No less enthusiastic was the approval of the press in the South and West. “The citizenry of this country is with Wilson,” stoutly declared the Baltimore Sun, and the Louisville Post maintained: “There are no neutrals in America now. We are all earnest supporters of the President, who by patience and fortitude has established his right to lead a free people.” The note, according to the Atlanta Journal, was “the voice of the American people proclaiming in terms unmistakable their conscience and their will.” “Whatever the fate of our relations with Germany, the President undoubtedly has voiced the sentiment of the nation upon the use of the submarine and as to the rights of neutrals on the high seas,” was the comment of the Chicago Tribune. The note was described by the Cleveland News as “all that Americans could wish,” and according to the San Francisco Chronicle, it commended itself “to the common sense of people unafflicted with inflammable hatreds.” “It is probable that no document of state ever came nearer reflecting the sentiment of the American people,” commented the Denver Times, and the Indianapolis News proclaimed: “It is not simply the government, but the nation that speaks through the document. There is no one who does not hope for a peaceful adjustment of the difficulty.” The Minneapolis Journal, after analyzing the note and especially the last strong paragraph of protest, declared: “The American people will stand by these words.” If no president of the United States ever faced so grave a crisis, certainly none ever received more unanimous support. If there were any murmurs of dissatisfaction they were too faint to be heard above the chorus of approval. CHAPTER IX THE GERMAN DEFENSE FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE LUSITANIA BLAMES BRITAIN FOR MISUSE OF FLAG -- INVESTIGATING CASES OF CUSHING AND GULFLIGHT -- DECLARES SHIP CARRIED MOUNTED CANNON -- SAYS IT ACTED IN JUSTIFIED SELF-DEFENSE -- FINAL DECISION ON DEMANDS DEFERRED -- AMERICAN OPINION OF GERMAN EXCUSES -- EVASIVE AND INSINCERE -- ATTACKS ON AMERICAN VESSELS MUST CEASE -- SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT. The German defense for the destruction of the Lusitania and for other marine atrocities committed against non-combatant vessels in the famous, or infamous, war zone was contained in a note to the American government, transmitted May 31, in reply to President Wilson’s note of protest. The full text of the German note is as follows: “The undersigned has the honor to submit to Ambassador Gerard the following answer to the communication of May 13 regarding the injury to American interests through German submarine warfare. “The Imperial government has subjected the communication of the American government to a thorough investigation. It entertains also a keen wish to co-operate in a frank and friendly way in clearing up a possible misunderstanding which may have arisen in the relations between the two governments through the events mentioned by the American government.