File No. 763.72/3263½
The Secretary of State to the Swiss Minister (Ritter)
My Dear Mr. Minister: I am requested by the President to say to you, ill acknowledging the memorandum which you were kind enough to send me on the 11th instant, that the Government of the United States would gladly discuss with the German Government any questions it might propose for discussion were it to withdraw its proclamation of the 31st of January, in which, suddenly and without previous intimation of any kind, it canceled the assurances which it had given this Government on the 4th of May last,1 but that it does not feel that it can enter into any discussion with the German Government concerning the policy of submarine warfare against neutrals which it is now pursuing unless and until the German Government renews its assurances of the 4th of May and acts upon those assurances.
I am [etc.]