Submarines in Mediterranean ordered to respect international law.
"1. German submarines in the Mediterranean had, from the beginning, orders to conduct cruiser warfare against enemy merchant vessels only in accordance with the general principles of international law, and in particular measures of reprisal, as applied in the war zone around the British Isles, were to be excluded.
"2. German submarines are therefore permitted to destroy enemy merchant vessels in the Mediterranean, i. e., passenger as well as freight ships as far as they do not try to escape or offer resistance—only after passengers and crews have been accorded safety."
Clearly the assurances of the German Government that neutral and enemy merchant vessels, passenger as well as freight ships, should not be destroyed except upon the passengers and crew being accorded safety stood as the official position of the Imperial German Government.
Germany offers indemnity for Americans lost on Lusitania.
On February 16, 1916, the German Ambassador communicated to the Department of State an expression of regret for the loss of American lives on the Lusitania, and proposed to pay a suitable indemnity. In the course of this note he said:
"Germany has * * * limited her submarine warfare because of her long-standing friendship with the United States and because by the sinking of the Lusitania, which caused the death of citizens of the United States, the German retaliation affected neutrals, which was not the intention, as retaliation should be confined to enemy subjects."
French unarmed Patria attacked.
The Sussex torpedoed without warning.
On March 1, 1916, the unarmed French passenger steamer Patria, carrying a number of American citizens, was attacked without warning. On March 9 the Norwegian bark Silius, riding at anchor in Havre Roads, was torpedoed by an unseen submarine and one of the seven Americans on board was injured. On March 16 the Dutch passenger steamer Tubantia was sunk in the North Sea by a torpedo. On March 16 the British steamer Berwindale was torpedoed without warning off Bantry Island with four Americans on board. On March 24 the British unarmed steamer Englishman was, after a chase, torpedoed and sunk by the submarine U-19, as a result of which one American on board perished. On March 24 the unarmed French cross-Channel steamer Sussex was torpedoed without warning, several of the twenty-four American passengers being injured. On March 27 the unarmed British liner Manchester Engineer was sunk by an explosion without prior warning, with Americans on board, and on March 28 the British steamer Eagle Point, carrying a Hotchkiss gun, which she did not use, was chased, overtaken, and sunk by a torpedo after the persons on board had taken to the boats.