The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-07-22

washington, July 21.-General Miles,
leading the military expedition against
Porto Rico, started at o'clock this
afternoon from Siboney, Cuba, for the
point on the island of Porto Rico where
1t is the intention that the troops shall
land. 1t is expected that General Miles
will wait at some appointed spot on the
route for the expeditions from Tampa,
Newport News and New York to fall
into his column. These expeditions are
already under way, some of them with
two or three days start of General
Miles. so that the delay should not be
very great. After all the difficulty
about the naval convoy and the first
conclusion of the naval authorities that
none was necessary, the strength of
that now furnished is surprising. There
is a battleship of the first class, the
Massachusetts. an effective protected
cruiser, the Cincinnati; a speedy and
well-armed gunboat, the Annapolis, and
four vessels of the auxiliary navy
which have already proved by their
performance in Cuban waters that they
are fully equal to the ordinary gunboat
in offensive power. These are the
Gloucester, which distinguished herself
in the destruction of Cervera's squad
ron; the Wasp, which has attained an
enviable notoriety as a disturber of
Spanish blockhouses; the Leyden, which
for a time was the sole representative
of the United States power in Havana
harbor, and the Dixie.
Secretary Alger believes that General
Miles on the Yale will arrive at his des-
tination Sunday morning with 1900
men under his immediate command. A
day later will come 1000 men on trans
ports. and the day following that 1900
more. Whether the landing will be de-
ferred until the arrival of this entire
force, or whether General Miles will
take the initiative and hoist the flag
himself on Porto Rican soil, is left to
the discretion of that officer.
1t is the departments intention that
he shall not lack for troops or for food,
and this expedition may be followed by
several others as fast as the troops can
be gotten ready until word from the
general says that he needs no more.
General Schwan's brigade. comprising
the 5th, the 1lth and 18th United States
infantry, a splendid body of trained SOL
General Miles, and if the Porto Rican
expedition is not an immediate success,
IL will not be for laoN of disposition in
the war department to supply every
requisite.
That Admiral Dewey has the situa-
tion in the Philippines well in hand is
exhibited by his kilograms, the latest
of which was received to-day. This,
without boasting, simply reports, like
the others that have gone before, that
affairs are quiet and satisfactory. The
state department has come to have
fully as great a sense of appreciating
Admiral Dewey's diplomatic ability as
the country has for his naval skill and
courage, and the best evidence of this
is that it has not found it necessary,
up TO this point, to intervene in any
way, either to protect or to amend his
work. The navy department has now
discovered that the big double turreted
monitor Monterey Will not arrive at
Cavite until Aug. 5, that being the ad-
vice received at the department from
the captain of the vessel when she
touched at Honolulu. The admiral's \
of the arrival of the sec
ond detachment of United States troops
at Cavite has given great comfort 10
the war department. which was not
at ease concerning the first
small expedition lying between the
Spaniards and the insurgents. and
without being able to depend very
largely upon either. With these added
troops ii Will now be possible to de-
mand the surrender of Manila. but il is
gathered here that our purpose is to
defer such a movement until all the
United States troops now afloat have
arrived in Manila bay. unless the atti-
tude of the insurgent forces prompt |
earlier action on the part of the Ameri-
can commanders. military and naval. /
Secretary Long said tonight that the |
preparations for dispatching the Wat |
son squadron to European waters were |
going on uninterruptedly. but that the |
departure necessarily would await the |
movement of the warships at Porto |
Rico, the Massachusetts and other ships |
being required for conveying the troops |
10 Porto Rico. This disposed of a re- |
port circulated during the day that the |
expedition had been abandoned IL
vas felt that the report was most mis- |
,hievous at this time. as IL indicated |
purpose to yield to the implied threats |
rom European sources that a Euro
bean coalition would result If the '