tever. And I think I am justified in saying that twelve months
before the severance of diplomatic relations, I had made a clean
sweep of all "conspiracies" and extorted a promise that no more
"agents" should be sent over from Germany. On my arrival home,
I was held by some to have been at fault for not having put down
the movement earlier; to which my reply must be that as a matter
of fact it was the cases of Rintelen and Fay that first earned
us the reputation of "conspirators"; all the rest came to light
later, and were in great measure connected with their machinations.
I took steps, as soon as I heard of these two affairs, to avoid
any repetition of them, in which effort I was successful.

The following throws some light on the attitude of the United States
Government towards me in the matter of the "conspiracies." When
in November, 1915, the Press campaign had reached the height of
its violence, I forwarded a Note to Mr. Lansing, the Secretary
of State, protesting strongly against the unjustifiable attacks
aimed at myself and my colleagues of the Embassy and requesting
that some effort should be made to suppress them, as follows:

"Washington, Nov. 16, 1915.

"The continuance of the baseless attacks on myself and the colleagues
of my Embassy in the columns of the _Providence Journal_ impels
me to ask whether your Excellency cannot see your way to make it
clear that these attacks are not countenanced by the American
Government. Such slanders against the representatives of a friendly
Power who have a right to claim the protection and hospitality
of the United States authorities would be incomprehensible, were
it not a matter of common knowledge that the _Providence Journal_
is a 'hyphenated' Anglo-American paper. To borrow the phrase of
the United States President, this journal is obviously a greater
friend of other countries than its own.

"For the last fifteen months I and all my colleagues have had,
if I may say so, a whole army of American private detectives on
our track. Day and night they have pursued us in the service of
our enemies. Yet, although official German documents have been
stolen, no one has yet succeeded in producing a single proof of
illegal activities on the part of anyone of us.

"I should esteem it a great favor if your Excellency could see your
way to secure this Embassy against a repetition of these baseless
attacks, which have as their sole foundation the pre-supposition
of conspirac