The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-03-01

! cific provision as to the revision or
| approval which he is TO give it, and
! the endorsement Of admiral Sicard
viii depend upon the circumstances of
! the case, probably being formal. with
| a view to it's early transmission 10 the
! navy department. The admiral will
! then forward it to the office of the
! Judge e-advocate-gene where it be-
| comes a permanent record. The secre-
! tary Of the navy, and ultimately the
! president will pass on the opinions of
| the court, but as a rule the findings of
! fact stand without approval
, TO ENLIST THE NEW ARTILLERY
MEN.
! The officials Of the war department
| have completed all the preliminary ar
! rangementS for the immediate execu-
! ton Of the bill which is expected to
! become a law within the next few days
! providing for two additional regiments
! of artillery. There will be no diff
Guilty whatever in securing the men,
/ as applications for enlistment have
| been received far in excess of the num-
! ber required, viz. 1,G10 men. Great care
| will be taken in the recruiting and only
| the best men will be accepted. Under
| the law all the new men must be
! citizens of the United States 1t is
| probable that the ranks will be recruit
I
| have already served one or more terms
! in the army
! With the two new regiments there
! Will be seven regiments or artillery
! and the total strength of the army, in
! Guiding the hospital corps, ordnance
and engineer battalions and the West
| Point detachment, will be increased
! 20 nearly 27,000 men.
The new organization will result in
! the promotion of lipIItqn9nt coll
| Onels, four majors, ten captains, thir-
! ty-fOur first lieutenants three second
| Ieutenants and will absorb the
| eighteen additional second lieutenants
/ Of infantry. No vacancies will be Gre
ated, however, and no appointments
! will have to be made.
THE PRESIDENTS ATTITUDE.
A member of the cabinet, in speak
/ ing today of the attitude of the presi-
| dent on the question of a war with
Spain, said: president Mckinley is
! giving thoughtful and earnest con-
! sideratiOns to every phase of the Gu
ban situation, as it appears, but he
will not be jingoed into war, or act in
anticipation of events which may never
! occur. He fully realizes what war
| means, and will mot go to this last
| direful extremity without the approval
| of his conscience, and firm cOnvic-
| IlOil IIldI SuCu d course WOuIu Dc TlSnC
| in the sight of God and of man. But,
whenever the honor and integrity of
| the nation or its people become involv-
ed, the president may be depended upon
| to do his whole duty and do it prompt
| ly."
Secretary Long enjoyed a sound
! sleep last night, the first he had
| for some time, and in consequence he
| felt so much refreshed this morning
| that he decided to abandon his pro-
| posed absence from the navy depart
| ment and continue at his duties, so
| he was early at his desk, and in con-
sultatiOn with Assistant Secretary
! Roosevelt and Captain CrOWninshield,
chief of the navigation bureau. AS to
the outlook, he said he thought things
were looking much better. He said
! the public ought not to be under any
misapprehension with regard to naval
| movements; that, so far, they had
mostly been the ordinary dispositions
which are made from time to time.
! The attention to naval officers has
! been strongly attracted to the state
ment made by representatives of the
! Spanish government to the effect that
| there were no mines or tOrpedOeS of
, any kind in Havana harbOr. 1t can be
| said that this statement exactly agrees
with the inquiries that have been un-
der way for many months by agents
| of our government For. 50 far, it is said,
| tf lave been unable to find the
| sI. est evidence of the existence of
any plan of defense in the harbOr by
| means or tOrpedOes, much less to 10
| cate them as has been reported in some
| quarters. Officials of the navy de-
| partment say that the effect of this
statement, if it is to be accepted as
| conclusive on that point, is almost GER
| tain to negative the SuppOSitiOn that
| the disaster resulted from other than
| accidental causes, as the almost unani
nous testimony of experts here, based
| ON the history of torpedo work, is to
! the effect that no single torpedo of any
type could have caused the terrific
wreck of the Maine.
SEEKING CAUSES FOR THE DIS
ASTER.
| In the pursuit of details. some Of the
| ordnance officers, acting upon the
! theory that the large 10-inch magazine
! forward was not exploded. have been
| looking into the contents of the smaller
and adjoining 6-inch magazines. They
| find that allowing for the amount of
| powder that was probably consumed in
| practice drills by the Maine before she
| arrived in Havana harbor there was
| certainly no less than 5000 pounds of
powder in this magazine, an amount
SulllCitIlL ~ nave cduStu SiOIillOuS dt-
| structiOn had it exploded at one time
When the attention of Philip Alger.
expert of the bureau of ordnance, was
called to Senior du Bosc's statement
| he said:
The statement is important as rep
| resenting the position taken by the
| Spanish officials who have absolute
| knowledge OF whether or not Havana
| hari0or was mined. II is, of course, in
| herently improbable that such mines
| existed, since ii is not customary to
! plant torpedoes in harbors at ALL es-
| pecially not IN harbors constantly Oc-
cupied by friendly vessels. Should it
| be possible TO prove Senior du Bosc's
| statement to be true, the whole theory
of the Names destruction by a tor
pedo Will become untenable, in my
opinion But the only proper course to
| be now pursued rs to await patiently
| the report of the board Of investigation
| and to accept their findings as con-
elusive. When the first news of the
catastrophe arrived. it was we'll TO at
tempt TO allay excitement by pointing