Senator?" I
was determined there should be no misunderstanding. I replied
at once: "Pretty pugnacious, I confess, Mr. President."
The tears came into his eyes, and he said, grasping my hand
again: "I shall always love you, whatever you do."
I found we differed widely on this great subject. I denounced
with all the vigor of which I was capable the Treaty, and
the conduct of the war in the Philippine Islands, in the Senate,
on the platform, in many public letters, and in articles in
magazines and newspapers. But President McKinley never abated
one jot of his cordiality toward me. I did not, of course,
undertake to press upon him my advice in matters affecting
the Philippine Islands, about which we differed so much. But
he continued to seek it, and to take it in all other matters
as constantly as ever before.
In order that it may not be supposed that I deceived myself
in regard to President McKinley's kindly regard, I may perhaps
be pardoned for saying that his close friend, Senator Hanna,
has more than once assured me that McKinley's love for me
was never abated, and for citing a sentence from an article
by Charles Emory Smith, his trusted counsellor and able and
accomplished Postmaster-General, in this Cabinet.
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