Germany. The British fleet has instituted a blockade effectively controlling by cruiser cordon all passes to or from Germany by sea."

The difference between the two policies is that Great Britain proposes to attain her end without sacrificing neutral ships, taking the lives of noncombatants "or inflicting upon neutrals the damage that must be entailed when a vessel and its cargo are sunk without notice. examination or trial.

One important fact, said the critics, clearly established by the notes, is the admission that the cutting off of trade with Germany is a blockade. Of this no neutral, no matter how much its trade may suffer, can complain. Whether a blockade can be established at so great a distance from an enemy's ports is another question. But the promise that ships carrying cargoes to German ports will not be confiscated, and that neutral vessels out of German waters will not be molested, makes the question of little importance. That neither power will depart from its position is certain, and nothing short of the use of force remains for the United States save protest.

CHAPTER IV

SUBMARINE FRIGHTFULNESS

FEBRUARY 18, 1915, the German war zone proclamation. went into effect and the campaign of frightfulness on the sea opened at once. The Secretary of State, in his note, had declared that the United States would "hold the Imperial German Government to strict accountability" if American ships were sunk without warning, and would take steps "to safeguard American lives and property and to secure American citizens the full enjoyment of their rights on the high seas." But Germany cared nothing whatever for the warning and on the twentieth of the month the Evelyn was sunk off the Borkum Islands, and three days later the Carib went down off the coast of Germany. Both were American vessels laden with cotton for Bremen and each was destroyed by a German mine. The first case of deliberate sinking of an American vessel became known on March 10, when the German auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich, to the astonishment of the whole country, entered Newport News and her commander reported that he had sunk the American vessel William P. Frye.

The Prinz Eitel Friedrich sailed from Tsing Tau and while cruising in the south Atlantic fell in with the Frye on January 27, put an armed force aboard and took possession.

Wheat was not contraband, but the commander of the cruiser decided it was and ordered the cargo thrown into the sea. On February 28, finding this proceeding too slow, he ordered the crew aboard his ship and sank the Frye with gun fire.

March 28, when south of St. George's Channel, the British ship Falaba, out of Liverpool, bound for the west coast of Africa, was attacked by a German submarine and five minutes allowed the passengers and crew, some 250 in number, to take to the lifeboats. But before even that short time elapsed a torpedo struck near the engine room, exploded, killed many,

and in ten minutes the Falaba sank. Among the passengers lost was an American citizen, Mr. Leon Thrasher, on his way to Africa.

Another instance of defiance was the case of the German merchant ship Odenwald. After lying in the port of San Juan, Porto Rico, since the opening of the war, her Captain decided to take the risk of going to sea and applied for a clearance. It was not given, whereupon the Captain started for sea without a clearance, was fired on by the fort and forced to turn back.

The German Embassy at once requested an investigation and gave its own version of the affair. The Captain, it was said, had asked clearance papers for Hamburg, and the Odenwald was twice searched under orders from Washington. The result was satisfactory to the Custom House authorities and papers were promised. After waiting three days without receiving any, the Captain, fearing the enemy cruisers would assemble off the port, started for sea without his papers, and was fired on from the Morro Castle without the usual "blind shot" of warning. That he should defy the laws of the United States and attempt to leave the port in an unlawful manner was of no importance to the German Ambassador. That the Odenwald was fired on before a blank shot had been sent across her bows was a grievance to be investigated.

Clearance papers, Secretary Bryan replied, had been withheld under orders from Washington; the Captain of the Odenwald had twice been warned not to leave without his papers lest he be fired on from the fort, and in defiance of the warning had raised anchor and started for sea on the afternoon of March 21. As he passed close to the San Augustine Bastion, the officer in command hailed him several times; but the Odenwald went on her way and some 75 shots from a machine gun were fired and fell in front and short of her. Lest vessels ahead of her should be injured 15 shots were fired astern of the Odenwald. These were small solid shot, were not intended to, and did not, strike her, and were used as a warning because blank cartridges could not be used in a machine gun. As the Odenwald gave no heed to the warning, a shot was fired from a 4.7 inch gun on the Morro Castle, and struck the water 300

yards in front of her and short of her projected course.

She

then stopped and was brought back to her anchorage. By her attempt to leave port "without papers" she "committed a willful breach of the navigation laws of the United States."

A claim for $228,059.44 damages in the case of the Frye having been promptly presented, Herr von Jagow replied that the wheat was consigned to Queenstown, Falmouth, or Plymouth "to order"; that each of these ports was strongly fortified and served as a base for the British naval forces and that the commander, therefore, "acted quite in accordance with the principles of international law as laid down in the Declaration of London and the German prize ordinance." Wheat, von Jagow held, was food, was conditional contraband, and because it was on its way to a fortified port was to be considered as destined for the armed forces of the enemy and became contraband.

The sinking of the ship was permissible "since it was not possible for the auxiliary cruiser to take the prize into a German port" without endangering his own operations. The legality of the measures taken by the commander of the cruiser would be examined by a prize court as soon as the ship's papers were received. But Article XIII., of the PrussianAmerican treaty of 1799, and Article XII., of the treaty of 1828, provided that contraband belonging to the subjects or citizens of either party could not be confiscated by the other, but only detained or used subject to payment of full value. Because of these Articles the owners of ship and cargo would be compensated even if the court decided the cargo contraband.

The prize court found that the cargo was contraband, that the Frye could not have been taken into port, that the sinking was therefore justified, and the German Government was liable for damages; but the court could not fix the amount for lack of necessary information. An interchange of notes now followed and months passed away before it was agreed that the matter of damages should be settled by two experts; that if they disagreed an umpire should be appointed, and that the difference over the interpretation of the treaty should be sub

mitted to arbitration. With this the case rested and nothing more had been done when we entered the war.

Concerning the Falaba, the German Embassy on April 6 announced that the Ambassador had received from Berlin this official message:

"A report from the submarine has not yet been received. However, according to trustworthy reports the submarine requested the steamship Falaba to put passengers and crew into lifeboats when other ships came up. Lately English merchant ships have been provided with guns by the British Government and advised to warn or otherwise attack German submarines. This advice has repeatedly been followed in order to win promised rewards. Military necessity, consequently, forced the submarine to act quickly, which made granting of longer space of time and the saving of lives impossible.

"The German Government regrets sacrifices of human lives, but both British ships and neutral passengers on board such ships were warned urgently and in time not to cross the war Responsibility rests, therefore, with the British Government which, contrary to international law, inaugurated commercial war against Germany and, contrary to international law, has caused merchant ships to offer armed resistance."

zone.

And now the Prinz Eitel Friedrich was interned. As soon as possible after her entrance a survey of the ship was made to determine what repairs were needed and fourteen working days, dating from March 20, were allowed in which to make them. At midnight on April 6, they must be finished, and twenty-four hours later, at midnight on April 7, she must leave the waters of the United States or be interned for the duration of the war. As the time for departure drew near a great show of preparation was made. Coal and provisions were taken aboard, the band played German airs, and it seemed she would sail early in April. But she did not and when the time expired her Captain announced that he feared capture if he went to sea, and the Prinz Eitel Friedrich was formally interned on April 10.

The next day, April 11, the German sea raider Kronprinz Wilhelm also arrived at Newport News. She had slipped out of Hoboken on August 3, 1914, had found the Karlsruhe wait