Office of the Historian

763.72/1940

The Secretary of State to President Wilson

Washington, July 21, 1915.

My Dear Mr. President: I have been through the draft of the, reply to the German note and enclose a copy with my suggestions.36

There were two things which I thought ought to be in the reply, namely, reference to the Lusitania and a closing paragraph disavowing responsibility on our part for the consequences if Germany should continue her illegal practices.37 While I think both of these ought to be presented to the German Government, American public opinion will, I am sure, be better satisfied. The last paragraph may seem a little too vigorous, as it undoubtedly contains a veiled (rather thinly veiled) threat, but it is no more than we have already said in other notes. I am confident that it would make a very good impression in this country, and of course we cannot ignore the effect of the reply here, and I do not believe that it would increase German irritation.

The reply has two primary ideas, the illegality of retaliatory acts by a belligerent and the possibility of using submarines in accordance with the rules of maritime war.

[Page 464]

You will see that I suggest the transposition of paragraph 638 on page 6 (I have numbered the paragraphs for reference) to page 5 immediately preceding paragraph 4. This, I believe, will give a more logical treatment of the subjects.

Analyzed the subjects are as follows:

  • Par. 1. Dissatisfaction.
  • “2. Admission of principles.
  • “3. Exemption from principles.
  • “6. Possibility of conformity.
  • “4. The Lusitania.
  • “5. Suggested modus vivendi.
  • “7. Freedom of the seas.
  • “8. Agreement between belligerents.
  • “9. Observance of neutral rights.
  • “10. Responsibility for consequences of violation.

I have followed my previous practice of putting suggested omissions in brackets and underscoring suggested insertions.

I hope that a final draft may be determined upon today, if possible, for I believe that it should go forward as soon as possible in order to put an end to newspaper speculations which have a tendency to affect public opinion and prevent impartial judgment when the note is actually published.

Faithfully yours,

Robert Lansing
  1. A draft prepared by the President on July 19; not printed. For text of the note as sent, see Foreign Relations, 1915, supp., p. 480.↩
  2. Secretary Lansing’s proposed concluding paragraph read: “In the event that this situation should unhappily arise the heavy responsibility would rest upon the Imperial Government for the inevitable consequences. The people and Government of the United States are determined to maintain their just rights and will adopt the steps necessary to insure their respect by all nations.”↩
  3. See the order of paragraphs below.↩