Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/304

 294 H. L.Janes incensed, and that Marcy assured him that if he had had the available vessels he would have sent them to Havana; but that they were going to summon the squadron which they had in Japan, for this purpose as well as in view of what might possibly occur. The message of the President is still under consideration in the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the House; but from a short speech that its chairman, Mr. Bayley, made in reply to a question, the report of the committee will not in the slightest degree depart from the tone of virulence of said message. The probable alignment of the powers, in the event that America dealt the stroke that was to cut the Gordian Knot and bring on the war, was of the greatest interest. Direct word had reached Madrid that Spain's old friends would stand by her in this crisis to the end. " From communications that we have received from London and Paris ", wrote Calderon,^ " we learn with satisfaction that the Cabinets of France and England approve our course and are of the opinion that justice is on our side." On the day following the despatch of this, Her Majesty's representatives in the New World were informed that the hint had been dropped at the courts of Paris and London that the Queen of Spain would not look with disfavor upon any proposition that might be made to arbitrate the whole question. All the news that reached Madrid from Washington, however, was far from being reassuring ; the hopes that were felt at first of an early settlement gave place to a feeling of pessimism regarding the outcome. As to an amicable adjustment of the difference at an early date, the Spanish diplomats at Paris and London were in- formed " that, unfortunately, there are motives not unknown to you which would prevent the government of Her Majesty from placing too many hopes on the certainty of such a termination ".- Calderon, who, as has been said, had passed a period of diplomatic service in Washington, could not be altogether certain that the clouds that seemed to be hovering over Cuba's coasts were not those of war. He knew that many persons were ready to applaud such sentiments as those which proceeded from the editorial columns of the Union, a paper which was looked upon as most certainly voicing the views of the administration. This paper declared that the time had arrived when we must meet Spain in Cuba with " the purse in one hand and the sword in the other ".^ Shortly after the first news from Havana reached the public, the New York Herald thus har- angued its readers : ' Calderon to Pezuela, May 7, 1854. ^ Same to same, May 8, 1854. 'Washington Daily Union, June 23, 1854; quoted in letter of Cueto to the Spanish First Secretary of State, June 24, 1854.