Why We are at War | Page 5

of
armaments which makes of armies and navies a power for order merely,
not an instrument of aggression or of selfish violence.
These are American principles, American policies. We can stand for no
others. And they are also the principles and policies of forward-looking
men and women everywhere, of every modern nation, of every
enlightened community. They are the principles of mankind, and must

prevail.

II
THE SEVERANCE OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH
GERMANY
Message to the Congress February 3, 1917

Gentlemen of the Congress:
The Imperial German Government, on the 3Ist of January, announced
to this Government and to the Governments of the other neutral nations
that on and after the first day of February, the present month, it would
adopt a policy with regard to the use of submarines against all shipping
seeking to pass through certain designated areas of the high seas to
which it is clearly my duty to call your attention.
Let me remind the Congress that on the 18th of April last, in view of
the sinking on the 24th of March of the cross-Channel passenger-
steamer Sussex by a German submarine, without summons or warning,
and the consequent loss of the lives of several citizens of the United
States who were passengers aboard her, this Government addressed a
note to the Imperial German Government in which it made the
following declaration:
If it is still the purpose of the Imperial German Government to
prosecute relentless and indiscriminate warfare against vessels of
commerce by the use of submarines without regard to what the
Government of the United States must consider the sacred and
indisputable rules of international law and the universally recognized
dictates of humanity, the Government of the United States is at last
forced to the conclusion that there is but one course it can pursue.
Unless the German Government should now immediately declare and
effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare
against passenger and freight-carrying vessels the Government of the
United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with
the German Empire altogether.
GERMANY'S U-BOAT PLEDGE
In reply to this declaration the German Government gave this
Government the following assurances:

The German Government is prepared to do its utmost to confine the
operations of war for the rest of its duration to the fighting forces of the
belligerents, thereby insuring the freedom of the seas, a principle upon
which the German Government believes, now as before, to be in
agreement with the Government of the United States.
The German Government, guided by this idea, notifies the Government
of the United States that the German naval forces have received the
following orders:
In accordance with the general principles of visit and search and
destruction of merchant vessels recognized by international law, such
vessels, both within and without the area declared as naval war zone,
shall not be sunk without warning and without saving human lives,
unless these ships attempt to escape or offer resistance.
But neutrals cannot expect that Germany, forced to fight for her
existence, shall, for the sake of neutral interest, restrict the use of an
effective weapon if her enemy is permitted to continue to apply at will
methods of warfare violating the rules of international law. Such a
demand would be incompatible with the character of neutrality, and the
German Government is convinced that the Government of the United
States does not think of making such a demand, knowing that the
Government of the United States has repeatedly declared that it is
determined to restore the principle of the freedom of the seas from
whatever quarter it has been violated.
HOW THE UNITED STATES REPLIED
To this the Government of the United States replied on the 8th of May,
accepting, of course, the assurances given, but adding:
The Government of the United States feels it necessary to state that it
takes it for granted that the Imperial German Government does not
intend to imply that the maintenance of its newly announced policy is
in any way contingent upon the course or result of diplomatic
negotiations between the Government of the United States and any
other belligerent Government, notwithstanding the fact that certain
passages in the Imperial Government's note of the 4th instant might
appear to be susceptible to that construction. In order, however, to
avoid any possible misunderstanding, the Government of the United
States notifies the Imperial Government that it cannot for a moment
entertain, much less discuss, a suggestion that respect by German naval

authorities for the rights of citizens of the United States upon the high
seas should in any way or in the slightest degree be made contingent
upon the conduct of any other Government affecting the rights of
neutrals and non-combatants. Responsibility in such matters is single,
not joint; absolute, not