an, 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.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
WASHINGTON, May 13, 1915.

The Secretary of State to the American Ambassador at 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, 1915, by which over
100 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.

The sinking of the British passenger steamer Falaba by a German
submarine on March 28, through which Leon C. 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.

Recalling the humane and enlightened attitude hitherto assumed by the
Imperial German Government in matters of international right, and
particularly with regard to the freedom of the seas; having learned to
recognize the German views and the German influence in the field of
international obligation as always engaged upon the side of justice and
humanity; and having understood the instructions of the Imperial German
Government to its naval commanders to be upon the same plane of humane
action prescribed by the naval codes of other nations, the Government of
the United States was loath to believe--it cannot now bring itself to
believe--that these acts, so absolutely contrary to the rules, the
practices, and the spirit of modern