obviously an
enemy. Approaching nearer, she altered her original course, and
again made directly for the submarine thus leading the commander
of the latter to suppose that she was about to attack and ram him.
In order to parry this attack, the submarine dived and fired a
torpedo which struck the ship. The submarine commander observed
that those on board got away in fifteen boats.

"According to his instructions, the German commander was authorized
to attack the _Arabic_ without warning, and without allowing time
for the rescue of her crew, in case of an attempt at flight or
resistance. The action of the _Arabic_ undoubtedly gave him good
grounds for supposing that an attack on him was intended. He was the
more inclined to this belief, by the fact that a few days before, on
the 14th, he had been fired at from long range by a large passenger
steamer, apparently belonging to the British Royal Mail Steam Packet
Company, which he saw in the Irish Sea, but which he had made no
attempt to attack or hold up.

"The German Government deeply regrets that loss of life should have
resulted from the action of this officer, and it desires that these
sentiments should be conveyed more particularly to the Government of
the United States, as American citizens were among the missing. No
obligation to make compensation for the damage done can, however,
be admitted, even on the hypothesis that the submarine commander
mistook the intentions of the _Arabic_. In the event of an insoluble
difference arising on this point between the German and American
Governments, the German Government suggests that the matter in
dispute should be referred to the Hague Tribunal as a question
of international law, in accordance with Article 38 of the Hague
convention for the peaceful solution of differences between nations;
but it can do so only with this reservation, that the arbitrator's
award shall not have the validity of a general decision as to the
international legality or otherwise of the German submarine warfare."

The following three reports or telegrams dispatched by me to the
Imperial Chancellor describe the situation in Washington at this
juncture:

(1) CIPHER

"Washington, September 14th, 1915.

"Lansing has given me permission to wire you by this route, without
the messages being seen by him; he will also forward your Excellency's
reply, and from this it appears to be the Government's view, that
any further exchange of Notes, the s