World's War Events Volume II Part 25

The country staggered under the blow of his death, and one can never forget the silent grief and dismay of that dreadful day with its horrible tragedy. The grief was universal and personal, and the tributes to his work and memory were spoken from the heart by the great leaders of both parties. No more touching and pathetic tribute was ever said than the speech made by Lord Derby in the House of Lords on the resolution in reference to his death. There is not one word to be altered from beginning to end, but the concluding words must go to every heart and find an echo:

[Sidenote: The whole machinery of the new armies in running order.]

Lord Kitchener said good-by to the nation at a moment when he left the whole of the machinery of the great armies that he had created in running order, and when it only required skilled engineers to keep going his work. It was really as if Providence in its wisdom had given him the rest he never would have given to himself.

With the memory of a great naval battle fresh in our minds we must all realize how rich a harvest of death the sea has reaped. We in these islands from time immemorial had paid a heavy toll to the sea for our insular security, but, speaking as the friend of a friend, I can say that the sea never executed a heavier toll than when Lord Kitchener, coffined in a British man-of-war, pa.s.sed to the Great Beyond.

How and why America joined with the Allies against Germany in April, 1917, is told in the three articles following. The summaries contained therein are official, and the war message of President Wilson condenses the reasons which impelled the United States, after long delay, to throw the force of its strength and resources against the German Empire.

WHY AMERICA BROKE WITH GERMANY

PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON

[Sidenote: Germany proclaims ruthless submarine warfare.]

The Imperial German Government on the 31st day of January announced to this Government and to the Governments of the other neutral nations that on and after the 1st day of February, the present month, it would adopt a policy with regard to the use of submarines against all shipping seeking to pa.s.s through certain designated areas of the high seas, to which it is clearly my duty to call your attention.

[Sidenote: The _Suss.e.x_ case.]

Let me remind the Congress that on the 18th of April last, in view of the sinking on the 24th of March of the cross-channel steamship _Suss.e.x_ by a German submarine without summons or warning, and the consequent loss of lives of several citizens of the United States who were pa.s.sengers aboard her, this Government addressed a note to the Imperial German Government, in which it made the following statement:

[Sidenote: The note to the Imperial German Government.]

"If it is still the purpose of the Imperial German 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 pa.s.senger 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 a.s.surance:

[Sidenote: Germany's a.s.surances to the United States.]

"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.

[Sidenote: Promises that merchant vessels shall not be sunk without warning.]

"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 a 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 8th of May, accepting, of course, the a.s.surance given, but adding:

[Sidenote: The reply of the United States.]

[Sidenote: Rights of American citizens do not depend on conduct of another government.]

"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 pa.s.sages in the Imperial Government's note of the 4th inst. might appear to be susceptible of that construction. In order, however, to avoid any 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 noncombatants. Responsibility in such matters is single, not joint, absolute, not relative."

To this note of the 8th of May the Imperial German Government made no reply.

On the 31st of January, the Wednesday of the present week, the German Amba.s.sador handed to the Secretary of State, along with a formal note, a memorandum which contained 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 intention of the Entente Allies gives 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.

[Sidenote: Germany will sink all ships within zone proclaimed.]

"Under these circ.u.mstances, 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, &c. 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 a.s.surance given in the Imperial Government's note of the 4th 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 18th 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.

[Sidenote: Diplomatic relations with Germany are severed.]

I have therefore directed the Secretary of State to announce to his Excellency the German Amba.s.sador that all diplomatic relations between the United States and the German Empire are severed and that the American Amba.s.sador to Berlin will immediately be withdrawn; and, in accordance with this decision, to hand to his Excellency his pa.s.sports.

[Sidenote: Hard to believe Germany will carry out threats.]

Notwithstanding this unexpected action of the German Government, this sudden and deplorable renunciation of its a.s.surances, 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 on 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.

[Sidenote: America does not desire war with Germany.]

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 have sought to express in my address to the Senate only two weeks ago--seek merely to vindicate our rights to liberty and justice and an unmolested life. These are the bases of peace, not war. G.o.d grant that we may not be challenged to defend them by acts of willful injustice on the part of the Government of Germany!

[Sidenote: Reasons for addressing Congress.]

I have again asked the privilege of addressing you because we are moving through critical times during which it seems to me to be my duty to keep in close touch with the houses of Congress, so that neither counsel nor action shall run at cross-purposes between us.

On the 3rd of February I officially informed you of the sudden and unexpected action of the Imperial German Government in declaring its intention to disregard the promises it had made to this Government in April last and undertake immediate submarine operations against all commerce, whether of belligerents or of neutrals, that should seek to approach Great Britain and Ireland, the Atlantic coasts of Europe, or the harbors of the Eastern Mediterranean and to conduct those operations without regard to the established restrictions of international practice, without regard to any considerations of humanity even which might interfere with their object.

[Sidenote: The German ruthless policy in practice.]

That policy was forthwith put into practice. It has now been in active exhibition for nearly four weeks. Its practical results are not fully disclosed. The commerce of other neutral nations is suffering severely, but not, perhaps, very much more severely than it was already suffering before the 1st of February, when the new policy of the Imperial Government was put into operation.

[Sidenote: American commerce suffers.]

We have asked the cooperation of the other neutral Governments to prevent these depredations, but I fear none of them has thought it wise to join us in any common course of action. Our own commerce has suffered, is suffering, rather in apprehension than in fact, rather because so many of our ships are timidly keeping to their home ports than because American ships have been sunk.

[Sidenote: American vessels sunk.]

Two American vessels have been sunk, the _Housatonic_ and the _Lyman M.

Law_. The case of the _Housatonic_, which was carrying foodstuffs consigned to a London firm, was essentially like the case of the _Frye_, in which, it will be recalled, the German Government admitted its liability for damages, and the lives of the crew, as in the case of the _Frye_, were safeguarded with reasonable care.

The case of the _Law_, which was carrying lemon-box staves to Palermo, discloses a ruthlessness of method which deserves grave condemnation, but was accompanied by no circ.u.mstances which might not have been expected at any time in connection with the use of the submarine against merchantmen as the German Government has used it.

[Sidenote: Congestion of shipping in American ports.]