Chapter X: Part 10

But as soon as we turned down the Litenie we could hear shots farther down, and the pedestrians were mostly knotted in doorways. Scattered cavalry commands were arriving from the side streets, and the Litenie began looking a little too hot. So we chose a parallel street for several blocks until we were within three blocks of the Neva, where we had to cross the Litenie in front of a company drawn up across the street ready to fire toward the arsenal, where there was sporadic rifle fire. Here there were bigger knots of curious citizens projecting themselves farther and farther toward the middle of the street, hoping for a better view, until a nearer shot frightened them closer to the walls. The barricade on the Litenie by the arsenal, the one barricade the revolution produced, was just beginning to be built two hundred feet away as Lewis and I reached the shelter of the Fourshtatzkaya, on the same street as the American Embassy. By crossing the Litenie we had entered the zone of the revolutionists. We did not realize this, however, and were puzzled by the sight of a soldier carrying simply a bayonet, and another with a bare officer's sword. A fourteen-year-old boy stood in the middle of the street with a rifle in his hand, trifling with it. It exploded in his hand, and when he saw the ruin of the breech block he unfixed the bayonet, threw down the gun, and ran around the corner. A student came up the street examining the mechanism of a revolver. There seemed to be rifle-fire in every direction, even in the same street, but haphazard.

[Sidenote: An officer recruiting for the revolution.]

If we had not been living in a troubled atmosphere these small indications would have impressed us deeply, but neither of us gathered immediately the significance of events. Before we reached the next corner we passed troops who evidently did not know yet whether or not they were still on the side of the Government. An automobile appeared full of soldiers, an officer standing on the seat. He waved toward him all the soldiers in sight and began haranguing them. There was no red flag in sight, and, until we caught his words, we thought he was urging them to remain loyal. He was really recruiting for the revolution.

[Sidenote: Automobiles and motor trucks.]

As we kept on toward the Duma we encountered other automobiles, many of them, and motor trucks, literally bristling with guns and sabres. Half the men were civilians and the number of young boys with revolvers who looked me over made me feel it was a very easy time in which to be killed. I was wearing an English trench coat and a fur cap, so to prevent any mistake of identity I stopped and presented a full view to each passing motor. Still I knew my continued existence depended on the sanity of any one of thirty or forty very excited men and boys on each truck, and when I reached the protection of the enormous crowd that was storming the entrance to the Duma I felt more comfortable.

[Sidenote: The Duma waits, but finally takes command.]

The Duma had just been dismissed by imperial decree, an ironical circumstance in view of the thousands of soldiers and civilians massed before its doors under the red flag. Their leaders were within, asking the Duma to form a provisional government. The Duma was not yet convinced, and the mental confusion within was more bewildering than the revolution without. This was early in the afternoon, and the Duma held off for hours. Even when it was known that the Preobarzhenski regiment, which began its career with Peter the Great, had turned revolutionary, the Duma insisted on waiting. But at nine o'clock in the evening, when every police station, every court, was on fire and the revolutionists completely controlled the city, President Rodzianko decided that the Duma must take command.

[Sidenote: Automobiles dart boldly everywhere.]

It is interesting to watch a revolution grow, and even at this time, early Monday afternoon, the revolutionists controlled only a corner of Petrograd. They were working up excitement, and, as often before in the war, the motor trucks played an important part. They thundered back and forth through doubtful streets, students, soldiers, and workmen standing tight and bristling with bayonets like porcupines. They carried conviction of force, and, as each foray met with less resistance, it was not long before they were dashing boldly everywhere. That accounts for the rapid control of the city. It could not have been done afoot.

[Sidenote: The revolutionists take the arsenal.]

All day, from the time the arsenal fell into their hands, the revolutionists felt their strength growing, and from noon on no attack was led against them. At first the soldiers simply gave up their guns and mixed in the crowd, but they grew bolder, too, when they saw the workmen forming into regiments and marching up the Fourshtatzkaya, still fumbling with the triggers of their rifles to see how they met the enemy at the next corner. The coolness of these revolutionists, their willingness to die for their cause, won the respect of a small group of us who were standing before the American Embassy. The group was composed chiefly of Embassy attaches who wanted to go over to the old Austrian Embassy, used by us as the headquarters for the relief of German and Austrian prisoners in Russia; but though it was only a five minutes' walk, the hottest corner in the revolution lay between.

[Sidenote: Soldiers ground arms and become revolutionists.]

When we left the Embassy, Captain McCulley, the American Naval Attache, said he knew a way to get out of the revolutionary quarter without passing a line of fire. So he edged us off toward the distant Nevsky along several blood-blotched streets in which there were occasional groups of soldiers who did not know which way to turn. Then, as the Bycenie, beyond, suddenly filled with revolutionists coming from some other quarter, we turned to cross the Litenie. Twenty minutes earlier Captain McCulley had passed there and the Government troops controlled for another quarter mile. Now we passed a machine-gun company commanding the street, which dared not fire because there was a line of soldiers between it and a vast crowd pouring through the street toward us. The crowd had already overwhelmed and made revolutionists out of hundreds of soldiers, and the situation for a moment was dramatically tense.

Down the bisecting Litenie another crowd was advancing, filling the wide street. Before it there was also a company of soldiers, and it did not know whether to face the Bycenie or the river. Three immense mobs were overwhelming it, though it knew of but two. Suddenly, just at the moment when we expected a shower of bullets, and flattened ourselves against a doorway, the company grounded arms and in three seconds was in the arms of the revolution.

[Sidenote: Company after company joins.]

As we retreated to the Nevsky ahead of the victorious crowd we could see company after company turn, as if suddenly deciding not to shoot, and join.

[Sidenote: Thunder of motor trucks.]

I walked rapidly back to the Morskaya and down to the cable office, which I found closed, not encountering on the whole two miles a single soldier or policeman until I reached St. Isaac's Cathedral, where a regiment of marines turned up the Morskaya toward the Nevsky, swinging along behind a band. Five minutes later I followed them up the Morskaya, but before I reached the Gorokawaya, half the distance, I could hear the thunder of the revolutionary motor trucks and the glad howls of the revolutionists. They had run the length of the Nevsky, and the city, except this little corner, was theirs. The shooting began at once, and for the next three hours on both the Morskaya and the Moika there was steady firing. This was still going on when, at nine in the evening, I passed around the edge of the fight, crossed Winter Palace Square, deserted except for a company of Cossacks dimly outlined against the Winter Palace across the square. By passing under the arch into the head of Morskaya again I was once more with the revolutionists.

I have since asked Mr. Milukoff, now Minister of Foreign Affairs, at that moment a member of the Duma's Committee of Safety, how much of an organization there was behind the events of that day.

[Sidenote: The organization a spontaneous growth.]

"There was some incipient organization certainly," he replied, "though even now I could not be more definite. But for the most part it was spontaneous growth. The Duma was not revolutionary, and we held off until it became necessary for us to take hold. We were the only government left."

[Sidenote: Duma is forced to adopt democratic programme.]

The rapid work was done by the Socialists, who quickly formed the Council of Workmen and Soldiers' Deputies and formulated the programme which has come to be the Russian Declaration of Independence. They consented to support the Duma if it adopted their democratic programme. There was nothing else for the Duma to do, and the main issues of the new Government were worked out before Tuesday morning, within twenty-four hours of the beginning of the revolution. Since then I have been repeatedly impressed with the organizing ability of the men in control, and their ability to take matters rapidly in hand.

[Sidenote: The crowd feels its power.]

[Sidenote: Not much terrorism.]

Monday night the city was in the hands of the mob. Anybody could have a gun. Public safety lay in the released spirits of the Russian workmen who saw the vision of liberty before them. Tuesday was the most dangerous day, as the crowd was beginning to feel its power, and the amount of shooting going on everywhere must have been out of all proportion to the sniping on the part of cornered police. But the searching of apartments for arms was carried on with some semblance of order, and usually there was a student in command. The individual stories of officers who refused to surrender and fought to the end in their apartments are endless, but these individual fights were lost in the victorious sweep of the day. Tuesday evening the real business of burning police stations and prisons and destroying records went on throughout the city, but the actual burnings, while picturesque, lacked the terrorism one might expect. Still I felt that the large number of irresponsible civilians carrying arms might do what they pleased.

The same idea evidently occurred to the Committee of Safety, as it began at once disarming the irresponsible, and its work was so quick and effective that there were very few civilians not registered as responsible police who still had fire-arms on Wednesday morning.

[Sidenote: Regiments sent to Petrograd join revolutionists.]

As late as Wednesday there was a possibility of troops being sent against Petrograd, but all the regiments for miles around joined the revolution before they entered the city. There was obviously no one who wanted to uphold the old monarchy, and it fell without even dramatic incident to mark its end. To us in Petrograd the abdication of the Emperor had just one significance. It brought the army over at a stroke. The country, long saturated with democratic principles, accepted the new Government as naturally as if it had been chosen by a national vote.

* * * * *

The credit of the first shot fired on the American side in the Great War fell to the crew of the American ship, _Mongolia_. A narrative of this dramatic event is given in the chapter following.

AMERICA'S FIRST SHOT

J. R. KEEN

Copyright, New York Times, April 27, 1919.

[Sidenote: Gunners of the _Mongolia_ hit a submarine.]

April 19 has long been celebrated in Massachusetts because of the battle of Lexington, but henceforth the Bay State can keep with added pride a day which has acquired national interest in this war, for on that date the S. S. _Mongolia_, bound from New York to London, under command of Captain Emery Rice, while proceeding up the English Channel, fired on an attacking submarine at 5.24 in the morning, smashing its periscope and causing the U-boat to disappear.

[Sidenote: Officers from Massachusetts.]

The gun crew who made this clean hit at 1,000 yards were under command of Lieutenant Bruce R. Ware, United States Navy, and the fact of special interest in Massachusetts is that both Rice and Ware were born in that State, the Captain receiving his training for the sea in the Massachusetts Nautical School and the Lieutenant being a graduate of Annapolis.

[Sidenote: Dangerous voyages and cargoes.]

The _Mongolia_, a merchantman of 13,638 tons, had been carrying munitions to Great Britain since January, 1916, when she reached New York Harbor from San Francisco, coming by way of Cape Horn, and she had already made nine voyages to England. In those voyages her officers and men had faced many of the greatest perils of the war. Her cargoes had consisted of TNT, of ammunition, of powder, of fuses, and of shells. At one time while carrying this dangerous freight Captain Rice saw, as he stood on the bridge during a storm, a lightning bolt strike the ship forward just where a great quantity of powder was stored, and held his breath as he waited to see "whether he was going up or going down."

[Sidenote: Warnings of U-boats.]

Captain Rice has since died, and among his papers now in my possession are many of the warnings of the presence of U-boats sent to his ship by the British Admiralty during 1916, when every vessel approaching the British coast was in danger from those assassins of the sea.

[Sidenote: _Mongolia_ sails in spite of German edict.]

After February 1, 1917, when the Huns made their "war zone" declaration, the question with us at home whether the _Mongolia_ would continue to sail in defiance of that edict of ruthless warfare became a matter of acute anxiety. The ship completed her eighth voyage on February 7, when she reached New York and found the whole country discussing the burning question, "Would the United States allow the Imperial German Government to dictate how and where our ships should go?" There was never but one answer in the mind of Captain Rice. At home he simply said, "I shall sail on schedule, armed or unarmed. Does any one suppose I would let those damned Prussians drive me off the ocean?"

In the office of the International Mercantile Marine he expressed himself more politely, but with equal determination, to the President of the company, P. A. S. Franklin, to whom he said, "I am prepared, so are my officers, to sail with or without arms, but of course I would rather have arms."

[Sidenote: Arms slow to get.]

But the arms were slow to get, and the _Mongolia_, loaded with her super-dangerous cargo, cleared from New York on February 20, the first one of our boats to reach England after the "war zone" declaration, I believe. Captain Rice arrived in London about the time when Captain Tucker of the S. S. _Orleans_ reached Bordeaux, the latter being the first American to reach France in safety after the same declaration.

[Sidenote: Spies try to learn sailing dates.]

Early in February of 1917 we became aware that German spies were making a persistent attempt to get into our home to find out when the _Mongolia_ was sailing, and if the ship was to be armed. The first spy came up the back stairs in the guise of an employe engaged in delivering household supplies. He accomplished nothing, and the incident was dismissed from our minds, but the second spy came up the front stairs and effected an entrance, and this event roused us to the dangers around Captain Rice even in his own country and showed the intense determination of the Germans to prevent, if they could, any more big cargoes of munitions reaching England on the _Mongolia_. Our second visitor was a man who had been an officer in the German Army years before. After leaving Germany he came to the United States and became a citizen.

[Sidenote: A German-American turns German spy.]

In August, 1914, when the Huns invaded Belgium, he became all German again and returned to Europe to serve with the German Army on the French front, from which region he was ordered by the German Government back to the United States, where his command of English and knowledge of the country made him valuable to the propaganda and spy groups here. All this and much more I found out shortly after his visit, but the afternoon he called I (I was alone at the time) received him without suspicion, since he said he came to pay his respects to Captain Rice, whom he had known in China.

[Sidenote: Deceiving the spy.]

It was not until his apparently casual questions about the time of the _Mongolia's_ sailing and whether she was to be armed became annoying that "I woke up," and looking attentively at this over-curious visitor, I encountered a look of such cold hostility that with a shock I realized I was dealing with a spy, one who was probably armed, and who appeared determined to get the information he sought. In a few seconds of swift thinking I decided the best thing to do was to make him believe that Captain Rice himself did not know whether his ship was going out again, and that no one could tell what course of action the ship owners would take. After forty minutes of probing for information he departed, convinced there was no information to be had from me.

[Sidenote: How signals could be sent by German agents.]

It was ascertained that his New York home was in an apartment house on the highest point of land in Manhattan. In this same house there lived another German, who received many young men, all Teutons, as visitors, some of whom spent much time with him on the roof. The possibility of their signaling out to sea from this elevation is too obvious to be dwelt on, and it is beyond doubt that some of the submarines' most effective work at this time and later was due to the activities of these German agents allowed at large by our too-trustful laws of citizenship. So exact and timely was much of the information these spies secured that the _Mongolia_ on one of her voyages to England picked up a wireless message sent in the _Mongolia's_ own secret code, saying that the _Montana_ was sinking, giving her position, and asking the _Mongolia_ to come to her rescue, but it had happened that when the _Mongolia_ left New York Harbor at the beginning of this very voyage one of her officers had noticed the _Montana_ lying in the harbor.

[Sidenote: _Mongolia_ is armed with three 6-inch guns.]

When the _Mongolia_ returned on March 30, 1917, from this unarmed voyage she was given three six-inch guns, two forward and one aft, and a gun crew from the U. S. S. _Texas_, under Lieutenant Bruce R. Ware, who had already made his mark in gunnery.

The _Mongolia_ left New York on her tenth voyage April 7 with the following officers:

[Sidenote: The officers on the voyage.]

Commander, Emery Rice; in command of armed guard, Lieutenant Bruce R. Ware; Chief officer, Thomas Blau; First Officer, W. E. Wollaston; Second Officer, Charles W. Krieg; Third Officer, Joseph C. Lutz; Fourth Officer, Carroll D. Riley; Cadets, Fred Earl Wilcox and Theodore Forsell; Doctor, Charles Rendell; Assistant Purser, J. T. Wylie; Chief Steward, W. T. Heath; Chief Engineer, James W. Condon; First Assistant Engineer, Clarence Irwin; Second Assistant Engineer, William Hodgkiss; Third Assistant Engineer, L. R. Tinto. Six junior engineers--William Hasenfus, E. Larkin, Perry McComb, Sidney Murray, J. R. Fletcher, Lawrence Paterson, Refrigerator Engineer, H. Johnson, Electrician, E. Powers; Dock Engineer, V. Hansen.

[Sidenote: Entries from the ship's log.]

The log of the ship for that voyage contains these entries:

Sailed from New York April 7, 1917.
Arrived Falmouth, England, April 18, 1917.
Left Falmouth, England, April 18, 1917, p. m.
On April 19, 5.24 a. m., fired on submarine.
Arrived Tilbury, London, April 21.
Left Tilbury, London, May 2.
Arrived New York, May 13.

The Captain's report to the London office of the International Mercantile Marine is dated April 21, 1917, and says:

"I beg to report that the S. S. _Mongolia_ under my command, while proceeding up Channel on April 19 at 5.24 a. m. encountered a submarine, presumably German, in Latitude 50.30 degrees North, Longitude 32 degrees West; 9 miles South 37 degrees East true from the Overs Light vessel.

"The weather at the time: calm to light airs, sea smooth, hazy with visibility about 3 miles; speed of the ship fifteen knots, course North 74 degrees East true, to pass close to the Royal Sovereign Light vessel.

[Sidenote: A periscope sighted.]

"The periscope was first sighted broad on the port bow, distant about one-half mile, by Chief Officer Blau in charge of the bridge watch at the time. His shout of 'submarine on the port bow' brought Lieutenant Ware and myself quickly out of the chart room on to the bridge, where we immediately saw the swirling wake left by the submarine as it submerged.

[Sidenote: Lieutenant Ware gives the range.]

"The armed guard under Lieutenant Ware, United States Navy, were standing by all guns at the time, which were fully loaded, and while Lieutenant Ware gave the range to the guns I ordered the helm put hard-a-starboard with the object of lessening the broadside angle of the ship to an approaching torpedo.

[Sidenote: The shot goes home.]

[Sidenote: Efficiency of the gunners.]

"Lieutenant Ware's order of 'train on the starboard quarter and report when you bear on a submarine's periscope' was answered almost immediately by the after gun's crew, who were then ordered to commence firing. One shot was fired from the after gun which struck in the centre of the swirl created by the submarine, causing a quantity of light blue smoke to hang over the spot where the submarine disappeared for some time. This was the only shot fired, and the submarine was not seen again, and after zigzagging until the weather became very thick the ship was again put on her course. Passed through the Gateway off Folkestone at 10.45 a. m. and anchored at 11.01 a. m., as I considered the weather too thick to proceed. I feel that the _Mongolia's_ safe arrival at London is due to a large extent to the zeal and ability in the execution of his duties displayed by Lieutenant B. R. Ware, United States Navy, who has been untiring in his efforts to bring the men under his command to a high state of efficiency, and who has kept a continuous watch for the past five days. His co-operation with the ship's officers has been of the closest, and his men and guns were always ready. Also to Mr. Blau, the chief officer, a large measure of credit is due, for had he not seen the periscope at the exact moment of its appearance it is possible that all our precautions would have been useless.

Signed. EMERY RICE,
"Commander S. S. _Mongolia_."

[Sidenote: _Mongolia's_ officers marked men.]

The fame of the first engagement made the _Mongolia's_ officers marked men. When Captain Rice returned home he reported that Consul General Skinner in London had told him that the Germans had set a price of 50,000 marks on his head, and letters expressing hatred and revenge reached us in New York from points as far away as Kansas City. On the other hand, the pride felt in the great ship's exploit brought scores of letters from officers and men who applied for service on her.

* * * * *

German agents were industrious throughout the United States, long before the American Government broke with Germany. Her activities were carried on in the form of propaganda and by more violent deeds. A complete account of these activities as revealed in a congressional investigation follows.

GERMAN ACTIVITIES IN THE UNITED STATES

FROM REPORT OF HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

[Sidenote: Momentous results must follow.]

It is with the deepest sense of responsibility of the momentous results which will follow the passage of this resolution that your committee reports it to the House, with the recommendation that it be passed.

The conduct of the Imperial German Government toward this Government, its citizens, and its interests has been so discourteous, unjust, cruel, barbarous, and so lacking in honesty and fair dealing that it has constituted a violation of the course of conduct which should obtain between friendly nations.

In addition to this, the German Government is actually making war upon the people and the commerce of this country, and leaves no course open to this Government but to accept its gage of battle, declare that a state of war exists, and wage that war vigorously.

[Sidenote: The announcement of the submarine war zone.]

On the 31st day of January, 1917, notice was given by the Imperial German Government to this Government that after the following day--"Germany will meet the illegal measures of her enemies by forcibly preventing, in a zone around Great Britain, France, Italy, and in the Eastern Mediterranean, all navigation, that of neutrals included, from and to England and from and to France, &c. All ships met within that zone will be sunk."

[Sidenote: American ships sunk.]

Since that day seven American ships flying the American flag have been sunk and between twenty-five and thirty American lives have been lost as a result of the prosecution of the submarine warfare in accordance with the above declaration. This is war. War waged by the Imperial German Government upon this country and its people.

[Sidenote: Review of Germany's hostile acts.]

A brief review of some of the hostile and illegal acts of the German Government toward this Government and its officers and its people is herewith given.

[Sidenote: German note of February, 1915.]

In the memorial of the Imperial German Government accompanying its proclamation of February 4, 1915, in regard to submarine warfare, that Government declared: "The German Navy has received instructions to abstain from all violence against neutral vessels recognizable as such." In the note of the German Government dated February 16, 1915, in reply to the American note of February 10, it was declared that "It is very far indeed from the intention of the German Government * * * ever to destroy neutral lives and neutral property. * * * The commanders of German submarines have been instructed, as was already stated in the note of the 4th instant, to abstain from violence to American merchant ships when they are recognizable as such."

[Sidenote: American lives lost on many torpedoed ships.]

Nevertheless, the German Government proceeded to carry out its plans of submarine warfare and torpedoed the British passenger steamer _Falaba_ on March 27, 1915, when one American life was lost, attacked the American steamer _Cushing_ April 28 by airship, and made submarine attacks upon the American tank steamer _Gulflight_ May 1, the British passenger steamer _Lusitania_ May 7, when 114 American lives were lost, and the American steamer _Nebraskan_ on May 25, in all of which over 125 citizens of the United States lost their lives, not to mention hundreds of noncombatants who were lost and hundreds of Americans and noncombatants whose lives were put in jeopardy.

The British mule boat _Armenian_ was torpedoed on June 28, as a result of which twenty Americans are reported missing.

On July 8, 1915, in a note to Ambassador Gerard, arguing in defense of its method of warfare and particularly of its submarine commander in the _Lusitania_ case, it is stated:

[Sidenote: German defense of German submarine warfare.]

"The Imperial Government therefore repeats the assurances that American ships will not be hindered in the prosecution of legitimate shipping and the lives of American citizens on neutral vessels shall not be placed in jeopardy.

"In order to exclude any unforeseen dangers to American passenger steamers * * * the German submarines will be instructed to permit the free and safe passage of such passenger steamers when made recognizable by special markings and notified a reasonable time in advance."

[Sidenote: American ships attacked later.]

Subsequently the following vessels carrying American citizens were attacked by submarines: British liner _Orduna_, July 9; Russian steamer _Leo_, July 9; American steamer _Leelanaw_, July 25; British passenger liner _Arabic_, August 19; British mule ship _Nicosian_, August 19; British steamer _Hesperian_, September 4. In these attacks twenty-three Americans lost their lives, not to mention the large number whose lives were placed in jeopardy.

Following these events, conspicuous by their wantonness and violation of every rule of humanity and maritime warfare, the German Ambassador, by instructions from his Government, on September 1 gave the following assurances to the Government of the United States:

"Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without warning and without safety of the lives of noncombatants, provided that the liners do not try to escape or offer resistance."

[Sidenote: Germany gives assurance of regard for lives of noncombatants.]

On September 9, in a reply as to the submarine attack on the _Orduna_, the German Government renewed these assurances in the following language:

[Sidenote: The _Orduna_ case.]

"The first attack on the _Orduna_ by a torpedo was not in accordance with the existing instructions, which provide that large passenger steamers are to be torpedoed only after previous warning and after the rescuing of passengers and crew. The failure to observe the instructions was based on an error which is at any rate comprehensible and the repetition of which appears to be out of the question, in view of the more explicit instructions issued in the meantime. Moreover, the commanders of the submarines have been reminded that it is their duty to exercise greater care and to observe carefully the orders issued."

The German Government could not more clearly have stated that liners or large passenger steamers would not be torpedoed except upon previous warning and after the passengers and crew had been put in places of safety.

[Sidenote: Statement about the _William P. Frye_.]

On November 29 the German Government states, in connection with the case of the American vessel _William P. Frye_:

[Sidenote: Germany promises to protect passengers.]

"The German naval forces will sink only such American vessels as are loaded with absolute contraband, when the preconditions provided by the Declaration of London are present. In this the German Government quite shares the view of the American Government that all possible care must be taken for the security of the crew and passengers of a vessel to be sunk. Consequently the persons found on board of a vessel may not be ordered into her lifeboats except when the general conditions--that is to say, the weather, the condition of the sea, and the neighborhood of the coasts--afford absolute certainty that the boats will reach the nearest port."

[Sidenote: An American Consul drowned.]

Following this accumulative series of assurances, however, there seems to have been no abatement in the rigor of submarine warfare, for attacks were made in the Mediterranean upon the American steamer _Communipaw_ on December 3, the American steamer _Petrolite_ December 5, the Japanese liner _Yasaka Maru_ December 21, and the passenger liner _Persia_ December 30. In the sinking of the _Persia_ out of a total of some 500 passengers and crew only 165 were saved. Among those lost was an American Consul traveling to his post.

On January 7, eight days after the sinking of the _Persia_, the German Government notified the Government of the United States through its Ambassador in Washington as follows:

[Sidenote: Submarines in Mediterranean ordered to respect international law.]

"1. German submarines in the Mediterranean had, from the beginning, orders to conduct cruiser warfare against enemy merchant vessels only in accordance with the general principles of international law, and in particular measures of reprisal, as applied in the war zone around the British Isles, were to be excluded.

"2. German submarines are therefore permitted to destroy enemy merchant vessels in the Mediterranean, _i. e._, passenger as well as freight ships as far as they do not try to escape or offer resistance--only after passengers and crews have been accorded safety."

Clearly the assurances of the German Government that neutral and enemy merchant vessels, passenger as well as freight ships, should not be destroyed except upon the passengers and crew being accorded safety stood as the official position of the Imperial German Government.

[Sidenote: Germany offers indemnity for Americans lost on _Lusitania_.]

On February 16, 1916, the German Ambassador communicated to the Department of State an expression of regret for the loss of American lives on the _Lusitania_, and proposed to pay a suitable indemnity. In the course of this note he said:

"Germany has * * * limited her submarine warfare because of her long-standing friendship with the United States and because by the sinking of the _Lusitania_, which caused the death of citizens of the United States, the German retaliation affected neutrals, which was not the intention, as retaliation should be confined to enemy subjects."

[Sidenote: French unarmed _Patria_ attacked.]

[Sidenote: The _Sussex_ torpedoed without warning.]

On March 1, 1916, the unarmed French passenger steamer _Patria_, carrying a number of American citizens, was attacked without warning. On March 9 the Norwegian bark _Silius_, riding at anchor in Havre Roads, was torpedoed by an unseen submarine and one of the seven Americans on board was injured. On March 16 the Dutch passenger steamer _Tubantia_ was sunk in the North Sea by a torpedo. On March 16 the British steamer _Berwindale_ was torpedoed without warning off Bantry Island with four Americans on board. On March 24 the British unarmed steamer _Englishman_ was, after a chase, torpedoed and sunk by the submarine _U-19_, as a result of which one American on board perished. On March 24 the unarmed French cross-Channel steamer _Sussex_ was torpedoed without warning, several of the twenty-four American passengers being injured. On March 27 the unarmed British liner _Manchester Engineer_ was sunk by an explosion without prior warning, with Americans on board, and on March 28 the British steamer _Eagle Point_, carrying a Hotchkiss gun, which she did not use, was chased, overtaken, and sunk by a torpedo after the persons on board had taken to the boats.

[Sidenote: America will hold Germany responsible.]

The American note of February 10, 1915, stated that should German vessels of war "destroy on the high seas an American vessel or the lives of American citizens it would be difficult for the Government of the United States to view the act in any other light than an indefensible violation of neutral rights which it would be very hard, indeed, to reconcile with the friendly relations so happily subsisting between the two Governments," and that if such a deplorable situation should arise, "the Government of the United States would be constrained to hold the Imperial Government to a strict accountability for such acts of their naval authorities."

In the American note of May 13, 1915, the Government stated:

"The imperial Government will not expect the Government of the United States to omit any word or act necessary to the performance of its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its citizens and in safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment."

In the note of July 21, 1915, the United States Government said that--

"Repetition by the commanders of German naval vessels of acts in contravention of those rights must be regarded by the Government of the United States, when they affect American citizens, as deliberately unfriendly."

In a communication of April 18, 1916, the American Government said:

[Sidenote: The United States insists on regard for international law.]

"If it is still the purpose of the Imperial 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 Imperial Government should not 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."

[Sidenote: Germany gives definite assurances.]

The German Government replied to this communication on May 4, 1916, giving definite assurances that new orders had been issued to the German naval forces "in accordance with the general principles of visit and search and the destruction of merchant vessels recognized by international law." And this agreement was substantially complied with for many months, but finally, on January 31, 1917, notice was given that after the following day--

[Sidenote: The notice of January 31, 1917.]

"Germany will meet the illegal measures of her enemies by forcibly preventing in a zone around Great Britain, France, Italy, and in the Eastern Mediterranean all navigation, that of neutrals included, from and to England and from and to France, &c. All ships met within that zone will be sunk."

In view of this Government's warning of April 18, 1916, and the Imperial German Government's pledge of May 4 of the same year, the Government of the United States, on February 3, 1917, stated to the Imperial German Government that--

[Sidenote: The course of the United States.]

"In view of this declaration, which withdraws suddenly and without prior intimation the solemn assurance given in the Imperial Government's note of May 4, 1916, this Government has no alternative consistent with the dignity and honor of the United States but to take the course which it explicitly announced in its note of April 18, 1916, it would take in the event that the Imperial Government did not declare and effect an abandonment of the methods of submarine warfare then employed and to which the Imperial Government now purposes again to resort.

[Sidenote: Diplomatic relations with Germany severed.]

"The President has, therefore, directed me to announce to your Excellency that all diplomatic relation between the United States and the German Empire are severed, and that the American Ambassador at Berlin will be immediately withdrawn, and, in accordance with such announcement, to deliver to your Excellency your passports."

[Sidenote: American ships torpedoed.]

On February 3 one American ship was sunk, and since that date six American ships flying the American flag have been torpedoed, with a loss of about thirteen American citizens. In addition, fifty or more foreign vessels of both belligerent and neutral nationality with Americans on board have been torpedoed, in most cases without warning, with a consequent loss of several American citizens.

[Sidenote: German officials violate laws of United States.]

Since the beginning of the war German officials in the United States have engaged in many improper activities in violation of the laws of the United States and of their obligations as officials in a neutral country. Count von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador, Captain von Papen, Military Attache of the embassy, Captain Boy-Ed, Naval Attache, as well as various Consular officers and other officials, were involved in these activities, which were very widespread.

The following instances are chosen at random from the cases which have come to the knowledge of the Government:

[Sidenote: The German Embassy furnishes funds to be used illegally.]

I. By direct instruction received from the Foreign Office in Berlin the German Embassy in this country furnished funds and issued orders to the Indian Independence Committee of the Indian Nationalist Party in the United States. These instructions were usually conveyed to the committee by the military information bureau in New York (von Igel), or by the German Consulates in New York and San Francisco.

[Sidenote 1: Indian revolutionary propaganda.]

Dr. Chakrabarty, recently arrested in New York City, received, all in all, according to his own admission, some $60,000 from von Igel. He claims that the greater portion of this money was used for defraying the expenses of the Indian revolutionary propaganda in this country and, as he says, for educational purposes. While this is in itself true, it is not all that was done by the revolutionists. They have sent representatives to the Far East to stir up trouble in India, and they have attempted to ship arms and ammunition to India. These expeditions have failed. The German Embassy also employed Ernest T. Euphrat to carry instructions and information between Berlin and Washington under an American passport.

[Sidenote 2: Germans on parole escaped.]

II. Officers of interned German warships have violated their word of honor and escaped. In one instance the German Consul at Richmond furnished the money to purchase a boat to enable six warrant officers of the steamer Kronprinz Wilhelm to escape after breaking their parole.

[Sidenote 3: Fraudulent passports secured.]

III. Under the supervision of Captain von Papen and Wolf von Igel, Hans von Wedell and, subsequently, Carl Ruroede maintained a regular office for the procurement of fraudulent passports for German reservists. These operations were directed and financed in part by Captain von Papen and Wolf von Igel. Indictments were returned, Carl Ruroede sentenced to the penitentiary, and a number of German officers fined. Von Wedell escaped and has apparently been drowned at sea. Von Wedell's operations were also known to high officials in Germany. When von Wedell became suspicious that forgeries committed by him on a passport application had become known, he conferred with Captain von Papen and obtained money from him wherewith to make his escape.

[Sidenote: American passport covers unneutral activities.]

IV. James J. F. Archibald, under cover of an American passport and in the pay of the German Government through Ambassador Bernstorff, carried dispatches for Ambassador Dumba and otherwise engaged in unneutral activities.

[Sidenote: Spies sent to England.]

V. Albert O. Sander, Charles Wunnenberg, and others, German agents in this country, were engaged, among other activities, in sending spies to England, equipped with American passports, for the purpose of securing military information. Several such men have been sent. Sander and Wunnenberg have pleaded guilty to indictments brought against them in New York City, as has George Voux Bacon, one of the men sent abroad by them.

[Sidenote: American passports counterfeited.]

VI. American passports have been counterfeited and counterfeits found on German agents. Baron von Cupenberg, a German agent, when arrested abroad, bore a counterfeit of an American passport issued to Gustav C. Roeder; Irving Guy Ries received an American passport, went to Germany, where the police retained his passports for twenty-four hours. Later a German spy named Carl Paul Julius Hensel was arrested in London with a counterfeit of the Ries passport in his possession.

[Sidenote: Coaling German warships.]

VII. Prominent officials of the Hamburg-American Line, who, under the direction of Captain Boy-Ed, endeavored to provide German warships at sea with coal and other supplies in violation of the statutes of the United States, have been tried and convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary. Some twelve or more vessels were involved in this plan.

[Sidenote: Indictments returned.]

VIII. Under the direction of Captain Boy-Ed and the German Consulate at San Francisco, and in violation of our law, the steamships _Sacramento_ and _Mazatlan_ carried supplies from San Francisco to German war vessels. The _Olsen_ and _Mahoney_, which were engaged in a similar enterprise, were detained. The money for these ventures was furnished by Captain Boy-Ed. Indictments have been returned in connection with these matters against a large number of persons.

[Sidenote: The case of Werner Horn.]

IX. Werner Horn, a Lieutenant in the German reserve, was furnished funds by Captain Franz von Papen and sent, with dynamite, under orders to blow up the International Bridge at Vanceboro, Maine. He was partially successful. He is now under indictment for the unlawful transportation of dynamite on passenger trains and is in jail awaiting trial following the dismissal of his appeal by the Supreme Court.

[Sidenote: Plot to blow up factory.]

X. Captain von Papen furnished funds to Albert Kaltschmidt of Detroit, who is involved in a plot to blow up a factory at Walkerville, Canada, and the armory at Windsor, Canada.

[Sidenote: Bombs on ships.]

XI. Robert Fay, Walter Scholtz, and Paul Doeche have been convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary and three others are under indictment for conspiracy to prepare bombs and attach them to allied ships leaving New York Harbor. Fay, who was the principal in this scheme, was a German soldier. He testified that he received finances from a German secret agent in Brussels, and told Von Papen of his plans, who advised him that his device was not practicable, but that he should go ahead with it, and if he could make it work he would consider it.

[Sidenote: Incendiary bombs on allied vessels.]

XII. Under the direction of Captain von Papen and Wolf von Igel, Dr. Walter T. Scheele, Captain von Kleist, Captain Wolpert of the Atlas Steamship Company, and Captain Rode of the Hamburg-American Line manufactured incendiary bombs and placed them on board allied vessels. The shells in which the chemicals were placed were made on board the steamship _Friedrich der Grosse_. Scheele was furnished $1,000 by von Igel wherewith to become a fugitive from justice.

[Sidenote: Rintelen's plots.]

XIII. Captain Franz Rintelen, a reserve officer in the German Navy, came to this country secretly for the purpose of preventing the exportation of munitions of war to the Allies and of getting to Germany needed supplies. He organized and financed Labor's National Peace Council in an effort to bring about an embargo on the shipment of munitions of war, tried to bring about strikes, &c.

[Sidenote: Conspiracy to wreck vessels and blow up railroad tunnels.]

XIV. Consul General Bopp, at San Francisco, Vice Consul General von Schaick, Baron George Wilhelm von Brincken (an employe of the consulate), Charles C. Crowley, and Mrs. Margaret W. Cornell (secret agents of the German Consulate at San Francisco) have been convicted of conspiracy to send agents into Canada to blow up railroad tunnels and bridges, and to wreck vessels sailing from Pacific Coast ports with war material for Russia and Japan.

[Sidenote: Spies sent to Canada.]

XV. Paul Koenig, head of the secret service work of the Hamburg-American Line, by direction of his superior officers, largely augmented his organization and under the direction of von Papen, Boy-Ed, and Albert carried on secret work for the German Government. He secured and sent spies to Canada to gather information concerning the Welland Canal, the movements of Canadian troops to England, bribed an employe of a bank for information concerning shipments to the Allies, sent spies to Europe on American passports to secure military information, and was involved with Captain von Papen in plans to place bombs on ships of the Allies leaving New York Harbor, &c. Von Papen, Boy-Ed, and Albert had frequent conferences with Koenig in his office, at theirs, and at outside places. Koenig and certain of his associates are under indictment.

[Sidenote: Attempt on Welland Canal.]

XVI. Captain von Papen, Captain Hans Tauscher, Wolf von Igel, and a number of German reservists organized an expedition to go into Canada, destroy the Welland Canal, and endeavor to terrorize Canadians in order to delay the sending of troops from Canada to Europe. Indictments have been returned against these persons. Wolf von Igel furnished Fritzen, one of the conspirators in this case, money on which to flee from New York City, Fritzen is now in jail in New York City.

[Sidenote: Revolt in India plotted.]

XVII. With money furnished by official German representatives in this country, a cargo of arms and ammunition was purchased and shipped on board the schooner _Annie Larsen_. Through the activities of German official representatives in this country and other Germans a number of Indians were procured to form an expedition to go on the steamship _Maverick_, meet the _Annie Larsen_, take over her cargo, and endeavor to bring about a revolution in India. This plan involved the sending of a German officer to drill Indian recruits and the entire plan was managed and directed by Captain von Papen, Captain Hans Tauscher, and other official German representatives in this country.

[Sidenote: False affidavit about the _Lusitania_.]

XVIII. Gustav Stahl, a German reservist, made an affidavit which he admitted was false, regarding the armament of the _Lusitania_, which affidavit was forwarded to the State Department by Ambassador von Bernstorff. He plead guilty to an indictment charging perjury, and was sentenced to the penitentiary. Koenig, herein mentioned, was active in securing this affidavit.

[Sidenote: Interference with manufacturers.]

XIX. The German Embassy organized, directed, and financed the Hans Libau Employment Agency, through which extended efforts were made to induce employes of manufacturers engaged in supplying various kinds of material to the Allies to give up their positions in an effort to interfere with the output of such manufacturers. Von Papen indorsed this organization as a military measure, and it was hoped through its propaganda to cripple munition factories.

[Sidenote: Newspapers financed.]

XX. The German Government has assisted financially a number of newspapers in this country in return for pro-German propaganda.

[Sidenote: Mexican difficulties increased.]

XXI. Many facts have been secured indicating that Germans have aided and encouraged financially and otherwise the activities of one or the other faction in Mexico, the purpose being to keep the United States occupied along its borders and to prevent the exportation of munitions of war to the Allies; see, in this connection, the activities of Rintelen, Stallforth, Kopf, the German Consul at Chihuahua; Krum-Hellen, Felix Somerfeld (Villa's representative at New York), Carl Heynen, Gustav Steinberg, and many others.

[Sidenote: Relief ships plainly marked.]

When the Commission for Relief in Belgium began its work in October, 1914, it received from the German authorities, through the various Governments concerned, definite written assurances that ships engaged in carrying cargoes for the relief of the civil population of Belgium and Northern France should be immune from attack. In order that there may be no room for attacks upon these ships through misunderstanding, each ship is given a safe conduct by the German diplomatic representative in the country from which it sails, and, in addition, bears conspicuously upon its sides markings which have been agreed upon with the German authorities; furthermore, similar markings are painted upon the decks of the ships in order that they may be readily recognized by airplanes.

Upon the rupture of relations with Germany the commission was definitely assured by the German Government that its ships would be immune from attack by following certain prescribed courses and conforming to the arrangements previously made.

[Sidenote: Unwarranted attacks.]

Despite these solemn assurances there have been several unwarranted attacks upon ships under charter to the commission.

On March 7 or 8 the Norwegian ship _Storstad_, carrying 10,000 tons of corn from Buenos Aires to Rotterdam for the commission was sunk in broad daylight by a German submarine despite the conspicuous markings of the commission which the submarine could not help observing. The _Storstad_ was repeatedly shelled without warning and finally torpedoed.

[Sidenote: Men killed on torpedoed relief ships.]

On March 19 the steamships _Tunisie_ and _Haelen_, under charter to the commission, proceeding to the United States under safe conducts and guarantees from the German Minister at The Hague and bearing conspicuous marking of the commission, were attacked without warning by a German submarine outside the danger zone (56 degrees 15 minutes north, 5 degrees 32 minutes east). The ships were not sunk, but on the _Haelen_ seven men were killed, including the first and third officers; a port boat was sunk; a hole was made in the port bunker above the water line; and the ships sustained sundry damages to decks and engines.

[Sidenote: Consular officers suffer indignities.]

Various Consular officers have suffered indignities and humiliation at the hands of German frontier authorities. The following are illustrations:

Mr. Pike, Consul at St. Gall, Switzerland, on proceeding to his post with a passport duly indorsed by German officials in New York and Copenhagen, was on November 26, 1916, subjected to great indignities at Warnemuende on the German frontier. Mr. Pike refused to submit to search of his person, the removal of his clothing, or the seizure of his official reports and papers of a private and confidential nature. He was therefore obliged to return to Copenhagen.

Mr. Murphy, the Consul General at Sofia, and his wife, provided with passports from the German legations at The Hague and Copenhagen, were on two occasions stripped and searched and subjected to great humiliation at the same frontier station. No consideration was given them because of their official position.

[Sidenote: Outrageous behavior of German officials.]

Such has been the behavior on the part of German officials notwithstanding that Consular officials hold positions of dignity and responsibility under their Government and that during the present war Germany has been placed under deep obligation to American Consular officers by their efforts in the protection of German interests.

[Sidenote: Neutrals on the _Yarrowdale_ held as prisoners.]

On January 19, Mr. Gerard telegraphed that the evening papers contained a report that the English steamer _Yarrowdale_ had been brought to Swinemuende as prize with 469 prisoners on board taken from ships captured by German auxiliary cruisers; that among these prisoners were 103 neutrals.

After repeated inquiries Mr. Gerard learned that there were among the _Yarrowdale_ prisoners seventy-two men claiming American citizenship.