THE WORLD WAR: PERIOD OF AMERICAN NEUTRALITY 415



763.72/1794i
The Auetro-Hungarian Ambassador (Dumtba) to the Secretary of
                             State

                                    WASHINGTON, May 24, 1915.
 MY DEAR SECRETARY OF STATE: I just received your letter and am
 very thankful to you for giving me an opportunity of clearing up
 any misunderstanding or misrepresentation which evidently origi-
 nated at the foreign office in Berlin.
 I find the memorandum you had the kindness to send me quite
 correct and rendering faithfully the substance of our conversation.
 As I could only send a short telegram, I had no possibility to
 touch all the points; so I did not mention at all my suggestion
 of an arbitration nor your cautious answer that you could not com-
 mit yourself, but were ready to reserve any suggestion. In order
 to vindicate myself I now shall communicate to you quite verbally
 the text of my telegram as far as it refers to our conversation: It
 was addressed to Baron Burian Vienna, but went via Berlin:
 "Mr. Bryan, with whom I had a long talk about the situation, asked
 me today to draw, through your kind intervention, the attention of
 the Berlin Cabinet to two points:
 I. The American protest, which with regard to the high waves
 of indignation roused in American public opinion by destruction
 of so many lives, was bound to be much more energetic than that
 of the 30th of March addressed to England,81 is yet kept in a friendly
tone, and he (Mr. Bryan) hopes for an answer in the same friendly
tone and spirit.
  II. He would not see any advantage if the German Government
should yield in the question of the submarine war on condition that
the United States Government induces the London Cabinet to respect
the law of nations, especially as far as free passage of foodstuffs is
concerned. President Wilson would then appear to act in London
under German pressure, and this action would not promise success.
Mr. Bryan suggested rather an unconditional modification of the sub-
marine warfare by Germany in the sense of the American note; at
the same time, in an official statement of the German Government to
the German people, the certain expectation could be expressed, that
the United States would live up to their statement and press earnestly
in London their view of the rights of neutral commerce."-
  I hear confidentially from a good source, that President Wilson
will spontaneously act in this way in London in two to three days.
Perhaps it is therefore advisable to wait so long in Berlin before an-
swering the American note."

m Foreign Relations, 1915, supp., p. 152.