unfit for use before this occurred.

On the 3rd February, at twelve midday, Mr. Wilson announced to
a joint meeting of both Houses of Congress, the rupture of all
diplomatic relations with Germany, and at the same time my pass
was brought to me by a higher official of the Department of State.

Thus war was decided upon, even if it was not immediately declared.
Everything that followed amounted only to preparation for war or war
propaganda. Nothing except the abandonment of the U-boat campaign
could have prevented war.

It has frequently been asserted that the notorious Mexico telegram
led to the war with the United States. I do not believe this is
correct. The telegram was used with great success as propaganda
against us; but the rupture of diplomatic relations--as I have
already pointed out--was, in view of the situation, equivalent
in all circumstances to war. I had nothing to do with the Mexico
telegram, which took me completely by surprise. It was addressed, in
the usual way, direct to the legation in Mexico, and passed through
the Embassy at Washington on the same day on which I received the
notification that the unrestricted U-boat war was to be declared.
I had neither the right, nor was it my duty, to hold up the telegram,
although I disapproved of its contents. But even if I had held
it up, I should have served no useful purpose. As I afterwards
heard from a certain Englishman, there was an office in England
which deciphered all the telegrams which we sent over the English
cable and this office placed all their intercepts at the disposal of
the American Government after the rupture of diplomatic relations.
There is nothing surprising in this, for we also deciphered all
enemy telegrams which we were able to intercept. Nowadays there
is no cipher which is absolutely safe, if it has been in use for
some time. At that time, however, I did not know that all our cipher
telegrams were being read by the English. If, therefore, I had held
up the Mexico telegram in Washington, its contents would have been
revealed to the American Government by the English, notwithstanding,
and no one would have believed that the message had not been forwarded
in some way to Mexico. Moreover the telegram, as is well-known,
was only conditional; the instructions it contained were only to
hold good if the United States came into the war. I strained every
nerve, at that moment, to prevent this from taking place. If I had
been successful,