Whereas by a joint resolution passed by the Congress and approved April
20, 1898,[24] and communicated to the Government of Spain, it was
demanded that said Government at once relinquish its authority and
government in the island of Cuba and withdraw its land and naval forces
from Cuba and Cuban waters, and the President of the United States was
directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the
United States and to call into the actual service of the United States
the militia of the several States to such extent as might be necessary
to carry said resolution into effect; and
Whereas in carrying into effect said resolution the President of the
United States deems it necessary to set on foot and maintain a blockade
of the north coast of Cuba, including all ports on said coast between
Cardenas and Bahia Honda, and the port of Cienfuegos, on the south coast
of Cuba:
Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, in
order to enforce the said resolution, do hereby declare and proclaim
that the United States of America have instituted and will maintain a
blockade of the north coast of Cuba, including ports on said coast
between Cardenas and Bahia Honda, and the port of Cienfuegos, on the
south coast of Cuba, aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United
States and the law of nations applicable to such cases. An efficient
force will be posted so as to prevent the entrance and exit of vessels
from the ports aforesaid. Any neutral vessel approaching any of said
ports or attempting to leave the same without notice or knowledge of the
establishment of such blockade will be duly warned by the commander of
the blockading forces, who will indorse on her register the fact and the
date of such warning, where such indorsement was made; and if the same
vessel shall again attempt to enter any blockaded port she will be
captured and sent to the nearest convenient port for such proceedings
against her and her cargo as prize as may be deemed advisable.
Neutral vessels lying in any of said ports at the time of the
establishment of such blockade will be allowed thirty days to issue
therefrom. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the
seal of the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 22d day of April, A.D. 1898, and of
the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-second.
WILLIAM McKINLEY.
By the President:
JOHN SHERMAN,
_Secretary of State_.
[Footnote 24: See p. 155.]