Altogether it was quite an exciting event. After the “smoke of battle” had cleared away Mr. Taft rose up out of his depression and went to work with renewed vigour and strengthened confidence, but I began to think that after all the demonstrations and protestations we should have to remain in the Islands the rest of our lives whether we wanted to or not. Six months later, however, we learned, to our consternation, that Mr. Root was going to resign as Secretary of War in the fall or winter following, and without a moment’s hesitation as far as we could judge, the position was offered by Mr. Roosevelt to Mr.