Wilson's War Message to Congress
WWI Document Archive > Official Papers > Wilson's War Message to Congress
2 April, 1917
Woodrow Wilson, War Messages, 65th Cong., 1st Sess. Senate Doc. No. 5, Serial No. 7264, Washington, D.C., 1917; pp. 3-8, passim.
On 3 February 1917, President Wilson addressed Congress to announce that diplomatic
Gentlemen of the Congress:
I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility of making.
On the 3d of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and after the 1st day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats should not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. The precautions taken were meagre and haphazard enough, as was proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with safe-conduct through the proscribed areas by the German Government itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle.
I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility of making.
On the 3d of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and after the 1st day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats should not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. The precautions taken were meagre and haphazard enough, as was proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with safe-conduct through the proscribed areas by the German Government itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle.
議会の皆さん
私が議会を臨時会期に召集したのは、重大な、非常に重大な、政策の選択を直ちに行う必要があるからであり、私がその責任を負うことは正しくも憲法上も許されないからです。
昨年2月3日、私は公式に、2月1日以降、法や人道上のあらゆる制約を捨てて、イギリスとアイルランドの港、ヨーロッパの西海岸、または地中海内のドイツの敵の支配する港に近づこうとするすべての船を、潜水艦で沈めることを、ドイツ帝国政府の臨時発表を、あなた方の前に公式に提示しました。 それが戦争の初期にドイツの潜水艦戦の目的であったように思われたが、昨年 4 月以降、帝国政府は、旅客船を沈めてはならないという当時の約束に従い、潜水艦が破壊しようとする可能性のある他のすべての船に適切な警告を与え、抵抗や逃亡を試みていない場合には、乗組員がオープンボートで命を救うために少なくとも公正な機会を与えられるように注意を払って、潜水艦の指揮官を幾分抑制していた。 この残酷で非人情な事業の進行中に次々と証明されたように、取られた予防措置は些細で行き当たりばったりだったが、ある程度の抑制は観察されていた。 あらゆる種類の船舶が、その国旗、性格、貨物、目的地、用途を問わず、警告もなく、船内の人々への助けや慈悲も考えずに、友好的な中立国の船舶と交戦国の船舶とを問わず、無慈悲に船底に沈められている。 病院船やベルギーの悲痛な遺族や被災者への救援物資を運ぶ船でさえも、ドイツ政府によって禁止区域を通る安全な輸送が提供され、紛れもないアイデンティティの印によって区別されていたにもかかわらず、同じ無謀な同情や原則の欠如によって沈没してしまったのである。
www.DeepL.com/Translator（無料版）で翻訳しました。
