In a special note to the United States, the German government said that once a week, at a certain time, the United States would be permitted to send a passenger vessel to England, provided that this boat were duly inspected and proved to have no munitions of war or supplies for England on board.  It must be painted all over with red, white, and blue stripes and must be marked in other ways so that the German submarine commanders would know it. (It must be remembered that Germany insisted that she was fighting for the freedom of the seas!)

Now, at all times, it has been recognized that the open seas are free to all nations for travel and commerce.  This proposal, to sink without warning all ships on the ocean, was a bit of effrontery that few had imagined even the German government was capable of.

President Wilson had been exceedingly patient with Germany.  In fact, a great majority of the newspaper and magazine writers in the country had criticized him for being too patient.  The great majority of the people of the United States were for peace, ardently.  The government at Washington knew this.  Nevertheless, this last announcement by Germany that she proposed to kill any American citizens who dared to travel on the sea in the neighborhood of England and France seemed more than a self-respecting nation could endure.  The Secretary of State sent notice to Count Von Bernstorff, the German ambassador, to leave this country.  Friendly relations between the imperial government of Germany and the United States of America were at an end.

Questions for Review

 1.  How did the submarine boat change methods of warfare?
 2.  What is contraband of war?
 3.  Was it right to prevent the importation of food into Germany?
 4.  Why would a nation which manufactured a great deal of war material
    object to the sale of such material to fighting nations by nations
    at peace?
 5.  Show how this rule, if carried out, would have a tendency to make
    all nations devote too much work to the preparation of war
    supplies.
 6.  Show the difference between the British blockade and the sinking
    of ships by German submarines.
 7.  Would the blowing up of American factories by paid agents of the
    German government have been a good enough reason for the United
    States to have declared war?
 8.  How did the voyages of the Deutschland prove that the United
    States wanted to be fair to both sides in the war?
 9.  What reasons had Austria and Germany for wishing peace in December
    1916?
10.  Why did President Wilson ask the warring nations to state their
    aims in the war?
11.  How did Germany try to justify the sinking of ships without
    warning?

CHAPTER XXII

  Another Crown Topples

The unnatural alliance of the Czar and the free peoples.—­The first Duma and the revolt of 1905.—­The Zemptsvos and the people against the pro-German officials.—­The death of Rasputin and other signs of unrest.—­The revolution of March 1917.—­The Czar becomes Mr. Romanoff.—­Four different governments within eight months.—­Civil war and a German effort for peace.