PRESIDENT McKINLEY ACTS.
The Message to Congress--Loss of American Trade--Terrible
Increase in the Death Rate--American Aid for the Starving--The
President's Proposition to Spain--Grounds for Intervention--The
Destruction of the Maine--The Addenda.
With the press and public of the entire country at a fever heat
of indignation, and the evident determination on the part of a
large majority of the members of the Congress of the United States
to bring matters to a crisis, it was evident to all that the time
for action had arrived.
The President yielded to the popular demand, and on April 11 he
sent to Congress the following message:
To the Congress of the United States:
Obedient to that precept of the Constitution which commands the
President to give from time to time to the Congress information of
the state of the Union, and to recommend to their consideration
such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient, it
becomes my duty now to address your body with regard to the grave
crisis that has arisen in the relations of the United States to
Spain by reason of the warfare that for more than three years has
raged in the neighboring island of Cuba. I do so because of the
intimate connection of the Cuban question with the state of our
own Union, and the grave relation the course of which it is now
incumbent upon the nation to adopt, must needs bear to the
traditional policy of our Government if it is to accord with the
precepts laid down by the founders of the Republic and religiously
observed by succeeding administrations to the present day.
The present revolution is but the successor of other similar
insurrections which have occurred in Cuba against the dominion of
Spain, extending over a period of nearly half a century, each of
which during its progress has subjected the United States to great
effort and expense in enforcing its neutrality laws, caused
enormous losses to American trade and commerce, caused irritation,
annoyance and disturbance among our citizens, and by the exercise
of cruel, barbarous and uncivilized practices of warfare, shocked
the sensibilities and offended the humane sympathies of our
people.
Since the present revolution began, in February, 1895, this
country has seen the fertile domain at our threshold ravaged by
fire and sword in the course of a struggle unequaled in the
history of the island, and rarely paralleled as to the number of
the combatants and the bitterness of the contest by any revolution
of modern times, where a dependent people striving to be free have
been oppressed by the power of the sovereign State. Our people
have beheld a once prosperous community reduced to comparative
want, its lucrative commerce virtually paralyzed, its exceptional
productiveness diminished, its fields laid waste, its mills in
ruins, and its people perishing by tens of thousands from hunger
and destitution. We have found ourselves constrained in the
observance of that strict neutrality which our laws enjoin, and
which the law of nations commands, to police our waters and watch
our own seaports in prevention of any unlawful act in aid of the
Cubans.
LOSS OF AMERICAN TRADE.
Our trade has suffered, the capital invested by our citizens in Cuba has
been largely lost, and the temper and forbearance of our people have
been so seriously tried as to beget a perilous unrest among our own
citizens, which has inevitably found its expression from time to time in
the National Legislature, so that issues wholly external to our own body
politic stand in the way of that close devotion to domestic advancement
that becomes's self-contained commonwealth, whose primal maxim has been
the avoidance of all foreign entanglements. All this must needs awaken,
and has indeed aroused, the utmost concern on the part of this
government, as well during my predecessor's term as in my own.
In April, 1896, the evils from which our country suffered through
the Cuban war became so onerous that my predecessor made an effort
to bring about a peace through the mediation of this government in
any way that might tend to an honorable adjustment of the contest
between Spain and her revolted colony, on the basis of some
effective scheme of self-government for Cuba under the flag and
sovereignty of Spain. It failed, through the refusal of the
Spanish Government then in power to consider any form of
mediation, or, indeed, any plan of settlement which did not begin
with the actual submission of the insurgents to the mother
country, and then only on such terms as Spain herself might see
fit to grant. The war continued unabated. The resistance of the
insurgents was in no wise diminished.
The efforts of Spain were increased, both by the despatch of fresh
levies to Cuba and by the addition to the horrors of the strife of
a new and inhuman phase, happily unprecedented in the modern
history of civilized Christian peoples. The policy of devastation
and concentration by the Captain-General's bando of October, 1896,
in the province of Pinar del Rio was thence extended to embrace
all of the island to which the power of the Spanish arms was able
to reach by occupation or by military operations. The peasantry,
including all dwelling in the open agricultural interior, were
driven into the garrison towns or isolated places held by the
troops. The raising and moving of provisions of all kinds were
interdicted. The fields were laid waste, dwellings unroofed and
fired, mills destroyed, and, in short, everything that could
desolate the land and render it unfit for human habitation or
support was commanded by one or the other of the contending
parties and executed by all the powers at their disposal.
By the time the present administration took office a year ago,
reconcentration--so-called--had been made effective over the
better part of the four central and western provinces, Santa
Clara, Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Rio. The agricultural
population, to the estimated number of 300,000, or more, was
herded within the towns and their immediate vicinage, deprived of
the means of support, rendered destitute of shelter, left poorly
clad, and exposed to the most unsanitary conditions. As the
scarcity of food increased with the devastation of the depopulated
areas of production, destitution and want became misery and
starvation.
TERRIBLE INCREASE IN THE DEATH RATE.
Month by month the death rate increased in an alarming ratio. By
March, 1897, according to conservative estimate from official
Spanish sources, the mortality among the reconcentrados, from
starvation and the diseases thereto incident, exceeded 50 per
centum of their total number. No practical relief was accorded to
the destitute. The overburdened towns, already suffering from the
general dearth, could give no aid.
In this state of affairs my administration found itself confronted
with the grave problem of its duty. My message of last December
reviewed the situation, and narrated the steps taken with a view
to relieving its acuteness and opening the way to some form of
honorable settlement. The assassination of the Prime Minister,
Canovas, led to a change of government in Spain. The former
administration, pledged to subjugation without concession, gave
place to that of a more liberal party, committed long in advance
to a policy of reform involving the wider principle of home rule
for Cuba and Puerto Rico.
The overtures of this government made through its new Envoy,
General Woodford, and looking to an immediate and effective
amelioration of the condition of the island, although not accepted
to the extent of admitted mediation in any shape, were met by
assurances that home rule, in an advanced phase, would be
forthwith offered to Cuba, without waiting for the war to end, and
that more humane methods should henceforth prevail in the conduct
of hostilities.
AMERICAN AID FOR THE STARVING.
While these negotiations were in progress, the increasing
destitution of the unfortunate reconcentrados and the alarming
mortality among them claimed earnest attention. The success which
had attended the limited measure of relief extended to the
suffering American citizens among them by the judicious
expenditure through the Consular agencies of the money
appropriated expressly for their succor by the joint resolution
approved May 24, 1897, prompted the humane extension of a similar
scheme of aid to the great body of sufferers. A suggestion to this
end was acquiesced in by the Spanish authorities. On the 24th of
December last I caused to be issued an appeal to the American
people inviting contributions in money or in kind for the succor
of the starving sufferers in Cuba, followed this on the 8th of
January by a similar public announcement of the formation of a
Central Cuban Relief Committee, with headquarters in New York
city, composed of three members representing the National Red
Cross and the religious and business elements of the community.
Coincidentally with these declarations, the new Government of
Spain continued to complete the policy already begun by its
predecessor of testifying friendly regard for this nation by
releasing American citizens held under one charge or another
connected with the insurrection, so that, by the end of November,
not a single person entitled in any way to our national protection
remained in a Spanish prison.
The war in Cuba is of such a nature that short of subjugation or
extermination a final military victory for either side seems
impracticable. The alternative lies in the physical exhaustion of
the one or the other party, or perhaps of both--a condition which
in effect ended the Ten Years' War by the truce of Zanjon. The
prospect of such a protraction and conclusion of the present
strife is a contingency hardly to be contemplated with equanimity
by the civilized world, and least of all by the United States,
affected and injured as we are, deeply and intimately by its very
existence.
Realizing this, it appeared to be my duty in a spirit of true
friendliness, no less to Spain than to the Cubans who have so much
to lose by the prolongation of the struggle, to seek to bring
about an immediate termination of the war. To this end I submitted
on the 27th ultimo, as a result of much representation and
correspondence through the United States Minister at Madrid,
propositions to the Spanish Government looking to an armistice
until October 1, for the negotiation of peace with the good
offices of the President.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSITION TO SPAIN.
In addition I asked the immediate revocation of the order of
reconcentration so as to permit the people to return to their
farms and the needy to be relieved with provisions and supplies
from the United States, co-operating with the Spanish authorities
so as to afford full relief.
The reply of the Spanish Cabinet was received on the night of the 31st
ultimo. It offers as the means to bring about peace in Cuba, to confide
the preparation thereof to the Insular Parliament, inasmuch as the
concurrence of that body would be necessary to reach a final result, it
being, however, understood that the powers reserved by the Constitution
to the central government are not lessened or diminished. As the Cuban
Parliament does not meet until the 4th of May nest, the Spanish
Government would not object, for its part, to accept at once a
suspension of hostilities if asked for by the insurgents from the
General-in-Chief, to whom it would pertain in such a case to determine
the duration and conditions of the armistice.
The propositions submitted by General Woodford and the reply of
the Spanish Government were both in the form of brief memoranda,
the texts of which are before me, and are substantially in the
language above given.
There remain the alternative forms of intervention to end the war,
either as an impartial neutral by imposing a rational compromise
between the contestants, or as the active ally of one party or the
other.
As to the first, it is not to be forgotten that during the last
few months the relation of the United States has virtually been
one of friendly intervention in many ways, each not of itself
conclusive, but all tending to the exertion of a potential
influence toward an ultimate pacific result just and honorable to
all interests concerned. The spirit of all our acts hitherto has
been an earnest, unselfish desire for peace and prosperity in
Cuba, untarnished by differences between us and Spain and
unstained by the blood of American citizens.
The forcible intervention of the United States as a neutral, to
stop the war, according to the large dictates of humanity and
following many historical precedents where neighboring States have
interfered to check the hopeless sacrifices of life by internecine
conflicts beyond their borders, is justifiable on rational
grounds. It involves, however, hostile constraint upon both the
parties to the contest, as well to enforce a truce as to guide the
eventual settlement.
GROUNDS FOR INTERVENTION.
The grounds for such intervention may be briefly summarized as
follows:
First. In the cause of humanity and to put an end to the
barbarities, bloodshed, starvation and horrible miseries now
existing there, and which the parties to the conflict are either
unable to or unwilling to stop or mitigate. It is no answer to say
this is all in another country, belonging to another nation, and
is therefore none of our business. It is specially our duty, for
it is right at our door.
Second. We owe it to our citizens in Cuba to afford them that
protection and indemnity for life and property which no government
there can or will afford, and to that end to terminate the
conditions that deprive them of legal protection.
Third. The right to intervene may be justified by the very serious
injury to the commerce, trade and business of our people, and by
the wanton destruction of property and devastation of the island.
Fourth. Aid which is of the utmost importance. The present
condition of affairs in Cuba is a constant menace to our peace and
entails upon this Government an enormous expense. With such a
conflict waged for years in an island so near us, and with which
our people have such trade and business relations; when the lives
and liberty of our citizens are in constant danger and their
property destroyed and themselves ruined; where our trading
vessels are liable to seizure and are seized at our very door by
warships of a foreign nation, the expeditions of filibustering
that we are powerless altogether to prevent, and the irritating
questions and entanglements thus arising--all these and others
that I need not mention, with the resulting strained relations,
are a constant menace to our peace and compel us to keep on a
semi-war footing with a nation with which we are at peace.
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MAINE.
These elements of danger and disorder already pointed out have
been strikingly illustrated by a tragic event which has deeply and
justly moved the American people. I have already transmitted to
Congress the report of the Naval Court of Inquiry on the
destruction of the battleship Maine in the harbor of Havana during
the night of the 15th of February. The destruction of that noble
vessel has filled the national heart with inexpressible horror.
Two hundred and fifty-eight brave sailors and marines and two
officers of our navy, reposing in the fancied security of a
friendly harbor, have been hurled to death, grief and want brought
to their homes and sorrow to the nation.
The Naval Court of Inquiry, which, it is needless to say, commands
the unqualified confidence of the Government, was unanimous in its
conclusions that the destruction of the Maine was caused by an
exterior explosion--that of a submarine mine. It did not assume to
place the responsibility. That remains to be fixed.
In any event the destruction of the Maine, by whatever exterior
cause, is a patent and impressive proof of a state of things in
Cuba that, is intolerable. That condition is thus shown to be such
that the Spanish Government cannot assure safety and security to a
vessel of the American navy in the harbor of Havana on a mission
of peace and rightfully there.
Further referring in this connection to recent diplomatic
correspondence, a despatch from our Minister to Spain, of the 26th
ultimo, contained the statement that the Spanish Minister for
Foreign Affairs assured him positively that Spain would do all
that the highest honor and justice required in the matter of the
Maine. The reply above referred to of the 31st ultimo also
contained an expression of the readiness of Spain to submit to an
arbitration all the differences which can arise in this matter,
which is subsequently explained by the note of the Spanish
Minister at Washington of the 10th instant as follows:
As to the question of fact which springs from the diversity of
views between the report of the American and Spanish boards, Spain
proposes that the fact be ascertained by an impartial
investigation by experts, whose decision Spain accepts in advance.
To this I have made no reply.
In view of these facts and these considerations, I ask the
Congress to authorize and empower 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.
And in the interest of humanity and to aid in preserving the lives
of the starving people of the island, I recommend that the
distribution of food and supplies be continued, and that an
appropriation be made out of the public treasury to supplement the
charity of our citizens. The issue is now with Congress. It is a
solemn responsibility. I have exhausted every effort to relieve
the intolerable condition of affairs which is at our doors.
Prepared to execute every obligation imposed upon me by the
Constitution and the law, I await your action.
THE ADDENDA.
Yesterday, and since the preparation of the foregoing message,
official information was received by me that the latest decree of
the Queen Regent of Spain directs General Blanco in order to
prepare and facilitate peace, to proclaim a suspension of
hostilities, the duration and details of which have not yet been
communicated to me. This fact, with every other pertinent
consideration, will, I am sure, have your just and careful
attention in the solemn deliberations upon which you are about to
enter. If this measure attains a successful result, then our
aspirations as a Christian, peace-loving people will be realized.
If it fails, it will be only another justification for our
contemplated action.
(Signed,) WILLIAM McKINLEY.
Executive Mansion, April 11, 1898.