File No. 763.72111G27/21
The German Ambassador (Bernstorff) to the Secretary of State
Washington, November 11, 1914.
[Received November 12.]
No. A 2190]
Mr. Secretary of State: Two officers of H. M. S. Geier who had been granted sick leave have been interned with their orderlies in the United States. It seems that the United States Government took that measure on the ground that they belonged to the company of a ship whose crew faced internment and which was in fact dismantled [Page 589] later. This position would undoubtedly be correct if the officers had not left the ship until after internment, as in that case the whole crew should be treated exactly like troops that cross the border of a neutral country. As a matter of fact, however, H. M. S. Geier was not dismantled until the 7th of this month and the official communication of Acting Secretary of State Lansing which spoke of the disarmament of H. M. S. Geier under certain conditions is dated October 30.1 As to this I have the honor to inform your excellency that the interned officers and their orderlies had already left Honolulu on the 28th of October, that is, before the question of interning the crew of H. M. S. Geier had come up. It is therefore not a fact that those officers and men belonged to the company of a ship on the point of being interned.
In this connection I would draw your excellency’s attention to the treatment accorded to the British Major Robertson. That officer was allowed by the like American authorities to proceed on his journey, although it was shown that he had taken an active part in the war against Germany by fighting in the battle before Tsingtao. As this discrimination in the treatment of German and English officers appears to me to be difficult to explain, I have the honor to beg your excellency to cause this question to be again examined in the light of the neutrality of the United States and kindly to procure for the officers of H. M. S. Geier and their orderlies permission to travel freely.
Accept [etc.]