of the Committee on Foreign Affairs made in the House on April 13. It read as follows:

Resolved, That the President is hereby authorized and directed to intervene at once to stop the war in Cuba, to the end and with the purpose of securing permanent peace and order there, and establishing by the free action of the people thereof a stable and independent government of their own in the island of Cuba; and the President is hereby authorized and empowered to use the land and naval forces of the United States to execute the purpose of this resolution.

One very important change had been made in the original draft, without which, it is safe to say, it could not have passed the House committee. The alteration was the insertion after the word “stable” of the words "and independent." This greatly improved the resolution, but it still remained dangerously loose and vague, and had the cardinal defect of not saying squarely and honestly what the American people and Congress intended, which was the expulsion of Spain from Cuba. Nevertheless, after the Republican majority had voted down the Democratic proposition to recognize the insurgent government, the resolution as reported by the committee passed by a vote of 324 to 19, and was sent to the Senate.

The situation in the Senate was quite different. For a week before the message of April 11 came in, the Committee of Foreign Relations had been at work upon a resolution based upon one introduced by Senator Foraker of Ohio. The committee were determined that any resolution reported by them should be perfectly clear on the point that the object of the United States. was to put an absolute end to Spanish rule in Cuba. With a preamble setting forth the treatment of the

"reconcentrados" and the destruction of the Maine as the grounds of intervention, a resolution of this character was agreed to tentatively, and Senator Davis of Minnesota, the chairman of the committee, drafted a report to accompany it. Both the resolutions and the report were sent to the President for such suggestion and comment as he might see fit to make. After the message of April 11 came in, these resolutions were taken up for immediate action. There was a desire on the part of some members of the committee to come as near as might be to the general line taken in the House resolution, but the chief point of difference arose upon the question of recognizing the government of the insurgents. The President, with wisdom and foresight, had declared in his message against any such recognition. A majority of the Senate committee sustained the President's position; and while the whole committee supported the main and essential resolution as to the withdrawal of Spain, a minority reported, as an amendment, a clause recognizing the insurgent government. Senator Davis made the report for the committee, and in that report the case of the United States against Spain and the grounds of armed intervention were stated not only in the best way, but with a force and power, both legally and historically, which left nothing to be desired. The resolutions of the committee and the minority amendment submitted to the Senate on April 13 were as follows:

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS.

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 cannot longer be endured, as has been set forth by the President of the United States in his message to Congress of April 11th, 1898, 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.

VIEWS OF THE MINORITY.

The undersigned members of said committee cordially concur in the report made upon the Cuban resolutions, but favor the immediate recognition of the Republic of Cuba, as organized in the island, as a free, independent, and sovereign power among the nations of the world.

DAVID TURPIE.

R. Q. MILLS.
JNO. W. DANIEL.
J. B. FORAKER.

The amendment reported by the minority committee was to amend the first paragraph, by inserting, in line 4, after the word "independent," the following:

And that the government of the United States hereby recognize the Republic of Cuba as the true and lawful government of that island.

On the presentation of the resolutions to the Senate a very earnest and very able debate ensued, which