In order, however, to avoid any
possible misunderstanding, the Government of the United States notifies
the Imperial Government that it cannot for a moment entertain, much less
discuss, a suggestion that respect by German naval authorities for the
rights of citizens of the United States upon the high seas should in any
way or in the slightest degree be made contingent upon the conduct of
any other Government affecting the rights of neutrals and
non-combatants. Responsibility in such matters is single, not joint;
absolute, not relative."
To this note of the eighth of May the Imperial German Government made no
reply.
On the thirty-first of January, the Wednesday of the present week, the
German Ambassador handed to the Secretary of State, along with a formal
note, a memorandum which contains the following statement:
"The Imperial Government, therefore, does not doubt that the Government
of the United States will understand the situation thus forced upon
Germany by the Entente-Allies' brutal methods of war and by their
determination to destroy the Central Powers, and that the Government of
the United States will further realize that the now openly disclosed
intentions of the Entente-Allies give back to Germany the freedom of
action which she reserved in her note addressed to the Government of the
United States on May 4, 1916.
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