On most points there was general agreement as to what they were to do.

Cuba, of course, must be free.

It was, moreover, too obvious to need much argument that Spanish rule on the American continent must come altogether to an end.

As there was no organized local movement in Porto Rico to take over the government, its cession to the United States was universally recognized as inevitable.
Nevertheless when the two commissions met in Paris, there proved to be two exciting subjects of controversy, and at moments it seemed possible that the attempt to arrange a peace would prove unsuccessful.

However reassured the people were by the successful termination of the war, for those in authority the period of anxiety had not yet entirely passed.
The first of these points was raised by the Spanish commissioners.