THE LANSING PAPERS, 1914-1920, VOLUME I



what I have done is little more than to reduce to writing what I
roughly indicated in Cabinet to-day.
      Faithfully yours,
                                              WOODROW WILSON
                             [Enclosure]
  Outline Sketch by Pre8ident Wil8on of a Note to Great Britain

NoTE IN REPLY TO OmRs RECEIVED, NOTIFYING US OF THE ESTABLISH-
  MENT OF A BLOCKADE OF THE COASTS OF GERMANY WHICH IT IS
  INTENDED To MAKuE IN ALL RESPECTS EFETIVE

  The cordon of blockading ships which it is intended to maintain
is, however, of such an extent, the blockade as indicated in the plan
announced covers so great an area of the high seas, that it seems
that neutral vessels must pass through it in order to approach many
important neutral ports which it is not Great Britain's privilege to
blockade, and which she of course does not mean to blockade.
  The Government of the United States takes it for granted, in view
of the anxiety expressed by His Majesty's Government to interfere
as little as possible with neutral commerce, that the approach of
American merchantmen to neutral ports situated upon the long line
of coast affected will not be interfered with when it is known that
they do not carry goods which are contraband of war or goods con-
signed to a destination within the belligerent territory affected. The
Government of the United States assumes this with the more confi-
dence because it is manifest that His Majesty's Government has
undertaken a very unusual method of blockade which it will be dif-
ficult to confine within the limits required by the law of nations;
and it is natural to infer that the comunanders of His Majesty's ves-
sels of war engaged in the blockade will be instructed to be very
careful that the blockade is not made to involve consequences to the
trade of neutrals greater and more burdensome than those which
have hitherto been regarded as inevitable when the ports of one
belligerent are blockaded by the ships of another.
  The Government of the United States of course appreciates the
existence of the unusual conditions of modern warfare at sea upon
which it understands His Majesty's Government to rely to justify
methods of blockade and practices of search and detention which His
Maiesty's Government, like the Government of the United States, has
so often and so explicitly held to be inconsistent with the best usages
of warfare in the dealings of belligerents with neutrals at sea; but it
does not understand His Majesty's Government to claim exemption
from the hitherto accepted principles and obligations in these matters



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