Evening star., 1898-11-05
THE MAINE AT HAVANA.
Captain Sigsbee Tells of Her Recep-
tfOn in the HarbOr.


In command of the Maine at Havana, 1
had but one wish, which was to be friendly
to the Spanish authorities, as required by
my orders. l took pleasure in carrying out
my orders in this respect. The first Spanish
officer to come on board was a naval lieu
tenant who represented the captain of the
port. His bearing was both dignitied and
polite (Which, by the way, is invariably the
rule with Spanish naval ofttcers), but l
thought he looked embarrassed and even
Inundated in carrying out his duty
greatly regretted that such should be the
case, and did all that could to make him
feel at ease. After the arrival of a second
Spanish lieutenant, who Seemed to take
matters more phiiosophically and of a
German lieutenant, the naval officer who
had arrived first appeared to lose his en-
barrassmant. / made all the visits re uuired
of me by usage, and was everywhere re-
ceived with courtesy 1t is hardly to the
point whether there was any great amount
of actual friendliness for US beneath the
surface. The Spanish officials on every
hand gave us absolutely all the courtesy
to which we were entitled by usage, and
they gave 1t with all ths grace of man.
ner which is characteristic of their ma
ton. l accepted it as genuine.
1t is not essential to enter here into the
details of usage in connection with salutes.
1t is enough to say that convention requr-
ed the Maine to salute the Spanish national
flag and also to salute Admiral Manterola.
But such salutes are given only when it is
known that they will be returned. 1 there
fore deemed 1t prudent to determine this
point, although the visit of a Spanish officer
to the ship would ordinarily be thought
sufficiently convincing. In the course Of
conversation with the Spanish naval officer
who was the first to visit the Maine
said: Il am about to give myself the honor
of saluting your national flag; from which
battery will the salute be returned?" He
replied: From the Cabana" With that as
surance both salutes We're fired and return
ed. The saluta to the Spanish admiral was
returned by his flagship, the Alphonso XII
Shortly after the arrival of the Maine
sent my aid Naval Cadet J. II. Holden
ashore to report to Gen. Lee, and announce
that l would soon follow / promptly gave
orders that no officers or men of the vessel
should go ashore, unless by my express Or
der. l desired first to test the public feel
ing. private and official, with reference to
the Names visit. l made my visit to Ad-
mtral Manterola in full dress, with cooked
hat, epaulets, &c l landed at the Machina
the man-of-war landing which is virtually
at the Spanish admiral's residence. There
was crowd assembled, but only of mode
rate size. There was no demonstration of
any kind; the crowd closed in about me
slightly. l thought the people stod and
sullen, so far as / could gather from an oc-
casionai glance, but / took very little no.
IiSO vi oily podS. oii my TttuIil, however,,
l noted carefully the bearing of the various
groups of Spanish soldiers that l passed
They saluted me, a rule. but with SO
much expression of apathy that the salute
really went fC" nothing. They made no
demonstration against me, however, not
even by look.
The same day 1 made my visit to Gen.
Lee, and arranged Vr.h him for my visit to
the acting captain ana governor general,
who at that time was Gen. Parade, Cap
General Blanc0 laiOp q n fDlI
CT the island. 1t is customary in the case
of high officials to make the visit at an ap-
pointed time. When l made my visit. on
January 21, accompanied by Gen. Lee, thers
seemed at first to be a probability of en-
barrassment We called at the palace of
Gen. Blanco at the appointed time, and
apparently nobody at the palace knew
anything about our appointment The
ever-present American newspaper man re-
lievad the situation; he ascertained that
Gen. Parade was in residence across the
way, where he was expecting us. We
promptly repaired the mistake, and We're
received by Gen. Parade with great cour-
tesy. he had a table spread with refresh
me hts for our benefit. All of my official
visits We're returned promptly. Gen. Par
rado returned my visit in person. and was
given the salute of a captain and governor
general; that is to say of the governor of
a colony-seventeen guns, the same salute
winch is prescribed for the governor of
Cne of the United States.
All visits We're made without friction and
with courtesy on both sides, and apparent
ly with all the freedom of conversation and
action usually observed. -