travel upon the seas would do so at his peril if his journey should take
him within the zone of waters within which the Imperial German Navy was
using submarines against the commerce of Great Britain and France,
notwithstanding the respectful but very earnest protest of his
Government, the Government of the United States. I do not refer to this
for the purpose of calling the attention of the Imperial German
Government at this time to the surprising irregularity of a
communication from the Imperial German Embassy at Washington addressed
to the people of the United States through the newspapers, but only for
the purpose of pointing out that no warning that an unlawful and
inhumane act will be committed can possibly be accepted as an excuse or
palliation for that act or as an abatement of the responsibility for its
commission.

Long acquainted as this Government has been with the character of the
Imperial Government, and with the high principles of equity by which
they have in the past been actuated and guided, the Government of the
United States cannot believe that the commanders of the vessels which
committed these acts of lawlessness did so except under a
misapprehension of the orders issued by the Imperial German naval
authorities. It takes it for granted that, at least within the practical
possibilities of every such case, the commanders even of submarines were
expected to do nothing that would involve the lives of noncombatants or
the safety of neutral ships, even at the cost of failing of their object
of capture or destruction. It confidently expects, therefore, that the
Imperial German Government will disavow the acts of which the Government
of the United States complains; that they will make reparation so far as
reparation is possible for injuries which are without measure, and that
they will take immediate steps to prevent the recurrence of anything so
obviously subversive of the principles of warfare for which the Imperial