M. the next day, where at the
station were a crowd of German and American newspaper correspondents,
all anxious to know what had happened.
At this last dinner at the Chancellor's he took me off in a corner
and said, "As I understand it, what America wants is cruiser
warfare on the part of the submarines." And I said, "Yes, that
is it exactly. They may exercise the right of visit and search,
must not torpedo or sink vessels without warning, and must not
sink any vessel unless the passengers and crew are put in a place
of safety."
On the morning of the third of May, I heard that the German note
had been drafted, but that it would contain a clause to the
effect that while the German submarines would not go beyond cruiser
warfare, this rule, nevertheless, would not apply to armed
merchantmen.
As such a proposition as this would, of course, only bring up
the subject again, I immediately ordered my automobile and called
on the Spanish Ambassador, stating to him what I had heard about
the contents of the note; that this would mean, without doubt, a
break with America; and that, as I had been instructed to hand
the Embassy over to him, I had come to tell him of that fact.
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