After cabinet discussions on Friday and Saturday regarding the concessions which should be demanded from Spain a definite agreement was reached, and the French ambassador was notified that the President was prepared to deliver his ultimatum. The demands made by the President were briefly as follows:
1. That Spain will relinquish all claims of sovereignty over and title to Cuba.
2. That Puerto Rico and other Spanish islands in the West Indies, and an island in the Ladrones, to be selected by the United States, shall be ceded to the latter.
3. That the United States will occupy and hold the city, bay and harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace, which shall determine the control, disposition and government of the Philippines.
4. That Cuba, Puerto Rico and other Spanish islands in the West Indies shall be immediately evacuated, and that commissioners, to be appointed within ten days, shall within thirty days from the signing of the protocol meet at Havana and San Juan, respectively, to arrange and execute the details of the evacuation.
5. That the United States and Spain will each appoint not more than five commissioners to negotiate and conclude a treaty of peace. The commissioners to meet at Paris not later than October 1.
6. On the signing of the protocol hostilities will be suspended, and notice to that effect will be given as soon as possible by each government to the commanders of its military and naval forces.
Spanish diplomacy was as usual in evidence, and attempts were made by the Madrid administration to modify the terms, so as to relieve the Spanish government of at least a portion of the Cuban debt, but the authorities in Washington were firm and insisted that no such suggestion could be considered, and that there could be no further discussion until the Spanish flag had been withdrawn from the West Indies.
On August 12 Ambassador Cambon received official notice from the administration at Madrid that his action in agreeing to the terms of the protocol was approved, and he was authorized to sign it, as the representative of the Spanish government. Accordingly, at four o'clock on the afternoon of that day, he presented himself at the President's mansion, in company with his first secretary, M. Thiebaut, where he was met by President McKinley, Secretary of State Day, and Assistant Secretaries of State Moore, Adee and Cridler.
Two copies of the protocol had been prepared, one in English for preservation by this government, and the other in French for the Spanish government. The signatures and seals were formally attached, Secretary Day signing one copy in advance of M. Cambon, the order being reversed on the other.