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Show NOTE COUCHED IN FRIENDLY TERMS Washington, June in The United States In its latest note to Germany, made public today, formally asks the Imperial governmenl for assurances that measures hereafter will be adopted adopt-ed to safeguard "American lives and American ships" on the high seas. Tho alternative In case of refusal Is not suited. It was this note to which William Jennings Bryan refused to attach lils signature, resigning, instead, his portfolio port-folio of secretary of state, and thereby precipitating a dramatic cabinet crisis cri-sis Ttohnrt I.nnstim-' an(.ralgrv i -late ad interim, signed the commu nlcation. which went forth with the approval of President Wilson and his entire cabinet. Friendly Terms in Note. Friendly terms characterize tho document, doc-ument, which renews representations made In the American note that reai bed Germany on May 15. after the ' Lusitania was torpi doed and sunk I w ith a loss of more than loo American Ameri-can lives. The German government, it is declared, "must have been mis- I informed when It assumed that the Lusitania carried guns, as official intimation in-timation Is at hand to corroborate the originnl contention of the Washington Wash-ington un ei nment that the Lusitania Lusitan-ia was an unarmed passenger ship, which, since it did not resist capture, could not be sunk without transferring transfer-ring passengers and crew to a place of safety." Stands Upon the Law. The communication Informs Germany Ger-many that "it is on the principle ol humanity, as well as upon the law-founded law-founded upon this principle that the United States must stand." Opportunity Opportu-nity is given to Germany to submit any evidence that American officials did not execute their tasks thoroughly thorough-ly in inspecting the Lusitania before she sailed; but the cardinal fact that the liner was given no warning ami made no resistance and was pri- I marily a passenger ship the American Ameri-can government declares, throws "Into "In-to the background any special circumstances cir-cumstances of detail' and lifts the case "out of the class of ordinary subjects sub-jects of diplomatic discussion or of international controversy.'' Persuasion Employed The issuance of another statement by former Secretary Bryan coincl dent with the publication of the note added to tii- sprprise In official quar ters at the character of Mr Bryan's argument High officials said tli-note tli-note employed the very process persuasion per-suasion -which Mr. Bryan advocated, and did not necessarily lead to war. |
