se the invitation or
make their consent dependent on conditions. These words of Colonel
House were accompanied by an invitation to strictly confidential
negotiations, of which only he and Mr. Wilson should know. Under
these circumstances complete discretion was assured, as Wilson and
House, unlike most Americans, are both fairly clever at keeping
secrets.

"I beg for early instructions as to whether I should reject such
negotiations, or whether your Excellency wishes to authorize me
to accept and will furnish me with instructions accordingly. As I
have always reported, Wilson lays comparatively little importance
on the territorial side of the peace conditions. I am still of the
opinion that the chief emphasis should be laid on what are here
called the guarantees for the future. If we could give Wilson these
as fully as possible he thinks he could bring about a conference,
for with that the chief argument of our enemies would be disposed
of. The latter maintain that we would like to make peace now in
order to begin the war when a more favorable opportunity occurs,
while our enemies are obliged to hold together the coalition that
has been formed against us in order to attain a lasting peace.
Wilson's ideas about such guarantees are known to Your Excellency.
They consist, in the first place, of disarmament by land and sea
(freedom of the seas), provisions for arbitration and a peace league.
I think, from Your Excellency's speech in the Reichstag, that the
Imperial Government would give such guarantees on condition that
peace was restored.

"With House I adopted chiefly a listening attitude in order not
to compromise Your Excellency in any way. However, I agree with
Colonel House's view that a peace conference cannot be brought
about without the help of the United States. Our enemies will try
to put us in the wrong by saying that we did, indeed, propose a
conference but would not breathe a word about our conditions or
guarantees. I can, of course, only judge from the American standpoint.
We have, by our peace offer, brought about a great change in public
opinion over here. This advantage we shall lose entirely if the
idea spread by our enemies that we have only made a deliberately
theatrical peace gesture for the benefit of German public opinion
is confirmed. What steps Wilson will take should Your Excellency
empower me to enter upon such negotiations is not yet certain and
depends entirely on Your Excellency's instruct