At this stage an important member of the Cabinet, my friend Cornelius
N. Bliss, called and asked me to visit Washington and see the
President on the subject. He said:
"You have influence with him. None of us have been able to move him
since he returned from the West."
I went to Washington and had an interview with him. But he was
obdurate. Withdrawal would create a revolution at home, he said.
Finally, by persuading his secretaries that he had to bend to the
blast, and always holding that it would be only a temporary occupation
and that a way out would be found, the Cabinet yielded.
He sent for President Schurman, of Cornell University, who had opposed
annexation and made him chairman of the committee to visit the
Filipinos; and later for Judge Taft, who had been prominent against
such a violation of American policy, to go as Governor. When the Judge
stated that it seemed strange to send for one, who had publicly
denounced annexation, the President said that was the very reason why
he wished him for the place. This was all very well, but to refrain
from annexing and to relinquish territory once purchased are different
propositions. This was soon seen.
Mr. Bryan had it in his power at one time to defeat in the Senate this
feature of the Treaty of Peace with Spain.
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