[Enclosure]
Draft Note to the German
Ambassador (Bernstorff)
My Dear Mr. Ambassador: On account of
absence from Washington I have delayed commenting on the Memorandum
explanatory of “the U-Boat question”, which you handed me on March
8th. Meanwhile the memo has received the careful consideration of
the President and myself and he directs me to call your attention
particularly to the wording of the last paragraph which escaped my
attention during our conversation on the 8th, when it was agreed
that it should be made public. Upon consideration however the Govt.
is constrained to the belief that it was the intention of the
Imperial Government to appeal to the American people and to submit
the case before the bar of public opinion, rather than to this
Government. This belief is confirmed by your earnest desire to
furnish the Memorandum to the press for publication immediately upon
its delivery.
This unusual, if not unprecedented, procedure, which gives the
impression of having been adopted for the purpose of securing
popular support in the United States for the German position without
regard to the attitude of this Government, cannot be passed over
without comment, especially as it was employed in relation to a
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subject, which, at the
time, was being considered by the Congress of the United States.
As the subject of the Memorandum was a matter of diplomatic
discussion between the two Governments, the Government of the United
States must express its disapproval of the course of the Imperial
Government in appealing directly to the American people in support
of its position on a pending question between the two Governments.
Not only does this Government disapprove this action but it resents
the delivery to it by your Excellency as the diplomatic
representative of Germany of a document which on its face is
intended to influence public opinion in the United States and
possibly to arouse directly or indirectly opposition in the Congress
to the policy of the President in dealing with the question of
submarine warfare.
I am reluctant to believe that your Govt. fully considered the
consequences before permitting you to become the medium of
transmitting this appeal to the people of the United States though
in form addressed to this Government. Without exceeding the bounds
of diplomatic propriety this Government cannot permit a diplomatic
representative to address the people of this country through the
press or otherwise on a controversy pending between the Government
of the United States and the Government which he represents.
I would be wanting in duty to my Government and in justice to yours,
if I did not thus candidly state the unfavorable impression which
has been made by the Memorandum of March 8th and by the way in which
it was laid before the American public.
