763.72/1967½
President Wilson to the Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I have of course been giving a great deal of thought to the German note since I received the official text of it. According to my suggestion in my last letter, I am now writing to tell you how the reply lies in my mind in outline.
But, first, certain questions:
Do you think it worth while to take notice of and refute their arguments about the arming of merchantmen destroying the difference between public and private vessels; about this, that, and the other alleged utterance of English ministers or order of the English Government having made their recent course necessary and justifiable; etc., etc., or do you think we had better just speak, and briefly at that, to the merits of the case, in bulk, as they present it,—for example as follows:
1. We cannot discuss special arrangements whereby a few vessels may enjoy the rights all are entitled to, nor admit that such arrangements would be in any way adequate to meet the contentions of this Government.
2. We are not merely contending the rights of Americans to cross the seas as they will without fear of deliberate breaches of international law, but conceive ourselves as speaking for the rights of [Page 456] neutrals everywhere, rights in which the whole world is interested and which every nation must wish to see kept inviolable.
3. These rights the Imperial German Government itself recognizes in theory, professes itself anxious to see safeguarded, and is surely ready to admit as quite as vital to itself, both now and in the years to come, as to any other nation.
4. Violations of neutral rights and of the general obligations of international law by the Government of Great Britain we of course cannot discuss with the German Government but will discuss with the British Government, so far as they affect the rights of Americans. We will, moreover, as already intimated to the German Government, be glad to be the means of conveying any suggestions as to modifications of methods of warfare which any one of the belligerents may wish conveyed to the others.
5. We note with interest the fact that in the more recent operations of German submarines it has been feasible to keep within the limits and restrictions of international practice and to act upon the general principles upon which we have insisted. We can see no reason, therefore, why there is not opened a way of immediate agreement between the two governments and of such action as will sufficiently safeguard all legitimate interests and enable the German Admiralty to return to the practice long established and fully recognized in their own instructions already more than once referred to.
I am not selecting words; I am merely trying to outline an argument. What do you think of it?
And what do you think ought to be the concluding terms of demand, that will bring the correspondence to a definite issue? Two things are plain to me, in themselves inconsistent, viz. that our people want this thing handled in a way that will bring about a definite settlement without endless correspondence, and that they will also expect us not to hasten an issue or so conduct the correspondence as to make an unfriendly issue inevitable.
I shall await your own suggestions with the greatest interest. When I have had a chance to see them and reflect upon them, I will confer with you in person, preferably in Washington where we will have all the documents we wish at hand, and all the other persons we might wish to consult with regard to particular phases of this important matter.
With warm regard,
Faithfully Yours,