or negligence on the part of
any of the officers, or members of her crew; that the ship was destroyed
by the explosion of a submarine mine, which caused the partial explosion
of two or more of her forward magazines; and that no evidence has been
obtainable fixing the responsibility for the destruction of the _Maine_
upon any person or persons."

But, the last clause of the finding notwithstanding, there was probably
not one United States citizen per hundred who did not feel morally
convinced that the Spaniards were the guilty parties; and, that being
the case, war was from that moment inevitable. On April 8, 1898,
General Lee, the United States Consul-General, received orders to leave
Cuba and hand over the charge of the United States interests to the
British Consul; and on the following day he, with such American citizens
as still remained in Havana, left for Florida in a gunboat. On April
18th a conference between the Committees of the two American Houses
resulted in the adoption of a certain resolution, which was signed by
President McKinley on the 20th of the same month: a copy was served upon
Senor Polo y Bernabe, the Spanish Minister at Washington, who
immediately asked for his passports, and left that city. On April 21st
the President of the United States proclaimed the blockade of the Cuban
coast from Cienfuegos westward to Cape San Antonio, and thence north and
east past Havana to Cardenas; and as the bulk of the American fleet had
been quietly concentrating at Key West from the date of the destruction
of the _Maine_, the blockade was put into effect within eight hours of
its declaration. On April 24th the Spanish Government formally
recognised the existence of war between itself and the United States;
and on the following day the United States Congress passed the following
Bill without a division:--

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States in congress assembled:--

"_First_: That war be, and the same is hereby declared to exist, and
that war has existed since the 21st day of April, a.d. 1898, including
the said day, between the United States of America and the kingdom of
Spain.

"_Second_: That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is,
directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the
United States, and to call into the actual service of the United States
the militia of the several States, to such extent as may be necessary to
c