(We are confronted with the growing dan ger that neutral countries contiguous to the enetny•will become on a scale hitherto unprece dented a beae of supplies for the armed forces • of our enemies and for materials for manufac turing armament.) The German govermnent now took a step which further complicated the problems of neu trals. On 26 Jae. 1915 the Fe—a...A rrs...,..uncil pro claimed the nationalisation of food supplies, and seized all stocks of oorn, wheat and flour. Although the government gave formal assur ance that foodstuffs imported from the United States would not be used for military or naval purposes, the effect upon British policy was in evitable. On 22 January the Wilhelmsna, loaded with flour, grain and other foodstuffs, cleared from New York for Hamburg. (The new German decree . . . creates a novel situa tion? declared the British foreign office in a statement issued 4 Feb, 1915, (and it is probable that if the destination and cargo of the mina are as supposed, the cargo will, if the vessel is intercepted, be submitted to a prize court in order that the new situation created by the German decree may be examined and a decision reached upon it after full considera tion? The Wilhelmina, under stress of weather, entered Falmouth Harbor 9 February where she wa.s seized and her cargo held for the prize court.
Germany now toolc a step of the utmost im portance to neutrals. Feeling her helplessness against the British battle fleet, she deliberately determined to wage against her ship' ping a war of extermination with submarines, On 4 Feb. 1915 she estzblished a war zone about the Brit ish Isles. “The waters around Great Britain, including the whole of the English Channel, are declared hereby to be included within the zone of war, and after the 18th inst. all enemy merchant vessels encountered in these waters will be destroyed, even if it may not be possi ble always to save their crews and passengers. Within this war zone neutral vessels are ex posed to danger since, in view of the misuse of the neutral flags ordered by the Government of Great Britain on the 31st ultimo and of the hazards of naval warfare, neutral vessels can not ahvays be prevented from suffering from the attacks intended for enemy ships.* A few days later Great Britain submitted a second note to the United States concerning trade restrktions. Touching the important matter of foodstuffs, it said, “An elaborate ma chinery has been organized by the enemy for supply of foodstuffs for the use of the Ger man army from overseas. Under these cir cumstances it would be absurd to give any defi nite pledge that in cases where the supplies sael can be roved to be for the use of the enemy forces should be given complete immu nity by e simpk expedient of dispatching them to an agent in a neutral port. The rea
son for drawing a distinction between food stuffs intended for the civil population and the armed forces itself disappears. In any coun try in which there exists such tremendous or ganization for war as now obtains in Germany, there is no clear division between those whom the Governatent is responsible for feeding and those whom it is not.* In the meanwhile Germany hastened to urge the United States to defend its right to ship foodstuffs to belligerents for civilian use, by protesting against the seizure of the Withel mina. Should Great Britain use her naval su premacy to cut off all overseas supplies, the effect upon the Central Powers would be most serious. Through Count von Bernstorff, her Ambassador at Washington, she offered assur ance that the imported foodstuffs wonld be consumed by the civiliRn population exclusively. On 15 Feb. 1915 the Ambassador presented a note in which Germany offered to recede from the submarine campaign in return for the strict adherence of Great Britain to the rules of the Declaration of London. The United States promptly transmitted this note to the British Ambassador.
Sir Edward Grey replied in a note of 19 Feb. 1915. Pointing out that the brutal treat ment accorded the Belgians by Germany, the destruc6on of merchant ships and innocent lives by the German mines., the firing on unde fended British towns by German cruisers, the bombing of cities by airships, he declared it right for England “to take retaliatory meas ures even if such measures were of a kind to involve pressure on the civil population.* On 20 Feb..1915 the United States addressed to Great Britain and Germany identical notes suggesting a basis of settlement founded on expediency rather than on international law. It was proposed that neither should sow float ing mines on the high seas, or in territorial waters, that neither plant on the high seas an chored mines save within range of harbors; that neither use submarines to attack merchant men save for the purpose of visit and search; that each forbid its merchant ships to use neu tral flags as a ruse de °were. Germany was to promise that foodstuffs imported from the United States should be consigned to agencies designated by the American government which should hare entire charge of their distribution, and that such foodstuff's were not to be requi sitioned by the German government Great Britain was to agree not to make foodstuffs absolute contraband and not to interfere with theni when consigned to American agencies in Germany.