ur submarine commanders
had lately been ordered to arrange for the rescue of noncombatants
before torpedoing merchantmen, and I was confirmed in my supposition
by the very fact that I had been authorized to open conversations
with Mr. Lansing.

Scarcely had these conversations begun, when on August 19th the
passenger steamer _Arabic_ was sunk, and again some American lives
were lost. Excitement at once attained a high pitch, and once more
we seemed to be on the brink of war.

On August 20th I dispatched by one of my usual routes the following
wire (written for reasons of safety in French) to the Foreign Office:

"I fear I cannot prevent rupture this time if our answer in _Arabic_
matter is not conciliatory; I advise dispatch of instructions to
me at once to negotiate whole question. Situation may thus perhaps
be saved."

At the same time, without writing for instructions, I explained
both officially and also through the Press that on our side the
United States would be given full compensation, if the commander
of the _Arabic_ should be found to have been treacherously dealt
with. It was my first preoccupation to calm the public excitement
before it overflowed all bounds; and I succeeded in so calming
it. The action I thus took on my own responsibility turned out
later to have been well advised, as, although I did not know this
at the time, the submarine commander's instructions had, in fact,
been altered as a result of the disaster to the _Lusitania_.

On the 24th of August, in accordance with instructions from Berlin,
I wrote to Mr. Lansing the following letter, which was immediately
published:

"I have received instructions from my Government to address to you
the following observations: Up to the present no reliable information
has been received as to the circumstances of the torpedoing of
the _Arabic_. The Imperial Government, therefore, trusts that the
Government of the United States will refrain from taking any decided
steps, so long as it only has before it one-sided reports which my
Government believe do not in any way correspond to the facts. The
Imperial Government hopes that it may be allowed an opportunity
of being heard. It has no desire to call in question the good faith
of those eyewitnesses whose stories have been published by the
European Press, but it considers that account should be taken of
the state of emotion, under the influence of which, this evidence
was given, and which might wel