The sun., 1916-08-23
The Strange DllatOrlness Of Ger.
man Diplomacy.

III Tic iuteSt Illtc IpOOk ISSueu Ds
the Government ut Washington
number Of documents dealing with
the recall Of Captain Won PAPEN and
Captain BOy.ED are included. They
reveal n curious situation In the cap
ital between the date Of the original
notification by Secretary LANSING
that the attaches were no longer
persOn9 CRATE and compliance with
the request for the termination Of
their official status.
Secretary LANSING informed Am.
bassador BERNsToRrf orally on De.
cember 1. 1915. that BOY.ED and
VON PAPEN were no longer accept.
able to the United States as naval
and military attaches. On December
4 this Information was repeated. In
n formal letter, In which the circum.
stances Of the preceding conversation
were recalled. But BoY-ED and voS
PAPEN did not retire; they remained
ut their posts, presumably perform.
ing their official duties. for nearly n
week, or until December 10, when
Secretary LANSING again wrote to the
Ambassador. using this strong, II re-
strained. language:
AS ten days Rave passed without the
request Of this Government being COM
piled with and without communication
from YOU on the subject. other than your
personal letter Of the 9th inst. which in
no way affected the fact that the two
attaches were unacceptable or presented
a ground for delay. I feel compelled to
direct you attention to the expectation
Of this Government that Its request
would be Immediately granted.
Il trust. my dear Mr.. Ambassador.
thai you appreciate the situation and
will urge upon your Government a
prompt compliance with the request In
order that this Government may not be
compelled to take action without await
ing the recall Of the attaches. an action
which this Government does not desire
to take. but will be forced to take unless
the Imperial Government meets the cx-
press wish OF this Government without.
further delay. ] need not impress upon
your Exceliency the dcs!rability OF
avoiding a circumstance which would
increase the embarrassment Of the pres
ent situation"
On the day on which this letter
was sent. Ambassador BERNsToRrf
wrote to Secretary LANSING In an.
swer to the note of December 4:
81 have the honor to inform your Ex-
c~eilency that his Majesty the Emperor
and King has been most grac!ously
pleased to recall the naval attache OF
the Imperial Embassy. Captain Bor-Ep
PAPEN."
Ten days elapsed from the date of
the oral notification, six days passed
after the written notice was served
on the embassy. before his Majesty
the Emperor and King was most
g%racionsly pleased Ia recall his I'M
acceptable officers: and that recall
came only on the day on which the
Secretary Of State expressed the
hope that this Government would
not he compelled. by further delay.
TO take action without awaiting the
recall of the attaches" an action
which 'this Government did not de.
sire TO take. but would he forced to
take unless the Imperial Government
met the express wish Of this Govern
ment without further delay
The delay Of ten days Is made not.
able by the extraordinary status and
immunities enjoyed by the attaches.
That three notifications Of this t;oy.
ernment's desire with regard to them
should have been necessary to pro.
duce the response that one ought to
have brought Is amazing; and the
coincidence Of the two notes Of De.
cember 10 cannot escape attention.
Did the memory of Ir. DUMBA MI
the German Embassy from December
l until December 10?