Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

The American steamer Nebraskan, Captain Greene, from Liverpool May 24 for Delaware Breakwater, was torpedoed yesterday evening by a submarine at a point forty miles west-southwest of Fastnet, off the south coast of Ireland. [Captain Greene's report, given below, says the Nebraskan was "struck by either mine or torpedo."]

The sea was calm at the time. The crew at once took to the boats and stood by the steamer. It was soon ascertained that the Nebraskan was not seriously damaged, but she had been struck forward, and her foreholds were full of water.

The crew returned on board and got the vessel under way. No lives were lost among the crew. The Nebraskan did not carry any passengers.

This information was received at the British Admiralty in London, and it was at once communicated to the American Embassy.

Immediately she was struck the Nebraskan began calling for help by wireless. Brow Head received the wireless communication at 9 P.M. yesterday from Crookhaven.

A message to Lloyd's from Kinsale, Ireland, says that the Nebraskan passed that point at 11 o'clock this morning. She was down at the bows, but was proceeding under her own steam, and flying the signal: "I am not under control."

The vessel passed Queenstown in the afternoon on the way to Liverpool. She was proceeding at eight knots.

A message to The Star from Liverpool says that the name and nationality of the Nebraskan were painted in large letters on her sides. She was in water ballast.

A message to Lloyd's says that an armed trawler went to the assistance of the Nebraskan and stood by her all night.

The report that the Nebraskan had been torpedoed caused surprise to American officials here. Apparently the affair occurred before 9 o'clock last night.

Last evening was clear, and the period between 8 and 9 o'clock is the twilight hour in the British islands at this season.

The German submarine campaign is continuing actively. Dispatches from Norway state that the people of that country have been aroused by the sinking last week of the Norwegian steamer Minerva and the attempt to torpedo the Iris, which went to her assistance.

The steamer Cromer, loaded with passengers, had a narrow escape from being torpedoed while bound for Rotterdam yesterday. A submarine fired a torpedo without warning. It missed the ship by only fifteen yards. According to the Captain's story, told to Rotterdam correspondents, the periscope was seen 500 yards distant, and then the wash of the torpedo, which was moving so rapidly that nothing could be done to avoid it. The attack occurred at a point four miles north of North Hinder Lightship.

_The first news of the Nebraskan having been disabled off the southwest coast of Ireland was received on May 26, at the office of the American-Hawaiian Line in a message from the Captain, which read:_

Struck by either mine or torpedo, forty-eight miles west of Fastnet. Am steaming under convoy to Liverpool. Water in lower hold. No one injured.

GREENE.

_Three dispatches concerning the Nebraskan incident were received at the State Department at Washington on May 26--one from Walter H. Page, the American Ambassador in London, and two from Robert P. Skinner, the United States Consul General in London. The dispatch from the Ambassador said:_

Urgent. Report at midnight last night to British Admiralty from Lands End states that American steamer Nebraskan torpedoed forty-five miles south by west of Southcliffe, crew taking to boats. British trawler standing by now reports Nebraskan still afloat and making for Liverpool with four holds full of water. No lives reported lost.

_The first dispatch from Consul General Skinner was as follows:_

Admiralty reports American steamer Nebraskan, Liverpool for Delaware Breakwater, torpedoed forty miles south by west of Fastnet. Crew in boats. Standing by. Weather fine.

_The following cablegram came from the Consul General:_

Nebraskan proceeding to Liverpool under own steam about 8-1/2 knots, crew having returned on board. Apparently no lives lost. Extent of damage unknown.

_In an Associated Press dispatch from Crookhaven, Ireland, on May 26, this report appeared:_

It was learned today that a submarine was seen last night off the southern coast of Ireland. She was sighted soon after 9 P.M., near Barley Cove, which is about ten miles from Fastnet. The mishap to the steamer Nebraskan is reported to have occurred shortly before 9 o'clock, about forty miles from Fastnet.

A steamer was seen outside Crookhaven, which lies just north of Barley Cove, at about 9 o'clock last night. As she approached in the direction of Fastnet Lighthouse two loud reports of a gun were heard. A boat in Crookhaven Harbor went in the direction of the steamer which put about and was lost to sight.

Several residents of Crookhaven turned out and went along the shore, keeping a sharp lookout. They sighted a submarine off Cove, near the mouth of a little creek. One of the men on shore fired two shots with a rifle at the man in the conning tower of the submarine. The submarine dived immediately, but soon rose again further out. Three more shots were fired at her and she again disappeared.

_The detailed report on the Nebraskan incident by Lieutenant Towers of the American Embassy in London, as submitted by Ambassador Gerard to the State Department, is thus described in a Washington dispatch to THE NEW YORK TIMES of June 16, 1915:_

Evidence indicating that the American steamer Nebraskan was torpedoed by a German submarine on May 25, was obtained by the State Department today when it received a long mail report from Ambassador Page at London containing the results of the investigation conducted by the American Consul General at Liverpool upon the arrival of the Nebraskan at that port.

Ambassador Page's mail report contained the detailed report made by Lieutenant John H. Towers, Naval Attaché of the American Embassy at London, who made a technical and expert examination of the Nebraskan in drydock at Liverpool. Lieutenant Towers's report contained a number of photographs of the shattered fore section of the hull of the Nebraskan, but the most interesting feature of the report consisted of exhibits in the form of what Secretary Lansing described as "fragments of metal."

While officials would not make known the character of these fragments or the details of the report until they had opportunity to carefully examine the data, it was learned tonight that the report indicated that the Nebraskan was torpedoed, and that the fragments sent with the report consisted of portions of the shell of a torpedo, which were found in the hull of the Nebraskan.

The report also contained the depositions of three of the officers of the Nebraskan, taken by the Consul at Liverpool, including the statement of the Captain and the Chief Engineer. The latter stated that at 8:24 o'clock on the night of May 25, after the flag of the Nebraskan had been hauled down, he observed a white streak in the water perpendicular to the ship on the starboard side and a severe shock was almost instantly felt, followed by a violent explosion abreast of No. 1 hold.

The report of Lieutenant Towers showed that the hatch covers of No. 1 hold were blown off, also the cargo booms above it, and that the bottom plating and pieces of the side of the ship were blown up through two decks of the ship.

THE "FRAGMENTS OF METAL"

_The following appeared as a special dispatch from Washington to_ THE NEW YORK TIMES, _dated June 17:_

Despite the extreme secrecy of officials, indications were abundant in Washington tonight that the case of the American steamer Nebraskan, believed to have been torpedoed by a German submarine, was assuming great importance in the eyes of the United States Government. One evidence of this is found in the unusual pains that are being taken to determine by indisputable evidence whether the Nebraskan, which was damaged by an external explosion off Fastnet Rock, on May 25, was the victim of a torpedo or a mine.

Despite the reports forwarded by Ambassador Page, the Administration is unwilling to base its conclusions in the Nebraskan case on the verbal evidence it already possesses. It has determined upon an independent expert, technical, and scientific examination of the "fragments of metal" that have been sent by Ambassador Page, in conjunction with the photographs that have been received. This investigation is being conducted by experts of the Navy Department, and will probably take about ten days. Robert Lansing, the Secretary of State ad interim, refused tonight to discuss the "fragments of metal" received from Ambassador Page in connection with the Nebraskan case further than to say that the reports received yesterday, with the photographs and accompanying exhibits, had been referred to the Navy Department. Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, said tonight that the report had been referred to experts of the Navy Department for a confidential report to be submitted to the State Department.

Neither at the State Department nor from any official or officer of the Navy Department was it possible to obtain any further clue as to the character of the reports.

It was learned that the reports accompanying the set of photographs and "fragments of metal" were not the original reports on the Nebraskan case, made by Lieutenants Towers and McBride, which were received by the State Department last week, but were in the nature of a second set of supplementary reports, based on actual examination of the battered bow of the Nebraskan and the technical examination of the interior of her forward compartment. This examination was made by Lieutenants Towers and McBride, while the Nebraskan was in a drydock at Liverpool. Photographs of the interior and exterior of the steamer's hull were taken by the naval experts.

The "fragments" in question will be analyzed metallurgically for the purpose of ascertaining precisely what metal they contain. Generally speaking, torpedoes are made of a higher grade of metal, within and without, than that used in the construction of mines. The exterior metal of torpedoes consists of nickel steel and copper, and the interior mechanism includes the same kinds of metal and brass. The exterior shell of a mine is generally made of less expensive material, such as galvanized iron, but the interior mechanism and clock-work are of finer metal.

In the examination being conducted by the Navy Department the metallurgical nature of the fragments will be ascertained after their size, shape, contour and character have been very carefully studied by a large number of naval experts who will endeavor to ascertain not only the character of the naval engine of destruction these fragments once fitted, but also the particular portion of torpedo or mine the fragments constituted. These studies and tests are to be conducted partly in the Navy Department, partly at the Washington Navy Yard, partly at the naval proving grounds at Indian Head, Md., and partly at the experimental station at the Naval Academy at Annapolis.

All the naval experts in Washington qualified to have a hand in the tests will be utilized. There are some naval experts outside of Washington, within a few days' reach of the city, who will be summoned here to participate in the examination. It is understood the examination will continue about ten days before any report can be formulated for submission to the State Department.

While this unusual care is being exercised in the tests of the fragments, it is understood that there is nothing in the conclusions thus far drawn in the reports to indicate that the fragments were once part of a mine, and that the reports as they stand indicate that the Nebraskan was hit by a torpedo. This is the conclusion the Administration is expected to draw from the evidence unless the technical examination of the fragments nullifies this evidence.

Dr. Meyer-Gerhard's Mission

_In a cable dispatch from Berlin, via London, dated June 2, 1915, the following complaint of lack of official news from Washington and of means for obtaining it was made known by the German Government:_

The German Foreign Office is unable to communicate with Count von Bernstorff, the Ambassador at Washington, except by wireless in plain language, and even this mode of communication is uncertain during periods when the static conditions of the atmosphere are unfavorable.

Reports which reach the newspapers are regarded with suspicion, not only because they come exclusively through British channels, but on account of their contradictory character.

One set of reports intimates that the German counter-proposals have been found to harmonize with Mr. Bryan's plan of providing for a period of investigation in cases of international conflict, while other advices reproduce various American editorials, declaring that the German note is utterly unacceptable, and demanding that steps of varying degrees of aggressiveness be taken.

While waiting, the time is being utilized by some of the more aggressive German newspapers and writers of the type of Reventlow to launch abusive articles against the United States and President Wilson's policy, but the press and public generally seem desirous of avoiding anything which might increase the tension between the two Governments while the German note is under consideration. In this they are acting in complete accord with the Foreign Office, which apparently is sincerely anxious to preserve friendly relations with the United States and deprecates any publication which would tend to inflame the feelings either in Germany or America.

There seems to be no doubt that the Foreign Office would rejoice at a solution consistent with German interests, and it is considered here that one of the unfortunate features of the situation is the inability of the Foreign Office to cope with the chronic firebrands of the press.

_This complaint was followed by the news, published by The Chicago Herald on June 4, that a special arrangement had been effected by Ambassador Bernstorff in his conference with President Wilson on June 2, as follows:_

With the approval of the President of the United States, Count von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador in Washington, has sent a special agent to Berlin to discuss the American view of the Lusitania tragedy with the German Government.

The agent is Dr. Anton Meyer-Gerhard. He sailed today for Denmark. It is not believed that his voyage will be interfered with. Mr. Gerhard's connection with the great question between the United States and Germany has been guarded with the utmost secrecy. It leaked out only when inquiries were made regarding his departure in such a hurry. Mr. Gerhard himself could not be seen.

The suggestion that Mr. Gerhard go to Berlin was made by Count von Bernstorff to the President at the White House conference on Wednesday. The Ambassador described to the President the difficulties he experienced in transmitting information to his Government. He cannot use the cables, which are in the possession of the Allies. So far as wireless is concerned, conditions make it almost impossible to send anything but the briefest dispatches. As a result, Germany is not well informed in regard to the reasons controlling the policy of the Administration or the state of public sentiment. If his Government were adequately informed the Ambassador is confident that it would look at the demands of the United States in a different fashion.

The President apparently appreciated the view presented by the Ambassador. In any event, he authorized him to send an agent to Berlin, and it is presumed that thereupon he was apprised of the identity of the man selected. Count von Bernstorff vouched for Mr. Gerhard as thoroughly informed on the entire diplomatic situation as well as upon the condition of public sentiment. In addition, he is carrying full explanatory reports from the Ambassador himself.

[Dr. Meyer-Gerhard arrived in Berlin via Copenhagen on June 16 and reported at the German Colonial Office. While en route The Providence Journal and The New York Tribune published stories, varying in detail, to the effect that the United States Government had been hoaxed into obtaining safe conduct into Germany for a Dr. Alfred Meyer, reported to be a German buyer of munitions of war in this country, either under the name of Dr. Anton Meyer-Gerhard, falsely given, or under Meyer-Gerhard's protection. On receiving assurances to the contrary from Count von Bernstorff, Secretary Lansing announced on June 18 that the charge was false.]

Germany's Press Opinion

_Editorial comment of the German newspapers on President Wilson's note of June 9 was reported by_ THE TIMES _staff correspondent in Berlin on June 12 as being "surprisingly restrained and optimistic." Captain L. Persius, the naval critic of the Berliner Tageblatt, which is close to Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, writing under the caption, "On the Way to an Understanding," said:_

An agreement is possible and the Washington Government shows an honest desire to arrive at an agreement. This is characteristic of the American note. There is no evidence of rattling the sabre, as those who viewed American statesmen and American conditions rightly anticipated. The hopes of our enemies who have already rejoiced at the thought that the Stars and Stripes soon would be floating beside the union jack and the tricolor are proved false, and one can anticipate that the answer of our Government will put aside that last stumbling block to doing away with all differences. The note indicates that America by no means takes the position that the German Admiralty must issue an order to end the submarine warfare before any negotiations can be entered upon. Giving up submarine warfare is only hinted at by implication. Germany's humanity is appealed to entirely in general terms and merely the expectation is expressed that the lives of American citizens and their property will be spared in the future.

A willingness is expressed to help make England give up the plan to starve out Germany. The giving up of the attempt to starve Germany out on the part of England is the most important point for us. The main interest will centre in future upon it. Will England declare herself ready to return to the basis of the London Declaration? Will she no longer place any difficulties in the way of neutral commerce, and in particular will she remove the declaration of the North Sea as a war zone? We will wait and see if the English statesmen have learned that Germany can't be starved. We can await Great Britain's decision with quietness.

_The evening edition of the Vossische Zeitung said:_

President Wilson's note creates no new situation between Germany and America, but its honorable and carefully weighed tone will help to clear up the existing situation. There can be no difference of opinion about Mr. Wilson's final aim--that the lives of peaceful neutrals must be kept out of danger. What we can do and what America must do to achieve this will require negotiations between us and America, which must be conducted with every effort toward being just and by maintaining our standpoint in the friendliest spirit.

_The Lokalanzeiger commented:_

The colored reports spread by our enemies are not borne out by the text, which contains no trace of an ultimatum. The tone is friendly and free from all brusqueness. The contents are only a rewriting of the earlier standpoint, and it will be a matter for further negotiations to state again the arguments advanced by Germany and to justify them. It would be premature to comment on individual points, particularly those of a technical nature. One can rejoice, however, that the Wilson note is so couched as not to preclude a possibility for further negotiations promising success.

He gives the German Government an opportunity to send further proofs in the Lusitania case and declares his willingness to negotiate between Germany and England relative to mutual concessions having a bearing on submarine warfare. This offer, to be sure, would have been decidedly more valuable if he had expressed a willingness to take the initiative. But be that as it may, in the further negotiations America will see that on the German side exists an honorable desire to deal with friendly suggestions in a friendly spirit. In any event, the situation resulting from the American note is such that it is apparent that in the statement trumpeted abroad that America had also entered the ranks of our enemies the wish was father to the thought.

_The widely read Mittag Zeitung said of the note:_

The alarming messages which the Reuter Bureau appended to the Bryan resignation must be all taken back today. There is neither an ultimatum nor any threatening language toward Germany in the note. To be sure, the difference between America's and Germany's conception of the submarine warfare remain. The Americans for the present simply will not see that the best protection against endangering the lives of American citizens is for Americans not to go aboard English ships.

Over the question of whether the Lusitania carried ammunition or not, which for us is not in question, the present inquiry will throw some light. In any case, the English hope and prophecy that the new note would mean a rupture in the German-American negotiations have not been fulfilled. For everything else we can wait with calmness.

_The morning edition of the Vossische Zeitung, commenting on the summary, merely said:_

The contents and tone of this note make it inexplainable that the break between Wilson and Bryan was on its account. After Bryan's declarations we had expected a note which might conjure up danger of a German-American war. Mr. Bryan, who heads all the American peace associations and likes to hear himself popularly referred to as the Prince of Peace, apparently wants to appear as the savior from this danger for reasons of internal politics, so as to win peace friends among the German-Americans, Irish, and Jews with a view to the Democratic Presidential nomination. Mr. Wilson, on the other hand, hopes as negotiator between England and Germany to play the rôle of arbiter mundi and through a great success in foreign politics assure his position at home. The new Secretary, Mr. Lansing, has been long considered a coming man. He has by no means been considered an out-and-out friend of England.

_The Morgen Post, in a particularly sane two-column editorial, expresses Germany's genuine satisfaction over America's hearty offer of good offices, and says:_

There is no tinge of threat or high-handed tone toward Germany in the note. On the contrary, its tone is quiet though earnest throughout, and in several places it strikes a note of whole-hearted friendship and seeks to leave a way open for further friendly negotiations. No doubt the German Government will accept America's proffered good offices with pleasure. It will be interesting to see what attitude the English will now take. If they will revise the contraband list set up by themselves and desist from making difficulties for neutral commerce with Germany, and, above all, let foodstuffs and textile raw materials through unhindered to Germany, then so far as we are concerned the submarine warfare can cease.

Let the English continue to violate international law whereby they forced us to resort to the use of the submarine as a weapon against their commerce, and we will never allow ourselves to be persuaded to give up this weapon, the only one we have to protect us against violation at the hands of England and with which we can punish England for her unlawful conduct. Should America's good offices prove to be in vain it will be not ours but England's fault, and the Americans will then readily understand that the reproach of an inhuman mode of warfare must be laid at the doors of England and not Germany.

It will soon be seen whether President Wilson employs the same measure of energy against the English as against us. We sincerely hope so because of the friendly, hearty tone of his note. "The American Government cannot admit that the proclamation of a war zone may be made to abbreviate the rights of American citizens?" Really not? We recall that at the beginning of the war England declared the whole North Sea as a war zone and the Americans did not get excited at that time. We had a right to protest bitterly at America's attitude then, but we will forget about it at the present moment. America has proffered her good offices, and we will not doubt that her intentions are honorable and meant in good faith.

_Paul Michaelis, in the Tageblatt, said:_

It is certain that the note does not simplify the serious situation, and it is equally certain that it does not completely bar the way to a peaceful and friendly understanding. The American Government holds fast to the principle that submarine warfare on merchantmen is inconsistent with the principles of justice and humanity, but the German Government has never left the slightest doubt that it only decided on the submarine warfare because the English method of scorning all previous rules of naval warfare forced Germany to a counter-war on commerce with the submarine.

But there seems to be no reason why the German and American Governments should not get together in a joint discussion looking toward some other form of naval warfare. This presupposes that England, which took the first step in the commerce war, also takes the first step to end it. At the same time the question must be investigated of how ammunition shipments to our enemies can be reconciled with the eternal principles of humanity featured by the American note.

While there may be some practical difficulties, there can be no doubt of Germany's willingness to help to bring about a modification of the naval war along more humane lines. The answer to the American note must, of course, take most carefully into account all the diplomatic, political, and military exigencies, and it will be several weeks before it is ready to be handed to the American Ambassador, especially as we must wait to hear Dr. Meyer-Gerhard.

But it must be said now that the German people, now, as formerly, lay great value on a continuation of unclouded relations with the United States, whose war for freedom it once greeted with rejoicing, and within whose borders millions of Germans have found a new home.

_Count Reventlow, Germany's "enfant terrible" who has been a consistent thorn in the flesh of the German Foreign Office because of his anti-American utterances, struck a surprisingly restrained and moderate tone in the Tageszeitung:_

The question is not how it may be possible to do away with all differences of opinion under all circumstances, but whether it is at all possible to do away with them without rendering the submarine war impotent. This standpoint contains nothing unfriendly, nothing brusque against the United States. The practical question remains whether we can preserve our German standpoint and still come to an understanding with America. If Mr. Wilson holds to his non-recognition of the war zone, with all its corollaries, then we cannot see how we can possibly come to a real understanding.

On the other hand, the question arises whether President Wilson would continue to cling to that standpoint if certain modifications and mutual guarantees could be brought about which under certain circumstances would render American passenger traffic safe.

_A newspaper war between advocates of a friendly settlement and the "no compromise" representatives soon began to rage. Naval writers in particular urged that Germany could not afford to yield an iota regarding the principles and practice of submarine warfare, but the very violence of their attacks upon the advocates of an understanding indicates that the latter are not without influence._

_The Cologne Gazette points out editorially that the German press in general has shown satisfaction that President Wilson's communication offers opportunity for an understanding, and expresses the belief that diplomacy on both sides of the Atlantic will work with zeal and good-will to this end. It adds:_

It is quite certain the German Government, at least, will do this, and will be generally supported therein by the people. It would be pure imbecility to seek to drag in without necessity a ninth or tenth enemy for ourselves, even though its participation in the war should be limited to supplying the Quadruple Alliance with money and munitions. We say without necessity; for recognition of the fact that Germany is acting in self-defense in using the torpedoes of its submarines against hostile merchantmen so long as England maintains its business blockade against us should, we believe, be a condition which the United States should recognize as preliminary to negotiations.

_In a leading article entitled "Bad Advice" the Cologne Gazette takes the Lokalanzeiger to task for attempting to palliate the British "starving-out policy" and exportations from America of war supplies. Conceding that the cutting off of supplies is an accepted method of warfare, it states that international law provides expressly that this weapon may be used only in the form of an effective blockade. It holds that no effective blockade of the German coasts has been declared, however, and that Germany therefore is deprived of the possibility of taking action against blockading ships._

_Regarding the exportation of munitions from the United States, the Gazette adopts the argument of Philip Zorn, German member of The Hague Tribunals, that, although the convention adopted at The Hague justifies sales by private firms, a neutral State is bound to prohibit sales of this nature when the commerce in arms assumes such magnitude that continuation of war is directly dependent thereon. He says:_

"That the German representatives [at The Hague] voted in favor of permission to deliver arms is incontestable," the article continues, "but there is a great difference between stamping every sale of arms by a private firm in a neutral State as a violation of international law--this was what the German representatives objected to--and arguing that to supply enormous quantities to one group of belligerents alone, and to devote practically the entire available industry of a country thereto, is consonant with the spirit of true neutrality."

_Captain von Kuehlwetter, the naval expert of the Tag, points out that the American note passes over in silence the German representations regarding the British Admiralty's instructions to merchantmen to seek cover under neutral flags and to attack submarines under this cover. He declares this is the kernel of the whole argument and the justification for the German policy. He adds:_

If a submarine attacks such a ship there is an outcry about barbarians who violate international law and endanger innocent neutral passengers, but if a ship attacks a submarine then it is a brave act of a daring shipper, to whom is given a commission, a gold watch, and a diploma.

Press Opinion of the Allies

BRITISH COMMENT.

_A.G. Gardiner, editor of The London Daily News, writing in that paper on June 12, says the rupture between President Wilson and Mr. Bryan is one of the great landmarks of the war. He goes on:_

Whatever other significance the event may have, it is conclusive evidence of the failure of German diplomacy in America. The Kaiser has made many miscalculations about nations and about men, but no greater miscalculation than that which he has made in regard to President Wilson and the United States.

He is not alone in that. There has been a good deal of ignorance on the same subject in this country. In the early stages of the war there was a mischievous clamor against the United States in a section of the press, which has never quite got rid of the idea that America is only a rather rebellious member of our own household, to be patronized when it does what we want and lectured like a disobedient child when it does not.

President Wilson has assumed in these ill-informed quarters to be a timid academic person, so different from that magnificent tub thumper, Roosevelt, who would have been at war with Mexico in a trice, and would, it was believed, have plunged into the European struggle with or without an excuse.

If there was misunderstanding here on this subject, we cannot be surprised that the Kaiser blundered so badly. He, too, believed in the schoolmaster view of Woodrow Wilson. A man who had refused such a golden opportunity of annexing Mexico must be a timid, invertebrate person, who had only to be bullied in order to do what he was told. Moreover, was there not a great German population to serve as a whip for the Presidential blank and see that he did not send the polite, the gracious, the supple Prince von Bülow to Washington?

That courtly gentleman was dispatched to Italy to charm the Italian Nation into quiescence. For the Americans he needed another style of diplomacy, and he sent thither the stout and rather stupid Dernburg to let President Wilson and the Americans know that Germany was a very rough customer and would stand no nonsense from anybody.

It was a fatal blunder, the blunder of a people who had been so blinded by materialism that they do not seem to have so much as the consciousness that there is such a thing as moral strength on earth. No one who had followed with intelligent understanding the career of President Wilson could have doubted that he had to deal with a man of iron, a man with a moral passion as fervid as that of his colleague Bryan, but with that passion informed by wide knowledge and controlled by a masterful will, a quiet, still man, who does not live with his ear to the ground and his eye on the weathercock, who refuses to buy popularity by infinite hand-shaking and robustous speech, but comes out to action from a sanctuary of his own thoughts, where principle and not expediency is his counselor.

It is because no man in a conspicuous position of the democratic world today is so entirely governed by principle and by moral sanctions that President Wilson is not merely the first citizen of the United States, but the first citizen of the world.

_The Daily Chronicle says:_

President Wilson's note gives Germany every opportunity of saving her face if she desires to do so. Not only is it phrased in the most friendly terms, but it invites a submission of further evidence regarding the Lusitania's alleged guns and even the resumption of negotiations with Great Britain through American intermediacy. Here are the vistas of a negotiation which might keep the diplomatists of Berlin and Washington happily employed till the war is over; only the President insists once more that the submarine outrages must stop while the negotiations are in progress. It is this last point, firmly submitted at the end of the note, which gives significance to the whole. Obviously, without it the note would be nothing but an abdication on the part of the United States, and it is because it is not that Mr. Bryan disapproves it.

We do not question the sincerity of Mr. Bryan's attachment to the cause of arbitration; but it is strange that he does not see what a disservice he does to arbitration by accepting and preaching a travesty of it. When there is litigation between individuals over an alleged wrong, the first condition is that the wrong shall stop for the interim--a result effected through an interim injunction between nations. There is no judge to grant such an injunction. It has to be obtained by mutual consent unless it is obtained by arbitration. It simply means a license to the wrongdoer to continue his wrongdoing for as long as he can make the arbitration last, which, where the time is important, will be all that he wants. To accept such a doctrine, as Mr. Bryan apparently does, is simply to put a premium on the wrongdoing and a very heavy discount on arbitration.

_The Morning Post comments as follows:_

Mr. Bryan resigned, according to his own explanation, because he thought President Wilson's note to Germany would endanger the cause of peace. It might, therefore, have been supposed that the American note was to be a departure from the previous American policy; but now that President Wilson's note is published we are puzzled to find the reason for Mr. Bryan's action. The note contains nothing new; it merely affirms in a friendly manner the position taken up by the United States--a position founded upon the generally accepted principles of international law. It testates the claim which America has always made, that a belligerent has no right to sink a presumably innocent merchantman and endanger the lives of its crew and passengers, but must first determine the character of its cargo and establish its contraband nature and must secure the safety of the people on board. This is obviously a stand in the cause of humanity. We might call it the irreducible minimum of the rights of neutrals; for it is clear that, if a Government allows its subjects to be slain in cold blood and its ships to be destroyed, it abandons the primary function of a Government.

_The Daily Mail says:_

The first impression made upon most readers of the new American note to Germany will be, we suspect, that it is extremely polite and quite harmless. They will ask in wonder what Mr. Bryan could have found in it sufficiently menacing to call for his resignation. To many people it will seem that Mr. Bryan altogether misjudged the effect of the American reply. They will find it difficult to believe that any diplomatic dispatch could in the circumstances be more courteous or more restrained. It observes all the forms of international politeness, with, if anything, almost exaggerated punctiliousness.

Yet it is possible that Mr. Bryan is as nearly right as he ever is. The vital passages in the note are those in which the United States Government "very earnestly and very solemnly renews the representations of its note" of May 15, and again asks for assurances that American lives and American ships shall not be endangered on the high seas. In other words, the United States still presses for an official disavowal of the acts of German submarine commanders, still demands reparation for the American lives lost in the Lusitania, and still calls for a promise that no similar outrage will be perpetrated in future.

_The Daily Telegraph says:_

The note presented to Germany on behalf of the United States Government is a firm and courteous document--the courtesy at least as obvious as the firmness--stating the position of the President very much on the lines expected, and leaving us to wonder even more than we did before why Bryan thought it necessary to resign his Secretaryship. The spirit of the second note is exactly that of the first.

_Following is The London Times comment:_

The gist of President Wilson's note lies in the last half dozen words and proceeds. It remains to be seen what answer will be made to this categorical demand. The general opinion in the United States appears to be that it will not be a refusal. Germany, it is thought, will begin by making concessions enough to prevent the abrupt conclusion of conversations, and will finally extend them sufficiently to preserve friendly relations with the Republic.

It would be rash to express a decided view, but we shall not be surprised should this forecast prove to be correct. The feeling in Germany is very bitter against the Government and people of the United States; but it seems unlikely that the Government in Berlin will allow the ill-temper of the public to influence its conduct. The semi-official Lokalanzeiger is already deprecating an unfriendly attitude toward the United States. There is nothing in the note to suggest that a policy such as the American newspapers seem to expect from Germany would be doomed to failure. The American people, we are told, are determined to attain their ends, but they welcome every prospect of attaining them by peaceful means.

The note, it is observed, not only does not shut out further conversations, but gives a distinct opening for them by its treatment of von Jagow's renewed intimation that Germany would gladly accept American good offices in negotiations with this country as to the character and conditions of maritime war. The Wilhelmstrasse can discover in this and some other passages material for procrastination if it so desires.

PRAISE FROM CANADA.

_The Daily Standard of Kingston, Ont., commenting on June 11, says:_

President Wilson's second message to Germany will rank with his first one as a document that at once convinces and convicts--convinces of the sincerity of the President that he is "contending for nothing less high and sacred than the rights of humanity," and convicts the nation to whom it is addressed of being responsible for the fact that the men, women, and children on the Lusitania were sent to their death under circumstances "unparalleled in modern warfare."

The note is not only dignified and statesmanlike, but it breathes a spirit of tolerance and Christianity that is as noteworthy as it is admirable. There is in it not even a suggestion of a threat, no word of bluster, no breath of jingoism. It is sound, sensible, firm, resolute, self-contained, magnanimous even. It does not incite to war, but, instead, appeals to the highest principles of justice and right.

But though the words are conciliatory and the spirit admirable, there is not the least abatement of the insistence upon the principles which the President formulated in his earlier message and laid down for the guidance of Germany and for the protection of the American people. The way is now open to Germany either for peace or for war. The decision is left with her.

FRENCH COMMENT.

_The Temps of June 12 says:_

Germany must choose between having the services of America in proposing to the Allies a moderation of their blockade, conducted with the strictest humanity, and the cessation of torpedoing neutral ships, the continuation of which exposes Germany to a diplomatic rupture with the United States, if not to war. Assuredly this prospect caused Bryan's resignation.

_La Liberté says of the note:_

It is in every way worthy of a great country conscious of its dignity, its rights, and its duties. It has not the tone of an ultimatum, since it is couched in courteous terms, but it is energetic, and it requires Germany finally to cease recourse to false expedients.

_The Journal des Débats, in discussing the note, says:_

The United States, representing in this case the civilized world, places the sacred rights of humanity above considerations of the military order, to which Germany subordinates everything. They are resolved, so far as concerns American subjects, to have those rights respected.

The essence of the note is, first, measures required by humanity must be taken, and afterward, if desired, will come discussions of a new regulation of naval warfare. If Germany insists on putting herself outside the pale of humanity she will suffer the consequences.

ITALIAN COMMENT.

_The Corriere della Sera of June 12 compares the attitude of Secretary Bryan to that of former Premier Giolitti, leader of the party which sought to prevent war with Austria. It says Mr. Bryan's action probably will have the same effect in America that Signor Giolitti's intervention had in Italy, and that it will strengthen public opinion in favor of President Wilson._

It will give him greater power in this important moment, defeating men who are ready to lower the prestige and honor of the country.

_The Tribuna says:_

The United States, the greatest neutral nation, has with this document assumed a special rôle, that is, the defense not of a particular group or interest, but the interest of civil humanity; to guard those principles of common right which above any particular right constitute the sacred patrimony of humanity. She raises her voice, whose firmness is not diminished by the courtesy of the language.

We do not know if Germany will be able to understand the significance, but if she does not she will commit a grave error--the gravest perhaps in the immense series made by her in this war. Mr. Wilson seems to persevere in the hope that Germany will listen to the American admonition. Germany must not forget that the longer the hope the more violent will be the reaction.

_The Idea Nazionale says:_

The note is not only not a declaration of war or the prelude to a declaration of war, but a species midway of humanitarian sentimentalism and lawyerlike arguments which can have, at least for the present, but one consequence, that of encouraging Germany in intransigentism--that is, the maintenance of her point of view regarding naval warfare.

American Comment on Mr. Bryan's Resignation

THE NEW YORK TIMES _of June 14, 1915, presented the following condensed quotations condemning unsparingly Mr. Bryan's retirement from the Secretaryship of State, gathered from newspapers throughout the United States, and classified according to their professions of political faith:_

DEMOCRATIC NEWSPAPERS.

_From The New York World._

Unspeakable treachery, not only to the President, but to the nation.

_From The Buffalo Enquirer._

If Mr. Bryan goes on, he will share the detestation of the most despised character in American history.

_From The Buffalo Courier._

The new note to Germany puts Emperor William and former Secretary Bryan in the same hole.

_From The Utica Observer._

He turns tail in the face of a crisis and seeks refuge by counseling dishonor.

_From The Louisville Courier-Journal, (Henry Watterson.)_

Treason to the country, treachery to his party and its official head.

_From The Portland (Me.) Eastern Argus._

Bryan's announced campaign has something of the character of submarine warfare.

_From The Helena (Mon.) Independent._

As much mistaken in this instance as in years gone by.

_From The Lexington (Ky.) Herald._

His propaganda is designed and intended "to defeat the measures of the Government of the United States" in violation of Section 5, [of the law of treason.]

_From The Mobile Register._

If Germany is misled into actions still further violative of our rights, the resultant hostility will be very largely attributable to Mr. Bryan.

_From The Columbia (S.C.) State._

The President's clear head may now be trusted the more that his methods of thinking are relieved of opposition in the Cabinet.

_From The Montgomery Advertiser._

He will go back to his first love, agitation.

_From The Richmond Times-Dispatch._

Wilson, not Bryan, strikes the note to which the hearts of the American people respond.

_From The Savannah News._

The people are following the President and not Mr. Bryan.

_From The Austin (Texas) Statesman._

Mr. Bryan's diplomacy has not been of the type that has inspired the confidence of the American people.

_From The Charleston News and Courier._

The bald and ugly fact will remain--he deserted his chief and his Government in the midst of an international crisis.

_From The Memphis Commercial-Appeal._

Mr. Bryan's views, turned into a national policy, would mean national suicide.

_From The Brooklyn Eagle._

An obstacle has seen fit to remove itself; it has substituted harmony for discordance.

_From The Boston Post._

Mr. Bryan has shabbily infringed that good American doctrine that politics should end at the water's edge.

_From The Baltimore Sun._

The Germans torpedo one "Nebraskan." Oh, for a "Busy Bertha" that could effectually dispose of the other one!

_From The Charlotte Observer._

The country simply was afraid of him.

_From The Cleveland Plain Dealer._

He is a preacher of disloyalty.

_From The Chattanooga Times._

The reason given for his resignation ... approximates disloyalty, if nothing else; a monstrous statement.

_From The New Orleans Times-Picayune._

His voluntary resignation will give satisfaction.

REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPERS.

_From The New York Tribune._

A man with such a cheaply commercial conception of the post held by so long a line of American statesmen was by nature disqualified for it.

_From The New York Globe._

Instead of promoting a peaceful settlement, Mr. Bryan practically throws his influence in the other balance.

_From The Syracuse Post-Standard._

Billy Sunday in the wrong niche.

_From The Rochester Post-Express._

Amazement and contempt for him grow.

_From The Pittsburgh Gazette Times._

He has not filled the place with dignity, ability, or satisfaction, nor yet with fidelity; a cheap imitation.

_From The Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph._

The peace-piffle and grape-juice statesman.

_From The Philadelphia Inquirer._

A peace-at-any-price man.

_From The Wilkes-Barre Record._

An amazing, an astounding blunder.

_From The Cincinnati Commercial Tribune._

The seriousness of the situation is all that prevents Mr. Bryan's foreign policy from being laughable.

_From The Baltimore American._

The country wants no more vapid theorizing; it wants no more Bryanism.

_From The Hartford Courant._

Those newspapers that said Mr. Bryan was in bad taste made a slight mistake. He is a bad taste.

_From The Augusta (Me.) Kennebec Journal._

Impossible for a man of Mr. Bryan's ability and love of the limelight to remain longer wholly obscure in this national crisis.

_From The Portsmouth (N.H.) Chronicle._

Childish policies and small politics, even if the Nobel Peace Prize is at stake, must not be considered by an American statesman.

_From The Portland (Me.) Press._

There was nothing to do but get out and shut up.

_From The Paterson Press._

He has dealt his country a stunning blow.

_From The Lincoln (Neb.) State Journal._

It is characteristic of Mr. Bryan to shut his eyes to arguments and facts when he reaches the ecstacy of sentimental conviction.

_From The Omaha Bee._

His action may have a weakening effect on our position.

_From The Nebraska City (Neb.) Press._

Knowing his disposition to watch out for the main chance ... that Mr. Bryan will be a candidate for the Senate from Nebraska is almost a foregone conclusion.

_From The Topeka Capital._

Represents only the personal idiosyncrasies of William J. Bryan.

_From The Milwaukee Sentinel._

Calculated to create prejudice and misgiving against the American note and to mislead foreign opinion.

_From The St. Louis Globe-Democrat._

Mr. Bryan could have found no better way of causing the President embarrassment at this crisis.

_From The Minneapolis Tribune._

President Wilson has had his own way in State Department affairs, to the minimization of Secretary Bryan, almost at times to the point of humiliation.

_From The Seattle Post-Intelligencer._

A pacifist temporarily bereft of reason and lost to sense of patriotic duty; a misplaced figurehead.

_From The Portland Oregonian._

The archpriest of the peace-at-any-price party ... a poor staff to lean upon.

_From The Albany Knickerbocker-Press._

Mr. Bryan must Chautauquahoot, as the rooster must crow.

_From The Scranton Republican._

Prompt acceptance of his resignation was the proper thing.

_From The Los Angeles Times._

The inefficiency and ineptness of the Secretary of State have been a reproach to the country.

_From The Wilmington (Del.) News._

Far better if Mr. Bryan had retired long ago.

_From The St. Paul Pioneer Press._

His retirement was merely a matter of time.

PROGRESSIVE NEWSPAPERS.

_From The New York Press._

A sorry misfit in our Government--mortifyingly, dangerously so.

_From The Boston Journal._

He appoints himself, though now a private citizen, the director of the nation.

_From The Washington Times._

The only person who has been talking war and giving out the impression that he thought this note meant war.

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS.

_From The New York Evening Post._

How far he will carry his treachery by actual machinations against Mr. Wilson remains to be seen.

_From The New York Sun._

Sulked and ran away when honor and patriotism should have kept him at his post.

_From The New York Herald._

His convictions are all wrong; his retirement should be heartily welcomed by the country.

_From The Philadelphia Public Ledger._

How much longer, as Cicero asked Catiline, does he intend to abuse our patience?

_From The Pittsburgh Dispatch._

Bryan's obsession by the peace-at-any-price propaganda bordered on the fanatical.

_From The Baltimore News._

A surrender to opportunism such as calls for a nation's contempt.

_From The Chicago Herald._

As a private citizen he will be less a menace to the peace of the nation than he has been as Secretary of State.

_From The Denver Post._

His services can be most satisfactorily dispensed with.

_From The Kansas City Star._

Has not impressed the country as a practical man in dealing with large affairs.

_From The Toledo Times._

He should support the President.

_From The Terre Haute Star._

Now free to pursue the prohibition propaganda.

_From The Newark (N.J.) Star._

The statement [Bryan's] is simply an effort to corral for himself a large voting element in the population.

_From The Newark Evening News._

His narrow vision has overcome him.

_From The Boston Traveler._

If war does come Mr. Bryan will be the one American held most responsible for the trouble.

_From The Boston Globe._

Mr. Wilson has been relieved of one of his many problems.

_From The Boston Herald._

Is certainly not inspired by a sense of loyalty to the party or the country.

_From The Lowell Courier-Citizen._

Lagged superfluous on a stage in which he played no part beyond that of an amanuensis, and hardly even that.

_From The Manchester (N.H.) Union._

Should mark the end of Bryanism in American politics.

_From The Providence Journal._

He has bowed himself into oblivion.

GERMAN-AMERICAN PRESS.

_Under the caption, "He Kept His Vow," the evening edition of the New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung, which for months had been referring to Secretary Bryan as "Secretary Bryan Stumping," as opposed to "Secretary Lansing Acting," said on June 9:_