on the Americans, and they had been ordered over the side and put into
prison--would that have been an act derogatory to the dignity of the
United States? Or are we to understand that an American citizen or a
citizen of any country, after he has asked and obtained permission to
leave Cuba and is on board of an American vessel, is no more safe there
than he would be in the insurgent camp?

The latter supposition would seem to be correct, and the matter to
depend on the captain of the vessel and her owners, from whom he
receives his instructions, and not to be one in which the United States
government is in any way concerned. I do not believe the captain of a
British passenger steamer would have allowed one of his passengers to
be searched on the main deck of his vessel, as I saw this Cuban
searched; nor even the captain of a British tramp steamer nor of a coal
barge.

The chief engineer of the _Olivette_ declared to me that in his
opinion, "it served them just right," and the captain put a cabin at
the disposal of the Spanish spies with eager humility. And when one of
the detectives showed some disinclination to give back my passport, and
I said I would keep him on board until he did it, the captain said:
"Yes, you will, will you? I would like to see you try it," suggesting
that he was master of his own ship and of my actions. But he was not.
There is not an unwashed, garlicky, bediamonded Spanish spy in Cuba who
has not more authority on board the _Olivette_ than her American
captain and his subservient crew.

Only a year ago half of this country was clamoring for a war with the
greatest power it could have selected for that purpose. Yet Great
Britain would have been the first to protect her citizens and their