The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-26
REPORT ON MAINE DISASTER
IT FINDS THAT BATTLESHIP W1S
 BLOWN UP FROM OUTSIDE,


 BLOWN UP FROM OUTSIDE.
 Cabinet Holds Two Extended Sessions and
 the Discussion it is Said Was of Grave
 Enthusiastically the Most Eventful
 Day Since the Civil war-The Vital
 Feature Was the Finding of the Naval
 Fixed-Advance of Spanish Flotilla.
 Washington, March 25-The court of
 inquiry appointed to investigate the
 cause of the Maine disaster has report
 ed that the loss of the battleship was
 due to an outside explosion. The state
 department by direction of the presi-
 dent has cabled United States Minis
 ter Woodford at Madrid to notify the
 Spanish government of this conclusion.
 The president and his cabinet advisers
 held two extended sessions to-day, one
 at 10:30 a. m. and another at 3:30 D. m.,
 at which the report was considered in
 detail. Members of the cabinet stated after the meeting that the discussion
 was of grave character and that never ! since the wrecking of the Maine has the situation seemed 50 critical. The Spanish government has cabled off,
 cially to Washington that the Span tsh naval commission holds the disas-
 ter to the Maine to be of internal ori- gin. The government of Spain, it can be stated positively, is not disposed to < turn back the torpedo f1otilla now pro- ceeding from the Canaries and would X be disinclined to consider suggestion < from this government tending to inter- fere with her manoeuvres. War prepa- ' rations on an unprecedented scale are X being hurried and the country practice l@ ally is on a war footing.
 Most Eventful Day Since Civil War; \ The foreging gives the record of the most eventful day the capital has seen
 since the close of the civil war. It was 7 day of profoundly important action, < of the deepest anxiety coupled with naval and military activity, one step ( following another in rapid succession # Representative men of the adnainistra- % tion, public men in all branches of of X ffcial and congressional life, no less ' than the public in general, shared in x the tension to which the situation has x been wrought. There was no effort < among the highest officials, nor indeed & was it possible, owing to what was < clearly apparent in the developments
 of the day, to minimize the situation.
 Finding of the Naval Court.
 A yyinu,ad 3,, da+oiI +Ia frd;,,o of +I,o < court of inquiry was the most vital # feature. Commander Mark, judge ad- E vocate of the court of inquiry, deliver < ed the report to Secretary Long early $ this morning and shortly afterward it x was carried to the White house and % placed in the hands of the president $ At 103o the cabinet assembled, half an < hour earlier than usual and began the V consideration of the momentous docu- % ment. Even the rigid rules of secrecy $ which usually prevails at cabinet meet # ings were made doubly strict in this # case, no intimation of the results reach # ed by the court was known until 2 # o'clock when a bulletin gave the in- X formation to the country as well as to Q the eagerly waiting officials throughout Z Washington. These results briefly
 stated, are that the loss of the Maine l was due to an explosion from the out
 side, the court being unable to fix the
 responsibility for the explosion. The court does not express an opinion as 8 to the character of the explosion, but Y reports that the testimony goes to @ show that it was a powerful sub-ma- a rine mine, the exact character of which z is not determined by the testimony
 though the belief was expressed that z it was floating submarine mine Z There were two explosions, the court { finds; the first was from the outside, ! and that set off one of the smaller ] magazines. It was this result express < ed in detail and with the precision of ! court deeply conscious of it's responsi- ! bility, together with the evidence on
 which it was based that occupied the
 attention of the cabinet throughout it's < extended sessions of the morning and afternoon. All other and lesser sub- W jects gave way to this foremost ques- 4 tion. There was no change in the plan < of making the report public and trans Z hitting it to congress early next week, \ accompanied by brief message from < the president.
 Advance of Spanish FIotiIla.
 < While interest was thus centered at
 the White house, the navy and war de- partments were hurrying forward their N work of preparation. The advance of
 the Spanish torpedo f1otilla continued E to receive the closest attention of naval K officials, and while so far as could be z ascertained no definite line of action H was determined upon the need of inter- VI cepting this fleet was urged by the E highest naval authorities. From the x standpoint of the Spanish government x this movement was not menace hav- H ing been decided upon many weeks ago. X On the contrary, the Spanish govern " ment holds that the extensive arma- x ment of the Dry Tortugas is more N direct hostile act against Spain than K any movement of the f1otilla. Instead of stopping the f1otilla the present atti- E tude of Spain tends toward reinforcing t it with other Spanish vessels, not as a s menace, but because of whac the Span fish government feels is a. requirement. E called for by the existing condition of affairs.
 Orders of Navy Department.
 z The orders issued by the navy de-
 partment during the day covered every