Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 6.djvu/297

Rh we had about this matter at the Windsor Hotel in New York not long ago?” This remark seemed to be unexpected to him and to embarrass him a little. After a few moments hesitation he said: “Yes, yes, I remember now. You are opposed to that annexation, aren't you?” “Indeed I am,” I replied, “as you seemed to be opposed to it at that time.” And then I proceeded to state in as few words as possible my reasons for that opposition. When I stopped there were again a few moments of some what uncomfortable silence, whereupon he said: “Well, there is no possibility that the Senate will ratify the treaty at this session (the extra session of 1897), and during the summer the people will have time to think about it, and when Congress gets together again in December we may have a tangible expression of public opinion about the matter.” After this there was evidently nothing more to be said and I rose to take my leave. But the President invited me politely to come upstairs to see Mrs. McKinley and the young ladies who were with her, an invitation which, of course, I respectfully accepted. After a quarter of an hour of pleasant chat I departed, leaving the White House, I must confess, with a heart heavy with evil forebodings.

How a man, who had been so long in public life that he must be supposed to have definite opinions if not fixed convictions about so important a matter as the annexation of distant islands to this Republic, came to reverse his position in so short a period, I have never been able to ascertain. As I said, my friends in Washington could give me no clue. The supposition that, as in other instances, Mr. McKinley “had his ear to the ground” to discover the current of public sentiment and then to follow it, will hardly hold good in this case; for there was at the time no public sentiment favorable to the annexation of Hawaii. Indeed, when by the presentation of the treaty