Enclosure.

It may be presumed with some semblance of truth that the peace wave in America is progressing, and that President Wilson, influenced thereby, may perhaps be able at any rate to postpone a decision of a warlike nature.  Even though I may be wrong in my presumption, it lies in our interests to avoid for as long as possible the rupture of our diplomatic relations with America.

Therefore the answer to the American aide-memoire, to be dispatched as late as possible, should be so composed as to give it the appearance of a meritorious handling of the theme put forward on the American side without falling into the trap of the question put forward in the aide-memoire.

  If we answer yes, then President Wilson will hardly be able to
  avoid a breach with the Monarchy.  If we give a negative answer we
  shall abandon Germany and the standpoint we took up on January 31.

The handle wherewith to grasp evasion of a clear answer is provided by the aide-memoire itself, as it identifies our statements in the Ancona and Persia question with the attitude of the German Note of May 4, 1916.  We should, therefore, be quite consistent if we, as we did in our Note of December 14, 1915, were to declare that we should be governed by our own ideas of justice.

In our correspondence with the American Government respecting the Ancona, Persia and Petrolite questions we treated the concrete case always without going deeper into the individual principles of legal questions.  In our Note of December 29, 1915, which contains the expression of opinion cited in the aide-memoire (it may also be noted that our expression of opinion was no pledge, as we had promised nothing nor taken any obligation upon ourselves), the Austrian Government distinctly stated that they would refer later to the difficult international questions connected with the U-boat warfare.

Present war conditions did not appear suited to such a discussion.  In consequence, however, of the dealings of our enemies, events have occurred and a state of things been brought about which, on our side also, renders a more intense application of the U-boat question unavoidable.  Our merchantmen in the Adriatic, whenever attainable, were constantly torpedoed without warning by the enemy.  Our adversaries have thus adopted the standard of the most aggravated and unrestricted U-boat warfare without the neutrals offering any resistance.

  The Entente when laying their minefields displayed the same
  ruthlessness towards free shipping and the lives of neutrals.