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Show VdNBERHSTaRFF SIS FOR HOKE 1TIIJS SUITE Former Ambassador Expresses Ex-presses Appreciation for Wealth of Flowers Bestowed Be-stowed Upon Him. UOBOKKX. X. J., Feb. 13. Count' J. 11. von BrwnstoiT v, t'ormrr German am-ba.-sador to tho United States, siiildl for home to'iny nboanl the Scandinavian-American Scandinavian-American Liner Frdorik VIII. With him were the Countess von Bcrnstorff an-1 nearly COO German diplomatic and consular' officials. The departure, v. hu h completes the severance of diplo-mntic diplo-mntic relations between the United States and Germany, was accomplished quietly and was marred by no untoward inrident. Mefore tho steamer departed at 4 o'lock the former ambassador held a final conference v.-ith Minister liitter of Switzerland, who has charge of German jnlerests in this country. ( otint von Bernstorff, his wife and other members of his suite received several sev-eral waj;on loarls of flowers and bou-voyaffo bou-voyaffo fifts. The ambassador was so appreciative that he sent ashore a signed statement through Dudley Field Malone, collector of tho port of IScw York, in whifh he said: j ' 1 can not refrain from a last expression ex-pression to the American peop for the -wraith of flowers and gifts sent to the countess and myself, li is hard to tell of the good wiil sent us both. "No expression ex-pression of gratitude would be adequate tu speak an a ff citioiiate farewell."' Sailed Away in Tears. 't'li ere was mauy a German citizen ab oard the Frederik VILI, who sailed itwuv with tears in his eyes. The am-In: am-In: : sudor himself, deeply affected, rein, re-in, lined away from the rest of the party as mueh as he could in the exritement which usually precedes the sailing of a gnat orean liner. There, were others in the party who tried to do the same thing. Srene went immediately to their state-renins state-renins as soon as thev 'had boarded the sh;p early this morning ami remained' teere until sailing time. Others walked (V'f the dock for a final strollon Amer-i Amer-i 'n soil. As the ship moved away from her d'k and backed out into the channel, the New Jersey shores were dotted with prisons who had been waiting near by the better part of the day to see the liner depart. From the war-bound German liners lying close at hand signal pennants fluttered, flut-tered, spelling out 'their farewell. Hand-kerchiets Hand-kerchiets w'cre waved from the decks of 1he ship and those on shore saw Count pud Gonntss von Bcrnstorff emerge , from a door with Prince Hatzfefd, formerly counsellor of the embassy, and his wife. All four leaned far over the mil and waved at persons they knew standing on the dock. l ast View Taken. Several tugs blew shrill blasts with their whistles. The whistle of the Frederik Fred-erik VIII responded. Then the ship straightened out in the stream and headed-for the bay. accompanied by a police beat, which dropped behind as the Fredenk Fred-enk VTTT gathered speed. At 3:30 o'clock, an hour and a half afier leaving Hoboken, Count von Bern-storff Bern-storff had his last view of the shores of America when the Frederik VIII passed Sandyhook and swung into the Atlantic. Before he boarded the steamship. Count von Bcrnstorff expressed to a representative rep-resentative of the Associated Press his personal views on the new German submarine sub-marine operations, the possibility of the Fiiited States being drawn into the war. his readiness to retire from active life, and doubts he held about reaching Ger-many Ger-many in safety. Views on the War. Discussing the neutrality of the American Ameri-can people, he sai-'l. "Xaturaliy a person's syinpaihirs tire where he does business," an-1 defended Germany from the charge of being a violator of the rishts of humanity hu-manity or the principles of international ),w by ask inc. first, whether it was humane hu-mane for -: upland, by her blockade, to "try to starve out the non-combatant population German women and babes," and by calling attention to an American note uhi'-h declared the British blockade! to be Illegal and indefensible. I On the posii-ilit y of averting wnr. the i fot u r ainlii! ssador said he considered j that to be "''nndltion;.! upon Germany be- I hitr able to brio? the entente to its knees; before anything happen.-j to involve the fnited StHte.s-" Me was emphatic in de-'ictrins de-'ictrins thiit "the submarine campaign is bound to increase in intensity as ti:e wear her Keis warmer." JJrior to !iis arrivnl in Hoboken. Count von Bernstorff outlined on various occasions occa-sions to a rc-presenifitive of t tie Asso-i-i a: ed Press his personal views on the situation. "You ask me." 1 he said, "about my trip. Will I set home all ricrht? Well, you never can tell. Of course, we will eel through t lie British and French blockade and there should be no danger from our own submarines. "However, whether I get home really does not make much difference. I have had my fun; I have had my play at politics: poli-tics: 1 have enjoyed myself, and I am no longer as younr: as I once was. The only danger, so1 far as I can see, that, is a r inched to this trip is that we may strike a mine. Ready to Die. "Rut if we "do hit a mine and go down lam ready to go, too. After all. wha t i difference will, it mak? If it has to 1 come it will come, that's all. i "It is quite pro ha hie that my official , career is finished. I may retire for good1'!'1 f have been turned out by your govern-i mcnt for something over which I had no control and no blame attaches to me personally. Perhaps this is a good time to step down... However. I am German and my plans may be changed by the wish of my government." In regard to his views on the possibility of the United States entering the war, it should be explained that several times in the days immediately following t be severance of diplomatic relations he indicated in-dicated his belief that it was only a question of hours hefore some overt act would bring hostilities. As the days passed, however, and no overt act appeared to have been committed, com-mitted, the former ambassador became more and more optimistic, finally saying: say-ing: "Maybe it Is possihie that war may be averted. The president is represented in tiie newspapers as having made it clear that the next time he went to congress it would not be to ask for war. but in connection with protection of American shipping. What does that merrn? To mo personally that could mean but one tiling, namely, the convoying of ships." American Neutrality. And Count von Bernstorff does notJ?e-lieve notJ?e-lieve that ships convoyed would be subject sub-ject to attack, although he feels a great element of danger is attached to sugh a procedure. Turning to American neu-tnility. neu-tnility. be said: "You have shipped your goods to the allies because they had command of the seas. If the conditions had been reversed and the German navy instead of the British Brit-ish had that command, you wonM have shipped your goods to us. Naturally, any person's sympathies are where he does business. You can't blame h,im for that. "bet us consider humanity and International Interna-tional law. There has been a cry against Germany on the ground that we have violated the rights of the former and the principles of the latter. But it is 'a poor rule that does not work both ways. Is it not a viola tion of the rights' of humanity hu-manity for the British to try to starve out the non-comhatani population women wom-en and our Germa n babies? There is nothing human in that. "Are not the principles of international interna-tional law being violated every hour by the British ? Even your government, in a most excellent iote. has declared the British blockade of Germany to be illegal and indefensible. "I said maybe it was possible for war to be averted, didn't 1? Of course, you must understand that is conditional upon the ability of Germany to bring the entente to' its knees before anything happens to involve the United States. The submarine campaign is bound to increase in-crease in intensity as the weather gets warmer.'1 One Hope. The former ambassador was asked whether he thought the warning contained con-tained in the German note announcing the new submarine policy, which was directly di-rectly responsible for the seve ranee of diplomatic relations, would serve to keep Americans out of the danger zone. He replied hopefully: 'If'it only does, then even" thing win be all right.. If no Americans are killed there will be no war. I hope that war can be averted." To an .untoward Incident which occurred oc-curred as the ambassador stepped from the automobile to the pier the police attached at-tached little importance. A young man tried to approach the party and was seized by detectives, who hurried him to police headquarters. He said he was Alfred Al-fred Hopkins, 19 years of age, of New-York- City and had been given a letter by a man in that city, who instructed him to hand 'it to the ambassador. A letter was found on him, together with a horoscope and writings of astrology"and astronomy. The police took 'possession of these and telephoned for Hopkins's relatives to come to Hoboken. The prisoner pris-oner refused to tell the name of the man who had given him the letter. He said that his sole object in coming here was to deliver the letter. |