mply if he had written it. The latter of
course acknowledged that he had. Thereupon the Secretary cabled to the
American Minister at Madrid to request the Spanish government to recall
the offending envoy. This the Spanish government would doubtless have
done, but for the fact that De Lome forestalled such action by cabling
his resignation an hour before the dispatch of the Secretary of State
reached Madrid. The Spanish government then sent Senor Polo y Bernabe to
be its Minister at Washington.

[Illustration: THE BAY AND HARBOR OF HAVANA

The capital of Cuba is seated upon the shore of a spacious and beautiful
bay, the entrance to which is between the two bold headlines crowned
respectively by the Morro Castle and La Punta fortress, while the domes
and spires of the great city have for a background the central mountain
range of the island. The harbor of Havana is one of the most secure and
commodious in the world, and in commercial importance, measured by
tonnage of shipping, ranks among the foremost in the Western
Hemisphere.]

There next occurred the greatest and most mysterious tragedy of the
entire revolutionary period. On the evening of February 15, at twenty
minutes before ten o'clock, a violent explosion occurred under or in the
forward portion of the _Maine_ as she lay in Havana harbor, sufficient
to lift the hull some distance above its normal level. A few seconds
later another and more violent explosion followed, which so completely
destroyed the forward part of the ship that most of it could never
be found. The remainder of the vessel almost immediately sank, in about
six fathoms of water. Of the complement of 360, two officers and 264 men
were killed, and of the remainder 60 were wounded. Captain Sigsbee,
commander of the _Maine_, telegraphed to Washington that all judgment
upon the matter should be suspended until after full investigation.
Blanco telegraphed to Madrid that the catastrophe was doubtless due to
an accident within the ship, and the Madrid government promptly
expressed regret and sympathy.

In the United States there was a great outburst of grief and rage. Even
the most restrained and conservative could not help a degree of
suspicion of foul play, though of course not on the part of the Spanish
government. A semi-criminal faction, in the "yellow" press, clamored
furiously for war, charging Spaniards, even the Spanish government, with
direct and malicious responsibility for the tragedy, and