Notwithstanding the earnest protest of our Government, the Imperial
German Government at once proceeded to carry out the policy it had
announced. It expressed the hope that the dangers involved, at any rate
the dangers to neutral vessels, would be reduced to a minimum by the
instructions which it had issued to its submarine commanders, and
assured the Government of the United States that it would take every
possible precaution both to respect the rights of neutrals and to
safeguard the lives of non-combatants.
What has actually happened in the year which has since elapsed has shown
that those hopes were not justified, those assurances insusceptible of
being fulfilled. In pursuance of the policy of submarine warfare against
the commerce of its adversaries, thus announced and entered upon by the
Imperial German Government in despite of the solemn protest of this
Government, the commanders of German undersea vessels have attacked
merchant ships with greater and greater activity, not only upon the high
seas surrounding Great Britain and Ireland but wherever they could
encounter them, in a way that has grown more and more ruthless, more and
more indiscriminate as the months have gone by, less and less observant
of restraints of any kind; and have delivered their attacks without
compunction against vessels of every nationality and bound upon every
sort of errand.
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