The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-22
PRESIDENTS OUTLINED
PROCEDURE IN CONNECTION WITH
 NAVAL COURTS REPORT.

The Finding Is Fully Expected by Thurs
 day-A Copy to be Laid Before Spanish
 Government Very Early and Then, as
 Soon as Can be Consistently Done, the
 Matter Will be Sent to Congress and
 Made Public at the Same TiIne-I Intense
 Interest.
 Washington, March 21.--The pro- cedure in connection with the submis- sion of the report of the court of in- quiry by the president to congress is now clearly outlined and a cabinet off, cer to-day explained the general line of action at present intended to be pursued upon receipt of the report which is fully expected to reach Wash ington next Thursday. A copy of it will be laid before the Spanish govern ment very early and as soon as can be consistently done, the report will be sent to congress and made public at the same time. The report to congress will be accompanied by message from the president stating that after receiv- ing the report the conclusions were laid before the Spanish government and ap- propriate action from that quarter ask ed. It is said here that the administra- tion stated to-day that they were who'll ly without information as to the find- ings of the court of inquiry, but they found themselves sharing in the con- viction that the cause of the explosion was not accidental. The opinion ex- pressed by the Maine survivors who reached here last Saturday doubtless has contributed largely to this view in official circles. In this connection it is said that one of the officers who ar- rived on Saturday stated that from his personal observation there were two distinct explosions. The ten- dency of this is to support the theory of external cause, as this is based on the idea that the first external explo- sion was followed by second inter- nal explosion.
 Intense Interest.
 Intense interest in the report was manifested to-day at the White house
 
 partments The president received number of congressional leaders, among them being Speaker Reed and Chairman Hit of the house committee on foreign affairs. The visit of MT. Reed naturally attracted much atten- tion as he seldom leaves the congress sional sphere to make calls on execu- tive branches and 1t is inferred that the purpose of his visit was to confer upon the Cuban situation and it's fu- ture before congress- though neither he nor MT. Hit was communicative. Secretary Long also had an extended conference with the president, but so 5 far as it could be learned it developed 5 nothing additional relating to the Spanish question. No luther pur- chases of warships were concluded to-day and the negotiations are not as- 5 suning a promising aspect, except in showing that the United States can command the market as against Spain. The New Squadron.
 The battleship Texas started north E ward from Key West to-day, thus set < ting the question as to the formation of second squadron at or near Hamp-  chusetts will follow in a few days, but the final orders for that move have 5 not been given. The navy department received preliminary report to-day from one of it's agents who is at Ha- vana watching the progress of the wrecking company. It is understood that this refers mainly to the technical work of salvage and not to the ques- ( tion of cause. The judge advocate 4 generals office, where the report was < received, will not disclose the details VI of the report.
 Senate Seems Restless. The short session of the senate to- \ day was quite unusual for the first & working day of the week. That no one < was prepared to go on with any pend- ' ing measure was given as>the explana- 8 tion, but privately the opinion was x stated by some of the senators that q while the Cuban question remained in
 such suspense there was no desire to take up important legislation. The # outlook as to Cuba was discussed z among senators almost to the exclusion < of other topics and the belief was quite ' decided that the administration was
 preparing to take a positive position v within the next week. Several sena- 3a tors made the prediction that the Unit N ed States would intervene. Being
 pressed for 8 reason they stated that Al they reached this conclusion after more Al or less conference with executive off, M cers, but at the same time saying quite 3 emphatically that they had no positive M information on this point. Other sena- # tors thought the recognition of Cuban I independence more probable than in- Ia tervention. Almost all expressed the N view that some action surely would s follow the report of the Maine court X of inquiry regardless of it's purport. fl HOUSE NATAL BILL.