part creditable to any people. It was not
our intention at first to do other than to relieve the suffering and
distress of Cuba, near at hand, and this we tried to do peaceably in
the supplying of food and other necessities of life.

As the next step, the United States sent a remonstrance to Spain
telling her she should send a more humane governor to the island. But
as matters grew worse instead of better, even under a change of
governors, the sympathy of the United States became daily more deeply
enlisted in the freedom of the Cubans.

The battleship Maine was sent to Havana Harbor to protect, if need be,
the Americans and American interests in Cuba. On the night of February
15th, 1898, an explosion occurred, sinking the ship almost
immediately.

With the destruction of the Maine--whether by accident or intent--with
the appalling loss of two hundred and fifty-six men, including two
officers, relations with Spain became more and more strained, until
war seemed inevitable. On April 11, 1898, President McKinley in a
special message to Congress, said: "In the name of humanity and
civilization, the war in Cuba must stop."

War indeed was formally declared April 25th, and in the brief space of
one hundred and fourteen days history had added to its annals: the
blockading of Cuban ports whereby the Spanish fleet was trapped; the
invasion and siege of the island by United States regulars,
volunteers, and rough riders; the {339} destruction of the Pacific
Spanish fleet in Manila Bay by Admiral Dewey; and, finally, the
destruction of the remainder of the Spanish fleet under command of
Admiral Cervera, Sunday morning, July 3d. The final outcome of this
war was the freedom of Cuba and the possession by the United States of
Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands.

Peace

There is no country in the world less warlike than ours, and no
country in the world that more potently argues for universal peace. We
have never departed from the spirit of our Declaration of
Independence, "that all men are created equal; that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." We put it into our
Constitution when we said, "in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the
common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity" we "do ordain a