After conferring with Stovall[111], Page[112], and Willard[113], I shall return to Paris and then to London to discuss with Sir Edward a phase of the situation which promises results.
I did not think of it until to-day and have mentioned it to both the Chancellor and Zimmermann, who have received it cordially, and who join me in the belief that it may be the first thread to bridge the chasm.
I am writing hastily, for the pouch is waiting to be closed.
Faithfully yours, E.M.

HOUSE.
The "freedom of the seas" was merely a proposal to make all merchant shipping, enemy and neutral, free from attack in time of war.

It would automatically have ended all blockades and all interference with commerce.

Germany would have been at liberty to send all her merchant ships to sea for undisturbed trade with all parts of the world in war time as in peace, and, in future, navies would be used simply for fighting.

Offensively, their purpose would be to bombard enemy fortifications, to meet enemy ships in battle, and to convoy ships which were transporting troops for the invasion of enemy soil; defensively, their usefulness would consist in protecting the homeland from such attacks and such invasions.