ive consumers of all manufactured goods; they require the
products of the temperate zone, and in return everything they produce is
marketable in our country.

The Spanish forces withdrew from Cuba, December 31, 1898, and, on the
following day, the Stars and Stripes was hoisted over Havana. The
change of sovereignties in Porto Rico took place without trouble, but
there has been some disturbance in Cuba, and it is evident that
considerable time must elapse before peace will be fully restored and a
stable government established in the island.

Though the war with Spain was closed, serious trouble broke out in the
Philippines. Aguinaldo, who had headed most of the rebellions against
Spain during the later years, refused to acknowledge the authority of
the United States, and, rallying thousands of Filipinos around him, set
on foot what he claimed was a war of independence. Our government sent a
strong force of regulars and volunteers thither, all of whom acquitted
themselves with splendid heroism and bravery, and defeated the rebels
repeatedly, capturing strongholds one after the other, and, in fact,
driving everything resistlessly before them. The fighting was of the
sharpest kind, and our troops had many killed and wounded, though that
of the enemy was tenfold greater. All such struggles, however, when
American valor and skill are arrayed on one side, can have but one
result; and, animated by our sense of duty, which demanded that a firm,
equitable, and just government should be established in the Philippines,
this beneficent purpose was certain to be attained in the end.

[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL ELWELL S. OTIS]

On March 3, 1899, President McKinley nominated Rear-Admiral George Dewey
to the rank of full admiral, his commission to date from March 2d, and
the Senate immediately and unanimously confirmed the nomination, which
had been so richly earned. This hero, as modest as he is great, remained
in the Philippines to complete his herculean task, instead of seizing
the first opportunity to return home and receive the overwhelming honors
which his countrymen were eagerly waiting to show him. Finally, when his
vast work was virtually completed and his health showed evidence of the
terrific and long-continued strain to which it had been subjected, he
turned over his command, by direction of the government, to Rear-Admiral
Watson, and, proceeding by a leisurely course, reached home in the
autumn of 1899. The honors show