If it acquiesced, the way would be opened for placing under American registry all the German and Austrian ships that were then lying unoccupied in American ports and using them in trade between the United States and the Central Powers.

If Great Britain seized the _Dacia_, then there was the likelihood that this would embroil her with the American Government--and this would serve German purposes quite as well.
Sir Cecil Spring Rice, the British Ambassador at Washington, at once notified Washington that the _Dacia_ would be seized if she sailed for a German port.

The cotton which she intended to carry was at that time not contraband, but the vessel itself Was German and was thus subject to apprehension as enemy property.

The seriousness of this position was that technically the _Dacia_ was now an American ship, for an American citizen owned her, she carried an American crew, she bore on her flagstaff the American flag, and she had been admitted to American registry under a law recently passed by Congress.

How could the United States sit by quietly and permit this seizure to take place?
When the _Dacia_ sailed on January 23rd the excitement was keen; the voyage had obtained a vast amount of newspaper advertising, and the eyes of the world were fixed upon her.