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native route, and I should be grateful if you could also favour me with your views on this point.

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In reply to your note of the 20th instant in regard to the passage over American territory, by way of the Canadian Pacific Railway, of certain classes of Canadian soldiers returning from Europe, I regret to say that in the view of my Government the transportation of either the class of discharged soldiers wearing their service uniforms, though no longer forming a part of any military unit, or the class of invalided soldiers returning on furlough, though traveling as individuals, should not be allowed over American territory on account of the embarrassment which almost surely would follow if such passage were permitted.

In conveying these views to you I am not insensible of the convenience to the Canadian Government which would result from a free passage of such soldiers over the Canadian Pacific Railway through the State of Maine, but, on the other hand, it is evident that all Canadian troops, sick, wounded, and discharged, can easily be repatriated without entering any other than Canadian jurisdiction. I am, etc., ROBERT LANSING.

PART VI.

DISPLAY BY NAVAL VESSELS OF DISTINGUISHING MARKS ON THE HIGH SEAS.

The German Ambassador to the Secretary of State.

[Translation.]

J. No. A. 7824.]

MR. SECRETARY OF STATE:

GERMAN EMBASSY, Washington, Dec. 1, 1915.

By direction of my Government I have the honor to ask of Your Excellency that orders be issued to the Commanding officers of American Warships in the Mediterranean to display the national flag so that it can be clearly seen by day and to keep the ship and flag sufficiently lighted by night, in order to avoid their being mistaken for warships of the States at war with the Central Powers.

The Imperial Government has the honor to offer this suggestion with a view to preventing error in submarine attacks.

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Referring to Your Excellency's Note of December 1, 1915 (No. A. 7824), in which you ask, by direction of your Government, that orders be issued to the commanding officers of American warships in the Mediterranean to display the national flag so that it can be clearly seen by day and to keep the ship and flag sufficiently lighted by night,

in order that the vessels of this Government may not be mistaken for warships of the States at war with the Central Powers, I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a communication dated December 10, 1915, from the Secretary of the Navy, indicating the reasons why the Navy Department must decline to issue the orders as suggested by the Imperial Government.

The substance of the Secretary of the Navy's letter has been transmitted to the American Ambassador at Berlin by telegraph for communication to the Imperial Foreign Office.

Accept, etc.,

ROBERT LANSING.

[Inclosure.]

The Secretary of the Navy to the Secretary of State.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 10, 1915.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of December 8, 1915, transmitting a copy in translation of a note dated December 1, 1915, from the German Ambassador at this capital, asking that orders be issued to the commanding officers of American war vessels in the Mediterranean to display the national flag so that it can be clearly seen by day and to keep the ship and flag sufficiently illuminated at night, in order that the vessels of this Government may not be mistaken for the warships of the states at war with the Central Powers. It is further noted from the inclosure that the German Government offers this suggestion with a view to preventing error in submarine attacks.

The distinguishing marks and lights to be carried by men-of-war on the high seas are prescribed by international agreement as embodied in the statute law of the United States in regulations for preventing collisions at sea. These rules do not require the display of colors by day when not in sight of other vessels nor do they require the display of colors at night nor the illumination of the ship and colors at night.

Within territorial waters or blockaded areas this Department concedes the right of a foreign government to require the use of special distinguishing lights or signals, and in fact such local regulations are provided for by the international rules above mentioned.

On the high seas, however, no nation has a right to prescribe or suggest rules for the conduct of the vessels of other nations, and the responsibility for preventing attacks on innocent vessels under the circumstances suggested by the German Government must rest with

the belligerent nation concerned and not with the neutral nation whose flag the ship may fly.

This Department considers that the entering into of an arrangement with one or more belligerents, not provided for by international agreement, would be a most dangerous and inexpedient procedure.

In view of the above, this Department must decline to issue the orders requested by the German Ambassador to the commanding officers of American war vessels in the Mediterranean and must continue to consider that the German Government is wholly and fully responsible for the prevention of unintentional attacks by its naval forces on the vessels of the United States.

Very sincerely, yours,

No. 2298.]

JOSEPHUS DANIELS.

Ambassador Gerard to the Secretary of State.

AMERICAN EMBASSY, Berlin, January 24, 1916.

SIR: With reference to the Department's telegram No. 2491,1 of December 10, 1915, 5 p. m., regarding certain suggestions or instructions on the part of the German Government, applying to American ships of war in the Mediterranean, which were brought to your attention by the German Ambassador in Washington, I have the honor to inform you that I did not fail to bring the contents of the Department's telegram to the attention of the Imperial Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on December 14, last, and that I am now in receipt of his reply, a copy in translation of which I inclose herewith. A résumé, of this Note has to-day been cabled to the Department in the Embassy's telegram 3386.

I have, etc.,

JAMES W. GERARD.

[Inclosure-Translation.]

The German Minister for Foreign Affairs to Ambassador Gerard.

No. A. 760.]

FOREIGN OFFICE, Berlin, January 19, 1916.

The undersigned has the honor to reply as follows to the esteemed note of His Excellency, the American Ambassador, Mr. Gerard, of December 14, 1915, F. O. No. 6821:

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If the Imperial Government proposed to the Government of the United States that the American warships in the Mediterranean be instructed to fly their national flags clearly visible during the day, and to provide sufficient illumination of vessel and flag at night, this merely represented a friendly suggestion, as is self-evident from the nature of the matter. It was by no means the intention of the Imperial Government to wish to issue instructions to the American Government in this regard. This suggestion had for its object in the first place to serve the interest of the American Government, but by no means to infringe upon its rights, as the American marine authorities erroneously appear to assume.

The Imperial Government is moreover not in the position to accept the point of view of the American marine authorities; that no state has a right to give friendly advice to another state. According to the conception of the Imperial Government, a belligerent power not only has the right, but even the duty to warn a neutral of dangers which may possible menace him, in case he should get into unintended danger through operations of war about to take place.

In its reply of December 14, 1915, the American Government bases its point of view solely on formal instructions. In the opinion of the Imperial Government, the American Government does not sufficiently take into account the fact that these instructions were principally intended to safeguard shipping in normal times; that is, in times of peace. The particular requirements of war hardly render the appeal of a neutral power to such instructions permissible, if the one-sided disadvantage of one of the belligerents is thereby caused.

Even though no explicit regulations exist with regard to the German suggestion, the German Government would like to point out in this connection that it was the American Government itself, which appealed on several occasions to the general principles of the right of neutrality. According to these, the neutral state is in duty bound, not intentionally to place difficulties in the way of the military operations of one of the belligerents, unless its own justified interests are violated. The point of view taken by the American Government would logically lead to the result that even in times of war, American warships, in appealing to the right valid in times of peace of free transit on the high seas, could demand unhindered passage between two battling warships.

The foregoing considerations and urgent military interests, especially the exigencies of submarine warfare, concerning which the American Government itself admitted in the note of July 23, 1915, F. O. No. 4376, that it was prepared to take its special conditions into account, render it impossible for the Imperial Government, to its sincere regret, to accept the American point of view, which in case of m istaking a vessel, wishes to place the blame solely and entirely on the German naval forces.

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