President Wilson's note to Germany, written consequent on the torpedoing by a German submarine on May 7, , of the British passenger steamship Lusitania, off Kinsale Head, Ireland, by which over American citizens lost their lives, is dated six days later, showing that time for careful deliberation was duly taken.
The President's Secretary, Joseph P. Tumulty, on May 8 made this statement:. He knows that the people of the country wish and expect him to act with deliberation as well as with firmness.
Although signed by Mr. Bryan, as Secretary of State, the note was written originally by the President in shorthand—a favorite method of Mr. Wilson in making memoranda—and transcribed by him on his own typewriter.
The document was then presented to the members of the President's Cabinet, a draft of it was sent to Counselor Lansing of the State Department, and, after a few minor changes, it was transmitted by cable to Ambassador Gerard in Berlin. Please call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs and after reading to him this communication leave with him a copy. In view of recent acts of the German authorities in violation of American rights on the high seas, which culminated in the torpedoing and sinking of the British steamship Lusitania on May 7, , by which over American citizens lost their lives, it is clearly wise and desirable that the Government of the United States and the Imperial German Government should come to a clear and full understanding as to the grave situation which has resulted.
Thrasher, an American citizen, was drowned; the attack on April 28 on the American vessel Cushing by a German aeroplane; the torpedoing on May 1 of the American vessel Gulflight by a German submarine, as a result of which two or more American citizens met their death; and, finally, the torpedoing and sinking of the steamship Lusitania, constitute a series of events which the Government of the United States has observed with growing concern, distress, and amazement.
