Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-08-13
Peace Has Come.

l pShSS Avs INV VIVA i6iAS h"A WAN
terms of peace fully agreed upon, yet
Spain has acknowledged defeat, hos
tilities are at an end, and one of the
most spectacular a of history has
been brought to a successful close by
the United States.
The real cause of the war originated
on February "a, 1895, when an insurrec-
ton broke out in six of the provinces in
Cuba, precipitating a struggle between
Spain and the Cuban insurgents, which
for cruelty and fierceness on the part of
the ruling power has never been equaled
on the American continent. The policy
of determination pursued by Spain
reused the indignation of the American
people to such an extent that it was al
most impossible to restrain an open
espousal of the cause of the oppressed
of the island by the people of the Unit
ed States, in violationso the laws of
neutrality. The sympathy manifested
in this country for the Cubans, the
many iilibustering expeditions which
evaded the officers and sailed from the
Gulf coast, angered the Spaniards, and
the act which precipitated open hos
Utilities on the part of this government,
was the destruction of the Maine in the
harbor at Havana resulting from that
anger, which occurred on January "a,
1898.
The wave of Indignation which that
dastardly crime occasioned in this coun-
try swept everything before it, and on
April 21, Spain gave the United States
minister at Madrid his passports, sever
ing all diplomatic relations between the
two countries. This act was held by the
United States to be a declaration of
war, and on April % the North Atlantic
squadron sailed to blockade Cuban
ports. On the IN day the first shot
of the war was fired by the gunboat
Nashville, and from that time events
followed n upon another in rapid
succession. On May 1, Admiral Dewey
demolished SPANS fleet at Man
lila, an achievement which astonished
the whole world. From that day the
supremacy of the United States on the
ocean over Spain was established and
victory after victory followed.
On June %, General Skaters army
landed on Cuban soil at Baiqueri, an
advance on Santiago was begun, the city
being invested on July /, afterthe battles
of La Quasina and San Juan heights, in
which the heaviest loss to the Ameri-
cans of the war occurred. Following
the attack upon Santiago on July 8, Ad-
miral Cervera's feet, which had been
penned up in the Santiago harbor since
May 20, attempted to escape and was
totally destroyed by the American war
ships under the command of Commodore
Schley. The destruction of the second
Spanish fleet was the beginning of the
end, which was fastened by the sur
render of the City of Santiago on July
IA. Since that time Puerto Rico has
been invaded, several minor skirmishes
have occurred and a number of blockade
captured off the Cuban coast,
but active fighting virtually stopped
when General Toral surrendered the
city and province of Santiago. On Aug
ust IL, three months and 21 days after
war was declared by Spain, that coun-
try's representative at Washington, the
French ambassador, signed a protocol
framed on the terms made by President
Mckinley and fighting was ordered
What has been gained by the war?
Spain has been driven from the western
hemisphere and peace assured to the in
habitants of the West Indian islands
heretofore governed by Spain; cruelty
and inhumanity have been punished and
relegated to the age to which they belong
in American, and q new era opened for
oppressed people. The United States
has acquired Puerto Rico and several
smaller islands in the West Indies, an
island in the L%adrones, so much of the
as she may see fit to take
outright a an indemnity for the war,
and the virtual control Of Cuba, whore
= stable and free government will be
either under the Cubans or
by annexation. These are the direct
of the war. The indirect results
are so momentous that only the future
estimate their Importance; the abil-
Ity of the United States to care for
and protect her weaker neigh
has been firmly established and the
Monroe doctrine has been entrenched
behind an army and navy that will force
respect from the most powerful Eu-
ropean nation. The cost has been
great, but the result is more than ade-
quate compensation. Peace has come.
long live peace.