763.72/2479½
The Secretary of State to President Wilson
My Dear Mr. President: I send you a memorandum33 which I have prepared setting forth clearly, I think, the negotiations and conversations which I have had in regard to the matter of armed merchant vessels, and the recent declaration of February 10th by the Teutonic Powers in regard to submarine warfare.34
I suggest, for your consideration, the advisability of reading this memorandum at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow. I feel that the members of the Cabinet ought to know something of the difficulties which we have had to face and particularly the adroit efforts which have been made by the German Ambassador, for I consider Zwiedinek acting more or less under his direction, to cause embarrassment and place this Government in a false light. I assume that when the Ambassador considers the time opportune he will endeavor to show that the recent declaration was instigated by this Government.
Faithfully yours,
- Not printed; the memorandum bears the notation: “Read to Cabinet by President Mch. 7/16 RL,” and is substantially the same as the telegram of Mar. 9, 1916, to the Ambassadors in Germany and Austria-Hungary, Foreign Relations, 1916, supp., p. 202.↩
- See telegram No. 3474, Feb. 10, 1916, 10 p. m., from the Ambassador in Germany, ibid., p. 163.↩