Sampson and others did visé the proofs, their reading was perfunctory, for it is scarcely credible that they would have permitted the retention of such passages as led Rear-Admiral Schley to demand an Inquiry.

Some of the popular sympathy with Schley was undoubtedly due to his picturesqueness, to his personal magnetism. The personality of Sampson, on the other hand, was not especially attractive to the public. And yet Sampson's character and work did not deserve to be forgotten by the people he had so greatly served. His abilities were of a higher type than those of Schley, for he was not only capable in action but superior in strategy and tactics. Perhaps both men were wronged during the controversy, and the worst of it was that Sampson's wrongs were forgotten in Schley's wrongs. Both were brave men; both undoubtedly did their best; both deserved the gratitude of the American people. Schley was certainly a dashing officer in a fight, and Sampson was a remarkable strategist and technician. But neither of them was possessed of superhuman and infallible judgment. The strange and pathetic controversy that raged about them engendered so much bitterness, so many animosities, that the good work of both men was often lost sight of. Yet surely, in the Santiago campaign, there was "glory enough for all.”

CHAPTER IX

POLITICAL CHANGES

The forces that make for political change were in 1901 more active than usual. The struggle of ideas, as between factions and partics. was perhaps only normal, but death swept more than once through the ranks of the great, and many political leaders fell. At the beginning of the year the whole civilized world grieved with Great Britain for the loss of Queen Victoria; at the end of the year sorrow and horror at the assassination of President McKinley called from all countries expressions of sympathy with the American people in their loss. And in Great Britain and the United States, as in other countries when great men had died, the problems dependent upon the accession of new rulers and new leaders were foremost in the public thought when once the immediate sense of deprivation had been somewhat mitigated.

The Assassination of President McKinley

The campaign of 1900 resulted in the reëlection of William McKinley as President of the United States. For the second time he defeated William Jennings Bryan, the representative of the dominant radical wing of the Democratic party; and the Republican victory of 1900 was gained by a larger majority than had been the victory of 1896. With the seal of popular approval thus fixed upon his policies, it was natural to infer that President McKinley would, during his second term, act more independently of his political connections than he had acted during his first four years as Chief Executive.

It is common that a man who has been elected to the presidency goes into his office under great obligation to the party that has elected him. He owes something to his party. But if his personality and his policies become so popular during his first term that he is easily reelected, his party owes something to him. Then, too, he no longer

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feels tempted to shape his course so as to secure another term, for the sentiment of the American people is against the election of the same man to the presidency three times or at least three successive times. So, with nothing to lose by running the risk of becoming unpopular, the president, in his second term, generally follows his own counsel to an extent that would have been politically impracticable in his first four years of service.

During the months before his death President McKinley gave many indications of a broader and less partisan policy of administration. His inaugural address bore a message of deep import. His Buffalo speech was more specific, since it registered not merely what might be called the tone of the man, but his definite conception of the country's future.

The inaugural ceremonies, on March 4, were impressively performed. Standing on the platform that had been constructed on the central portico of the east front of the Capitol at Washington, President McKinley took his oath of office in the presence of a great throng of people. In his address he first reviewed the prosperous development of the past four years, and then, suggesting the new problems which events had brought before the country, gave out his view of the situation. His sense of his personal responsibility was expressed in the following words:

"Entrusted by the people for a second time with the office of President, I enter upon its administration appreciating the great responsibilities which attach to this renewed honor and commission, promising unreserved devotion on my part to their faithful discharge and reverently invoking for my guidance the direction and favor of Almighty God. I should shrink from the duties this day assumed if I did not feel that in their performance I should have the coöperation of the wise and patriotic men of all parties. It encourages me for the great task which I now undertake to believe that those who voluntarily committed to me the trust imposed upon the Chief Executive of the Republic will give to me generous support in my duties to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,' and to care that the laws be faithfully executed.' The national purpose is indicated through a national election. It is the constitutional method of ascertaining the public will. When once it is registered it is a law to us all, and faithful observance should follow its decrees."

On April 29, President and Mrs. McKinley and a party of officials and friends left Washington for a journey to the Pacific coast. The tour had been arranged in order that the President might attend the launching of the battleship Ohio, at San Francisco, May 18. On the way to and from San Francisco the presidential party was to pass through twenty-three States and two Territories, and there were to be brief stops in many cities, besides visits to special points of interest. The route ran through some sections in which a President had been rarely seen. Traversing Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, the party was received with unmistakable cordiality. At various points brief speeches were delivered. After crossing the alkali plains of Western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, the distinguished travelers emerged into the luxuriant blooms of California, where, at Redlands, Governor Gage and a congressional delegation formally welcomed the President to the Golden State.

The journey northward through the State was a succession of fêtes, clouded only by an illness which attacked Mrs. McKinley and caused some concern. She improved rapidly enough to make it possible for the President to attend the launching of the Ohio, but her condition did not permit of the intended extension of the trip through the States of the Northwest. The party left San Francisco on May 25, returning direct to Washington. The towns and cities of the Northwest which had expected to see and hear the President were disappointed, but their disappointment was mingled with sympathy for the President, whose devotion to his invalid wife was widely appreciated.

The marks of popular esteem which President McKinley received on this tour, especially in the South, apparently disconcerted his political opponents, who had professed to recognize various political motives in the Presidential "swing around the circle." There were those who insisted that the President was feeling the pulse of the people with a view to seeking a third election. His friends laughed at the absurdity of this conjecture, but the belief that he would accept a third election became so strong that he thought it advisable to make a public statement of his position. Accordingly, in June, the President announced, in a dignified and unaffected communication to the people, that he would not be a candidate for reëlection. While the adoption of this method of making his feelings known was an innovation, his unequivo

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cal words were very widely commended for their patriotism. He said: "I regret that the suggestion of a third term has been made. I doubt whether I am called upon to give it notice. But there are now questions of the greatest importance before the Administration and the country, and their just consideration should not be prejudiced in the public mind by even the suspicion of the thought of a third term. In view, therefore, of the reiteration of the suggestion of it, I will say now, once for all, expressing a long settled conviction, that I not only am not and will not be a candidate for a third term, but would not accept a nomination for it if it were tendered me. My only ambition is to serve through my second term to the acceptance of my countrymen, whose generous confidence I so deeply appreciate, and then with them to do my duty in the ranks of private citizenship."

President McKinley spent most of August at his home, in Canton, Ohio, transacting there such official business as was pressing, but giving much of his time to old friends. He had reached the zenith of his career. He had been able to bring political peace to localities which had not known peace for years. He had caught the significance of the great tendency toward the expansion of national energies, and had given all his personal strength to aid that expansion. He was singularly intuitive as to the popular will. He had become firmly convinced that popular approval was necessary to successful leadership in the United States, and so he made it a point, as often as he could, to tell the people beforehand just what he expected to do. He trusted the people.

On September 4, the President arrived at Buffalo, N. Y., to attend the Pan-American Exposition. The following day he delivered his "Buffalo speech," destined to be remembered not only as his last public utterance, but as the broad statement of what he considered the policy most essential to the future development of the country. After outlining the achievement of the past years in improving the means of communication between different parts of the world, he said: "God and man have linked the nations together. No nation can longer be indifferent to any other. And as we are brought more and more in touch with each other, the less occasion is there for misunderstandings, and the stronger the disposition, when we have differences, to adjust them in the court of arbitration, which is the noblest forum for the settlement of international disputes."