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Show BRITISH WAIT FOR U. 5. HE oy-53 Viscount Grey Tells the House of Commons Governm e n t Will Mark Time Pending Announcement of Attitude At-titude of America ; Beresford Criticizes U. S. Neutrality. READS STATEMENT ON SEA WARFARE English Secretary of State Answers Questions Ques-tions by Reciting History His-tory of Diplomatic Interchange In-terchange Since War Began. LONDON, Oct. 17, 6:21 p. m. Tho British government will not make any-official any-official representation to the United States concerning the German submarine subma-rine U-53 pending an announcement of its attitude by the American government, govern-ment, said Viscount Grey, secretary or" state for foreign affairs, in the house of lords today. In reply to a question concerning the attitude of the United States toward British patrols, Viscount Grey said that the .United States admitted the British ships were not exceeding their legal rights under international law, but that the American government complained of their presence on the ground of the irritation which the continued presence of belligerent warships off the coast of the United States naturally caused iu a neutral country. He declared that the United StateB had required Great Britain very emphatically not to patrol off its coast, and said that instruction? were sent to the British ships there tl avoid causing any unnecessary irritation, irrita-tion, and to comply as far as possible with the American request. Wait for United States. "With regard to the U-53," the viscount vis-count continued, "we do not know what steps were taken by the United States for patrolling its waters, or in regard to her coming into port and securing se-curing information from newspapers. We do not know whether it is true that American warships got out of the submarine's sub-marine's way. That is a matter for the Ainericau government only, and we assume as-sume that government is making full inquiries. in-quiries. We also assume it will announce an-nounce its attitude in due course of time. Pending that we do not proposo to make any official representation ou the su.bject of the submarine." Raised by Beresford. The question concerning the German submarine raid in American waters was raised by Baron Charles Beresford, former for-mer commander of the British home fleet; Earl Grey, former governor general gen-eral of Canada, and others. Baron Beresford asked whether British cruisers cruis-ers were removed from American waters owing to American objections, and if so what steps the government proposed for the protection of British vessel. He criticised the submarine reply as at least curt, and said the American ideas of neutrality were curious. Earl Grey 'wanted an assurance that tlie report was untrue that American commanders com-manders of destroyers had acceded to the request of the German commander to clear out of the way and give hira room to blow up ships. The foreign secretary said in reply to Lord Beresford's question: "The best thlrn? I can do is to read a Fummary of what actually passed between be-tween the United States government and his majesty's government on this subject sub-ject since the war began and what we understand the view of the United States to be." Reads Statement. . Vipcount Grey then road the following statement: On the 14th of September, 1014. the British ambassador at Wttshinglon telegraphed tiiat the. United Huurx authnrlties had Intercepted wireless dispatches from Tf. M. S. Suffolk to New York, a tiki riff for supplies and newspnpers, Knd he Informed us that the United States ffo ernment con-pSoered con-pSoered that tiiis would 'e making use of United States territory as a base for supplies and information am (Continued on Pago TeiU. BRITISH MARK III H U-53 G0ESTI1 (Continued from Page One.) to shipping movements through the newspapers. The proceeding was. as far as I am aware, not repeated and no official offi-cial protest was received, so far as I have been able to discover in the foreign office. On the 5th of October, 1914. we had a private communication respecting the presence of British ships near New York harbor. We had an unofficial unof-ficial communica tion later on deprecating depre-cating the same thing and saying that in the past such hovering of foreign vessels in the vicinity of the great ports of the United States had forced that government, owing to the public pub-lic feeling aroused, to taka a very strong line, and, if the practice continued, con-tinued, it might be construed into an act of unfriendliness, requiring some action on the part of the United States government. Official Complaint. There was later on an official complaint com-plaint on the H'-th of December. 1914 (1915), founded on the shadowing by a British warship for some distance along the American coast, though from a position admittedly beyond the territorial limits, of a. vessel named the Vinland. and this complaint referred re-ferred to the seriousness with which the United States government regarded regard-ed the hovering of belligerent warships war-ships about American ports and coasts. The official complaint stated that the British government was aware that the United States government had always regarded the practice of belligerent cruisers patrolling the American coast in close proximity to the territorial waters of the United ; States and making the neighborhood a station for their observations, as inconsistent with the treatment to be expected from the naval vessels of a friendly power In time of war, and had maintained that the consequent menace of such proceedings to the freedom of American commerce was vexatious and uncourtcous to the United States. View of 1870. We assume that the view of the United States government is still that contained in their dispatch of the 4th of Octoher. 1S70. Viscount Grey quoted this to the effect that the United States government would regard as an unfriendly act the hovering of belligerent vessels near the American coast in the track of commerce to American Ameri-can ports with intent to intercept entente en-tente merchantmen, and continued: In reply to these various requests, private and semi-official and official, from the United States government, we asked to be Informed on what ground the claim was made that bel- . ligerent operations which were legitimate legiti-mate on one part of the high sea-s were illegitimate in another, admitting admit-ting that the British ships were not accused of exceeding their strict legal rights under international law and that the complaints made by the United States government were not based on any actual legality, but on Irritation which the presence of belligerent bel-ligerent merchant vessels in close proximity to United States ports naturally nat-urally caused to a neutral country. Instructions Issued. Lord Beresford aUs what we did. As a matter of fact, though we had contended that according to the strict principle of international law British ships were entitled to operate freely anywhere outside of territorial waters, and the United States had not based their request to us on international law, but on the ground of courtesy and friendliness, and the annoyance it would cause if vessels were close to their coast, instructions were sent by the admiralty to British vessels of war at the time, with a view to meeting as far as possible the views of the United States government, and It was impressed upon th'-m .that no acts should be committed which would be liable to cause unnecessary irritation. - That. I believe, is a fair summary of what has passed between the Unltci States government and ourselves, our-selves, and of what we know of their views. H amounts to this: That the United States government did request us very empha i Ically not to pa t rol near their coast, and that instructions were sent tt Entish snips of war to -avoid cauing any unnecessary irritation irri-tation and so far as possible to comply com-ply with tiie re,nie;,t nf the Unite.! State? covcrn mmt. Tha t disposes of ivhat lias passed so far as we are conenrned. When we mme to what lias pas;.-er1 wit b regard to i Jem -a n su bma ri n. ne dn not know, find I cannot answer the question, as to what the attitude of tiie United States v.arsnirs toward the German submarine on the spot was. We know that they saved life. They rescued the crews after the ships were sunk and did everything they could to prevent loss of life afterward. The qtiestions asked me are: What did they do before any vessel was sunk, and is it true that a German submarine requested United States vessels of war to clear out of the way in order that the operation of the sinking of t lie defenseless merchant ships should be facilitated, and did the United States vessels of war. In fact, comply with that request and so facilitate the sinking of vessels? On that we know nothing more than what has appeared in the press. We have no means of finding out what actually occurred unless some of the refugees from the vessel Itself are able to give an account of the matter. But I assume that the only people who can give an account of it are the officers offi-cers of the German submarine and the officers of the United States navy who were present on the scene, and that is a matter J assume the United States government will inquire into or has inquired into, and either is, or will be, in full possession in regard to the facts. We have not any means ourselves of stating what the actual facts were. Sums Up Situation. I will sum up the situation by saying say-ing this: The whole matter seems to be In a state of suspense so far as we are concerned. It Is evidently the case that a German submarine visited a United States port and subsequently sank British and neutral vessels off the American coast. We do not know what precautions were taken to prevent pre-vent the submarine from obtaining supplies or Information from the newspapers or otherwise as to the movement of merchant ships off the coast. Nor do we know whether American ships of war facilitated the operations of the U-boat by getting out of the way as reported In the press. It Is only the United States government govern-ment and their officials who can authoritatively au-thoritatively ascertain all the facts, and until we know what the facts actually were, and what view the United States government takes of the proceedings of the German submarine, we do not propose to make any official representation on the subject, which, in the absence of further Information, could only be hypothetical, though it is obvious that the issues involved are very important. Representations Made. Of course the allies all together have made representations expressing very fully to the United States government gov-ernment their view with regard to the danger of permitting submarines of the war powers to visit ports of the neutral powers. That was done before this particular German sub marine arrived. The reply of the United States government was not favorable fa-vorable to the views of the allies on that point, but it is possible there may be further discussion on the general question. Therefore, when T say that we do not propose to make official representation represen-tation until we know the full facts and the view of the United States government that applies only to the special proceedings of the German submarine, .which we understand are now the subject of the special consideration con-sideration of the United States government, gov-ernment, who are themselves ascertaining ascer-taining the full facts of the case and will, I suppose, in due course, let it be known to the world what view they talte. We shall then be able to deride whether it is necessary for us to make any official representation on the subject, sub-ject, and, if so, what the nature of this official representation shall be. Lord Beresford expressed the hope that the situation would not be allowed to remain re-main as it was, as it would lead to Irritation. Irrita-tion. "We do not want political questions raised between these two great countries," coun-tries," he said, "but they are certain to be raised unless some definite conclusion is reached or some communication made between the two governments which will clear up the question." |