The Spanish Cortes met in special session at Madrid, and on the 20th of April the Queen Regent delivered her speech before that legislative body and declared that her parliament was summoned in the hour of peril to defend her country’s rights and her child’s throne, whatever sacrifice might be entailed.  It was on that same day that President McKinley presented the ultimatum of the United States to Spain, in language diplomatic in form, but carrying with it a definite notice to yield Cuba’s freedom and relinquish her pretense of authority in that island without delay.  A copy of the ultimatum was forwarded to the Spanish ambassador at Washington, Senor Polo y Bernabe, who responded by asking for his passports and safe conduct out of 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.