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THE CUBA REVIEW 



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VEDADO RESIDENCE, A MODERN HAVANA DWELLING. 



to Cuba tlic Secretary of War and the Assistant Secretary of State in order that they 

 might grapple with the situation on the ground. All efforts to secure an agreement 

 between the contending factions, by which they should themselves come to an amicable 

 understanding and settle upon some modus vivendi — some provisional Government of 

 their own — failed. Finally the President of the republic resigned. 



The quorum of Congress assembled failed by deliberate purpose of its members, 

 so that there w-as no power to act on his resignation, and the Government came to a 

 halt. In accordance with the so-called Piatt amendment, which was embodied in tlie 

 constitution of Cuba, I thereupon proclaimed a provisional Government for the island, 

 the Secretary of War acting as Provisional Governor until he could be replaced by Mr. 

 Magoon, the late Minister to Panama and Governor of the Canal Zone on the Isthmus; 

 troops were sent to support them and to relieve the navy, the expedition being handled 

 with most satisfactory speed and efficiency. The insurgent chiefs immediately agreed 

 that their troops should lay down their arms and disband ; and the agreement was 

 carried out. The provisional Government has left the personnel of the old Government 

 • and the old laws, so far as might be, unchanged, and will thus administer the island 

 for a few months until tranquillity can be restored, a new election properly held, and a 

 new Government inaugurated. Peace has come in the island; and the harvesting of the 

 sugar-cane crop, the great crop of the island, is about to proceed. 



When the election has been held and the new Government inaugurated in peaceful 

 and orderly fashion the provisional Government will come to an end. I take this oppor- 

 tunity of expressing upon behalf of the American people, with all possible solemnity, 

 our most earnest hope that the people of Cuba will realize the imperative need of pre- 

 serving justice and keeping order in the island. The United States wishes nothing of 

 Cuba except that it shall prosper morally and materially, and w^ishcs nothing of the 

 Cubans save that they shall be able to preserve order among themselves, and therefore 

 to preserve their independence. If the elections become a farce, and if the insurrectionary 

 habit becomes confirmed in the island, it is absolutely out of the question that the island 

 should continue independent, and the United States, which lias assumed the sponsorship 

 before the civilized world for Cuba's career as a nation, would again have to intervene, 

 and to see that the Government was managed in such orderly fashion as to secure the 

 safety of life and property. The path to be trodden by those who exercise self-govem- 

 mert is always hard, and wc should have every charity and patience with the Cubans 

 as they tread this difficult path. I have the utmost sympathy with and regard for them, 

 but T most earnestly adjure them solemnly to weigh their responsibilities, and to see 

 that when their new Government is started it shall run smoothly, and w-ith freedom from 

 flagrant denial of right on the one hand and from insurrectionary disturbances on the 

 other. 



