The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-25

tions OF Portentous News and ForebodinEs or
Wharf.-The Attitude Of the Adulnistration Is
TO wait Tor the Report or hoard or nnquiry
Tho G~ovsfnmcnrs Policy In Relation
to Cuba UnchnnEed-siEbec's Dispatches.
WASHINGTON. Feb. 24.-owinR to some In.
applicable cause the air OF Warrington Is again
surchsrged with feverish excitement over the
extremely delicate situation resulting from tho
destruction Of the battleship Maine. At tho be.
ginning OF the week. when the Naval Board of
Inquiry organized. there seemed to DO n DISPOSE
tion on the part OF Congress, the Administration
officials. and the public generally to repress
the excitement under which they had
labored during the days following the
first news Of tho event, but to-day the
bitter feeling seems to have broken out
afresh. On every hand there 10 talk of war. but
the apparently general belief that tho relations
between tho United States and Spain have
reached nearly the critical stage can DO traced
to no direct cause, unless 1t BIO the speech.
making in the Senate yesterday. There has
been no news Of any Importance from Havana
to-day, nor has Consul.G eneral Lee sent to tho
State Department any information Of i'm.
p%ortanco bearing upon the inquiry into
the cause Of tho explosion that wrecked
the Maine. As far as can DO learned the
President has not given his numerous callers
any intimation that he is moro worried over the
situation than he was a few days ago. This is
not strange, however, as 1t is we'll known that
he has for a fortnight believed the United
States to be standing on very thin ice. He has
so stated moro than once. No unusual orders
for putting the army and navy on q war footing
have been issued to-day. and still over the
capital all day has hung q cloud of suspense
and intense anxiety. 1t has been like the calm
stiffness that precedes q summer thunderstorm,
and of those who went about predicting that
q crisis had at last been reached and that tho
situation could not be borne longer, not one Of
them could tell why his mind had become sud.
denly imbued with the idea that q conflict with
Spain is imminent.
The fact that no news has come from the
Naval Board Of Inquiry is. perhaps, itself
chiefly responsible for tho opinion. fast becom-
ing O conviction In the minds of all public men
here, that the Maine was wrecked by design and
not by accident. AS a matter of fact, no posi-
tive evidence has come to the knowledge OF the
Administrations on which to base q charge OF
Spanish treachery, while. in the opinion of
nearly II not quite all the naval experts.
the Maine blew up by an explosion
Of her magazines. But as each day goes
by and the mystery Of the explosion becomes
deeper, the more firm becomes the conviction
that Providence had no hand In the disaster that
hNAo ohSaSN hhS tAS sS ava
ICED world. Suspicion in this case is made to do
the work of evidence. There can be little doubt
that a vast majority Of the people of the United
States now suspect that Spanish malevolence
and treachery sent the American sailors to
their death. and suspecting that, they are
naturally anxious to sec the Spaniards
punished for their crime. In many ways
the Administration has been given to under
stand tho force and intensity of this feeling
$500 L.A 49, --I
his Cabinet do not clearly see why 1t is that the
people will not be content to wait patiently un-
til the facts ore ascertained. The President,
through the Secretary of the Navy. has more than
once taken occasion to appeal to the people to
suspend judgment until the verdict OF the Board
OF Inquiry is made public, and a few days ago
there was abundant reason to believe that the
people would comply. Nothing has happened to
change the situation since. and yet there is
such a strained feeling in Washington to-day
that there is some fear Of the Administration
being unable to hold public opinion In allegiance
until the facts are made public.
During the past twenty-four hours the Presi-
dent and Cabinet have had an opportunity to
appreciate the strength of this unrest In the
minds of the people through the columns Of the
newspaper press. which have. almostw without ex-
ception, echoed the patriotic sentiments of their
constituents. Newspapers that have all along
been upholding the Cuban policy of the
Administration and pleading for a sus-
pension of judgment until the President
should be ready to take the people into his con-
hdence and action, arc to-day filled
with limitations of portentous news and with
forebodlngs of war. In the absence Of any other
cause for such a state Of things 1t Is naturally
charged to the outburst of antk.Spanish oratory
In the Senate yesterday. Even after those
significant speeches. however, the Senate
as a body was made to SEQ tho wis
dom of needing the appeal OF the Presi.
dent for patience and quiescence, and
to-day no Senator or Representative raised his
voice in denunciation of the Spanish peo-
Pile. The speeches of yesterday had done
their work, however. and to-day the Ad.
ministration was almost overwhelmed with evil
dences of the Impotence, unrest and anxiety OF
the people. and their belief that the Government
is preparing to punish Spain for what they think
II has done and for declaring the independence
of Cuba at whatever cost.
Along with this renewal of excitement cam
the revival OF the charge that the Administra-
ton was holding back dispatches from Capt,
Sigsbee, telling Of developments OF the Board
Of Inquiry. So persistent were these rumors
and so damaging was their effect upon tho
efforts Of the Administration for a suspension
of judgment that the Secretary of the Navy
was again compelled to make a formal
statement, denying that secret dispatches
had been received, and reitcrating what he
said last week, that the news from Havana Is
being given out as fast as 1t 10 received. No In
formation of value or Importance with regard
TO the work Of the findings OF the Board of In
quiry have come to Washington, and all of the
many opinions regarding the cause Of the explo.
sion are but theories. The Secretary did not in
this statement again express his belief that tho
explosion that destroyed the Maine was acct.
dental. but 1t can be said with authority that no
and President Mckinley still incline to think SO.
Waiting Is the word that characterlzes tho
attitude OF the Administration Tho President
is waiting with anxiety and fear and some trep.
idstion for what the Board OF Inquiry may
reach. There can be no doubt that he will DO
ready to act when that report is received. no
matter what its nature may be. Should the board
report that In their opinion the investigation
shows that the Government OF Spain. or a citi-
zen of spain. was responsible for the destruc-