Article IV. Spain will immediately evacuate Cuba, Porto Rico, and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies; and to this end each Government will, within ten days after the signing of this protocol, appoint Commissioners, and the Commissioners so appointed shall, within thirty days after the signing of this protocol, meet at Havana for the purpose of arranging and carrying out the details of the aforesaid evacuation of Cuba and the adjacent Spanish islands, and each Government will, within ten days after the signing of this protocol, appoint other Commissioners, who shall, within thirty days after the signing of this protocol, meet at San Juan, in Porto Rico, for the purpose of arranging and carrying out the details of the aforesaid evacuation of Porto Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies.
Article V. The United States and Spain will each appoint not more than five Commissioners to treat of peace, and the Commissioners so appointed shall meet at Paris not later than October 1, 1898, and proceed to the negotiation and conclusion of a treaty of peace, which treaty shall be subject to ratification according to the respective constitutional forms of the two countries.
Article VI. Upon the conclusion and signing of this protocol hostilities between the two countries shall be suspended, and notice to that effect shall be given as soon as possible by each Government to the commanders of its military and naval forces.
Done at Washington, in duplicate, in English and in French, by the undersigned, who have hereunto set their hands and seals, the 12th day of August, 1898.
(Seal.) William R. Day.
(Seal.) Jules Cambon.
An armistice was declared at once, and mutual orders were issued to cease hostilities. The blockade of Cuba was raised. Owing to delay in the transmission of these orders the war in the Philippines was continued for twenty-four hours. On August 13, General Fernain Jaudenes, who had succeeded Governor-General Augustin, succumbed to a combined attack of the American army and navy forces, and signed a formal capitulation with all the honors of war. The last battle of the war was a naval engagement off Caibarien, in Cuba, between the Spanish gunboat “Herman Cortes” and the American gunboat “Mangrove.” While the two vessels were still engaged the news of the suspension of hostilities was signaled from shore.
On September 15 the Queen-Regent approved the appointment of the following Peace Commissioners: Eugenio Montero Rios, President of the Senate; Buenaventura Abarzuza, Senator; Wenceslao Ramirez de Villa-Urrutia, Embassador to Belgium; General Rafael Cerero y Saluz, and José de Garnica, Associate Judge of the Supreme Court. Senor Ojeda served as secretary. The American Peace Commissioners were William R. Day, ex-Secretary of State; Senators Cushman K. Davis, William P. Frye, and George Gray, with Whitelaw Reid, American Embassador to France. The joint sessions of the two bodies at Paris began on October 1, and ended with the signing of a conclusive peace treaty on December 10.
The full text of the peace treaty was as follows:
The United States of America and her Majesty the Queen-Regent of Spain, in the name of her august son, Don Alfonso XIII., desiring to end the state of war now existing between the two countries, have for that purpose appointed as plenipotentiaries:
The President of the United States: