a continuance of the disturbed condition in the island of Cuba.  The contest has now lasted for more than four years.  Were its scene at a distance from our neighborhood, we might be indifferent to its result, although humanity could not be unmoved by many of its incidents wherever they might occur.  It is, however, at out door.”  Reference was made to it in all following annual messages, until President Hayes, in 1878, announced its termination, ten years after its beginning.  The contest had become practically a deadlock, and a compromise was arranged by General Maximo Gomez, for the Cubans, and General Martinez Campos, for Spain.

[Illustration:  HOISTING THE CUBAN FLAG OVER THE PALACE, MAY 20, 1902 Senate building on the right]

The entanglements that grew out of the experiences of this period are too long and too complicated for detailed review here.  This country had no desire for war with Spain, but approval of the Spanish policy in Cuba was impossible.  The sympathies of the American people were with the Cubans, as they had been for fifty years, and as they continued to be until the end of Spanish occupation in the West Indies.  Rumors of all kinds were afloat, and again and again the situation seemed to have reached a crisis that could be ended only by war.  A particularly aggravating incident appeared in what is known as the Virginius case.  This was described as follows, in President Grant’s message to Congress on December 1, 1873.

“The steamer Virginius was on the 26th day of September, 1870, duly registered at the port of New York as a part of the commercial marine of the United States.  On the 4th of October, 1870, having received the certificate of her register in the usual legal form, she sailed from the port of New York, and has not since been within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.  On the 31st day of October last (1873), while sailing under the flag of the United States on the high seas, she was forcibly seized by the Spanish gunboat Tornado, and was carried into the port of Santiago de Cuba, where fifty-three of her passengers and crew were inhumanly, and, so far at least as related to those who were citizens of the United States, without due process of law, put to death.”

Only for the timely arrival of the British man-of-war Niobe, and the prompt and decisive action of her commander, there is no doubt that ninety-three others would have shared the fate of their companions.  Some were Americans and some were British.  The excitement in this country was intense, and war with Spain was widely demanded.  Further investigation revealed the fact that the American registry was dishonest, that the ship really belonged to or was chartered by Cubans, that it was engaged in carrying supplies and munitions of war to the insurgents, and that its right to fly the American flag was more than doubtful.  The ship was seized by the American authorities under