ow subject to his orders; that he,
and not Admiral Cervera, was in command of affairs in Cuba, and that the
admiral must obey his command. Cervera could then do nothing."

If this semi-official statement of Admiral Cervera's case is an accurate
one, the Santiago campaign, which ended in the destruction of Cervera's
fleet and the capture of the city, was the direct result of General
Blanco's interference. The Spanish admiral had plenty of time to coal
his vessels and make his escape before either of our fleets reached the
mouth of the harbor, and if he had done so there might have been no
Santiago campaign, and the whole course of the war might have been
changed. But the opportunity soon passed.

On the 20th of May the news of Cervera's appearance at Santiago was
reported to the Navy Department in Washington, and Secretary Long
immediately cabled it to Admiral Sampson by way of Key West. On the
following day, May 21, Sampson sent the _Marblehead_ to the southern
coast of Cuba with an order directing Commodore Schley to proceed at
once to Santiago unless he had good reason to believe that the Spanish
fleet was really in Cienfuegos. When this order reached Schley, on the
23d of May, he felt sure that he had Cervera "bottled up" in Cienfuegos
harbor, and he did not become aware of his error until the 25th. He then
proceeded with his fleet to Santiago, but did not reach there until the
26th. Cervera had then had a whole week in which to coal his vessels and
make his escape. That he fully intended to do this seems to be evident
from the statement of Mr. Frederick W. Ramsden, British consul at
Santiago, whose recently published diary contains the following entry,
under date of May 23: "The Spanish fleet is taking in coal, water, and
provisions in a hurry, and it is evident that it is preparing to go to
sea, probably to-night or in the morning, as I hear the pilots have been
ordered for this evening."

If Cervera had gone to sea on the evening of May 23, or the morning of
the 24th, as was plainly his intention, he would have made his escape
without the slightest difficulty, because Admiral Sampson was then
cruising off Havana, while Schley was still blockading Cienfuegos. What
would have been the course of the war in that event, it is impossible to
say; but General Shafter would certainly have been held at Tampa until
the Spanish fleet had been overtaken and destroyed, and then, very
likely, the army of invasion would have la