nish volunteers for our war with Spain. The response was immediate. In every state of the Union the call to arms was heard with delight and troops gathered at their armories for prompt enlistment. The speed and facility with which a trained and efficient army could be mobilized was an amazement to those who had not been familiar with the details of the organization of the National Guard of America. Within twentyfour hours after the receipt of the order, thousands of troops were moving to the state encampments where they had been directed to gather. Illinois was an example of this promptness, in sending nearly 5,000 men out of Chicago without delay, but this was no more notable than the record made by many other states in every part of the Union. The cheers and the blessings of hundreds of thousands of loyal citizens stimulated those who were to go to the front with the banner of free dom, and they realized that they were representing the sentiment of a united nation. Those days near the end of April were exciting times. The whole nation was keyed up to a nervous tension of anxiety to know what would be the next event recorded on land or sea. The armies of the United States were preparing for the struggle, the coast defenses were brought to completion, and the government was ready for any emergency that might arise. Admiral Sampson's splendid North Atlantic squadron was blockading the ports of Cuba. Admiral Schley, with the flying squadron at Hampton Roads, was ready for prompt action in any direction where it might be effective, whether to protect the Atlantic coast cities from a threatened assault by Spanish warships, or to descend upon the Spanish fleet for a naval battle. Admiral Dewey with the Asiatic squadron had been driven out of Hong Kong by application of the neutrality laws, and international obligations might embarrass him unless he took the aggressive, and made for himself a base of supplies in the Philippine Islands. It was expected every day that he would make an assault upon Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and that the first naval engagement of consequence in the war would be with the Spanish fleet in those waters. No one doubted that the Asiatic squadron would be able to give a good account of itself, although the fleet which was to oppose it did not lack efficient guns and fighting strength. The capture of that valuable Spanish colony, in which rebellion against the government was in progress, would be not only a severe blow to the Spanish arms, but would also strengthen the position of the United States in the Orient by the capture of large supplies of coal and naval equipment, as well as a splendid base of operations. But while these preparations were going on for the conflict which was destined to cost Spain her possessions in the western world, there were a few individuals who were still making desperate efforts to induce the administration at Washington to effect a compromise at any cost. Not even the actual declaration of war, and the call for volunteers, could bring the members of this peace-at-any-price party to a realization of the fact that patience has ceased to be a virtue, that we could no longer turn a deaf ear to the appeals of an oppressed people, and that the brave men who went down with the Maine must be avenged. Every true American felt that the hour had come when we must defend the honor of our great nation, and it was evident to all that the time was near at hand when actual warfare was to begin both on land and sea. The insurgents in Cuba, who have been struggling against almost overwhelming odds for so many months, received the glad tidings of American intervention with unbounded joy, and at once sent representatives to the United States to arrange for co-operation in the invasion of Cuba, and to assist in planning a systematic campaign against the Spanish forces. Every arrangement was completed for final action and with men and money, munitions of war and ships, all in ample supply, it was evident that the crucial test was soon to come, and that war was at last an actual fact. CHAPTER II. HOW COLUMBUS FOUND THE "PEARL OF THE ANTILLES.” Ingratitude of Spain to the Great Discoverer Who Gave Her a New World- How Spain's Evil Colonial Policy Lost the Western Hemisphere to Cuba and Columbus are names inseparably connected. This largest and most fruitful island of the Spanish Main was discovered by the great navigator himself on the 28th day of October, 1492, only a short time after his first landing upon the soil of the western hemisphere on the island of San Salvador. There is a sentimental association to Americans in the thought that the discovery of our own continent was due to the pioneer expeditions sent from Spain. But any regret in one's mind that animosities have risen between the two nations, may be mollified by the memory that Columbus was himself an Italian, that it had required years of his efforts to induce sufficient interest on the part of Spanish monarchs to father his undertaking, and that his life in the service of Spain was marred by the basest ingratitude on the part of those whom he had served. Upon the handsome monument erected to the memory of Columbus in Seville by Ferdinand and Isabella, is the simple inscription, "A Cas tile y Leon, nuevo mundo dio Colon"-"to Castile and Leon, Columbus gave a new world." This was the tardy recognition granted to the discoverer by those to whom he had made the marvelous gift. Recognition had been denied him in his life, except after years of persistent urging, second only to those years he wasted in his effort to arouse Spanish interest and enterprise. Once he was removed from his West Indian governorship and returned to Spain in chains. The titles and honors which had been promised him before, were denied after he had earned them. He was a victim of foul ingratitude, and no American need permit senti ment to blind him for the sake of Columbus. The splendid new world which Columbus gave to Spain, was the most marvelous addition of territory that has ever come into the pos session of any nation upon earth. It included the whole of South America, except Brazil, which was acquired by Portugal, and the small colonies known as British, Dutch and French Guiana. It included the whole of Central America and Mexico. It included the whole of what is now the United States west of the Mississippi river. It included the whole of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the peninsula of Florida to the southern limit of Alabama and Georgia, and except for a few scattered islands, it included every foot of land in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea, all the coral rocks, as well as the greater islands of the West Indies and the Antilles. To-day not a foot of all that enormous possession remains to Spain undisputed, except the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico. These hundreds of thousands of square miles are inhabited by a free and peaceful people, most of them as repub lics, and the few exceptions under civilized and liberal colonial policies. Spain's hold on Cuba has vanished and Puerto Rico is slipping away. Spain could not preserve the gifts of Columbus. Spains Colonial Policies. The logic of events and the progress of civilization have commanded that Spain should withdraw from her possessions in the western hemisphere. Never has there been such a record of ferocity and barbarity in conquest, as that which blackens the pages of Spanish history in connection with Spain's acquisition and subjection of her newly discovered territories. Whether it was the peaceful Indians of the Antilles, the highly civilized Aztecs of Mexico, or the Incas of Peru, the policy pursued was always the same. First, treacherous friendship, then robbery and massacre, then slavery, and finally extermination, was the unvarying programme. And so, instead of winning favor and loyalty with their consequent happiness and prosperity from the native tribes, Spanish conquerors implanted in the possessors of the country an over-mastering and ineradicable hatred, which grew with association, until in colony after colony the bonds were burst by violence. When Great Britain lost her American colonies by reason of her misgovernment and oppression of them, it was a lesson which her people never fogot. From that day, the colonial policy of the British government was altered, and the spirit of liberality and generosity began to dominate. To-day, every colony of Great Britain that enjoys repre sentative government-Canada, Australia, Cape Colony and many others, owes to the United States the liberty which Great Britain grants. But Spain could learn no such lessons. Her cruelty and misgovernment aroused colony after colony to rebellion ending in freedom, but her policies remained unaltered. One by one possessions of fabu lous wealth dropped away until at last this old crone of nations has been left to shiver alone by her fireside, abandoned in her misery by all the children whose memory of her is nothing but that of vicious cruelty. The only pity to which Spain is entitled, is the pity that is due for her ignorance and her mistakes, not pity for the penalties that these have brought upon her. Spain was once the intellectual leader of the world, as well as the pioneer of discovery. Spanish universities were centers of learning long before northern Europe had its intellectual birth. Spanish mariners sailed every sea and Spanish adventurers explored every land. If learning and advancement bring obligations, as they are admitted to do, it was Spain's obligation to be a leader in strife for liberty of mind and body, but the two most notable things in her history are the Spanish inquisition against freedom of thought, and the Spanish ferocities which enslaved a new world for many a year. Now she has reaped the harvest of her own misdeeds. The Early Settlement of Cuba. Every one knows that Columbus was not looking for a western hemisphere, but for the Orient, and that when he found Cuba he believed he had reached the East Indies and the islands of gold and spice which had been reported from that mysterious land. His first island discoveries he believed to be the outlying portions of that eastern archipelago and when the natives told him of a greater land near by, which he reached a few days later, he believed that at last he had reached Cipango, as Japan then was called. The first name given to the island was Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella of Aragon and Castile. After Ferdinand's death, in his honor the name was changed to Fernandina. Still later it received the name of Santiago, as a mark of reverence for the patron saint of Spain, and another change was made a few years afterward, when the inhabitants, as a proof of their piety, called it Ave Maria, in honor of the Holy Virgin. In spite of all this effort at establishing a Spanish name, the original Indian name of Cuba, which |