I
gave the same information to other colleagues, of course hoping
that what I said would directly or indirectly reach the ears
of the German Foreign Office. Whether it did or not, I do not
know, but the _Sussex_ Note when received did not contain
any exception with reference to armed merchantmen.
With the receipt of the _Sussex_ Note and the President's
answer thereto, which declined assent to the claim of Germany
to define its attitude toward our rights in accordance with what
we might do in regard to the enforcement of our rights against
England, the submarine question seemed, at least for the moment,
settled. I, however, immediately warned the Department that I
believed that the rulers of Germany would at some future date,
forced by public opinion, and by the von Tirpitz and Conservative
parties, take up ruthless submarine war again, possibly in the
autumn but at any rate about February or March, 1917.
In my last conversation with the Chancellor before leaving the
Great General Headquarters, when he referred to the cruiser warfare
of the submarines, he also said, "I hope now that if we settle this
matter your President will be great enough to take up the question
of peace.
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