's note on May 13 met with general approval. It denied any
justification for such acts as the sinking of the Lusitania, and warned
the Germans that the Government of the United States would not "omit
any word or act" to defend the rights of its citizens. But some of the
effect of that declaration had already been destroyed by a speech the
President had made two days before, in which he had said that "there is
such a thing as a man being too proud to fight," and the Germans, it
was learned presently, had been still further reassured by a
declaration of Mr. Bryan (entirely on his own authority) to the
Austrian Ambassador that the note was intended only for home
consumption.

At any rate, the note was not followed by action. Throughout the whole
Summer the President maintained a correspondence with the Germans,
distinguished by patient reasoning on his part and continual shiftings
and equivocations on theirs. Meanwhile nothing was done; the public
sentiment of the first days after the Lusitania had been sunk had
slackened; division and dissension had returned and redoubled. Pacifism
was more active than ever and German agents were spreading propaganda
and setting fire and explosives to munition plants. Mr. Bryan, who
apparently alone in the country was fearful that the President might
needlessly involve the nation in war, resigned as Secretary of State on
June 8. Aside from a certain relief, the public almost ignored his
passing; the man who had been the strongest leader of the party in
March, 1913, had in the last two years sunk almost into obscurity.
Attention was now concentrated on the policy which the President, whose
new Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, was hardly more than a
figurehead, was pursuing toward Germany.

In August two more American passengers were drowned in the sinking of
the liner Arabic, and in other submarine exploits of the Summer a
number of American seamen lost their lives. The President's persistence
at last had the effect of getting from the Germans, on September 1, a
promise to sink no more passenger boats, and on October 5 they made a
formal expression of regret for the Arabic incident. Meanwhile some of
the acts of sabotage against American industries had been traced back
to the Austro-Hungarian Embassy, and the Ambassador, Dr. Dumba, was
sent home in September. A few months later Papen and Boy-Ed, the
Military and Naval Attaches of the German Embassy, followed him for a
similar reason.