Tirpitz in England

Admiral Von Tirpitz, long-whis-kered ex-chief of the great German Navy that accomplished so little during the World War, turned his mind to diplomacy. This is how he would have Cuno write to the British Government :

"We regret that the Government of His Britannic Majesty was disappointed in our offer of May 2. We undertook this offer at the suggestion of Lord Curzon, assuming that His Lordship, in making his suggestion, desired to be a benevolent mediator in our fight with France regarding her illegal invasion of the Ruhr. Since, however, from the English note of the 13th, the very opposite is apparent, no one need be surprised if our disillusionment is all the greater. Under the circumstances there is nothing for us to do but waive all further negotiations today."

Later he said: " If the English yet believe that negotiations are in their own interest, the foregoing rejection will not prevent them. We shall then, however, come with quite a different status to the conference table than if we had swallowed this humiliation. Come what may, in any event we shall not have furnished a legal basis for our annihilation but shall have saved our nerve and honor for the future."