The intimate papers of Colonel House arranged as a narrative by Charles Seymour.

370 INTIMATE PAPERS OF COLONEL HOUSE

ference yesterday, but Tyrrell developed in his conversation
to-day that Great Britain recognized that the submarine had
changed the status of maritime warfare and in the future
Great Britain would be better protected by such a policy
than she has been in the past by maintaining an overwhelming navy.' 4
The conversations were significant, for this is the germ of
the idea soon to be developed by House, which he later termed
the 'Freedom of the Seas.' As Grey and Tyrrell realized, the
practical application of the idea would be of immense value
to Great Britain, an island depending for its life upon the
continuity of its merchant trade. But House saw that the
Germans, blockaded as they were and also largely dependent
upon overseas trade, would be attracted by it. It might
serve as the beginning of negotiations.
The fact which must touch the sense of humor of the
historian is that the 'Freedom of the Seas,' later so bitterly
opposed by the British and regarded generally as a German
trick, was first suggested by the British Foreign Office as a
means of furthering British interests.
III
On February 12, House received the invitation from the
Germans for which he had been waiting. It was not entirely
satisfactory, for Zimmermann demurred at the suggestion
of an indemnity for Belgium, but it gave the opening if the
Colonel thought best to use it.
Herr Zimmermann to Colonel House
BERLIN, February 4, 1915
MY DEAR COLONEL:... I read with interest what you were good enough to
write with reference to the desired interchange of opinion.
1 Grey had already advocated this policy in his instructions to the
British Delegation to the Second Hague Conference, 1907.