was regarded in Germany as a deliberate humiliation,
as well as an attempt to coerce us unconditionally to renounce
unrestricted submarine warfare once and for all. To have admitted
that the submarine war was a breach of international law would
have involved us in the same unpleasant consequences to which now,
after our defeat, we are compelled to submit. If we admitted the
illegality of the submarine campaign we should have been obliged,
on the conclusion of peace, to meet all the demands for damages
arising out of it.

For the third time, then, the word "illegal" brought us face to
face with a crisis which was within an ace of causing a rupture
of diplomatic relations. The last days of the negotiations turned
out very unfortunately for us. Mr. Lansing and I had agreed upon
a formula in which the word "illegal" did not occur, because my
instructions categorically prohibited its use. In Berlin it was
not yet known that we had arrived at the desired agreement, and
it was there thought necessary to call public attention to the
danger of the situation, and explain the seriousness of the position
in the hope that by this means the American Government might be
moved to adopt a more conciliatory attitude.

On 5th February, Under-Secretary of State Zimmermann gave an interview
to the Associated Press in which he said he did not wish to conceal
the seriousness of the position. That Germany could under no
circumstances admit the illegality of the submarine campaign within
the war-zone. The whole crisis arose from the new demand of America
that Germany should admit the sinking of the _Lusitania_ to be an
act infringing the law of nations. Germany could not renounce the
submarine as a weapon. If the United States insisted on bringing
about a break Germany could do nothing further to avoid it. The
Imperial Chancellor confirmed these statements in a conversation
with the Berlin correspondent of _The World_.

These interviews compromised once more the settlement of the
negotiations, because the American Government were doubtful as to
whether they could allow the word "illegal" to be omitted, after the
sharp difference of opinion between the two Governments had become
public property. The agreement which had been reached voluntarily
now looked like a weak surrender before a German threat. In the
end, however, a compromise was arrived at. I handed to Mr. Lansing
in writing a declaration amounting to an admission that reprisals
we