The Portland daily press., 1898-04-28
RATHER TEDIOUS.
Maintaining Pacific Blockade Not
Intensely Exciting.

DOWNRIGHT 1898 by the Associated Press. !
On Board the Flagship New York. off
Havana, April 27.-7 a. M, Wis Key West
3 as u. m.-The blockade continues with.
out incident. No casualties have been re-.
ported to the flagship. Last night was
uneventful. This morning the torpedo
boat Dupont arrived from Matanzas re-
porting that there had been no more
firing there. and that the blockade was
effectively established. No prizes have
been secured by the Matanzas squadron.
News has been received that La Lucia
last night asserted that two coasting
steamers had sneaked into Havana har-
Dor on Saturday, butaeit is to be remem.
bered that at that time the blockade was
only in its initial stages. Today the fight
ing squadron is equipped with force of
small boats which, under cover of dark
ness can get close in shore, where they
are likely to prevent blockade running by
little craft hugging the coast.
The amount of provisions carried by the
TWO coasting steamers into Havana last
Saturday must have been SO small as to
be practically of no effect. The incident
cannot be taken as in any way a criterion
of the blockade's effectiveness or as affect.
ing in the sighted the chance of our sue
cess.
Havana even now feels the pinch of the
blockade. When Spanish need of food be-
comes Imperative, then, if there is money
enough in the city to make it worth
while. there are likely to be many at
tempts at blockade running, but Rear
Admiral Sampson says they will be I'M
successful Then will come the inevitable
and Havana will be forced to surrender
and beg for food, ). The appearance of the
Spanish fleet and an attempt to raise the
blockade are contingencies that must be
considered. This phase OF the question,
however, is one of conjecture. No one
knows whether the Spanish fleet is in
condition for fight or whether it would
be willing to take such risk for the sake
of relieving Havana. Even should an
engagement between the two fleets occur,
there is no reason to believe that it would
ameliorate the plight of the city.
Information regarding the movements
of the insurgents is meagre, but it is
known that as many persons as can are
leaving Havana. The insurgent army is
believed to be active and is trusted to
shut off all communication between
North and South Cuba, though commune
cation between Havana and Batabano
still appears to exist. A concerted move
ment by the insurgents upon Havana and
its defences seems hardly feasible. The
scarcity of food is bound to affect in
surgents and Span1ards alike. AS soon as
the former carry their campaign into the
far north of the island, they are con-
fronted with starvation.
1t is believed the insurgent will adhere
to their guerilla tactics aud not transfer
their forces in any large number to a
territory where starvation will soon hold
sway. az-5e1f
The problem of provisioning and coal
ing the blockading fleet has so far proved
an easy ons to solve. Speculation as to
the movements of the army and to the
length Of time it will take to mobilize is
riffs. The time also when the two arms
of the service will be able to cooperate is
eagerly awaited. All the more SO as a
pacific blockade is tedious at the best.