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Show President Requests All j Neutral Nations to Unite Advises Them to Break Off Relations With Germany in Effort Toward Bringing About Peace. Ambassadors Are Feeling Their Way in Sounding the Neutral Nations, Being Inclined to Believe That Neighbors of Teutonic Nation Will Hesitate to Take Step Proposed. Steps to protect American ci'tfes and property against attack by foreign for-eign sympathizers are day and night going forward, actively, although silently. si-lently. Preparations to prevent the disabling dis-abling of. German war-bound snips in American ports are being taken,, but they are unannounced. The question of convoying American ships on their voyage to the submarine zone still is undecided, although the first impression impres-sion is to let American ships proceed in the usual lawful way n the assumption as-sumption that Germany has been warned that an overt act means war. Washington. Following the breaking break-ing off of diplomatic relations with Germany, President Wilson has made a bold stroke to range the moral force of all other neutral countries along with that of the United States in the interest of peace. The president has suggested to all other neutrals that they break off diplomatic relations with Germany as the United . States has done and has instructed all American diplomats in those countries to report imimediate-ly imimediate-ly how the suggestion is received. The opinion in dipolmoMc quarters here is that European neutrals at the very doorstep of Germany, threatened by her mliitary power will hesitate to take such a step. The effect of the suggestion in other countries is being eagerly awaited. The presidents invitation to neutrals neu-trals to follow his action was contained con-tained in instructions to American diplomats di-plomats to announce the break with Germany to the governments to which they are accredited. The invitation was contained in the following order: ' "You will immediately notify the government to which you are accredited accred-ited that the United States, because of the German government's recent announcement of its intention to renew unrestricted submarine warfare, has no choice but to follow the course laid down in its note of April 18, 1916 (the Sussex note). "It has therefore, recalled the American Amer-ican ambassador from Berlin and has delivered passports to the German ambassador am-bassador to the United States. "Say also that the president is reluctant reluc-tant to believe Germany actually will carry out her threat against neutral commerce but if it be done the president presi-dent will ask congress to authorize use of the national power to protect American Amer-ican citizens engaged in their peaceful and lawful errands on the seas. "The course taken is to the president's presi-dent's view entirely in confirmlty with the principles he enunciated in his address ad-dress to the senate January 12. (The address proposing a world league for peace.) "He believes it will make for the peace of the world if other neutral powers can find it possible to take similar action. "Report fully and immediately on the reception of this announcement and upon the suggestion as to similar action." Thus it becomes apparent that in the shadow of war the president has not abandoned his efforts for peace and as the first step has moved to direct di-rect the moral force of the neutral world to compel Germany's return to an observance of international law at sea. The danger that broken diplomatic relations between the United States and Germany will develop into a state of war -is by no means minimized mini-mized by President Wilson's course and neither he nor other officials of the government are abating their preparations pre-parations for any eventuality. |