of the American army and navy in 1898, admirable and useful
as they were.

Comparably great, as we shall most notably see in the ensuing chapters,
were the services of the United States to Cuba after the War of
Independence. These were manifold. The first was diplomatic, in serving
as an intermediary between Cuba and Spain, in making the treaty of
peace, and in securing the Spanish withdrawal from the island. There is
no doubt that all those things were done more smoothly, more
satisfactorily and more expeditiously than they could have been had they
been left to direct settlement between Cuba and Spain. The services of
the United States during the last part of 1898 were more indispensable
than those of the spring and summer of that year. Indeed, it might
perhaps be claimed that the chief advantage in having the United States
intervene was that it enabled her to play that important part in the
making of peace and the post-bellum readjustment.

The second great service rendered by the United States was the
rehabilitation of the island. This was a manifold undertaking. It
comprised rehabilitation after many years of Spanish misrule and
neglect, and rehabilitation after the ravages of three years of
peculiarly destructive war. The civic maladies to be cured were thus
both chronic and acute. Moreover, the work was political, and sanitary,
and educational, and economic. Order was to be restored, law was to be
administered, government was to be organized, pestilence was to be
abated, schools were to be created, the whole work of civilization was
to be performed. Splendid as was the work of Sampson's fleet at
Santiago, still more beneficent was that of General Wood within the
precincts of that city and throughout the Province of Oriente. Nobly
memorable was the work of Shafter's army, but we shall read history to
little avail if we do not give higher credit to the work of the Military
Governor and his lieutenants.

A third service was in acting as guide, philosopher and friend in the
great task of organizing and installing the native Cuban government
which had been promised by the United States in the act of declaring war
against Spain. That self-abnegatory pledge was a noble thing, and noble
was the faithful fulfilment of it. I have heard of an eminent and
enlightened Cuban who regarded that pledge with incredulity, saying, "It
can never be fulfilled!" and who persisted in that incredulity until
that memorable noonday when