SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 64, 17 March 1898, Page 3

SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

AMERICA AND SPAIN.

THE THREATENED WAR. INSULT TO PRESIDENT McKINLEY. BLOWING UP OF THE WARSHIP MAINE. GREAT POPULAR EXCITEMENT. DEMANDS FOR VENGEANCE ON SPAIN.

SAN FRANCISCO, February 25,

Spain and the United States are standing practically on the threshold of war, and in view of the excitement that prevails regarding the situation in both countries it will be strange indeed if the threatening clouds that are now hovering so near pass by. The American people especially are worked up to the danger point, for two incidents have occurred during the past thirty days that were enough to upset the equanimity of any nation. One was the open insulting of President McKinley by Senor de Lome, the Spanish Minister at Washington, and the otl»3r tho blowing up of the United States battleship Maine in Havana Harbour, entailing the loss of the ship, two officers and 253 of her crew. INSULTING THE PRESIDENT. It was on the Bth inst. that the De Lome incident first saw light. On that day was made public a letter written by De Lome to Senor Canalejas, the editor of " El Heraldo de Madrid," and which had been stolen by a trusted secretary and turned over to the Cuban Junta in New York. After a.brief review of the conditions attending the island warfare, the following sentence appears, and is the one that set the United States on lire :—" The message (referring to McKinley's) has undeceived the insurgents, who expected something else, and has paralyzed the action of Congress, but 1 consider ifc bad. Besides the natural and inevitable coarseness with which he repeats all that press and public opinion of Spain has said againsc Weyler, it shows once more what McKinley is—weak and catering to the rabble, and besides a low politician who desires to leave the door open to me and to stand well with the jingoes of his party." The storm created by this letter can ■well be imagined. Every newspaper in the country demanded satisfaction in the name of the American people, and the angered officials at Washington were not slow to act. First, a formal call was made on De Lome, who frankly .acknowledged that he had written the letter. He added, however, that it was purely a personal one, and not written in his official capacity in any way. The Administration was not in a state of ; mind though to accept any excuses. General "Woodford, the United States Minister at Madrid, was notilied by cable to at once demand De Lome's recall, an intimation being given that unless this course were promptly pursned the Spanish Minister would be expelled from the country. The Spanish Government was prompt toaefc. Despatches were sent to De Lome at once ordering him to surrender his portfolio and return to Madrid, but anticipating action of the kind, he forestalled his discharge by sending in his resignation. The next step taken by Spain was to repudiate in every ; way the utterances by their minister, and in view of this apparently sincere and i earnest desire to keep America's friendship President McKinley let it be known that lie desired the incident closed. Just as the popular clamour that attended it was ■ dying out, the ■whole world was startled by the news of the disaster to the Maine, and of course the gap between the two countries became wider than ever. The first intimation anyone had of the wreck was the receipt by the Secretary of the Navy of the following despatch from Captain Sigsber, Commander of the war- ; ship :—" Havana, February 15th, Maine blown up in harbour at 9.40 and destroyed. Many wounded and many killed and drowned. The wounded and others are on board a Spanish man-of-war and the Ward line steamer. Send lighthouse tender from Key West for crew and the few pieces of equipment still above water. No one saved other clothes than those upon him. Public opinion should be suspended until' , a further report. Many Spanish officers, including representatives of General .Blanco, now with me, express sympathy.—Sigsber." The news plunged the country into the wildest excitement. The first impression was that the Maine had been deliberately blown up by a Spanish torpedo, and a cry for war went up on every side. All the newspaper offices displayed bulletins of the course of events, and the streets in front of them were well-nigh impassable at all hours of the day and the night. PARTICULARS OF THE DISASTER. The excitement rose to fever heat when next day it was found that of the 354 officers and men who had been on the Maine only 101 survived. This meant that 253 had perished in the disaster, among them being two of the most popular officers in the service. The stories of the survivors were all about the same. It was a little after 9 o'clock, and nearly all on board were asleep. Captain Sigsber was in his cabin writing letters, and the men on deck were watching the lights in Havana, a few hundred yardsaway. Suddenly there came a dull roar, then a terrific explosion and the ship gave a heavy lurch to port. The air was tilled with debris, and every light was blown out, to be succeeded the next minute by a furious blaze, for the ship had taken lire. Captain Sigsber and the rest of those who were not stunned or killed by the explosion made their way to the deck, and succeeded in getting away before the ship settled. She was then a maws of flames, and the excitement was heightened now and then by the explosion of the stores of working ammunition kept near the guns. Sigsber was the last to leave the ship, and then one of the boats was rowed around it and an officer rising in its bow shouted in stentorian tones, "If there is anyone alive on board who can hear my voice, for God's sake say so." There was no response, and as it meant certain death to attempt a search beneath the burning hatchways, the boat pulled off and left the ship to her fate. In a few minutes she had foundered, all that was left visible being a parfc of her superstructure deck. CAUSE OF THE CATASTROPHE. The first impiession that the wreck had been caused by a torpedo directed by Spanish hands was promptly disputed, as was also the assertion that the Maine had been intentionally anchored over a sub*marine mine which had been fired at what the Spaniards considered an opportune time. The Spanish officials though challenged everyone of these statements, and asserted that the disaster was caused by the explosion of the Maine's own magazines. This, however, Captain ' Sigsber declared to be impossible, as the magazines had been inspected according to custom at six o'clock, and after having been locked the keys were placed in his possession. Another thing advanced was

that in the taking aboard of coal, or pos- ; sibly during the visit of .some of the residents of .Havana, advantage had been taken to put dynamite in the bunkers. This, it was claimed, had then exploded, and caused the disaster. The speculation has not been decided yet. Divers have been afc work on the ship' for several days, but the result of their investigations has not been made public, as they are under the control of a special Board of Inquiry, and no information will be given out until the complete report is submitted to the President at Washington. There was some trouble at first about the divers being allowed to descend into the wreck, Spain claiming the right to conduct the investigation, owing to the submerged warship being in Spanish waters. The clash that occurred on this point was finally settled by the Spanish Government surrendering to America the right to conduct the investigation in the way she best thought fit. Meantime all kinds of rumonrs are about.. Souio say that the clivers have discovered conclusive proof that the explosion was caused by a torpedo, while others are as positive that,-it was due to a submerged mine. The Spaniards though maintain that it was an accident, and assert that they can in no way be held responsible. As far as their officials go they certainly have shown the moat sincere regret for the disaster, but the townspeople of Havana are stirring up America by the .stand they have taken. They are said to have danced with glee when they realised what had taken place, and newspaper correspondents recite how the townspeople gathered on the quay at Havana and watched the burning ship at the same time laughingly saying, "There will be good fishing in the bay to-morrow." Meantime while the official investigation is in progress the warlike preparations that are going on throughout the country show that the Administration is taking no chances of not being ready in the event of a blow having to be struck. The coast defences at the various points are all being inspected, the National Guardsmen are ready for duty at a moment's notice, and many volunteer organizations hare notified the officials at Washington that they are ready for business if given an opportunity. CURRENT RUMOURS. The arrival of the Spanish warship Vizcaya in New York Harbour has made matters worse. She was ordered there at the time America sent the Maine to Havana, but it now looks as if site was threatening the metropolis so that the cries-for war may be allayed. Ln order to prevent any local demonstration against the ship or her officers, the authorities have established a patrol guard around her and she will be watched with all the vigilance possible. All kinds of rumours are, of course, floating about regarding the. situat:on, some saying that McKinley has decided to ask $15,000,000 indemnity from Spain in the event of it being shown that the disaster was due to their connivance. The warlike spirit now prevalent though will not be satisfied with the mere payment of bloodmoney, and it is pretty well conceded that the President will be forced to declare war if it can be shown that Spain was in any way responsible for the tiagedy. The funeral of the dead men at Havana was an impressive fright, full civic and military honors being accorded to the dead sailors. They first laid in state in the Town Hall, and then a public procession was formed and escorted the remains to the cemetery. It is expressions of sympathy of this order that is creating the impression among those who are giving the matter the proper consideration that nothing will be found to connect Spain with the disaster, and that after the present storm of public opinion blows over everyone will be inclined to sit down and accept the theory that it was an accident. The Maine is to be rescued from her present resting-place at the bottom of the harbour, and will be used as a shell for reconstruction in the navy yards. As she cost §5,000,000 it is figured that it would be a good investment to spend a million dollars or so getting her into shape again.