The portrait of President McKinley is from the photograph that seems to his friends upon the whole the most striking of his likenesses.  That of the Secretary of State, the Honorable John Hay, is certainly from the latest and best of his photos.  The Postmaster General, the Honorable Charles Emory Smith, and Secretary Bliss, are presented in excellent form and the whole Cabinet with unusual faithfulness.  Our naval and military heroes in the war that has introduced the American nation to the nations of the earth as a belligerent of the first class, cannot become too familiar to the people, for they are of the stuff that brightens with friction, and the more it is worn gives higher proof that it is of both the precious metals in war, gold and steel.

Admiral Dewey, as we have set forth in this volume, is not thus far fairly dealt with in the pictures that have been taken.  He is a surprise to those who meet him face to face—­so far has photography failed to adequately present him, but the portrait we give is the best that has been made of him.

Major-General Merritt retains the keen, clear cut face, and the figure and bearing of an ideal soldier that has characterized him since, as a youth just from West Point, he entered the army and won his way by his courage and courtesy, his brilliant conduct and excellent intelligence, his dashing charges and superb leadership, to a distinguished position and the affectionate regard of the army and the people.  In the Indian wars, after the bloody struggle of the States was over, he outrode the Indians on the prairies and was at once their conqueror and pacificator.  He ranks in chivalry with the knights, and his work at Manila was the perfection of campaigning that produced conclusive results with a comparatively small shedding of blood.

The likeness of the Archbishop of Manila was presented me by His Grace at the close of a personal interview, and represents him as he is.  The chapter devoted to him is meant to do him simple justice as a man and priest.  The fact that he bestowed upon me in the inscription with which he greatly increased the value of his portrait a military dignity to which I have no title is an expression only of his friendliness.  He frankly stated his pleasure in meeting an American who would convey to the President of the United States the message he gave me about the American army, to which he was indebted for security and peace of mind.

General Aguinaldo gave me his photograph, and the flag of the Filipinos with him in the effort to establish an independent government, republican in form.  One is not always sure of that which happens in the Philippines, even when one reads about it.  I am prepared to believe that there is much truth in the dispatch saying a majority of the Congress of the insurgents at Molores favor annexation to the United States.  The whole truth probably is that they would gladly have this country their Protector at