PREPARING FOR BATTLE. 227 in action in the Civil War werebeingrefitted at Norfolk for harbour defence. New contractsfor and the American President were at the time using no mere empty phrases. guns and projectiles were hurriedly placed with private factories,and abroad the United States naval attaches were inquiring as to what ships could bebought from European building yards. On March 8th, 1898, a Bill was introduced in the House ofRepresentatives at Washington appropriating fifty millions of dollars (£ 10,000,000 sterling) for national defence. It passed the House the same day, and on the morrow was unanimously voted by the Senate and received the President's signature. Such a voteis a step towards war ;but it is far from making war inevitable, as has been seen on more than one occasion when at a great crisis the Government of Great Britain has had to ask Parliament for a special vote of millions for defence purposes. The fifty million dollars had been to a great extent signed away before they were voted. Congress was finding the money for contracts already made by the LTnited States Navy and War Departments. Part of the grant went for ship?, guns, and stores purchased in England, and in the port of London the powerful new Brazilian cruiser was formally handed over to United States officers, and renamed the New Orleans. The Stars andStripes flying over the newly-acquiredwarship receivedtheir first salute from the guns of Tilbury as she went down the river on her way to America.

At the same time the representatives of Great Britain at Washington and Madrid were active in the cause of peace. At Washington Sir Julian Pauncefote conveyed to the President the satisfaction of theBritish Government with the moderate attitude he had assumed and his efforts for peace, and at Madrid Britain urged upon the Queen Regent's Cabinet the advisability of every possible concession being made to avoid a conflict with America.

Spain hadnaturally begun naval preparations in reply to those of the States. A numberof ships, chiefly torpedo destroyers,had been purchased abroad, and a formidable sea-going torpedo flotilla was fitting out at Cadiz under the commandof Captain Villamil, an officer of high reputation for energy, courage, and scientific attainments. At MadridGeneralWoodford was loyally seconding the President's efforts for a peaceful solution. He hadnot an easy task,now that the period of active preparations on both sides had begun, and the Maine report might any day becomepublic property. Senor Gullon, Sagasta'sMinister for Foreign Affairs, suggested to Woodford that a distinct step towards peace would be the recall of FitzHugh Lee from Havana, accusing Lee of being in constant relation with the insurgents. He 1 that the President's idea of -ending the relief c< 1-lected in the States for the Reconcentrados to Cuba on board of warships was a direct encouragement to the rebels, and that the concentration of the fleet at Key West made it difficult forBlanco to pacify the island. Leaders, who otherwise wouldbe ready to submit, would now keep the field, hoping for an early armed interventionin their favour. Woodford denied thatLee had gonebeyond his duties as consulsen.ial,and said that it would not be possib'e to recallhim. As for the warships detailed to convey the stores, they were old Government I of no fighting power, and the concentration at Key West was a mere precaution against failure of the negotiations and was not meant as a menace. For Spain to have pressed any of these points would have been to precipitate a rupture. So thestrained situation continued.

But all the while,amid the excitementof war preparations, the President was working for peace. By his desire the reports of the United States consuls in Cuba on the sufferings of the Reconcentrados, whichhadbeen printedinorder to be Lid beforeCongress, were kept back for some weeks, in order that they might not add to the generalagitation. On Saturday, March 12th, Senor Luis Polo de Bemabe, the newlyarrived Spanish Minister, formally presented his credentials to the President at the White House.

The ambassador had many friends in Washington. He had been chosen for the post because his father had been a most popular envoy to the United States, an3 Senor Polo had himself held the post of attache to the Washington Embassy, and knew America well. His was, above all, a mission of peace, and though the record of the friendly speeches delivered at his reception, and the desires expressed on both sides for a close friendship between Spain and the United States, read strangely in the light of subsequent events, both the Spanish envoy As a reply to the naval movement in America Spain sent the torpedo flotilla to the Canaries, her outpost in theNorthAtlantic. Itsdeparture from Cadiz was made the occasion of a popular demonstration, enormous crowds cheering the six little vessels as they steamed out to sea.