711.62119/2: Telegram
The Commissioner at Berlin (Dresel) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 21 (?)—12:34 a.m.]
176. Department’s telegram no. 284, February 16. I regret greatly any embarrassment which the Department may have been caused by the statements which were made to me as I reported in my cipher telegram no. 56 of January 15, but I must emphasize that “discussions” is not the appropriate word for what did take place. The conversations were entirely on one side, and, as I had done previously in similar instances, I felt it my duty to report them as information, [Page 3] only, of the German attitude and without expectation of an answer.
The question of what would follow our rejection of the Versailles peace has, ever since my arrival here, been the favorite topic of conversation with the Germans, and as a result of articles appearing from time to time in the press it has been constantly revived. At all times, however, I have been careful to handle the subject with the utmost caution and to assume merely the passive attitude of a listener. Upon the two occasions I mentioned in my telegram I was especially careful to assure the persons who spoke to me that I had no intimation of my Government’s policy, no opinion of my own to express, and was without authorization from my Government to discuss the subject.
My efforts to trace the origin of the report confirm the theory that it originated in loose talk by some one at the Foreign Office which came to the knowledge of a correspondent who misunderstood the facts. In spite of all efforts it has been impossible, as the Department knows, to prevent occasional misrepresentations of this nature which have been a serious annoyance to me in my work here.
In accordance with your instructions I shall, at the first convenient opportunity, repeat the assurances that I have already given, though in view of the prompt denial by the German Government I believe that the matter will have no further consequence.
The article that the Foreign Office published in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung on February 7 without previous communications with me reads as follows:
“The statement made by a news agency that discussions with Mr. Dresel, the representative here of the American Government, have taken place relating to the establishment of a state of peace between the United States and Germany is not, we are informed, in accordance with fact. There is no question of discussions of this nature at the present time as President Wilson has refused to make any utterance on the subject and as the newly elected President has not yet taken office.”