File No. 763.72/2143
The German Ambassador (Bernstorff) to the Counselor for the Department of State
[Received September 23.]
My Dear Mr. Polk: It gave me very great pleasure to hear that you have been appointed Counselor for the Department of State. I hope that the pleasant private relations we always had, will be continued now that I will have the privilege of entertaining official relations with you. I beg to add that the Imperial Government [Page 553] is very pleased that the Secretary of State decided to settle the questions relating to our submarine war with me and to discontinue the exchange of notes. The Imperial Government is further very much obliged to the Secretary of State for permitting an exchange of telegrams through the Department of State on the above-mentioned matter, because the negotiations have till now been extremely difficult on account of the impossibility for me to communicate quickly with my Government. Wireless telegrams always seem to arrive very late and are often, as you know, illegally intercepted. I should, therefore, be very thankful, if you would kindly transmit the enclosed telegram to Berlin, which contains nothing that does not refer to the negotiations pending between our two governments.1 With many thanks in advance,
Very sincerely yours,
- Cipher telegram enclosed (not printed) forwarded to the Ambassador in Germany for transmission to the Foreign Office, September 23.↩