The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1898-06-22
PORTO RICO NEXT.
AN Expedition of Great Dimensions to he
Sent There Soon-A Small Force
VIII Not lie Sufficient.

WASHINGTON, June 1S-The return
of Gen. Miles to Washington from
Tampa Friday had an inspiring effect
upon the war preparations The gen.
eral had busy day. calling upon Sec
rotary Alger, consulting the chiefs of
the staff departments and giving the
department the benefit OF his observa-
tons at Tampa. Secretary Alger said
that he was entirely satisfied with the
condition of the troops as reported by
Gen. Miles and wished that he had the
means to provide every one of the vol
unteer soldiers a daily surf bath such
as was en- joyed by the men at Tampa
Gen. Miles is yet to have conference
with the president.
In the meantime the plans are NOV
ing forward steadily for sending fur
ther expeditions, both to Porto Rico
and Cuba. There is little likelihood
that a second expedition of 5000 men
to reinforce Gen. Shafter at Santiago
will leave within the next few days as
hdS OcSh It poI Leu- Ihc Necessity VI
sending these additional forces is
questioned by high military officials
and moreover the means of transport
ing such 4 force are not available. The
ma n consideration just at present is
the equipment of an expedition of
greater dimensions than any here
tofore discussed with Porto Rico
as the objective point A month ago
the military authorities were satisfied
that a small force woui be sufficient
20 occupy Porto Rico, as the Spanish
force there did not exceed 5000 or 9, 600
men. Now, however, the Spanish gar
risons have been so reinforced and the
defenses strengthened that it is be-
Heved much larger invading army
viii be required. Moreover, the off,
cials were satisfied on learning Friday
that the Cadiz fleet lad sailed, that
the ships would go to Porto Rico
rather than to Cubs, if they crossed
to this side. 1t WAS pointed out that
this move would be the natural
strategic one for tie Spanish COM
manders to take, as there was still
something left for them to save in
Porto Rico.
Gen. Miles would speak only in the
most general way as to the prospective
army movements. When asked as to
the recent reports that large bodies of
troops were about to be concentrated
at Florida points with view to start-
ing further armies of invasion TO Cuba,
Porto Rico and elsew, lere, said: The
military campaign Is proceeding stead
lily toward its complete execution.
The sending of one expedition or an
other is but detail, single part, of
general plan of campaign. OF course
it is more or less right to say that
troops are about to be forwarded, and
that expeditions will be equipped and
sent
Just when these expeditions will
move, and now many men will accom-
pany them, il is not desira bic to say
now, but ii is enough to state that tho
campaign now entered upon is to DO
prosecuted with the utmost vigor until
the end of the war"
The naval officials are somewhat
puzzled at the failure of the effort to
exchange Hobson and his crew, just
announced from Havana OF course
this is not permanent, but simply
means that the Havana authorities as
yet have not been authorized TO eN-
change prisoners. The report that came
from Madrid was that the exchange
had been authorized, SO it is surnised
that the Spanish. government has not
yet found means of communicating its
| decision to Gen. Blanco at Havana.
Some of the naval officers are pulling
long faces over the projected promo
ton of Hobson to the rank of lieuten
ant commander. Not that they object
to his reward but they feel that 1t is
hard that some means could not be
| turing the go officers whom he will
jump.
The Cadiz feet is being narrowly
watched, although the naval view is
not similar to that taken by the army
officers The former do not attach as
much importance to this fleet as the
| latter and few OF the officers can be
found to believe that the ships will
ever venture far from the Spanish
coast, much less attempt to
cross the Atlantic or go
to the Philippines The list
of vessels in this Fleets rather formid-
able in sound, but as a matter of fact
it includes not more than two mp 10
| date modern war vessels, excepting
the small torpedo gunboats. u is GER
tairly the opinion of the naval officers
here that if Dewey had the Monterey
with him he would have no difficulty
in repuising the whole Spanish force,
| while the Cadiz fleet would only at
ford pastime for SIMPSONS steel bull
dogs