reputation rested upon his financial leadership, and who now, at
the age of seventy-four, was known to be incapacitated for
vigorous action. To the very moment of crisis, McKinley was
opposed to a war with Spain; he was opposed to the form of the
declaration of war and he was opposed to the terms of peace which
ended the war. Emphatically not a leader, he was, however,
unsurpassed in his day as a reader of public opinion, and he
believed his function to be that of interpreting the national
mind. Nor did he yield his opinion in a grudging manner. He
grasped broadly the consequences of each new position which the
public assumed, and he was a master at securing harmonious
cooperation for a desired end.

The platform of the Republican party had declared: "The
Government of Spain having lost control of Cuba, and being unable
to protect the property or lives of resident American citizens,
or to comply with its treaty obligations, we believe that the
Government of the United States should actively use its influence
and good offices to restore peace and give independence to the
island." With this mandate, McKinley sought to free Cuba,
absolutely or practically, while at the same time maintaining
peace with Spain. On June 26, 1897, Secretary Sherman sent a note
to the Spanish Minister, protesting against the Spanish methods
of war and asserting that "the inclusion of a thousand or more of
our own citizens among the victims of this policy" gives "the
President the right of specific remonstrance, but in the just
fulfillment of his duty he cannot limit himself to these formal
grounds of complaint. He is bound by the higher obligation of his
representative office to protest against the uncivilized and
inhuman conduct of the campaign in the island of Cuba. He