Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-03-21

Washington, March 18.-The event
of the day Thursday in official circles
was the issuance of an order Tor une
formation of a new squadron OF naval.
vessels to be stationed at Hampton
Roads. The squadron in the begin
ming will consist of five ships, all the
best of their types. Two OF tnem' LIE
Massachusetts and Texas, are Will
drawn from the present north AtlaLtlc
feet at Key West and Tortugas. In or
dering the movement the navy depart
ment was not animated by any purpose
of Welding to the representations OF
iptimations that may have come from
the Snanish minister. On the contrary
the formation of the new squadron was
brought about by purely straCeglc
considerations. The new squadron
cannot be called flying squadron
because the association of heavy bat
tleships with a feet OF cruisers like the
Brooklyn, Columbia and Minneapolis
reduces the available speed of the
whole to the speed Of the sloWest YES
sci. The indications are that when
reinforced by some smaller cruisers the
squadron would constitute an ideal
naval defense. Although the other
ships which are to be added to the
squadron have not been definitely Sc
lected, it is surmised that they will
include some other battleships at Key
West and the armored cruiser New
York, with Admiral Sicard in command
of the new force. The big monitor
Puritan, supposedly the most powerful
ship in smooth waters IN the whole
world, will take the place of the cruiser
New York at Key West. She will
have to assist her en- guard the mon
itors Miantonomah and Amphitrite. The
Puritan lis now at Norfolk almost
ready for sea; the Mianotomah is at
League Island quite ready and so is the
Amphitrite at Port Royal, S. G. Hamp
ton Roads is said to be the best strate-
gically on the Atlantic coast. 1t is al
most centrally located, and the
ships from that point can
reach any portion of the
coast in short order. Besides being
the second best navy yard in the
country for repairs to ships, New Port
News has plenty of the best coal and
easy water to navigate and finally the
forts at Hampton Roads may serve
as the base Of operations in case of
need for protection. Pending the Sc
lection or arrival of Admiral Sicard,
it is expected that Captain Higginson,
commander of the battleship Mas
sachusetts, will command the squad
ron. The monitors which it is de-
signed to send to Key West are said
to be well fitted for service. Owing
to their light draft they will be able
to navigate safely the shallow waters
of the Florida coast and not be OBJ
liged, like the Iowa, to lie six miles
out at sea from Key West to secure
enough water under her keel.
The gun boat Helena reported to
the department that she sailed yester-
day from Funchal, Madeira, for Key
West. 1t is now said it has been
definitely determined to bring the
battleship Oregon around South
America to Key West. The depart
ment has issued orders that such
trial as may be made of the new tor
pedo boat Rodgers will take place
while she is under way tomorrow from
Baltimore to Norfolk. She will join
the flotilla at Key West. The Column
bia and Minneapolis are still rs men
short of their full quota. 1t is ex
pected that enough men will be Sc
cured in few days to enable the ships
to be sent to Hampton Roads to exc
cute the orders issued yesterday. The
naval recruiting officers in the south
are meeting with success at New
Orleans.
The Spanish minister called at the
state department at 8 o'clock yester-
day afternoon and remained with
Judge Day something over an hour.
Both parties to the conference were
extremely reserved at its conclusion.
1t is understood that it developed no
new phases, but was a general talk
in which pacific assurances were eX-
changed and a hopeful view Of the
situation expressed.
The semi-ofticial statement given out
at Madrid advancing the government
view that a demand for indemnity
based on Spanish responsibility for the
Maine explosion will be Indignantly
repealed by Spain attracts much inter-
est in official circles. There has been
little doubt for some time that Spain
is preparing for the contingency of an
adverse report by the American court
of inquiry and to that end was prepar-
ing to anticipate and offset to it by
making clear the governments policy
of standing by the report of the Span
ish commission. The report of the
latter body was due in Madrid Thurs
&ay and while its conclusions are not
officially known, it is foregone con-
clusion that it will find that the Maine
disaster was due to an accident result
ing from an internal explosion. This