File No. 763.72111/4443
The Secretary of State to the German Ambassador ( Bernstorff)
My Dear Mr. Ambassador: Referring to your note of the 10th instant, enclosing a cipher message for the German Foreign Office concerning, as you state, the new offensive armament of the merchant vessels of the Entente powers, and also my note of December 18 relative to peace terms, I feel under the necessity of stating that, however much I should personally like to oblige you, the Department can not undertake to forward this cipher message to Berlin, because, so far as I know, there appears to be no particular urgency for the transmission of the message on account of either of the subjects mentioned which have not recently been matters of discussion between us.1 I need not add that I am desirous of promoting the good relations of our countries to the fullest extent so far as I can consistently with the official regulations of my Government.
I am [etc.]
- This message, however, was sent the following day.↩