for the excitement of taking occasional prizes, the blockading of Havana would have been dull business for the Jack Tars aboard the North Atlantic squadron. Saturday night they had to listen to the roar of the guns of Morro Castle and see the flashes of fire from their muzzles, without a reply from the fleet. Havana officials have declared that the discharge of those guns was only for signaling purposes and was not an attack on the fleet, but it would be difficult to make the sailors believe that Spanish marksmanship was not responsible for the fact that no balls fell near them.

SPAIN DECLARES WAR.

The Spanish government did not wait for further aggression on the part of the United States, but herself made the next formal move by issuing a declaration of the fact that war existed, and defining the conditions under which the Spanish government expected to carry on the conflict. This decree was gazetted in Madrid on Sunday, April 24, in the following terms:

Diplomatic relations are broken off between Spain and the United States, and the state of war having begun between the two countries numerous questions of international law arise which must be precisely defined chiefly because the injustice and provocation come from our adversaries and it is they who, by their detestable conduct, have caused this grave conflict.

We have observed with strictest fidelity the principles of international law and have shown the most scrupulous respect for morality and the right of government. There is an opinion that the fact that we have not adhered to the declaration of Paris does not exempt us from the duty of respecting the principles therein enunciated. The principle Spain unquestionably refused to admit then was the abolition of privateering. The government now considers it most indispensable to make absolute reserve on this point in order to maintain our liberty of action and uncontested right to have recourse to privateering when we consider it expedient, first by organizing immediately a force of cruisers auxiliary to the navy, which will be composed of vessels of our mercantile marine and with equal distinction in the work of our navy.

Clause 1—The state of war existing between Spain and the United States annuls the treaty of peace and amity of Oct. 27, 1795, and the protocol of Jan. 12, 1877, and all other agreements, treaties, or conventions in force between the two countries.

Clause 2—From the publication of these presents thirty days are granted to all ships of the United States anchored in our harbors to take their departure free of hindrance.

Clause 3—Notwithstanding that Spain has not adhered to the declaration of Paris the government, respecting the principles of the law of nations, proposes to observe, and hereby orders to be observed, the following regulations of maritime law:

1. Neutral flags cover the enemy's merchandise except contraband of war.

2. Neutral merchandise, except contraband of war, is not seizable under the enemy's flag.

3. A blockade to be obligatory must be effective—viz.: It must be maintained with sufficient force to prevent access to the enemy's littoral.

4. The Spanish government, upholding its right to grant letters of marque, will at present confine itself to organizing, with the vessels of the mercantile marine, a force of auxiliary cruisers which will cooperate with the navy according to the needs of the campaign and will be under naval control.

5. In order to capture the enemy's ships and confiscate the enemy's merchandise and contraband of war under whatever form, the auxiliary cruisers will exercise the right of search on the high seas and in the waters under the enemy's jurisdiction, in accordance with international law and the regulations which will be published.

6. Defines what is included in contraband of war, naming weapons, ammunition, equipments, engines, and, in general, all the appliances used in war.

7. To be regarded and judged as pirates with all the rigor of the law are captains, masters, officers, and two-thirds of the crews of vessels which, not being American, shall commit acts of war against Spain, even if provided with letters of marque issued by the United States.

Following is a summary of the more important of the five clauses outlining the rules Spain announced she would observe during the war:

THE UNITED STATES MAKES REPLY.

It took the House of Representatives just one minute and forty-one seconds on Monday to pass a declaration of war which replied to that of Spain. The Senate acted almost as promptly, and their respective presiding officers and the President of the United States signed the Act of Congress immediately, so that it became at once a law of the land. The declaration of war was passed by Congress in response to a message from the President requesting that action in the following terms:

TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

I transmit to Congress for its consideration and appropriate action copies of correspondence recently had with the representative of Spain in the United States, with the United States Minister at Madrid, and through the latter with the government of Spain, showing the action taken under the joint resolution approved April 20, 1898, "for the recognition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the government of Spain relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba and to withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of the United States to carry these resolutions into effect."

Upon communicating with the Spanish Minister in Washington the demand which it became the duty of the executive to address to the government of Spain, in obedience to said resolution, the said Minister asked for his passports and withdrew. The United States Minister at Madrid was in turn notified by the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs that the withdrawal of the Spanish representative from the United States had terminated diplomatic relations between the two countries, and that all official communications between their respective representatives ceased therewith.

I recommend to your special attention the note addressed to the United States Minister at Madrid by the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs on the 21st inst., whereby the foregoing notification was conveyed. It will be perceived therefrom that the government of Spain, having cognizance of the joint resolution of the United States Congress, and in view of things which the President is thereby required and authorized to do, responds by treating the representative demands of this government as measures of hostility, following with that instant and complete severance of relations by its action whereby the usage of nations accompanies an existent state of war between sovereign powers.

The position of Spain being thus made known, and the demands of the United States being denied, with a complete rupture of intercourse by the act of Spain, I have been constrained, in exercise of the power and authority conferred upon me by the joint resolution aforesaid, to proclaim, under date of April 22, 1898, a blockade of certain ports on the north coast of Cuba lying between Cardenas and Bahia Honda, and of the port of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba; and further, in exercise of my constitutional powers, and using the authority conferred upon me by the act of Congress approved April 22, 1898, to issue my proclamation, dated April 23, 1898, calling for volunteers in order to carry into effect the said resolutions of April 20, 1898. Copies of these proclamations are hereto appended.

In view of the measures so taken, and with a view to