The German government seized this prem.
of soldiers for foreign service within the terri tory of the United States. The collapse of the rman sea power at once put a stop to the holesale transfer of these men; and the few ho got out and tried to reach their home untries in disguise or by roundabout routes ere nearly all picked up by Allied cruisers, ,ho took the ground (accepted by the United tates) that ureservistso were rightfully consid, red as in the military service of their own ountry and were, therefore, contraband of •ar. Large numbers of British subjects be [ ook themselves undisturbed to England or crossed the border into Canada and enlisted there.
With them went thousands of American citizens who paid no attention tp the Presi dent's proclamation against entering the mili tary service of one of the belligerents. Some of them accepted commissions-in the Canadian or British service, and thereby, under the terms of the United States statutes, forfeited their citizenship. This penalty was not a,pplied at tthe time; and after the United States joined in the war, an act of Congress was obtained per ming such men to retain or resume their esti enphip. In a few cases overzealous cruisers tli etzed men who claimed to be American citizens as German or Austrian subjects. In the case of Piepenbrink (April 1915) the United States successfully maintained the right of protection, even though the man had only filed his first papers of naturalization, and was not yet ad mitted to citizenship. Several thousand Ger mans were employed as seamen or otherwise on board German ships that were in American ports when the war broke out or entered for refuge. Practically all these men were liable for naval service in Germany; but they were allowed to remain on board their ships or to stray off into the general population. A few of them found their way home and entered the German service.
Five German ships of war took refuge in American ports and their crews were interned to the end of the war. These were the Geier and Locksun (Hawaii, October 1914), the Cor moron (Guam, December 1914), the Prins Eitel Friedrich (Newport News, March 1915) and the Kronprinz (Newport News, April 1915). A considerable number of the officers and some of the men broke the parole that theY had .given and escaped. The German embassy
and the German government approved this breach of faith and excused it on the ground that the wording of the parole did not make the pledge equivalent to the German uEhrenwort? Several thousand Americans took part ac tively on the side of the Allies, and a few on the other side, by joining ambulance, medical and relief corps which were organized in Amer ica lri individuals and societies, including the magnificent Red Cross Society. While not en rolled in the active armies, many of them served close up to the lines and under fire, and some were killed or wounded. Many entered the similar services and put on the uniforms of the belligerents. Others formally enlisted in the fighting branches. ' Allied Restrictions on Neutral Trade.— The United States government as a neutral power found itself called upon to prevent cer tain fortns of American trade, such as the. send ing out of provisions or other supplies to cruisers near the American coast. Several Ger mans were prosecuted and one of them (Buenz, agent of the Hamburg-American line) was con-. victed, for swearing to false manifests of the cargoes of ships expecting to leave the port of New York. Steps were also taken to prevent' the dispatch of subsnarines as completed ships; I ahhough the shiptnent of fabricated parts to Canada, there to be assembled into submarines, was pertnitted. By an order of 14 Sept. 1914, the United States refused to give clearances to any merchant ships armed for self-defe,nse, although such arming had been usual in earlier wars. Vessels, however, were allowed to carry a few small gusts which could be used against a stern chase. Warships of all the powers were free to enter and leave port without aug.tnent ing their force; but the only German ship of war that was able to make use of this privilege was the fighting submarine U. 53, which put into Newport for a few hours in 1916. The mer chant submarine Deutschland entered and cleared from Baltimore and from New London. The German merchant ship Odenwald attempted to put to se,a from San Juan, Porto Rico (March 1915), but was compelled to return by the American batteries.