The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-17
A Terrible Disaster.

Inc Whole country was shocked bv
the news that came in at a late bour
yesterday morning of the destruction
of the battleship Maine in the harbor of
Havana and the l5ss of her crew. Such
a disaster seems less horrible when if
occurs in connection with eraa+ u,,u
machne whose mission is death, and
whose tenants expect to hold life by an
uncertain tenure. than when it follows
the ordinary course of commerce. Had
an ocean steamer gone down with $50
people on board, the land would have
been full of mourning. Even as If is
however, the terrible event has cast q
gloom over the country, and sobered a.
people thus reminAsd of the grim nos
sibiiities of actual war.
The first thought of every one unor
learning of the shocking event, was
that it was the signal for the begin
hing of hostilities between the United
States and Spain. The natural sue-
Sesuon was that it was an act of war
committed by the intensely irritated
and reVengeful Spanards, who resent
the position of this country in the Gu
ban trouble. There has not baan +b,,s
idI anything to bear out this SUPPOSE
ton. Had the Maine been DESTROYED Nv,
torpedo or any of those devices that
threaten the vulnerable Darts of . oroo+
ln1
l'oiciad' the evidences of it could not
be concealed. An explosion from m
derneath and outside of vessels ar
NOR produces effects entirely diffaro,,+
iIoil' the one originating within the
pody OF the ship. 1t has, therefore
peen accepted, for the present, by all
parties that the destruction of tho
maine was due to an accident, and that
she was shattered by the frightful ex-
ploslVe force of the contents of her
own magazine. What an investipat ion
may show cannot be guessed. and T.,
the present state of the nuh1;o
1t would not be prudent to anticinata
LIE vanishing. in seconds time or
Wafshlp that it required Years of In
Dor and nearly $4,000. coo in none, ,.
construct together with the sudden
shufflng out of hundreds of lives ,ivo
US to understand, in a fearful mao
tlcaI way, what are the possibilities
the terms and the cost of modern wa,
iaie' Great offensive and defensive
strength is purchased at the cost oe
corresponding weakness, and the abD
1ty to deal death and destruotio,
matched by the dreadful consequences
that either the blow of an enemy, ~.
the happening of chance NAV bri,o -
pass. These mighty warsbins of No.,
efh tunes, constructed to withstand
anything afioat, cannot be made 6.
cure; and the greater the amount -,
money that is expended upon them ond
the securer the reliance which thew in.
VIte, the more awful may be the GA
tastrophe
We may see, from what hannored :,
the haT5or Of Havana, what is possible
and even likely to happen if two mod
ern ships of war ever engage in actual
conflict. 1t is hardly possible that bot,
of them should escape, even in GRIN
PIED condition. a fight at sea viii
mean the loss CT one or the other op
millions of money, and hundreds ~,
thousands If men. Scarcely less baz-
ardous are the risks Of peace, as proved
by the fate Of the Royal Victoria, the
complete destruction of the Maine, and
the hesitation with which the largest
men-of-war in these days venture far
out in a rough sea. The greater efB-
cheney Of the modern ironclad over the
cid wooden ships of the line is pur-
chased at a terrible cost. The disaster
to one Of the finest ships of our navy
and the sacrifice of SO many brave