Bernstorff,
who had been made fully aware that the Emperor wished to avert
the submarine campaign and a rupture with the United States, was
also informed by me that the memorandum had been written by the
Emperor in person. For reasons which there is no need for me to
mention here, Count Bernstorff handed the memorandum, not to Mr.
Gerard, but to Colonel House, who certainly communicated it to
the President."

The telegram in which the Emperor's memorandum was communicated
to me read as follows:

TELEGRAM IN CIPHER

"Berlin, 9th October, 1916.

"His Majesty the Emperor desires that the following memorandum should
be handed to Ambassador Gerard on the latter's arrival.

"Your Excellency should do this in strict confidence and say that
the memoir is not intended to convey a threat of submarine warfare.
I should only like you to remind the Ambassador before his interview
with the President of the expectations we based in the spring on
Wilson and to call his attention to the increasing ruthlessness
with which the enemy is carrying on the war. I take it for granted
that Gerard will treat my memoir as strictly confidential and will
not publish it.

"Should Your Excellency, however, regard the delivery of the memorandum
as indiscreet, I request that it may be deferred.

"For Your Excellency's information (strictly confidential):

"1. The memorandum is written personally by His Majesty.

"2. Unrestricted submarine warfare is for the present deferred.

"MEMORANDUM

"Your Excellency hinted to His Majesty in your last conversation at
Charleville in April that President Wilson possibly would try towards
the end of summer to offer his good services to the belligerents for
the promotion of peace. The German Government has no information
as to whether the President adheres to this idea, and as to the
eventual date at which his step would take place. Meanwhile the
constellation of war has taken such a form, that the German Government
foresees the time at which it will be forced to regain the freedom
of action that it has reserved to itself in the Note of May 4th
last, and thus the President's steps may be jeopardized."

Mr. Gerard arrived in New York a few days after I had received the
Emperor's memorandum. He was accompanied by the American journalist,
Herbert Swope, a correspondent of _The World_, who had spent a
considerable time in Berlin. This gentleman professed to be Mr.
Gerard's confidant, and even