her and her cargo as prize as may be deemed advisable. Neutral
vessels lying in any of said ports at the time of the
establishment of such blockade will be allowed thirty days to
issue therefrom.

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 22d day of April, A. D. 1898,
and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and
twenty-second.

By the President: WILLIAM M'KINLEY.

JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary of State.

MORE SPANISH PRIZES TAKEN.

The blockade was not a mere paper blockade, but an exceedingly
effective one. Before two days had passed, the prizes taken began
to multiply in numbers and in value. The second capture was the
Spanish freighter Pedro, of Bilboa, which was taken by the New
York in the afternoon of the first day's cruising.

When the fleet approached the Cuban coast and spread out for
patrol duty, the New York turned eastward for her own watch, not
knowing what might be found in the neighborhood. Far off against
the dim, vague background of Cuban hills, half seen, half guessed,
could be traced a faint film of gray smoke, the one visible
evidence of a Spanish freighter striving vainly to race out the