treating the representative demands of this government as measures
of hostility, following with that instant and complete severance
of relations by its action whereby 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 on 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 for volunteers in order to carry into
effect the said resolutions 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 of all its rights and the
maintenance of all its duties in the conduct of a public war may
be assured.