f the American people;
how large no one could yet say. But the Congressional elections of 1914
had conveyed a warning to the Democrats. They were left with a majority
in both houses, but the huge preponderance obtained in 1912 had
disappeared. And the reason was even more alarming than the fact; the
Progressive Party almost faded off the map in the election of 1914.
Most of the voters who had been Republicans before the Chicago
Convention of 1912 were Republicans once again. Of the Progressive
Party, there was nothing much left but the leaders, and many of these
were obviously thinking of going back to the old home.

The Government had already had occasion to protest against British
interference with allied commerce when, on February 4, 1915, the
Germans proclaimed the waters about the British Isles a war zone open
to submarine activities. The President promptly warned the German
Government that it would be held to "strict accountability" if American
ships were sunk or American lives lost in the submarine campaign. Along
with this a message was sent to the British Government protesting
against British restriction of neutral commerce. There was good ground
for objection to the practices of both Governments, and the
simultaneous protests emphasized the neutral attitude of the United
States. Not until later was it evident that to the Germans this policy
seemed to indicate the possibility of putting pressure on England
through America.

"Strict accountability" seemed to be a popular watchword, except among
pacifists and German sympathizers, but Americans soon began to be
killed by the submarines without provoking the Government to action.
When the Lusitania was sunk on May 7, 1915, and more than a hundred of
the 1,200 victims were Americans a great part of the nation which had
been growing steadily more exasperated felt that now the issue must be
faced. The President was the personal conductor of the foreign policy
of the Administration; Mr. Bryan's sole interest in foreign affairs
seemed to be the conclusion of a large number of polite and valueless
treaties of arbitration, and it was certain that with Germany, as with
Mexico, the President would deal in person. In the few days after the
sinking of the Lusitania the nation waited confidently for the
President's leadership, and public sentiment was perhaps more nearly
unanimous than it had been for eight months past, or was to be again
for two years more.

The President