r in case the
starvation plan was given up, British merchant vessels are being
generally armed with guns and have repeatedly tried to ram submarines,
so that a previous search was impossible.

They cannot, therefore, be treated as ordinary merchant vessels. A
recent declaration made to the British Parliament by the Parliamentary
Secretary in answer to a question by Lord Charles Beresford said that at
the present practically all British merchant vessels were armed and
provided with hand grenades.

Besides, it has been openly admitted by the English press that the
Lusitania on previous voyages repeatedly carried large quantities of war
material. On the present voyage the Lusitania carried 5,400 cases of
ammunition, while the rest of her cargo also consisted chiefly of
contraband.

If England, after repeated official and unofficial warnings, considered
herself able to declare that that boat ran no risk and thus
light-heartedly assumed responsibility for the human life on board a
steamer which, owing to its armament and cargo, was liable to
destruction, the German Government, in spite of its heartfelt sympathy
for the loss of American lives, cannot but regret that Americans felt
more inclined to trust to English promises rather than to pay attention
to the warnings from the German side.

FOREIGN OFFICE.

ENGLAND ANSWERS GERMANY.[A]

[By The Associated Press.]

[Footnote A: In Germany's reply to the American protest against certain
features of the "war zone" order, which was received in Washington on
Feb. 14, occurred this expression:

If the United States ... should succeed at the last moment in
removing the grounds which make that procedure [submarine
warfare on merchant vessels] an obligatory duty for Germany
... and thereby make possible for Germany legitimate
importation of the necessaries of life and industrial raw
material, then the German Government ... would gladly draw
conclusions from the new situation.

In the German note to the American Government justifying the sinking of
the Lusitania presented above, appears this clause:

In spite of the German offer to stop the submarine war in case
the starvation plan was given up....

These two expressions are referred to in the British official statement,
published herewith, in these words:

It was not understood from the reply of the German Government
[of Feb. 14] that they were prepared to abandon