at neither could
these reconcentrados raise any food for themselves, and therefore must
starve: that was no concern of his. As he viewed it, starvation was the
right method of ridding Cuba of those who yearned for its freedom.

[Illustration]

No pen can picture the horrors that followed. The woeful scenes sent a
shudder throughout the United States, and many good people demanded that
the unspeakable crime should be checked by armed intervention. To do
this meant war with Spain, but we were ready for that. A Congressional
party visited Cuba in March, 1898, and witnessed the hideous suffering
of the Cubans, of whom more than a hundred thousand had been starved to
death, with scores still perishing daily. In referring to what they
saw, Senator Proctor, of Vermont, said: "I shall refer to these horrible
things no further. They are there. God pity me, I have seen them; they
will remain in my mind forever, and this is almost the twentieth
century. Christ died nineteen hundred years ago, and Spain is a
Christian nation. She has set up more crosses in more lands, beneath
more skies, and under them has butchered more people than all the other
nations of the earth combined. God grant that before another Christmas
morning the last vestige of Spanish tyranny and oppression will have
vanished from the western hemisphere."

The ferocious measures of Weyler brought so indignant a protest from our
country that he was recalled, and his place taken by General Ramon
Blanco, who reached Havana in the autumn of 1897. Under him the
indecisive fighting went on much as before, with no important advantage
gained by either side. Friends of Cuba made appeals in Congress for the
granting of belligerent rights to the insurgents, but strict
international law demanded that their government should gain a more
tangible form and existence before such rights could be conceded.

Matters were in this state of extreme tension when the blowing-up of the
_Maine_ occurred. While riding quietly at anchor in the harbor of
Havana, on the night of February 15, 1898, she was utterly destroyed by
a terrific explosion, which killed 266 officers and men. The news
thrilled the land with horror and rage, for it was taken at once for
granted that the appalling crime had been committed by Spaniards, but
the absolute proof remained to be brought forward, and the Americans,
with their proverbial love of justice and fair-play, waited for such
proof.

Competent men wer