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1898] Intervention of the United States. 677 United States that the Spanish commission had reported that the ex- plosion was due solely to some interior cause. Meanwhile, President McKinley had proposed to Spain the conclusion of an armistice to last till October 1, 1898, the entire revocation of the decrees of concentration, the restoration of all the reconcentrados to their homes, and the distribution of provisions and supplies from the United States to the needy in co-operation with the Spanish authorities. In reply Spain offered to leave the question of peace to the autonomous parliament, which was to meet on May 4. She was prepared to suspend hostilities if the insurgents should request it. She declared that the concentration orders had been revoked, and accepted the offer with regard to relief of the suffering. The case of the Maine she proposed to submit to arbitration. On April 1 it was announced that the President considered this reply unsatisfactory, and that he would submit the matter to Congress in a message. War then seemed to be inevitable. The presentation at Washington by the representatives of the six great Powers of Europe of a note, in which the hope was expressed that further negotiations might result in peace, called forth from President McKinley the reply that the conditions existing in Cuba could no longer be endured. On April 10 Spain proclaimed an armistice in Cuba. On the preceding day, however, the Consul-general of the United States at Havana, with the last of the American residents, had embarked for the United States; and on Monday, April 11, the President communicated to Congress his promised message. It recommended intervention, which it justified on grounds of humanity; of the protection due to American citizens in Cuba and to their trade and industry ; and of the fact that the existing condition of things constituted a constant menace to peace. Of this condition the case of the Maine was cited as an illustration. Declaring that "the war in Cuba must stop," the President asked Congress to give him power to terminate it and secure in Cuba a stable government capable of maintaining order and of preserving international obligations, and to this end to employ the army and navy. In conclusion he mentioned the armistice just proclaimed by Spain, and asked that it should have due consider- ation. The response of Congress was embodied in a joint resolution, which was approved by the President on April 20, 1898. It declared that the people of Cuba " are and of right ought to be free and independent"; demanded that Spain should at once relinquish her authority and government there; " directed and empowered " the President to use the army and navy to enforce the demand ; and disclaimed for the United States any intention to "exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control" over the island "except for the pacification thereof." The resolution was communicated as an ultimatum to the Spanish minister at Washington, and was cabled to General Woodford, the minister of the United States at Madrid. The CH. XXI.