OCR Text |
Show GERMANY ACCEPTS AMERICAN PLAN VESSELS CARRYING CONDITIONAL CONTRABAND WILL UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES BE SUNK. Joint Commission' of Experts to Fix Damage for Sinking of Frye, and The Hague to Pass Upon Treaty Rights in Dispute. Washington. In a note on the case of the ship William P. Frye, Germany has given the United States formal assurance as-surance that American vessels carrying carry-ing conditional contraband will under no circumstances be destroyed, even though deemed loyal prizes. The right to destroy American merchantmen, if carrying absolute contraband is reserved, re-served, but the promise is given that this will be done only in case of extreme ex-treme necessity as provided, by the declaration of London. These assurances, together with the acceptance by Germany of the two proposals of the United States the one to name a joint commission of experts ex-perts to fix the indemnity for the loss of the Frye, and the other to submit to The Hague the dispute which the case produced over the meaning of the treaty of 3 82S produced a favorable effect in official quarters. Just what the practical operation of the new assurances will be officials were keenly interested to learn, for under the lists of contraband proclaimed pro-claimed by Germany in retaliation for acts of Great Britain nearly everything every-thing previously known as conditional contraband has now been made- absolute. abso-lute. tl is not known as yet what attitude 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 now existing international law make American vessels immune from destruction irrespective of their cargoes. |