SECRETARY FISH was to have one more opportunity to serve the cause
of peace in a great international crisis. A new Cuban imbroglio, arising
with dramatic suddenness, for an anxious month threatened war, and
tested his sagacity, calmness, and patience to the utmost.

Late in the evening of November 5, 1873, Fish received a telegram
from Consul-General Henry C. Hall in Havana announcing that the
Spanish gunboat Tornado had captured the ship Virginius and brought
her into Santiago. ¹
Hall had no later news. As Fish was aware, the
Virginius was notoriously engaged in the business of carrying arms to
the Cuban rebels; his files were full of Spanish complaints about her. ²
On the 6th, the Secretary accompanied Grant to a fair at Leesburg, Va. ³
He returned that night to find a dispatch from Sickles announcing that
the Madrid Government had instructed Captain-General Concha to
inflict no penalties without its sanction. ⁴
This looked hopeful, and while
somewhat disturbed, he anticipated no serious trouble.

But next day, Friday the 7th, while the Cabinet were discussing the
dispatches from Havana and Madrid, the correspondent of the Asso-
ciated Press sent an envelope marked "urgent" in to Fish. It contained
a dispatch filed in Havana a few hours earlier, stating that the Santiago
authorities had condemned four of the prisoners, including the noted
"General" Ryan, to death, and they had been shot on the morning of
the 4th. This was alarming news. An excited discussion ensued upon
the legal responsibility which Spain had incurred in the capture of the
vessel and the summary execution of the four men, one an American. ⁵
Grant wrote on a card: "Would it not be well to telegraph Sickles that
the summary infliction of the death penalty upon the prisoners taken
from the Virginius will necessarily attract much attention in this coun-
try, and will be regarded as an inhuman act, not in accordance with the
spirit of the civilization of the 19th century?" ⁶

Sir Edward Thornton and Admiral Polo that afternoon, hearing the

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