763.72/2611
The Secretary of State to President Wilson
My Dear Mr. President: The German Ambassador has just called upon me and left the enclosed memorandum14 which he gave me to [Page 531] understand was as far as his Government possibly could go in complying with our requests.
I have only analyzed the memorandum very hastily. In the first place I think it may be drawn from it that the German Government recognizes that retaliatory acts are not lawful, though justifiable; in the second place, it declares that “retaliation must not aim at other than enemy subjects”, which means, I think, that it is unlawful so far as neutrals are concerned; and in the third place, the German Government assumes liability for the death of citizens of the United States as a result of the sinking of the Lusitania. It comes so near meeting all our demands that I wish to study it with care to see if it cannot be considered acceptable.
Of course the word illegal and the word illegality are omitted, but if we do accept this settlement I believe we could state our understanding of the language in order to show in our acceptance that we consider there is a direct admission of wrong.
Faithfully yours,