The Spectator

The Spectator at war: Defending international law

From ‘The United States and Germany’, The Spectator, 12 June 1915:

THE resignation of Mr. Bryan, the powerful American Secretary of State, which took the United States by surprise, must of course affect considerably the methods by which the American Cabinet will conduct their negotiations with Germany. Mr. Bryan, as he has in effect told his countrymen, was the brake, and the brake has removed itself.

The difference between Mr. Wilson and Mr. Bryan is, in fine, this: Mr. Wilson thinks the beginning of pacificism is the respect for international law, which is being entirely set at naught by the German submarine war on merchantmen, and Mr. Bryan thinks that you can still accept the word of men who are breaking their word.

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