The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-21

Iron Hedpeu III the loFWdIu part oL tHS ship was a particular object of atten- ton. The experts who had first ven tured the theory of a bursting boiler as the cause of the destruction claim strong reinforcement in the pictures. The great mass of metal appears to be thrown up over the boiler space and not over the forward magazine, while the forcing apart of the forward body of the hull, they say, might have been accomplished by the enormous eXpan- sive power of the high pressure steam carried in these boilers with their shells more than an inch thick. AS to what caused boiler to explode, whether a distinguished bomb in the coal, low water, faulty construction, they do not now undertake to say.
 Secretary Long said this afternoon after looking over his telegraphic and mail correspondence that it contained nothing of importance beyond the dis patches above given. The secretary referred with satisfaction to the dis patch stating that the court of inquiry would assemble at Havana tomorrow. The plan had been for the court to meet first at Key West and after dis cussing such work as was possible there to proceed to Havana. MT. Long thought it was desirable to have the court proceed at once to Havana where the inquiry could begin on the actual scene of disaster and where personal inspection would aid in an intelligent judgment On this account. the secre- tary sent orders yesterday for the court to proceed direct to Havana and the nP ic iy cordance with these orders
 Spanish Captains Insult.
 When MT. Long's attention was call ed to reports that he had taken official cognizance of Captain SebrePs criti- cisms of the American navy the secre- tary said that he had called the sub- ject to the attention of the state de- partment with a view to having an in- quiry made by that branch. The par ticular expression to which the secre- tary had directed the attention of the state department was the following, at tributed to Captain Sebrel: Tt, was the result of an explosion inside of the ship, which took place in one of the forward magazines. The fact of the matter is that the discipline and the watch ob- served on the ship were very lax. This, as one newspaper the other day declar- ed, is the case on American warships generally. This sort of thing has oc- cured on previous occasions on Amer ican war vessels"
 The secretary said that he had not called the attention of those other fea- lures of Captain Sebreps alleged inter- view in which he refers to the possi- bilities of war and to the information he had gained while naval attache of the Spanish legation. As whole, Mir. Long did not treat the Sebrel matter as profoundly serious. Assistant Sec retary Day received no dispatches from Havana during the early part of the day He would not discuss the Sebrel matter. It is understood, however, that the state department does not at tach deep significance to the reported remarks of Sebrel. At the same time 1t is felt that he should not be making such remarks as attributed to him. As Secretary Long has called official at- tention to them the department would | doubtless take steps to learn whether the interview was accurate by making | request on the Spanish legation. It l Cttil Uc SIdlSu pOSlllNCly, iloWCNCl, tilo ' reports that the state department made such a request of the Spanish legation l yesterday are incorrect. Nothing has | been done thus far, and an unexpected | development of to-day so changes the aspect of the Sebrel case that the state l department may not feel that 1t is nec- essary to proceed further.
 Spanish Military Attache's Recall. | This development was that Captain | Sebrels services as naval attache at | Washington were officially terminated | by Spain about four weeks ago. It came from Senor Dubosc, charge d'af- faires of the Spanish legation, who, when his attention was called to the Sebrel case gave to the Associated Press the following authorized state- ment: "As regards this reported inter view, I know nothing about it beyond what I have seen in the papers. I 1 should imagine MT. Sebrel far too pur- prudent to say anything calculated to offend brothers in arms. At the same time I should state that on the 24th of January last Captain Sebrel ceased to | be a member of this legation, according 1 to royal decree, which gazetted as his l successor Lieutenant Ramon Carraza Y Reguera."
 Owing to the royal decree relieving Captain Sebrel, 1t is said that he at present occupies the position of a pri- vate citizen. He is in New York at | present, but his official status as ] Spain's naval attache to the legation is said to have terminated when the de- cree was gazetted last month. It is usual formality to notify the depart ment of any change but owing to the exciting events of recent days this noti- fication of the Spanish decree was not conveyed to the authorities here at the time it occurred, although the fact has been made known with the infor- nation that Captain Sebrels services with the legation ended January 24 last.
 MT Dubosc received no advice of inn portance from Havana to-day. He ex- pressed entire satisfaction with the plans by which the divers were operat- ing, and said there was no justification for talk about friction. Perfect har- mony existed, he said, and on both sides, so far as he could see, there was
 every disposition to give the amplest possibilities for investigation. MT. Du- bose feels that the assembling of the court of inquiry at Havana tomorrow l ia mite adyisa hle owing to tbe ropid