The Portland daily press., 1898-03-26

| Washington, March 25.-Thc court of
inquiry appointed to investigate the
cause of the Maine disaster has reported
that the loss of the battleship was due
to an outside explosion. The state de-
partment by direction Of the President,
has cabled United States Minister Wood
! ford at Madrid to notify the Spanish gov
ernment of this conclusion.
The Presidents and his cabinet advisers
held two extended sessions today, one at
1O.3o q. in., and another at 8. 80 p. m.
at which the report was considered In
detail. Members of the cabinet stated
after the meeting that the discussion was
of grave character and never since the
WTeoking of the Maine has the situation
seemed SO critical.
The Spanish government has cabled
officially to Washington that the Span
ish naval commission holds the disaster
to the Maine to be of internal origin.
The government of Spain, it can be stat
al positively, is not disposed to turn back
the torpedo fotilla now proceeding from
the Canaries, and would be disinclined
to consider suggestion from this gov
ernment tending to interfere with the
dlspositiop by Spain of her own naval
forces.
War preparations on an unprecedented
scale are being hurried to completion by
the war and navy departments and the
country is practically on war footing.
The foregoing practically gives record
| of one of the busiest days the National
| Capitol has 6een since the close of the
a;r a
! important action of deepest anxiety
coupled with naval and military activi-
| tv. one step following another in rapid
succession. Representative men of the
administration public men in all branch
es of official and congressional life, no
less than the public IN general shared
| in the tension to Whlch -the SITUATION mas
| been brought
| 7 here was no effort among the highest
officials nor indeed was it possible ow-
ing to what was clearly apparent in the
developments of the day to minimize
the situation
| feature Commander Mark, Judge Ad-
vocate of the court of inquiry, delivered
the report to Secretary Long early this
morning, and shortly afterward it was
carried to the White House and placed
in the hands OF the President. AT 10. 30
| the CaDlueU asS5lu Dleu, uhll dill uOuF
er than usual and began consideration
of the momentous document. Even the
rigid rules of secrecy which prevail at
| cabinet meetings, were made doubly
strict in this case, and no intimation of
the results reached by the court WAS
known until 2 o'colck when an Asso-
ciated Press bulletin gave the informa-
| ton to the country as well as to the
eagerly waiting officials throughout
| Washington.
| these results briefly stated, are that
the loss of the Maine was due to an ex-
| plosion from the outside, the court being
unable to fix the responsibility for the
explosion. The court does not EXPRESS
an opinion as to the character of the ex-
plosiyes. but the testimony goes to show
| that it was a powerful submarine mine,
the exact ch.racter of which is not de-
termined by the testimony, though the
belief was expressed that 1t was float
ing submarine mine. There We're two
explosions, the court finds; the first was
from the outside and that set Off one of
| the smaller magazines
| 1t was this result expressed IN detail
and with the precision OF q court deeply
conscious of it's responsibility, together
| with the evidence on which IL was based
| that occupied the attention OF the cabinet
throughout Its extended sessions OF tne
morning and afternoon. All osher ana
| lesaer subjects gave way TO thls foremost
question. There was no chanSe III the
plan of making the report puDilc ana
| transmitting 1T to congress carry next
week, accompanied by prlel message
from the President.
While. interest was thus centered at the