graphical position by refusal to allow any warships of
belligerents to coal in the Canal Zone until the war is over. As no
German warship has sought to obtain coal in the Canal Zone the charge
of discrimination rests upon a possibility which during several
months of warfare has failed to materialize.

_(19) Failure to protest against the modifications of the Declaration
of London by the British Government._

The German Foreign Office presented to the diplomats in Berlin a
memorandum dated Oct. 10 calling attention to violations of and
changes in the Declaration of London by the British Government, and
inquiring as to the attitude of the United States toward such action
on the part of the Allies. The substance of the memorandum was
forthwith telegraphed to the department on Oct. 22, and was replied to
shortly thereafter to the effect that the United States had withdrawn
its suggestion, made early in the war, that for the sake of uniformity
the Declaration of London should be adopted as a temporary code of
naval warfare during the present war, owing to the unwillingness of
the belligerents to accept the declaration without changes and
modifications, and that thenceforth the United States would insist
that the rights of the United States and its citizens in the war
should be governed by the existing rules of international law.

As this Government is not now interested in the adoption of the
Declaration of London by the belligerents, the modifications by the
belligerents in that code of naval warfare are of no concern to it,
except as they adversely affect the rights of the United States and
those of its citizens as defined by international law. In so far as
those rights have been infringed the department has made every effort
to obtain redress for the losses sustained.

_(20) Generally unfriendly attitude of Government toward Germany and
Austria._

If any American citizens, partisans of Germany and Austria-Hungary,
feel that this Administration is acting in a way injurious to the
cause of those countries, this feeling results from the fact that on
the high seas the German and Austro-Hungarian naval power is thus far
inferior to the British. It is the business of a belligerent operating
on the high seas, not the duty of a neutral, to prevent contraband
from reaching an enemy.

Those in this country who sympathize with Germany and Austria-Hungary
appear to assume that some obligation rests upon this Government, in
th