ter interposing every possible obstacle in the way,
appointed a commission of enquiry; but, as no clear proof was adduced
that Rius had actually been deliberately murdered, the incident was
permitted to close. There is little doubt, however, that this was the
last drop in the cup, and that from that moment the United States
practically determined to intervene upon the first legitimate
opportunity, unless, indeed, Spain could be persuaded to grant to Cuba
something in the nature of a very liberal measure of self-government.
To secure this the United States Government approached Madrid with
certain proposals; and this action, combined with a change in the
Spanish Ministry, resulted in the recall of General Weyler, and the
appointment of General Blanco as Capitan-General in his stead.

General Blanco arrived in Cuba in the month of November, 1897, charged
with the task of pacifying the Cubans by a policy of conciliation,
instead of the policy of coercion so vigorously and mercilessly pursued
by his predecessor. But conciliation as a policy was adopted by Spain
altogether too late to save Cuba to her. Had it been tried two years
earlier, and pursued in good faith, it is more than likely that the
Cubans, as a whole, would have gladly welcomed it, and that the
revolution would have subsided and died out for want of support and
encouragement: but now the island bore everywhere the marks of Weyler's
destroying hand; its once flourishing industries were gone; its
inhabitants were ruined, and those of them who had been concentrated in
the fortified towns were dying by thousands, perishing of starvation as
the result of gross, culpable mismanagement, if not callous
indifference; and the Cubans were firmly resolved never again to submit
to a Government capable of such shocking abuses. Their experience of
the last two years had convinced them that they had now but to persevere
and they could compel Spain to evacuate the island in the course of
another year at the utmost; while now, so incensed was the United States
with Spain that its intervention might come at any moment. They
therefore received General Blanco's conciliatory advances coldly, and,
so far from surrendering or laying down their arms, pursued their
operations with even intensified energy. Meanwhile, on January 1, 1898,
the new Constitution, which was one of Spain's conciliatory measures,
was proclaimed as in force, and a Colonial Government was appointed,
with Se