AMERICANS STORMING SAN JUAN HILL

The most dramatic scene and the most destructive battle of the Spanish War.

THE UNITED STATES PEACE COMMISSIONERS OF THE SPANISH WAR Appointed September 9, 1898. Met Spanish Commissioners at Paris, October 1st. Treaty of Peace, signed by the Commis sioners at Paris, December 10th. Ratified by the United States Senate at Washington, February 6, 1899.

cut it in May; consequently it was several days before tidings could reach General Merritt and Admiral Dewey; and meantime the battle of Manila, which occured on the 13th, was fought.

President McKinley appointed as the National Peace Commission, Secretary of State Wm. R. Day, Senator Cushman K. Davis of Minnesota, Senator Wm. P. Frye of Maine, Senator George Gray of Delaware, and Mr. Whitelaw Reid of New York. Secretray Day resigned his State portfolio September 16th, in which he was succeeded by Colonel John Hay, former Ambassador to England. With ex-Secretary Day at their head the Americans sailed from New York, September 17th, met the Spanish Commissioners at Paris, France, as agreed, and arranged the details of the final peace between the two nations. Thus ended the Spanish-American War.

THE TREATY OF PEACE

December 10, 1898, was one of the most eventful days in the past decade-one fraught with great interest to the world, and involving the destiny of more than 10,000,000 of people. At 9 o'clock on the evening of that day the Commissioners of the United States and those of Spain met for the last time, after about eleven weeks of deliberation, in the magnificent apartments of the foreign ministry at the French capital, and signed the Treaty of Peace, which finally marked the end of the Spanish-American War.

This treaty transformed the political geography of the world by establishing the United States' authority in both hemispheres, and also in the tropics, where it had never before extended. It, furthermore, brought under our dominion and obligated us for the government of strange and widely isolated peoples, who have little or no knowledge of liberty and government as measured by the American standards.

On January 3, 1899, the Hon. John Hay, Secretary of State, delivered the Treaty of Peace to President McKinley, who, on January 4th, forwarded the same to the Senate of the United States and after careful consideration was ratified.

The Queen Regent of Spain signed the ratification of the Treaty of Peace on March 17, 1899, and the final act took place on the afternoon of April 11th, when copies of the final protocol were exchanged at Washington by President McKinley and the French ambassador, M. Cambon, representing Spain. The President immediately issued a proclamation of peace, and thus the SpanishAmerican War came to an official end. A few weeks later the sum of $20,000,000 was paid to Spain, in accordance with the treaty, as partial compensation for the surrender of her rights in the Philippines, and diplomatic relations between the Latin kingdom and the United States were resumed.

The territory which passes under the control of our government by the above treaty of peace has a combined area of about 168,000 square miles, equal to nine good States. It all lies within the tropics, where hitherto not an acre of our country has extended; and, for that reason, its acquisition is of the greatest commercial significance. These islands produce all tropical fruits, plants, spices, timbers, etc. Their combined population is upwards of 10,000,000 people, and among this vast number there are few manufactories of any kind. They are consumers or prospective consumers of all manufactured goods; they require the products of the temperate zone, and in return everything they produce is marketable in our country.

EVACUATION OF CUBA AND PORTO RICO

The Spanish forces withdrew from Cuba, December 31, 1898, and, on the following day, the Stars and Stripes was hoisted over Havana. The change of sovereignties in Porto Rico took place without trouble, but there has been some disturbance in Cuba, and it is evident that considerable time must elapse before peace will be fully restored and a stable government established in the island.

Though the war with Spain was closed, serious trouble broke out in the Philippines. Aguinaldo, who had headed most of the rebellions against Spain during the later years, refused to acknowledge the authority of the United States, and, rallying

thousands of Filipinos around him, set on foot what he claimed was a war of independence. Our government sent a strong force of regulars and volunteers thither, all of whom acquitted themselves with splendid heroism and bravery, and defeated the rebels repeatedly, capturing strongholds one after the other, and, in fact, driving everything resistlessly before them. The fighting was of the sharpest kind, and our troops had many killed and wounded, though that of the enemy was tenfold greater. All such struggles, however, when American valor and skill are arrayed on one side, can have but one result; and, animated by our sense of duty, which demanded that a firm, equitable, and just government should be established in the Philippines, this beneficent purpose was certain to be attained in the end.

DEWEY MADE ADMIRAL

On March 3, 1899, President McKinley nominated RearAdmiral George Dewey to the rank of full admiral, his commission to date from March 2d, and the Senate immediately and unanimously confirmed the nomination, which had been so richly earned. This hero, as modest as he is great, remained in the Philippines to complete his herculean task, instead of seizing the first opportunity to return home and receive the overwhelming honors which his countrymen were eagerly waiting to show him. Finally, when his vast work was virtually completed and his health showed evidence. of the terrific and long-continued strain to which it had been subjected, he turned over his command, by direction of the government, to Rear-Admiral Watson, and, proceeding by a leisurely course, reached home in the autumn of 1899. The honors showered upon him by his grateful and admiring countrymen proved not only his clear title to the foremost rank among the greatest naval heroes of ancient and modern times, but attested the truth that the United States is not ungrateful, and that there is no reward too exalted for her to bestow upon those who have worthily won it.