File No. 841.857Ar1/26
The German Ambassador ( Bernstorff ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10.55 a. m.]
I am instructed by my Government to communicate the following to you:
So far no official information about the sinking of the Arabic is available. The Imperial Government trusts that the Government of the United States will not take a definite stand after only hearing the reports coming from one side, which, according to the opinion of my Government, can not possibly correspond with the facts, but will give the Imperial Government a chance to be heard equally. Although my government does not doubt the good faith of the witnesses whose statements have been published by the newspapers in Europe, my Government thinks that it should be borne in mind that such statements have naturally been made in great excitement which might easily produce a wrong impression. In case Americans should actually have lost their life this would naturally be contrary to the intention of the German Government, who would deeply regret this fact and has instructed me to extend its sincerest sympathy to the Government of the United States.
May I ask you to be good enough to publish the above or to kindly let me know whether you agree to my publishing it?