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Show RULES FOR THE UNDERSEA WAR Merchantmen Must Be Warn-! Warn-! ed and All Passengers Made Safe. Washington, April 26. An official declaration of the attitude of the United States toward armed merchant ships, made public today by Secretary I Lansing, reiterates and explains the L purpose of the American government ' lo recognize the right of peaceful ves (wis to carry arms for defense and at the same time, while referring only to warships generally, clearly sets J orth the conditions under which the United States holds submarines may attack merchant craft. The declaration was Issued In tho form of a memorandum prepared by i Mr. Lansing at President Wilson's ' direction during the secretary's brief vacation last month. Copies of it were given to each of the embassies and legations here, and while no official of-ficial explanation was forthcoming as to the purpose of publishing the memorandum mem-orandum at this time, It is assumed that at least the substance of It will reach the Berlin foreign office before a reply is dispatched to the American demand for abandonment of Germany's Ger-many's present methods of submarine warfare. This would serve to an. swer in advance certain questions which cable dispatches have indicated ' the German government was inclined to ask. Await Response. In connection with the memorandum memoran-dum it was stated that the state department de-partment now was awaiting a re sponse from Great Britain to a re-1 quest for copies of orders to armed British merchant vessels. Germany has charged that these ships were in-Etructed in-Etructed to act aggressively against submarines and has submitted photographic photo-graphic copies of orders taken some time ago from captured craft. This evidence is not considered conclusive here however, as the United States in effc"! US PSlUn n otde Dring the Iong-drawn-out negotta. tlons regarding tho sinking of the auskania, Socretary Lansing has stated in general terms nearly all of the postulates which he lavs down In todays declaration. It was deter-mined, deter-mined, however, to gather these into one compact statement and to elaborate elabo-rate the state department's views be yond any possibility of misunderstanding misunderstand-ing or double construction. An effort is made to differentiate between an armed ship in a neutral port and the same vessel on the high seas. In the first case It Is shown that the United StateB government has concluded solely to protect itself against any charges that might be made by one of the belligerents that it had allowed American ports to be used as a base for hostile operations by Its enemy. Mr. Lansing insists that the neutral government Is to be the sole judge of the status of armed merchant ships In Its ports In the ab sence of any settled rule of international interna-tional law. A commission or orders from a belligerent government to con duct aggressive operations under pen. J alty of punishment for failure so to ' do would stamp the vessel as a warship. war-ship. In the absence of such evidence the neutral government may lay down Its own rules of evidence and determine deter-mine the character of the ship and, move over, these ruleB, unlike principles prin-ciples of international law, may bo changed or modified during tho progress pro-gress of the war. Commenting on this portion of the memorandum, a high official of the state department admitted that the refusal of tho American port authorities authori-ties to clear a vessel might be taken as a notice to the public that Bhe was regarded as a warship not entitled to , immunity for her passengers. The section relating to armed merchant mer-chant vessols on the high seas discloses dis-closes in positive terms the American view that there must be no attacks without warning upon merchant ships, even If they are armed, unless the commander of the warship has absolute abso-lute knowledge that the merchantman is under mandatory orders from her government to act offensively. The mere presence of armament on a merchant mer-chant ship is declared not to be such evidence as would justify an attack without warning or without regard to the rights of persons on board. The right of an armed merchantman, merchant-man, without loBlng Its peaceful character char-acter to protect itself either by flight or by resistance, is insisted upon. On the other hand, the attacking vessel must display Its colors before exercising exercis-ing belligerent rights; and while it may use force against a resisting mer-j mer-j chant ship, the attack must cease as I soon as the resistance stops. Only 1 when It is Impossible to take the captured enemy merchantman Into port may It be sunk, and In such case the persons on board must be put in a place of safety. The right to sink a neutral merchantman Is declared to be doubtful In any case. In direct contradiction to Germany's contentions conten-tions is the assertion that a merchantman merchant-man may fire without waiting for an actual attack whenever she Is certain that she is about to be attacked. |
