Unfriendly Acts of Austria-Hungary

UNFRIENDLY ACTS OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

A. ACTIVITIES OF AUSTRIAN AMBASSADOR AND CONSULS

In September, 1915, it was discovered that Ambassador Dumba and Austrian Consuls in St. Louis and elsewhere were implicated in instigating strikes in American manufacturing plants engaged in the production of munitions of war. An American citizen named Archibald, traveling under an American passport, had been entrusted with despatches in regard to this matter from Dumba and Bernstorff to their Governments. These acts were admitted by Dumba. By reason of the admitted purpose and intent of Dumba to conspire to cripple business industries in the United States, and by reason of the flagrant violation of diplomatic propriety in employing an American citizen protected by an American passport as a secret bearer of official despatches through the lines of an enemy of Austria-Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Government was requested to recall Dumba.

The Austrian Consuls at St. Louis and New York appear to have been implicated with Dumba in the improprieties mentioned above, particularly in the circulation of strike propaganda. They were also implicated in procuring forged passports from the United States for the use of their countrymen in going home.

B. AUSTRIA'S POSITION AS TO SUBMARINE WARFARE.
After diplomatic relations with Germany had been broken, the Department on February 14, 1917, dispatched the following telegram to the American Embassy at Vienna, surveying briefly the position of the Austrian Government on submarine warfare:"In the American note of December 6, 1915, to the Austro-Hungarian Government in the ANCONA case, this Government called attention to the views of the Government of the United States on the operations of submarines in naval warfare which had been expressed in no uncertain terms to the ally of Austria-Hungary, and of which full knowledge on the part of the Austro-Hungarian Government was presumed. In its reply of December 15, 1915, the Imperial and Royal Government stated that it was not possessed with authentic knowledge of all of the pertinent correspondence of the United States, nor was it of the opinion that such knowledge would be sufficient to cover the ANCONA case, which was of essentially a different character from those under discussion with the Berlin Government. Nevertheless, in reply to the American note of December 19, 1915, the Austro-Hungarian Government in its note of December 29th, stated"'As concerns the principle expressed in the very esteemed note that hostile private ships, in so far as they do not flee or offer resistance, may not be destroyed without the persons on board having been placed in safety, the Imperial and Royal Government is able substantially to assent to this view of the Washington Cabinet.'"Moreover, in the case of the PERSIA, the Austro-Hungarian Government in January, 1916, stated in effect that, while it had received no information with regard to the sinking of the PERSIA, yet, in case its responsibility was involved, the Government would be guided by the principles agreed to in the ANCONA case."Within one month thereafter, the Imperial and Royal Government, coincidently with the German declaration of February 10, 1916, on the treatment of armed merchantmen, announced that"'All merchant vessels armed with cannon for whatever purpose, by this very fact lose the character of peaceable vessels,'and that,"'Under these conditions orders have been given to Austro-Hungarian and naval forces to treat such ships as belligerent vessels.'"In accordance with this declaration, several vessels with Americans on board have been sunk in the Mediterranean, presumably by Austrian submarines, some of which were torpedoed without warning by submarines flying the Austrian flag, as in the cases of the British steamers SECONDO and WELSH PRINCE. Inquiries made through the American Ambassador at Vienna as to these cases have so far elicited no information and no reply."Again, on January 31, 1917, coincidently with the German declaration of submarine danger zones in waters washing the coasts of the Entente countries, the Imperial and Royal Government announced to the United States Government that Austria-Hungary and its allies would from February 1st, 'prevent by every means any navigation whatsoever within a definite closed area.'"From the foregoing it seems fair to conclude that the pledge given in the ANCONA case and confirmed in the PERSIA case is essentially the same as that given in the note of the Imperial German Government dated May 4, 1916: viz.,"'In accordance with the general principles of visit and search and destruction of merchant vessels recognized by international law, such vessels, both within and without the area declared as a naval war zone, shall not be sunk without warning and without saving human lives, unless these ships attempt to escape or offer resistance,'and that this pledge has been modified to a greater or less extent by the declarations of the Imperial and Royal Government of February 10, 1916, and January 31, 1917. In view, therefore, of the uncertainty as to the interpretation to be placed upon those declarations, and particularly this latter declaration, it is important that the United States Government be advised definitely and clearly of the attitude of the Imperial and Royal Government in regard to the prosecution of submarine warfare in these circumstances."Please bring this matter orally to the attention of the Austrian Government and request to be advised as to whether the pledge given in the ANCONA and PERSIA cases is to be interpreted as modified or withdrawn by the declarations of February 10, 1916, and January 31, 1917. If after your conversation it seems advisable, you may hand to the Minister for Foreign Affairs a paraphrase of this instruction, leaving the quoted texts verbatim." In reply the Austrian Government in an aide memoir of March 2, 1917, after reviewing the illegal blockade measures of the Allies, stated that "it now as heretofore firmly adheres to the assurances given by it" in the ANCONA case.

The Austro-Hungarian Government also stated that Austro-Hungarian submarines had taken no part in the sinking of the British steamers SECONDO and WELSH PRINCE, and that "the assurance which it gave the Washington Cabinet in the ANCONA case and renewed in the PERSIA case, has neither been withdrawn or restricted by its declarations of February 10, 1916, and January 31, 1917.

"The Austro-Hungarian note endeavors, through a legal argument, to show consistency between these assurances and its declarations. In this way, the Austro-Hungarian Government evades a direct answer to the American inquiry, but in its argument it substantially adheres to the declaration of January 31, 1917, for it states that "The entire declaration is essentially nothing else than a warning to the effect that no merchant ship may navigate the sea zones accurately defined in the declaration,"
and that
"The Imperial and Royal Government is, however, unable to accept a responsibility for the loss of human live which, nevertheless, may result from the destruction of armed ships or ships encountered in the close zones."

In view of the explicit acceptance and avowal by the Austrian Government of the policy which had led to a breach of relations between the United States and Germany, the Government of the United States found it impossible to receive Dumba's successor, Count Tarnowski. The Government felt that it could not continue relations with a country which joined Germany in her submarine policy, even though its participation was by verbal and not physical co-operation. This was communicated to the Austrian Government in a telegram from the Department dated March 28, 1917.

In his message to Congress of April 2, 1917, the President said, in respect to the attitude of Austria-Hungary:
"I have said nothing of the governments allied with the Imperial Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right and our honour. The Austro-Hungarian Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified endorsement and acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has therefore not been possible for this Government to receive Count Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently accredited to this Government by the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; but that Government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending our rights."

C. AUSTRIAN PARTICIPATION IN SUBMARINE WARFARE.
So far as American vessels and American lives are concerned, the Department's records show but one possible attempt at the destruction of an American vessel by an Austrian submarine. Many vessels have been sunk by submarines which carried no flag or mark, and the nationality of which was unknown. Many of these may have been Austrian submarines or submarines commanded by Austrian officers; but this can not be determined.

On April 4, 1917, the American four-masted schooner MARGUERITE of New York was sunk by a submarine thirty-five miles from the coast of Sardinia while en route to Spain. The submarine carried no flag or marks, and the nationality is not definitely known. It is known, however, that Austrian was the language spoken by the officer of the submarine who came aboard the vessel with the boarding party. The officer gave orders to the crew in the Austrian language.

D. AUSTRIAN OPERATIONS AGAINST ITALY.Until the present Austro-German drive into Northern Italy, the Austrian forces were gradually being driven back by the force of Italian arms. Now, however, with the assistance of troops apparently drawn from the Russian front, Austria and Germany are crashing through the armies of Italy, and endangering the whole of that country. If the force of the onslaught is not stemmed, Italy may be overrun and crushed. Such a result would be a great blow to the Allies "" as much to the United States as to its European co-belligerents.

As a result of this situation, the Allies have rushed aid to Italy, and the United States is sending ships and money, and, it is reported, supplies. Such assistance to Italy is clearly ground for a declaration of war by Austria-Hungary against the United States.

It appears that there is an ambulance corps at Allentown, Pennsylvania, composed of 5,000 Americans fully equipped for service in France. It seems that for some reason this corps is not now going to be sent to France, and is losing its spirit and morale by the delay. The sending a part or all of this corps to Italy would be giving direct aid to the armies in the field, such as the Italians are urging the United States to give. Such action on the part of the United States might precipitate a declaration of war by Austria.

E. AUSTRIAN POLAND.
In the President's address to the Senate of January 22, 1917, he made the following statement regarding Poland:"..........I take it for granted, for instance, if I may venture upon a single example, that statesmen everywhere are agreed that there should be a united, independent, and autonomous Poland, and that henceforth inviolable security of life, of worship, and of industrial and social development should be guaranteed to all peoples who have lived hitherto under the power of governments devoted to a faith and purpose hostile to their own."There has been considerable agitation among the Poles in the United States and in the Allied countries for the establishment of a Polish Government, around which the Poles throughout the world could rally, and for which they could be enlisted as an army to fight. It is understood that nothing more definite has been done by the Poles to this end than to establish a "Polish National Committee" in Paris, which some of the Allies have recognized as the head of the Polish movement. On November 10, 1917, Ambassador Sharp was instructed to recognize this Committee as "an official Polish organization."If this movement should be taken up by the United States and an announcement made to the effect that the United States favored the establishment now of a government of a new Poland, to be composed at the end of the war of certain territories belonging to or now held by Austria-Hungary and Germany, this would possibly bring about a declaration of war by Austria.