Call for volunteers—Spain.
By the President of the United
States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas a joint resolution of Congress was approved on the twentieth day
of April, 1898, entitled “Joint resolution for the recognition of the
independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the Government of
Spain relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba, and
to withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and
directing the President of the United States to use the land and naval
forces of the United States to carry these resolutions into effect;”
and
Whereas, by an act of Congress entitled “An act to provide for
temporarily increasing the military establishment of the United States
in time of war, and for other purposes,” approved April 22, 1898, the
President is authorized, in order to raise a volunteer army, to issue
his proclamation calling for volunteers to serve in the Army of the
United States:
Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, by
virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution and the laws, and
deeming sufficient occasion to exist, have thought fit to call forth,
and hereby do call forth, volunteers to the aggregate number of 125,000,
in order to carry into effect the purpose of the said resolution; the
same to be apportioned, as far as practicable, among the several States
and Territories and the District of Columbia, according to population,
and to serve for two years, unless sooner discharged. The details for
this object will be immediately communicated to the proper authorities
through the War Department.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the
United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of
Washington, this
twenty-third day of April, A. D. 1898, and of the independence
of the United States the one hundred and
twenty-second.
[
seal.]
William McKinley.
By the President:
John Sherman,
Secretary of State.
[Page 771]
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America:
I transmit to the Congress, for its consideration and appropriate
action, copies of correspondence recently had with the
representative of Spain in the United States, with the United States
minister at Madrid, and through the latter with the Government of
Spain, showing the action taken under the joint resolution approved
April 20, 1898, “for the recognition of the independence of the
people of Cuba, demanding that the Government of Spain relinquish
its authority and government in the island of Cuba, and to withdraw
its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing
the President of the United States to use the land and naval forces
of the United States to carry these resolutions into effect.”
Upon communicating to the Spanish minister in Washington the demand
which it became the duty of the Executive to address to the
Government of Spain in obedience to said resolution, the minister
asked for his passports and withdrew. The United States minister at
Madrid was in turn notified by the Spanish minister for foreign
affairs that the withdrawal of the Spanish representative from the
United States had terminated diplomatic relations between the two
countries, and that all official communications between their
respective representatives ceased therewith.
I commend to your especial attention the note addressed to the United
States minister at Madrid by the Spanish minister for foreign
affairs on the 21st instant, whereby the foregoing notification was
conveyed. It will be perceived therefrom that the Government of
Spain, having cognizance of the joint resolution of the United
States Congress, and in view of the things which the President is
thereby required and authorized to do, responds by treating the
reasonable demands of this Government as measures of hostility,
following with that instant and complete severance of relations by
its action which by the usage of nations accompanies an existent
state of war between sovereign powers.
The position of Spain being thus made known and the demands of the
United States being denied with a complete rupture of intercourse by
the act of Spain, I have been constrained, in exercise of the power
and authority conferred upon me by the joint resolution aforesaid,
to proclaim under date of April 22, 1898, a blockade of certain
ports of the north coast of Cuba, lying between Cardenas and Bahia
Honda and of the port of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba; and
further, in exercise of my constitutional powers and using the
authority conferred upon me by the act of Congress approved April
22, 1898, to issue my proclamation, dated April 23, 1898, calling
forth volunteers in order to carry into effect the said resolution
of April 20, 1898. Copies of these proclamations are hereto
appended.
In view of the measures so taken, and with a view to the adoption of
such other measures as may be necessary to enable me to carry out
the expressed will of the Congress of the United States in the
premises, I now recommend to your honorable body the adoption of a
joint resolution declaring that a state of war exists between the
United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, and I urge speedy
action thereon, to the end that the definition of the international
status of the United States as a belligerent power may be made
known, and the assertion [Page 772]
of all its rights and the maintenance of all its duties in the
conduct of a public war may be assured.
William McKinley.
Executive
Mansion,
Washington, April 25,
1898.
