United States issued the proclamation of the blockade of Cuba in the following terms:

PROCLAMATION.

Blockade of Cuban ports by the President of the United States. A proclamation. Whereas, by a joint resolution passed by the Congress and approved April 20, 1898, and communicated to the government of Spain, it was demanded that that said government at once relinquish its authority and government in the Island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and the President of the United States was 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 might be necessary to carry said resolution into effect, and,

Whereas, in carrying into effect said resolution, the President of the United States deems it necessary to set on foot and maintain a blockade of the north coast of Cuba, including ports on said coast between Cardenas and Bahia Honda and the port of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States and the laws of nations applicable to such cases. An efficient force will be posted so as to prevent the entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. Any neutral vessels approaching any of said ports or attempting to leave the same without notice or knowledge of the establishment of such blockade will be duly warned by the Commander of the blockading forces, who will endorse on her register the facts and the date of such warning, where such endorsement was made, and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter any blockaded port, she will be captured and sent to the nearest convenient port for such proceedings against her and her cargo, as prizes, as may be deemed advisable. Neutral vessels lying at any of said ports at the time of the establishment of said blockade will be allowed 30 days to issue therefrom.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

(SEAL)

Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-second day of April, A. D. 1898, and of the Independence of the United States, the One Hundred and Twenty-second.

By the President,

WILLIAM MCKINLEY.

JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary of State.

It will be observed in this proclamation that, on the north coast of Cuba, Bahia Honda is the most western point named and that a gap of several hundred miles intervenes between it and Cienfuegos, on the south coast of the island. At Bahia Honda begins a line of reefs skirting the shore and rendering it unapproachable as far as Cape San Antonio. After passing San Antonio, for some distance on the southern shore the coast has no harbors of commercial importance. Add to this the fact that communication with the capital from these western points of the island was difficult, that the insurgents were strong in that section while the military grasp of Spain was relatively feeble, and it will be understood that ships employed in blockading that portion of Cuba would be in a measure wasted. The Isle of Pines was however, a prominent feature of the south coast between Cape San Antonio and Cienfuegos, and abreast of it was Batabano on the mainland of Cuba, a place of some importance, being but thirty miles from Havana and connected with it by a direct railroad. Only vessels of very light draft could reach it, however, and it was to be supposed that the government thought the limited number of ships then available could be better employed elsewhere.

It will be noticed further that the proclamation omits the port of Sagua la Grande, lying on the north shore to the eastward of Cardenas. This point was of considerable value to the Spaniards and its omission was thought at the time to be due to reasons of state, unknown to the writer.

War having been declared on the twenty-first of April, the first movement toward Cuba was made by Admiral Sampson's fleet leaving Key West the morning of the twenty-second and arriving off Havana at sundown of the same day. Patrolling, during the night, before that port in fleet formation, the vessels took station the next day at points specified by the Admiral and began the regular work assigned to them. Shortly after leaving Key West the Spanish steamer Buena Ventura was captured, and in the first few days of the blockade several vessels were intercepted and either captured and sent in as prizes or warned of the blockade and ordered to keep off. The latter were valuable vessels which, being within the limit of time set by the President in his proclama

tion and belonging to neutral nations, could not be regarded as guilty, unless after one warning a second attempt should be made. The margin of time thus given does not, however, exempt vessels belonging to the enemy, and of these one of the most notable captures was the Panama which appeared from the northward steering for Havana and was pluckily brought to by the little Mangrove, which was assisted later in securing the prize by the Indiana.

From Havana as a center Admiral Sampson extended the blockade to neighboring harbors east and west, as rapidly as his force was increased by the Navy Department. Matanzas was almost immediately guarded by monitors and small vessels and these extended the line, as their numbers made it practicable, to cover the entrance to the reefs and islands, inside of which lies Cardenas. Beyond this to the eastward there was no marked extension for some time, and later, when the force at hand would have permitted the next port to the eastward, Sagua la Grande, to be closed, the order so to blockade it was withheld by the government for reasons which as before mentioned were not known to the writer or to the fleet generally.

Extending in the same way to the westward the line of vessels soon included Mariel, twenty miles west of Havana. The intention was to make a close blockade of the three ports: Havana in the center, Matanzas to the east and Mariel to the west, for the reason that the two latter ports were near enough to Havana to be constantly in touch with it and directly in the sphere of military influence which concentrated at the capital. West of Mariel the next harbor of importance, fifteen miles distant from it, was Cabañas while ten miles farther west was the sheltered bay of Bahia Honda. Cabañas and Bahia Honda were deemed of secondary importance because of their distance from Havana and the lack of railroad connection. They were, however, observed by our vessels though not closely blockaded in the earlier days of the war.

These two bays of Cabañas and Bahia Honda would have offered some advantages as a shelter and refuge for our torpedo boats and other light craft as well as an anchorage for