duced to do
so by the insistence of another Government official; it is clear,
therefore, that he attached very little importance to it, and, as a
matter of fact, the charge was not supported by any witnesses in
a court of law, or by any legal attestation.

In a word, during all our period of service in America, as
representatives of the German Empire, practically nothing of all
that was alleged against us was proved to be true. A few of the
stories of illegal activity, however, were based on some foundation
of truth, and were popularly but erroneously supposed to further
the interests of Germany. By these means we were first brought
into discredit, and from that time on, every rumor, or piece of
gossip concerning acts of violence on the part of Germans, whether
based on fact or not, served only to increase the wide-spread popular
suspicion and distrust of everyone and everything German.

CHAPTER VI

THE "LUSITANIA" INCIDENT

On August 6th, 1914, the Government of the United States proposed to
all the belligerent Powers that the laws of war at sea, as laid down
in the Declaration of London of 1909, should be observed throughout
the present war. This reasonable suggestion, which, had it been
generally observed, would have saved the world much distress, came
to nothing, owing to the refusal of Great Britain to accept it as
it stood without reservation. The United States Government thereupon
withdrew its proposal on October 24th, and announced that "It was
resolved in future to see that the rights and duties of the Government
and citizens of the United States should be settled in accordance
with the accepted principles of international law and the treaty
obligations of the United States, without reference to the provisions
of the Declaration of London." Moreover, the American Government
drew up protests and demands for compensation, for use in case
of any infringement of these rights, or of any interference with
their free exercise on the part of the belligerent Powers.

On November 3rd, 1914, Great Britain declared the whole of the
North Sea a theatre of war, and thereupon instituted, in flagrant
violation of the Law of Nations, a blockade of the adjoining neutral
coasts and ports. General disappointment was felt in Germany that
the United States made no attempt to vindicate her rights in this
matter, and confined herself to demanding compensation in individual
cases of infringement.

Both in Germany and els