“Well, Don Hermoso, after last night’s happening I suppose you will be disposed to defer your departure until it can be seen what is to come of it, will you not?”
“Upon my word, Captain, I don’t know,” answered the Don. “In what way do you think it likely to exercise an influence upon our projected errand?”
“Through American intervention—to put the whole thing in a nutshell,” answered Milsom. “Of course it is altogether too early yet to express an opinion in public upon the occurrence; but, strictly between ourselves, and in the privacy of this saloon, I don’t mind saying that I believe the Maine was deliberately destroyed, and that the submarine which was stolen from this ship was the instrument by which that was done!”
“That is also my idea, Skipper,” answered Jack. “And,” he continued, “if our suspicion as to the guilt of the Spaniards should prove correct, there will be war between America and Spain; America will without doubt be the conqueror, and Spain will be forced to relinquish her hold on Cuba, without the need for further effort on the part of the revolutionaries. So far, therefore, as the purchase of additional munitions of war is concerned, I believe, Don Hermoso, that you may save your money.”
“Indeed!” said Don Hermoso. “Then in that case, gentlemen, we may as well defer our departure until we see what is about to happen.”
And they did.
The rest of the story is a matter of well-known history. A few days later a court of enquiry into the Maine disaster was opened on board the U.S. steamer Mangrove, then lying in Havana harbour, and sat continuously until March 21st; while the wreck of the warship was most carefully examined by divers, who laid the result of their observations before the court. The finding of the court was: “That the loss of the Maine was not in any respect due to fault or negligence on the part of any of the officers, or members of her crew; that the ship was destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine, which caused the partial explosion of two or more of her forward magazines; and that no evidence has been obtainable fixing the responsibility for the destruction of the Maine upon any person or persons.”
But, the last clause of the finding notwithstanding, there was probably not one United States citizen per hundred who did not feel morally convinced that the Spaniards were the guilty parties; and, that being the case, war was from that moment inevitable. On April 8, 1898, General Lee, the United States Consul-General, received orders to leave Cuba and hand over the charge of the United States interests to the British Consul; and on the following day he, with such American citizens as still remained in Havana, left for Florida in a gunboat. On April 18th a conference between the Committees of the two American Houses resulted in the adoption of a certain resolution, which was signed by President McKinley on the 20th of the same month: a copy was served upon Señor Polo y Bernabe, the Spanish Minister at Washington, who immediately asked for his passports, and left that city. On April 21st the President of the United States proclaimed the blockade of the Cuban coast from Cienfuegos westward to Cape San Antonio, and thence north and east past Havana to Cardenas; and as the bulk of the American fleet had been quietly concentrating at Key West from the date of the destruction of the Maine, the blockade was put into effect within eight hours of its declaration. On April 24th the Spanish Government formally recognised the existence of war between itself and the United States; and on the following day the United States Congress passed the following Bill without a division:—
“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in congress assembled:—
“First: That war be, and the same is hereby declared to exist, and that war has existed since the 21st day of April, a.d. 1898, including the said day, between the United States of America and the kingdom of Spain.