t 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 towar