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Show GERMANY GIVES ASSURANCES TO UNITED STATES 1 American Vessels Carrying Conditional Contraband Will Not Be Destroyed. De-stroyed. NOTE ON FRYE CASE IS CONCILIATORY Experts to Fix Indemnity and Dispute Over Treaty of 1828 Will Be Submitted Sub-mitted to The Hague. Washington, Hept. 23. jn a note on the case of the ship William P. Prye tiermany has jyiven the United States formal assurance that American vessels carrying conditional contraband will, under no circumstances, be destroyed, even though deemed loyal prizes. The right to destroy American merchantmen, merchant-men, if carrying absolute contraband, is reserved, but the promiso is given that this will be done only in case of extreme necessity, as provided .by the Declaration of London. These assurances, together with the acceptance by Germany of the two proposals pro-posals of the United States the one to name a joint commission of experts to fix the indemnity for the loss of the Prye, and the other to submit to The Hague the dispute which the case produced pro-duced over the meaning of the treaty of 1828 produced a-favorable effect in official quarters. Long Contraband List. Just what the practical operation of the new assurance will be, officials were keenly interested to learn, for under un-der the lists of contraband proclaimed by Germany in retaliation for acts of Great Britain, nearly everything previously known as conditional contraband contra-band has now been made absolute. It is not known, a? vt. what attitude atti-tude the United States will take in its next note, but it is understood that it may reiterate its insistence that the treaty of 182S, and existing international inter-national law, make American vessels immune from destruction irrespective of their cargoes. Germany, however, is anxious to submit to arbitration what the meaning of the treaty is on this point, and it is possible that if no further cases of damage occur during the pendency of the arbitration proceedings, pro-ceedings, the American government will be disposed to await the decision of the arbitral tribunal. Orders Explicit. One thing which attracted attention in connection with the German note was the evident necessity of submarine commanders under their new orders to exercise the right of visit and search with respect to all American vessels to determine the nature of their cargoes. Tho fact that Germany referred to its aesire to demonstrate its ''concilia--tory attitude' ' toward the United States was regarded .by man' officials as evidence that the Berlin foreign office of-fice was disposed to avail itself of every opportunity to remove causes that have led to the strained relations between the two governments. Text of Note. The note follows: With regard first to the ascertainment ascertain-ment of the damage by experts, the German government believes that it should dispense with the nomination of an umpire. In the cases of the ascertainment of damages hitherto arranged between the German government govern-ment and a neutral government from similar causes, the experts named by the two parties have always reached an agreement as to the amount of the damage without difficulty. Should it not be possible, however, to reach an agreement on some point, it rould probably be settled by diplomatic negotiations. ne-gotiations. Assuming that the American Amer-ican government agrees to this, the German government names as Its expert ex-pert Dr. Kepny of Bremen, director of the North German-Lloyds; It begs to await the designation of the American Amer-ican expert. The German government declares that It agrees to the proposal of the American government to separate the question of Indemnity from the question ques-tion of the interpretation of the Prussian -American treaties of 1786, 1799 and 1SUS. It, therefore, again expressly states that in making payment pay-ment ft does not acknowledge the violation vio-lation of the treaty as contended by the American side, but It will admit that the settlement of the question of indemnity does not prejudice the arrangement of the dlfferencen of (Continued on Page Four.) GERMANY ANSWERS JOTE IN FRYE CASE (Continued from Pago One.) opinion concerning the Interpretation of the treaty rights, and that thin dispute Ih left to be decided by The Hague tribunal of arbitration. The negotiations relative to the ulgnlng of the compromise provided by article fifty-two of The Ha?ue arbl-trutlon arbl-trutlon convention would best be conducted con-ducted between the foreign office and the American embassy at Berlin, In view of the difficulties in the way of Instructing the imperial embassador at Washington. In caae the American Ameri-can government agreea. the foreign office is prepared to submit to the embassy a draft of such a compromise. compro-mise. The American government's Inquiry In-quiry whether the German government govern-ment will govern (ts naval operations In accordance with the German or the American Interpretation of the treaty stipulation In question, pending the arbitral proceedings, has been carefully care-fully considered by the German government. gov-ernment. From the standpoint of law and equity. It Is not prevented, in Its opinion, from proceeding against American ships carrying contraband, according to its Interpretation, until the question Is settled by arbitration. Adheres to Maritime Law. For the German government does not need to depart from the application applica-tion of generally recognized rules of the law of maritime war, such as the Declaration of London, unless and In so far as an exception based on a treaty is established beyond all doubt. In the case of the present difference pf opinion between the German and the American governments, such an exception could not be taken to be established except on the ground of the arbitral award. Moreover, the disadvantages to Germany which would ensue from the American interpretation inter-pretation of the treaty stipulations would be so much greater as to be oq; of proportion to those which the German Interpretation would entail for the United States. For whereas the American interpretation would materially impede Germany in her conduct of warfare, hardly any particular par-ticular disadvantage to American citizens citi-zens would result from the German Interpretation, slpoe they receive full reparation for any property damage sustained. Concession Made. Nevertheless, the Gerinan government, govern-ment, In order to furnish to the American Amer-ican government evidence qf its conciliatory con-ciliatory attitude, has issued orders to the, German naval forces not to destroy American merchantmen which have loaded conditional contraband even when the conditions of International Interna-tional law aro present, but to permit them to continue thelv voyage unhindered un-hindered if U Is not possible to take them into port. On the other hand, it must reserve to itself the right to destroy vessels carrying absolute contraband wherever wher-ever such destruction Is permissible according to the provisions of the Declaration of London. |