian left Liverpool, May 6th. When Captain Wood was forty-two
miles from Kinsale he received a wireless call from the Lusitania for
immediate assistance.
The call was also picked up by the steamers City of Exeter and
Narragansett. The Narragansett, Captain Wood said, was made a target
for submarine attack, a torpedo missing her by a few feet, and her
commander then warned Captain Wood not to attempt to reach the
Lusitania.
“It was two o’clock in the afternoon, May 7th, that we received the
wireless S O S,” said Captain Wood. “I was then forty-two miles distant
from the position he gave me. The Narragansett and the City of Exeter
were nearer the Lusitania and she answered the S O S.
“At five o’clock I observed the City of Exeter cross our bows and she
signaled, ‘Have you heard anything of the disaster?’
“At that moment I saw a periscope of a submarine between the Tonina and
the City of Exeter, about a quarter of a mile directly ahead of us. She
dived as soon as she saw us.
“I signaled to the engine room for every available inch of speed. Then
we saw the submarine come up astern of us. I now ordered full speed
ahead and we left the submarine behind. The periscope remained in sight
about twenty minutes.
“No sooner had we lost sight of the submarine astern, than another
appeared on the starboard bow. This one was directly ahead and on the
surface, not submerged.
[Illustration: THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA
The dastardly destruction of this great passenger ship off the Old
Head of Kinsale, Ireland, on May 7, 1915, and the murder of over 1,200
non-combatants, was German’s greatest exploit in crime.]
“I starboarded hard away from him, he swinging as we did. About eight
minutes later he submerged. I continued at top speed for four hours and
saw no more of the submarines. It was the ship’s speed that saved her,
that’s all.
“The Narragansett, as soon as she heard the S O S call, went to the
assistance of the Lusitania. One of the submarines discharged a torpedo
at her and missed her by not more than eight feet. The Narragansett
then warned us not to attempt to go to the rescue, and I got her
wireless call while I was dodging the two submarines. You can see that
three ships would have gone to the assistance of the Lusitania had they
not been attacked by the two submarines.”
The German Government defended the brutal destruction of non-combatants
by the false assertions that the Lusitania was an armed vessel and that
it was carrying a great store of munitions. Both of these accusations
were proved to be mere fabrications. The Lusitania was absolutely
unarmed and the nearest approach to munitions was a consignment of
1,250 empty shell cases and 4,200 cases of cartridges for small arms.
Intense indignation swept over the neutral world, the tide rising
highest in America. It well may be said that the destruction of the
Lusitania was one of the greatest factors in driving the United States
into the war against Germany.
Concerning the charge that the Lusitania carried munitions, Dudley
Field Malone, Collector of the Port of New York, testified that he
made personal and close inspection of the ship’s cargo and saw that it
carried no guns and that no munitions were included in its cargo.
His statement follows:
“This report is not correct. The Lusitania was inspected before
sailing, as is customary. No guns were found, mounted or unmounted,
and the vessel sailed without any armament. No merchant ship would be
allowed to arm in this port and leave the harbor.”
Captain W. T. Turner, of the Lusitania, testifying before the
coroner’s inquest at Kinsale, Ireland, was interrogated as follows:
“You were aware threats had been made that the ship would be torpedoed?”
“We were,” the Captain replied.
“Was she armed?”
“No, sir.”
“What precautions did you take?”
“We had all the boats swung when we came within the danger zone,
between the passing of Fastnet and the time of the accident.”
The coroner asked him whether he had received a message concerning the
sinking of a ship off Kinsale by a submarine. Captain Turner replied
that he had not received any such message.
“Did you receive any special instructions as to the voyage?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you at liberty to tell us what they were?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you carry them out?”
“Yes, to the best of my ability.”
“Tell us in your own words what happened after passing Fastnet.”
“The weather was clear,” Captain Turner answered. “We were going at
a speed of eighteen knots. I was on the port side and heard Second
Officer Hefford call out:
“‘Here’s a torpedo!’
“I ran to the other side and saw clearly the wake of a torpedo. Smoke
and steam came up between the last two funnels. There was a slight
shock. Immediately after the first explosion there was another report,
but that may possibly have been internal.
“I at once gave the order to lower the boats down to the rails, and I
directed that women and children should get into them. I also had all
the bulkheads closed.
“Between the time of passing Fastnet, about 11 o’clock, and of the
torpedoing I saw no sign whatever of any submarines. There was some
haze along the Irish coast, and when we were near Fastnet I slowed down
to fifteen knots. I was in wireless communication with shore all the
way across.”
Captain Turner was asked whether he had received any message in regard
to the presence of submarines off the Irish coast. He replied in the
affirmative. Questioned regarding the nature of the message, he replied:
“I respectfully refer you to the Admiralty for an answer.”
“I also gave orders to stop the ship,” Captain Turner continued, “but
we could not stop. We found that the engines were out of commission. It
was not safe to lower boats until the speed was off the vessel. As a
matter of fact, there was a perceptible headway on her up to the time
she went down.
“When she was struck she listed to starboard. I stood on the bridge
when she sank, and the Lusitania went down under me. She floated about
eighteen minutes after the torpedo struck her. My watch stopped at
2.36. I was picked up from among the wreckage and afterward was brought
aboard a trawler.
“No warship was convoying us. I saw no warship, and none was reported
to me as having been seen. At the time I was picked up I noticed
bodies floating on the surface, but saw no living persons.”
“Eighteen knots was not the normal speed of the Lusitania, was it?”
“At ordinary times,” answered Captain Turner, “she could make
twenty-five knots, but in war times her speed was reduced to twenty-one
knots. My reason for going eighteen knots was that I wanted to arrive
at Liverpool bar without stopping, and within two or three hours of
high water.”
“Was there a lookout kept for submarines, having regard to previous
warnings?”
“Yes, we had double lookouts.”
“Were you going a zigzag course at the moment the torpedoing took
place?”
“No. It was bright weather, and land was clearly visible.”
“Was it possible for a submarine to approach without being seen?”
“Oh, yes; quite possible.”
“Something has been said regarding the impossibility of launching the
boats on the port side?”
“Yes,” said Captain Turner, “owing to the listing of the ship.”
“How many boats were launched safely?”
“I cannot say.”
“Were any launched safely?”
“Yes, and one or two on the port side.”
“Were your orders promptly carried out?”
“Yes.”
“Was there any panic on board?”
“No, there was no panic at all. It was almost calm.”
“How many persons were on board?”
“There were 1,500 passengers and about 600 crew.”
By the foreman of the jury--“In the face of the warnings at New York
that the Lusitania would be torpedoed, did you make any application to
the Admiralty asking for an escort?”
“No, I left that to them. It is their business, not mine. I simply had
to carry out my orders to go, and I would do it again.”
Captain Turner uttered the last words of this reply with great
emphasis.
By the coroner--“I am glad to hear you say so, Captain.”
By the juryman--“Did you get a wireless to steer your vessel in a
northern direction?”
“No,” replied Captain Turner.
“Was the course of the vessel altered after the torpedoes struck her?”
“I headed straight for land, but it was useless. Previous to this the
watertight bulkheads were closed. I suppose the explosion forced them
open. I don’t know the exact extent to which the Lusitania was damaged.”
“There must have been serious damage done to the watertight bulkheads?”
“There certainly was, without doubt.”
“Were the passengers supplied with lifebelts?”
“Yes.”
“Were any special orders given that morning that lifebelts be put on?”
“No.”
“Was any warning given before you were torpedoed?”
“None whatever. It was suddenly done and finished.”
“If there had been a patrol boat about, might it have been of
assistance?”
“It might, but it is one of those things one never knows.”
With regard to the threats against his ship, Captain Turner said he saw
nothing except what appeared in the New York papers the day before the
Lusitania sailed. He had never heard the passengers talking about the
threats, he said.
“Was a warning given to the lower decks after the ship had been
struck?” Captain Turner was asked.
“All the passengers must have heard the explosion,” Captain Turner
replied.
Captain Turner, in answer to another question, said he received no
report from the lookout before the torpedo struck the Lusitania.
Ship’s Bugler Livermore testified that the watertight compartments were
closed, but that the explosion and the force of the water must have
burst them open. He said that all the officers were at their posts and
that earlier arrivals of the rescue craft would not have saved the
situation.
After physicians had testified that the victims had met death through
prolonged immersion and exhaustion the coroner summed up the case.
He said that the first torpedo fired by the German submarine did
serious damage to the Lusitania, but that, not satisfied with this, the
Germans had discharged another torpedo. The second torpedo, he said,
must have been more deadly, because it went right through the ship,
hastening the work of destruction.
The characteristic courage of the Irish and British people was
manifested at the time of this terrible disaster, the coroner
continued, and there was no panic. He charged that the responsibility
“lay on the German Government and the whole people of Germany, who
collaborated in the terrible crime.”
“I propose to ask the jury,” he continued, “to return the only verdict
possible for a self-respecting jury, that the men in charge of the
German submarine were guilty of wilful murder.”
The jury then retired and after due deliberation prepared this verdict:
We find that the deceased met death from prolonged immersion and
exhaustion in the sea eight miles south-southeast of Old Head of
Kinsale, Friday, May 7, 1915, owing to the sinking of the Lusitania
by torpedoes fired by a German submarine.
We find that the appalling crime was committed contrary to
international law and the conventions of all civilized nations.
We also charge the officers of said submarine and the Emperor and the
Government of Germany, under whose orders they acted, with the crime
of wholesale murder before the tribunal of the civilized world.
We desire to express sincere condolences and sympathy with the
relatives of the deceased, the Cunard Company, and the United States,
many of whose citizens perished in this murderous attack on an
unarmed liner.
President Wilson’s note to Germany, written consequent on the
torpedoing of the Lusitania, was dated six days later, showing
that time for careful deliberation was duly taken. The President’s
Secretary, Joseph P. Tumulty, on May 8th made this statement:
Of course the President feels the distress and the gravity of the
situation to the utmost, and is considering very earnestly but very
calmly, the right course of action to pursue. He knows that the
people of the country wish and expect him to act with deliberation as
well as with firmness.
Although signed by Mr. Bryan, as Secretary of State, the note was
written by the President in shorthand--a favorite method of Mr. Wilson
in making memoranda--and transcribed by him on his own typewriter. The
document was presented to the members of the President’s Cabinet, a
draft of it was sent to Counselor Lansing of the State Department, and
after a few minor changes, it was transmitted by cable to Ambassador
Gerard.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
WASHINGTON, MAY 13, 1915.
_The Secretary of State to the American Ambassador at Berlin_:
Please call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs and after reading to
him this communication leave with him a copy.
In view of the recent acts of the German authorities in violation of
American rights on the high seas, which culminated in the torpedoing
and sinking of the British steamship Lusitania on May 7, 1915, by
which over 100 American citizens lost their lives, it is clearly
wise and desirable that the Government of the United States and
the Imperial German Government should come to a clear and full
understanding as to the grave situation which has resulted.
The sinking of the British passenger steamer Falaba by a German
submarine on March 28th, through which Leon C. Thrasher, an American
citizen, was drowned; the attack on April 28th, on the American
vessel Cushing by a German aeroplane; the torpedoing on May 1st of
the American vessel Gulflight by a German submarine, as a result of
which two or more American citizens met their death; and, finally,
the torpedoing and sinking of the steamship Lusitania, constitute
a series of events which the Government of the United States has
observed with growing concern, distress, and amazement.
Recalling the humane and enlightened attitude hitherto assumed by
the Imperial German Government in matters of international right,
and particularly with regard to the freedom of the seas; having
learned to recognize the German views and the German influence in the
field of international obligation as always engaged upon the side
of justice and humanity; and having understood the instructions of
the Imperial German Government to its naval commanders to be upon
the same plane of human action prescribed by the naval codes of the
other nations, the Government of the United States was loath to
believe--it cannot now bring itself to believe--that these acts, so
absolutely contrary to the rules, the practices, and the spirit of
modern warfare, could have the countenance, or sanction of that great
government. It feels it to be its duty, therefore, to address the
Imperial German Government concerning them with the utmost frankness
and in the earnest hope that it is not mistaken in expecting action
on the part of the Imperial German Government, which will correct
the unfortunate impressions which have been created, and vindicate
once more the position of that government with regard to the sacred
freedom of the seas.
The Government of the United States has been apprised that the
Imperial German Government considered themselves to be obliged by
the extraordinary circumstances of the present war and the measure
adopted by their adversaries in seeking to cut Germany off from all
commerce, to adopt methods of retaliation which go much beyond the
ordinary methods of warfare at sea, in the proclamation of a war
zone from which they have warned neutral ships to keep away. This
government has already taken occasion to inform the Imperial German
Government that it cannot admit the adoption of such measures or
such a warning of danger to operate as in any degree an abbreviation
of the rights of American shipmasters or of American citizens bound
on lawful errands as passengers on merchant ships of belligerent
nationality, and that it must hold the Imperial German Government
to a strict accountability for any infringement of those rights,
intentional or incidental. It does not understand the Imperial
German Government to question these rights. It assumes, on the
contrary, that the Imperial Government accept, as of course, the
rule that the lives of non-combatants, whether they be of neutral
citizenship or citizens of one of the nations at war, cannot lawfully
or rightfully be put in jeopardy by the capture or destruction of an
unarmed merchantman, and recognize also, as all other nations do,
the obligation to take the usual precaution of visit and search to
ascertain whether a suspected merchantman is in fact of belligerent
nationality or is in fact carrying contraband of war under a neutral
flag.
The Government of the United States, therefore, desires to call
the attention of the Imperial German Government with the utmost
earnestness to the fact that the objection to their present method
of attack against the trade of their enemies lies in the practical
impossibility of employing submarines in the destruction of commerce
without disregarding those rules of fairness, reason, justice, and
humanity which all modern opinion regards as imperative. It is
practically impossible for the officers of a submarine to visit
a merchantman at sea and examine her papers and cargo. It is
practically impossible for them to make a prize of her; and, if they
cannot put a prize crew on board of her, they cannot sink her without
leaving her crew and all on board of her to the mercy of the sea in
her small boats. These facts, it is understood, the Imperial German
Government frankly admit. We are informed that in the instances of
which we have spoken time enough for even that poor measure of safety
was not given, and in at least two of the cases cited not so much as
a warning was received. Manifestly, submarines cannot be used against
merchantmen, as the last few weeks have shown, without an inevitable
violation of many sacred principles of justice and humanity.
American citizens act within their indisputable rights in taking
their ships and in traveling wherever their legitimate business calls
them upon the high seas, and exercise those rights in what should be
the well-justified confidence that their lives will not be endangered
by acts done in clear violation of universally acknowledged
international obligations, and certainly in the confidence that their
own government will sustain them in the exercise of their rights.
There was recently published in the newspapers of the United States,
I regret to inform the Imperial German Government, a formal warning,
purporting to come from the Imperial German Embassy at Washington,
addressed to the people of the United States, and stating, in effect,
that any citizen of the United States who exercised his right of free
travel upon the seas would do so at his peril if his journey should
take him within the zone of waters within which the Imperial German
Navy was using submarines against the commerce of Great Britain and
France, notwithstanding the respectful but very earnest protest of
the Government of the United States. I do not refer to this for the
purpose of calling the attention of the Imperial German Government
at this time to the surprising irregularity of a communication from
the Imperial German Embassy at Washington addressed to the people of
the United States through the newspapers, but only for the purpose of
pointing out that no warning that an unlawful and inhumane act will
be committed can possibly be accepted as an excuse or palliation for
that act or as an abatement of the responsibility for its commission.
Long acquainted as this government has been with the character of
the Imperial Government, and with the high principles of equity by
which they have in the past been actuated and guided, the Government
of the United States cannot believe that the commanders of the
vessels which committed these acts of lawlessness did so except
under a misapprehension of the orders issued by the Imperial German
naval authorities. It takes for granted that, at least within the
practical possibilities of every such case, the commanders even of
submarines were expected to do nothing that would involve the lives
of non-combatants or the safety of neutral ships, even at the cost of
failing of their object of capture or destruction.
It confidently expects, therefore, that the Imperial German
Government will disavow the acts of which the Government of the
United States complains; that they will make reparation so far as
reparation is possible for injuries which are without measure, and
that they will take immediate steps to prevent the recurrence of
anything so obviously subversive of the principles of warfare for
which the Imperial German Government have in the past so wisely and
so firmly contended.
The government and people of the United States look to the Imperial
German Government for just, prompt, and enlightened action in this
vital matter with the greater confidence, because the United States
and Germany are bound together not only by ties of friendship, but
also by the explicit stipulations of the Treaty of 1828, between the
United States and the Kingdom of Prussia.
Expressions of regret and offers of reparation in case of the
destruction of neutral ships sunk by mistake, while they may satisfy
international obligations, if no loss of life results, cannot justify
or excuse a practice the natural and necessary effect of which is to
subject neutral nations and neutral persons to new and immeasurable
risks.
The Imperial German Government will not expect the Government of
the United States to omit any word or any act necessary to the
performance of its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the
United States and its citizens and of safeguarding their free
exercise and enjoyment.
BRYAN.
Ex-President Roosevelt, after learning details of the sinking of the
Lusitania, made these statements:
“This represents not merely piracy, but piracy on a vaster scale of
murder than old-time pirate ever practiced. This is the warfare which
destroyed Louvain and Dinant and hundreds of men, women, and children
in Belgium. It is a warfare against innocent men, women, and children
traveling on the ocean, and our own fellowcountrymen and countrywomen,
who were among the sufferers.
“It seems inconceivable that we can refrain from taking action in this
matter, for we owe it not only to humanity, but to our own national
self-respect.”
Former President Taft made this statement:
“I do not wish to embarrass the President of the Administration by a
discussion of the subject at this stage of the information, except to
express confidence that the President will follow a wise and patriotic
course. We must bear in mind that if we have a war it is the people,
the men and women, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, who must
pay with lives and money the cost of it, and therefore they should not
be hurried into the sacrifices until it is made clear that they wish it
and know what they are doing when they wish it.
“I agree that the inhumanity of the circumstances in the case now
presses us on, but in the heat of even just indignation is this the
best time to act, when action involves such momentous consequences and
means untold loss of life and treasure? There are things worse than
war, but delay, due to calm deliberation, cannot change the situation
or minimize the effect of what we finally conclude to do.
“With the present condition of the war in Europe, our action, if it is
to be extreme, will not lose efficiency by giving time to the people,
whose war it will be, to know what they are facing.
“A demand for war that cannot survive the passion of the first days
of public indignation and will not endure the test of delay and
deliberation by all the people is not one that should be yielded to.”
President Wilson was criticized later by many persons for not
insisting upon a declaration of war immediately after the sinking of
the Lusitania. Undoubtedly the advice of former President Taft and of
others high in statesmanship, prevailed with the President. This in
substance was that America should prepare resolutely and thoroughly,
giving Germany in the meantime no excuse for charges that America’s
entrance into the conflict was for aggression or for selfish purposes.
It was seen even as early as the sinking of the Lusitania that
Germany’s only hope for final success lay in the submarine. It was
reasoned that unrestricted submarine warfare against the shipping of
the world, so far as tended toward the provisioning and munitioning
of the Allies, would be the inevitable outcome. It was further seen
that when that declaration would be made by Germany, America’s decision
for war must be made. The President and his Cabinet thereupon made all
their plans looking toward that eventuality.
The resignation of Mr. Bryan from the Cabinet was followed by the
appointment of Robert Lansing as Secretary of State. It was recognized
on both sides of the Atlantic that President Wilson in all essential
matters affecting the war was active in the preparation of all state
papers and in the direction of that department. Another Cabinet vacancy
was created when Lindley M. Garrison, of New Jersey, resigned the
portfolio of Secretary of War because of a clash upon his militant
views for preparedness. Newton D. Baker, of Cleveland, Ohio, a close
friend and supporter of President Wilson, was appointed in his stead.