the former believed that the British blockade justified Germany's
submarine warfare; the latter were afraid even of strong language in
diplomatic notes, lest it lead to war. At the very outset of the
diplomatic controversy with Germany, before the second _Lusitania_ note
was dispatched, the Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, resigned,
in the belief that the President's tone was too peremptory. For Bryan was
willing to arbitrate even Germany's right to drown American citizens on
the high seas. The defection of this influential politician a year
previous would have weakened Wilson seriously, but by now the President
had won secure control of the party. He was, indeed, strengthened
diplomatically by Bryan's resignation, as the latter, in a conversation
with the Austrian Ambassador, had given the impression that American
protests need not be taken over-seriously. His continuance in office might
have encouraged German leaders to adopt a bolder tone.

From the very beginning of his attempts to obtain from Germany a disavowal
for the sinking of the _Lusitania_ and a promise not to sink without
warning, the President took his stand upon high ground. Not merely did he
insist upon the rights guaranteed to neutrals by the law of nations; he
took the controversy out of the class of ordinary subjects of diplomatic
discussion and contended "for nothing less high and sacred than the rights
of humanity." To this he recurred in each of his notes. Germany avoided
the issue. At first she insisted that the _Lusitania_ was armed, carrying
explosives of war, transporting troops from Canada, and thus virtually
acting as a naval auxiliary. After the falsity of this assertion was
shown, she adduced the restrictions placed by Great Britain on neutral
trade as excuse for submarine operations, and contended that the
circumstances of naval warfare in the twentieth century had so changed
that the principles of international law no longer held good.

Each time Wilson returned to his point that the "rights of neutrals are
based upon principle, not upon expediency, and the principles are
immutable. Illegal and inhuman acts ... are manifestly indefensible when
they deprive neutrals of their acknowledged rights, particularly when
they violate the right to life itself. If a belligerent cannot retaliate
against an enemy without injuring the lives of neutrals, as well as their
property, humanity, as well as justice and a due regard for the dignity