Page:McClure's Magazine volume 10.djvu/491



XI.

Y information about Cuba and the situation there to-day has been gathered while performing official duties, and of course belonged to the government, and has been given to it from time to time in official reports. This article necessarily traverses some of the ground gone over in detail in these reports.

Nine months previous to the expiration of the presidential term of Mr. Cleveland, at his request I proceeded to Havana, Cuba, having been appointed United States Consul General. Resolutions recognizing the belligerent rights of the insurrectionary forces in Cuba had passed both houses of Congress, and were lying upon the President's desk for his signature. Grave doubts existed in the mind of Mr. Cleveland whether the Cuban Government, then in arms against the Spanish authority on the island of Cuba, was properly entitled to such recognition. One of the