Consulate on the matter, I took upon
myself to issue the advertisement as from the German Ambassador.
It ran as follows:

"Travellers intending to embark for an Atlantic voyage are reminded
that a state of war exists between Germany and her Allies and Great
Britain and her Allies; that the zone of war includes the waters
adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with the formal
notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the
flag of Great Britain or any of her Allies are liable to destruction
in those waters; and that travellers sailing in the war zone in
ships of Great Britain or her Allies do so at their own risk."

"IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY, Washington.

"_April 22nd_, 1915."

This notice was intended to appear in the Press on April 24th and
the two following Saturdays. By one of those fatal coincidences
beloved of history, it happened that owing to technical difficulties
the _communique_ was not actually published until May 1st--the very
date on which the _Lusitania_ left New York harbor. This conjunction
was bound to appear intentional rather than fortuitous, and even
to-day the majority of Americans believe that I must have known
beforehand of the design to torpedo the _Lusitania_.

As the true facts of the matter are not yet clear, and were never
explained officially, I have no means of saying whether the destruction
of the _Lusitania_ was the result of a deliberate purpose on the
part of our naval authorities. To the best of my belief technical
factors render it impossible for a submarine commander to make any
one particular ship the object of his attack, so that the officer
responsible for the sinking of the _Lusitania_ could not have been
certain what vessel he had to deal with. In any case, whether the
action of our naval authorities was planned out beforehand or not,
we in America had no knowledge of any such plan; indeed, until it
actually occurred, I believed the destruction of the _Lusitania_
to be unthinkable, not merely for humanitarian reasons, but because
it was obviously sound policy to refrain as far as possible from
any attack on passenger ships. I did not at the time realize how
difficult it was for our naval forces to insure the safety of such
vessels without impairing the efficiency of the submarine blockade.
Again, I did not believe it possible to torpedo a rapidly-moving
ship like the _Lusitania_ if she were going at full speed; and,
finally, I suppose