Evening star., 1898-07-15
HOW
ATTACK ON PORTO RICO
Entirely New Men Will Be Used for the
Next Expedition.
Plenty of Transports AvaiIable-Iin
mune Regiments to Be Sent
to Santiago.

Next is Porto Rico said Secretary AL
ger, after receiving news of Santiago's for
NAL surrender, "and then, If need be, Ha-
vana." The Secretary said that the Porto
Rican expedition would go forward i'm
medately. 1t will comprise new men ell
tirely. The soldiers in the trenches before
Santiago have distinguished themselves
and 1t is not deemed prudent to bring them
in unnecessary contact with new troops, in
view of the danger of spreading contagion.
The sick soldiers will be nursed back to
health and brought to the United States as
soon as they can be safely removed. I'm
mune regiments will be ordered to San
tiago to garrison the town, and two of
these regiments are already under orders
to proceed.
rlanded by General Miles in person, though
General Brooke row in command at Camp
Thomas, is expected to be his main depend
ence. The size of the expedition will de-
pend upon General Miles wishes, although
it is believed that 25,G10 men will be suf-
ficient for the purpose. At Juan the navy
can be of greater assistance than it was
at Santiago, owing to the possibility of ap-
preaching the town more closely without
risking contact with mines. General
Brooke is now on his way to Washington.
SO that he will be in a position to make
mis- views known to the department.
Plenty of Available Transports.
The experience gained in dispatching
Skaters expedition it is expected, will aid
the officials in their determination to make
short work of the Porto Rican affair.
There will be plenty of transports available
for the expedition, as the government has
devised other means of removing the Span
iards captured at Santiago to Spain than
by carrying tbs m on these transports. That
III iS n
notice goes without saying. Porto Rico is
not expected to offer formidable resist
ance. 1t is believed that the moral effect
of the surrender at Santiago will be to dis
courage the defenders of San Juan. There
Is hGwever, always the prospect that peace
may ensue before hostilities have pro-
gressed against Spain's easternmost West
India Island. Rumors were afioat to the
effect that the Spanish government at last
had made overtures in that direction, but
their basis probably was the current belief
that one more reverse to the Spanish arms
would be sufficient to- compel the Spanish
government to sue for peace, and this re-
verse was furnished by the surrender Of
Torars army.
VIII Go to Spain.
The Navy Department has not been af-
fected by these rumors to the extent of re-
laxing any Of Its precautions or abandon
ing any of its plans, for Secretary Long
states unequivocally that Commodore Wat
sons eastern squadron will certainly go to
Spain as soon as it can SAIL
In the matter of transports the War De-
partment is. fully prepared for the next
move The acquisition recently of num-
ber of transatlantic liners capable of car
rying several times as many men as the
smaller transports has put ii on an excel
lent footing, and it was announced that no
more ships are being bought for the At
iantic coast Many OF the transports which
carried soldiers to Cuba are now being used
for other purposes, chief among which is
that of bringing the sick and wounded to
the United States. The ships available by
the department are distributed about as fol-
lows: Twenty-Five at Santiago, twelve at
Tampa. three at Charleston, four at New
York, four at Key West and others on the
way to and from different ports.