Evening star., 1898-06-02
TROOPS ON THE WAY
Expedition Started for Porto Rico or
Santiago.
ENGINEER DIVISION AND REGULARS
Big Invasion of Cuba Not Expected
for Some Time.

| tSt SOiIiO lIiiO,
NO REPORT FROM SCHLEY
| Much surprise is expressed at the Navy
| department thar no communication from
| C mmodore Schley lad been received up
t. C late hour today.
| 1: was expected by the department when
| the first newspaper reports came OF en-
| gagement betweenC Commodore Schley's fleet
| and the Notifications of Santiago that /,
report from the commodore woul1 follow
| almost Immediately. AS has. been stated.
| the department doubted there having been
| a general engagement, but expected that
Commodore Schley would report at orce
| whatever had happened. Hourly since then
| dispatches have been looked for. The cir
| oumstantfa1 newspaper stories Of the en-
| gagement have convinced the officials that
| All attack occurred. ard there has been
| much speculation as to the reason for the
| silence on Commodore Schley's part The
| statement in this mornings newspaper dis
| patches that Con modore Schley's feet was
| drawn up for another engagement Is re-
garded by some affording 4 hint as to
| the reason. A theory advanced is that the
| attack is to be continued, and that Com
| modore Schley waited to complete his ope-
| rations before aking a report to the de-
partment, since the use of his dispatch
| beat to communicate the first incident
would deprive him of facilities and delay
the transmission of the later and more i'm
pcrtant dispatches. The indicat tions seem
to point to a serious engagement, which
ha fol. ,,Ia
Sampson being present. and the insurgents
participating by a land attack on Santiago
These movements are all contrary to the
general expectations of the lenarimcn-
ana it Is assumed that if they are in i,ro-
gress they are Cue to information in the
| possession of Sampson and Schlev as 10
| movements of the insurgents whicn render
| the attack by the fleet oppurtune
Accounting for Delay.
1t was stated authoritatively at the Navy
Department at 2 30 o'clock this afternoon
that not a word had been received from
Commodore Sch!ey as to the engagement
"a Santiago. The officials express no spe-
| cial surprise at this delay and account for
| 1t on several grounds. In the first place.
| IL Is said that a fleet commander must wait
uhtil an engagement is completed before
| that the press reports cover only the IN
| ltial features of Commodore Schley's move
| rnents, and that until these movements
were developed to the point where the re-
| SUITS IN view We're actually achieved Off
ctai reports would not be made on Incl
dental phases of the general movement
moreover 1t is pointed out that the fleet
coiiilhahcer must communicate with all
'he commanders of the ships making up
ELS meet, IN order to learn as to casualties
damage and all the circumstances of the
engagement. When thus informed his re-
pert Is made deliberately, and this, in turn.
must be translated to the naval cinber
ccde When received here there is an
other delay in deciphering the code dis
patch. Altogether it is said that the cara
in preparing official dispatches makes them
about TIVE lty-fCur hours behind the nress
advices.
Commodore Schlcy's Object
The official intimation that the action of
tuesday is only Of the initial phase of a
more general movement is strengthened by
the view that Commodore Schley would
hardly attempt an attack unless he had
some definite object in view. This object
1t is believed, is to learn exactly as to the
number of Spanish ships now within San
iago harbor, and also to develop the ef-
fectiveness of the fire of the Spanish forts
at the entrance of the harbor. With these
two points established beyond the slightest
doubt the campaign, military and naval,
could be executed against Santiago with
much greater certainty as to results
While the Navy Department has been sat
isfed for the last ten days that Admiral
Cervera's entire fleet was inside Santiago
hlr
yet been able to make an official report es-
tablishng this fact beyond the shadow of
doubt OF course, the locating of this en-
tire Spanish fleet, not excepting a single YES
sci, large or small, is of essential Importance
to the complete and intelligent formation
of strategic campaign. 1t would remove
the last element of hazard in sending troops
from Tampa or Jacksonville, removing the
danger of their being harassed in the rear
by some of the Spanish ships
1t is of equal Importance that the pres
ent strength Of the shore batteries, their
location, number of guns and general eff
fectiveness should be established. These
points can be learned only by a feint which
will have the outward appearance of an
assault upon the Spanish defenses When
completed it is felt that they will serve
as a basis for more complete advices as
to the actual situation of affairs at San
tiago harbor than have been available at
the Navy Department up to this time 1t
is in this view that Commodore Schley's
movement is regarded as important, not
so much from the destructive results
achieved as from the opportunities it af-
fords fer developing all the resources at the
command of the Spanish admiral.
Not Intended for Publication.
There is evidence of irritation in the
War Department on account of the publicity
given to Secretary Aiger's letter making
estimates for the military operations and
transmitting the letter of General Ludlow
outlining, to a certain extent, the military
plans of campaign. 1t is evident that the
department did not expect this communi-
cation to be made public. and late yester-
cay when information was received from
the Capitol that such a communication had
been received by the Speaker the Secre-
tary and all the War Department officials
interested in the matter refused to talk
about it, even to the extent of acknowl-
edging that the communication had been
sent. Later in the day the Secretary's let
ter went through the ordinary channels of