772 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



the city were suffered to smuggle provisions out to 

 them. Although troubled at being neglected by 

 the Americans and by the greater cordiality shown 

 toward the Spanish soldiers than to themselves, the 

 Cuban army, after the earlier expressions of doubt 

 and distrust from Gen. Garcia and Gen. Gomez, 

 followed those leaders in accepting every act of the 

 the United States Government as intended to pro- 

 mote the speedy realization of their hope of inde- 

 pendence. Some of the leading Cubans advocated 

 the ultimate annexation of the country to the 

 United States, but not without a preliminary trial 

 of independence. 



The Cuban Assembly elected by the army met 

 at Santa Cruz, and on Nov. 7 chose Domingo Men- 

 dez Capote as President, Fernando Freyre de An- 

 drade as Vice-President, and Manuel M. Coronado 

 and Dr. Porfirio Caliente as Secretaries not of the 

 Provisional Government, which was regarded as de- 

 funct, but to carry on the general business during 

 the adjournment of the General Assembly of the 

 Army, which was the only Cuban authority recog- 

 nized, except the commander-in-chief, who asserted 

 rival and conflicting powers. Both made it their 

 chief business to raise money to pay off the Cuban 

 soldiers, those who had served two years or more, 

 of whom there were 20,000 in a total number of 

 36,000. Gen. Gomez would not disband the army 

 or resign his post as commander-in-chief until the 

 troops had received some pay for their services, and 

 he endeavored to obtain an advance from the 

 United States Government, which finally appropri- 

 ated $3,000,000 for this purpose. He appealed to 

 the Cubans when the Americans took control of the 

 Government after the evacuation, in accordance 

 with the terms of the treaty, to give their efforts to 

 the establishment of law and order, that Cuba 

 might be the sooner free and independent, declaring 

 his conviction that when a strong and stable Gov- 

 ernment could be established in Cuba the American 

 army would depart, leaving Cubans to govern them- 

 selves and their country. 



The Spanish Evacuation. A Spanish-Amer- 

 ican commission arranged the details of the evacu- 

 ation of Cuba, which was delayed on account of the 

 difficulty the Spanish Government had in procur- 

 ing steam transportation for about 130,000 officers 

 and men of the army, and 15,000 civilian and mili- 

 tary employees and their families. The American 

 commissioners were Major-Gen. James F. Wade. 

 Rear-Admiral William T. Sampson, and Major- 

 Gen. Matthew C. Butler. A like commission per- 

 formed the same service in Puerto Rico, consisting 

 of Major-Gen. John R. Brooke, Rear- Admiral Win- 

 field S. Schley, and Brig.-Gen. William W. Gordon, 

 The repatriation of the soldiers who surrendered 

 at Santiago was carried out according to the terms 

 of the capitulation by the United States Govern- 

 ment, which awarded the contract to the Spanish 

 Transatlantic Company. The Puerto Rican joint 

 commission speedily accomplished its task, and by 

 Oct. 18 the evacuation of the island was complete. 

 The transfer of Havana to the American authori- 

 ties took place at last on Jan. 1, 1899, when Gen. 

 Jiminez Castellanos, who succeeded Gen. Blanco as 

 Captain General, and the Spanish military com- 

 missioners formally surrendered the government to 

 the United States commissioners, who resigned it 

 into the hands of Major-Gen. John R. Brooke, Mili- 

 tary Governor of Cuba. Major-Gen. Fitzhugh Lee 

 wus appointed Governor of the city and province of 

 Havana. 



The Treaty'of Peace. In accordance with the 

 peace protocol, the governments of the United 

 States and Spain each appointed five commissioners 

 to meet in Paris for the negotiation of a treaty of 

 peace. On Aug. 26 President McKinley named 



William R. Day, chairman, Senator I'ushman K. 

 Davis, Senator William P. Frye, Whitelaw Reid, 

 and Justice Edward D. White. Justice White 

 having declined to serve. Senator George Gray was 

 appointed on Sept. 9. The Spanish commissioners 

 were Eugenio Montero Rios, chairman. Buenaven- 

 tura d'Abarzuza, Jose de Garnica, Wenceslao Rami- 

 rez de X'illa Urrutia, and Gen. Rafael Cerero. The 

 Peace Commission came together on Oct. 1. At 

 the first meeting the Spanish commissioners made 

 a demand that the American forces be withdrawn 

 from Manila and the administration handed over 

 to the Spanish officials prior to the discussion of 

 other matters. This demand the American repre- 

 sentatives refused to entertain. The Cuban ques- 

 tion was the first matter of discussion. The Span- 

 ish commissioners contended that, since there was 

 no Cuban state, sovereignty over Cuba must pass to 

 the United States, and that this Government was 

 responsible for the Cuban debt secured on the cus- 

 toms of the island. The United States commission- 

 ers refused to accept for their Government the ca- 

 pacity of sovereign over Cuba, the war having been 

 waged, not for territorial aggrandizement, which 

 was disclaimed in the beginning, but for liberation 

 and order. It was not till Oct. 27 that the Spanish 

 commissioners accepted the Cuban articles. A con- 

 test then arose over the demands of the United 

 States regarding the Philippines, which were pre- 

 sented on Oct. 31. These comprised the cession of 

 the entire archipelago, the United States Govern- 

 ment undertaking to reimburse Spain to the extent 

 of her pacific expenditures for permanent improve- 

 ments. The Spanish Government, on Nov. 4, re- 

 jected this proposition, asserting that the third arti- 

 cle of the protocol reserved sovereignty over the 

 Philippines in accordance with its previous instruc- 

 tions to M. Cambon, to which the American Gov- 

 ernment had made no objection. The capitulation 

 of Manila on the day subsequent to the signing of 

 the protocol was void, in its opinion, and t he hold- 

 ing of Spanish prisoners and tiie seizure of the ad- 

 ministration and public moneys it held to be 

 breaches of international law, by the commission of 

 which the United States had prevented Spain from 

 quelling the insurrection. The question had been 

 discussed during the negotiation of the protocol, 

 when M. Cambon secured the substitution in the 

 third article for the word " possession " the more 

 elastic term " disposition." The Spanish Govern- 

 ment, in the note of Aug. 7, took the view that the 

 temporary occupation of Manila should constitute 

 a guarantee, and declared that it did not renoum < 

 the sovereignty of Spain over the archipelago, but 

 would leave it to the negotiators to decide what re- 

 forms were desirable and suitable for the natives. 

 The United States Government would not, accept 

 this reservation, but embodied in the protocol the 

 precise terms upon which it was willingto negotiate 

 as M. Cambon explained in forwarding it. The 

 American commissioners would not, therefore, ad- 

 mit that any conditions or reservations wen- at- 

 tached to the protocol. On instructions from their 

 Government they demanded the cession of the is- 

 lands in positive terms, refusing to discuss any 

 question in connection with them besides t lie man- 

 ner of their surrender and the compensation for im- 

 provements. On Nov. 16 the Spanish commission- 

 ers reaffirmed the position of their Government as 

 to the discussion of sovereignty, and insisted that 

 by the very terms of the protocol a demand extend- 

 ing to the relinquishment of Spanish sovereignly 

 was precluded, offering to submit the interpretation 

 of the third article to arbitration. The American 

 commissioners held that the words wen quite 

 plain. On Nov. 21 they submitted a final offer to 

 pay $20,000,000 as a lump sum to cover all <>x- 



