File No. 763.72111/4441
The Ambassador in Germany ( Gerard) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 23, 8 a.m.]
4912. At 7.30 yesterday evening Count Montgelas of the Foreign Office called on me and said that the following note had been sent to the embassies and legations of several neutral nations, particularly Spain and Norway, but was not sent to the United States because that country did not seem to be arming its merchant vessels, that Von Stumm, Undersecretary of State, had asked him, Montgelas, to give me a copy. Montgelas further said that Germany had never [Page 92] receded from the position it took concerning armed merchant vessels in the German note of February, 1916.1
The note verbale is as follows, and is in French. I send translation and will send original French tomorrow in open cable:2
According to information worthy of belief which the Imperial Government has received from a neutral country, the British Government has endeavored quite recently to decide the neutral shipowners engaged in transportation on its order to arm their ships with cannons. Likewise the armament of these neutral ships has been called for in the most energetic manner by English public opinion.
In view of these proceedings the German Government thinks it ought to call the attention of the neutrals to the fact that under existing conditions, neutral armed merchant ships run the risk of being taken for armed enemy merchant ships and of being in consequence attacked, these latter ships maneuvering often under a neutral flag to lay trap for German submarines. Moreover neutral ships of commerce which may make use of their temporary armament will be treated as pirates by the German naval forces.
The Imperial Department for Foreign Affairs leaves it to the (space for name of legation) to communicate the preceding to its government by telegraph. Berlin, the (_ _ _ _ _ _), to the Legation of (_ _ _ _ _ _).
Many Germans have informed me lately that the public feeling for the resumption of reckless submarine warfare is so great that they do not see how any government can withstand it. I think myself, in spite of assurances from all members of Government that I have talked to, that the course of the Government will be to resume reckless submarine warfare by way of attacks without notice on armed merchant vessels, and that an endeavor is being made to place the United States in a position of tacitly or openly consenting to such attacks without notice on armed merchantmen. The above note verbale as I read it contains a plain intimation that armed enemy merchant vessels are subject to attack without notice, and, if not answered by some declaration from the United States, may lay the way open to Germany to claim that the United States has consented to such attacks. I think the plan is to first compel all neutral governments except the United States to support the German position and thus leave the United States standing alone against all other neutrals. Note the fact of announcement that all recently captured crews taken on armed merchant vessels of enemies will be treated as prisoners of war. If this is accepted, then the ships from which they were taken are recognized as warships and therefore subject to attack without notice.
- Foreign Relations, 1916, Supplement, p. 163.↩
- On Jan. 22 Mr. Gerard cabled: “As I notice papers do not publish note which I sent in my No. 4912 yesterday, I do not cable it in French en clair” (File No. 763.72111/4442).↩