in here men who will make war inevitable between Germany and the United States?"
"Do you wish Washington to understand," I asked, "that your tenure of office depends on your not making this declaration?"
"We certainly do," replied Von Jagow. "I wish that you would telegraph Washington to that effect. Tell the President that, if we are displaced now, we shall be succeeded by men who advocate unlimited submarine warfare."
He expressed himself as amazed at my description of President Wilson and his willingness to fight. "We regard him," said Von Jagow, "as absolutely a man of peace. Nor do we believe that the American people will fight. They are far from the scene of action, and, what, after all, have they to fight for? Your material interests are not affected."
"But there is one thing that we will fight for," I replied, "and that is moral principle. It is quite apparent that you do not understand the American spirit. You do not realize that we are holding off, not because we have no desire to fight, but because we wish to be absolutely fair. We first wish to have all the evidence in. I admit that we are reluctant to mix in foreign disputes, but we shall insist upon our right to use the ocean as we see fit and we don't propose to have Germany constantly interfering with that right and murdering our citizens. The American is still perhaps a great powerful youth, but once he gets his mind made up that he is going to defend his rights, he will do so irrespective of consequences. You seem to think that Americans will not fight for a principle; you apparently have forgotten that all our wars have been
