But President Wilson could not be deterred from pressing the issue.

His conviction was firm that this winter of 1914-1915 represented the most opportune time to bring the warring nations to terms, and it was a conviction from which he never departed.

After the sinking of the _Lusitania_ the Administration gazed back regretfully at its frustrated attempts of the preceding winter, and it was inclined to place the responsibility for this failure upon Great Britain and France.

"The President's judgment," wrote Colonel House on August 4, 1915, three months after the _Lusitania_ went down, "was that last autumn was the time to discuss peace parleys, and we both saw present possibilities.

War is a great gamble at best, and there was too much at stake in this one to take chances.