er. Several Senators
and Congressmen returned from visits to the island pending this
discussion, in which they took an active and effective part, depicting
a most shocking and revolting situation in Cuba, for which Spain
was considered responsible; and on April 6th following this joint
resolution was adopted by Congress:

"_Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America_, that in the opinion of Congress a public
war exists between the Government of Spain and the Government
proclaimed and for some time maintained by force of arms by the people
of Cuba; and that the United States of America should maintain a
strict neutrality between the contending powers, according to each all
the rights of belligerents in the ports and territory of the United
States."

"_Resolved further_, that the friendly offices of the United States
should be offered by the President to the Spanish government for the
recognition of the independence of Cuba."

THE INSURGENTS gained by this resolution an important point. It
dignified their so-called insurrection into an organized army, with a
government at its back which was so recognized and treated with. They
could buy and sell in American ports.

[Illustration: GENERAL ANTONIO MACEO.]

GENERAL ANTONIO MACEO about this time was doing great havoc along the
Spanish lines. He darted from place to place, back and forth across
the supposed impassable line of Spanish fortifications stretching
north and south across the island some distance from Havana, and known
as the _trocha_. Thousands of Spaniards fell as the result of his
daring and finesse in military execution. His deeds became known in
America, and though a man of Negro descent, with dark skin and crisp
hair, his fame was heralded far and wide in the American newspapers.
At a public gathering in New York, where his picture was exhibited,
the audience went wild with applause--the waving of handkerchiefs and
the wild hurrahs were long and continued. The career of this hero was
suddenly terminated by death, due to the treachery of his physician
Zertucha, who, under the guise of a proposed treaty of peace, induced
him to meet a company of Spanish officers, at which meeting, according
to a pre-arranged plot, a mob of Spanish infantry rushed in on General
Maceo and shot him down unarmed. It is said that his friends recovered
his body and buried it in a secret place unknown to the Spaniards, who
were anxio