having a revolution.

When we first let Cuba go, we made what was called the Platt Amendment
to the Cuban Treaty, suggested by Senator Platt of this state. That
amendment provided for the restoration of order by the United States
whenever law and order were disturbed and whenever life, liberty and
property were not secure. Mr. Roosevelt, therefore, sent me down to Cuba
with Mr. Bacon to see if we could not adjust the matter. When we
arrived, we found twenty thousand revolutionist troops outside the city
of Havana. President Palma had been so certain of peace that he had made
no provision to suppress insurrections, and these troops were just about
ready to march into Havana when I got there. I went out to stay at the
house of the American Minister in a suburb just between the lines, and
we did what we could to compose the situation. In those countries when
they have a revolution, the first thing they do is to elect generals.
The next thing they do is to determine what the uniform of the generals
shall be, and then they get the guns and last of all they organize.
President Palma became discouraged and resigned so that I had to
proclaim myself Provisional Governor of Cuba. The Platt Amendment said
that the United States could go into Cuba to preserve order; but the
question was whether the President had the authority to go in without
authorization by a resolution of Congress. I always thought that he had
and Congress seemed to agree to it. So we went in, established a
provisional government, passed a good election law, held an election
and, at the end of a year, turned back the government to the Cubans,
where it now is.

The President has not the power to declare war. Congress has that power;
but if a foreign nation invades our country, the President must, without
awaiting such declaration, resist and use the army and navy for that
purpose. It is, therefore, possible for us to actually get into war
before Congress makes a formal declaration. That is what happened in the
Civil War. The Southern states seceded and Mr. Lincoln had war on his
hands before Congress could declare it. The President thereupon declared
a blockade of the Southern ports and the question then came up as to
whether it was a legal blockade so that prizes might be taken as in a
naval war. Our war vessels had captured merchant vessels trying to run
the blockade, had taken them into prize courts, and had sold them there,
distributing the proceeds among t