fore, to see Mr. Lansing on December 8th, and obtained
from him this letter:

"As I have already stated, the demand for recall of the two Attaches
of your Embassy was made as a result of the careful investigation of
a number of facts and circumstances, which convinced this Government
that they could no longer consider these two officers as _personoe
gratoe_, and that their continued residence in the United States
was, therefore, no longer compatible with diplomatic propriety.
This being the considered and deliberate view of this Government,
it would seem that the mere fact of Captains von Papen and Boy-Ed
being no longer acceptable, should have been sufficient justification
for their immediate recall by the German Government without further
discussion. The expectations of the United States Government, in
this respect, were in accordance with all diplomatic precedent
in cases where such requests have been made, and there seemed to
be, therefore, no reason why this demand should have been kept a
secret. It is regretted that the Imperial Government should have
regarded the publication of the American request as an act of
discourtesy towards itself. The United States Government does not
share this view of its action, and, therefore, cannot be expected
to express its regret for having acted as it has done.

"This Government is surprised that the Imperial Government should
not have complied at once with its request for the recall of the
two Attaches, who are no longer _personoe gratoe_ here. It
seems to me obvious that whatever may have been the reasons for
such request, it is for this Government, and not for the German
Government, to say whether the charges alleged against the members
of a German diplomatic mission appear sufficiently well-founded to
justify action such as that now taken. In other words, the causes
of the demand are legitimate and sufficient, as being based on
suppositions or suspicions of undesirable activities on the part
of these two officers.

"In any case, the fact remains, that Boy-Ed and von Papen are no
longer acceptable to this Government.

"As I already apprised you by word of mouth, and in my letter of 4th
of this month, the relations of the two Attaches with individuals who
participated in illegal and questionable activities, are established.
The names of von Wedell, Rintelen, Stegler, Buroede, Archibald and
Fay may be mentioned as some of those who have transgressed against
our laws. I c