the principle
of sinking British vessels by submarine.

Whether this may regarded as an opening for the renewal of the German
offer in explicit terms, with the implication that England might accept
it, is not explained.]

_LONDON, Wednesday, May 12.--Inquiry in official circles elicited last
night the following statement, representing the official British view of
Germany's justification for torpedoing the Lusitania which Berlin
transmitted to the State Department at Washington:_

The German Government states that responsibility for the loss of the
Lusitania rests with the British Government, which through their plan of
starving the civil population of Germany has forced Germany to resort to
retaliatory measures The reply to this is as follows:

As far back as last December Admiral von Tirpitz, (the German Marine
Minister,) in an interview, foreshadowed a submarine blockade of Great
Britain, and a merchant ship and a hospital ship were torpedoed Jan. 30
and Feb. 1, respectively.

The German Government on Feb. 4 declared their intention of instituting
a general submarine blockade of Great Britain and Ireland, with the
avowed purpose of cutting off supplies for these islands. This blockade
was put into effect Feb. 18.

As already stated, merchant vessels had, as a matter of fact, been sunk
by a German submarine at the end of January. Before Feb. 4 no vessel
carrying food supplies for Germany had been held up by his Majesty's
Government except on the ground that there was reason to believe the
foodstuffs were intended for use of the armed forces of the enemy or the
enemy Government.

His Majesty's Government had, however informed the State Department on
Jan. 29 that they felt bound to place in a prize court the foodstuffs of
the steamer Wilhelmina, which was going to a German port, in view of the
Government control of foodstuffs in Germany, as being destined for the
enemy Government and, therefore, liable to capture.

The decision of his Majesty's Government to carry out the measures laid
down by the Order in Council was due to the action of the German
Government in insisting on their submarine blockade.

This, added to other infractions of international law by Germany, led to
British reprisals, which differ from the German action in that his
Majesty's Government scrupulously respect the lives of noncombatants
traveling in merchant vessels, and do not even enforce the recognized
penalty of confiscation fo