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Rh tirely new cast of characters took up the drama for the fifth act.

William McKinley succeeded Grover Cleveland, John Sherman, the veteran Olney, as Secretary of State, and General Stewart Lyndon Woodford went as minister to Spain. Very shortly afterward the Spanish Ministry underwent an even more radical transformation. The new team constituted the most liberal as well as the ablest men in the Empire—Señor Praxides Mateo Sagasta, champion of "peace at any price save loss of dignity," became president of the council, with Señor Gullon, Minister of State, and Señor Moret, Minister for Foreign Affairs.

The new game opened in an interview between Woodford and the outgoing minister, the Duque de Tetuan. "Friendly in manner," it was reported, "but positive in meaning." Sherman's proposition was laid on the table. Its kernel was that the United States had a "duty" as well as a "right" to intervene, unless Spain could settle this little affair in a