The August Revolution 73sels. No one here except President, Secretary of State and myself knows
it. Very anxiously awaiting reply. Send answer to
STEINHART
Consul General^46Roosevelt's reaction to Steinhart's plea was immediate; he
ordered Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte to dis
patch warships to Havana and Cienfuegos. There were,
however, no detailed presidential instructions indicating the
vessels' mission.^47 Despite his dispatch of the two warships,
Roosevelt still did not want to intercede on either side of
the Cuban civil war and was even less enthusiastic about
reopening the question of Cuban-American relations.
48
Instead
he cautioned Acting Secretary of State Bacon to warn Stein-
hart that, as distasteful as the rebels were, "immediate
intervention" was out of the question and that Estrada Palma
must use "all the resources at his command to quell the
revolt.... "^49 On September 10, Bacon cabled Steinhart
that two ships were on the way, but Estrada Palma must
either compromise with the Liberals or beat them in the
field, and that "until such efforts are made we are not
prepared to consider the question of intervention at all."
50
Steinhart acknowledged the dispatch of the ships, which, he
said, coupled with the "victory" at Consolation del Sur,
heartened the Cuban government. On the same day, the
British minister in Havana wired his government that only
American intervention, whether in support of Estrada Palma
or not, could save Cuba from economic ruin.^51 On September
11, Bacon again cabled Steinhart that the President believed
"actual, immediate intervention to be out of the question,"
that Estrada Palma must exhaust his own resources before
Roosevelt would consider intervention.^52
If Roosevelt wanted Estrada Palma to work toward a com
promise, the news that the United States Navy was on the
way and that the United States expected the Cuban govern
ment to save itself had just the opposite effect. On September
10 and 11, the government suspended constitutional rights in