itude on the Belgian question. Mr.
Wilson believes that he is so hated in England that he won't be
listened to. This train of thought largely explains his eagerness
in the Belgian question. In any case, so much is certain, that
House is continually urging Mr. Wilson to take action; moreover,
peace propaganda here is steadily increasing, notwithstanding that
it is for the moment very seriously hampered by the Belgian question.
If Mr. Wilson--as is to be expected--finds a strong feeling for
peace in Congress, he should at last make up his mind."

After a stay of about two months in America, Mr. Gerard, furnished
with fresh instructions, left for Berlin on the 5th December. When
later the Ambassador, at the much discussed Adlon dinner, declared
that the relations between the United States and Germany had never
been so good as at that moment since the beginning of the war,
this speech was the keynote of his instructions. If on the other
hand Herr Helfferich said that the exuberance of the Ambassador
astonished him, this is explained by the fact that Berlin never
believed in Mr. Wilson's intention to bring about peace. Why such
incredulity should persist notwithstanding that Colonel House had
twice travelled to Berlin for this very purpose, and that the
President's peace policy had been the burden of all my reports,
I shall never be able to understand, while, on the other hand, I
can quite understand that Mr. Wilson's passivity with regard to
the English breaches of international law had engendered strong
distrust of him in Germany.

For the rest, Mr. Gerard seemed to be imperfectly informed about
the situation in Berlin. He was certainly right in his prediction
of the unrestricted submarine campaign, but in this case the wish
was father to the thought. It accorded with Mr. Gerard's anti-German
feeling, to which he gave expression later in his gossipy literature
and film production, that he should welcome the submarine campaign,
and with it the rupture with the United States, as well as our
defeat. But after all, the Ambassador' proved at the Adlon dinner
that he could sing another tune.

When Mr. Gerard lunched with me in Washington, I had just learned
by cable from Berlin that Herr von Jagow had resigned and had been
replaced by Herr Zimmermann. On hearing this news, the Ambassador
said that now there would be no rupture between Germany and the
United States, for Herr Zimmermann was his personal friend and
was oppos