of opposition to the Chancellor was broken. On
the 28th as von Bethmann-Hollweg appeared in the Reichstag, instead of
facing a hostile and belligerent assembly, he faced members who were
ready to support him in anything he did. The Chancellor, however,
realised that he could take some of the thunder out of the opposition
by making a strong statement against England. "Down with England," the
popular cry, was the keynote of the Chancellor's remarks. In this one
speech he succeeded in uniting for a time at least public sentiment and
the political parties in support of the Government.

A few days afterward I saw Major Bassermann at his office in the
Reichstag and asked him whether the campaign for an unlimited submarine
warfare would be resumed after the action of the Reichstag in
expressing confidence in the Chancellor. He said:

"That must be decided by the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Marine and
the General Staff. England is our chief enemy and we must recognise
this and defeat her."

With his hands in his pocket, his face looking down, he paced his
office and began a bitter denunciation of the neutrality of the United
States. I asked him whether he favoured the submarine warfare even if
it brought about a break with the United States.

"We wish to live in peace and friendship with America," he began, "but
undoubtedly there is bitter feeling here because American supplies and
ammunition enable our enemies to continue the war. If America should
succeed in forcing England to obey international law, restore freedom
of the seas and proceed with American energy against England's
brutalisation of neutrals, it would have a decisive influence on the
political situation between the two countries. If America does not do
this then we must do it with our submarines."

In October I was invited by the Foreign Office to go with a group of
correspondents to Essen, Cologne and the Rhine Valley Industrial
centres. In Essen I met Baron von Bodenhausen and other directors of
Krupps. In Dusseldorf at the Industrie Klub I dined with the steel
magnates of Germany and at Homburg-on-the-Rhine I saw August Thyssen,
one of the richest men in Germany and the man who owns one-tenth of
Germany's coal and iron fields. The most impressive thing about this
journey was what these men said about the necessity for unlimited
warfare. Every man I met was opposed to the Chancellor. They hated
him because he delayed mobilisation at the b