In this struggle, moreover, Mr.Wilson had the intelligence and the character of the Senate largely on his side, though, strangely enough, his strongest supporters were Republicans and his bitterest opponents were Democrats.

Senator Root, Senator Burton, Senator Lodge, Senator Kenyon, Senator McCumber, all Republicans, day after day and week after week upheld the national honour; while Senators O'Gorman, Chamberlain, Vardaman, and Reed, all members of the President's party, just as persistently led the fight for the baser cause.

The debate inspired an outburst of Anglophobia which was most distressing to the best friends of the United States and Great Britain.
The American press, as a whole, honoured itself by championing the President, but certain newspapers made the debate an occasion for unrestrained abuse of Great Britain, and of any one who believed that the United States should treat that nation honestly.

The Hearst organs, in cartoon and editorial page, shrieked against the ancient enemy.

All the well-known episodes and characters in American history--Lexington, Bunker Hill, John Paul Jones, Washington, and Franklin--were paraded as arguments against the repeal of an illegal discrimination.