e here, ready to commence at once.

With assurances of highest regard,

I am, Admiral, very respectfully yours,

[Signed] CLARA BARTON.

At the time when the above letter was written, the American National Red
Cross was acting under the advice and direction of the State and Navy
departments, the War Department having no force in the field.

Admiral Sampson replied as follows:

U. S. FLAGSHIP "NEW YORK," FIRST-RATE,
KEY WEST, FLORIDA, May 2, 1898.

_Miss Clara Barton, President American National Red Cross:_

1. I have received through the senior naval officer present a copy
of a letter from the State Department to the Secretary of the Navy;
a copy of a letter from the Secretary of the Navy to the
commander-in-chief of the naval force on this station; and also a
copy of a letter from the Secretary of the Navy to the commandant
of the naval station at Key West.

2. From these communications it appears that the destination of the
steamship _State of Texas_, loaded with supplies for the starving
reconcentrados in Cuba, is left, in a measure, to my judgment.

3. At present I am acting under instructions from the Navy
Department to blockade the coast of Cuba for the purpose of
preventing, among other things, any food-supply from reaching the
Spanish forces in Cuba. Under these circumstances it seems to me
unwise to let a ship-load of such supplies be sent to the
reconcentrados, for, in my opinion, they would be distributed to
the Spanish army. Until some point be occupied in Cuba by our
forces, from which such distribution can be made to those for whom
the supplies are intended, I am unwilling that they should be
landed on Cuban soil.

Yours very respectfully,

[Signed] W. T. SAMPSON,
Rear-Admiral U. S. N.,

Commander-in-Chief U. S. Naval Force, North Atlantic Station.

After this exchange of letters Miss Barton had a conference with Admiral
Sampson, in the course of which the latter explained more fully his
reasons for declining to allow the _State of Texas_ to enter any Cuban
port until such port had been occupied by American troops.

On May 3 Miss Barton sent