United States’ Note of Protest and
Germany’s Reply Compared
President Wilson Demanded:
Practical cessation of submarine attacks on non-combatant vessels.
Observance of the rule of visit and search in the case of all suspected merchantmen before any such ship shall be subjected to capture or destruction.
Protection of non-combatants who may be on suspected merchantmen.
Disavowal of official German responsibility for injury to Americans in the Cushing, Gulflight and Lusitania cases.
Reparation, so far as reparation is possible, for irreparable damage.
Immediate steps by Germany to prevent the recurrence of incidents “so obviously subversive of the principles of warfare.”
The first three items, as noted above, were stated not as actual demands, but as assumptions of what Germany would agree to in view of previous communications from this country in the matter of what is allowable in maritime warfare according to previously acknowledged international law and the dictates of humanity.