ms seem fair. But, as we shall see later, Spain
in this case as in all others was true to herself, that is, false to
every promise she made.

CHAPTER V.

THE VIRGINIUS EMBROGLIO.

There was one event of the ten years' war which deserves to be treated
somewhat in detail, as the universal excitement in the United States
caused by the affair for a time appeared to make a war between the
United States and Spain inevitable. And the Cubans hoped that this
occurrence would lead to the immediate expulsion of the Spaniards from
Cuba.

The hopes thus raised, however, were doomed to meet with disappointment,
as the diplomatic negotiations opened between the United States and
Spain led to a peaceable settlement of the whole difficulty.

The trouble was this: On the 31st of October, 1873, the Virginius, a
ship sailing under the American flag, was captured on the high seas,
near Jamaica, by the Spanish steamer Tornado, on the ground that it
intended to land men and arms in Cuba for the insurgent army.

The Virginius was a steamer which was built in England during the civil
war, and was used as a blockade-runner. She was captured and brought to
the Washington Navy Yard. There she was sold at auction. The purchaser
was one John F. Patterson, who took an oath that he was a citizen of the
United States. On the 26th of September, 1870, the Virginius was
registered in the custom house of New York.

As all the requisites of the statute were fulfilled in her behalf, she
cleared in the usual way for Curacoa, and sailed early in September for
that port.

It was discovered a good many years after that Patterson was not the
real owner of the vessel, but that, as a matter of fact, the money for
her purchase had been furnished by Cuban sympathizers, and that she was
virtually controlled by them.

From the day of her clearance in New York, she certainly did not return
within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

Nevertheless, she preserved her American papers, and whenever she
entered foreign ports, she made it a practice to put forth a claim to
American nationality, which claim was always recognized by the
authorities in those ports.

There is no evidence whatever to show that she committed any overt act,
or did anything that was contrary to international law.

She cleared from Kingston, Jamaica, on the 23rd of October, 1873, for
Costa Rica.

As President Grant said in his message to Congress, January 5th, 18