676 The sinking of the Maine. [i898 Spanish element of the population viewed it with disapprobation and withdrew from politics. In this delicate situation the intervention of the United States was precipitated by certain startling incidents. On February 8, 1898, there was published in New York a private letter which Sefior Dupuy de Lome, the Spanish minister at Washington, had written to Sefior Canalejas, a Spanish journalist, who, after visiting the United States, had gone to Cuba. This letter, as it appears, was abstracted from the mails at Havana by a Cuban sympathiser. From internal evidence it appeared to have been written about the middle of December, 1897. It described President McKinley as a weak and shifty politician, a bidder for the admiration of the crowd, who tried to leave a door open behind him while keeping on good terms with the "jingoes" of his party; and intimated that it would be advantageous for Spain to take up, " even if only for effect," the question of commercial relations. When the letter was published, this suggestion had actually been adopted. Seiior Dupuy de Lome frankly acknowledged his authorship of the letter, and, with a view to save his government from embarrassment, cabled his resignation to Madrid. The Spanish government not only accepted his resignation, but disclaimed any participation in his sentiments, and on February 14 the incident was declared to be closed. On the evening of the next day the U. S. S. Maine was blown up at Havana, and 266 of her crew perished. She had been sent to Havana on January 24, in consequence of representations that Americans there were in danger from anti-autonomy rioters. Her visit was declared to be entirely friendly. When she sank Spanish officials assisted in the rescue and relief of the survivors of her crew, and they afterwards paid funeral honours to the dead. The United States, however, appointed a naval board to investigate the cause of the disaster ; and Spain, after the United States had rejected a proposal for a joint investigation, entered upon an independent inquiry. Feeling in the United States was deeply stirred ; and a request from the Spanish government for the recall of the Consul-general at Havana was promptly refused. A pro- found effect on public opinion was also produced by a speech made in the Senate by Proctor, of Vermont, who, by a calm narration of his personal observations in Cuba, confirmed the growing conviction that independence was the only solution of the difficulty. Early in March Congress unanimously placed at the President's disposal $50,000,000 for national defence. The report of the naval board of inquiry on the case of the Maine was made public on March 28. It found that the destruction of the ship was caused by the explosion of a submarine mine, which in turn produced an explosion in the ship's forward magazines; but no evidence was obtained to fix the responsibility. The President transmitted the report to Congress, and communicated the substance of it to the Spanish government. At the same time the Spanish government informed the
