763.72/2640½

President Wilson to the Secretary of State

My Dear Mr. Secretary: I have taken the liberty of altering the enclosed a little,44 for the reasons I expressed to you the other day at Cabinet. I think that we should be as non-committal on this subject now as possible, in view of the use the German representatives have tried to make of the proposal referred to, and have sought to make the letter as colourless as possible. I hope that you will not think that I have altered it too much.

Faithfully Yours,

W. W.
  1. The draft reply to the Allies’ refusal of the proposed modus vivendi on armed merchantmen; these alterations, in President Wilson’s hand, were made on the draft of Mar. 31, ante, p. 350. For the text of the reply as sent, see note of Apr. 7 to the British Ambassador, Foreign Relations, 1916, supp., p. 223.