cable dispatches altered by the English, and against corrupt newspaper publishers cannot be raised in connection with diplomatic correspondence transmitted direct to your Ambassador here.  This authentic, official correspondence has given us an excellent measure of the standards of morality and humanity which actuate the present German Government.  Our opinion of Germany has been profoundly influenced by these official documents.

Germany has committed certain acts which are freely admitted by your Government.  A nation, like a man, is judged by its deeds.  After all excuses and explanations are made, the deeds remain.  Americans have read the excuses and the explanations fully and repeatedly; and with these excuses and explanations in mind have formed an opinion of the power responsible for the deeds.  No English gold, no manipulated cable dispatches can have had anything to do with that opinion.  The deeds themselves have been the supreme force in shaping American opinion of Germany.  Germany has defended the many acts which have brought down upon her the contempt and opprobrium of the entire civilised world.  As you well know, one of the best tests of a man’s morals is the kind of a defence he offers for his acts.  Americans have read most carefully the many defences offered by your Chancellor, your Minister of Foreign Affairs, your Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, your official spokesmen sent to this country, and your Ambassador here; and in the notes sent officially and directly to our Government by your Government.  We have formed an opinion of the moral standards of the Government which makes and approves of such defences.

I believe you must, in sincerity and frankness, admit that the American public has had many sources of information open to it in forming its opinions about Germany.  Indeed, with a free press, a large German population absolutely free from censorship or restrictions of any kind, and a Government which does not need to suppress facts for military or political reasons, we are in a far better position to learn the whole truth about Germany than are the German people themselves.

III.

Having outlined some of the many sources of information upon which Americans have relied in forming their opinions of Germany and her actions in this war, I now will state what the American opinion is in regard to some of the vital issues which have been raised.  In doing this, I will not endeavour to explain that opinion, to criticise it, nor to defend it.  Neither will I give you my personal opinion on the several points, for my own personal opinion is of slight consequence when we are discussing the attitude of an entire nation.  If you desire, I will be glad to tell you, on some other occasion, just how far my own opinions coincide with the collective opinion of the country at large, and just where I differ from that opinion.  My object at present is simply to interpret American