From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 8 May 1915:
Last Saturday the American oil-tank vessel ‘Gulflight’ was torpedoed by a German submarine off Bishop’s Lighthouse. The captain died of shock and two seamen were drowned. Thus the critical event which the American Government foresaw has come to pass. On February 4th the American Government despatched a Note to the German Government on the German declaration that the British seas would in future be a war zone in which Allied merchantmen might be sunk without notice, and every neutral ship would run the gravest risk owing to the fact that she might be mistaken for a British vessel flying a foreign flag. The Note stated that the sinking of an American vessel or the loss of American lives would be regarded as “an indefensible violation of American rights,” for which Germany would be held to “strict accountability.”
The Note, in fact, appeared to be a contingent ultimatum. When the American vessel ‘Evelyn’ was sunk by a minute could not be proved that the mine was German, and nothing further happened. When an American life was lost in the ‘Falaba’ nothing again was done. All Americans are concerned to know what the President will do now, but they are bearing themselves with exemplary patience. Of course the President must first make sure of his facts. If they are as stated, it seems that Berlin must make reparation unless President should eat his words. But if reparation be made, the whole theory of the war zone in which Germany cannot hold herself responsible for losses to neutrals will break down.
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