Captain-General Dulce, alarmed at the conditions which existed, and at the failure of the Spanish army to subdue the revolution, and undoubtedly spurred on by the Volunteers, who had no patience with his conciliatory methods, changed his policy, and issued a proclamation, thoroughly muzzling the press, to avoid the spreading of the news of the extent of the revolution and the success of the revolutionists, and thus endeavored to stem the influx of recruits into the Cuban Army. He also established a military court martial, which planned to deal summarily with the leaders of the revolution should any fall into their hands. Next he proclaimed the expiration of the amnesty previously granted, while he--true to type--softened this decree, probably as a bit of insidious strategy, by offering to pardon all insurgents who would surrender themselves, excluding the leaders, and those who had been convicted--unrepresented at the trials, of course--of the crimes of murder, arson and robbery. The underlying thought of this proclamation probably was that the rank and file of the insurgents might surrender and deliver their leaders into his hands for punishment. This was accompanied by a demand upon the citizens of Havana for the sum of $25,000,000 to support the government, and to aid it in carrying on its campaign against the revolutionists. He only too well knew that the sympathy of the people of the United States, if not the secret sympathy of the government at Washington, was with the Cubans, and not only Dulce himself but indeed all the leaders of the Spanish cause lived in constant fear of private aid to the insurgents from the United States, if not of possible governmental intervention in their behalf. They well knew also that the Americans who had made their homes on the Island, and who were deeply interested in its commercial salvation, were all sympathizers in the cause of the revolution, and felt that only through freedom from Spanish rule and a resumption of peace could they hope to retrieve the fortunes which they had invested, and now apparently sunk, in Cuban business ventures. That these Americans, despite the censorship, were in communication with their friends in their own country Dulce did not doubt, and that they would urge the sending of relief to Cuba he felt certain. He therefore applied to the United States Consul at Havana for the names of all American residents of Cuba, that he might keep them under surveillance, check up their movements, and act, if necessary, to prevent them from either personally, or through their influence in the United States, lending any material aid to the revolutionists.