ry these resolutions into effect.

Whereas the abhorrent conditions which have existed for more than three
years in the island of Cuba, so near our own borders, have shocked the
moral sense of the people of the United States, have been a disgrace to
Christian civilization, culminating, as they have, in the destruction of
a United States battle ship, with 266 of its officers and crew, while on
a friendly visit in the harbor of Havana, and can not longer be endured,
as has been set forth by the President of the United States in his
message to Congress of April 11, 1898,[11] upon which the action of
Congress was invited: Therefore,

_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled_, First. That the people of
the island of Cuba are and of right ought to be free and independent.

Second. That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and the
Government of the United States does hereby demand, that the Government
of Spain at once relinquish its authority and government in the island
of Cuba and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban
waters.

Third. That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is,
directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the
United States and to call into the actual service of the United States
the militia of the several States to such extent as may be necessary to
carry these resolutions into effect.

Fourth. That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or
intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over
said island except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its
determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government
and control of the island to its people.

Approved, April 20, 1898.

[Footnote 11: See pp. 139-150.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 9, 1898_.

_To the Congress of the United States:_

On the 24th of April I directed the Secretary of the Navy to telegraph
orders to Commodore George Dewey, of the United States Navy, commanding
the Asiatic Squadron, then lying in the port of Hongkong, to proceed
forthwith to the Philippine Islands, there-to commence operations and
engage the assembled Spanish fleet.

Promptly obeying that order, the United States squadron, consisting of
the flagship _Olympia_, _Baltimore_, _Raleigh_, _Boston_, _Concord_, and
_Petrel_, with the revenue cutter _McCulloch_ as an auxiliary dispatch
boat, entered the h