UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



739 



United States consul-general at Havana. The 

 Government at Washington declined to recall Gen. 

 Lee in existing circumstances or to countermand 

 the employment of naval vessels which were not 

 fighting ships, whereupon Spain withdrew her sug- 

 gestion. Meanwhile Spain was getting her navy in 

 fighting condition as rapidly as possible, hurrying 

 the work of construction, armament, and repair in 

 the shipyards, and buying ships abroad. Agents of 

 the United States navy were also busy in Europe 

 negotiating for the purchase of any good modern 

 cruisers that could be bought, while ordnance fac- 

 tories were turning out guns and disappearing car- 

 riages with all dispatch to mount on the unfinished 

 war vessels and the shore batteries, and the work in 

 hand was rushed in the Government arsenals. The 

 bill authorizing the creation of two new regiments 

 of artillery to man the harbor forts was passed on 

 March 7, and $50,000,000 was placed at the dispo- 

 sition of the President for national defense. The 

 squadron concentrated at Key West drew from the 

 Spanish Government a representation that the war- 

 like preparations were likely to have a serious influ- 

 ence in encouraging the Cuban revolutionists just 

 when the autonomy plan was to be put to the test 

 in the Cuban elections, and thus endanger the suc- 

 cess of the reforms that Spain was trying to inau- 

 gurate. The Spanish minister protested that war 

 by the United States against Spain in such circum- 

 stances would be unjustifiable before the world, and 

 a crime against humanity and civilization. The 

 Secretary of State retorted by inquiring about the 

 dispatch of a Spanish torpedo flotilla to Havana. 

 The President asked for a bill providing for the 

 contingent increase of the army to 100,000 men. 

 The speeches of Senator Proctor and other mem- 

 bers of Congress who had lately visited Cuba, as- 

 serting that 425,000 Cubans had 'died of starvation, 

 and 200.000 more were in a starving condition, 

 were followed on March 28 by the report of the 

 naval commission on the " Maine " disaster. 



The election of Cuban Deputies in the Spanish 

 Cortes took place on March 27. It was a mere 

 formality, 20 official candidates being selected to 

 represent the majority and 10 as representatives of 

 the minority the whole list submitted to the Gov- 

 ernor General, and on receiving his approval de- 

 clared elected. The military and other expenses 

 of the Cuban Government went on at the rate of 

 $10,000,000 a month. 



The Spanish soldiers of all ranks were eager for a 

 war with the United States, hoping to redeem in 

 regular operations the reputation of Spanish arms, 

 which had suffered in the campaigns against the 

 Cubans. Preparations for defense were pushed 

 forward on the coast line in the vicinity of Havana, 

 where sandbag protections were thrown up in front 

 of the batteries and additional earthworks were con- 

 structed. The re-enforcements sent from Spain 

 numbered 16,000 men, most of them raw recruits, 

 a large proportion boys not seventeen years old. 

 The regular infantry was made up entirely of 

 Spanish conscripts who had no interest in Cuba, 

 but were controlled by an excellent spirit of mili- 

 tary discipline and subordination. The regular 

 cavalry were soldiers of Spanish birth, mounted 

 on ill-fed Texas ponies, and only capable of the 

 duties of mounted infantry. The civil guard was 

 a well-behaved body composed of the pick of the 

 Spaniards in Cuba detailed for service in cities. 

 The guerrilla cavalry was a force regularly re- 

 cruited from among the Spanish residents and na- 

 tive Cubans, who fought the insurgents in their 

 own fashion, came oftener in conflict with them 

 than any of the other Spanish forces, and were 

 usually killed without quarter when captured. 

 The volunteers were organized and greatly fa- 



vored by Gen. Weyler, being composed of the 

 most ardent of the Spaniards in Cuba, who exer- 

 cised a strong political influence, but had not often 

 been called upon to prove their fighting abilities. 

 The mobolizados were an irregular force of infan- 

 try, serving usually without pay, and only called 

 out when occasion required to "do guard duty in 

 the blockhouse forts around each fortified town. 

 The guard of public order was another irregular 

 force summoned in emergencies for guard duty 

 in the cities. 



The American Ultimatum. March 23, after 

 the President had received the report of the court 

 of inquiry on the destruction of the " Maine," which 

 he withheld from Congress until he had endeavored 

 to secure some satisfactory agreement with Spain 

 that would avert war, Gen. Woodford presented a 

 formal statement to the Spanish Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, warning him that, apart from the destruc- 

 tion of the vessel, unless an agreement assuring 

 immediate and honorable peace in Cuba was reached 

 within a very few days, the President would feel 

 himself constrained to submit to the decision of 

 Congress the whole question of the relations between 

 the United States and Spain, including the " Maine " 

 incident. The recall of Gen. Weyler and the crea- 

 tion of autonomous institutions, with the evident 

 desire of the Spanish Government to effect a pacifi- 

 cation, had awakened in the United States Govern- 

 ment the hope that peace would be firmly and 

 permanently established, but this hope had been 

 disappointed. The winter was at an end, and peace 

 was not yet in sight. The system of devastating 

 the island so as to cut off all supplies from their 

 opponents was still practiced both by the Spanish 

 troops and by the insurgents. All the sufferings 

 and horrors of civil war still continued, and the 

 moment had arrived when, in the interests of hu- 

 manity and for the sake of their own commercial, 

 financial, and sanitary needs, the United States must 

 demand that a satisfactory agreement be reached 

 that would insure immediate peace in Cuba. The 

 population of Cuba, decimated by famine, destitu- 

 tion, and disease, had sunk from 1,600,000 to 1,200,- 

 000, and the sanitary conditions were lamentable, 

 so that the adjacent portions of the United States 

 were threatened with an epidemic. The lucrative 

 commerce with the United States had been inter- 

 rupted, and many millions of American capital had 

 been lost or jeoparded ; but above all these con- 

 siderations the controlling questions of humanity 

 and civilization were to be considered. The Span- 

 ish minister replied on March 25, urging that the 

 " Maine" report should not be sent to Congress, but 

 should be made the subject of diplomatic adjust- 

 ment between the two governments, and that the- 

 means of securing the pacification of Cuba should 

 be left to the Insular Parliament, which was to 

 meet on May 4. In reply, Gen. Woodford inquired 

 whether the Spanish Government was willing to 

 grant an immediate armistice. A few days later 

 he asked for a conference with the President of the 

 Council, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the 

 Ministry of the Colonies to be present also. At this 

 meeting, which took place on March 21), he com- 

 municated a message from the President, promised 

 with the declaration that the United States did not 

 want Cuba, but did wish immediate peace in Cuba, 

 requesting an immediate armistice lasting until 

 Oct. 1, negotiations to be carried on in the mean- 

 time with a view to effecting peace between Spain 

 and the insurgents through the kindly offices of the 

 United States; and farther request ing the imme- 

 diate revocation of the reconcentration order so as 

 to permit the people to return to their farms, and 

 the needy to be relieved with provisions and sup- 

 plies from the United States with the co-operation 



