rimes of
their Government against us.

[Sidenote: Tension relieved by _Sussex_ agreement.]

And the presence of a faction of German public opinion less hostile to
this country was shown when their Government acquiesced to some degree
in our demands at the time of the _Sussex_ outrage, and for nearly a
year maintained at least a pretense of observing the pledge they had
made to us. The tension was abated.

While the war spirit was growing in some sections of our nation, there
was still no widespread desire to take part in the conflict abroad; for
the tradition of non-interference in Europe's political affairs was too
deeply rooted in our national life to be easily overthrown.

Moreover, two other considerations strengthened our Government in its
efforts to remain neutral in this war. The first was our traditional
sense of responsibility toward all the republics of the New World.
Throughout the crisis our Government was in constant communication with
the countries of Central and South America.

[Sidenote: Opinion in Central and South America.]

They, too, preferred the ways of peace. And there was a very obvious
obligation upon us to safeguard their interests with our own.

The second consideration, which had been so often developed in the
President's speeches, was the hope that by keeping aloof from the bitter
passions abroad, by preserving untroubled here the holy ideals of
civilized intercourse between nations, we might be free at the end of
this war to bind up the wounds of the conflict, to be the restorers and
rebuilders of the wrecked structure of the world.

[Sidenote: German compliance not in good faith.]

All these motives held us back, but it was not long until we were beset
by further complications. We soon had reason to believe that the recent
compliance of the German Government had not been made to us in good
faith, and was only temporary, and by the end of 1916 it was plain that
our neutral status had again been made unsafe through the
ever-increasing aggressiveness of the German autocracy. There was a
general agreement here with the statement of our President on October
26, 1916, that this conflict was the last great war involving the world
in which we would remain neutral.

[Sidenote: Peace move on behalf of the Central powers.]

It was in this frame of mind, fearing we might be drawn into the war if
it did not soon come to an end, that the President began the preparation
of his note, asking t