lly conspired in the
United States to make war against the territories and possessions
of His Majesty the King of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of
India." It seems that this affair was exploited with great success
by the American propaganda service to inflame the minds of its
people against Germany. As a matter of fact, I cannot too strongly
condemn on principle all military enterprises undertaken from neutral
territory; but, from the purely moral point of view, I cannot but
remark that it ill befits America to give vent to righteous indignation
over such activities, considering the facilities she afforded to
Czechs and Poles, during her period of neutrality, for supporting
to the utmost of their power their blood brothers in their designs
against the Central Powers. Besides, even if it be admitted that the
schooner in question was actually sent by the Indian Nationalists
with her cargo of arms, it is absurd to regard the dispatch of
this small supply of war material as a crime, and gloss over the
fact that whole arsenals and ammunition columns were being shipped
every day to France!

I now propose, in conclusion, to deal with the illegal activities
attributed by American opinion to the secret agents controlled by
the German military authorities, and sent by them to the United
States.

As regards the machinations of Franz Rintelen, my first information
about him reached me in the late autumn of 1915, and even now I have
to rely for most of the details on the American papers. Rintelen,
who was a banker by profession, and during the war held a commission
as Captain-Lieutenant in the Imperial Naval Reserve, appeared in
America in April, 1915, and presented himself to me during one of
my periodical visits to New York. He declined at the time to give
any information as to his official position in the country, or the
nature of his duties; I therefore wired to the Foreign Office for
some details about him, but received no reply. Some time afterwards
he applied to me for proofs of identity, which I refused to grant
him, and as his continued presence in New York was considered
undesirable by both von Pap en and Boy-Ed, they took steps to have
him sent back to Germany. He was captured, however, by the British,
on his voyage home. Shortly after this, the affair of Rintelen
became a matter of common talk, and the first indications of his
mysterious intrigues for the purpose of interfering with the delivery
of munitions