McKINLEY, WILLIAM. 



337 



engine, or combustion in the coal-bunkers. The 

 Queen-Regent expressed her sympathy to Gen. 

 Woodford, and the civil authorities of Havana 

 sent messages of condolence, but no official ex- 

 pression of regret was then made by the Spanish 

 Government. When the naval court of inquiry 

 reached Havana the local naval authorities of- 

 fered to act with them in investigating the ex- 

 Elosion, but the offer was declined. Thereupon 

 pain made an independent investigation. The 

 conclusions of the American court of inquiry were 

 that the explosion was not due to the officers 

 -or crew, but that it was caused by a submarine 

 mine underneath the port side of the ship. The 

 court found no evidence fixing the responsibility 

 upon any specified person or persons. It was not 

 until several weeks later, when the findings of 

 the American court had been announced, and the 

 heat of popular sentiment made war inevitable, 

 that the Spanish Government protested to Gen. 

 Woodford against our ex-parte investigation, al- 

 leging that a verdict so rendered was unfriendly, 

 and asked that a joint investigation or else a neu- 

 tral examination by expert arbitrators should be 

 made to determine whether the explosion was due 

 to internal or external causes. This proposal was 

 declined by President McKinley. The investigation 

 conducted independently by the Spanish Govern- 

 ment found that the explosion on the Maine was 

 accidental and internal. 



War was now only a question of time. On 

 March 7 two new regiments of artillery were au- 

 thorized by Congress, and on March 9 $50,000,000 

 for national defense, to be expended at his discre- 

 tion, was placed at the disposal of the President. 

 This action was hailed with enthusiasm through- 

 out the country and commanded wide-spread at- 

 tention and admiration abroad. The speeches of 

 Senator Proctor and others who had visited Cuba 

 carried great weight. The President asked for a 

 bill providing a contingent increase of the army to 

 100,000 men, which was passed at once. Spain on 

 her part put forth every effort to reenforce the 

 .army in Cuba and to strengthen the navy. On 

 March 23, after the President had received the re- 

 port of the naval court of inquiry, Gen. Woodford 

 presented a formal note to the Spanish minister 

 Avarning him that unless an agreement assuring 

 permanent, immediate, and honorable peace in 

 Cuba was reached within a few days the Presi- 

 dent would feel constrained to submit the whole 

 question to Congress. Various other notes were 

 passed in the next few days, but the Spanish notes 

 were regarded by the President as dilatory and en- 

 tirely unsatisfactory. 



On April 7 the ambassadors or envoys of Great 

 Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, and 

 Russia called on the President and addressed to 

 him a joint note expressing the hope that human- 

 ity and moderation might mark the course of the 

 United States Government and people, and that 

 further negotiations would lead to an agreement 

 which, while assuring the maintenance of peace, 

 would afford all necessary guarantees for the re- 

 establishment of order in Cuba. The President, 

 in response, said he shared the hope the envoys 

 had expressed that peace might be preserved in 

 a manner to terminate the chronic condition of dis- 

 turbance in Cuba so injurious and menacing to our 

 interests and tranquillity, as well as shocking to 

 our sentiments of humanity, and while appreciat- 

 ing the disinterested character of their communi- 

 cation, he expressed the confidence of this Gov- 

 ernment, that equal appreciation would be shown 

 for its own earnest and unselfish endeavors to 

 fulfil a duty to humanity by ending a situation 

 ~the prolongation of which had become insufferable. 

 VOL. XLI. 22 A 



The Queen-Regent directed 11ml c.cn. Blanco 

 should be authori/ed to giant u suspension of 

 hostilities, the form and duration 'ur-in-j jct't. 1< his 

 discretion, to enable the insurgent-, to ^nlmiit 

 and confer as to the measure of autonomy to be 

 granted to them. This was a very difVr;-en'l thin" 

 from assent to the President's demand 1'or an 

 armistice from April to October, with an assur- 

 ance that negotiations for independence -hould 

 be opened with the insurgents. No real armistice 

 being offered, there was nothing for the Cubans 

 to decline. This evasive outcome of the labors of 

 the President for two months caused him to aban- 

 don all hope of an adequate settlement by nego- 

 tiation, and to send in his message of April 11, 

 in which he reviewed the negotiations at length 

 and ended by leaving the issue with Congress. 



On April 13 a resolution was passed by fhe 

 House authorizing the President to intervene to 

 pacify Cuba. On April 16 the Senate amended the 

 House resolution by striking out all except the 

 number, and substituting a resolution recognizing 

 Cuba's independence. April 19 these two resolu- 

 tions were combined in a joint resolution, which 

 was adopted by both houses after a bitter strug- 

 gle. This resolution was approved by the execu- 

 tive the next day. Spain assumed to treat the 

 joint resolution of April 20 as a declaration of 

 war, and sent Gen. Woodford his passports about 

 seven o'clock on the morning of the 21st, before 

 he could communicate the demands of the resolu- 

 tion. In the United States it was assumed that 

 by dismissing Gen. Woodford Spain initiated 

 actual war, wherefore Congress, by an act ap- 

 proved April 25, declared " that war exists, and 

 that war has existed since the 21st day of April, 

 A. D. 1898, including said day, between the United 

 States of America and the Kingdom of Spain." 

 In like manner the Spanish decree of April 23 

 simply recites in Article I " the state of war ex- 

 isting between Spain and the United States," 

 without assigning a date for its beginning. The 

 President's proclamation of April 26 coincided 

 with the Spanish decree of April 23 in adopting 

 for the war the maritime rules of the Declaration 

 of Paris. 



By the end of the month the troops called for 

 under the act of April 23, authorizing the Presi- 

 dent to call for 125,000 volunteers, had begun to 

 concentrate at Tampa, Fla. On April 30 Congress 

 authorized a bond issue of $200,000,000, and a cir- 

 cular was issued the same day inviting subscrip- 

 tions. The total of subscriptions of $500 and less 

 was $100,444,560, and the total in greater amounts 

 than $500, including certain proposals guarantee- 

 ing the loan, amounted in the aggregate to more 

 than $1,400,000,000. 



Orders for a blockade of Cuba were issued on 

 April 21, and the blockade was established and 

 proclaimed the next day. In his proclamation of 

 April 26 the President set forth at length the prin- 

 ciples that would govern the conduct of the Gov- 

 ernment with regard to the rights of neutrals and 

 the other points of naval warfare. The nation 

 had scarcely realized the existence of war when it 

 received news of Dewey's magnificent victory at 

 Manila. This event fired the national heart with 

 enthusiasm, and added immensely to the prestige 

 of our navy abroad. On May 4 Admiral Samp- 

 son's squadron sailed from Key West ; and on the 

 12th it engaged the forts at San Juan de Porto 

 Rico. This was but a reconnaissance to discover 

 whether the fleet under Admiral Cervera was in 

 port; for the object of the navy was to destroy 

 the Spanish fleet that had left the Cape Verde 

 Islands on April 29. On May 19 Commodore 

 Schley's flying squadron sailed from Key West 



