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SPANISH BROOM—SPANISH REFORMED CHURCH
  

Fajardo, at the extreme north-eastern end of the island, was given out as the objective point of the expedition, but after sailing the plans were changed, and the towns on the south side were occupied, practically without resistance. The attitude of the population was exceedingly friendly, and opposition was not met until advance was begun northward. The troops were divided into four columns, advancing from Guanica around the western end of the island to Mayaguez: from Arroyo at the eastern end to meet the San Juan road at Cayey; from Ponce by the fine military road, 70 m., to San Juan; and the fourth column by way of Adjuntas and Utuado, midway of the island. The various movements involved several skirmishes, the chief opposition being met by the western column on the 10th of August, and by the column from Ponce on the 9th, when the Americans lost 1 killed and 22 wounded; the Spanish, 126 killed and wounded, and over 200 prisoners. A further advance on the San Juan highway would probably have developed greater resistance, but news of the suspension of hostilities intervened. The total American loss had been 3 killed and 40 wounded. On the 1 2th of August operations were begun by the " Newark " and other vessels against Manzanillo. But during the night news arrived of the signing of the peace protocol on the 12th, and of an armistice, of which the Americans were informed by the Spanish commander under a flag of truce.

The total American loss was—in the navy, 1 officer, 17 men killed; in the army, 20 officers, 440 men. The health of the American fleet was kept remarkably. Its average strength during the 114 days of hostilities was 26,102; the deaths from disease during this time were 56, or at the rate of 7 per 1000 per year. As nearly the Losses of the Americans.whole of the service was in the tropics, and in the summer or wet season, this is a convincing proof of the efficiency in sanitary administration. The army did not fare so well, losing by disease during May, June, July and August, 67 officers and 1872 men out of an average total of 227,404. Its larger proportion of illness must of course be ascribed, in part, to its greater hardships. The war department was accused of gross maladministration; but the charges were not upheld by an investigating committee. The lack of proper preparation by the war department and the ignorance and thoughtlessness of the volunteers were the principal reasons for the high death-rate in the army.

For the terms of the peace and the results of the war see United States; Philippine Islands; Cuba; Porto Rico.

The literature of the Spanish-American War is voluminous: amongst the principal sources of information may be mentioned; The annual reports of various departments for 1898, especially the War Notes of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Washington, which include Spanish translations, and the appendix to the report of the Bureau of Navigation ; R. H. Titherington, A History of the Spanish-American War (New York, 1900); H. C. Lodge, Story of the Spanish War (New York, 1899); H. W. Wilson, The Downfall of Spain (London, 1900); W. A. M. Goode, With Sampson through the War (London, 1899) ; J. Wheeler, Santiago Campaign (Philadelphia, 1899); Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders (New York, 1899); C. D. Sigsbee, Personal Narratives of the Battleship Maine (New York, 1899); R. A. Alger, Spanish-American War (New York, 1900); Gomez Nuñez, La Guerra hispano-americana (Madrid, 1900) ; H. Kunz, Taktische Beispiele aus den Kriegen der Neuesten Zeit II. (Berlin, 1901); Admiral Pluddemann, Der Krieg um Cuba 1898 (Berlin); John D Long, The New American Navy (2 vols., New York, 1903); John R. Spears, Our Navy in the War with Spain (ibid., 1898); Bujac, Précis de quelques campagnes contemporaines, IV. (Paris, 1899); and the Century and Scribner’s magazines for 1898 and 1899 passim.


SPANISH BROOM, a handsome shrub with long switch-like green few-leaved or leafless branches and large yellow sweet-scented papilionaceous flowers. It is a member of the Pea family (Leguminosae), and known botanically as Spartium junceum. It is a native of the Mediterranean region and the Canary Islands, and is often cultivated. The whole plant, but especially the flower shoots and seeds (herba el semen genistae hispanicae vel junceae), have a bitter taste and tonic and diuretic properties, and were formerly used medicinally. The fibres of the young stems were used in making nets, carpets, mats, baskets, &c.


SPANISH REFORMED CHURCH (Iglesia española reformada), a small community of Protestants in Spain organized on the model of the Anglican Church. This body of Spanish Episcopalians had its origin in a congregation which met for the first time, in June 1871, in the secularized church of San Basilio at Seville, under the leadership of Francisco Palomares, a priest who had left the Roman communion. Before long it was joined by numbers of lay people and several clergymen, including Juan Cabrera, an ex-Roman priest, who had for some time been a Presbyterian minister. In July 1878 a memorial was presented to the Lambeth Conference by nine congregations in Spain and Portugal (see below) asking for the episcopate. The reply expressed the sympathy of the bishops, but only suggested that Dr Riley , recently consecrated by the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States to minister to the reformed congregations in Mexico, should be invited to visit them and ordain and confirm for them. Archbishop Tait wrote a formal letter to Bishop Riley to this effect, and the request was complied with. A second petition for the episcopate was sent to the Irish bishops in 1879, and early in 1881, at their request, Lord Plunket paid his first visit to the Spanish Reformed Church, though nothing immediately resulted from it. In 1880 the first " synod"' of the Church was held, under the presidency of Bishop Riley; the principles of the Church were laid down, Senor Cabrera was chosen bishop-elect, the preparation of a liturgy was begun, and the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion of the Church cf England, with certain modifications, were formally adopted as a standard of doctrine. Archbishop Plunket continued his efforts on their behalf; and at length the Irish bishops, having again received from them a petition for a bishop, brought the matter before the Lambeth Conference of 1888. The conference deprecated “any action that does not regard primitive and established principles of jurisdiction and the interests of the whole Anglican communion.” The archbishop interpreted this as a modified consent; but the Irish bishops understood it otherwise, and again declined to consecrate a bishop for them. Meanwhile the movement prospered, being largely helped with money from friends in England. The foundation-stone of a new church was laid in Madrid in 1891, on the site of the Quemadero, where the autos de fé were formerly held; and after considerable legal and other difficulties, religious toleration in Spain being still imperfect, it was dedicated and opened for service. At length, at the meeting of the Irish House of Bishops on the 21st of February 1894, a letter was read from the archbishop of Dublin and the bishops of Clogher (C. M. Stack) and Down (C. Welland), in which they declared their intention, unless a formal protest were made by the bishops, or by the general synod, to consecrate bishops for the Reformed churches in Spain and Portugal, subject to certain conditions being fulfilled by those churches. The bishops resolved, nemine contradicente, although the bishops of Derry (W. Alexander, subsequently primate of Armagh) and Cork did not vote, that they would not regard such action as “an indefensible exercise of the powers entrusted to the episcopate”; and the general synod passed a resolution leaving the matter in the hands of the bishops. Accordingly, on the 23rd of September 1894, the three bishops laid hands on Senor Cabrera. The matter occasioned no little stir in the English Church, more especially as the Old Catholic bishops (see Old Catholics) had recently refused to take any part in the matter. It called forth a letter of protest and repudiation from Lord Halifax, as president of the English Church Union, to Cardinal Monescillo, archbishop of Toledo; and this in turn evoked a letter from Cardinal Vaughan, which was widely circulated in Spain.

The consecration of Bishop Cabrera certainly produced, from the point of view of Anglican churchmen, a somewhat anomalous state of things, and the action, or inaction, of the Irish bishops laid them open to criticism from many who were not unfriendly to such movements (see e.g. Bishop John Wordsworth, Ministry of Grace, pp. 176–177, London, 1901). Objection was made to the act as contrary to church order, and as unjustifiable in view of the nature of the Spanish Reformed Church itself. As regards the latter, it is true that the Prayer-book of the body (first