763.72/1507½: Telegram
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:15 p. m.]
1716. Evidence multiplies that the British Government will not accept your number 1169, February 20th.10 I hear indirectly that the Cabinet had agreed, prior to receipt of your 1169, to meet the German war-zone order with a similar move against Germany. Germany declared she would destroy by submarines all in-bound and out-bound British commerce. Great Britain will then stop all in-bound and out-bound German commerce. I hear that this proposition has met the approval of the Allies and that the Allied Governments will at once proclaim it and put it into effect. I cannot today verify this report but I have reason to believe it true.
The substance of your 1169 has been telegraphed from Washington to the London press and the universal comment is unfavorable. The Times this morning calls it a German blackmailing proposition. There are signs that the opposition party in England in particular and public opinion in general resent a proposition that they interpret [Page 365] to mean free food to Germans after they have done their best by mines and torpedoes to cut off England’s food.