THE AMERICAN NOTE TO GERMANY.
THE text of the latest American Note to Germany,
which had not appeared when we wrote last week, was published in the papers of last Saturday. A common criticism of it in America has been that it says nothing more than was said in the previous Note, and some critics even think that it says less. Wonder has been expressed, therefore, that Mr. Bryan, having signed the first Note, should have thought it necessary to withhold his signature from the second. All such criticism is, in our judgment, due to a failure to recognize the fact that the almost extravagant politeness of the Note, the considerate reason- ing, and the suggestions of mediation between Germany and Britain, are only accessories to a pointed repetition of the demand that Germany shall stop her submarine warfare. We call the Note stronger than the first Note because, after Germany had pretended that the first Note meant nothing serious and could be met by evasion and prevarica- tion, President Wilson has definitely repeated his original demand. Germany no doubt hoped that her dialectical twisting. and turnings would lead Mr. Wilson into a labyrinth of argument in which he would be lost. Time, from the German point of view, would be saved, and sub- marine outrages would continue as long as Germany could tempt Mr. Wilson into fresh blind alleys. The new Note must be read in the context of events. In this context it is undoubtedly a firmer and more significant document than anything yet sent to Germany, because it proves that the attempt to wheedle Mr. Wilson away from his line of argument has failed. He holds to his words. He has reached the point of asking for a definite " Yes " or " No " to a plain question in circumstances which exclude the possibility of further irrelevance and casuistry. An examination of the Note will, we think, support this conclusion with sufficient clearness. As regards the sinking of the British vessel • Falaba,' in which an American life was lost, Mr. Wilson expresses the surprise of his Government that Germany should contend that the vessel's attempt to escape capture, or call for help, relieved the German sub- marine officer of the obligation to ensure the safety of the passengers. In three excellent sentences the Note sweeps aside the German excuses and glosses "These are not new circumstances. They have been in the minds of statesmen and international jurists throughout the development of naval warfare, and the Government of the United States does not understand that they have ever been held to alter the principles of humanity upon which it has insisted. Nothing but actual forcible resistance or continued efforts to escape by flight when ordered to stop for the purpose of visit on the past of a merchantman has ever been held to forfeit the lives of her passengers and crew."
Mr. Wilson bas there touched the essential and disastrous weakness of German logic. Germany always argues as though the possibility of her losing the war were contrary to uature, and that therefore when she is at a physical or strategical disadvantage she must correct the balance by ignoring international law. This is the heart of the doctrine of necessity. But the makers of international law never contemplated that Germany would always win. They knew that there must be a loser in every war, and they still made laws in that knowledge, assuming that every civilized nation would put up with disadvantages, reverses, even with final failure, rather than descend to outrage. The German Government pretend, or even believe, that it is enough to say : " We cannot save passengers, because submarines cannot carry passengers. Therefore the passengers must obviously forfeit their lives." Mr. Wilson has shown, in language which, for all its politeness, does not conceal his intellectual scorn of the miserable German argument, that the German contention is no answer at all to his protest.
After disposing of the entirely unfounded German assertions that. the Lusitania ' was armed, carried troops, and had as part of her cargo articles prohibited by the statutes of the United States, Mr. Wilson proceeds to point out that, whatever the German contentions may be as to the carrying of contraband in the ' Lusitania,' they are "irrelevant to the question of the legality of the methods used by the German naval authorities in sinking the vessel " The sinking of passenger ships involves principle. of humanity which throw into the background any special circumstances of detail that may be thought to affect the case—principles which lift it, as the Imperial German Government will be no doubt quick to recognise and acknowledge, out of the class of ordinary subjects of diplomatic discussion or international controversy. Whatever may be the other facts regarding the Lusitanial the principal fact is that a great steamer, primarily and chiefly for the convey- ance of passengers, carrying more than one thousand souls who had no part or lot in the conduct of the war, was torpedoed and sunk without so much as a challenge or warning, and that men, women, and children were sent to their death in circumstances un- paralleled in modern warfare. The fact that more than, one hundred American citizens were among those who perished made it the duty of the Government of the United States to speak of these things, and once more, with solemn emphasis, to call the attention- of the Imperial German Government to the grave responsibility which the Government of the United States conceives it has incurred in this tragic occurrence and to the indisputable principle upon which that responsibility rests. The Government of the' United States is contending for something much greater than the mere rights of property end the privileges of commerce It is contending for nothing less high and sacred than the rights of humanity which every Government honours itself in respecting, which no Govern- ment is justified in resigning on behalf of those under its care and authority."
What does this mean when translated into policy ? It means that Mr. Wilson recognizes the existence of a painfully simple issue. The issue is between the German submarines and international law. Consent to the continuance of German submarine warfare as now practised means the abolition of international law at sea. Mr. Wilson understands that he must choose between the two things. He chooses international law ; and consequently he cannot possibly yield to the submarines. He knows well that consent to German submarine methods would mean delivering the world-to an era of violence, of " no-law," of horrible barbarism, which would be much worse than any hostilities that are now called into immediate prospect.
Mr. Wilson ends his Note by "very earnestly, very solemnly" renewing his representations. International law, so far as it concerns "the safeguarding of American lives and American ships," must be respected. The American Government asks "assurances that this shall be done." Possibly the German Foreign Office will think it worthwhile to send another shuffling reply. According to our reading of the last American Note, we cannot see Low such a reply could possibly divert Mr. Wilson from his purpose. He perceives the issue too clearly. If he did not, he would not have written his last Note. He grasps the fact that the abandonmentof German submarine methods will put the Germans at a final naval disadvantage. None the less, he demands that sacrifice. Nor does he seem to contemplate the idea of waiting for a long time.. Mr. Bryan was in favour of indefinite delay, and Mr. Wilson broke with Mr. Bryan.
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