It seems to me another man they are talking about,
while I am expected to do the work. I wish a little of the
kindness could be saved till I leave office finally.
I have read with the keenest interest your article in the
"North American."[77] I am not allowed to say in my present
fix how much I agree with you. The only question on my mind
is how far it is now _possible_ for us to withdraw from the
Philippines. I am rather thankful it is not given to me to
solve that momentous question.[78]
[Footnote 77: The reference is to an article by Mr. Carnegie in the
_North American Review_, August, 1898, entitled: "Distant
Possessions--The Parting of the Ways."]
[Footnote 78: Published in Thayer, _Life and Letters of John Hay_,
vol. II, p. 175. Boston and New York, 1915.]
It was a strange fate that placed upon him the very task he had
congratulated himself was never to be his.
He stood alone at first as friendly to China in the Boxer troubles and
succeeded in securing for her fair terms of peace. His regard for
Britain, as part of our own race, was deep, and here the President was
thoroughly with him, and grateful beyond measure to Britain for
standing against other European powers disposed to favor Spain in the
Cuban War.
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