the country.

Having reached the point where diplomacy no longer availed, the Spanish government for the first time made an aggressive move against the United States. Instead of waiting for the transmission of the ultimatum by American Minister Stewart L. Woodford, the ministry forestalled him and dismissed him from Madrid without affording him an opportunity to present that important document. It had been transmitted to Madrid by cable from the Spanish Minister in Washington, and the government felt no need to wait for formal messages from the enemy's representative in Spain. Minister Woodford left Madrid without delay, and finally reached the French frontier, after being subjected to many insults and attacks upon his train during the journey from the Spanish capital.

MARTIAL SPIRIT SPREADING.

A wave of national patriotic enthusiasm swept over the United States. North and South, East and West, there was hardly a discordant note in the great chorus of fervent applause which rose when it was understood that at last the forces of the nation were to be united in the cause of liberty and humanity.

But sentiment could not fight battles, unless backed by material equipment. The nation was preparing for war. From all parts of the United States the troops of the regular army were hurried by special trains southeastward to camps at Chickamauga and Tampa. In every navy yard work was hurried night and day upon all incomplete battleships and cruisers. Already the fleets of the American navy had been concentrated at points of vantage so that little was left to be done on that score. Congress lost no time in providing the sinews of war by generous appropriations for the regular channels of supply, in addition to one passed by unanimous vote of both houses granting $50,000,000 as a special fund to be at the disposal of the President. The war appropriation bill and the naval appropriation bill carried with them emergency clauses. Preparations were made for the reorganization of the regular army to more than double its normal size, and the President was authorized to call for a volunteer army of 125,000 men. Looking to the future, and the possibility of a long and expensive conflict, financial measures were prepared which would raise war revenues through the regular channels of taxation and the issue of bonds. Americans were ready to put their hands in their pockets and pay for the privilege of teaching a worthy lesson to the world.

American sense of humor never fails, and even in this period of stress the people took time to smile over the story of the Spanish Minister's journey from Washington to Canada. In Toronto, Senor Polo sought to discredit the assaults that had been made on Minister Woodford's train in Spain, and related that he himself had been the victim of assaults at two or three important cities on his journey through New York, which threatened great danger to himself and the train on which he was riding.

Upon inquiry it was revealed that the assaults which had aroused his fear were not quite as hostile as he believed. At the division stations on the line, the railway employees, according to custom, passed along the cars, tapping the tires of the wheels with steel hammers to test them for a possible flaw or break in the wheel, and it was this that made the Spanish Minister believe that he was the victim of an American outrage.

FIRST GUNS ARE FIRED.

The United States cruiser Nashville of the North Atlantic squadron, with headquarters at Key West, had the honor of firing the first shot in our war with Spain.

Early on the morning of Friday, April 22, the American fleet sailed from Key West, and, steaming southward across the straits of Florida, came in sight of Havana and the frowning fortifications of Morro Castle before six o'clock the same afternoon.

The sailing of the fleet, as dawn was creeping over the Florida keys, was a beautiful sight and a significant one, for from the time the first signals were hoisted until many days after, there was hardly an hour of inactivity. It was at three o'clock in the morning that the signal lights began to flash from the New York, Admiral Sampson's flagship. Answering signals appeared on the warships all along the line, and in a few moments black smoke began to belch from the funnels of all the ships and the crews woke from quietness to activity.

As soon as day began to break, the cruisers and gunboats inside the harbor hoisted anchors and moved out to join the big battleships which were already lined outside the bar. At five o'clock, when all the fleet were gathered around the battleships, Captain Sampson signaled from the New York to go ahead. The formation of the line had been agreed upon some time before and each vessel was in position for line of battle, the New York in the center and the Iowa and Indiana on either beam. The ships presented a most beautiful appearance as they swept out on the ocean without a vestige of anything not absolutely necessary on the decks. They were stripped of all useless superstructure, awnings, gun-covers and everything that goes to adorn a ship. Officers paced the bridge, marines were drawn up on deck and every man was at his post. They appeared as they were, grim fighting machines, not naval vessels out on cruise nor a squadron of evolution and maneuver, but warships out for business.

FIRST SPANISH SHIP CAPTURED.

The fleet had proceeded twelve miles from Sand Key Light, which lies seven miles southeast of Key West, when the Nashville signaled the flagship that a vessel flying the Spanish colors had been sighted. Admiral Sampson signaled from the New York for the Nashville to go and take it. The Nashville bore down on the Spanish ship and fired a blank shot from the port guns aft. This did not stop the Spaniard, and, to give a more definite hint, a solid shot was fired close over its bows. The Spanish ship immediately hove to and waited to know its fate.

The vessel proved to be the Buena Ventura, with a crew of about thirty men, bound from Pascagonla to Rotterdam with a cargo of lumber, cattle and miscellaneous freight. As soon as possible a boat was lowered from the Nashville and an officer was sent aboard the Buena Ventura. When the Spanish captain was informed that his ship could not proceed, he took his capture gracefully, shrugged his shoulders, and said he supposed it was only the fortune of war. It was suggested to him that the capture of a ship bearing that name, which, translated, means "good fortune," as the first prize of the American fleet in the war, seemed to be a striking coincidence. A prize crew of marines under Ensign T. P. Magruder was placed aboard, and, with the Nashville in the lead, both ships set out for Key West.

Inasmuch as the Buena Ventura was the first capture by the American navy in the war, it had a more definite interest than a success of the same sort would have a few months later. The first shot was fired by Gunner Michael Mallia of the Nashville, who therefore has the distinction of firing the first shot in the war. The prize was a rich one, estimated to be worth, including vessel and cargo, nearly $500,000, and the prize money resulting became a tempting amount. Captain Washburne Maynard, commander of the Nashville, who gained the distinction of making the first capture, is a native of Knoxville, Tenn. He is a son of former United States Senator Horace Maynard, and at the time of the capture was about fifty years old. He entered the Annapolis Naval Academy at the age of seventeen and graduated at the head of his class. He was for a number of years stationed in Alaska, and at the time of gaining his present distinction had been in command of the Nashville for four years.

BLOCKADE OF HAVANA BEGUN.

After the Nashville left the fleet to return to Key West with its prize, the