The record-union., 1898-12-18
THE MAINE AND SPANISH SUS-
CEPTIBILITY.

How exceedingly sensitive the Span
ish people are, to be sure, about the
reference to the loss Of the Maine in
the Presidents message. What is it in
| that document that so stirS Spanish
blood? Mr.. Mckinley spoke of the
horror of the tragedy. Well, it was
| horrible. He referred to the 'suspi-
cious nature of it. Well. it is some
thing Of a mystery still, is it not? He
declared that the evidence in the case
justifies the belief that the ship was
blown up by exterior" force. Well
the Court of Inquiry so found.
The fact is, the President touched
the subject too gently. Since the
Maine went up, and then down, with
her 26O mangled seamen in the harbor
| of Havana, several Spanish ships have
been blown up by internal explosion,
but in not single instance were there
resultants at all resembling those in
| the case Of the Maine. We know
| pretty we'll now what is the effect Of
man-of-war. We know definitely what
is the effect of a torpedo or mine when
set off beneath a steel man-of-war.
The Spanish have not the justifica-
ton for their finding that the Ameri-
cans have for theirs. We conducted
a searching inquiry, and on the testi
mony of physical facts and of wit
nesses in large number, unimpeached
and undoubted, we found that the ship
was destroyed by application of ex-
terror force, disconnected with the ship
and unrelated to any intelligence upon
her. The Spanish conducted no in
quiry. They made perfunctory ex-
terror examination, and a hasty con-
clusion was reached by port officials
and a few naval officers that the ship
was destroyed by interior explosion.
So the Spanish finding is without
sufficient premise, while ours is based
upon indisputable facts sustained by
circumstantiaI evidence that would
hang any man charged with the enor-
nous infamy of the Names destruc-
ton. Spanish susceptibilities are
tender, says Spanish journal. Well
what do the Spanish think of the
shock to American susceptibilities when
the 260 American men and officers
were blown to pieces and a $3,000,00O
ship was torn into shreds while lying
| peacefully in a Spanish harbor, moored
to a Spanish buoy, where she had been
given berth by Spanish port officials?
But here we have Goldwin Smith,
the philosopher and pundit, who from
an English standpoint speaks to us
frequently of our system, domestic af-
fairs, politics and other matters, and
lectures us in a grandfatherly sort of
a way as regularly as once month.
Mr.. Smith in a recent paper hints
broadly that the weight of scientific
authority leans to the view that the
Maine was destroyed by internal ex-
plosion. Yet there is not a scintilla of
testimony, not a word of real evidence
which has been brought out to SUBJ
stantiate any such a theory.
We have read every line of the
voluminous report Of the Court of In
| quiry, and every word uttered by the
witnesses, and we challenge Mr.. Smith
to indicate single fact suggesting
internal explosion. Who are the sci
entists who lean to the theory of in
| ternal explosion? Where are recorded
their expressions? On what facts as
sumed or proven do they base their
deductions?
Let Goldwin Smith philosopher, po
litical economist and scholar, answer,
and hold back nothing. The American
people are always ready for the truth.
They are eminently fair-play people.
| They can endure rebuke even better
than they can administer it. Let Mr..
Smith speak out very distinctly and
plainly, and cite the proofs upon which
his conclusion is based, for we deny
that scientific authority has the lean
ing he charges If there is any such
| authority, however, we beg Professor
Smith to "trot it OUT