the President appeared to be striving by diplomacy
to avert the necessity.
The drift toward hostility was so strong that on
the 5th of April, General Fitzhugh Lee, the American
consul-general at Havana, abandoned his post,
after warning all Americans of the expediency of
leaving Cuba, and after aiding the departure of all
who desired it. On April n th , the President sent
a special message to Congress in which, after reviewing
the situation anew, he asked that body to
“ authorise the President to take measures to secure a
full and final termination of hostilities between the Government
of Spain and the people of Cuba, and to secure
in the island the establishment of a stable government
capable of maintaining order and observing its international
obligations, insuring peace and tranquillity and
the security of its citizens as well as our own, and to use
the military and naval forces of the United States as
may be necessary for these purposes.”
This led to the adoption of a joint resolution on
the 19th of April, declaring that the people of Cuba
“ are and of right ought to be free and independen
t,” demanding that the Government of Spain relinquish
its authority in the island and withdraw its
land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters,
and directing the President to use the land and naval
forces of the United States “ to carry these resolutions
into effect.” This was immediately followed
by the departure of the Spanish Minister from
Washington and of the American Minister from
Madrid, an order for the blockade of the ports of
Cuba, and a call for 125,000 volunteers for the United
States army; and on April 25th, there was a formal
declaration by act of Congress that war existed and
had existed “ since the 21st day of April, A.D.
1898, including that day, between the United States
of America and the kingdom of Spain.
During the war, which was suspended by the signing
of a peace protocol at Washington on the 12th
of August, the blockade of the ports of Cuba was
maintained, and insignificant attacks were made
upon the defences of Matanzas and Cardenas; but the
decisive events were the destruction of the Spanish
fleet of four cruisers and two torpedo-boat destroyers,
under Admiral Cervera, outside of the harbour
of Santiago, on the 3d of July, and the surrender of
the city of Santiago de Cuba to the land forces of
the United States on the 14th of that month.
Cervera had left the Cape Verde Islands for the
West Indies on the 29th of April, and after cruising
about in a manner that seemed somewhat aimless,
had taken refuge in the harbour of Santiago on May
19th. A s soon as this was known, an American
“ flying squadron,” under Commodore W . S.
Schley, took up its position off the entrance to the
harbour, and was joined by the main body of the
American fleet, under A c tin g Rear-Admiral W. T .
Sampson, on the 1st of June, the latter officer then
taking command. There was some bombarding of
the defences and an attempt to block the channel
by sinking the collier Merrimac across it, on the
night of June 3d, at a point within the line of the
outer forts,— a perilous venture heroically carried
out under the fire of the enemy’ s guns by Lieuten