And the Queen, by imperial decree, extended to Cuba all the rights enjoyed by peninsular Spaniards, establishing in the island all the electoral laws of Spain, and granting autonomy.
Any fair-minded person will readily admit that this was not an unworthy attempt to meet the American position. It must be admitted at the same time that these measures, conciliatory as they were intended to be, and in fact were, failed to quell the riot. The reconcentrados could not be fed because the revolutionists would allow no work to be done or produce to be grown. And they would not hear of autonomy. Nobody seemed to want autonomy at this stage. Gomez foamed at the idea; and the loyal Spaniards in Cuba, banded together to enforce the mediaeval régime, screamed loudly against it.
Still, the Spaniards had made an effort to meet the American demand. McKinley gave them full credit for it in his message, sent to Congress in December, 1897. Said he:
