These occurrences, when known, aroused tremendous excitement and wrath in the United States, and there was much talk of war. But the government, under the wise counsel of Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, kept its head and resorted to diplomacy before force. The Spanish government, too, kept its head. It realized that its officers in Cuba had acted outrageously, and that their deeds must be disavowed. So it agreed, on December 8, to surrender the _Virginius_ on December 16, to release all surviving passengers and sailors and deliver them safely to an American warship at Santiago, and to punish all Spanish officials who had acted illegally. There remained the supposed outrage to the American flag, which the _Virginius_ was flying when she was fired upon and seized. The Spanish government agreed to make amends by saluting the American flag at Santiago on Christmas Day, provided it could be proved that the _Virginius_ had a right to carry it. But as a matter of fact the vessel had no such right. The Attorney-General of the United States gave, before the day set for the salute, the opinion that the vessel was the property of General Quesada and other Cubans, and therefore had no right to sail under the American flag. The final settlement of the affair occurred in February, 1875, when the Spanish government paid an indemnity of $80,000 to the United States, and a smaller sum to Great Britain, for their citizens who had been slaughtered. The _Virginius_ was lost at sea while being returned to the United States. Meanwhile the patriots had not ceased fighting, and on November 9 they met the Spaniards in a battle in which a large force was engaged on both sides. They were equally matched, each belligerent having about three thousand men in the field. The Cubans were victorious, and they lost only a hundred men killed and double that number wounded, while the Spanish losses were four times as many killed, and six hundred wounded.