The San Francisco call., 1898-07-06
Sampson andShafter to. Join in BOInbarding... Santiago.
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Plans of the. Attack Left Entirely to the Decision of the Two Con-
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 manderS. :.

WASHINGTON; July 5-As result of the Cabinet meeting to-day instruc- tions were sent by the President to Ad- miral Sampson and General Shafter to confer together concerning a joint plan of attack upon the city. Upon the out come of this conference depends the line of action for the immediate future. For the present the land bombarGment by General Shafter's forces has been deferred, as the situation is so com pletely changed by the annihilation of the Spanish fleet that is is manifestly the part of wisdom for this land bonn bardment to await the co-opecation and support of a bombardment from Admiral Sampson's fleet.
 General Shafter's demand for the sur render of Santiago, on pain of bom- bardment, was made at 8:S0 Sunday morning An hour later Admiral Ger vera made his suicidal dash from the harbor, resulting in a complete trans formation Of the naval and military conditions Instead of a menacing Spanish fleet within the harbor, thc way has been cleared, save for the shore batteries, for the entrance of the American fleet up to the very wharves of the city With this maUeral change wrought it was obvious to the autEoii- ties here that the blow first intended to- be delivered by General Shafter alcne woul., be doubly effective and decisive if the two forces could he brought tG- gether and strike simultaneously from land and sea.
 It is for this reason that the confer ence between the American general and the admiral was called. Up to the close of office hours to-day no word had come either to the War or Navy. Department, so far as was disclosed, as to what. de- termination had been reached at the conference At the same time it is the expectation of the. authorities that the conference will result in determina- tion by the admiral to take his fleet through the narrow neck of the harbor, making his way past the shore bat teries and Notifications, and take posi- tion before the city for bombardment. There is reason to believe that the in- structions sent to Admiral Sampson at least conveyed the desire, if not the order, that he enter the harbor. But it is said that the admiral and the gen. eral continue to be the supreme officials in authority, and that, being on the scene. fully alive to all the conditions. their judgment will be taken as final in the course to be adopted.
 There is said to be no obstacle, so far as navigation is concerned, to the. en- trance of the harbor by the American fleet. The Cristobal Colon, which cleared the Merrimac and got out of the harbor on Sunday, drew 23 feet 3 inches, which is within seven inches of the draft of the battle-ships Iowa, h. diana, Massachusetts and Oregon, and is greater than the draft of the battle ship Texas. Moreover, the Navy De- nartment has known for the last ten days that the neck of the channel was open. despite the sinking of the Merrt- msc and that there was a clear seaway of seven fathoms, through which any shin in our navy could sail. This re- moves all difficulty, except from sub- marine mines, or from the shore bat teries.
 As to the mines, little account is taken of them, since the Spanish fleet . nassed over them. The Spaniards are in the habit of using contact mines, so that there is little likelihood of there being mines operated by electric con- nection with the shore.
 The forts and batteries have been badly weakened by the constant fire of the fleet for many weeks past, anG while still a factor, they are greatly disabled.
 Once up to the city the fleet md army could combine in a terrific double fire. No less than 292 heavy guns would be trained from the American warships on the city and at tEe same time the big siege guns, which it is expected, have been brought to the front of Shafter's line. would rain down a torrent of steel from that quarter. The siege guns throw shells of 135 pounds. Aside from them there are four modern howitzers, with guns of smaller caliber. These. are in the heavy artillery, while the light artillery embraces a great number of guns of 2 caliber. Combined this fire from land and sea would be terrific in its effect.
 The action of the foreign representa-. tives at Santiago has been an additional reason for deferring the bombardment It was made known late to-day that one of General Shafter's dispatches stated that these representatives had