And I telegraphed back that same day:

President McKinley
Executive Mansion
Washington

Your request that I should accept the post of Minister to Turkey, with which you honor me, I regard as a command, and deem it my patriotic duty to you and to the country to accept.

Oscar S. Straus

Among the telegrams and letters of congratulation I received was one from William L. Wilson, then the president of Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia, reading: "Washington and Lee greets you as Doctor of Laws."

The National Civic Club of Brooklyn gave me a dinner and reception, presided over by my friend and college mate, Frederic W. Hinrichs, at which the leading speaker was Dr. St. Clair McKelway, editor of the "Brooklyn Eagle." During the evening a letter was received from my former chief and Secretary of State, Thomas F. Bayard, saying:

It was my good fortune to be associated with Mr. Straus when he first took up the tangled web of Turkish diplomacy, so that few persons can so well attest as I, his possession of those talents and high personal characteristics which give him weight everywhere.

Ex-President Cleveland, who was prevented from being present by another engagement, wrote:

I would be glad to join those who will do honor to Mr. Straus ... and thus show my appreciation of his usefulness and the worth of his good example in recognizing the demands of good citizenship and responding to the call of public duty.

And there were also messages from many others, including President McKinley.

I did not leave for my post for several months. Meanwhile I had more conferences with the President regarding the Spanish situation. Early in August, in discussing pending Spanish peace negotiations, he wanted my ideas regarding them and as to how much of the Philippines we should take. I strongly advised that we take as little as possible—nothing more than a naval and coaling station; otherwise to appropriate the Philippines would in the long run entail endless obligations without commensurate benefits. I told him I believed these to be the views also of many of the more thoughtful citizens, and that I had spoken with a number of prominent men, such as ex-Postmaster-General Wilson, ex-Secretary of the Treasury Carlisle, and Clifton R. Breckinridge, formerly of the Ways and Means Committee, all of whom were of like opinion. The President seemed to appreciate my view, but again feared the jingo spirit of Congress. He complained also of the attitude of the Cuban insurgents, who were exaggerating their numbers as well as their demands.