h Consul, who would take charge of American
interests. But without the concurrence of the Spanish authorities no
official transfer could be made from one consulate to the other, and
the General professed ignorance of the existing relations between his
country and America. He cabled to Madrid for information, but managed
to delay matters until his successor assumed office, when the transfer
was duly made. Consul Oscar F. Williams was in no way molested. He
passed to and fro in the city without the least insult being offered
him by any Spaniard. The Gov.-General courteously proposed to send
a large bodyguard to his consulate, but it was not necessary. Yet,
as soon as Consul Williams closed his office and went on board the
s.s. _Esmeralda_, the American Consulate escutcheon was painted out,
and the notice boards outside the doors were kicked about the streets.

General Primo de Rivera was so well aware of the strained relations
between Spain and America, that the s.s. _Leon XIII._, in which he
travelled from Manila to Barcelona, was armed as a cruiser, with two
4-inch Hontoria guns mounted aft of the funnel and two Nordenfeldts
in the bows. This steamer, crowded with refugee Spanish families,
some of whom slept on the saloon floors, made its first stoppage at
Singapore on April 17. At the next port of call General Primo de Rivera
learnt that the United States of America had presented an ultimatum
to his Government. Before he reached Barcelona, in the third week of
May, war between the two countries had already broken out (April 23,
1898). There were riots in Madrid; martial law was proclaimed; the
Parliamentary Session was suspended; a strict censorship of the press
was established; the great disaster to Spanish arms in Philippine
waters had taken place; the Prime Minister Sagasta had intimated
his willingness to resign, and Primo de Rivera entered Madrid when
it was too late to save the Philippine Islands for Spain, even had
the rebel version of the implied reforms under the alleged Treaty of
Biac-na-bato been fulfilled to the letter.

The leaders of the principal political parties were hastily summoned
to the palace to consult separately with the Queen-Regent on the
situation, and they were unanimously of opinion that the Prime Minister
who had accepted war should carry them through the crisis. Spain was
apparently more concerned about the salvation of the Antilles than
of her Far Eastern Colony.

The friars, fully al