ection with the case
of the American vessel _William P. Frye_:

[Sidenote: Germany promises to protect passengers.]

"The German naval forces will sink only such American vessels as are
loaded with absolute contraband, when the preconditions provided by the
Declaration of London are present. In this the German Government quite
shares the view of the American Government that all possible care must
be taken for the security of the crew and passengers of a vessel to be
sunk. Consequently the persons found on board of a vessel may not be
ordered into her lifeboats except when the general conditions--that is
to say, the weather, the condition of the sea, and the neighborhood of
the coasts--afford absolute certainty that the boats will reach the
nearest port."

[Sidenote: An American Consul drowned.]

Following this accumulative series of assurances, however, there seems
to have been no abatement in the rigor of submarine warfare, for attacks
were made in the Mediterranean upon the American steamer _Communipaw_ on
December 3, the American steamer _Petrolite_ December 5, the Japanese
liner _Yasaka Maru_ December 21, and the passenger liner _Persia_
December 30. In the sinking of the _Persia_ out of a total of some 500
passengers and crew only 165 were saved. Among those lost was an
American Consul traveling to his post.

On January 7, eight days after the sinking of the _Persia_, the German
Government notified the Government of the United States through its
Ambassador in Washington as follows:

[Sidenote: 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.

[Si