he _Sussex_ crisis a further awkward incident occurred
which took us back to the days of conspiracies. In consequence
of the Welland Canal case the American secret police came down
upon Herr von Igel, the representative of the Military Attache,
in his New York office, for alleged complicity, arrested him by
force and seized papers which were found on his table. I immediately
laid a protest before the State Department, whereupon Herr von
Igel was set at liberty and a long international controversy arose
which had not come to an end when Herr von Igel returned with me
to Germany. The American Law Department maintained that Herr von
Igel was suspected of complicity in a legal offence, that he could
not therefore plead extra-territoriality, and must stand his trial
before an American Court. The State Department, it is true, had
doubts as to whether an office in New York could be recognized as
extraterritorial, but for the rest maintained a correct attitude
and refused to agree to the opening of proceedings against Herr
von Igel.

The seized documents were handed over to the State Department,
where they probably still lie. The State Department declared to
me their readiness to hand back the papers if I wished to declare
them Embassy documents. I, however, thought that an attempt might
be made later to use such a declaration against me as a trap and
I rejected the offer to return the papers on these conditions,
as they were of no further importance to us. If there was among
them material which could be used against the former Attaches it
might be assumed that the Law Department would long ago have had
the documents copied.

The Igel affair had no definite political result, as the American
Government dropped all controversies when they began to take up
the question of mediation.

To return to the settlement of the _Sussex_ incident it should be
mentioned that our surrender on the submarine question was widely
resented in Germany. Further, it caused a check in submarine
construction. At least, Secretary of State von Capelle has declared
before the Commission of the National Assembly that an extensive
submarine construction programme had to be abandoned because it
would have been too sharp a contrast with Germany's attitude after
the settlement of the _Sussex_ affair. As a matter of fact, submarine
construction was never carried on with full vigor after 1916 as
has been pointed out by Messrs. Struve, Gothein and Co. In the