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Show I GREAT BRITAIN SENDH NOTE Washington, Feb. 17 Great Brlt--ian9 necond and complete reply to the American note of protest, which on December 28 last asked for an early Improvement In the treatment of American commerce by the British fleet, was made public tonight by mutual mu-tual agreement between the state department de-partment and the British foreign office. of-fice. The note, addressed to Ambassador Page by Sir Edward Grey under date of February 10. denies that the depression de-pression in American industries is due to the activity of the British fleet, and suggests, among other causes, cau-ses, the shortage of shipping facilities, facili-ties, the consequent diminution of cotton trade and the destruction by submarine mines "laid by the enemy indiscriminately of many neutral vessels. ves-sels. Threat Against Germany. After giving a lengthy and detailed answer to the charge that American ships and cargoes were being unduly detained, the communication contains in Its concluding para-graph the announcement an-nouncement that Great Britain intends in-tends to take retaliatory measures against the German submarine campaign cam-paign against enemy ships but does not reveal their nature Conceding that foodstuffs intended for the civil population of a country are not contraband, the British government gov-ernment points out that "in any coun try in which there exists such tremendous tre-mendous preparation tor war as now 1 obtains in Germany there is no clear division between those whom the government gov-ernment is responsible for feeding and those whom It Is not." Rules Not Observed. "It will st j 1 1 bo our endeavor," says , the final paragraph, "to avoid injury and los9 to neutrals, but the announcement an-nouncement by the German government govern-ment of their intention to sink merchant mer-chant vessels and their cargoes without with-out verification of their nationality or character and without making any provision for the safety of noncom-batant noncom-batant crews or giving them a chance of saving their lives has made it necessary nec-essary for his majesty's government to consider what measures they should adopt to protect their interests It is impossible for one belligerent to depart from rules and precedents and for the other to remain bound to them." Depression of Trade. Supplementing the preliminary reply re-ply of several weeks ago, the new note is about 10,000 words long and includes not only statistical argument but a further discussion of the iegai principles Involved. Foremost, however, how-ever, is the denial of the British government gov-ernment that the depression in American Amer-ican industries referred to in the American note was due to the alleged interference of the British fleet with American commerce, "or the result of any exercise of belligerent rights." Since the presentation of the preliminary pre-liminary note, Sir Edward states that - .he has "farther opportunity of examining exam-ining into the trade statistics of the Cnited States as embodied in the customs returns, in dorer to see whethor the belligerent action of Great Britain has been in any way the cause of the trade depression which your excellency (Ambassador Page) describes as existing in the Pnited States, and also whether the seizure of vessels or cargoes which have been made by the British nary have inflicted any loss on American owners for which our existing machinery ma-chinery provides no moans of redress re-dress no |