Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-03-26
BLOWN Up By A MINI
This is The Verdict Of The
l.. Court. !. F..
SITUATION CRITICAL
Danger of War Greater Than
at Any Other Time.
Two CABINET MEETINGS
War Preparations Pushed Forward on
Greater Scale Than Ever. All
.... American Officers Exc. pit
%. 49,. Lee to Leave
Two CABINET MEETINGS
(By Tclt-s,l.anhl

CBy Telegraph.) a..
WASHINGr,rN.Al arcm 25-The court
or inQ.Iry appointed to investigate TIE
cause VI ttle Mllne disaster mas re-
ported taW The loss OF ,he baI; ship
"Is que to an outside explosion
lhss STATE Department. by direction
of tife President, has calDied United
States Minister Woudiord at Madrid 10
notify The Spanish government OF this
conclusion
The President and cabinet advisers
nerd TWO extended sessa ons today, one
at 1880 y. NJ. aud another at $3.50 p
Al, at w'hiGh the report was considered
IN ueta.! tMeIn'Dens of the ca binet
Stated after uhe meeting that the dis
cusstnn Was of grave character. and
th2t never since the wrecking Of the
Maine has the situation Seemed >, c1.ii
lral
The Spanish government has cabled
officially TO Wae'hingto that THE
: parrish naval commission holds The
disaster 80 the Maine 70 be OF internal
origin. The government of Spain, il
can be stated positively, lis not dis
posed to turn back line torpedo tiptilla
now processing from the Canar,;ts and
would be tksinc tined 10 consider q sug-
gtsticn from TINS government TENDING
10 interfere with the disposition by
sIatm Of her own naval forces.
War prepare tiunss On an unprecelent-
cd scale are btiuls hurried to compile
plson Try tine War and Navy Depart
,ncns. and .he country practically lis on
u wuT footing. 'h
The foregoing gives tlle4record of one
OF the most eve1rfui days 1.-THE national
Gapial has seen since the close of The
cVN war. 1t was a day OF profoundly
important action, of the deepest an&-
iety, coupled With naval and Will "a y
a,:ltvH'iy, one step folio wing another
in rapid succession. Representative
st,y,o,f to
in EN- branches of official end congras-
soulai life, no less tIllerss: assle public IN.
general. shared in the tension to which
THE situation has been wrought. There
was no effort among the highest Of
ficalS. nor indedd was lit possible from
What was clearly apparent i'm the de
veiopmens of THE day. to minimize the
situation. Viewed in detail. the find
ings Nf the court of inquiry was THE
most vital feature. Commander A1a!Ex
Judge advocate of the court of inquiry
delivered the report TO Secretary Long
early this morning and shortly after
it was Carried to the White House and
PLACED tn tine hands OF the President.
AT 1880 the cabinet assembled. half an
hour earlier than usual. and began The
consideration of the nlG!nt1ltonls dtcu-
mert Even the rigid rules OF secrecy
Which prevailed at ca bnet meetings
We're made dplibly strict in this case.
and no in,,ma'ticn Of the results reach
ed by the court We're known until 2
O'Clock. when an .AsSocited Press bull
letin gave the Information to the coun-
try, as Well as the eagerly wal ting of
f1cals throug hout Washington. These
results, briefly stated, are that the loss
Of the Maine was due to an sXplJ sion
from the outside, the court being una
BILE TO fix the responsibility for THE ex-
nNcsion. The court does not express
an opinion AS to The character of the
explosion. but the testimony goes TO
show ll,at it was 4 powerful sru h1narne
mime, the exact character of which is
Tot deternin'sd by the testimony.
though the belief was expressed thar
II was a floating submarine mine.
There We're two eXpios ons. the couet
finds. the first from the outside. and
that set off one of the smaller maya
zines
tall and With the precision of court
deeply conscious of its RESPONSE b!lity.
together With the evidence on which
It was based, that occupied the atten-
tiCn OF the cabinet throughout its eX-
tended session of the morning and AFT
ternUon. AN other and lesser subjects
gave way to the foremost question.
There Was no change of the plan of
making the report pubic and transmit
ting it to Congress early next week.
acconlpa MED by A brief message from
the President.
Wlhi1e interest was Thus conferred at
the White House, the navy and war de-
partments We're hurrying forward their
work of preparations. The advance OF
the Spanish flOtflla continued 10 re-
ceive the closest attention of naval
officials. and while SO far as could be
ascerta&ned no definite lime Of action
was determined upon, the need of in
terceT;irg this fleet was urged by the
highest naval authorities. From THE
standpoint CT the Spanish government
this movement was not q menace. hay
ing been decided upon many weeks
ago. On the contrary. the Span
,sh government holds that the ex-
tensive armament OF the Dry Tortugas
is a more direct hostile act against
Spain than amy movement OF THE flo
tiGa. Instead OF opposing the fiotiala.
the present attitude of Spain tends o.
ward reinforcing 1T wit other SPAN
ish war vessels not as a menace. but,
from what the Spanish government
feels Us requirement Called sor by
the existing condition of affairs.
Hardly less suggestive than the az.
ps zach OF the torpedo fntiila was the
ineorma ton received toby by the hsge-
est nGii;ar authorities ;Niat the Spanish
governments !,aE1 hurried to completion
extensive Qualifications ON tHle Island Of
Porto Rico lying just off Caube. and
the only Spanish possession in this
hemisphere other than Cuba. The ex-
ACT character OF THESE new de1enSFs has
been made known here. and they are
bling given weight with the military
authorities as showing the disposition
| Of Spain.
The orders issued by the Navy D.
,artneDt during the day covered every
| branch of naval armament. The fly
\ iEg squadron" was definitely esta!,-
!islhed, With Commodore sehley in com.
| mand. He viii hoist his coinmodora'.
| Tag on TIE llasShip Eroahiy1 next Mt.r.
day
The squadron is to consist of exactly
five ships. Those OF the squadron wi: