great stress upon its importance, and it will be remembered that his Thanksgiving proclamations were models of grateful expression.

In the preparation of his messages he was exceedingly painstaking. His methods varied from year to year. At one time he would dictate almost the entire message; at another he would write it himself with a pen, or occasionally with a pencil. Long before the real work of writing began he would jot down notes of points to be included, and when the time for writing came he had all the facts at hand.

XIII.

THE SPANISH WAR AND AFTER.

Probably no man could have foreseen that William McKinley, who was elected as a leader of the peaceful principles of economic legislation, and who was all his life a man of peace, would become a war President; but a war President he became, in spite of himself.

For a long time there had been a controversy over the treatment of Cuba by Spain, and during the first meeting of the session of the Fifty-fifth Congress it became acute.

There was a strong popular feeling that the situation in the island. was becoming intolerable, and the politicians cultivated the idea that our government ought to interfere in the interest of the Cuban people. The McKinley administration for a time followed the example of its predecessor, by seeking to secure an amicable settlement, but the terrible calamity of February 15, 1898, brought the turning point.

The Disaster to the "Maine."-The battleship "Maine," while riding at anchor in the harbor of Havana, was blown up at night and 256 of her officers and crew hurled into eternity. The news of the disaster horrified the whole civilized world, and there sprang up at once in the hearts of the people an intensity of righteous wrath that could not be restrained. Mr. McKinley now found himself in a most trying situation. On the one hand was the fierce wrath of the American nation clamoring for the punishment of the treacherous Spaniards—it being almost universally believed that the "Maine" was blown up by Spanish officers and on the other was the call equally loud for armed intervention in Cuba.

Holding Out Against the Inevitable.-He knew what war meant, and, like every other man who has been to war, he regarded it as the last resort of the nation, that could never be employed until diplom

acy, arbitration, argument and persuasion had been carried to the utmost limit. Day after day he held out against the tumult, but the tide ran higher and higher, and at last he ceased to resist it. It is still a question with many just how far the war with Spain was forced upon the President by a clamorous people and a clamorous Congress. Amid the excitement, intensified every hour, and the expressed impatience with the President's slowness, the situation was summed up by a leading paper in the following words:

"The country has for its President a statesman whose personal bravery and warmth of human emotions no one would think of questioning, but whose calm determination to exhaust every possibility of peace with honor deserves from his country the highest respect.

"The country has a national legislature patiently and loyally heeding the advice of the executive, although burning hot with the sentiment that becomes a country like ours, when in sight of a neighboring people struggling for liberty.

"The country has an army and navy alive with the national spirit, and ready for the performance of any duty that may be prescribed for them.

"And it has a people, spreading over forty-five States, whom the fearful trial of the 'Maine' disaster has shaken neither in dignity nor in understanding, and who in their sorrow over the loss of the 'Maine' and in their longing to see the United States play its part in succoring a maltreated American State, are more truly united and more intensely fired with a common patriotism than at any time since the making of the Constitution. Never since the beginning of their independence have Americans had occasion to be more proud and more hopeful of their country."

Message on the Cuban Question.-On the eleventh of April the President sent to Congress his message on the Cuban question. It was a lengthy and strong document, in which he set forth in vigorous language the terrible effects of Spanish misrule, recited the particulars

of the "Maine" disaster and then asked for authority to intervene to stop the war in Cuba at his own discretion. With that he turned the whole question over to Congress, holding himself ready to obey its instruction.

Grounds of Intervention.-The grounds of intervention were thus summed up:

"First-In the cause of humanity, and to put an end to the barbarities, starvation and horrible miseries now existing there, and which the parties to the conflict are either unable or unwilling to stop or mitigate. It is no answer to say this is all in another country, belonging to another nation, and is therefore none of our business. It is specially our duty, for it is right at our door.

"Second-We owe it to our citizens in Cuba to afford them that protection and indemnity for life and property which no government there can or will afford, and to that end to terminate the conditions that deprive them of legal protection.

"Third-Right to intervene may be justified by the very serious injury to the commerce, trade and business of our people, and by the wanton destruction of property and devastation of the island.

"Fourth-And which is of the most importance-The present condition of affairs in Cuba is a constant menace to our peace, and entails upon this government an enormous expense. With such a conflict waged for years in an island so near us, and with which our people have such trade and business relations-when the lives and liberty of our citizens are in constant danger, and their property and themselves ruined-when our trading vessels are liable to seizure and are seized at our very door by warships of a foreign nation, the expeditions of filibustering that we are powerless to prevent altogether, and the irritating questions and entanglements thus arising-all these and others that I need not mention, with the resulting strained relations, are a constant menace to our peace, and compel us to keep on a semiwar with a nation with which we are at peace."

Previous to this Congress had unanimously placed $50,000,000 at the disposal of the President to be used in preparing the country for the war that was generally believed to be inevitable. The most vigorous preparations were set on foot; recruiting offices were opened, new cruisers and ships were bought, and the naval and war offices were full of activity. In the meanwhile there was a great demonstration of patriotism throughout the country

A few days after the message Congress gave to the President all and more than he asked. Instead of granting him authority the resolution laid a command upon the Executive, who was authorized and directed to intervene at once and stop the war with Cuba. Again, instead of authorizing intervention for the purpose of establishing a stable government capable of maintaining order and observing its international obligations, as McKinley had asked, it directed him to establish, by the free action of Cuba, a stable and independent government of its own.

The Joint Resolution of Congress. On the twentieth of April McKinley approved the joint resolution of Congress declaring that the people of the Island of Cuba are and of right ought to be free and independent, demanding that "the Government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and government in the Island of Cuba and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters," and directing and empowering the President to use the United States forces and call out the State militia to such extent as might be necessary. As was expected, the Spanish Minister at Washington immediately asked for his passports; our Minister at Madrid, General Woodford, was notified that diplomatic relations had terminated, and on the twenty-fifth of April the President recommended the passage by Congress of a joint resolution declaring war, which was promptly carried by an all but unanimous vote.

The War and Its Results.-The war cloud burst, but in less than three months the skies were clear again. The result was assured from