CHAPTER XIV.

THE WORK OF THE PRESIDENT.

BY

HON. PERRY S. HEATH, First Assistant Postmaster General.

66

WE

E want no wars of conquest. We must avoid the temptation of territorial aggression. War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed."

These were the ringing words of William McKinley, when he took the oath of office as President of the United States, on the 4th of March, 1897, with the shadow of an impending conflict with Spain resting darkly over him. From the views thus expressed he never deviated during all the trying period that afterwards intervened. When every agency of peace had failed, and war became inevitable, he accepted all of its grave responsibilities, just as, after the protocol of peace had been signed, he declared that where the flag had once been raised it should not be hauled down with his consent, and that, as far as in him lay, he would carry out to their logical and legitimate conclusions the results achieved by. the war. More fully than any one else Mr. McKinley appreciated when he entered upon the duties of Chief Executive, the dread responsibilities which a declaration of war would impose. He knew that though war might be demanded or proclaimed by the people of any nation-Imperial, Monarchical or Republican—the responsibilities for its conduct and for its results must fall upon the Executive. He comprehended the peculiar difficulties which surrounded our relations with Spain, the greatest of these being that which had the least popular consideration-the possibility that a declaration of war with Spain would bring about the hostile intervention of other European Powers, intimately connected with that country by

ties of common interest and family relationship. Traditions and international understandings, the Monroe Doctrine, the inviolability of which has so recently been asserted by this country), and questions of politics and religion all aided to complicate the situation. While it is true that each of the great political parties in the campaign which preceded the election of President McKinley had condemned in strong terms the existing condition of affairs in Cuba, and declared a readiness to exhaust every effort to secure to the people of that island the blessings of freedom and good government, no pledge was given by either party which could, even by inference, be held to bind the Government of the United States to take up arms to accomplish the end which was rhetorically advocated.

When Mr. McKinley left his home in Canton, Ohio, to assume the duties of the Presidency, he had in mind a plan, which he had carefully thought out, for the emancipation of Cuba and the establishment of an independent form of government in that island. His purpose was to bring about this result by a series of swift and positive diplomatic movements, which included an appeal to motives of humanity and justice, and an array of the more powerful, if less disinterested, motives of self interest. There can be little doubt that one of his leading ideas for the pacification of Cuba was the surrender of Spanish sovereignty to be brought about by diplomatic negotiation or by friendly purchase, the United States to be either the direct purchaser or the guarantor in behalf of an independent Cuban Republic. He immediately proceeded. to put in operation all the agencies of diplomacy to secure an amelioration of the condition of the people of Cuba. Contemporaneously with these efforts he called Congress in extra session, to enact laws which should place the industrial, commercial and agricultural interests of our own country upon a more satisfactory basis. He asked Congress, before transacting any other business, first to provide sufficient revenue to administer the Government faithfully, without the contraction of further debt or the continued disturbance of our finances. In the light of events that followed, it may well be claimed that Divine Providence shaped the ends to which the Presi

dent directed the nation. Without the revival of prosperity, which almost immediately followed the legislation recommended, the enactment of which consumed time and tended to create a feeling of unrest on the part of those who desired speedy action in Cuba,--there could not have been the national cohesion which enabled us to secure the results afterwards achieved.

During this extra session, called only to consider economic questions, events in Cuba so progressed as to excite the public mind almost beyond the limits of repression. General Weyler's policy of concentration, inaugurated February 16, 1896, removed from the provinces controlled by the Spanish army the rural population, including women, children and helpless old people. The massing of these in the neighborhood of the cities, and the leaving of them there to die of starvation, had reached a culmination of horror which shocked the civilized world. The President issued an appeal to the people of the United States to relieve the necessities of these innocent sufferers; Congress made an appropriation for the purpose; and the noble organization of the Red Cross, and, later on, many newspaper and private agencies of benevolence were drawn to their assistance.

Agitation for the recognition of Cuban Independence, or for forcible intervention by the United States, was rampant all over the country, sustained by the pulpit, the press and the lecture forum. Resolutions by the hundred were adopted. at public gatherings and forwarded to the President, almost as urgent in tone as those addressed to President Lincoln prior to the Proclamation of Emancipation. So many Americans, impelled by righteous indignation at the stories of Cuban wrongs, had entered the service of the Cuban army of freedom that there was scarcely a Congressional District which did not number one or more of these recruits, whose relatives were importunate in beseeching their Representatives in Congress to take speedy measures to put an end to the struggle.

Expeditions, unauthorized by international law, but quite generally sanctioned by public sentiment, fitted out in our ports to carry arms, ammunition and men to aid the cause of

Cuba Libre, became so alarmingly frequent and formidable that the President ordered a special patrol by revenue cutters and naval vessels of our coast adjacent to Cuba, and directed. the appointment of special officers of the Department of Justice to prosecute the offenders against our neutrality laws. Among those intercepted and prosecuted as the result of these measures was General Calixto Garcia, the Cuban patriot, whose death in December, 1898, while on a mission of peace and conciliation to the City of Washington, was generally deplored.

To the different delegations from Congress who waited upon him to urge immediate action, President McKinley, with the frankness which has always characterized his dealings with the legislative branch of the Government, explained his plans and his aspirations for a peaceful settlement, and asked them to give him further time. Congress trusted the President, and respected his wishes by adjourning the extra session without taking decisive action on the Cuban question.

Diplomatic efforts to effect an adjustment were continued with increased vigor. The President, it is understood, went just as far in his demands as he could within the constitutional limits of his power, stopping short only of such action as might be construed into a practical declaration of war. Spain replied, in her customary manner, by promises and prevarication. The pressure of public sentiment increased in volume. Local militia organizations, covertly or openly abetted by governors of States, and many individual citizens of military training, undertook the organization of volunteer forces to proceed to Cuba to aid in the liberation of its people. Political parties and geographical lines were ignored. The men who carried on the agitation were those who had fought on each side of the most desperate civil war of modern history.

To withstand this pressure until the time was ripe; to continue to enforce our neutrality laws in the face of a hostile. public sentiment; and scrupulously to observe all our international obligations towards Spain, imposed upon the President duties which called for the exercise of the highest executive ability and tact.

When the 356 members of the House of Representatives