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whether the United States would unite with Great Britain in intervention to prevent war. The judicious reply was that the United States could not intervene save as a friendly neutral with tenders of good offices, and that it could not do even that in concert with another power, but must act alone. The attitude of the United States did not prevent the war. But it did greatly commend this country to the confidence and grateful esteem of all the three Asiatic nations concerned. During the war the Japanese government entrusted the archives and property of its legation at Peking and its various consulates to the American minister and consuls, and the Chinese government did the same with respect to its offices and property in Japan. Each country regarded the United States as its "next friend.'

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In the performance of these delicate duties the United States became involved in one embarrassing controversy, which was afterward the subject of much comment. Two young Japanese were arrested in the French quarter of Shanghai as spies, and were turned by the French consul over to the American consul, as the guardian of Japanese interests. The Chinese demanded their surrender for trial. The American consul refused to give them up unless so ordered by his Government. It was ascertained that they had been residents of Shanghai for three years, and thus were not spies lately sent thither. On the other hand, they wore Chinese dress, which was unlawful, and they had in their possession maps and plans. The American state department finally ordered the consul to give them up, and he did so, with the result that they were tried, condemned, and put to death. This course of the state department was opposed by the American chargé d'affaires in China and by the consul-general, and was unsparingly condemned by most of the foreign residents of China. Nevertheless it is difficult to see what else could properly have been done. It is significant that the Japanese minister at Washington declared to the secretary of state that he had acted correctly, in his opinion and in that of the Japanese government.

During the war the British government again asked the United States to join with the four chief European powers in intervention, and the Chinese government added its request to the same end. The reply was, however, the same as before, that the

United States could only tender its good offices as a friendly neutral, and that it must do so alone and not in alliance with other powers. An independent effort for peace was, however, made by the United States in November, 1894, when a tender of good offices was made through the American minister at Tokio, coupled with the caution that too great success on Japan's part might move other powers-not, of course, the United Statesto intervene for a settlement not agreeable to Japan. That was a prophetic warning of what actually occurred, but it was not heeded by the Japanese government, which replied that while it appreciated the friendly sentiments and purposes of the United States, it could not do otherwise than to continue the war until China herself should sue for peace. At the same time Japan requested that if China should make overtures for peace, her communications should be made through the American legation at Peking. This was done, and only two days later the American minister was authorized to transmit to Japan China's request for peace. Both countries had American advisers in the peace negotiations, and both Governments expressed their appreciation of the friendly services which the United States had rendered.

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XXXI

THE WAR WITH SPAIN

NE of the most difficult things in history is to write impartially of a war to which the historian's own country was a party, and particularly at a time when memories of it are still fresh and the passions which it excited are not yet altogether subsided. Most of all is this difficult in the case of a war which was in its origin and conduct characterized more by mad passion than by ordered reason; as was the Spanish-American War of 1898.

That conflict was logically the culmination of the long train of incidents and international dealings of which an outline has hitherto been given, and which began in the opening years of the last century. Since 1803 the United States had been politically interested in Cuba; since 1823 it had been committed to the policy of insisting that Cuba and Porto Rico should remain in the possession of Spain until they became independent or were transferred to this country; and since 1840 it had maintained a protectorate over those islands in behalf of Spain, proclaiming loudly its readiness to fight all the world, if necessary, to protect Spain in her possession of them or to restore them to her. That record gave this country a certain historic title to a voice in Cuban affairs. The logical corollary of our proclamation of a protectorate was, that we were invested with great responsibility and with a high degree of authority.

We were responsible to the world, morally if not legally, for the government and for the condition of Cuba. We were defending and maintaining Spain in her policy in that island. We were forbidding any other nation to intervene there for the abatement of evils. We were the self-constituted champion of Spanish rule in Cuba, and there was no avoiding the conclusion that we were responsible for the character of that rule. Many times other nations would have intervened if we had not for

bidden them. Moreover, we were entitled to great authority. Authority and responsibility are inseparably conjoined. The former cannot be exercised without incurring the latter; and the latter is not to be borne unless the former is exercised. Our responsibility for Spanish rule in Cuba, and Spain's debt to us for our protection of her sovereignty there, gave us the moral right to remonstrate and to advise with Spain against bad government, and placed her under the strongest of obligations to hear and to heed us. But our remonstrances, advice, pleadings, and what not had no effect. Spain persisted in her ways, and these pretty steadily went from bad to worse. Cuba was the "milch cow" of the Iberian peninsula, and was governed and exploited not for its own prosperity but for the profit of Spain. For a time, under the administration of Benjamin Harrison, the United States granted commercial reciprocity to the island, to its great gain, and while that system lasted there was a measure of prosperity, contentment, and peace in Cuba. But the succeeding administration of Grover Cleveland abolished that system and hard times befell the island, all the more intolerable because of the contrast with the preceding prosperity. Disaffection consequently became rife, and in 1895 the final insurrection against Spanish sovereignty began.

In this the United States was immediately and directly involved, in a number of ways. The insurrection was, to begin with, conceived, planned, and directed in this country, by Cubans and Cuban sympathizers. A junta was formed in New York which was the governing and directing force of the whole movement; conducting its affairs with the utmost openness, with popular approval, and without government interference. It will be recalled that during the Civil War our Government bitterly protested against the toleration of similar Confederate activities in England, saying that three departments of the Confederate government were practically domiciled and were conducting their business there. That was true. But it was still more true that the Cuban rebel government had all its departments domiciled in the United States, and that this country was openly made the base of operations against a country with which we were officially at peace.

Another complication was caused by the large number of

Cubans who had come to this country and become naturalized, and then returned to Cuba as militant insurgents under a claim of protection as American citizens. Within two years seventyfour persons were arrested in Cuba by the Spanish authorities. for participation in the rebellion, of whom the great majority were naturalized or the sons of naturalized American citizens. The United States government was kept busy intervening in their behalf, not always with success. Some were released, some were expelled from the island, and some were condemned to imprisonment or death.

Filibustering was also rife. The proximity of Cuba to our shores, the extent of our coast line and the number of our harbors, and perhaps above all the widespread sympathy of Americans with the rebellion, facilitated the sending of expeditions, with supplies and reinforcements. Many of these were stopped by our own authorities, on their own initiative. Many others were stopped because of information given and complaints made by the active and efficient agents of the Spanish government, whose complaints were almost invariably well-founded. But a considerable number succeeded in evading official watchfulness and in reaching the Cuban shores. In the first two years of the insurrection at least forty-two expeditions got away, of which fifteen were successful in reaching Cuba. In only eleven cases were any proceedings instituted, in only three were convictions secured, and in not one was a vessel finally condemned.

Yet the prima facie evidence against some of them was overwhelming. Thus the Commodore took aboard at Wilmington, North Carolina, a cargo, of the nature of which the captain declared his entire ignorance but which he cleared as "agricultural implements and machinery." The ship was detained, and the cargo was found to consist of arms and ammunition, including a rapid fire gun of the latest pattern fitted to be used from the deck of the vessel. The court dismissed the case, on the ground that there was no proof that the articles were intended for use in Cuba or against Spain. The facts that the United States was at peace with all nations and that there was thus no legal use for the things anywhere, and that gross falsehood had been employed in the clearance of the cargo, were overlooked. A few months later the same vessel made another trip, and landed men,

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