a ship to Havana, because the
harbor was very elaborately mined, and there was a bitter and truculent
feeling among the Spaniards against the United States; wherefore the
danger of some untoward occurrence was too great to be incurred without
a more pressing necessity than was then apparent. But despite his
warning the _Maine_ was sent. She was conducted by a Spanish official
pilot to her anchorage at a buoy between Regla and the old custom house.
Whether a mine was attached to that buoy or not is unknown, though Mr.
Williams was confident that one was. His theory was that some malignant
Spanish officer, who had access to the keyboard of the mines, perhaps
through connivance with some other fanatic, watched to see the tide
swing the ship directly over the mine and then touched the key and
caused the explosion. That would account for the enormous hole which was
blown in the side of the ship, and which could not have been caused by
any little mine or torpedo which might have been floated to the side of
the ship, but must have been produced by a very large mine planted deep
beneath the hull.

The findings of the American board of investigation were reported
officially to the Spanish government, and the President in a message to
Congress expressed confidence that Spain would act in the matter
according to the dictates of justice, honor and friendship. The Spanish
government replied that it would certainly do so, and it presently
proposed to submit the whole subject to investigation by impartial
experts, and to determination by arbitration. But this proposal was not
made until April 10, when so much else had occurred to strain relations
between the two countries that it could not be entertained by the United
States.

Meantime the Autonomist government in Cuba, with a devotion that was
pathetic to behold, persisted in its efforts to justify its existence.
An electoral census was taken, though of course it could not cover more
than a small fraction of the island, and on March 27 an "election" of
Cuban Deputies to the Cortes was held. In fact there was no popular
voting at all. A list was prepared of eligible candidates, twenty of
them being Autonomists and Reformists, or supporters of the government,
and ten representing the Constitutionalist opposition. The list was
submitted to the Governor-General and approved by him, and the
candidates were declared to have been duly elected. Jose Maria Galvez,
the president of the Auton