In a note touching upon this affair the Ger man government admitted that a strange vessel had been torpedoed in the Channel on 24 March, but contended that it was not the Sussex but a war vessel. The commander of the sub marine had made a sketch of the ship, and the lines were those of a cruiser or mine4ayer, not of a passenger ship.
On 19 April 1916, President Wilson's reply to the German note was printed in the news papers. It was pointed out that all the cir cumstances of the case mentioned in the Ger inan note corresponded exactly to the case in point, except the difference between the sketch and the lines of the Sussex, which was undoubt edly due to the inaccuracy of the drawing. *The Government of the United States,* the Presi dent continued, *is forced by recent events to conclude that it is only one instance, even though one of the most extreme and most distressing instances, of the deliberate method and spirit of indiscriminate destruction of merchant ves sels of all sorts, nationalities, and destinations.
The Government of the United States has been very patient. . . . * But the time had now come for definite promises. Unless Gennany *should now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying vessels, the Government of the United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether.* The German reply was handed to Ambas sador Gerard on 4 May-. It contained a defi nite promise in regard to the future conduct of the U-boat campaign. *The German Govern ment. . . . notifies the Government of the United States that the German naval forces have received the following orders : (In ac cordance 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 as a naval war zone, shall not be sunk with out warning and without saving human lives, unless these ships attempt to escape or offer resistance.' . °The German Government is confident that, in consequence of the new orders issued to its naval. forces, the Government of the United States will now also consider all impediments removed which may have been in the way of a mutual co-operation towards the restoration of the freedom of the seas during the war as suggested in the note of 23 July 1915, and it does not doubt that the Government of the United States will now demand and insist that the British Government shall forthwith observe the rules of international law universally rec ognized before the war as they are laid down in the notes presented by the Government of the United,States to the British Government on 24 Dec. 1914, and 5 Nov. 1915. Should the steps
taken by the Goverinnent of the United States not attain the object it desires to have the laws of humanity followed by all belligerent nations, the German Government would then be facing a new situation, in which it must reserve itself complete liberty of action." On 8 May, Secretary Lansing replied, accept ing Germany's abandonment of the policy which had so menaced the good relations between the two countries, but expressly rejecting tlte at tac_lied condition. "The Government of the United States feels it necessary to state that it takes for granted,)) he said, "that the Imperial German Government does not intend to imply that the maintenance of its newly anm,unced 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 passages in the Imperial Govern ment's note of the fourth instant appear to be susceptible of that construction.
.:°In order, however, to avoid any possible misunderstanding, the Government of the United States notifies the Imperial Govertunent that it cannot for a moment entertain, much less dis cuss, a suggestion that respect by Gerinan naval authorities for the rights of citizens of the United Sta,tes upon the high seas should in any way or in the slightest degree be made contin gent upon the conduct of any other Government affecting the rights of neutrals and noncom batants.° Thus in victory for the United States ended, for the time being the long diplomatic quarrel over unrestrained submarine warfare. President Wilson had forced Germany to aclmowledge the principle of visit and search, had wrung from her a promise not to sink merchant vessels without warning, unless those vessels attempted to escape. It was a great triumph for the prin ciples of humanity and for moderation in war fare. It now remained to be seen how far. Germany would adhere to her promises.