ruction without warning, mainly in the Mediterranean.
This activity lent weight to a fear that the kaiser and Von
Bethmann-Hollweg were yielding to the pressure exercised by the Von
Tirpitz party. Germany regarded her submarines as her chief weapons
for damaging the Allies; but she was embarrassed by the problem of how
to operate them without clashing with American interests. Her policy
at length shaped itself to a careful discrimination in raiding
Atlantic traffic and avoiding attacks on liners altogether.

The leader of the German National Liberals, Dr. Ernest Bassermann,
echoed the Von Tirpitz cry, in an address to his constituents at
Saarbruecken. The most ruthless employment of all weapons, he urged,
was imperative. Besides Von Tirpitz, High Admiral Koester, Count
Zeppelin, and Prince von Buelow shared this view. He told the world,
which he was really addressing, that the submarine campaign had not
been abandoned, but only suspended solely on account of the American
protest. It was not clear that there had really been any cessation of
submarine activity, though some abatement had undoubtedly followed the
undertaking with the United States.

The manifest unrest in Germany provoked by the curb placed upon her
submarines by President Wilson caused the eyes of Washington to be fixed
anxiously on the uncertain situation. It was solely a psychological and
mental condition, but of a character that seemed premonitory of an
outbreak on Germany's part. Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, in a cryptic
remark to the Reichstag on September 28, 1916, succeeded in aggravating
American concern, though he may not have so intended. "A German
statesman," he said, "who would hesitate to use against Britain every
available instrument of battle that would really shorten this war should
be hanged."

There was no obvious reference to the United States in this utterance;
but the German press seized upon it as a pretext for an attack on
American neutrality. The connection was provided by the coincidental
death of an American aviator named Rockwell, who, with a number of
compatriots, had served the Allies on the French front. The point made
was that the active part American airmen were taking in the ranks of
the Allies, combined with the enormous supply of war materials
furnished by American firms, indicated the futility of abiding by
concessions made to the United States controlling the submarine war.
The United States was charged with taking adva