It is our earnest desire to safeguard to the fullest extent the interests of Holland and of her nationals. By exercising in this crisis our admitted right to control all property within our territory we do no wrong to Holland. The manner in which we proposed to exercise this right and our proposals made to Holland concurrently therewith, cannot, I believe, fail to evidence to Holland the sincerity of our friendship toward her. The seizure of the Dutch ships was accomplished without friction on March 20 by manning them with American naval officers, with the co-operation of the United States Shipping Board. The Dutch crews were released, and many of the officers and sailors returned to Holland a few days later. The action of the American and British authorities produced much agitation in Holland; the Dutch newspapers bitterly denounced the action as unwarranted. A statement appeared in the Official Gazette of the Netherlands Government on March 30 in which the seizure was characterized as an act of violence. The statement asserted that the act was "indefensible from the viewpoint of international law and unjustifiable." Denial was made that an agreement failed through German pressure. The Dutch official statement ended as follows: The powers in question, owing to the loss of ships, felt constrained to replace the tonnage by obtaining the disposal of a very large number of ships which belonged not to them but to the Netherlands. They became aware that the Netherlands Government could not permit the ships to sail in the interest of the associated Governments except on the conditions imposed by neutrality, but which were, in the judgment of the Governments, not sufficiently in accordance with their interests. Therefore, they decided to seize the Dutch merchant fleet in so far as it lay within their power. The Netherlands Government deems it its duty, especially in serious times such as the present, to speak with complete candor. It voices the sentiments of the entire Dutch Nation, which sees in the seizure an act of violence which it will oppose with all the energy of its conviction and its wounded national feeling. According to the Presidential statement, this procedure offers Holland ample opportunity to obtain bread grain. This is so only apparently; for would it not be an irresponsible act, after the experiences of Dutch ships in American and British ports, to permit other ships to sail to these ports without adequate guarantees that these experiences shall not occur?